by pilotbob
Ok, I have to disagree with your premise here. The point of this game is to make the most stock by owning money in countries that are making a lot of money.The way for a country to make money is to tax factories and regions. You also don't have to pay maintenance on factories.
Austria rarely builds factories anyway, because it's so useful as an attack dog, and the player controlling it doesn't want to make it too valuable, and thus desirable to take away.
I'm not sure I care if you take a flag away from me. I try to invest in the companies doing well that will garner me the most points.
Most decisions I make in this game are situational. IF you control Russia and Austria you are going to play differently than if you don't.