Is "Low Profile" a Strategy?

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Shrike...agree with your post. But it does seem when people are on the verge of loosing or at least they think so its like "srcew it I didnt really care anyway and throw a hail mary" its almost like they dont want to really try and fight and lose an agonizing slow death.. at least thats my experience. very few people have actually battled to the death.. somewhere along the line they get broken and either try to escape (which usually get eaten up by my ships) or just log off and leave units sitting ducks.

      Now if someone going to beat me im hanging on till my last unit and/or ability to produce is taken away. Not going to hand my conqueror the keys to my country... but many do. Its like a poker tourney.. as long as you have a chip and a chair still have a chance... but in reality people just go all in with short stacked and pray for the best.
      "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
    • Personally, I"m not a "fight tooth and nail to the last unit" kind of person. For me, there's a point from which a person can come back and a point from which they can't. I've played beyond the second situation before in the hopes of a grand comeback, and realized much later that there really wasn't ever any way I was ever going to catch back up. Still, I don't blame anyone for playing their heart out until their last man falls. Good for you for not giving up, buddy!

      The people that confuse me are the people who don't do either (quit or keep trying). Last night, I did some pretty significant damage to a country. It was at a point that we could probably debate whether or not a comeback was realistic; I think we'd agree it was kind of borderline. This morning, the player used their three remaining mobilization-capable cities (they previously had seven) to pump out infantry units at an advanced speed. They also completed two or three levels of research for those units. So now they had like three stacks of newly purchased and upgraded infantry.

      So they're going to try to get back in/stay in the game, right? They've decided to make a comeback and are committing to it? ...not exactly. They abadoned their remaining home cities and didn't even try to retake their lost home cities. Instead, they streaked the three newly created, newly upgraded stacks across the countryside hitting some of my inconsequential previously conquered cities here and there, but not even on the same continent as my homeland. The three stacks just kept running aimlessly until I killed them all.

      So, this is a newb who doesn't know what they're doing, right? Nope. Rank 71. Now, I'm not saying that a Rank like that means the person is good at the game, but it does suggest that this isn't one of their first few games... So, what were they doing?
    • Ive seen some really bad play from players with 100's if not 1000 + # of games. Its mind boggling sooner or later you have to realize what you doing isnt working but they just must do the same thing every game?
      "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
    • Lol, it just happened again. Russia (coalition mate) and I (Turkey) begin invading the German homeland by land from the east pushing west. Germany takes at least a half a dozen small (five-ish units each) stacks and dashes east out of Germany.

      Ummm... where you goin', buddy? Your homeland is back here. You need these cities to continue the game. There's uhhhhh..., there's nothing that way for ya. There are like two or three countries between your homeland and Russia's; we're currently IN yours, and no one is that worried about losing a handful of cities in Poland and Belarus. You could have grouped up and hunkered down in your own cities. That would have been both better for you and harder on us. I don't get where you're going.
    • This looks like revenge attempts. I normally go either way depending on where I am in the game and how I’m feeling. If I’m getting hit early game and I know I can’t survive, I may dispatch a doom stack into the enemy territory, say “you win, I’m going down, but you’re loosing something serious.” and archive it, like in one Peru game where I got triple teamed and my Coalition arrangements stagnated. However, in one Austria game, I did the opposite. It was around day 45 and I and my Coalition had obviously been loosing for a while, members dropping left and right, but I held on and garrisoned my two remaining divisions in two key occupied cities, Sofia in Europe and Ankara in Turkey. All the major nations descended on them, but to no avail since they didn’t invest their artillery. I actually stayed in that game all the way until it ended, although inactivity after a few days of the war of attrition meant Command went to the computer, which, in a moment of incredible strategic ineptitude, split up my strong defensive units and was gradually killed off.
    • PerigeeNil wrote:

      Oh yeah, this last one was definitely a failed revenge attempt. He posted angry messages of spite in CoN news. It cracks me up that people go on these revenge/spite runs. "I lost! Rawr! RAWR!!" Lol, "You mad, bro?"
      Its fight or flight instinct and many on CoN choose flight. I get that all the time either runners or quitters... man stand and fight. Its much more satisfying to kill live prey.
      "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:

      Oh yeah, this last one was definitely a failed revenge attempt. He posted angry messages of spite in CoN news. It cracks me up that people go on these revenge/spite runs. "I lost! Rawr! RAWR!!" Lol, "You mad, bro?"
      I had something similar occur in early-mid game when I was playing Austria. I was only rank one or two at that point, but the Poland player was only rank 17 then and not even a very good player. I had him in my sights, so I captured a city to prepare for my attack. He then proceeded to, in atrocious, virtually incomprehensible grammar, tell me to leave the city because he might attack me and could win since he was a higher rank. Apparently, he thought it was world of tanks or something and ranks actually afforded a significant advantage. I was silent while preparing, then proceeded to, with my ally Germany, invade Poland and conquer him in two days. Spiteful incapables. The worst are the ones that try to track people down through multiple games and early rush them.
    • Stratieon wrote:

      PerigeeNil wrote:

      Oh yeah, this last one was definitely a failed revenge attempt. He posted angry messages of spite in CoN news. It cracks me up that people go on these revenge/spite runs. "I lost! Rawr! RAWR!!" Lol, "You mad, bro?"
      I had something similar occur in early-mid game when I was playing Austria. I was only rank one or two at that point, but the Poland player was only rank 17 then and not even a very good player. I had him in my sights, so I captured a city to prepare for my attack. He then proceeded to, in atrocious, virtually incomprehensible grammar, tell me to leave the city because he might attack me and could win since he was a higher rank. Apparently, he thought it was world of tanks or something and ranks actually afforded a significant advantage. I was silent while preparing, then proceeded to, with my ally Germany, invade Poland and conquer him in two days. Spiteful incapables. The worst are the ones that try to track people down through multiple games and early rush them.
      yeah first game i won .. it was a coalition and think i was like rank 4 ... and my coalition leader was a rank 50. And granted i didnt know much but i learned fast and although we won as a coalition ... I had enough pts could have one solo if wanted too; but not going to dump a coalition ... it was all hustle and volume as didnt even have a clue about research and many different things. early on I just endured his "well you are rank 4 .. you dont know...Im rank 50" yada yadda..yada... 2 weeks later I had way more territory than him.
      "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've been suicided before. All it really meant was a quick pause while I cleaned up the mess. Then, I would go with a vengeance after every morsal of land left.

      To be honest, I have also suicided someone. He was a member of a coalition who left on good terms (timed out). When he returned we plotted together. Then, he decided to grab what land he could while I was away. When I woke up all was lost. Cities destroyed, little puppies and children crying in the street. So, since I was a goner I decided that I didn't want to be the only one and be-lined it to every stronghold he had. Then, we both sat on the sidelines together and watched the world burn
    • SodaChill wrote:

      He was a member of a coalition who left on good terms (timed out).
      That's always sort of is a dirty-dog move, if you ask me. I think only once have I turned on someone who timed-out and never returned. Its hard when you have one, maybe two solid friends who you can routinely coordinate and play maps with - so you invite in a rando to join the coalition in the map (when they seem to have more than three brain-cells to rub together).

      I'm not sure what is worse - turning on you after they time out... or they never return and then the AI turns on you with all of their previously acquired / built firepower. Makes it interesting, but, really?

      Re: suicide stacks: I think most folks (inexperienced more so?) forget that when it comes to motorized & mechanized infantry, those units have a higher defense strength than offense. So if you are losing badly, you can throw them to the wolves in a suicide rush, OR... [and anyone who has led troops in actual combat may see it this way] ... give your nation the best chance at survival of some type by garrisoning them somewhere, and put up a Stalingrad-style defense.

      Just my two coppers, tho...
    • Shrike2050 wrote:

      That's always sort of is a dirty-dog move, if you ask me. I think only once have I turned on someone who timed-out and never returned. Its hard when you have one, maybe two solid friends who you can routinely coordinate and play maps with - so you invite in a rando to join the coalition in the map (when they seem to have more than three brain-cells to rub together).

      I'm not sure what is worse - turning on you after they time out... or they never return and then the AI turns on you with all of their previously acquired / built firepower. Makes it interesting, but, really?
      Not cleaning up AI/inactives can put you in a bad spot tho; while you might hold back and dont do so, others wont
      and suddenly they have a foothold on your continent
      I am The Baseline for opinions
    • Shrike2050 wrote:

      SodaChill wrote:

      He was a member of a coalition who left on good terms (timed out).
      That's always sort of is a dirty-dog move, if you ask me. I think only once have I turned on someone who timed-out and never returned. Its hard when you have one, maybe two solid friends who you can routinely coordinate and play maps with - so you invite in a rando to join the coalition in the map (when they seem to have more than three brain-cells to rub together).
      I'm not sure what is worse - turning on you after they time out... or they never return and then the AI turns on you with all of their previously acquired / built firepower. Makes it interesting, but, really?

      Re: suicide stacks: I think most folks (inexperienced more so?) forget that when it comes to motorized & mechanized infantry, those units have a higher defense strength than offense. So if you are losing badly, you can throw them to the wolves in a suicide rush, OR... [and anyone who has led troops in actual combat may see it this way] ... give your nation the best chance at survival of some type by garrisoning them somewhere, and put up a Stalingrad-style defense.

      Just my two coppers, tho...

      It’s definitely important to ensure your own safety by neutralizing randoms who go inactive for long periods of time, particularly when you don’t know them or their capabilities very well. If it’s a friend you know well and you can connect with them out of game and be assured that they will rejoin soon, it’s probably not a good idea to take them out. However, if a random just drops out of the coalition, especially for longer than three days, you aren’t certain of their intentions, malicious, benevolent, or neutral. In such a case, it is often critical to neutralize them before they can take you out, or as Teburu said, provide an easy foothold on your continent for an enemy.

      I have two examples, one of each side of the above concept, in my Austria game. I actually made a connection with the Germany player, largely because we were the only two people in the coalition who actually had a clue about this really important thing called strategy and one other important thing called coordination, and he didn’t take me out when I went inactive although he easily could have. It made us significantly more successful as a coalition. However, when another player tried to join, joined, and then left, we gave him three days of messaging and peace and then took him out. Both decisions were better for us in the long run.

      In regards to suicide stacks, motorized and ngs are the defensive infantry. Mechanized is balanced in base stats and actually favors the offense in terrain modifiers. Naval, airborne, and special forces are the offensive infantry. In European, mechanized infantry is indubitably among the best, doing equally well against both soft and armored targets in both attack and defense. Therefore, it is one of the best infantry for suicide stacks. Often however, a Stalingrad-type defense in CoN means you’ve already lost depending on what you’re defending. Inversely though, if you defend a border city Stalingrad-style, you can probably be quite successful in the long run, it just depends on what you prefer to do when you’re defeated and what you decide is defeated. However, I often see experienced players making beginner mistakes, e.g. sending only infantry into combat, which is apparently rather frequent error along all parts of the experience continuum.
    • Kalrakh wrote:

      The first few days after joining a map, I tend to keep a low profile, because I prefer to produce a core army, before expanding.

      Also I want to ready, if I meet the typical suicider.
      I recently tried this strategy; it’s working out pretty well so far. A few more days and I’ll be ready to explode out quite rapidly. I normally build up ten-stacks in my border cities, solidify my defenses in all areas, prepare my reserves and other assets, and commence my attack, taking at least a city per day if possible. This works particularly well if I have sufficient units to continuously cover the axis of combat while moving along the axis of advance, enabling a smooth offensive campaign with little hassle.