Hi All,

I'm just wondering if anyone's actually managed to complete the second, "crazy", challenge level in Single Player mode? I've tried again and again, and even when I own (for example) Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Western Russia and have over 30 armies in each border country, all of a sudden one enemy will borrow 150 armies from its team-mates and smash me to smitherines. :oS

Basically, I just want to know if this level is possible and, if so, what the best way to complete it. Can anyone enlighten me? :o)

Cheers,

J2Cam85

Many have completed it, a few have done all the challenges. The trick to crazy is to balance your enemies, you want them to be ~equal in power and fight each other, while you slowly take over :p

There's many guides on youtube, Im sure you'll find them if you search for it.

If you're having trouble with the challenge, try starting in africa or central america and hope for good position, then expand safely. If you're ever going for a record run, I recommend asia start with very agressive expansion. If I remember correctly, if you play your cards right, having AI close to you, will actually help your expansion untill some point.

I've completed it in 57 turns, but forgot to save it.

I've done it in 21 turns with the old version when we had 75% luck(way harder!!)

Starting in Central america and not facing resistance for the first 7 turns is a sure victory.
The other way to do it is to start in Africa. Having an opponent near you always helps.
I've never managed it in under 30 turns starting in Asia though.

But yes, it heavily relies on luck(a bit easier now due to 0% SR).

Thanks for the responses, everyone. :o)

I'm going to keep trying, and if I can't manage it, I'll have a look on YouTube. It's just good to know that the level *can* be completed.

One thing, though: I'm not really understanding why it is that having an opponent nearby is helpful, or how to ensure that the AI teams fight against each other. Could someone explain this to me? :oP

Thanks again!

-J

it is a 3v3v1 (you). if you roughly balance the AI so they have the same income they will tend to fight each other instead of you because they are bigger.

It can be useful to understand how the Ai works; https://www.warlight.net/wiki/AI

The last part of that page makes me wants to setup a game that takes thousands of turns to complete. :P

I actually made an around 600 turn game which is actually somewhat fun to watch.

I just beaten it, but after more then 15 tries: I can say you need a lot of luck.
Starting spawn of you and the enemies is essential.
I spawned in North America, met the first enemy in mexico and managed to get both US bonuses. I stacked up armies on the borders and got the AI out of mexico, while a second showed up in Canada. With both stacking in the south and careful attacking in the north, i eventually secured whole North America. From thereon, i took no chances, stockpiled armies and only attacked when i felt it was no risk (risk... heh).
One AI team lost a member, so i concentrated on fighting the other to keep some kind of balance.

I took no chances so it took over 70 rounds. Could have been 10 less without any problem, i expected much resistance when i went for Eurasia and experienced none.

Funny thing, one AI went berserk when his end was near and attacked my weakest spot with over 200 armies, i needed 3 territories to stop him on the route from australia to US. After that, all the other AIs kinda accepted their fate.

Just a quick update:

I completed the level for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I've done it several times since. :o)

The first time, I managed it in 30 turns starting in Russia and expanding aggressively (as suggested by Szeweningen). Since then, I've completed it from Russia again, Europe, N. America and now Africa - which only took 25 turns.

The trick is to grab as much land as possible and be prepared for the inevitable onslaught that comes within a couple of moves after encountering a new opponent (as soon as they spot you, they'll send a big wave your way, so watch out for this).

I haven't managed it from Antarctica or Australia yet, though - the opportunities for expansion are limited, so it takes more time in the crucial early phases. Basically, if you're still on top after round 13, you're likely to win.

Now - does anyone have any tips on the Insane level? xD

- J

Most players seem to have beaten Crazy. It's Insane that even a lot of really good players don't seem to have taken out yet. Anyone have tips for that? No matter how hard I try, I can never expand quickly enough.

The last part of that page makes me wants to setup a game that takes thousands of turns to complete. :P

I've actually played a map like this before; it was a USA civil war map, where all the non-states had 100000 neutral armies in them. The CSA won, but had to get to the western states separated by half of the United States, because the person over there wouldn't surrender. I died in the game, so I suppose its possible that its still going on.

I used to AI-test diplo templates to make sure they were balanced (at least to the point that no one would be so powerful at the beginning that they'd be able to drunkenly win the game- it's a limited test, obviously) and god that lag was terrible. I think I left one running and came back to one side winning after 3600 turns or so.

If you encounter AI early on, aggressively attack them. You can cripple them if they are in infancy.

I actually find Insane more reliably beatable than Crazy. Crazy takes far less time and thought, but still. Mostly comes down to where the AIs start in relation to you. If you kill one team early, you're probably screwed. I seem to generally end up holing up in Africa/Europe until i can kill off some of the enemies and expand all over them. Let them break each other's bonuses and keep in mind the math of what they'll deploy where, and it's doable, especially if turn count is not your concern. Much easier now than in the olden days of luck. Back then Insane/Crazy were a distinctly more difficult challenge

As for insane: key is, to me, ignoring SA(take the top two pieces, but screw the rest, early on) and not claiming Australia entirely (claim one piece and you can make the AI pitch a fit trying to take it back). Mostly worry about getting up to Norway quickly, and anyadyr N. If you can hold them off at Anyadyr N, and push up through Europe N, you've basically won. Keep in mind, the AI's frenzied stacking to beat you works extremely easily if they're stacking in two territories to attack one of yours. They waste a huge number of their income, but never combine to attack. Some luck is involved, but you can win a solid amount of the time.

I've done insane in 31 turns: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui5n2WoHc4X6zAG67dDwLLH-AnUxGgEW. There are 9 videos on how to complete it, and 2 more on the 10-second version and stats. Generally, they are 10 min videos; I can't record any more than that, without paying.

Edited 6/4/2015 10:54:16