I need help getting better in the real time ladder templates can anyone in bare be kind enough to teach me beneficial starting positiins... Mostly on the Chinese map and heavy earth I dislike both of the maps with a passion yet I feel if I'm going to at the real time ladder I might as well work a stratrgy

chinese map: i usually aim for picks that give you early income (the first turn +3's or the +1 bonus territories) and/or a very safe region with 2 or 3 good bonuses around it (tibet, northeast or southeast islands). it's relatively normal that you'll run immediately into (or have good intel / decent prediction) on where your enemy is, so you need to pick smart to be able to hold your ground / move into enemy turf, while you keep expanding on your safe spot.

heavy earth you should pay particular attention to the +4 and +3 starting spots. canada and middle east are usually good starting places (finishable in 2 turns) but you need to make sure your enemy won't be breaking you on round 3 while having other safe areas where to keep expanding. africa is usually worth having a foot in, lots of good +3 bonuses there, and also the eastern side of asia (both bordering alaska or in phillipines / east china). europe might also be interesting, because it's quite safe to hold from enemy starting in africa, and allows you to expand into greenland, which is a great bonus to secure. overall i would suggest to avoid expanding into +2's and focus on the +3 and breaking into your enemies safe zones unless you have the armies laying around or you already have most of the territories anyways.

Edited 3/24/2015 13:56:15