Hello community

I have noticed that in my games I tend to be very turtle like. I find that I fall onto the defense is the best offense mentality. I have come to realize that this is not very viable in this game. I do not launch many attacks because I usualy do not feel I can win so I should just put this into my defense. I end up in a major war of attrition that I usualy lose very slowly as my opponents take outposts slowly one by one until it snowballs into a losing battle. Any tips on building a good offense?

Ally with people who aren't your neighbors. Ask them who they are attacking and jump in. It's hard to defend two borders.

Plus, if your ally is not your neighbor they are easier to trust.

Choose the speedy specialists like Helm, Lieut/General, & admiral. If you want more help check out http://subterfugehub.com

Usually I get many people to attack a single person, who is usually the person who is winning at the time. Most people agree (unless they are allied with that person) and you should be able to take them out quite easily.

I'd also recommend not being the first person to attack. While it can work out very well, it's a risk. People will tend to attack the most aggressive player in the game.

Here is a rather underhanded offensive strategy. Leave one of your outposts along your border with Person A undefended(although if you have a smuggler to rush defences there that's even better). Make sure all other ones are defended. Launch an attack at against person A's bases, making sure you'll take at least one. Hopefully, A will see your undefended base, and attack it. The easier it looks to take, the more likely an attack. Tell A that you changed your mind about attacking him, and that if he gifts you the subs he sent, you'll gift the ones you sent, or you'll return his when they arrive. Say whatever you must to convince A that he should gift you his subs. If you succeed in convincing A to gift, send a sub towards him that has his return "gift". Tell him you scheduled it to gift right before it arrives, so that he can't change his mind about peace, or so that a pirate can't steal it. Then just never actually gift it. All the subs you said you would gift will attack A, and hopefully you'll take some outposts.

This works best if your subs will arrive after his do. It's also good if you have a way to reinforce your undefended outpost, because your deceit may not go as planned. This strategy requires a lot of trickery and outright lying, so it's not something you want to do a lot, but it has its uses. Obviously, this won't make you friends. It's something that kind of has to happen within the first 2-3 days, and it works best if you can eliminate person A as you do this.

v3xt wrote:Here is a rather underhanded offensive strategy. Leave one of your outposts along your border with Person A undefended(although if you have a smuggler to rush defences there that's even better). Make sure all other ones are defended. Launch an attack at against person A's bases, making sure you'll take at least one. Hopefully, A will see your undefended base, and attack it. The easier it looks to take, the more likely an attack. Tell A that you changed your mind about attacking him, and that if he gifts you the subs he sent, you'll gift the ones you sent, or you'll return his when they arrive. Say whatever you must to convince A that he should gift you his subs. If you succeed in convincing A to gift, send a sub towards him that has his return "gift". Tell him you scheduled it to gift right before it arrives, so that he can't change his mind about peace, or so that a pirate can't steal it. Then just never actually gift it. All the subs you said you would gift will attack A, and hopefully you'll take some outposts.

This works best if your subs will arrive after his do. It's also good if you have a way to reinforce your undefended outpost, because your deceit may not go as planned. This strategy requires a lot of trickery and outright lying, so it's not something you want to do a lot, but it has its uses. Obviously, this won't make you friends. It's something that kind of has to happen within the first 2-3 days, and it works best if you can eliminate person A as you do this.

Remind me never to make a peace treaty with you

It's not something I can say I do regularly. There was a situation where I should have done it though, because upon receiving the gifts that I actually did send, he turned around and attacked me. If I'd never gifted, I would have been much better off.

I don't know that I can see that fooling most players without really good acting.
However the bait method with an undefended outpost is a really good way to lure an attack and rally your allies to fight the attacker. I find that righteous/purposeful offense usually plays out better than open deceit for the long haul.

You know, I wouldn't have thought it would work that often, but out of about 6 games, I've had the opportunity to do this, around 3 times. I haven't done it every time, but I could have, and it would have worked, I just didn't want to play so immorally.