In this forum there are a lot of tutorials with methods of starting the game. I wouldn’t dream to try to antagonize them, so I decided to write some tips in a slightly different style: how can somebody “guess” what is happening in the messy first few days, even with insufficient information.
The game has two wonderful features: a detailed newspaper and a very revealing map. These two tools can answer many questions about the way to start the game.
1. How can I know that this country is inactive?
Many players (especially novices) are at a mess when they try to define their strategy. They live in the constant fear that something will happen and they will be attacked from all sides. Don’t worry too much – if that happens and you are attacked from 3 sides in Day 1, you will lose for sure. Still, there are many cases where you KNOW you don’t need to be afraid of a certain neighbor, because he is inactive.
During the first day of the game, read carefully the newspaper. After a player is assigned to a country, watch what he is building there. If half an hour passes without anything being built (specifically, some barracks) you have very good chances that the player is inactive.
Then, after about 2 hours have a look at his cities. The map will reveal whether somebody is building infrastructure (it will show it with a question mark). If you don’t see any sign of this, you are almost 90% sure it is an inactive player (the other possibility is to be a really bad player). The final confirmation will come in Day 2: if you see him having built Industrial Lvl2 he is active (but not very experienced). If you see no sign of buildings by that time, you can already start thinking about when to invade there.
2.How dangerous is my neighbor?
So, the game starts and you notice that your neighbor is spamming Barracks everywhere. What can you deduce?
The answer is that this player is wasting his resources. Also, there is the high probability that he will start spamming Militia. These players usually don’t develop at all their economy and end up in difficulty quite soon, but for the moment there is a (very small) danger of a massive attack. Get prepared: it is important to build some LT very soon (Infantry and especially Militia are bad against LT). Better not to waste resources in AT in this border (you will not need them, most probably).
Now, in the other border you have an opponent who built only 4-5 Barracks in cities and he is already building Infrastructure there. What can we deduce?
We can usually deduce that this player is quite dangerous, both in the short and in the long run. Check the possibility of a coalition, and prepare just in case defense there (some AT for a start, then arty and LT).
3. Ah these stats of the players!
Spend some time to check the stats of your opponents, both the immediate neighbors and the other players in the map. Many players only see the K/D ratio and the level, but there is much more than that. First of all, the Level is cumulative, so it is pointless without reference to the number of games played. Any player with Level below 30 and more than 10 games is a prime candidate to quit soon – especially if things don’t go well for him at the start. Avoid making a coalition with him.
Check also whether the player is using Mobile or PC version (in the Diplomacy screen). The Mobile version is still quite “primitive”, so you can expect that a player who uses only Mobile will not be very good in battles (again, a good reason for avoiding a coalition). Finally, check the player’s Economic and Military index. In general, if you see that his Military index is way better than the Economic index, that shows a player who almost exclusively builds units and fights, neglecting his economy. Get ready for war, unless you have a reason to be allies.
4. How can I know what he will do?
Each county in the map has some advantages and some disadvantages. A good player will try to maximize his advantages and neutralize his disadvantages. Let’s see a few examples from the 22 Map.
a. You are Libya and you notice that Egypt is both active and starting reasonably with his buildings. What will Egypt try to do next? Is he going after me?
Unfortunately, the answer is probably a big YES. Egypt in this map has a glaring problem in Metal (only country with one metal only) which he must try to solve. The two “obvious” targets are either Turkey or Libya, with Libya been the favorite (closer and with easier terrain). So, yes get ready for defense.
b. You are Poland and Germany is active. Should I be afraid?
Again, the answer is in the map: Germany has only one oil, and the only nearby country with two oil provinces is Poland. Better be prepared.
In all these cases, map is only giving an indication of the needs of the other player(s). Sometimes it can also be a means for negotiations. For example, you are Yugoslavia and you see a good player as Egypt: you can try to negotiate a deal, exchanging your surplus Metal for Goods (that you are missing).
5. What kind of army does my opponent have?
Again, the answer sometimes is in the map. Especially around Day 5-6 check to see what is happening with his airbases – if there is no airbase Lvl2, there are also no tactical bombers. If there is no airbase network, probably there is no air force. Same applies to Naval Bases: if there is no Naval Base in a city (with IC), then there are no submarines.
6. The opponents are already attacking in all directions. Am I in danger?
Maybe yes, maybe no. This is an opportunity - check carefully the newspaper, to try to estimate what kind of weapons they are using. If you notice them taking too much damage, it means they are not stacking their units properly. If they start losing units, you must start thinking about how to take their lands.
If you see that two nearby (human) players engage into a conflict, this is a clear opportunity: they will both be weakened, their economy will be backwards, and most probably you can wait for the right opportunity to grab the spoils. You have two options: either to ally with the one that seems to be winning (and finish off the other), or to attack the winning side, at the moment of his greater weakness.
The game has two wonderful features: a detailed newspaper and a very revealing map. These two tools can answer many questions about the way to start the game.
1. How can I know that this country is inactive?
Many players (especially novices) are at a mess when they try to define their strategy. They live in the constant fear that something will happen and they will be attacked from all sides. Don’t worry too much – if that happens and you are attacked from 3 sides in Day 1, you will lose for sure. Still, there are many cases where you KNOW you don’t need to be afraid of a certain neighbor, because he is inactive.
During the first day of the game, read carefully the newspaper. After a player is assigned to a country, watch what he is building there. If half an hour passes without anything being built (specifically, some barracks) you have very good chances that the player is inactive.
Then, after about 2 hours have a look at his cities. The map will reveal whether somebody is building infrastructure (it will show it with a question mark). If you don’t see any sign of this, you are almost 90% sure it is an inactive player (the other possibility is to be a really bad player). The final confirmation will come in Day 2: if you see him having built Industrial Lvl2 he is active (but not very experienced). If you see no sign of buildings by that time, you can already start thinking about when to invade there.
2.How dangerous is my neighbor?
So, the game starts and you notice that your neighbor is spamming Barracks everywhere. What can you deduce?
The answer is that this player is wasting his resources. Also, there is the high probability that he will start spamming Militia. These players usually don’t develop at all their economy and end up in difficulty quite soon, but for the moment there is a (very small) danger of a massive attack. Get prepared: it is important to build some LT very soon (Infantry and especially Militia are bad against LT). Better not to waste resources in AT in this border (you will not need them, most probably).
Now, in the other border you have an opponent who built only 4-5 Barracks in cities and he is already building Infrastructure there. What can we deduce?
We can usually deduce that this player is quite dangerous, both in the short and in the long run. Check the possibility of a coalition, and prepare just in case defense there (some AT for a start, then arty and LT).
3. Ah these stats of the players!
Spend some time to check the stats of your opponents, both the immediate neighbors and the other players in the map. Many players only see the K/D ratio and the level, but there is much more than that. First of all, the Level is cumulative, so it is pointless without reference to the number of games played. Any player with Level below 30 and more than 10 games is a prime candidate to quit soon – especially if things don’t go well for him at the start. Avoid making a coalition with him.
Check also whether the player is using Mobile or PC version (in the Diplomacy screen). The Mobile version is still quite “primitive”, so you can expect that a player who uses only Mobile will not be very good in battles (again, a good reason for avoiding a coalition). Finally, check the player’s Economic and Military index. In general, if you see that his Military index is way better than the Economic index, that shows a player who almost exclusively builds units and fights, neglecting his economy. Get ready for war, unless you have a reason to be allies.
4. How can I know what he will do?
Each county in the map has some advantages and some disadvantages. A good player will try to maximize his advantages and neutralize his disadvantages. Let’s see a few examples from the 22 Map.
a. You are Libya and you notice that Egypt is both active and starting reasonably with his buildings. What will Egypt try to do next? Is he going after me?
Unfortunately, the answer is probably a big YES. Egypt in this map has a glaring problem in Metal (only country with one metal only) which he must try to solve. The two “obvious” targets are either Turkey or Libya, with Libya been the favorite (closer and with easier terrain). So, yes get ready for defense.
b. You are Poland and Germany is active. Should I be afraid?
Again, the answer is in the map: Germany has only one oil, and the only nearby country with two oil provinces is Poland. Better be prepared.
In all these cases, map is only giving an indication of the needs of the other player(s). Sometimes it can also be a means for negotiations. For example, you are Yugoslavia and you see a good player as Egypt: you can try to negotiate a deal, exchanging your surplus Metal for Goods (that you are missing).
5. What kind of army does my opponent have?
Again, the answer sometimes is in the map. Especially around Day 5-6 check to see what is happening with his airbases – if there is no airbase Lvl2, there are also no tactical bombers. If there is no airbase network, probably there is no air force. Same applies to Naval Bases: if there is no Naval Base in a city (with IC), then there are no submarines.
6. The opponents are already attacking in all directions. Am I in danger?
Maybe yes, maybe no. This is an opportunity - check carefully the newspaper, to try to estimate what kind of weapons they are using. If you notice them taking too much damage, it means they are not stacking their units properly. If they start losing units, you must start thinking about how to take their lands.
If you see that two nearby (human) players engage into a conflict, this is a clear opportunity: they will both be weakened, their economy will be backwards, and most probably you can wait for the right opportunity to grab the spoils. You have two options: either to ally with the one that seems to be winning (and finish off the other), or to attack the winning side, at the moment of his greater weakness.