Thought it might be neat to share thoughts on territory selection. Here is a map for 1v1 strategic settings on medium earth.

Where would you pick and why?

Where would you pay close attention and where would you avoid?


I guess I'll get the ball rolling. (though keep in mind I'm not the best player)

First thing I usually look for is if there is a first turn bonus. In this case Antarctica and Australia combine for that. I place my first 2 picks there in Antarctica and Australia respectively to either take the first turn bonus or counteract my opponents attempt at first turn bonus.

My third pick is Central Russia as it is somewhat isolated but still has some expansion opportunities.

I pick Mexico 4th and then West Africa and Greenland for my 5th and 6th for not a whole lot of reason other than it makes my picks nice and spread out.

For my first two picks I"d also pick australia and antarctica for the same reasons. For pick number two I'd pick scandavia due to it being an easy bonus that quickly connects to na and europe, for four I would pick west china because it is entirely surrounded by wasteland territories giving me the chance to have a secure income. For five I'd go to south america and six to east africa, I would not pick west africa or mexico because on the off chance I got 1 or both of those with antarctica while my opponent got south america, I"d be in a tough position defencively.

Wow I totally failed at counting there, that's: 3 scandavia, 4 east china, 5 east africa.

Failed again...>.> This forum needs an edit button. 5 south america, 6 east africam

1 Australia
2 Antartica
3 america central
4 South America
5 Scandinavia
6 Central Russia

1. Scandinavia
2. Greenland
3. Antarctica
4. South America
5. Australia
6. South Africa

I would go for taking 1,2,4 south america serving as a counterpick. I'd go for greenland in 2 turns and on then hitting from south america hard while completing scandinavia. I'd really like my chances against all of your picks here;)

1.scandinavia
2:east china
3:west africa
4.east africa
5.antarctica
6.south america

1: antartica
2: west africa
3: mexico
4: west US
5: east africa
6: east russia

The idea is to try and get the other player to pick mexico, while I take antarctica. getting a starting position in antarctica, middle/north america and central africa would be ideal. I could expand were he isn't and hold/haras were he is. If he is not in middle america and antarctica he most likely is in scandinavia. In that case I would start expanding north to constrict him and limit his northern bonusses to scandinavia and greenland. If he is not in africa, I can take an easy 8 bonus with room for later expansion in south america and south africa and an attacking 'scout' through middle east to break up anything in asia (or if he is not there and i made contact in north america: towards scandinavia.)

A possible weakness would be someone with east china who punches through hawaii. This move constricts his expansion tho and costs armies. Taking hawaii only becomes a priority in case i haven't found his picks after a couple of rounds.

A second 'weakness' could be a counterpick. Because I spread out, I'm not really vulnerable. In case I we both pick countries that are next to eachother, I don't lose anything. In the other case I might have to resort to a blockade card. For this reason, australia doesn't seem to be the best counterpick as a blockade would block all expansion from that side.

1. west china
2. east Africa
3. Canada
4. Oceania
5. Antarctica
6.South amercia

I had exactly the same idea as Kantos but seeing szeweningen's picks I'd think those are the best so far

1.west africa
2.north africa
3.south africa
4.east africa
5.south pole
6.south america

the idea is to get as many bonuses as possible while having to protect a few specific territories for example the whole of africa,it only needs you to protect 4 territories only while getting a lot of bonuses

furthermore you could also try to capture the corner and spread out because most of the time you dont have to protect so many territories

I was surprised to see nobody really taking Africa until the last post. I think it is really good in this map (unlike the standard Risk map). It is worth a lot more, but only adds one additional place to defend (south). It also allows for expansion easily (taking an additional territory in each direction adds no borders). I haven't played 1 v 1 on it, but that is my favorite place with 3 or 4 players. People tend to avoid it being in the middle and they end up fighting while I expand freely.

The thing is that africa is very vulnerable for a counterpick in either west or east africa, making you able to control all the other bonuses in africa as you have acces to them. This is especially true for west africa as you can see all the bonus while only covering 2 territories.

Thus you could be able to stall someones expansion while you yourself would pick 1 or 2 easy bonuses like mexico or scandinavia that the one with all 3 picks in africa wont be able to reach quick enough.

yeah
but to me africa is like a long term base
if you lose africa you lose everything
its that simple

jimlego, compare your picks against my picks, I am certain I'd lose ~100$ of the time with you in that setup since you do not really have faster expansion and I would have 2 excellent entry points since the start in west africa is misplaced. Africa for 3 starters is a very bad choice...

lol, I wanted to say I'd win :)