Editing Diplomacy (section)

==The Countries==
===Austria===
Austria is the country that should most be focused on defence early on, with a fat drunkard to the east, an vampiric wop to the west and a heathen alien to the south. The four Balkan centres may seem tempting, but Bulgaria and Romania are likely to be taken by the Turk and the Russki by the winter of 1901 respectively, and a combined Italian-Russian attack against you can see you conquered faster than any other country in the game. But a great country for those dudes who like to talk to (and to take centers from) everyone on the board.

===England===
England is one of the two most defensive countries in the game, and like with many games around Europe will build more fleets than any other, they suffer from a lack of expansionism, with getting armies on the continent a task. Utterly incompatible with the slimy baguette devourer, and don't get fooled by St Petersburg, France is always one season away from putting a fleet in the Irish Sea.

===France===
A nice balance between the defensive abilities of Turkey and England and the proximity to centres of Germany, Russia and Austria. France can afford to largely sit out negotiations at the very beginning, seeing how the games going, before siding with either Germany or England against the other. Often has the problem of correct timing when to decide to one side or another. Also, has a port in Marseille and a sometimes anxious, sometimes daring neighbour to the southeast. Both are sources of temptations, misunderstandings and binding power.

===Germany===
Sit in the centre of the map, with Scandinavia (that will be split between the one with crooked teeth and the one with the bottle of vodka) to the North and the Low Countries (Beret wearing dinner) to the west, Germany is a favourite of some of the greatest [[Creed|Tactical Genii]] of the game, because you aren't as horribly fucked as Austria from the get go and yet still have an excuse to talk to everyone, and have a finger in every Diplomatic pie. Encourage Turkey, play France and England against each other, threaten Russia, beat up Italy, do everything you can to help Austria, because if they go, you go.

===Italy===
Italy is perhaps the most defensible country in the game, ahead of even Turkey. Conversely, Italy finds it even more difficult than Turkey to get rolling.

===Russia===
Ah yes, the glorious Motherland, you arguably have the strongest initial position with two armies and two fleets but also a big mark on your head. It's probably better to think of Russia as two countries, north and south with only two units each. Russia has one advantage no other country except the cheese noshing pansy in the west has: you can build Fleets in the north and in the south, and if you do well, eliminate the stalemate line.

===Turkey===
The Castle, problem is that getting out of the castle is just as hard as getting in. Your armies are forced through the Constantinople(Konstantiniyye in Ottoman) corridor which is slow, or being shipped out, which is risky. If you can convince Italy to distract Austria, then you can move both armies out in 1901.