I prefer a more quiet/aggressive opening where I take as many outpost as I can without making enemies or allies, In till territory settles. It has worked for me so far but I was wondering how others approached their opening strategy in the initial steps and how they play off of it.

I usually make 1 or 2 allies and 50% truces with the people around me. The rest are open for attack. I then grab all the outposts that are closer to me than anyone else (about 10) and then me and my allies all attack someone that we have previously decided. This means that we usually have the upper hand as we have more outposts.

I usually go for peaceful diplomacy.
By allocating dormant outposts between my neighbors and myself, I can usually get one more than the average number of close outposts (so in a ten player game, I get 6 dormant outposts instead of 5).
Then, I get a speed or defensive specialist and get together an early mine, but wait long enough so that I am the second person to do so to avoid immediate aggression.
Managing peace deals through the promise of funding also helps keep your border safe. Be careful though as having many allies means that 1) they may not be as trustworthy and/or 2) it will be harder for you to expand.
Oh yeah, and communication is key! Keep in check with your neighbors and discuss other players, or share strats to increase trust. Even sharing life stories can increase friendships.

I wouldn't call myself an amazing strategist but I think I can pitch in. Here are a few pointers

1) most disputes in the early land grab can be solved with diplomacy. if your opponent has a sub also on the way to the outpost you can ask if you can have it. If he says yes, good job. Problem resolved. If your opponent says no then just go with it. You might now get an outpost but you have gained a good candidate for an ally.

2) go for factories in the early game. At the very start of the game you will probably not reach your driller cap quickly. Having more drillers will let you get a mine faster or let you defeat an opponent quickly.

3) don't be a jerk. Does this need more explanation. Get people to like you early and you should not be at the receiving end of to many attacks.

I hope that this is some good advice. Good luck in future games.

chariot rider wrote:
3) don't be a jerk. Does this need more explanation. Get people to like you early and you should not be at the receiving end of to many attacks.

I hope that this is some good advice. Good luck in future games.

Lol I intentionally am a jerk to a select few people. I've found that being best friends with everyone doesn't work to your advantage to well. You feel bad betraying those people because they trusted you so much so in some of my recent games there's usually that one person whom I am a straight d bag to and I try to get them to attack me first because I don't like agressing someone without an at least slightly justifiable reason.