All players should be given the amount of troops they would have gotten had they gone first in the first round of the game :
Specifics:
- For instance, in a 1v1 game on Africa, each player is dropped 15 countries but only one player is assured of being able to take advantage of this. Given the number of ways it's been shown that going first is an advantage in 1v1, this will mitigate at least one of those issues.
This will improve the following aspects of the site:
- Well, obviously, it will make games more fair by eliminating one of the advantages the first player gets in a 1v1 game.
As it stands, the deployment can set off a chain reaction. Player one gets, say 5 armies and can not only quite feasibly take 2 countries from player 2, but also fortify against an advance. Now player 2 needs to take 3 countries, starting with a smaller number of troops and likely having at least one well defended front in their way. This can create a pattern that will require some outstanding luck or a big mistake on the part of the first player to overcome.
Keep in mind, even if this change was made, player 2 may still be fighting an uphill battle. They still need to take 3 countries to establish an early game equilibrium where both players are, say starting their turn with 14 and finishing with 15+.