What is your basic strategy for multiplay vs another player. Spread as fast as you can? attack with all income when you meet up with an enemy or continue to spread instead? do you attack neutral 2 armies with 4(attacking 3) or 5 (attacking 4) Whats the basic strategy that gets you wins! because my ass cant seem to get one :P

in strategic 1v1, aka ladder games.. imho it's best to go 3vs neuts most the time, 4 if it's needed for the bonus and you can spare it.. *4 is guaranteed victory, 3 is only 80% chance at base luck*

it's important to always be growing, even when you meet your opponent, presuming you meet him soon, and always trying to predict where you think he is... whether you try to kill him/hold him off/gather the bonus at the place you meet him, is situational...

Everything is situational, really. Here are some basic principles.

Attack neutrals with 3 attackers when:
A. Your income can't support attacking with more and you're trying for a bonus
B. You don't need to capture that territory this turn, but want it eventually (Ex: You can't get a bonus this turn, but you want to get it next turn)

Otherwise attack with 4 attackers.


Assuming you don't encounter the enemy really early, then you want to take your initial 3 bonuses before doing anything else in most all situations. Because unclaimed bonuses have spots with 4 neutral armies in them, these 3 bonuses you start with are going to be the easiest to take all game, and the most efficient use of early armies.

After that stage, you have 2 basic options. You can make a beeline for an enemy's bonus or you can begin to expand. There's no right or wrong answer there. It depends on what intelligence you have and what you expect your opponent to be doing, and whether or not you have good expansion spots nearby. If you know where your opponent is (for example, you selected Central America to be your 2nd pick and you didn't get it. Then you know your enemy is there), and can reach it quickly, you can consider putting most of your income every turn into a wrecking ball to show up on his doorstep with. If you don't know where your enemy is, or think you have better spots to expand to than he does, then you should start to expand. Generally, it's best to put most of your resources into expanding into one bonus before investing into another bonus. One bonus fully completed nets you more armies than 3 bonuses half completed.

When you encounter the opponent, there are basically 3 different spots you can encounter them in. One is outside of a bonus they control, another is in a neutral area that isn't adjacent to either player's bonuses, and the 3rd is outside a bonus you control.

If you encounter them nearby to one of your bonuses, then the question of whether or not to continue to expand or to put your armies into keeping them out of your bonus comes down to the situation. If this bonus is isolated--meaning if they knock you out of this bonus they won't have access to the rest of your bonuses--then you might consider letting them pour their armies into taking it as you expand to better spots and get a higher overall income. If the bonus is connected to all of your other bonuses, then you might want to put everything into stopping them, because if they break this bonus then they will also have access to break your other bonuses and cripple your income.

If you encounter them in a neutral area, it all depends on the situation. If you think you have better expansion spots than they do, you probably want to continue to expand and let them beat you in the neutral area. If you think they have better expansion spots than you do, you might want to apply pressure to them to prevent them from taking those spots and beating you that way.

If you encounter them outside of their base, consider how easy it will be to break into their base. If they only have to defend 1 territory to keep you out, then they will probably be able to repel your attack. In that situation, you may consider expanding and letting them waste armies defending a bonus you aren't even going for. If they have to defend multiple spots, then your chances of breaking in are greatly increased, and you might want to put everything you have into breaking into their bonus, since your chances of success are much higher.

Really, there's a lot more depth behind all of these decisions, and there aren't really "formulas" one can follow for success. You have to basically consider the game and what you're trying to accomplish and what you think your best chance of winning is and try to do what you can to make that a reality. These are some basic guidelines to think about when you get in those situations though. Hopefully this helps someone.

And that my friends...is probably the best explanation on how to beat someone 1v1. Please copy the above post, print it out and keep it at your side.

All of what Impaller said can be seen through watching game histories of good players. Everybody in the ladder now has access to these games, and I heavily suggest studying up on them for two reasons if you wish to improve: Firstly, to get to know your future opponent's knacks, comforts and habits, and secondly to learn from strategies they utilize that you hadn't thought of before. A good mix of this with a lot of practice in open games in the art of selecting opening territories (this stage is THE most important part of any game; if you cannot do this well, you simply will not be successful in Warlight) is a good idea. After you do this, find a player close to you or a bit higher than you in skill level, and challenge him to lots and lots of practice games, and you'll be able to watch yourself grow exponentially.
In high level games, make sure to pay LOTS of attention. Use the history button liberally; try and see where the enemy might be located, based on what picks you were denied first turn, which ones looked appealing that you didn't get to, and if you're currently in contact with him, try to see how many armies he's deploying each turn and use that to judge a rough estimate of his income. With this you can make accurate predictions on how your opponent will be able to respond to your pressures.

Waya makes a really good point. The best way to improve is to constantly play people who are a little bit better than you. This will make it so the match isn't lopsided, but you can still learn a lot from that player. You'll learn a lot more if you look through the history and discuss the game afterward and what you think would have been better or so forth.

Thank you all.

one of the most important things *imho* that wasn't mentioned.. and is 'a' reason why there are no set formula's..

Don't be predictable.

If you always attack bonuses in a certain way, or always seem to follow a certain path, then you'll find alot more resistence then if you change things up every once in a while.. nothing quite so good as seeing someone set up a perfect trap/defense for you, only to have your armies headed the other way

Very good advice Imp. The presence or absence of an abandon/blockade greatly effects these decisions as you can let them in with a stack and then torch your bonus while expanding elsewhere.