Why aren't airlift cards considered strategic? The whole point of a teammate is to aid you. No?

I just want to add on to this a bit. In a team game, without airlift cards, your teammate can't really get you out of a jam unless they border you. and even then, you'll have to transfer those troops all the way up to your front lines. I don't really see why any team game should be played without airlift cards quite frankly.

But they're also necessary for most 1v1 games. For example, if you take out an enemy in one corner of the map, but also have a front to defend in another corner of the map, the troops you have leftover from the first battle are completely useless until you can pass them up enough, which may take 7-8 turns, maybe more. At that point you might as well be playing local deployment.

The inconvience is part of the strategy so you could lure an opponents stack somewhere useless to get the edge. In team games that's what gift cards are for. The fact that airlift cards take priority over anything else makes them alittle overpowered for everyday strategic games.

They are considered unstrategic cause they happen before your turn. Just like abandon or bomb card, it's often just a gamble to guess where the opponent will deploy his armies and the right use of that card can easily change the outcome of a game singlehandly.

Have to agree here. They happen before all other attacks, like the abandon card. Thats why, for exmaple, the blockade card is considered as "strategic" because you take a huge risk if you dont play it correctly. While with an airlift card you cant do much wrong.

But isn't that part of the strategy? Taking into account the risk that the territory you attack might have a bigger stack than you expect? It's the same as a player stockpiling reinforcement cards really. Plus it's not like only one player has airlift cards, the attacking player could also lift to his strong territories to make them even stronger.

I also just want to clarify that I'm of the belief that no 1 template is more strategic than another. For example, I don't actually think fog is more strategic than no fog. For example, with normal fog, some might argue that your attacks come with a risk that an opponent might beat you to a territory with a larger stack, or that you never know when you're gonna run into someone else. However, I'd counter that with the fact that when there's no fog, there's nowhere to hide, and your opponent can see your every move and adjust their strategy accordingly. In short, I believe that all templates are equally strategic, the strategy for each is a little bit different. Just my 2 cents.

If airlifts happened after the turn they'd be strategic, but before it's just too OP.

You can always claim that making good predictions is strategic. But if you look at how good those 3 cards i mentioned are, then there it is always kind of tic tac toe. Not a great value of strategy imo

I have to agree with queef on this one.

Nice to see someone else on here is sensible

says someone from the pooncrew

*Poon Squad. Pooncrew is a player's name

I could see airlifts adding to the strategic value in some templates if they are exceedingly rare (one per game maybe). Then it's a big deal about when you use it for maximum benefit.

The problem with airlifts is pretty simple though:
1 - If the player with higher income/position wins inevitably, there's not much strategy, it's just an expansion race
2 - To win when behind in income/position you need to deploy and move your armies better than your opponent

Airlifts make point 2 irrelevant, because you can just airlift your armies where you need them.

I agree that common Airlifts reduce the strategy of the game.

An Airlift which happens *after* all attacks (and therefore fails if the territory is lost) would be an improvement, I'd say.

@M. Poireau
Make it a different card. I like it.

Feline,

No, not WS specifically. It's just what smileyleg said earlier:

Consider that a game with an infinite number of Airlift cards is essentially a game where you get to redeploy your full income every single turn.

You never have to worry about how many armies to deploy in different parts of the map, how many to allocate to expansion, how many leftovers you will have after taking a bonus...

Essentially, with infinite Airlifts, the geography of the map almost disappears (except where you border your enemy), giving the player with higher income a huge advantage.

Basically, you don't have to plan ahead as much or think as hard. Not game-breaking, but I agree that it's not the most "strategic" feature.

(Would love to hear why you think there aren't enough Airlifts in WS - we've never run out yet, even after almost a full tournament of games. What new strategy does it create?)

(As an example, with fewer/none Airlifts, you could try to trap enemy armies in a corner with a Blockade. That would be quite a clever and effective maneuver! But because Airlift cards are plentiful, that strategy is no longer possible.)

Weighted Random is considered strategic, therefore, so is Lottery, duh!

Sorry Semice when I typed that I should have said that lottery games are the exception to my belief.