my first game strategy

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    • my first game strategy

      what i realized right away with this game is that there is a HUGE learning curve. i didn't realize how much until i was actually in the game to figure out what i needed to research and learn. with that said, i am not going to talk about my in game strategy but the strategy i went with before the game started.

      i used to play risk on conquer club. i am a pretty high level player on there and this type of strategy game always interested me. this is what attracted me to this game when a friend of mine mentioned it. because it was like risk, i thought my same strategy would work with this game as well.

      i heard a ton of people saying pick a large country with a diverse amount of supplies, but when looking at a map, i noticed these countries are surounded by other countries. a lot of people in risk will go for the bigger territories because they offer more points.

      not me

      in risk, i will ALWAYS try to get oceania for the 2 points first. one direction in and one direction out. while my territory is heavily defended collecting those 2 point per round, most everyone else is thinning out their armies and trying to defend themselves against attackers.

      so i looked at the map and used that same strategy and picked nicaragua. two directions to go but panama was a computer and not a lot of resources to be of interest to anyone so basically 1 way in and out just like in risk. i knew where i wanted to originally attack to and i beat my opponent there to to arrangem my initial troups. i didn't leave any troops behind and took them all with me knowing i will need them and to apply a wall of troops just as i did in risk when i played.

      this strategy worked well for me. had a bigger country(yukatan) and had spread his armies too thin where i was able to congregate my armies a lot faster. although i cut through him like butter, it was a tough war with him. we started with the same stuff and i didn't want to sleep when at war with this guy as it was my first game and was still trying to figure out everything. HUGE learning curve! more than what made me feel comfortable. i almost quit the game because of the learning curve but i am glad i didn't.

      rest is history. i'm top spot for now with a better understanding and strategy. learning curve isn't as much anymore after 12 days and my strategy worked before the game even started and when i went against everything i read about the initial strategies including building up your economy first. i battled HARD first and then rested. depleted his resources and increased mine which lead me to the position i am in now. the strategies i read may be good for the bigger maps. i dunno. i will stick with mine until it fails though haha and then i can focus on learning a better one

      i commend the devs for this game. awesome game once you learn it(i can understand why people quit prematurely). quitting never got me anywhere in life though so i normally don't have that in me anymore. mistakes to me are just learning experiences and when people can see those mistakes in a positive way rather than a negative way, they will welcome mistakes. everyone makes them. they are inevitable. it's how we deal with them that is most important even in games like this where it's easy to just quit. but if ya quit, you haven't learned a damn thing. just as if you aren't making mistakes, you probably aren't doing ANYTHING.

      one great thing i love about games like this is i can take what i learn from the outside world and apply it in a game like this including psychology and human behavior. i can also take what i learn in game and apply it in the real world. it's not just about a game or a war. we are learning skills at the same time

      so that was my first game strategy with a little philosophical mix thrown in for fun haha
    • The general advice I give to everyone is: Determine your strategy based on your country.

      Every country on every map in this game is at least a little different (sometimes vastly different). Lazy (or just mistaken) players will try to tell newer players to "always do or build x". Don't listen to them. Consider your country and what will work best for that country, then do that. There's no best single unit type or best country. There are countries, units, and situations with which you personally have learned to play better.
    • PerigeeNil wrote:

      The general advice I give to everyone is: Determine your strategy based on your country.

      Every country on every map in this game is at least a little different (sometimes vastly different). Lazy (or just mistaken) players will try to tell newer players to "always do or build x". Don't listen to them. Consider your country and what will work best for that country, then do that. There's no best single unit type or best country. There are countries, units, and situations with which you personally have learned to play better.
      you just said something that i was thinking myself when i was reading strategies. i am reading these strategies thinking "wtf, it should be based on the game and your location and who your neighbors are and all the other extenuating circumstances" it's so naive to think there is one general overall strategy that is going to work and help win a game. i do want to eventually pick a country that would give me more of a challenge because like you said, there are multiple strategies and i feel it's going to be good for me to step out of my comfort zone and learn some of them. not only for myself, but to also be aware of what my opponents would normally do as well

      kinda scared thinking about playing a wwiii game though.
    • dfrost wrote:

      PerigeeNil wrote:

      The general advice I give to everyone is: Determine your strategy based on your country.

      Every country on every map in this game is at least a little different (sometimes vastly different). Lazy (or just mistaken) players will try to tell newer players to "always do or build x". Don't listen to them. Consider your country and what will work best for that country, then do that. There's no best single unit type or best country. There are countries, units, and situations with which you personally have learned to play better.
      you just said something that i was thinking myself when i was reading strategies. i am reading these strategies thinking "wtf, it should be based on the game and your location and who your neighbors are and all the other extenuating circumstances" it's so naive to think there is one general overall strategy that is going to work and help win a game. i do want to eventually pick a country that would give me more of a challenge because like you said, there are multiple strategies and i feel it's going to be good for me to step out of my comfort zone and learn some of them. not only for myself, but to also be aware of what my opponents would normally do as well
      kinda scared thinking about playing a wwiii game though.
      Early game is not much different, just more player activity. However, there is a learning curve when you start entering the middle and late game, when there more exotic units than tanks and infantry. Just focus on knowing what your units weaknesses are and build a counter to that potential threat.
      I am Aeneas, duty-bound and known above high air of heaven by my fame, carrying with me in my ships our gods of hearth and home, saved from the foe. I look for Italy to be my fatherland, and my descent is from all-highest Jove.
    • Aeneas of Troy wrote:

      dfrost wrote:

      PerigeeNil wrote:

      The general advice I give to everyone is: Determine your strategy based on your country.

      Every country on every map in this game is at least a little different (sometimes vastly different). Lazy (or just mistaken) players will try to tell newer players to "always do or build x". Don't listen to them. Consider your country and what will work best for that country, then do that. There's no best single unit type or best country. There are countries, units, and situations with which you personally have learned to play better.
      you just said something that i was thinking myself when i was reading strategies. i am reading these strategies thinking "wtf, it should be based on the game and your location and who your neighbors are and all the other extenuating circumstances" it's so naive to think there is one general overall strategy that is going to work and help win a game. i do want to eventually pick a country that would give me more of a challenge because like you said, there are multiple strategies and i feel it's going to be good for me to step out of my comfort zone and learn some of them. not only for myself, but to also be aware of what my opponents would normally do as wellkinda scared thinking about playing a wwiii game though.
      Early game is not much different, just more player activity. However, there is a learning curve when you start entering the middle and late game, when there more exotic units than tanks and infantry. Just focus on knowing what your units weaknesses are and build a counter to that potential threat.

      yea, i've been thinking about that exact thing while my units are healing. i am a bit confused on the direction i want to go. my weakness is protecting my ground units from air attacks. this leave me to believe my best bet is air superiority fighter. although i also like the idea of attacking from the air as well so i can speed up my movement. i haven't read up on strategies for my scenario yet or if getting both planes is efficient.

      i think i have a good ground force. getting strike fighters would just add to the damage along with my mobile artillery i already have x4 for now. but i think for now, to satisfy my weak spot, air superiority fighters i think is the way to go on that for defense. at first i was using my plane to do initial attacks just as i use the mobile artillery now. that is going to change now that i have a better ground force

      i am very excited to see the mid game and end game and the newer units come out!
    • Air Superiority Fighters are good for AIr Superiority (as the name implies), but that's mostly an arms race. By that I mean that the key to winning with ASF is to have more and higher Level fighters.

      If you choose not to get involved with that, there are other options for air defense. There are Mobile Anti-Air Vehicles which are better against choppers, but work against anything. There are Frigates, which are great against planes and can damage helos when they pick them up through LoS. There are SAMs which are great against planes but no dice against helos. There are Strikers, which aren't as strong in Air-to-Air as ASF, but can still take out Gunships and whatnot. There are Attack Helos which will get eaten up by fighters, but can take out Gunships and each other.
    • yea, that was one fo the things i was researching. i was thinking of going with the sams until i saw they suck against helos. then i asked my friend who introduced me to the game and he said not a lot of people use helos. not sure if that is true or not. i feel i have a better understanding of the game then he does already. i also noticed he talks about things sometimes that he doesn't know about and will give false information. ugggg one of my pet peeves.....
    • Helos are easy to defeat and short range (400 mi versus 750). virtually dead in water against airplanes.

      And mix planes yes its a good idea like any stack. pure stacks are easy to defeat. Mix of Air supp and strike fighters gives best of both worlds. But later in game my adv lvl SF can take out Air supp (most dont research high levels). If high level air supp I fight near cost and bait them into my Frigs AA. A 5 stack of frigs make quick work of enemy aircraft.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • I also use the back to wall strategy and even smaller countries fighting in 1 direction better than having 5 potential enemies on your border.

      Only played USA battleground once but won with Brit Columbia based on this scenario.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • @dfrost

      Helos rock socks. There are some (very good) players on this Forum who swear by them. Gunships can be early game monsters. I appreciate each of the aircraft types (and almost all units of any type) for doing what they do. Most of the time, when someone tells you that "unit type x" is good and "unit type y" is bad, it's because they are not using "unit type y" correctly or they have unrealistic expectations for it.

      So, this is where Military Doctrine comes into the picture, in my opinion.

      Western Doctrine gets bonuses for ASF and Attack Helos (and Theater Defense Systems, among other things).
      European Doctrine gets bonuses for Strikers and Mobile AA Vehicles (and other things).
      Eastern Doctrine gets bonuses for Gunships and SAMs (and other things).
    • Buckeyechamp wrote:

      Helos are easy to defeat and short range (400 mi versus 750). virtually dead in water against airplanes.

      And mix planes yes its a good idea like any stack. pure stacks are easy to defeat. Mix of Air supp and strike fighters gives best of both worlds. But later in game my adv lvl SF can take out Air supp (most dont research high levels). If high level air supp I fight near cost and bait them into my Frigs AA. A 5 stack of frigs make quick work of enemy aircraft.
      Okay, @dfrost, so this is where you kind of have to sift through what you hear from us. Buckeyechamp is a really good player, but like here he says "pure stacks are easy to defeat" and then tells you about how great a 5-stack of Frigates is. Maybe he only meant "pure stacks" of an aircraft type; I don't know. My point is, don't be afraid of "pure stacks" or "mixed stacks", just use what makes the most sense in the situation, and only use things in situations where they make sense.

      Another thing Buck says here is that "helos are easy to defeat". This gets into something else that Teburu (another good player) was talking about the other day where a player will say a unit is bad because it can be beaten by another specific unit. Yes, helos get wrecked by planes, but that's because planes are THE thing that wreck helos (okay, and Mobile AA) and helos are THE one thing that planes wreck. Each unit has at least one counter-unit. That doesn't make it a bad type of unit. Gunships are not good against any other aircraft, but they absolutely melt infantry. You just have to use them for what they are used for and not expect them to be stronger than they are supposed to. Nothing is meant to be invincible.
    • Damage distribution is a concept I didn't see the value in until after reading enough of the forum...

      In case you're not familiar, it's were you stack different units together to spread out the damage that stack takes.

      Units of one type will pool their HP.... if you have 5 ASF and the stack takes 15 damage one of those planes will have it's HP reduced to zero, and thus the stack becomes 4 units.
      If a stack is comprised of 2 SF and 3 ASF and takes 15 damage, that damage is split between the two unit types... each taking 7.5... all units surviving.

      If you have a stack with 5 different units each would lose 3 HP from the stack taking 15 damage...


      Healing units, however, is more effective with multiple units of the same type.
      Since the HP of same-type-units is pooled together you can group them and increase their healing rate.
      For example, If you had one unit that took 5 damage and put it in a city to heal...it would heal by 1 HP per day... but if you grouped that unit with 4 others of the same type the whole group would heal by 5 HP per day.
      Even if the 4 other units were at full HP... the HP is pooled, thus the damage is shared and the healing rate increases with each additional unit.


      Something else: When you upgrade a unit through research that you already have fielded... all units get the upgrade when the research is complete... So, if you have 20 motorized infantry and complete the next research, all of those units are upgraded... not just the units you mobilize afterwards...Something you'll want to consider in your build plans

      Hope this helps

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Smallsword ().

    • well usually mix 1 off / 4 frigs but on small map naval officer the juice isnt worth the squeeze. and I view naval different as its not locked in point engagement. can stick and move.

      I was referring to ground units. Like 6 mob arty dead easy prey for SF. Day 8 have mixed 1 ASF / 4 SF that deal out 19 hard / 19 soft. twice range and speed of Helos. each strike takes out almost 2 mob arty and i dont think any damage.

      Same with tank stackers that do no air damage. By that time in game if someone is a tank stacker I have Cruise missiles; which between 5 CMs (30 hp damage a piece) and a 5 SF hit of over 25 hp damage. so 1 sorte can deliver 175 hp damage. Only defense ground stackers have from air is SAMS really; Mobile AA just a scratch. Even then will get them; even if have to waste a missile to trigger AA then they are dead in water for 10 min.

      I ran into 1 guy who had stack with like 8 mrl (which too me is way too many to allow) and like 4 sams and that was a tough nut to bust open. Then he flew in like 10 air supp fighters; only thing that turned tide for me is he followed me with his planes to coast and fell into my frig air defense. But I did enough damage to him to have him declare peace. He was defending a idiot coalition partner of his; so i had no beef with him. we chatted more as enemies than I did with my own partners. Sometimes good opponents you fight with respect can become best allies.

      So yes every unit has a counter; but key is compliment units that cover that weakness.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • Smallsword wrote:

      Damage distribute is a concept I didn't see the value in until after reading enough of the forum...

      In case you're not familiar, it's were you stack different units together to spread out the damage that stack takes.

      Units of one type will pool their HP.... if you have 5 ASF and the stack takes 15 damage one of those planes will have it's HP reduced to zero, and thus the stack becomes 4 units.
      If a stack is comprised of 2 SF and 3 ASF and takes 15 damage, that damage is split between the two unit types... each taking 7.5... all units surviving.

      If you have a stack with 5 different units each would lose 3 HP from the stack taking 15 damage...


      Healing units, however, is more effective with multiple units of the same type.
      Since the HP of same-type-units is pooled together you can group them and increase their healing rate.
      For example, If you had one unit that took 5 damage and put it in a city to heal...it would heal by 1 HP per day... but if you grouped that unit with 4 others of the same type the whole group would heal by 5 HP per day.
      Even if the 4 other units were at full HP... the HP is pooled, thus the damage is shared and the healing rate increases with each additional unit.


      Something else: When you upgrade a unit through research that you already have fielded... all units get the upgrade when the research is complete... So, if you have 20 motorized infantry and complete the next research, all of those units are upgraded... not just the units you mobilize afterwards...Something you'll want to consider in your build plans

      Hope this helps
      lots of good info there and you just answered a question i was about to ask! i was literally about to create another thread it was about researching. i didn't know if that was good for future units only or if it included the units already created. you're awesome man! haha thanks!

      yea, and i have been practicing stacking already. not only to distribute the hp evenly but for healing as well. i am still unclear exactly how healing works. there are topics on it that seem specific but really aren't. i will need to think about how i word my post though in the healing thread because my question is a little complicated with different scenarios to understand healing better
    • dfrost wrote:

      Smallsword wrote:

      lots of good info there and you just answered a question i was about to ask! i was literally about to create another thread it was about researching. i didn't know if that was good for future units only or if it included the units already created. you're awesome man! haha thanks!
      yea, and i have been practicing stacking already. not only to distribute the hp evenly but for healing as well. i am still unclear exactly how healing works. there are topics on it that seem specific but really aren't. i will need to think about how i word my post though in the healing thread because my question is a little complicated with different scenarios to understand healing better
      Just stack in a hospital. you get 1 hp per day (for city) 1 hp per unit per day for each lvl hospital. So a lvl 5 hospital witll give you 6 hp health per unit per day.

      You can even mix in healthy units to speed healing.

      Example: 5 dinged inf at 7/15 hp a piece for total of 35/75 HP. in 1 day that stack would by 65/75 health. But say you have 2 full health inf units at 15/15. So now 7 inf for total of 65/105 hp before healing; but now get 6 hp x 7 units or 42 hp healing in 1 day. End of day will now have 7 completely healed units. same concept works with all unit types (must be all same to spread health). Mixed stacks spread damage; Mono stacks share healing.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • PerigeeNil wrote:

      dfrost wrote:

      kinda scared thinking about playing a wwiii game though.
      I'll join a 4x speed WW3 game with you, if you want. I have a little time right now. It could be kind of a dedicated crash course for you with a veteran providing pointers and answers in-game as you play.
      WW3 games not much different. just have to play in stages (first 10 days.. clear out neighbors); days 10 - 30 now region/continent and as a new player hard solo as usually end up with 128 countries whittled down 4 strong coalitions europe; asia; african; Americas. thats why mideast sucks in WW3 imho. as if everyone clearing out continents and moving towards enemy coaltion; middle east is usually where meet. ; days 30 plus coalition battle. I prefer Asia as need/have strong navy and can control pacific from Americas. In beginning island hoping sucks but helps in long run as would take other coalitions long time to conquer so they go for easier wins; Africa could get hit from any direction. Europe usually a land based coalition and try to march through Turkey/Saudi or hit n Africa. If control Suez canal its a long trip around Africa. Americas will generally hit west Africa from Brazil to Africa closest commute.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • Soloing in the Middle East is a challenge. I've solo'd with a lot of small, surrounded nations, but Israel was probably the one that was the most exciting to me. Like Buck said, the Middle East tends to get it from all sides, and they start out relatively resource/unit poor. Playing alone in the Middle East is especially challenging, because usually one Middle East coalition forms, and you're the enemy if you're not in it. So, you're looking at situation where you're a small, poor country in a condensed area fighting against an entire coalition, and once they are dead, the rest of the world is coming right behind them. Soloing as Austria or Serbia is similar, but the resources are better, and Europe usually split into two coalitions that temper each other a bit.
    • The specific units listed in the specific post here Look through a different Lens - What's your ACTUAL Day 5, 10, 15, 20, ... Order of Battle (OOB) may help you decide what units to build next.

      I was Chad.
      • An ally (Egypt) built our main navy.
      • Because public players frequently don't build AA units, I used my planes and hospitals to destroy enemies at long range, in diverse locations, without losing any units myself.
      • My infantry simply strolled in to capture territory after the enemy troops were dead/gone.
      • National Guards would have been cheaper than the Mot Inf.
      • My AFVs were an experiment, they were good for keeping insurgents out of recently captured cities, but not for much else in this game.
      • Don't waste time and resources building AFVs (or tanks). Build adequate ships instead.


      Like planes, artillery (aka ranged units) can also kill enemies without taking losses, but with the obvious differences caused by being ground units. Egypt and Saudi used MLRS well during the end game once the more advanced MLRS units became research-able.

      Egypt was our navy, but he was all dressed up with nowhere to go. No one built an opposing navy.

      Saudi researched missiles, and also took territory near the end of the game. Saudi used lots of ASF for both anti-air and strike work.

      Moz did all right, but most experience players would say that he built too many Corvettes (more than 2-3) and too many tanks (more than zero) (many folks think tanks are among the biggest sucker-bait units in the game)

      Ken built a balanced army but had outside distractions that slowed his growth.

      --------------------

      In your public game, with a good air force (10 SF, 3 ASF, 1 high-level hospital) you can kill the Caribbean AI / abandoned countries very efficiently. Grow that way while encouraging the other players to beat each other up.

      Invade Florida or Nuevo when you run out of Caribbean places to expand.

      --------------------

      In public games, a UAV can be an invaluable part of wiping out AI / Abandoned countries efficiently.

      So long as you don't linger and get spotted, they can do well collecting intell on active players too.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by KFGauss ().