Welcome to turn 6 of Rufus versus The World. For reference, this is how the board looked on picks and how the board looks right now:






As a recap, here's what happened last turn:

The World plays a reinforcement card for 5 armies
The World deploys 13 to Brazil
Rufus deploys 17 to Colombia
The World deploys 3 to Eastern Kazakhstan
The World deploys 3 to Western Kazakhstan
The World takes Venezuela with 14v3. The World loses 1 army
Rufus takes Brazil with 21v1 and loses 1 army
The transfers happen in the Russias
The world takes Caucasus; the 2v1 from Western Kazakhstan resulted in no armies killed for The World.
Furthermore, The World gets perfect leftovers when taking Kyrgyzstan and loses one taking Tadschikistan.

---

Today, we bring you four options.

Option 1: Norman's Berserk option: eliminate Rufus from SA:

Deploy 3 to Bolivia
Deploy 14 to Venezuela
Play an Order Delay Card
1 army from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Tadschikistan
1 army from Ufa will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Moscow will attack/transfer Ufa
1 army from Turkmenistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Tadschikistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Kyrgyzstan
1 army from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Tadschikistan
1 army from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Turkmenistan
4 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Cuba
3 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Colombia
100% armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Brazil
3 armies from Bolivia will attack/transfer Brazil

As Norman showed with his custom scenario, we might be able to eliminate Rufus from South America while breaking Central America. We delay a lot, save the Order Delay card and basically hit everywhere whilst we use our armies in Caucasus to delay as much as possible.

---

Option 2: Predict the Brazil-blockade:

Deploy 17 to Venezuela
3 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Cuba
Play an order delay card
1 army from Tadschikistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Moscow will attack/transfer Ufa
1 army from Turkmenistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Ufa will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Tadschikistan
1 army from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
4 armies from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Tomsk
26 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Brazil

As with the previous option, we delay and predict Rufus to blockade Brazil. Instead of trying to eliminate Rufus from South America, we just stack towards Brazil while trying to break Central America. We also take Tomsk to be able to protect it next turn.

---

Option 3: Break CA guaranteed:

Deploy 17 to Venezuela
1 army from Tadschikistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Moscow will attack/transfer Ufa
1 army from Ufa will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Turkmenistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
4 armies from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Tomsk
2 armies from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Tomsk
29 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Cuba

This one is simple. We can break a bonus guaranteed, so we break it. We keep a large stack, combatting the potential stack hitting Venezuela from Brazil. If Rufus attacks with two stacks (one from Cuba and one from Brazil) this gives us an even better trade.

---

Option 4: Stack towards Xinjiang

Deploy 17 to Kyrgyzstan
6 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Cuba
6 armies from Venezuela will attack/transfer Colombia
4 armies from Eastern Kazakhstan will attack/transfer Kyrgyzstan
1 army from Tadschikistan will attack/transfer Kyrgyzstan
1 army from Turkmenistan will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Ufa will attack/transfer Eastern Kazakhstan
1 army from Moscow will attack/transfer Ufa
19 armies from Kyrgyzstan will attack/transfer Xinjiang

What happens if Rufus actually came from Tibet? Well, we better have Xinjiang then. We try to break Central America, attack Colombia to keep presence in South America and defend against an attack from Tibet.

---

You may submit your vote by posting on this thread, or, if you'd rather vote anonymously, mail me.
Voting ends three days after this post.

If you want to see the board on picks, check out the game here: https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=22959869

To check the previous threads, refer to these links:
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/433434-rufus-vs-world-picks
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/436073-rufus-vs-world-turn-1
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/437146-rufus-vs-world-turn-2
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/441344-rufus-versus-world-turn-3
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/442264-rufus-versus-world-turn-4
https://www.warzone.com/Forum/447175-rufus-versus-world-turn-5

Edited 9/30/2020 13:56:37

Also, let's see how the community thinks about the position on the board. I've created a strawpoll:
https://www.strawpoll.me/21009734

I haven't looked closely over the options in order to decide however just two cents:

- Since option 1 has my name in it: I wanted to actually play an order delay card. However then of course the potential benefit is bigger if we still succeed without having played the card...

- Both option 1 and option 2 follow the same thought process of Rufus doing some fancy play in South America like blockading Brazil. It might make sense to somehow aggregate those votes in case option 3 or 4 get slightly more votes.

Edited 9/27/2020 15:44:59

I agree with your second point; they're different plays from our side expecting the same play from Rufus. Anyone voting for one of those options expects Rufus to make that play. I think we can in this case safely assume that we can add the votes from 1 and 2 together and go with the more voted-on option. If anyone is against this or has a better idea, be sure to let me know.

For your first point; would you like me to add the delay card to the option?

Edited 9/27/2020 15:58:36

@Farah: I would prefer a delay card for option 1. However then I can understand why some guys might predict Rufus not playing a delay card himself, but I just don't feel like being greedy with the delay card is worth the risk. I haven't looked over option 1 in detail yet to see whether we are deploying enough armies in Venezuela in order to survive a potential first order hit. As for option 2 it seems pretty extreme to only poke Cuba with 2 armies. Rufus might still have his leftover army floating there.

My custom scenario was just to show the general idea. I hope option 1 involves enough armies

Edited 9/27/2020 17:15:26

Making 10 topics for one small game xd

This is only Turn 6... oh dear god. Can I see the link to the game?
Oh, and Rufus could see this forum chat and counterplay accordingly...

The link to the game is in the first post of this thread. Also, Rufus doesn't check these threads.

Thank you, Farah. :)

Why is there no option predicting Rufus to OD and grab SA bonus in one go rather than blockade?

Because it is not a good play on his side, huge risks for basically no benefit (we just break back in the next turn and he wasted more on neutrals than he gains from +4). Also, it is kinda covered by the prediction to blockade Brazil and option 4.

I vote option 2

Why is there no option predicting Rufus to OD and grab SA bonus in one go rather than blockade?

@MasterMeldarion:
Option 1 and to a lesser degree also option 2 covers that possibility.

I've added the OD card to option 1. It makes sense.
Also, I forgot about Rufus' potential leftover in CA. I adjusted option 2 to an attack on Cuba with 3 instead of 2.

As long as it's not option 3. I guess I'll vote option 2

with option 2 would it be better to hit cuba first move? vs the potential leftover?

increases our chances that we break cuba?

There can also be 2 leftovers guys...

Tough one.
Option 1 doesn't get us Tomsk which is a major problem and worst case leaves us disadvantaged in SA vs CA. Best case though is a great position, putting considerable pressure on Rufus countering SA while on 13 next turn Upside in any scenario with this moveset is us either breaking Cuba OR having Colombia both of which will affect his Chinese stack vs Tomsk.
Option 2 worst case is hitting a wall in Brazil, unlikely as it is. The other bad, more realistic scenario is leaving us with smaller stack in Brazil not threatening any of his actual income at all. Bad that. But best case is Rufus on 13 and a very good position and some pressure on Rufus to prevent SA.
Option 3 worst case is being cut off from Africa entirely if he does blockade. Extremely bad that long term. Best case is Rufus being on 13 income 100% and that's real upside no other option has.
Option 4 is counter against something unlikely ( I think you guys are right about north path). Downside is losing footing in SA and an awkwardly positioned stack in China. Worst case is SA wipe which is unacceptable and best case is countering the stack and giving us momentum in Asia. Both can happen at the same time, weirdly. But again, this is playing against an unlikely moveset.


I am gonna vote for Option 1 here, upside is really good while betting on Rufus' most likely moveset ; berserk move is kind of a my style anyways; it uses OD which increases our chances of success and if it goes ok-ish we can still smash Tomsk next turn with OP whilst being ahead on income if we choose to do so instead of focusing on CA/SA cleanup. Option 2 is very close second pick for me.

nice analysis by cloud strife!

I go with option 3 though, let him do his trickster thing, I prefer more armies, more income, more momentum for the following turns. I do see the potential benefits of the other options tho, and they could work just as well/better maybe.

i dont see why we would want to hard strike CA. he will either stack SA to defend africa and possibly expand in it or go all in for the counter attack in asia.

i could only see him defend with max 3 as anticipation of us not going full but thats it.

i personally like option 1 the most. its quiet daring, would secure us SA if he ends up countering asia / stops him from expanding into africa.

option 2 is safer but not as fun if it works as option 1.

i dislike option 3 a lot.

option 4 meh.

i take option 1.