el Swine wrote:I have experienced one single truism whenever playing Austria. If Italy has it in mind to attack you, you are dead. Usually within 3 years
If you have an Italian player with a single ounce of sense, they know that ultimately they are dead too so they won't attack you for the first 3-4 years.
Hence Bud-Ser, Tri-Alb is always my Austrian opening. Vie can go to Tri if I'm living in fear, but usually it always goes to Galicia
There is a lot of truth to this, unfortunately. The advantages that Austria has in a land war with Italy are mostly negated by having R/T breathing down your neck.
A/R/T alliances do occasionally happen, and if you can get Russia to focus north, A/T has a lot to recommend it early. A/R has a hard time fighting I/T because R can't really get into the I fight, so A ends up depending on (or requiring) French or rarely German help.
One of the things that makes Italy so hard to play is that if you are passive, you can get to 4 dots and never get a good chance to do anything, and if you are aggressive, you can get to 5 dots and drag yourself and Austria (or France, or Germany) down with you. But if you get an agressive opening right, Italy is really explosive - one of the few powers that can legitimately build 3 in W01 and W02 and then fight it out - 9 centers in 1903? Yes please! But that is a very tricky thing to do.
Done it once, after having seen someone else do it once. 
