Hi all,

I am fairly new to this game but completely addicted. I started playing online, and am doing alright, but I know I am making mistakes. Anyone feel like taking a look at any of these games and telling me what I could have done to win?

1) http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=1760073
This one especially, because I think I had a great opportunity to win.

2) http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=1759651

3) http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=1759115
Did I surrender too early on this one?

Thanks!

First off, your 1v1 win rate is 47%, so I wouldn't say you're doing anything wrong - you're average :)

To get to above-average, there are things you can do to increase your efficiency.

First, don't take down wastelands (the 10s) unless it's super critical. In the first game you took down a wasteland just to get a +3 bonus - that's not really a good trade when you can spend your armies elsewhere.

Second, try to be everywhere on the map. Don't cluster all three of your picks together, otherwise it makes it hard to spread out. If there's an area you're not in, always think of how you can get there.

In the first game, you had no entry into Asia, yet on turns 12-17 you sat in Sweden, which is right next to Finland which has 2 attack points into his bonus, yet you never took Finland. Even if you didn't attack his bonus, a mere 4 armies into Finland forces him to divert armies there to defend which can allow you to win on other fronts.

In all of those games I would prefer different picks, but that's a whole other story

1) First of all it seems you don't check history to see where the wastelands are (for example you wasted troops on taking central america). After you completed africa, you attacked europe heavily which was a mistake. In that scenario you shoud have gone for Iran. That was the key I believe, wasting troops on central america and Europe (you took a weird detour there)
2)You stacked troops in middle east and you had to defend 2 spots, you could have use a blockade on israel, but the most important mistake was on turn 16 where you went for Europe instead of hitting asia hard. Really try not to take bonuses with wastelands, very rarely it's fruitful.
3)Turn 8, you were definitely winning here, you should have deployed everything in Tomsk and try to attack late (probably western siberia hard, china light). You did not recognize that your russian bonus was not as important as attacking his asian bonuses. On turn 8 use order delay card, lose tempos and attack him hard. I think on turn 10 you might have gone towards Iran to use another route to attack Asia, but it's not certain how it'd end.

Those are the bigger mistakes (wasn't paying attention to little ones like the order of taking bonuses etc.). Hope it helps and try to diverce your picks a bit.

the home key is your friend. It brings up the initial distribution so you can see where the wastelands are and plan out where you can expand(and also where your enemy might be)

I use the darn thing all the time because I have the memory of a goldfish.

Game 1

Africa is a decent starting spot.. but remember N and S Africa have a bad bonus/territ ratio.. and if he had grabbed E.Af he could of pwned your entire game early on.. \*downfall of cluster picks*

few efficiency issues in the first turns of the first game...
turn 2, imho should of used Chad to capture W.Af, then moved the extra army in Nigeria to Ghana, so you could attack Mali the next turn with 3, possibly giving you the chance to capture N.Af that turn

turn 6.. wth are you doing attacking spain?

remember to use the history *often* in 1v1 strat.. you can see where all wastelands are.. you didn't know where fain started, but can presume he isn't in europe or scandinavia because of wastelands... should of concentrated to burst through ME while capturing SA and Antartica... only reason to hit Europe would be to head to greenland, and not likely to be beneficial enough..

your picks were a lil' bad, but not outrageously bad.. but your mid-late game expansion needed work.

game 2

same problem with Africa.. west and east africa provide 1 extra army/turn while having the same territory amount, your best bonus ratio was the last one you went for.. the S.Af could of been useful to hit first turn like you did, but you should of went towards Ant before N.Af.. could of grabbed it with less armies for same reward
Again with the wastelands issue on turn 8.. hitting Panama when Mexico is wastelanded up hard, and running into Europe again through a wasteland.. spreading through, and again breaking Scand with a wasteland.. honestly, it seems your biggest problem is wasteland locations..
by the time you hit Europe, you needed to be pushing forth hard into him, because he had all of America and Asia he could expand into, while you were blocked off via mexico and Solomon/taiwan..

game 3

imho, would of been more efficient with your picks to aim for E.Af early on.. but W.Af would of been a better cluster choice.. and it would of been harder to break.. SA would of been the best break, and it was a wasteland territ, so unlikely to be broken..

again, am watching through it.. you attack SA and are rnning through E.US like you don't realize there is a wasteland there..
I am highly shocked he didn't reinforce Egypt more.. from there he could of broken your back, but instead he allowed you to recapture the easiestdefensive point from that direction..
also your enemy put 8 armies on turn 13 to try and destroy your blockade in dudinka.. highly illogical.. 4 armies to capture ME then another 4 to ensure the break into Egypt would of been more useful..

Conclusion:

okay.. I'm writing this before finishing game 3. You really need to check which bonuses are more efficient bonus/territ wise.. you should almost always grab your initial bonuses first when you have no confrontations.. killing 2*4+4 armies takes less time then killing 2*3 for the same bonus... feel free to pull past territories when it will allow you to capture a bonus a turn sooner.. aka, game 3, capturing Cameroon before Nigeria is faulty.. if you fail the attack on Nigeria, you are guaranteed no bonus for another turn..
You should *almost* never break a wasteland in a 1v1 strat game.. if you are able to, you are either walking over the enemy, or doing something wrong.
I'm not gonna preach *against* cluster picks.. but they can be countered highly easily.. especially watching your games you have a high tendency to cluster in Africa.. anyone who's played a couple of games with you could plan to counter-pick you knowing your tendencies


/rant off ;)

It would actually be nice, to have a button to put some sort of tag on territories.. could be used to mark abandon's / wastelands as you spot them etc.

Wow, thanks so much guys. That seems so obvious now. Checking the wastelands will definitely make a big difference.

The smaller things are also noted - I appreciate it!

I just looked at game 3, and I just focused on a key part of the game--first contact. When you make first contact at turn 6, you have to assume that your opponent will have at least your income. You only put 3 extra armies in Omsk to defend, and that should have been the end of you in Asia, and the game.

When I meet the opponent, I usually try to beef up my defense and slowly expand with as few armies as I can spare. Only taking one or two (if a bonus is needed) territories a turn, but making sure to take at least one. This is mostly to keep getting the +5 cards. With a greater presence in E. Russia, you might have taken one of his bonuses the next turn.