Whats Happening in Game 7

As the original French player, Jim's summary is reasonably fair, though misses much of the background which explains the actions of players.

It should be noted that France declared war on England following the refusal of England (under several players) to honour her treaty over dredgers which caused a great deal of damage to France. Austria then dishonourably attacked France, breaking her own peace treaty only a few months after it was signed. This was the latest in a line of Austrian aggression against other players including Saxony and Prussia. With her pre-emptive strike Austria marched into a few undefended or lightly held towns where the defences were unfinished, but failed to make any headway whenever a sizeable French force was encountered. From posts on the forum it is unclear precisely why Austria went to war or what her war aims are. Perhaps it will become clear during the peace conference?

The war became increasingly bitter due to an effective propaganda campaign, and a series of huge bribes by which Austria dragged in several other nations against France, including UDP and Spain. Despite such seemingly overwhelming odds and France being inactive for a while, France successfully concluded its campaign in England, replacing a series of dishonourable governments with the new administration led by the much more honourable and civilized Duke of Norfolk in the name of King James III. Playing with honour is a new experience for English players and naturally has brought some criticism from Hapsburg players who have relied on anti-French propaganda to keep their coalition together.

The latest attack, presumably designed to wreck the Yorktown peace conference (called by Austria) was a pre-emptive strike by Spain on the city of Dublin, loyal to King James III which sank some French ships. This looks like it has triggered war between England/France and Spain, though no formal declaration of war has been made and France has not yet made any statement or attacked Spain in response. It isn't clear why Spain attacked and what its war objectives are. It isn't particularly clear why UDP is fighting either, though receiving another £1M+ from Austria could have something to do with it. What nobody can understand is why Austria is handing out such lavish bribes if she has any intention of negotiating peace at the peace conference she called? Austria continues to fight on despite the Pope asking for her troops to withdraw from France. The Pope has not yet criticised Spain for its attacks on England, but perhaps Spain simply made a mistake. I suppose it is easy to send 60SoL to blow hell out of a foreign port by accident, but it takes an astonishing level of naivety to simply expect England to ignore such an attack, let alone accept a proposal from a Spanish Princess. I've heard of shotgun weddings, but never one where the groom is expected to marry or see his towns blown up!

Far from being defeated (or "making a pig's ear of fighting off the Austrians" as Jim suggests) France has just held off a bungled assault on the town of Chalons-sur-Marne, to the east of Paris (not the far south of France), by "the best paid soldiers in Europe" (Prince Eugene's Guard). Despite Hapsburg propaganda claiming that France is determined to conquer Europe, the reality is that since the start of LGDR France has not declared war on any nation which did not first break its treaty with France, so can hardly be seen as aggressive. It should also be noted that French armies have not lost a major battle since 1652 (during the French Civil War known as the Fronde), and the French navy destroyed a vastly superior English fleet at the Battle of Medway in 1704, from which point it has been in undisputed control of the Channel.

The G7 France vs England thread will probably tell you all you need to know about how certain players have conducted themselves in the game, though you will probably learn more from back issues of the newspaper. If you are confused having read all these, join the club!

There are limitations on the forum and through the messaging system how much can be discussed. It is far better to write letters in the game to the relevant players. I don't know fully how Swashbuckler works, but if you do decide to enter the middle of a war between two opposing camps you may find it very difficult to survive the attentions of one side or the other, being arrested or killed as a suspect spy. As a single character I am sure there are lots of things you could do to have an interesting time without becoming a pawn in someone else's war.