Another strategy:

I can't emphasize enough how much control you take away from your opponents if you can dictate when they can hire specialists. Many people are currently employing a strategy where they place their queen on their border for the added shields, my counter to this is to pressure the queen forcing the player to move her right before her next hire is available, forcing the player to run and miss having a specialist hire until the queen arrives at the outpost she's running to. As a plus, by your opponent running, this will result in a shield loss of up to 20 + a reduction in drillers for any they take with the queen.

Things that help this strategy:

Sonar over your opponent's neighboring outposts. Easiest way to counter this pressure is if they can repel the attack without moving their queen. You'll need to see what reinforcements they can get there and when.

Speed. As you can probably tell my now, speed is king in subterfuge. Especially early-mid game. An admiral or helmsan allows you to give them less notice for these attacks which means they won't be able to reinforce in time and will have to move their queen.

I always find in my games that people who are coming first on days 4 or 5 will, 9 out of 10 times, not win. I recommend being about 3rd/4th at the beginning and then 3rd/2nd during days 4 to 5 as to not attract attention. Driller production specialists will help you control your position in the leaderboards easier.

Another one for now...

Don't know what this has been name/ if it has been named, but the Smuggler+Navigator cross-map combo.

This strategy is more specific to smaller maps/ maps where you have a long line of outposts under your current control.

We can all agree that a quick attack on your opponent is better than a slow one. And nothing makes you move quicker than a 3x speed smuggler (other than a pirate returning...). Technically a smuggler's speed boost can only be used when traveling between your own outposts. But if you pair it with a navigator and take advantage of the fact that the world is round, you can send attacks at nearly 3x speed.

You will always travel the shortest distance between point A and point B, but if you are playing on a smaller map, or have a long line of outposts, you can typically have your smuggler/ nav combo at one end of your empire and send them to your other end by sailing right by your opponent(s) in between. Then simply use your nav to send them at your opponent when passing by.

Best part of this combo is if your opponent realizes what you are doing and is able to counter in time, simply use your nav again to fly back at 3x speed to your closest outpost and laugh while your opponent tries to chase you.

Last one for now.

The ol' Bait and Switch.

Nothing brings me more joy than this strategy. Have a slowly escalating arms race? An untrustworthy neighbor? Or just a sub carrying 500 drillers headed your way? This strategy is for you.

The Bait: One of your border outposts that you believe is most likely to be attacked (whether its a mine, bordering someone you're at war with, or just an attractive spot for an ever-growing opponent to expand to. I will typically help incentivize my opponent by making it clear that if they attacked it, they will win that attack. Don't overdo it, but it has to be apparent.

The switch: A few switches can be used here, but it typically involves racing either a double agent or martyr to your "bait" outpost that will arrive before your opponent gets there.

IMPORTANT: As you play more experienced players, the key to this strategy working is to have your "switch" specialist out of your opponent's sonar range. Only low level players will not realize they are being baited if they can see the switch prior to sending an attack. This is why I say you need to "race" a sub there as you will probably be a ways away depending on your opponent's visibility. Smugglers, Helsmen, and Admirals definitely help.

Which switch to use when:

One single sub carrying a large amount of drillers/ and or specialists: Double agent. As you are probably aware, if you have a double agent arrive at your outpost and then send directly at the incoming sub by itself, you will take control of all of your opponent's specialists and kill all his drillers. Pro move: If you have some movement bonus (pirate, admiral, or helsmen), wait to send the double agent until one tick before the attack occurs, and then just send a sub out after your double agent to reclaim him.
If you don't have a double agent, try an assassin. If your opponent is going to win based off their specialist involvement, wait until one tick before the attack occurs and send your assassin at them. Even if your assassin kills their specialists but then is captured by their drillers, you will easily be able to catch him with any kind of movement bonus as noted above.

Multiple subs within a tight vicinity: Martyr. Instead of sending one massive sub, some players now send a new sub every tick with the total drillers divided between them. (This counters the double agent defense). So here you will want to send the martyr as soon as it gets to your outpost, to hopefully save your own outpost and take out all subs within the blast radius.

Can I nominate Braxo's day 8 video from the live broadcast as one of the "brilliant plays by skilled players"?

roadkiehl wrote:Can I nominate Braxo's day 8 video from the live broadcast as one of the "brilliant plays by skilled players"?

Where would I find it? Is there a url for it, if so I'll add it to the site.

Oh here's a good combo I've seen used once before. King, Infiltrator, Thief. The king doesn't have to be on the sub, but when attacking an outpost, you'll generally drain all shields, steal some drillers, and then your king will use those drillers to destroy your enemy's drillers. Having a second King and a second Thief basically makes this twice as powerful. In my current game, I'm finishing battles with more drillers than I started with.

bolminator wrote:

roadkiehl wrote:Can I nominate Braxo's day 8 video from the live broadcast as one of the "brilliant plays by skilled players"?

Where would I find it? Is there a url for it, if so I'll add it to the site.

http://youtu.be/dq4IeWhgL0Q
There's also the devlog with all the videos. Here's day 10, which has links to the rest:
http://blog.subterfuge-game.com/post/13 ... postmortem