Ciao everyone,

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm not sure if I would be able to come up with a list of strategies or specific moves that are absolutely essential to a win. My friends have just started this game and I'm trying to give them generic advice not particular to our game's situation, but I can't think of anything. Some of the basics are pretty easy, like "don't be the first to drill a mine" (usually), or "make sure your hires are good", and of course "relations between neighbours is important", but I don't know what would be some advice to give to someone other than this. Everything I can think of is very generic.
So my question to you guys, what specific things do you recommend that can increase your chances greatly of a win? Attack/defence strategies, timing for mining, anything you have come across in your experience that is absolutely necessary to finishing first.

Thanks

Unfortunately the current strategy appears to be:



1. Create Non-Aggression-Pacts with your neighbors.
2. Gangbang someone with their help.
3. Hire some hypnos and navs along the way. Don't pass on a smuggler either, you're gonna want that tycoon.
4. Drop mines like they're hot and wait for your medal.

The only defense to this strategy is diplomacy. You can have the best hires in the world, but that will not matter unless the people attacking you are total doofs. 2v1s can be handled, but an intelligence report showing loss of production/outposts is like blood in the water...it will attract others, hoping to snag an easy/empty gen from your backside. Hone your diplomatic skills, and don't be a douche and make battles 3v1 right off the bat. That's not fun. For anyone.

Believe it or not, that strategy matches up with responses of people throughout history. I was just listening to a podcast talking about really long time ago in the Middle East - when everyone wanted more land but all the land had been claimed by some country, and everyone had an even balance of power - what you would commonly see is that the other countries would try to demon-ize a different country or just make that country look weak, so that all of that countries neighbors would gang up on it and take it over. After that, all the previously established alliances and those bordering countries now having more land and power would determine how the rest of the war would end.

All that to say it makes sense that you now see an almost identical strategy playout in Subterfuge. Way back in the day, KevlarGolem wrote a really well written (and really long) strategic guide. Although a lot of it is for more advanced players and some of it is debatable, it still holds a lot of wisdom.

Honestly, any advice I tried to think up is covered twice as well in the guide.