So I've recently come across an issue where if fighting an enemy over a large number of territories -say we border each other over 10 continuous territories on each side (I hope this is clear I'm more of a visual person*makes rough visual below*)-


xxxcccc
xxccccc
xxxxccc
xxxcccc
xxccccc
xxxcccc
xxxxccc
xxxxxcc
xxxxccc
xxxcccc


I have only been able to force my opponent to fight hard...essentially making sure they gain land as slowly as possible. So my allies can get the upper hand while behind me.

Since I don't always have allies I want to hear and learn some strategy on how to fight such battles successfully and win.

P.S. If someone has come across a similar thread please link it. I just didn't have the patience to search through all the threads and didn't know what key words to use with the search bar.

It depends on the situation; for the position you have in mind you'll need to work out what is important to you, and to your enemy; decide what you can afford to lose, vs what you stand to gain etc. Try to factor in what your opponent is likely to do.

Forbidden Knowledge is right.

To contribute to the discussion with an explanation, let's say that the top three rows are a bonus. Your enemy is at least a good three turns away from taking that bonus, so those territories at the top are meaningless until they are about to take that territory. You can afford to lose those territories.

Meanwhile, let's say that the 7th-9th row from the top are another bonus that you almost own. By focusing your armies on that, you stand to gain more armies than defending the territories that are worthless to you up top.

Another thing: in a situation like this, targeted attacks are a much better place to spend your income than expansion elsewhere.

Also, the worst thing you can do in most situations like this is spread your armies evenly.

Finally- learn from the US military: don't spend too much on defense. Containing your opponent doesn't mean keeping them from taking any of your bonuses. If you can take more of their income by letting them take some of yours (instead of burning armies on defense, especially against a large stack), do so. Taking out their bonuses (especially bigger ones, which also tend to be much, much harder to defend) is the best thing you can do because it also slows them down. It's also tough to get rid of an enemy force that's inside your bonus (especially a big bonus with lots of territories) if they know how to play catch-me-if-you-can.

just make more order delays than your opponent,you'll win more than half of those fights easily

Order priorities can also help if you're in a situation like this:


xxxxxxxxcccc
xxxxxccccccc
xxxxxxcccccc

If you can take out the "c" poking into your territory (especially if it borders two bonuses that you can't reasonably defend) before it moves anywhere, you save yourself a lot of trouble. It's a risky move, though, and one you should only do if you're confident about it because otherwise (if your opponent deploys more armies than you can handle) you just burn a lot of armies like you would have anyway on defense.

check this for instance:-


both the players had same number of armies,they had one initially.they deployed 4





but the player who had the more order delays won even when both had same armies and income spent on those attacks
Edit:-this was done in 0 luck straight round so don't go on thinking it must have been luck

Edited 7/23/2015 04:30:04

Master Ryiro +1

Nicely explained Ryiro :)

I also want to follow on from knyte: Avoid your enemies big stack. If lets say he has a stack of 100 bordering you, don't try and defend against it unless you can at least match it with 100, else it's a waste of troops.

Say you have a stack of 25 next to it, and an income of 25. So you decide to make a stack of 50 to defend. If he attacks that stack, you lose all 50, and he will only lose ~30 men. Giving him a 20 man advantage in just that one attack!

It actually took me longer than I'd like to admit to understand this mechanic (I was too used to Risk) :P

Use your income elsewhere instead, and consider moving those 25 men away early in the turn order.

Edited 7/23/2015 08:42:08

i thought you were Brown, master, i was saying, lets see Brown winning.... soo disappointing

but that explanation isnt all that usefull for the large front thing, i suppose he is asking somethign like in a big us territory in which you ave 2 entire bonuses borderign each other....

for which i woudl say you would likely have to try to lose the fewest incoem possible while breakign the most... if you cant do it you will likely lose, but thats what those big maps are all about

At worst I am good at forcing others into a war of attrition. So I can only go up in skill...well I guess I could get worse but I find that unlikely.

In a war with a large front, I always take whatever my opponent gives me. Since I have such a large front with my opponent, I'm assuming we both have large incomes. Without knowing what s/he will deploy, I attack every undefended territory with 2. If s/he deploys anything there, I lose those two armies, but that risk is worth the potential reward of getting the territory. If they have 5 or 6 or 12 armies, I'll send whatever the amount analyze attack tells me to send. If I can deploy enough to defend against their big stack, I will, otherwise I'll just let it go and see if they let me expand past it.

With this strategy, they often get stacks behind my line. I keep my line advancing, and focus my troops on taking down the stacks behind my line.

Again, I only do this if I have a large income that's not going to be affected by an enemy stack or two running around behind my lines for a few turns. The added benefit of this strategy is in games with airlift cards, after I get rid of the stack behind my line, I have an stack ready to airlift.