8 player escalating, advanced strategies

[knubbel]

Hello,
I know basic strategies for 8 pĺayer escalating games like not wasting armies and looking for someone to kill to sweep the board.
But if I win one of these games it is normally due to the fact that someone else messes up and I can take advantage and if the competition is good I hardly win games. And I would prefer to win the games because I am playing well, not because others mess up. So here are my questions:
What do you do in the first rounds to be the one who sweeps later? (What I try is to be next to the player who seems to the weakest but this often changes after the first people cash cards.)
Do you miss a card if you are going first or do you try to be the first one to have a second set?
How to stop other players from sweeping? I'm often looking for possibilities to block players but normally I don't see a chance. Are you looking for blocks already in the earlier rounds?

So if you have any tips and tricks I would really be interested.

[kingpin01]

I find BOB to be the most valuable tool in escalating games, to help you find not just the weakest, but the weak player with lots of cards. On most maps its hard to take anyone out on your first set. I never worry about missing cards, just wait until you have 5 cards, then see if you have an opportunity. Once you turn in your first set, and can't eliminate anyone, assume that you will have a set on the next turn (with 3 cards) and position yourself immediately to take someone out. A lot of low level players don't consider turning in a set before they get 5 cards, for defensive reasons, so you can often assume that if they have 4, they will wait another turn to get a set.

Defensive strategies: To prevent yourself being eliminated, always consider turning in a set early. Have 2 or 3 population centers, on separate parts of the map. Position a few troops in a corner or dead end section of the map, if possible. It's always harder for an attacker to split their army and go in two different directions.

I'm curious to see what some of the elite players have to say as well. Enjoy!

[dhallmeyer]

Don't go for bonuses, pick off 1's for cards, leave 1's behind you. otherwise kingpin said it all. Join the Society of the cooks and we'll teach you all the nitty grittys.

[Bruceswar]

Don't go for bonuses, pick off 1's for cards, leave 1's behind you. otherwise kingpin said it all. Join the Society of the cooks and we'll teach you all the nitty grittys.

Negative... we teach basics... If you want advanced strategies you can contact me.

[spline]

kingpin01 explained this well so I will just add. To win in these games is to create some sort of a chain reaction. In other words, eliminate one, cash in, use it on the next and so on. That's the most ideal, but of course it is not always easy to do. As cards are escalated, eliminating and not getting eliminated becomes absolutely critical. Identify those with many cards, and of course as kingpin01 said, try not to have many cards yourself if you are under pressure. If you are playing defensively, concentrate your armies somewhere which is not strategical, it is out of the way and make it as expensive as possible for anyone to eliminate you, while at the same time reduce the reward they get; not many cards, no strategic territory or continent.

Now to answer the original question, you just have to focus on timing the cashing sequence based on the above.
Hope this helps

[knubbel]

Hey guys thanks for your answers. I think I did not make my point very clear. I know how to play escalating and I won 25% of my 6/7/8 player seq esc games. I'm interested in what you do in the first 6-7 rounds to be the one that sweeps the board in the end. Where are the specialists here? What are the details? Better cash first and be the first with the second set? Deploy on one country or on many countrys? why? in foggy games: do you sometimes take 3s or 4s in the first rounds just to see more territs (and maybe know all territs of one player that you can sweep afterwards) or better just take 1s anyway?

[kingpin01]

Sunny and foggy are two completely different games.
Sunny: Deploy on 2-3 countries, and don't attack 3s or 4s unless you have 8 or 9 armies. don't worry about cashing first or last, you can win from any card position. For example, if you cash as soon as you get 5 cards, you will have 3 cards the next round. If you get a set, you can knock out a player on the next round who has 5 cards, and then sweep the board. keep 2-3 stacks in different areas of the board. watch for weaker players, and try to position yourself near them, without giving up too many armies.

Foggy: Going for bonuses has some value in foggy. If it's a big or confusing map, people might not be able to tell where you are getting the bonus from. If it's classic, people will know exactly where you are. If you're playing low level players, take the bonus anyway (if it's easy to get), as they will not adjust their strategy during the game. I only go for eliminations in foggy if I can see all of their territories (BOB will tell you how many they have, and how many you can see), or have a very good guess about where their last territories are.

[Marcus Oreallyus]

In a foggy game, would "hiding" a players territory, knowing they are on the verge of being eliminated, be considered unethical? So lets say after a turn someone is down to 4 territories, one where you have all surrounding, and you were planning to attack next round.
Do you "hide" them?

[72o]

In a foggy game, would "hiding" a players territory, knowing they are on the verge of being eliminated, be considered unethical? So lets say after a turn someone is down to 4 territories, one where you have all surrounding, and you were planning to attack next round.
Do you "hide" them?

Absolutely. Someone with BOB is going to see that red is down to 3 territories, and they can see 2 of them, and they both have ones on them. They will assume that red's other territory is connected to one of those two. So they will take those two, and then flounder around looking for the final one. Then you will be in the perfect position, because no one else knows where red is.

The only time this doesn't work is when red then cashes, and fights his way out through you. Especially if there are other players between you and red, as they will then know where he is.

[Timminz]

The biggest difference between the basics, and advanced strategy, is simply the ability to see everyone's position. Don't just know who you should try to kill, and who you might be killed by. You need to be able to read every option that everyone else has. Being able to guess which option someone is most likely to take is very helpful as well. The more you begin to be able to plan many rounds ahead, for you own moves, the more you need to be able to figure out what everyone else will do for the next rounds. I found a good way to do this, at first, is to take the time to pretend you are each other player in the game. Knowing what you would do in their position can really help you "see" the game better. Then you get into the complexities of whether or not you think your opponents might do the things you think are best for them (public games definitely have their share of people who don't make the "best" moves).

Ah, the joys of the large escalators....

[knubbel]

The biggest difference between the basics, and advanced strategy, is simply the ability to see everyone's position. Don't just know who you should try to kill, and who you might be killed by. You need to be able to read every option that everyone else has. Being able to guess which option someone is most likely to take is very helpful as well. The more you begin to be able to plan many rounds ahead, for you own moves, the more you need to be able to figure out what everyone else will do for the next rounds. I found a good way to do this, at first, is to take the time to pretend you are each other player in the game. Knowing what you would do in their position can really help you "see" the game better. Then you get into the complexities of whether or not you think your opponents might do the things you think are best for them (public games definitely have their share of people who don't make the "best" moves).

Ah, the joys of the large escalators....

this helps thanks! I'm gonna try this.

[72o]

The biggest difference between the basics, and advanced strategy, is simply the ability to see everyone's position. Don't just know who you should try to kill, and who you might be killed by. You need to be able to read every option that everyone else has. Being able to guess which option someone is most likely to take is very helpful as well. The more you begin to be able to plan many rounds ahead, for you own moves, the more you need to be able to figure out what everyone else will do for the next rounds. I found a good way to do this, at first, is to take the time to pretend you are each other player in the game. Knowing what you would do in their position can really help you "see" the game better. Then you get into the complexities of whether or not you think your opponents might do the things you think are best for them (public games definitely have their share of people who don't make the "best" moves).

Ah, the joys of the large escalators....

I was able to put together a game with some decent escalating players where everyone talked through their strategy in the game chat as we were playing. Everyone explained what they saw, and why they did what they did; it helped me a lot (although it hasn't improved my winning percentage yet, it has kept me from being the guy who ruins the game every time).

That game number is Game 5844078.

[Timminz]

The biggest difference between the basics, and advanced strategy, is simply the ability to see everyone's position. Don't just know who you should try to kill, and who you might be killed by. You need to be able to read every option that everyone else has. Being able to guess which option someone is most likely to take is very helpful as well. The more you begin to be able to plan many rounds ahead, for you own moves, the more you need to be able to figure out what everyone else will do for the next rounds. I found a good way to do this, at first, is to take the time to pretend you are each other player in the game. Knowing what you would do in their position can really help you "see" the game better. Then you get into the complexities of whether or not you think your opponents might do the things you think are best for them (public games definitely have their share of people who don't make the "best" moves).

Ah, the joys of the large escalators....

I was able to put together a game with some decent escalating players where everyone talked through their strategy in the game chat as we were playing. Everyone explained what they saw, and why they did what they did; it helped me a lot (although it hasn't improved my winning percentage yet, it has kept me from being the guy who ruins the game every time).

That game number is Game 5844078.

I've played in a couple open-strategy games too. I'll try to find them later, so I can post the links. They can be very helpful. Especially if you can watch as they unfold. It's a lot harder to read a game when you're only reading the log after the fact.

[zimmah]

In a foggy game, would "hiding" a players territory, knowing they are on the verge of being eliminated, be considered unethical? So lets say after a turn someone is down to 4 territories, one where you have all surrounding, and you were planning to attack next round.
Do you "hide" them?

i would even go further, in some cases (either foggy or sunny) i use to 'wall off' an enemy, to prevent others to finish him off.

for example if i'm attacking someone, but i lack the strenght to finish him (or i have some distant armies, i can foritify, but not use in the assualt that turn yet) i will just knock hm down to a manageble level (as low as he can get without being in danger of being killed by other opponents) and then i will put a good deal of remaining troops in key locations near him, in the best case, directly between me and the other enemy, so the enemy either has to walk around me (and waste a lot of armies on the way) or go right trough me (and waste a lot of armies on trying to kill me first) yes, you do risk your own armies to some degree, but in some cases, giving out free cards can be far worse then losing a fraction of your army.

[Nola_Lifer]

Well I don't know if this is advanced or not; however, I never see anything mentioned about it. Look at your cards, do you have those terries, are you close to those terries. I noticed that no one grabs those areas that they have cards on. That is an extra +2 and, if you are good enough, another +6.

[comic boy]

The important thing is to be aware of what EVERY player is doing and strategise accordingly , failing to block potential kills is the most common blunder I see in escalating games. In elite 6 player games , unless somebody has screwed up , you should not be able to mount a viable kill until draws hit 30 so ideally you want to set yourself to cash around that mark second time around. Cashing first ( ie 4 ) is to me a very bad idea, get caught with 5 cards at the second or third phase and you are in big trouble