Great guide in strategy
I think the philosophy part applies to many games, like Stratego, Neptune's Pride, or real war. Thanks for telling us how to git gut
seethestar wrote:I have a very similar record to yourself (currently 14th in the rankings and yet to finish anywhere but first in any match)
kevlargolem wrote:seethestar wrote:I have a very similar record to yourself (currently 14th in the rankings and yet to finish anywhere but first in any match)
Haha, indeed I did notice you creeping up on me with a very similar style of record while I was studying the leaderboards the other day.
delphaeus wrote: I'm a little proud to say that I have beat you in a game (although to be fair, we were allied almost the entire game, and you did come within 2 hours of beating me)
Intro
This is intended to be a complete competitive guide to Subterfuge, so please forgive the length. Also because Subterfuge is such a nuanced guide, you will see it is not written as a narrative "do this, then this, then this" but rather as a large collection of concepts. I also hope to do a series of videos to provide examples of what I am saying, if I can find enough time.
-Don't play too many games at once: I see this a lot, and it hurts people's performance. I myself have only ever played 1 game at a time. The game may seem slow at times, but there is a TON to do and think about while your subs take forever getting to their destinations. Think about who you're going to attack next, who might attack you next, check your drill cap to make sure you wont max out soon, think about what specialist you want next, TALK TO PEOPLE. To win the most games possible, you should play as best as possible, and that can only happen if you spend a lot of time/focus on each game.
-Talk to people (a lot): All diplomacy requires communication, and silence is a universal sign to distrust. This is especially true before the game has even started, as people are very easily spooked and/or looking for someone to gank. It also tends to be true that the more you talk to someone, the more they trust you and want to work with you (so long as you don't message them so often that it annoys them).
-Be aggressive but not reckless. An aggressive player picks a target, and destroys them quickly, and starts looking for the next target while quietly discussing with his allies who that target should be. A reckless player picks fights arbitrarily, without knowing whether he has allies or whether they will assist in his next war. Reckless players frequently find themselves the "asshole" and end up on the wrong side of 2v1/3v1s and get eliminated early. Good aggressive players often finish with a medal.
-Fight with unfair numbers: Yes, always. If you think an honorable 1v1 is how you want to fight, you can, but competitively that is never ideal. Every time you are at war, you are distracted and vulnerable (the rewards make this worthwhile). You want to win every war as quickly as possible to reduce the time in which you are vulnerable, and also to grow the largest empire faster than others who are trying to do the same, so that your win condition can come faster than theirs. A 1v1 fight proceeds extremely slowly, and could turn into a standoff, or worse- into a losing fight. Embrace your allies, and seek out those 2v1s, or 3v2s, or 3v1s.
-Secretly ally with everyone?: I personally do not have a lot of respect for this strategy, but it does seem to work (viable). The basic idea is to make allies with most of the people in the game, sometimes as multi-person alliances, and then pick which alliance you like better and betray the other alliance once it suits you. This does carry its own risk if you are not careful, that both sides will realize what you are doing and turn against you. It can also be bad for your long-term reputation.
-Control every drill: Every drill should always be serving a purpose- in motion or stationed at their purpose the moment they are built. This is probably the biggest single mistake I see people make. There is no reason to keep drills scattered all over your base "just in case" someone somehow instantly blasts their way into the center of your territory. Think of drills as the blood of your military- and pump that blood to where it is needed. Yes, it seems like those 6 drills are not a lot, and it seems like they will never get to where you want them. Have faith- 6+6+6 adds up quickly, and that travel time isnt as bad as you think.
-Keep close eye on your drill cap: Imagine that every cycle your factories miss because they are capped, that many drills just died. Thought about this way, you will realize that your cap might be killing significantly more drills than any enemy specialist could ever kill. You never want to be capped. Get more gens, get a Tinkerer/Minister of Energy, build a mine, or let loose on an enemy, but try to never be capped. Remember that clearing your cap takes time, so take action before the cap comes, not after.
-Don't feel compelled to always fight constantly. Just because you can fight, doesn't mean you must to do it constantly for the entire game. One benefit of being the player on the offensive is that you are in control of when it happens, and who it happens with. Take advantage of this power, and only do it when you are confident in your choice, and are ready to fight. While you never want to be drill capped, you also dont want to willingly start a fight while low on drills.
-Try not to "rubber-band" your own Nep when taking someone else mine. Its a hard rule that every time a mine is lost, Nep is only lost, and none is gained. This means that by back-and forth fighting over a mine, both players can suffer huge Nep losses. Avoid this problem by only taking a mine when either (a) you have no/little Nep to lose, or (b) you are certain you can hold the mine the moment you take it.
-Know the strength of shields as what they are (no more, no less). Players can tend to either overly fear shields, or drastically underestimate them. I think those who fear them tend to do so because of the visual aspect of that scary white circle building up, and would not carry this fear if the outpost only gave a numerical indicator, like the way drills do. I think those who underestimate shields do so because of reckless tendencies.
-Target factories on offense, generally. Factories are usually much higher priority targets over gens and even mines, because they are actively producing front-line drills which dont have to travel for a single second to defend that outpost, and have quick speed to counter-attack your assault. Therefore you generally want them out of the picture asap. The exception to this rule, is if your target has very high drill production rate, and very low cap space. Then you can take his gens first, which will ensure that he wont be able to produce from any factory, let alone his front-liners. I would apply the "hot-or-cold" concept to this- either go hard after factories, or go hard after gens. Don't be lukewarm by going after both with equal priority.
Opening
The opening is a terrifyingly critical part of the game. It is when players are most even, as drills and outposts are even, and specialists are at a minimum. Ironically because it is so even, this is also when the game can be most unfair, because the most militarily skilled player in the game might get eliminated and finish in last place, merely because he got outnumbered by multiple poor military players. Fear not! There are principles to follow that can help you survive this critical and unforgiving stage.
By the time the first 1 or 2 players are being eliminated, we shift into the midgame. If youve survived this long, what I consider to be the hardest part of the game, is now over.