Hello folks !

Since I haven't found any topic on it, here we are.

I need advices for the Insane challenge. It's too... Insane, really. I just can't figure out how to play it.

If I expend very fast, I have not enough army to resist when I first encounter enemies.

If I expend slower and secure the borders, I just don't have enough bonus to stand against them all.

What kind of strategy could work ? I saw a bunch of videos on youtube but any of them helped me, actually.

Thanks ahead ! :)

Here is the last thing I tried.

- Rush to the borders of the North world by conquering the interesting groups of countries on the way. Completely ignore those who aren't on the way.

- whenever you reach them, continue expanding near the borders. If possible, take the country on the other side of the border - the South world.

- When the enemy shows up close to southern Svalbard, blockade on it with 20 armies - this turns to 100, letting me fight only 4 enemies for a time.

- When the 14th turn pass, blockade too on the Northern Argentina or, if possible, southern Nunavut. The south is now completely secured, allowing me to focus on the north and Australia.

I failed at this point. To much armies coming up from both southern Australia to my Russia, and southern Russia to my Australia... They push me out. Add this to the fact I didn't succeed to reach the european border with southern Africa in time, allowing an enemy to spread on Europe and attack me in Africa, Asia and North America on the same time. I lost in 27 turns, which is my best doing by now :p

Your whole plan is actually messed up.
The biggest weakness of the AI is that he will first try to expand instead of countering and or fighting an opponent.
So the best attempt you could do is actually meet the AI's head on and abuse their innate programming to their disadvantage.

The way you play it you might survive longer but as soon as there are no neutrals the AI's only play stronger and more effective meaning if you survived up to turn 14 without meeting any AI's you can just as well give up already.

Hello, and thanks for your answer !

The fact is, if I go ahead and try to get one AI down early, I will not have the needed power to conquer much things in the north. So the 4 other AI's would just destroy me easily.

Plus, on the videos I saw about winning this on youtube, the players were controlling almost all the northern earth.

Hello,

tried again a couple of times, failed... Still need advices !

a) lucky fast initial expansion

b) blockade one of your first AI encounters out of your way, forcing him to expand onto the others expansion place and if you're lucky he'll accumulate armies somewhere stupid instead of breaking the blockade.

c) break fast the other AI you encounter, don't let him slip into your income, stall him with minimal troop investment or push through him towards your 3rd AI encounter.

d) change focus hard to break the 3rd AI before he gets too strong.

e) with a little luck the fourth AI is blockadable out of your areas for a few more turns until you finish off breaking the other 2. or you manage to slip past him and can overtake his areas as he overtakes yours.

f) if you played well you should have taken over the areas of the second and third AI by now and should have enough income to break the other 2.

Thanks a lot !

I see the keyword here is "luck" ^^

About that, for the initial expansion, 3vs2 or 4vs2 ? I always do 4vs2... But maybe it's not that good.

3v2s have to work early for you to grow and to be a sstep ahead of the AIs with your avant-garde armies.

Hello !

by following advices, I managed to eliminate one of the 5 opponents. But then I had already lost : the others were already deep in my territory. Deeply fucked. Yep.

Sooo... Looks like it's better but still not enough. So, here are some things where I need advices too, maybe.

- I started to expand with 3vs2 fights. This looks to be fine.

- I'm expanding on all the 3 starting points at the same time, faster on the one I feel close to increase my income. my expansion order is more or less like this :
Southern Asia, Central America, West Africa, West China, East China, East AFrica, West US, East US, South Africa, Indonesia, Caucasus, Middle East.

After this, I'm conquering Brasil then Argentina, and southern Svalbard, which I use as an abandon territory with 20 army => 100 armies. And then I begin to attack southern Canada, and try to fight for northern Australia. But whenever they reach my border in northern Canada or Asia, it's over. I can't resist them, resist in Australia, and at the same time push my way through southern Canada, US, etc...

Sooo, am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks again :)

Hey Elindor -

I'm new to Warlight, but have no trouble beating the AI -- I just finished insane challenge in 27 turns (it was looking like a 25 turn win, but I made a bad late-game guess as to where AI would drop his load).

If you haven't read the 3-4 other threads on this forum about insane, you should do that first. There are a few good posts there that sum what you need to win, including a link from diabolicus to an example game with excellent comments on what exactly you need to complete a gold-star win.

If I had to paraphrase, what you need to win @ insane:
1. a lucky start
2. a clear plan to generate income fast (should be @ 80+ by turn 10)
3. to make sure you break into enemy territory to disrupt his income (remember that passing through his bonuses can really screw him up long-term, as he may not retake with the same color - so you can deny him bonus for the long term).
4. abandon properly
5. consolidate your territory
6. Play the AI for the predictable idiot he is:
* he'll follow you around trying to retake his bonus before mounting strong attacks on your bonuses
* AI doesn't seem to account for your chance to reinforce (i.e. he'll usually attack singles with 2 armies, so just put 1-2 in and you can hold it cheaply)
* If you are facing a huge AI army with only one territory to attack, it is VERY easy to counter. Either put in just enough to wipe out his army. If you can't stop it that turn, don't waste reinforcements trying - just let him punch through and stop him at a later turn.

I can assure you that wins are possible, and there are not *that* many factors that need to go in your favor, unless you are looking for a quick win. i.e. most insane games are winnable, even with crappy luck if you are willing to play cat & mouse with the AI. But you will need decent luck to complete in the 25-30 turn range.

Hope this helps.

Personally I would advice playing too many games against the AI for in this way you'll learn to play warlight in the wrong way.
Tactics which will be engrained in you to fight the AI will fail miserably against human opponents.

*advice against