"and why bother giving Scratch advice? Its not why he posted."

actually it is. i do sincerely want to know how to win more fights when we start with connecting lands :)

this french thing is funny tho. someday maybe you guys will have the pleasure of spending time there and the displeasure of interacting with some of their citizens, and you will see what i mean.

Can someone please answer his question? I have the exact same issue. I'm much more able fighting larger armies than starting beside someone. It feels like it's just luck.

As for the French thing, I spent a little bit of time around Paris three weeks ago and, as a French Canadian, I had a hard time getting on their good side. I'm a native speaker, yet they were very arrogant with regards to any term known outside of their country (perhaps even region). I didn't see much willingness to be friendly and it was probably my least favourite part of my time in Western Europe.

So while I can't judge too much based on the few days I was there (and because I only visited the capital), I definitely see where Scratch is coming from.

By the way, "French" is not a race, so quit calling people racist. It's such a misused term nowadays...

It's actually a very complicated scenario, ericle, because it mainly depends on each individual game. If you have a safe spot (bonus) you need to make sure to complete that while holding the other guy until you have the upper hand by having the larger amount of shock troops (apt). However, sometimes it can be better to simply attack right away, if you get lucky you eliminate one of your opponents spots, if not, well, then you need to compensate for it after and pay the price.

This is the reason why picks are so important. You want to have safe spots as well as traps. Once you get the bonus, you release the trap to break their bonus, given that you know your opponent's spots. Moreover you can guess where they are by looking at the armies deployed, if they deploy all. During a game, keep checking the history to find out where they are if you don't already know.

Last but not least, don't waste troops. Never waste even 1 troop. Make it count. If you know the opponent has more apt, then try to expand very quickly rather than deploying the few armies on the border, knowing that he will easily take them out.

It's the art of war. The problem you are mentioning is called the fine line between pure skill, which is derived partly from experience, and intuition. Master those and you will be good to go.

(Sorry for any writing errors; It is very late and my eyes can't pick up on anything anymore)

Thanks, that's a pretty good summary. I thought it would be a little simpler but, alas, you're right, it's all about analysing and re-analysing the situation.

I am no longer allowed to make fun of the French on the WarLight forum :(

I invite you all to visit my blog francelol.com if you wish to hear further thoughts on the topic.

How sad do have to be to make a blog about an hatred of a nation.

As much of a troll he is, I can still generally answer the question. Assuming you only have one starting territory and you start right next to each other, the best way is to look through countless of other matches in which the same happened. Check the strategies of both players and see which strategy, on average, wins more. Use that strategy to, on average, beat your opponents.

I personally had very few 1v1 games with 1 pick in which I started right next to my opponent. In fact, that's probably going to be extremely rare for anyone. Assess your starting position, and your opponent's. Assess which of you two has a better chance of taking a bonus first. It is unlikely the person will attack you in full force on the first turn, though it is possible he might do a dummy attack and then attack you with 2/3 (depending on luck settings) in case you decide to move out with all your armies. Of the limited games I played with this setup, I simply attacked 4/5v2 on the other side to start going for bonuses so that I'll still be decently defended against a full-scale assault. If his next move is to attack you with all of his troops, you've probably lost. But only because his move was illogical. If his next move is to attack with all of his troops to another spot, quickly get a bonus and hope he gets one later (or a lesser one), then push him away. If he has the same strategy, carefully place income so that you can get bonuses and defend your borders. It's all a game of taking logical steps. While luck can bring you down, you can still reduce how much luck will have an effect or simply affect the factors that you can control.

I remember some match in which everyone was set up to start next to each other, with a large amount of troops. Every person has a full area to expand in without the other players capable of getting there, unless they take your starting position. Some players thought it was optimal to attack with everything they had. I simply attacked my area with 4 and took less losses than my nearby opponent, then beat him with ease due to increased income. Another player beat his nearby opponent by getting lucky in order priority, attacking him fully while his opponent attacked his area with all of his troops. The second player then started expanding while the first player could take it all from him. See, it's all a matter of "what beats what with what chance". Take the one that is most likely to beat a general array of most likely choices.

So in other words Eric, you are comfortable with the view that all Canadians are the classless, dishonorable and destructive fools we saw rioting in Vancouver two years ago and repeatedly booing another country's national anthem?

Or do you realize that those are just a handful of bad apples that tarnish the image of an otherwise respectful people?

If you go into a bar and decide that most people in the bar are drunk, are you making an unfair generalization because a couple of "good apples" were drinking iced tea?

scratch is pretty obviously a troll, and since you are all reacting to him sincerely, a successful one.

@Richard: From my post:

So while I can't judge too much based on the few days I was there (and because I only visited the capital), I definitely see where Scratch is coming from.

@myhand- I like the music, catgroove is great. Sorry for the delayed response, on vacation and have limited internet

myhand - he is definitely not the only one, who recognizes the cover art ;) lots of people where I live listen the music.. sorry for the offtopic.

BTW funny how this is the first time i consider blacklisting someone for his forum activity, and not for in-game attitude.. and no, I'm not French ;)

Nice player name 