And I would recommend to anyone that's playing the first time to join the game as soon as possible. Those hours you get at the beginning are a huge advantage.
I think it's pretty much over now. At a certain point, I knew Spain wasn't going to hold up against the Commie Trio...but my ghosts threw a few haymakers in before eventually succumbing to the inevitable.
If you have a person in Poland who starts a war with you right away, you pretty much are going to be set back technology wise as there is no way to get other troops to Konesburg in time to protect it, and bye bye half my coal production for a while. I know I'm going to eventually beat the guy in Poland because he doesn't know what he's doing, but it's frustrating that I will be behind in developing my weapons. Oh well, guess I need to go all in on airplanes and win my wars that way.