North Sea?

yeah, now edi connects to bel, hol, denmark and helgoland blight... not to mention norway and ska.

it is also called 'super-edinburgh' because it is so big :)

are you interested in playing?

sounds fun.

I'll give it ago, could be interesting. So is their a North and South coast or is it a canal like kiel?

i may have been being sarcastic.

there is a north sea, there is no heligoland blight. So boh england and germany can open to north sea - and north sea thus now borders 7 SC...

it means england has an option to bounce germany in north sea as well as bouncing france in EC... while germany doesn't really want england occupying north sea - similar to the black sea between russia and turkey.

this has rthe portential to massively screw England as without supporting a fleet to Nth sea, england could easily go without a build while france and germany easily go plus 2 or better.

Easy F/G alliance: Bre - EC, Kie - NTH, Mun - ruhr, par - pic, Mar - spa, Ber - Kie.

If england moves to Nth/Norwegian, france is in EC, and Nth is empty. A supported move to Nth in the fall nets 2 builds for F/G and 1 or 0 for england depending on whether they bounce the supported attack, or take the norway build.

If England moves to EC/Nth, all fleets bounce, England gets no builds, and F/G get 2 each.

If England supports Edi to Nth, France is in EC, and can convoy to Wales whereas England has to use L?on to SH Nth if they want to hold it. Otherwise, they can take Norway, but risk Germany in Nth.

If england supports Lon to Nth, his southern flank is wide open, and still, he needs to be worried about a supported attack on Nth.

Basically, doesn't this make the Sealion much easier and encourage England's death since they can virtually be denied a build, or forced to lose Nth almost nfor certain? Add in Mos - st pete and England is easily eliminated.

I fully agree with Drano's analisys.

I've always hated provinces bordering with more than 4 SCs. I can barely stand Tyrolia and Galicia (both into Austrian empire. They don't know it, but that's why they hate picking up Austria). I completely hate Black Sea (5). And I've always hoped that someone would have split North Sea into 2 seas, on this site.
But, alas, looks like we're going in the opposite direction....

I would have to agree, I prefer larger boards, abstraction etc. I mean I prefer boards the emphasis broad strategic strokes instead of intense tactical action.

england opens to north sea with support and germany has to defend kiel. thus limiting his hand to covering kiel with an army from berlin and moving munich to take holland.

alternatively england opens with london to north sea and edi to norwegian (and lvp to wales) and may bounce germany in north sea.

but if germany bounces he is guarenteed to
1) let russia into sweden
2) have an army in berlin which is useless - normally it owuld either take holland or denmark.
3) be left with only one unit to cover hol/bel.

now of course the advantage of 2 is that berlin can be used to cover munich, which the average french player may choose to go for... but otherwise i think bouncing in north sea is all bad news for germany (and he risks england supporting himself in, which would have the negative side effect of a bounce combined with the english threatening holland and denmark...)

now germany combined with france, puts england in a tough spot - but that is what diplomacy is for...

a map that is not good for gunboats, it's not good for diplomacy

If russia opens moscow to st pete, england is immediately dead. if Germany would begin with F Berlin and army Kiel it could be way more interesting as it allows England to develop normally in 01 and creates a very tense situation in the future for Germany. Also, it allows Germany to take Den Swe and diminishes the chances of Russia, France and Germany ganging in on England.

in any case, england is not dead if he has an ally. France may feel the need to support him into bel if that means keeping him alive and kicking. Or equally germany may make a deal with england in 1901 to avoid bouncing in north sea (perhaps with england going to EC and norwegian sea)

a good diplomat knows how to turn weakness around. Even as italy and austria need each other in classic game as both are weaker without the other....

Italy and Austria aren't natural enemies, and can work together very well...

yes, and there are no examples of england working with anyone else as their navy while they focus on land power...

this variant would also greatly benefit Germany in the long run, if he can take out England, he can pump out fleets like its nobodies business. A sealion would be super effective in this game, id expect a solid 75% of games involve a sealion

ok, who's up for a game? someone has beaten me to first, but you can still play the second one!

gameID=4075

North Sea is now even more overpowered than it was before. What is this? Why not remove Skag as well?

it gives england and germany the kind of thing france and england have with the english channel...

but you're right, 7 SC is a bit much - could draw a line from yorkshire to holland.
Giving north sea north and north sea south, nsn - norway, denmark, ska, holland and kiel; nss - london, holland, belguim, english channel...

I can imagine sneaky convoys from Yor-Kie in this variant completely upsetting the situation.

germany forced to defend kiel would sucks...

England seems overpowered unless he gets ganked spring 1901.

Draw it from Yor to Ska :)