You must sign in to post. | how to end a standoff :: Feb 23, 2007 @ 2:39pm |
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 thirdparty
Joined: Dec 20, 2006
Posts: 279
Location: Eastern U.S.A. | This thread is intended for strategic tips that will help to end these annoying standoffs that make games take five times as long as they used to.
The idea here is strategic tips, tips that it is actually in players' best interest to follow. I'm not looking for "sacrifice your position in order to keep the game moving".
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If one player has more productivity than all other players combined (which is always true in one-on-one situations, by the way), it's almost always a good idea for everyone to attack him immediately.
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Don't "suicide"! Don't engage in fights you can't win, and don't keep sending ships to a lost cause.
For example, I frequently see this happen: B is attacking C and A is attacking B, but C counterattacks or otherwise defends against B. This throws the game to A; C should have attacked A instead of B. (Also, C tends to incorrectly blame B for A's win, claiming that it was the inevitable result of a war between B and C. Yes, it was the inevitable result of such a war, but it was C's choice to have that war, not B's.)
Because so many people irrationally aim to destroy their attacker no matter what the situation is (for example, even if there's no way they could succeed in destroying their attacker, and no way they could survive in the larger-scale situation even if they did succeed in the local war), it's become more expensive to launch attacks than it ought to be: this is one of the causes of standoffs.
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In a three-way, if two players are of roughly equal strength, the correct action is for them to negotiate a temporary alliance and launch a joint attack on the third. They don't lose position relative to each other, and they both gain relative to the victim; so they both benefit.
(Of course, this requires some trust between the two. But since it's also strategically wise to be trustworthy, this shouldn't be a major issue.)
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In a four-way: if two players are both reasonably strong, and you're stronger than the third, it's usually possible to invade him. Neither of the other two will be able to intervene without opening himself up to attack by the remaining one. | | Re: how to end a standoff :: Feb 23, 2007 @ 4:58pm |
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kaizen Joined: Jan 24, 2007
Posts: 52
Location: Guildford, England | Good advice TP.
Something I have been seeing lately is really large standoffs with 5 or more players, which I think is the result of too many people getting the idea that the best way to win is to wait and let everyone else fight.
Yes, if theres two other players and they're both equal strength and destroying each others ships without gaining ground, you might as well camp it out. Apart from that it's not a good strategy.
With 5 players or more, you can usually attack a weaker neighbour and take his planets/cluster. Make sure you're quick about it, and if possible, do it when they're down on ships from taking neutrals and when your other neighbours are busy. Usually (depending on the map of course) there won't be much risk of backstabbing because if anyone trys to attack you while you're doing it, they will get attacked by another anyway.
If theres 3 or 4 players, do what TP said. Otherwise just take what you can, when you can. |
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