Just to throw a further wrench in the works, I’m starting to warm to the promo cards.
Because the number of influence points on the board is far lower in the Early War relative to later, and early on there are fewer high-value cards than later. Every influence point early on counts more because there is nothing to back it up. In Europe, losing 2 points in the U.K. takes out the only US non-Battleground while later on the US will likely have Spain/Portugal, Turkey, etc.
Plus: access. Losing 1 US influence in Israel early is often much worse than losing 2 later, because you might not even be able to get back in.
Ok, I can see that logic now. So the fact I have no influence to lose in France made it attractive to me, but the greater amount of influence later helps.
Still controlling it was nice. And same with Arab Israeli war next turn. I was able to time them so that they came out at a time least damaging to me. Having control of Syria and Egypt, as well as Iran, meant that getting locked out of the Middle East or Western Asia wasn’t a concern.
However I can see how a person could exploit that. It does not seem that the Russians had the cards they needed to capitalize though. No Nasir, no DeGaulle, no Arab Israeli war, and no coup attempt in Iran for some reason. Which I immediately placed influence into to control and make getting locked out unlikely.
Yeah, what Brooski said. Losing influence in Israel can be a big set back. I will add that the card also target UK, which the US player likes to keep controlled for the optional card Special Relationship to have affect. It can put pressure on the Soviet player, because the card becomes very unpleasant for him if NATO is in affect.
Still, if your goal was to hold onto Decolonization (which you don’t hold) till round 3, you can play this one as a null event by preparing to replace the lost influence. However, with your hand you want to trigger blockade and be done with it, which means discarding a card, and I think Suez Crisis is the best option.
I appreciate the responses guys.
So I wound up winning in turn 8 by headlining Asia scoring (I was at 17 points, and it was worth +8 to me)
Along the way I felt I did some clever things. One was I drew the South American scoring at a time with no Russian influence. I had Junta played earlier and so had Brazil, and one in Columbia. i played it early in a turn (Che was out there) scoring Domnation with 3 Battlegrounds. I also caught on to Africa scoring when Russia couped a few US controlled battlegrounds (including a lucky 6 roll to knock 3 influence off South Africa). Nuclear Subs and counter coups there and Thiland (and a china card play after playing Nixon) and I played Africa to a draw instead of -5 for scoring, and puled 6 from southeast Asia.
That said I saw the USSR draw 5 year plan twice, and it actually help them. Camp David accords in one, Europe scoring the other (I was +6). I also had Grain sales in turns 6+7. Turn 6 (the one that scored South America) I pulled OAS. Turn 7? Quagmire. Now, in that case, I played it for influence to discard Breshev. That was one I was least certain of. However I was in good scoring position (+8), had parity in ME and Africa, advantage in SA and Europe, and Dominated Asia. Considering I won turn 8 it seemed to be a decent play, but what would you do in the generic situation of pulling Quagmire with Grain sales? Was playing it the way I did ever the right move?
I never use realignment rolls, just coups. How often do you use realignment rolls ?
I use them about once or twice a game, almost always in a midwar region. Ignoring them completely is just leaving a potentially useful tool out of your arsenal. For example, if the US controls two of the countries bordering Cuba, he can re-align at +2, wiping the Soviets out of Central America.
From the lecture which I attended at Rumsfeld Uni this weekend from a certain Doctor, I went home learning that while realignments don’t make sense if you do not plan for them, if you set up a proper network of countries under influence, they become a very powerful tool…
… I have yet to put that knowledge to any good use, though! Need to learn to get hold of that initiative thing first.
Best realignment opportunity, even for a relatively new player, and one you don’t necessarily have to necessarily actively setup is if your opponent only has one country in a region, it can often be worthwhile to realign them out if it’s going to be hard to get back in.
That’s why Twilight Strategy mentions US playing Castro, resolving the event first, then taking a gamble and using the Ops to try to immediately realign them out.
‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap in the scoring track’
So winning was pretty much a sure thing, but turn 8 I had a chance to do it on my terms. A rather nasty ‘We will bury you’/ ‘Red Scare’ combo on turn 7 had hampered my designs. Instead of a big score on both Africa and South America, I could only hold one (knowing both cards were out there). That said, sitting at 16 points to start I opted to headline Grain Sales, play AR 1 Kitchen Debates, AR2 One Small Step, putting me at Earth Orbit (Soviets were at Man in Space). AR 3 I spaced Warsaw Pact, rolled a success, and won the game there. The USSR had been trying to flip the middle East (I had no scoring, Europe, South America, Central America, and Africa were gone) and only managed to a draw, while Asia was +7 me.
I’m getting the hang of it, I felt in more control, setting things up. I also learned how punishing Red Scare can be, as my first game I had drawn it both times. That really curbed my turn 7 ambitions.
Dan Carlin might be discussing Twilight Struggle and why Defcon 1 is a losing condition depending on whose turn it happens in this new episode of his podcast.
I’m about halfway through myself. Just at the point where Korea has blown up.
Just needed to share my pain.
Well, I guess that solves who will dominate South America!
I headlined Truman (whatever), while he played Grain Sales, which drew Bear Trap: almost a waste of that event, considering my hand!
I just want you to know that, while I feel your pain, this is frickin hilarious. Honestly I’d have probably headlined bear trap on myself! Goodbye Ussiri, Camp David, and Our Man (if you’re lucky). Nato is the only one of those I wouldn’t hate in your position.
I’m sorry but I had to laugh. Wait. I’m not sorry.
Eh, while that’s a lot of white events, I’ve certainly seen worse. Really, the only “must space” events are Bear Trap and River Skirmish. Being put in bear trap just means you discard River skirmish, and can still space your choice of Our Man or Camp David and hope you don’t get stuck in multiple turns of the Trap (which odds say you won’t). NATO is almost a 4 free op card. Five Year Plan you can play late while only holding the 1 op cards to help offset one of their effects. Looks like you will be stuck playing the China card, but at least you won’t be hurting for ops.
I might have headlined OAS with the plan of couping where ever he put the control, but I guess that would have backfired.
The game ended on turn 9: I had lost Africa but was close to actually controlling South America (a very nicely timed Latin America Debt Crisis on turn 8, where I was basically sacrificing the middle east to make him waste resources, and hoping I could finish with a bang, it worked!) and controlling Center America, somehow.
It was +8 for my opponent, I was this close to comboing both American score cards on Turn 9: I just had to not get defcon to 2, in fear of Wargames… and what do I do on Action Round 1? I couped, yup.
Lesson: never play TS again without having had your morning coffee —__—
I think I’ve gotten good enough to consider playing against humans. How does that work? Do you get matched up to an opponent at random? Are you expected to play out the whole game in one sitting?
In the chat when Tom was streaming somebody mentioned being from a 2-stability country. I can just imagine what I’d be thinking if I wasn’t from the USA: “They made us be 2-stability but those guys are 3? Why are we not a battleground? We’re so much more important than that other country.”
Very well, actually!
You could, or you can create a game against a friend specifically. Like other games Playdek has translated, there is a friends list you can add people too.[quote=“Miguk, post:378, topic:69029”]
Are you expected to play out the whole game in one sitting?
[/quote]
Absolutely… not. You can set game length prior to the start, and each player gets a set amount of time for their turns. Think a chess timer, but on 7 or 42 day settings. So you can take a turn or two a day and get through games.
There are plenty of players here, so give a shout out if you want someone to play against.
There’s also a Qt3 tournament from time to time. I expect there’ll be another one starting in a month or two.