I don't think a challenge 3 would have to necessarily be a big step up in difficulty, perhaps just a difficulty that is different enough such that it doesn't feel like you're using the same basic strategy to beat 2 and 3. So tough, but tough in a different way if that's possible which I think it is.

What does it take to create and test a single player level? If there was a way to do it that could be done solely in the browser, without having to go through you, and could be highly reiterative then I'd probably be inclined to take a stab at making one and see what I could come up with.

As for this thread dying, you just guaranteed it will live longer than it would have if you hadn't said that! :P

I will take the duty of reviving this one from time to time

Muahahah!

bump

wait too soon :(

I decided to try the new challenge 2 as well. I beat it in 27 turns, but I think I could have gotten it in 26 if I played a little bit tighter. That was about 7 turns faster than I had beat the old one, so I don't know if I just played a lot better or if it's easier now or what.

This thread is supposed to offer strategies to beat Challenge II -- after reading 54 posts bragging about beating it, I found nada advice on how to beat it. The only "tip" is that denying the AI card pieces (presumably with bigger defenses and slower expansion) is somehow important. I have reached 70+ income repeatedly only to have 3 AIs arrive from 3 directions with huge stacks. I can fight them off for awhile, but they inevitably start to crush me around turn 13. Even my 150 first abandon (in scandanavia usuallY) gets run over by a huge AI stack around turn 15. So what's a good strategy to use. Any and all tips appreciated...

Even better would be the option to post your victories over the challenges so other players can see (admire) them.

I never did anything with denying the AI card pieces.

I think the best strategic advice I can offer besides a turn-by-turn run through is to learn how the AI works and capitalize on it. The AI has some tendencies in where they will deploy armies, what territories they will attack, and so forth, so it's very much possible to anticipate and then outplay them in that regard. For example, the AI will tend to value attacking neutral territories more than you. They are also generally fairly predictable in where they are going to attack, so if you can prepare for that, put up a good wall of defense, and then counterattack after they've failed attacking into you, you'll be well set.

Hope this helps.

Thanks -- any suggestion on placement of 1st abandon and what size? Do you try to stop the AI from coming through in East Russia, Canada and South Africa by racing toward those choke points (if so, what order?), or do you pick a smaller area in your own world to defend from? It sounds like you leave more neutrals around for the AI to atatck. My fast as possible expansion through all the neutrals in my world may be why I keep losing. Generally the AIs encounter very few neutrals in my world when they first get there. So how far do you expand initially?

My first abandon is in Svalbard S. Generally I abandon somewhere between 18-25 armies (90-125 after the 500%). It varies based on how the rest of the map looks and how many armies I need elsewhere. That is usually a fairly crucial turn. I fight over Europe/Scandinavia/Greenland with the AI that comes through in Scandinavia. I generally beat the AI to the East Russia and Canada choke points. The East Russia choke point I believe is a good deal more important to hold than the Canada one if you have trouble beating them to both and holding both. The AI that pops through in East Russia usually has a good income and east Russia is harder to clean up on than Canada if they do get loose.

Is this the longest thread ever on warlight? don't let it die! I still can't beat challenge 1

Just beat challenge 2 in 35 turns. Probably could have cut 5 or 6 off that, but I was excited to win, so I went carefully. That said, I think you need to plug Svalbard and Anadyr. Make sure you beat the AI to both spots, and plug one and hold the other. I think it's easier to hold Anadyr, as you'll only have one opponent there, and the AI will cover both New Zealand and Tasmania trying to defend Australia.

Finally beat it! 42 turns, not pretty, but I'll take it:)

Gaspumper gave me some great advice. I won't spoil it, but I'll say this: The bigger you can make your abandons, the better. Especially in Anadyr. If you can't hold Anadyr, probably best to start over.

Congrats u2 and thks for hints.

This is the weekend I finally beat challenge 2 -- I haven't tried in a few months after much bitter frustration. But I'm calling it now!

Congrats guys!

I did have one interesting situation come up that almost caused me to quit.

I was doing well on all fronts, and had 150 armies in an abandon in Svarslbard S.

Around turn 18, an AI team blew through my abandon and dropped 220 armies in South Africa. I was thinking, oh Shit, I have NO answer for this. I started building up forces 2 spaces away from the AI. I danced around his big force for 3 turns. I managed to get behind, so I was in South Africa and he was in Kenya. I had 100 armies, he had 270. If I attack, I die. If he attacks me, I die. But now I had an abandon card! I decided to do a sort of reverse abandon, hoping he would attack me and destroy himself.

It was nerve racking, because once the abandon went off the area was lost in fog. I attacked south anyway, hoping I wouldn't run into 270 armies. And it worked! He killed himself on the abandon. It was worth it, turning point in the game.

dang guderian, how lucky can you get?! BTW, how many turns did it take for you to win?

well done though!

First time I beat it was 42 turns. 2nd time 35. Last time 30. I'm going for the speed record, but it's somewhat time consuming to play out the Insane level:)

just beat it earlier today, and as this thread has been somewhat lacking in specific strategies to use i thought i'd help everyone out by giving mine in some detail.

first, i should mention that i got somewhat lucky b/c AI africa expanded to south america (leaving the AI in the US landlocked). As a result, i was never fighting more than 2 AIs at a time until i had essentially all of the top.

i think the most important thing for me was to high tail it to anadyr S and keep that defended. this restricts the AI that spawns there to 5 income, which he will use to stumble through canada (competing with his team mate for the bonus) and into South America (top). Basically, you don't really need to worry about that AI.

My first wave of expansion was in africa, eventually plugged sveldbard S with 175 (which i think was too many -- by turn 28 the AI had only managed to build 170 units there).

Next, I went into Europe and North America, fighting AI africa into South America (bottom) and Africa (bottom). Once you take away a bonus the AI isn't really enthusiastic about trying to defend the rest of it. During this time I also took china and caucuses.

Then it was a matter of beating the AI that pops through anadyr (north) into australia (south) and continuing to expand in africa south. after you have all of the north and a good foothold in the south, the rest of it is just technique.

I've found that for both insane and crazy you can tell relatively early on if you're doing well. In other words, if it feels like you're getting your ass kicked, you probably are and should probably restart.

"i think the most important thing for me was to high tail it to anadyr S and keep that defended. this restricts the AI that spawns there to 5 income,"

Tried your method, since it's different than mine. 33 turns. Problems I found were: High tailing it to Anadyr S takes precious units away from getting bonuses, even though it's a small amount in the beginning. But once you get to Anadyr S, it becomes a huge undertaking. This is because: Contrary to what you experienced, the AI that starts in Anadyr S doesn't always expand into W Russia. Sometimes it goes straight to AI Canada, and the AI that starts in Shanghai goes North and South, taking W Russia, E China, India, Indonesia and Australia. This makes them a very difficult foe, and they will tie up tons of your resources, both in Anadyr S and your Anadyr N. Meanwhile, the AI that went to Canada is coming up through South America...

Still, it can work. Not my fastest time, but first try, maybe I could get luckier with the AIs next time, luck is a huge part of the Insane challenge. Not nearly as much as the Crazy challenge, but how the AIs develop in the Insane challenge is different every time. If I had a spy card, I would own them:)

One strat I'll throw out that I've had limited success with: Expand as usual, and try and take E and W US, but... Let them go. The AI that comes in through their S America will screw around forever taking your spaces, small spoiling attacks can keep them from taking bonuses. This also helps if they come in strong through your S America, you don't care as much. Just don't let them get into your Africa/Europe/Asia, and expand into them.

And expanding into them is really the key. They'll have huge armies that you can't even conceive of fighting. Don't worry about it, live in their bonuses. Divert as much as you can there while protecting what I've mentioned above. The first time you eliminate an AI on the Insane challenge will be one of the most rewarding moments you've ever had in Warlight, believe me:) Eventually, you'll be making so much you can kill anything they have.