Why do they do this?
I personally try to take as many neutral (undefended) outposts first.

The way I see it: The less factories you have, the greater the sacrifice when you attack someone (or when you defend against an attack) and lose drillers in this battle because it will take much longer to produce that many drillers again.

So why would I attack someone right at the beginning of the game? This will only lead to both players (attacker and the one being attacked) having less drillers and therefore being at a disadvantage for the first few days. Time and drillers spent in battle are kind of wasted because they could have been used to take neutral outposts first.

If you are playing in non-rated games there is the possibility that those players do not yet know what the game is about. You may find players attacking you from the start in ranked games too but this (hopefully) is planned out well enough.

They could be attacking you with 38 drillers on your mine you left unprotected since you send all 40 to an abandoned outpost, leaving your empire wide open. Then they have still 2 drillers to take empty mines near them.

Now they have 3 mines next to you and you have nothing but the 40 driller’s moving in the wrong direction. Also they would not attack alone. ^^

But probably they are just being foolish noobs. ; )

I've been successful attacking immediately a few times now but I also view it as very risky for the reasons you mentioned above. But if I start next to someone who pursues neutrals very aggressively to my detriment, sometimes going for his now vacant factory is the only option. And usually they are aggressive on all borders so their other neighbours are quick to join in.

That being said, I still prefer a peaceful start.

I don't know if you watched the exhibition game or not, but I eliminated Unloginable with a blitzkrieg day 1 assault.
A sudden, first day attack is uncommon among rated players, but it can be extraordinarily effective when used sparingly.
That being said, Umpusten is probably right. They're probably a noob trying to win the wrong way. I know I did that to Umpusten in my first game, actually

@road
What was your name there? I cant find the game wanna watch what happened since I cant remember ^^

EDIT: Never mind I found it^^ horrible game for me

umpusten wrote:@road
What was your name there? I cant find the game wanna watch what happened since I cant remember ^^

EDIT: Never mind I found it^^ horrible game for me

Everyone's forum name is identical to their in-game name. He was RoadKiehl in the videos

umpusten wrote:@road
What was your name there? I cant find the game wanna watch what happened since I cant remember ^^

EDIT: Never mind I found it^^ horrible game for me

Haha, it went really badly for me too. I made the classic noob mistake of thinking I can win a war alone

I think I remember the only thing you said to me was, "You annoy me"

roadkiehl wrote:Haha, it went really badly for me too. I made the classic noob mistake of thinking I can win a war alone

I thought the moral of the story was don't make moves when you've just woken up.


Dude, I have to admit i was bummed you lost to Braxo like that. (Amazing play by Braxo) In the previous videos you were so excited about getting 3 kings... lol i wanted to see what that looked like too! Then you were gone!

carter j burke wrote:

roadkiehl wrote:Haha, it went really badly for me too. I made the classic noob mistake of thinking I can win a war alone

I thought the moral of the story was don't make moves when you've just woken up.


Dude, I have to admit i was bummed you lost to Braxo like that. (Amazing play by Braxo) In the previous videos you were so excited about getting 3 kings... lol i wanted to see what that looked like too! Then you were gone!

If you were bummed, imagine how I felt, haha. My words kept coming back to haunt me. "I think this game is in the bag, guys."
Yeesh.
But it was a fantastic play by Braxo. I like the way Unloginable put it in his last video: "I was outplayed, outgunned. Admirably done. Wow, I still love this game."

That game was easily the best experience I've had in Subterfuge. I don't regret anything, except maybe that last day. Props to Braxo for being a genius.

Thanks for the feedback, though!

I attack on the first day pretty frequently and sometimes it works really well. sometimes i will attack with my very first move if i am close to someone i want to invade. Right after they commit their subs of their first move is a pretty good opportunity to hit their starting outposts if they are focused on expansion, or i send just slightly more to one of the empty outposts they are trying to expand to.