Just beat challenge 2 in 35 turns. Probably could have cut 5 or 6 off that, but I was excited to win, so I went carefully. That said, I think you need to plug Svalbard and Anadyr. Make sure you beat the AI to both spots, and plug one and hold the other. I think it's easier to hold Anadyr, as you'll only have one opponent there, and the AI will cover both New Zealand and Tasmania trying to defend Australia.

Finally beat it! 42 turns, not pretty, but I'll take it:)

Gaspumper gave me some great advice. I won't spoil it, but I'll say this: The bigger you can make your abandons, the better. Especially in Anadyr. If you can't hold Anadyr, probably best to start over.

Congrats u2 and thks for hints.

This is the weekend I finally beat challenge 2 -- I haven't tried in a few months after much bitter frustration. But I'm calling it now!

Congrats guys!

I did have one interesting situation come up that almost caused me to quit.

I was doing well on all fronts, and had 150 armies in an abandon in Svarslbard S.

Around turn 18, an AI team blew through my abandon and dropped 220 armies in South Africa. I was thinking, oh Shit, I have NO answer for this. I started building up forces 2 spaces away from the AI. I danced around his big force for 3 turns. I managed to get behind, so I was in South Africa and he was in Kenya. I had 100 armies, he had 270. If I attack, I die. If he attacks me, I die. But now I had an abandon card! I decided to do a sort of reverse abandon, hoping he would attack me and destroy himself.

It was nerve racking, because once the abandon went off the area was lost in fog. I attacked south anyway, hoping I wouldn't run into 270 armies. And it worked! He killed himself on the abandon. It was worth it, turning point in the game.

dang guderian, how lucky can you get?! BTW, how many turns did it take for you to win?

well done though!

First time I beat it was 42 turns. 2nd time 35. Last time 30. I'm going for the speed record, but it's somewhat time consuming to play out the Insane level:)

just beat it earlier today, and as this thread has been somewhat lacking in specific strategies to use i thought i'd help everyone out by giving mine in some detail.

first, i should mention that i got somewhat lucky b/c AI africa expanded to south america (leaving the AI in the US landlocked). As a result, i was never fighting more than 2 AIs at a time until i had essentially all of the top.

i think the most important thing for me was to high tail it to anadyr S and keep that defended. this restricts the AI that spawns there to 5 income, which he will use to stumble through canada (competing with his team mate for the bonus) and into South America (top). Basically, you don't really need to worry about that AI.

My first wave of expansion was in africa, eventually plugged sveldbard S with 175 (which i think was too many -- by turn 28 the AI had only managed to build 170 units there).

Next, I went into Europe and North America, fighting AI africa into South America (bottom) and Africa (bottom). Once you take away a bonus the AI isn't really enthusiastic about trying to defend the rest of it. During this time I also took china and caucuses.

Then it was a matter of beating the AI that pops through anadyr (north) into australia (south) and continuing to expand in africa south. after you have all of the north and a good foothold in the south, the rest of it is just technique.

I've found that for both insane and crazy you can tell relatively early on if you're doing well. In other words, if it feels like you're getting your ass kicked, you probably are and should probably restart.

"i think the most important thing for me was to high tail it to anadyr S and keep that defended. this restricts the AI that spawns there to 5 income,"

Tried your method, since it's different than mine. 33 turns. Problems I found were: High tailing it to Anadyr S takes precious units away from getting bonuses, even though it's a small amount in the beginning. But once you get to Anadyr S, it becomes a huge undertaking. This is because: Contrary to what you experienced, the AI that starts in Anadyr S doesn't always expand into W Russia. Sometimes it goes straight to AI Canada, and the AI that starts in Shanghai goes North and South, taking W Russia, E China, India, Indonesia and Australia. This makes them a very difficult foe, and they will tie up tons of your resources, both in Anadyr S and your Anadyr N. Meanwhile, the AI that went to Canada is coming up through South America...

Still, it can work. Not my fastest time, but first try, maybe I could get luckier with the AIs next time, luck is a huge part of the Insane challenge. Not nearly as much as the Crazy challenge, but how the AIs develop in the Insane challenge is different every time. If I had a spy card, I would own them:)

One strat I'll throw out that I've had limited success with: Expand as usual, and try and take E and W US, but... Let them go. The AI that comes in through their S America will screw around forever taking your spaces, small spoiling attacks can keep them from taking bonuses. This also helps if they come in strong through your S America, you don't care as much. Just don't let them get into your Africa/Europe/Asia, and expand into them.

And expanding into them is really the key. They'll have huge armies that you can't even conceive of fighting. Don't worry about it, live in their bonuses. Divert as much as you can there while protecting what I've mentioned above. The first time you eliminate an AI on the Insane challenge will be one of the most rewarding moments you've ever had in Warlight, believe me:) Eventually, you'll be making so much you can kill anything they have.

Guderian, are you still trying to go for beating it in the fewest turns?

I also agree with the comment about luck being a huge part of it. 50% luck means you're going to restart a lot of times at the beginning because attacks that shouldn't fail do fail and set you too far behind too early. And there is definitely luck in which AIs pop through which choke points. I had one game when I was going for the fewest turns record where a really weird AI mix that I had never seen before appeared in all the choke points (and it was hugely beneficial to me). I think I was going to beat that one in like 23-24 turns but then my computer overheated on like turn 15...and inside I died a little.

Impaller, I'm in so many tournaments and games right now I can't really devote time to it. 30 is still my best, but I know I could improve some.

Well, I decided to play out the challenge again for old time's sake and I managed to get really lucky with how the AI expanded and beat it in 24 turns.

My first and only abandon was 25 armies (becoming 125) in Svalbard S. This is more than I generally abandon, but the AI had beaten me to Svalbard, and when I captured it, this was how many I had remaining.
My first entry into the South World was into South Africa from Scandinavia.
My 2nd entry into the South World was into South America from Canada
My 3rd entry into the South World was into Australia from East Russia
My 4th entry into the South World was into Canada from South America.
My 5th (and final) entry into the South World was into East Russia from Australia.

That order is generally the same each time I've played it.

The last bonus I took on my home world was Australia.
The 2nd-to-last bonus I took on my home world was South America
The 3rd-to-last bonus I took on my home world was North Africa.
The 4th-to-last bonus I took on my home world was Canada.

That order is always similar each time I play it, although generally Greenland is taken after Canada and North Africa.

The first bonus I took on their world was South Africa.
The 2nd bonus I took on their world was West Africa.
The 3rd bonus I took on their world was Canada.
The 4th bonus I took on their world was East Africa.

Fairly consistent.

Every time I've beaten it, I've abandoned in Svalbard S. and either used no more abandon cards the rest of the game or used my 2nd abandon card in South Africa if/after the AI breaks the first one. I think it's imperative to save your 2nd abandon card to use if the first one breaks, because if that AI gets into Africa with an enormous stack that you can't handle, you are going to most likely lose.

Quite impressive - 24 turns is the new record, with 2nd place (ashmizen) at 26 turns and 3rd place (mor) at 27.

That's really impressive, Impaller. Do you head straight for the chokepoints? I find if I take bonuses all along the way the AI is usually too strong for me to invade immediately. Ditto if I head straight there, then I can sometimes get in but they're still too strong. Depends on who the AI's are at the checkpoints, true, but usually I can't expand into them THAT fast:)

The AI beats me to the Scandinavia chokepoint. I'm not sure it's possible, or if it is it's not worth it, to beat them to that chokepoint as I get there pretty fast and they are always there already. I beat them to East Russia, and Svalbard S. They beat me to South America and Australia, although I've considered trying out a new strategy where I beat them to South America (haven't, though). We usually get to the Canada point around the same time. Sometimes I will let them beat me there and take some Neutrals in Canada and then I'll clean them up afterward, and other times I beat them there and defend it. All depends on how things are going. In my last attempt, they beat me there and made some unexpected moves in Canada, which is why Canada was one of the later bonuses I grabbed, because I incorrectly anticipated their movements in there two turns in a row.

Taking bonuses along the way is a much better strategy than a "rush and defend chokepoints" one, because how are you going to hold the chokepoints if you don't have the income to support it? I feel like my strategy is kind of both...I get to the relevant chokepoints fast, but I take every bonus along the way there.

I feel like I have almost completely perfected my technique for beating the challenge, and 24 turns is probably pretty close to the lowest it's going to get using that method. I think 23, maybe even 22 is doable, but it would take some pretty ridiculous luck, and I had really good luck already to beat it in 24.

However, I think there might be a way to get a lower score trying out a different strategy. The two I'm thinking of are
1. Not abandoning in Svalbard S. and quickly spreading through and smashing bonuses in their Eurasia. This plan may involve an abandon in your East Russia or their South America, as you will probably need to restrict the AI in some location to make up for fighting them in 1 more.
2. Quickly pushing into their Canada from your South America and spreading quickly through the Americas.

I don't really have any motivation to try those out, though, as I already hold the record by a fair margin :). I was kind of hoping you or someone else was still working on beating it to give me some competition, and thus a reason to bother trying these out.

YAYYYY :) finally did it. 40 turns. when i have nothing to do for a whole week i may try and get it lower

i abandoned 20 in svalbard S and 40 in south africa N and the ai broke through both :|

Question: I'm trying to figure out the Insane level, but haven't succeeded so far. There are still a few things I don't understand about the technique of the game: for instance, when two armies attack each other, what determines who goes first? Or is it completely random?

The most luck so far I've had by completely abondoning the North from the start and heading right into North America (South), to catch them early, so to speak. When I try to take over the North first, they are all huge when they start to appear on all sides of the map at the same time. I can block one or two, but that just buys me a little time...

Congrats, Dave.

Chippie, http://warlight.net/ViewHelp.aspx?s=MoveOrder

Basically, your moves happen in the order you have them arranged on the right. So if you want to make an attack after the computer makes theirs, set that specific order to something much later in your turn and it will happen later.