They call the sport of boxing “the sweet science”, and there’s a reason for that. You see, although punching power and durability are admirable and valuable qualities in boxing, as one might guess, there’s a little more to it than that. If you’ve ever seen a bar brawl, a street fight, or an attempted boxing match by two untrained people, you can quickly see the difference between just being a tough guy and being a boxer. Even trained boxers are often theoretically divided into two different categories: punchers and boxers. “Puncher” is a label given to those who tend to rely more on raw power rather than technique and complex strategy; “Boxer” is the label given to those who tend to specialize in the opposite fashion.
Sometimes a puncher is so devastating that boxers with less power have trouble beating them even with superior technique and strategy. Similarly, sometimes a boxer’s technique and strategy are so superior that a much stronger puncher has trouble beating them. So, a high enough level of either power or technique can definitely be a viable option.
In CoN, though, there appears to be a severe imbalance in the number of people trying to be “punchers” and the number of people trying to “boxers”, with the former being much, much higher. Perhaps because it’s simpler to conceptualize, and perhaps also to employ, a much greater number of CoN players opt to try to become “punchers” in a given game. They stick to a small number of basic units that they level up as far as they can, increasing sheer “power per unit”. They then mass produce these powerful units to create the effect of “combined power”. The rationale is that if their stacks can hit harder and take more punishment than their opponent’s, they’ll win.
That’s a perfectly valid approach, and it works a portion of the time. If you and your opponent are both just standing toe-to-toe trading blows, and you can hit harder and take a harder hit, then you’ll come out on top. One immediate and obvious problem with that, though, is that in order for that approach to ultimately work, you have to have the single most powerful military in your game. This, I think, is part of the frustration experienced by many players in the game. There’s always a good chance that someone may come along who punches harder, and when that’s all you have to rely on, there’s not really much you can do about that.
Punching the hardest isn’t the only viable approach, though. You could choose to be a “boxer”; you could choose to learn and use technique and strategy to overcome power. What’s the advantage of choosing that over trying to be the hardest puncher? Well, for one thing, we don’t all start out with the same amount of power. Some nations are starting out with a power disadvantage, which is going to make it harder for them to ever hit harder than the bigger folks. Technique and strategy are abilities possessed by the player rather than the chosen nation, so they can be used with any nation of any size. In fact, the smaller a nation you start out with, the more you can probably benefit from superior technique and strategy.
The other benefit is that very few CoN players choose to be “boxers” rather than “punchers”, so it’s statistically easier to be the best “boxer” in a game than it is to be the hardest “puncher”. Not coincidentally, your opponents are less familiar with, and less prepared to defend against, good “boxers”, because they spend most of their time facing other “punchers”, and that’s what they’ve prepared all game to face.
I’m not telling anyone or everyone to stop trying to be the best puncher. If you’re a very good puncher and it works for you all or even most of the time, go right on ahead and keep training primarily for power. However, if you’re getting frustrated with always training for power only to get knocked out by stronger “punchers”, consider switching it up and learning to “box” more. It doesn’t mean you can’t still make an attempt to hit hard (after all, a hard-hitting “boxer” who can take a punch is very difficult to beat), but try focusing a little more on the technique and strategy side of things, and see if that works for you.
Sometimes a puncher is so devastating that boxers with less power have trouble beating them even with superior technique and strategy. Similarly, sometimes a boxer’s technique and strategy are so superior that a much stronger puncher has trouble beating them. So, a high enough level of either power or technique can definitely be a viable option.
In CoN, though, there appears to be a severe imbalance in the number of people trying to be “punchers” and the number of people trying to “boxers”, with the former being much, much higher. Perhaps because it’s simpler to conceptualize, and perhaps also to employ, a much greater number of CoN players opt to try to become “punchers” in a given game. They stick to a small number of basic units that they level up as far as they can, increasing sheer “power per unit”. They then mass produce these powerful units to create the effect of “combined power”. The rationale is that if their stacks can hit harder and take more punishment than their opponent’s, they’ll win.
That’s a perfectly valid approach, and it works a portion of the time. If you and your opponent are both just standing toe-to-toe trading blows, and you can hit harder and take a harder hit, then you’ll come out on top. One immediate and obvious problem with that, though, is that in order for that approach to ultimately work, you have to have the single most powerful military in your game. This, I think, is part of the frustration experienced by many players in the game. There’s always a good chance that someone may come along who punches harder, and when that’s all you have to rely on, there’s not really much you can do about that.
Punching the hardest isn’t the only viable approach, though. You could choose to be a “boxer”; you could choose to learn and use technique and strategy to overcome power. What’s the advantage of choosing that over trying to be the hardest puncher? Well, for one thing, we don’t all start out with the same amount of power. Some nations are starting out with a power disadvantage, which is going to make it harder for them to ever hit harder than the bigger folks. Technique and strategy are abilities possessed by the player rather than the chosen nation, so they can be used with any nation of any size. In fact, the smaller a nation you start out with, the more you can probably benefit from superior technique and strategy.
The other benefit is that very few CoN players choose to be “boxers” rather than “punchers”, so it’s statistically easier to be the best “boxer” in a game than it is to be the hardest “puncher”. Not coincidentally, your opponents are less familiar with, and less prepared to defend against, good “boxers”, because they spend most of their time facing other “punchers”, and that’s what they’ve prepared all game to face.
I’m not telling anyone or everyone to stop trying to be the best puncher. If you’re a very good puncher and it works for you all or even most of the time, go right on ahead and keep training primarily for power. However, if you’re getting frustrated with always training for power only to get knocked out by stronger “punchers”, consider switching it up and learning to “box” more. It doesn’t mean you can’t still make an attempt to hit hard (after all, a hard-hitting “boxer” who can take a punch is very difficult to beat), but try focusing a little more on the technique and strategy side of things, and see if that works for you.