rento's map: i'd probably go for australia 1, east africa 2, east russia 3, west russia 4, india 5, central america 6. first turn deploy all in australia and get opponent wiped out from antartica. if he has also invested all his troops in antarctica, then focus on finishing another bonus area and move half the troops back to australia on last action, using blockade card on antartica.

i meant: australia 1, west africa 2, west russia 3, central russia 4, southeast asia 5, central america 6.

always get east and west mixed up :p

Your picks are completely different from what I'd pick, ps.
You get your 1, 2 and 3. What do you do? Your only 2-turn bonus is west Russia, but it's far from being safe. You don't know whether your opponent is in Antarctica or not, so you don't know if you should attack Scott first turn.

My first 5 are non-brainers for me : Australia, Antarctica, Scandinavia, Greenland, Southeast Asia. Maybe reverse the order on 3 and 4.

Australia, Antarctica, Scandinavia, Greenland, Southeast Asia, East China. That would be my final choice.

i'd go with
1 scand
2 greenland
3 ant
4 aus
5 sea
6 ec


(since ant+aus won't get much more than 13/turn and scand+greeland do the same)

it's irrelevant whether the opponent is really in antarctica or not, if he is i wipe him out by going full force before he can finish his area, or blockading him there if he has. and if he's not i just my extra bonus area before doing the others. i also take that extra time to expand slowly in africa (which i have too, couz it take 3 turns to take that bonus) and just stall in russia. if i dont get any placing in russia i know he is there so i can hurry to break russia fast out of southeast asia.

i think i would win against you if i got first pick, i would wipe you out from antartica giving me 2 safe bonuses, plus africa which would also prove to be safe. then expand my way out of russia to check where you are.

if i didnt have first pick then i would get the russian combo. i would finish that first, and expand slowly to find you in scandinavia and not in southeast asia. so i have free expansion in africa and asia while you're stuck fighting me in russia and not many expansion options. dead blow would be either sneaking up through europe or breaking heavy into antartica through south africa, or australia after finishing southeast asia. i think i would still be able to win.

So Timinator, basically you prefer the 80% chance of getting first turn bonus over the safety of Aus+Ant. I guess that's one way to play, but it isn't my style.

ps, you would not wipe me out of Antarctica. But before I tell you why, explain me what do you do your first turn if you get Australia because I don't completely understand: you attack Scott with full force or with 4, just to check?

fullforce

So I have Antarctica and Scandinavia&Greenland combo. You have Australia, West Africa, West Russia.

First turn I deploy 4 to Scandinavia, what gives me 64% chance to get first turn income advantage. The fifth guy I put to Antarctica and take South Pole, there I see you in Scott with your 6-7 armies. Even if I fail to take Scandinavia first turn, I'll take it second turn. There is no way you could wipe me out with my 8v5 income advantage.
You could block Scott, but you would never complete Antarctica. Nor West Russia if I played right.
If I got my first three picks, it would come down to predicting opponent's moves in West Russia. Note that I would have a chance of getting both Antarctica and Scandinavia on second turn, again the early income advantage.

Yes, i play a bit riskier :)

My picks for rento's: Southeast Asia, East China, West China, Scandinavia, Antarctica, Central America

I don't usually triple pick, but the combinations that look initially more attractive would make the triple pick safe.

Interesting board. My picks would highly depend on who I play on a map like this.

One option is:
1- Scan
2- Green
3- SEA
4- CRus
5- CAm
6- WAf (if I get this I'm alone in Africa)

2nd:
1- Ant
2- Aus
3- Scan
4- Green
5- Eur
6- WRus

Ant + Aus is safe but also completely isolated and blocked by wastelands. I would only go this way if I can counter Scan+Green from Europe (delay it a bit). Europe can also give access to Africa, which is likely gonna be empty.

The triple-pick option is too risky ihmo and doesnt beat the first turn bonus. CRus counters it too easily.

PS what if your opponent picks antarctica but doesnt move. A pick in aus doesnt eliminate a pick in ant before the person in ant finishes another bonus somewhere and has a massive income advantage.

ant, aus, scan, gland, sea, wrussia.

Nothing really works as a hard counter to these picks. Even if someone knew my picks before they made theirs (im looking at timi) I dont think they would be able to counter me, the best they could do is make the same picks. These picks crush scan/gland. Ant/aus/sea and get 11 income guaranteed by the end of turn 2, casually finish aus and head over towards scan for an easy position.

rento: i always have the option to blockade Antartica if i see you already have a bonus and i don't, and then you have income advantage but are stuck on scandinavia+greenland, while i have 3 expansion areas which will finish before you start attacking me in russia. i will just neglect russia defense and invest hard into scandinavia and greenland. while expanding on to east africa if i can spare the troops.

Tigger: i have 2 options, [1] keep charging fullforce and find him there with big number disadvantage, if im lucky he even attacked against my stack on second turn and is left with 1, if im unlucky he is waiting there with his 6++ in which case i can only go back and blockade or finish my other areas while feeding the stack [2] wait for movement while finishing my other areas in west africa or west russia. if i have the russian combo i can finish it this turn and have slight income advantage. if i dont then it's a lot more risky to just sit and wait.

Tigger: Scan, Green, CAm-... could prob beat your combo. Also picking Aus before Ant as it can neutralize Ant? Aus-Scan-green-ant-...

PS: going all in on Ant turn 1 will delay your first bonus a lot, and if your opponent gets that turn 1 bonus, you will not recover from that. Early blockades also tend to be cracked in mid-game, as you can't invest too many troops to make it big enough.

PS his "big number disadvantage" isn't going to be big enough for you to eliminate him in ant. "if im lucky" yes if youre lucky and your opponent makes a stupid move then youll be fine, but that is a bad premise for a plan. You assume that your 2,3 picks are better than your opponents', which is likely to be wrong. wafrica is inefficient and erussia is easily countered by scand.

Chaos: I really prefer games where I am isolated from my opponent, they are low risk and decided by the skill of the players over 20+ turns. While I may not win that match up on picks I would have plenty of time to outplay someone, which is equally valuable as a small positional advantage on the board.

I guess I have not played enough of this game, but I am really not liking the super-isolation of Antarctica & Australia. Sure, it is safe but there is nowhere to expand as the game progresses. Also, this is not a huge concern, but the units used for capturing these territories will not have any secondary mission, so they will be left idle.

My three first picks would probably be: 1) Greenland 2) Southeast Asia 3) Scandinavia. I leave SCAND last because if I lose it I can use GL first turn to block it off, and I do not need it to block West and East Russia because SEA works sufficiently for that as well.

Offtopic: If somebody wants a screenshot taken but is not able to do so then I can do it and upload it myself, just PM me the link. You could also just post the game link here though. :)

@kazpar: Here's a game: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3929266

Just realized that you can not send private messages on this site. :)

Anyways, Platypus asks about picks for this map:
http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3929266

I'm not suprised noone is responding to this map. It's tough, and I'm not sure these are the best picks, but I want to see the thread continue.

ant, C russia, s africa, e china, CAm, west US.

I would expect to (1)get my first 3 with no contact in russia, and go for 12 income on turn 2, and expect an enemy in SA. (2)get first 3 with contact in russia and have an easy game thanks to a fast easy bonus (3) get my 234 and no contact. complete russia first and attack ant hard turn 4