david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (07/31/85)
> The Italian Three Fleets opening was invented by postal player Edi > Birsan in the early 1970's as a means of dealing with the sticky > problem of Italy's often-useless second army. The Key Lepanto, > invented by Jeff Key in the late 1960's, tries to get an additional > army into the Balkans for greater effectiveness against Turkey. > Both start out like a half-hearted attack on Austria: > > A Ven-Tri > A Rom-Apu > F Nap-Ion > > ............................... When playing Three Fleets, the Austrian > player "responds" in the fall with a supported attack on the Italian > army in Trieste; Italy retreats it off the board (i.e., voluntarily > disbands it), and, having gained Tunis, builds two fleets for greater > flexibility in the Mediterranean. Of course, A Rom and F Nap do > not have to follow the normal Lepanto opening here. > In the fall of the Key Lepanto opening, Austria lets the Italian > A Tri-Ser succeed, having either left Serbia open in the spring (risky) > or ordering A Ser-Gre, F Alb S A Ser-Gre in the fall. Both openings mentioned by Steve Knight presume a strong Austro-Italian alliance. Both go so far as to presume Austria will sacrifice a build for Italy's sake (the supported attack on Trieste in Fall '01 in the Three Fleets will likely deprive Austria of Greece). Even if Austria is willing to make that sacrifice, it would (or should) do so only if the alliance as a whole is strengthened. This is the case with the Key Lepanto, as Italian forces supplement Austrian forces in the East in a timely fashion. However, I argue that, even if Austria CAN trust Italy completely, the Three Fleets is unsound. The Three Fleets leaves the Austro-Italian alliance with only two supply centers gained in 1901 (Ser & Tun). If the critical issue is to produce four allied fleets in Winter 1901/1902, this can be done by having two Austrian and two Italian fleets as well as by having three Italian fleets and one Austrian; moreover, as Austria can also gain Greece in a more conventional opening, Austria does not have to give up the build of an army to do so. True, there is a "wasted" Italian army, but substituting no army at all for the "superfluous" one is no real gain. In short, an Austrian fleet built in 1901 can provide all the advantages of the Three Fleets without leaving Greece open, so whither the Three Fleets (if your answer is that Italy cannot trust Austria with two fleets, ask yourself if such a trust is any less prudent than trusting Italy to disband A Tri in the Three Fleets)? David Rubin {allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david