I would like to discuss strategy options in defeating Single Player - Better to Give level.

Edited 9/9/2016 21:26:12

The theory is pretty simple: gift early, expand concisely, bugger the Island of the Giant's AI and screw up the East City AI by first turn hopping around toward the commander. Commander hunting, as usual. Dance into the west part of the city while clearing out Island of Giant's holdouts in the west.

Keep in mind, the gold star it comes to hunting then north west city AI's leader and killing him n time frame. Sometimes he hides in the top corner, sometimes in the tower, and sometimes he just runs central. Keep a plan for each of them. You'll win 90% of the time, but gold starring can be a little tough if the commanders get a bunch of obnoxious first jumps/your AI buddy is picking his nose.

Turn one: 3 to eastern spawn, take Farm. 2 to western spawn. Send leader alone to Little Ivywood, leave the two still.

Turn two: 4 to eastern, take Garden and Summerford. 1 to western (stack on the two from before) take Dustmead with leader, Far Water with troops.

Turn three: Gift Summerford (can gift now or delay one turn, but I prefer gifting now). 6 east (Stables), take Corness and Lorburn. Pull your troops from Garden upward. 4 west, take Hushwald and Dewhurst. Send leader alone to Trapper's Trail.

Turn four: 5 east, take Blue Bayou bonus and Shadowbeach. Move the 2 in Farm to Stables. 5 west, take Silent Army bonus and Northern Wasteland bonus.

Turn five: First contact! 15 east, to Shadowbeach. Last move, take Santa Maria. Position troops to have 3 in Ironbeach and Corness each. 2 west, take Aylesbury and Ormskirck. Move leader to Rochdale. (This is preference. Could send 14 east and the extra to Sparklower to hit Matlock for equal power).

Whatever happens in the Santa Maria defines the rest of the strategy, but, as usual, it's about commander killing and positioning. If you can take Santa Maria, split forces between Island of the Giant AI and eastern city AI. If he bounces you, take it next turn, but your gold star is probably gone. First-turn-hop around and bonus break while you home in on the commander, attacking with ~11 in the eastern city, everything else toward battling Island of Giant/expanding (eastern city is usually in Temple Hill or running toward Quarly, depending on how your buddy is doing, Giant Island commander is usually on the western side. Pursue him hard.)

When you find them, hit for commanders assuming that they'll reinforce by 5.

Positioning is the important part against the north western city AI if you want the star. You want to slip a troop in through the breach and through the ship and pincer in, shattering bonuses as you home in. Even if he has a stack that can beat you, you can often delay to the end of the turn and slip in right after him. Pick up Northern Forces when it's available, but if your commander hunting goes well, you dont really need it. You have about a two turn margin of error for the star. You need to be pushing a fastest route toward the corner/tower part of Northwest City as much as you can. Very easy to win one turn too slow.

I did it a bit differently than Ysayell1 to get my gold star.

Start out by only spending 2 in the East on Turn 1, and do nothing with them that turn. Focus on moving toward the boats and the wall from the North/West, using your commander to push ahead toward the boats.

Each turn starting at Turn 2, move 1 territory closer to the boats in the south, sending 8 as your last order to capture the boat. At the start of the next turn, you'll see an enemy territory with either 4 or 7. That AI has 21 income, so use the Analyze Tool to figure out how many you need to deploy to repel the enemy's attack (25/28), deploy that amount, and then gift the territory to your ally AI.

Repeat those steps until your AI ally's first turn using your gifted territory results in the ally AI breaking into both the Eastern Wall and Northern Castle bonuses.

You might also want to repeat until you get that result, and your ally has moved his starting stack to the front line of his assault heading east.

Capture your North/West superbonus as quickly as possible, and also as quickly as possible, break into the Western Walled area both from the boats and from the gap in the wall. The Eastern/Southern wall commander will be hiding along the wall. The Northern/Western commander will be hiding somewhere in the open (I've never seen it hiding in a corner when I've been on track for a gold star).

You should have a 1 turn margin of error if you're moving quickly enough, which you'll almost certainly need when the Northern/Western wall AI blocks one of your attacks when you're hunting for its commander. If you get blocked at the gap or when coming off of the boats, you almost certainly need to restart, because that AI will get at least one superbonus and spam armies to keep you blocked out.