Conquer Club

Wish I paid attention to what kind of game I joined. I am playing a no spoils classic map. At first I made a play for the "Australian" continent, but I was challenged by another and all we did was just slowly build up our armies. I was slightly behind in numbers, but there was really nobody trying to do anything but build up there armies. If everybody just stayed put, nothing would change, except one player managed to secure "South America", and his or her growth would eventually overwhelm the map. I recklessly attacked my opponent in Australia, hoping for a lucky roll of the dice, but no luck. I then built up my armies in North America building enough strength to discourage South America from invading, but not really doing much to further my chances. I decided that I could start attacking all the countries with solitary armies and try to accumulate more countries and earn more armies each round. It seems nobody else wants to waste their armies retaking their countries as they still earn the minimum three armies each round. I am hoping to hold onto 15 countries, but I am spread thin and anyone can easily stop me, except they will lose ground in the arms race. (I wouldnt mind paying a player to just kill me off, so I wouldnt have to play this game through the summer, which seems to be the pace of this game.)

Anybodies thoughts on what are successful strategies on a no spoils map, apart from grabbing the small continents would be appreciated. Anybodies thoughts on my situation, where I may have 15 countries, but no real chance to take a continent, because this late in the game, each continent has a player with twenty to thirty armies in one of the countries.

Thanks in advance,

Roldan

A game link would be helpful.

I assume you are referring to Game 4501944, right ?

The game in question is:

Game 4501944

I'd be tempted to just build a stack up and not try to break any bonuses. Provided you're still alive when some of the superpowers have started killing each other off you should have a slim chance of winning.
The total troop counts for that game are as follows :
ft-e________49
Szyslak83________80
Mooch329________32
serialkiller74________56
korak________15
roldan________19

Simply, you just need to hang in there and deploy your 3 armies. Sit back and watch the other stronger players "have at it". Don't get eliminated.

Moved to general discussion strategy not related to Society style games.

Glory

roldan wrote:Wish I paid attention to what kind of game I joined. I am playing a no spoils classic map. At first I made a play for the "Australian" continent, but I was challenged by another and all we did was just slowly build up our armies. I was slightly behind in numbers, but there was really nobody trying to do anything but build up there armies. If everybody just stayed put, nothing would change, except one player managed to secure "South America", and his or her growth would eventually overwhelm the map. I recklessly attacked my opponent in Australia, hoping for a lucky roll of the dice, but no luck. I then built up my armies in North America building enough strength to discourage South America from invading, but not really doing much to further my chances. I decided that I could start attacking all the countries with solitary armies and try to accumulate more countries and earn more armies each round. It seems nobody else wants to waste their armies retaking their countries as they still earn the minimum three armies each round. I am hoping to hold onto 15 countries, but I am spread thin and anyone can easily stop me, except they will lose ground in the arms race. (I wouldnt mind paying a player to just kill me off, so I wouldnt have to play this game through the summer, which seems to be the pace of this game.)
Anybodies thoughts on what are successful strategies on a no spoils map, apart from grabbing the small continents would be appreciated. Anybodies thoughts on my situation, where I may have 15 countries, but no real chance to take a continent, because this late in the game, each continent has a player with twenty to thirty armies in one of the countries.
Thanks in advance,
Roldan

Frankly, at the point where you were "just slightly fewer armies" than the other guy trying for the same continent...you should've attacked. Being on the offensive in that situation gives YOU the advantage and if you had say...15 or so armies yourself, you'd find yourself winning more often than losing. And you'd then have your bonus.

Personally, when I play no-spoils (which is almost all the time), I SLOWLY move to take a bonus area, usually one territory at a time (unless an unusual situation presents itself). You have TIME to move that way to secure things.

Round 21, you are pretty much screwed here and on the verge of extinction at anytime. With so few armies you should have placed your aggressive tendencies on hold and gone into survival mode awhile back. Red wouldn't be a threat to you at the moment, except you've parked your biggest fort (3) right next to his bulk (14)... and Green (who is likely the one to exterminate you) is only getting a 6 bonus and can't take too big a chance with Red's bulk so close to his bonus... so about all you can do is FORT on F6 (for the next 10 rounds) and hope nobody comes after you.

Your odds of prevailing are slim but never impossible, so as a freemium you may prefer to let someone eliminate you and move on to a fresh map. Otherwise just be patient, hide in the corner, fotify all the armies you can muster and with each round you will become less of a target. Nothing else to do right now as you are outgunned everywhere... and the A section is not an option unless you're ready to exit.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I think I should have stayed put in the N region. The green player in S with his bonus still had to protect two fronts which halved his advantage in taking over anything more. As far as trying to occupy every territory except fortified ones, I am not sure that I am able to gain any bonus advantage based upon numbers of occupied territories. I have lost a lot by spreading myself out. As far as a place to "fort" I thought A may be the toughest place for anyone to take, and therefore the safest place to avoid any attacks. F is the next easiest place to conquer, and forting there will invite attack. Another idea is not to fort at all, and just spread out my armies everywhere. Each territory will be vulnerable, but I stand a chance to have something survive the battle of the superpowers. But with only chained reinforcements, I will need many turns to consolidate my armies to begin any campaign. Of course (I keep repeating to myself) this is only a game and I might try this counterintuitive strategy to see what happens.

The reason I suggested Forting on F6 is that it is the farthest territory from other player's biggest fotifications. Green has to protect his (S.America) bonus from Red (in Europe) and not only will nobody hold "A" (Asia) and on top of that Godzilla is perched on it's SE corner.

I just try to get a position, such as "E", defend it from only openings your opponnent has, and when his forces thin out, strike. and never, ever, EVER try to fight a 3 on 3 battle. I always end up losing... I've also found that advancing a large army too far in one turn only allows your opponent to take it all back on his turn. Advance your army when you can, but always try to leave about 3 or so troops at the front to guard your newly claimed territory.

Well you're certainly holding up well roldan... Green (shouldn't) be a threat with Red right there outnumbering him and you have a nice buffer between yourself and Red too... who is the King of Numbers atm and growing. So your biggest threat is probably Yellow, should he decide he doesn't like A11 full of cyan-ites. But even there you have some decent spacing... and it would seem your stock is improving with each round as well as your odds of survival.

If this continues to build with red & yellow getting double your deployments, you might consider migrating to North America (N) eventually... which finally might lead red & yellow into a confrontation over Asia (A). Or just try to "look small" with low rent housing on F3 so the big guys don't feel a need to come after you.

I had a similar sort of game in Australia: Game 4156024

From the start I had no position and someone could easily have wiped me out when they choose. But I hung on in there, and just waited for the less patient players to attack each others' stacks. Eventually, I became the powerhouse of a 4 man game but still without enough troops to win... Fortunately, the 2nd most powerful player suicided on the 3rd in round 50... handing me the win

I am a little surprized to still be around at this point. The trick will be learning when to strike and still have enough to defend whatever continent I can grab. So far the equilibrium keeps everyone alive, including impoverished me. Anybody who takes a stab at me will lose enough to give a third party the opportunity to take over. This may continue until next year!

roldan wrote:This may continue until next year!

I was a bit surprised to see you give up on this one.
Deadbeating is never a good solution.