My picks for rento's: Southeast Asia, East China, West China, Scandinavia, Antarctica, Central America

I don't usually triple pick, but the combinations that look initially more attractive would make the triple pick safe.

Interesting board. My picks would highly depend on who I play on a map like this.

One option is:
1- Scan
2- Green
3- SEA
4- CRus
5- CAm
6- WAf (if I get this I'm alone in Africa)

2nd:
1- Ant
2- Aus
3- Scan
4- Green
5- Eur
6- WRus

Ant + Aus is safe but also completely isolated and blocked by wastelands. I would only go this way if I can counter Scan+Green from Europe (delay it a bit). Europe can also give access to Africa, which is likely gonna be empty.

The triple-pick option is too risky ihmo and doesnt beat the first turn bonus. CRus counters it too easily.

PS what if your opponent picks antarctica but doesnt move. A pick in aus doesnt eliminate a pick in ant before the person in ant finishes another bonus somewhere and has a massive income advantage.

ant, aus, scan, gland, sea, wrussia.

Nothing really works as a hard counter to these picks. Even if someone knew my picks before they made theirs (im looking at timi) I dont think they would be able to counter me, the best they could do is make the same picks. These picks crush scan/gland. Ant/aus/sea and get 11 income guaranteed by the end of turn 2, casually finish aus and head over towards scan for an easy position.

rento: i always have the option to blockade Antartica if i see you already have a bonus and i don't, and then you have income advantage but are stuck on scandinavia+greenland, while i have 3 expansion areas which will finish before you start attacking me in russia. i will just neglect russia defense and invest hard into scandinavia and greenland. while expanding on to east africa if i can spare the troops.

Tigger: i have 2 options, [1] keep charging fullforce and find him there with big number disadvantage, if im lucky he even attacked against my stack on second turn and is left with 1, if im unlucky he is waiting there with his 6++ in which case i can only go back and blockade or finish my other areas while feeding the stack [2] wait for movement while finishing my other areas in west africa or west russia. if i have the russian combo i can finish it this turn and have slight income advantage. if i dont then it's a lot more risky to just sit and wait.

Tigger: Scan, Green, CAm-... could prob beat your combo. Also picking Aus before Ant as it can neutralize Ant? Aus-Scan-green-ant-...

PS: going all in on Ant turn 1 will delay your first bonus a lot, and if your opponent gets that turn 1 bonus, you will not recover from that. Early blockades also tend to be cracked in mid-game, as you can't invest too many troops to make it big enough.

PS his "big number disadvantage" isn't going to be big enough for you to eliminate him in ant. "if im lucky" yes if youre lucky and your opponent makes a stupid move then youll be fine, but that is a bad premise for a plan. You assume that your 2,3 picks are better than your opponents', which is likely to be wrong. wafrica is inefficient and erussia is easily countered by scand.

Chaos: I really prefer games where I am isolated from my opponent, they are low risk and decided by the skill of the players over 20+ turns. While I may not win that match up on picks I would have plenty of time to outplay someone, which is equally valuable as a small positional advantage on the board.

I guess I have not played enough of this game, but I am really not liking the super-isolation of Antarctica & Australia. Sure, it is safe but there is nowhere to expand as the game progresses. Also, this is not a huge concern, but the units used for capturing these territories will not have any secondary mission, so they will be left idle.

My three first picks would probably be: 1) Greenland 2) Southeast Asia 3) Scandinavia. I leave SCAND last because if I lose it I can use GL first turn to block it off, and I do not need it to block West and East Russia because SEA works sufficiently for that as well.

Offtopic: If somebody wants a screenshot taken but is not able to do so then I can do it and upload it myself, just PM me the link. You could also just post the game link here though. :)

@kazpar: Here's a game: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3929266

Just realized that you can not send private messages on this site. :)

Anyways, Platypus asks about picks for this map:
http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3929266

I'm not suprised noone is responding to this map. It's tough, and I'm not sure these are the best picks, but I want to see the thread continue.

ant, C russia, s africa, e china, CAm, west US.

I would expect to (1)get my first 3 with no contact in russia, and go for 12 income on turn 2, and expect an enemy in SA. (2)get first 3 with contact in russia and have an easy game thanks to a fast easy bonus (3) get my 234 and no contact. complete russia first and attack ant hard turn 4

please rescale the image next time to fit better on the forum, this one requires scrolling which is annoying :P

anyway, #1 CRus, #2 Ant, #3 Green, #4Canada, 5#SAf, 6#CAm
Not too sure between #1 and #2 order yet, might switch those around

Central Russia
East China
South America
Central America
Antarctica
South Africa