No, I simply thought the same idea I would have used was already out, and nobody posed an argument against it, so I didn't feel the need to say anything. But here I am!

I like #5. At least that's the best one I see. If anything it would only be tweaks to that one (order of the moves, deployment amounts), but the strategy is what I see that will work.

True, but those tweaks are kind of important. For example the attack in caucasus is also a bit risky. For example if Impaller tries to take Caucasus we can be in trouble, because he may weaken our forces and we won't take 4 in Tadschikistan (if we get a late order) or, if we get no luck at all, we may take 4, but he takes behind us and strikes from india. That is actually an important point to discuss. Should we forget about alaska and reinforce the attack in caucasus? I still stand behind the option I gave, but that is something we should collectivelly consider.

Been busy catching up with things after the vacation, I will read up on the last few moves and post my thoughts later as soon as I find the time.

Thanks for moderating this game, Eitz. It sure is entertaining.

Hmm Eitz?
I kind of find it hard to follow up on the different options that were suggested by you and others. The game gets more and more complex and the number of orders per turn constantly grows, I believe that's why you get so little feedback here.
Instead of the descriptions, would it be possible for you to generate a screenshot for each option? Just like the outcome screenshot you post every turn? Simply hack in the orders for each variant and make a screenshot of the confirmation screen (but make sure you don't hit commit accidentially!)
This wouldn't even be more work for you, since you could skip writing detailled descriptions and could just refer to the screenshots?

Option 5 sounds most reasonable to me, the only problem I see with it is that we should divert more than 1 armies to Western Russia to make 100% he won't get it.
If we succeed in taking Hawaii we might even consider clearing that blockade in Central America. That will cost us ~8 armies and will thus pay off on the 3rd turn already. It will compensate us for the potential loss of Scandinavia.

I was personally considering that while posting my option, but I didn't see from where could we safely take those 3-4 extra troops (we already use a reinforcement card). The options are:
a) don't take Alaska, and deploy those 4 in vorkuta

I'm not a big fan of this for the following reasons:
- we have surprisingly little intel on the exact Impaller location in Asia. Still eastern Russia is unlikely, but possible.
- we saw that almost every turn Impaller was using a substantial portion of his income to expand in Asia, so he was flexible and he could try to launch an attack through Japan-East Russia-Alaska. Still very unlikely, but possible.

b) take it from California
Reasons were mentioned before, it is very likely he'll make at least a scouting expedition to Hawaii and since it is one of the most important routes to attack for us I would prioritize this

c)Take 3-4 from Africa deployment
Probably the best out of 3 options, but without those 3-4 troops there is also a possibility that we won't get a net income on the africa attack (in case he loads up there)

Actually I had a thought in the meantime, there was surprisingly little discussion on the attack in Caucasus. There is also one more threat, Imp deploys in india and china, hits Tadchikistan late with 9-10 and tries to take Caucasus from benind and Kyrgyzstan from China. So, since Tadschikistan has 4 troops, did anyone consider my option 5 with attackinh Kyrgyzstan instead of Tadschikistan? I'm quite torn here, Tadschikistan is a natural target, but maybe a bit too obvious. What do you guys think?

It is a gamble ... will he predict us NOT to deploy heavily in Western Russia and/or Caucasus?
We might end up losing Western Russia or even Caucasus, but if we don't, we can pressure him next turn in Asia.
I was thinking: if we really give up Scandinavia, we might as well move those 14 in Moscow out of the line of fire to Ufa first move this turn, so we have control over Caucasus in Georgia and the two Khazakstans next turn?

I really like the idea.

Maybe we should post options 6 and 7 which are modified nr 5, both transfering to Ufa on first turn, and one of them would take Kyrgyzstan instead of Tadschikistan. I'd like especially the last one.

Diabolicus: Thx for the recognition =) Unfortunately, it's actually Fizzer who inputs the orders that we vote on into the game and it would be a significant amount of extra work (not to mention direct coordination with Fizzer) to make snapshots of the possible orders a reality. If it makes you feel any better, I have to be the one to stare at the screen right at the beginning and write down all of the orders you see without the aid of any kind of useable playing system to work with =P That's why I try to make the orders as clear and easy to follow as possible.

Regarding the current discussion: it's impossible to really know what Imp's gonna do with every piece of deployment he has. I like the orders you currently have set for option #5 and don't necessarily like the idea of changing the Tad attack as it gets us to border India and W China with still a foothold in Caucasus. Yes, Imp could take that hard but I think it's unlikely and probably worth the risk.

I also don't really like the idea of moving the troops too far away from Moscow. Even if we concede Scan in the near future, we definitely don't want him getting into Greenland and we'll likely need those troops there to be able to push back.

The only viable option I see if you want to add troops elsewhere would be to take away from the Alaska attack and maybe do that next turn (altho I do think that we should head that way at some point even if it's only to protect our Canadian border better).

Number 5 has won! The next thread will be posted soon.

Sorry guys but it's gonna take me a little longer than normal to get the next turn in. There's a lot of information that I'm gonna hafta work with and my work schedule is a little different than normal this weekend as I prepare for my holidays next week. I'll do my best to get the turn posted after work tonite but it might be more likely that I get it up tomorrow evening after work.