wbpesch@ihuxp.UUCP (Walt Pesch) (09/25/85)
Some one mentioned the end-game in terms of patterns. I'd like to take that a step further, and say that for a good portion of the games, it WILL be the Southerners who will win. (South America (SA), Africa(AF), Australia(AU).) For the analytis out there, I would say atleast nine out of ten games will be won by the Southerners. How would Africa win? First and foremost, the African player needs to get a firm and trusting treaty with the South American player. (No matter how many players there are, normally within three turns there will be a player who has been ceded each of the three Southerners. AU and SA will be continents. AF may still be not united with North Africa or Egypt not held, but there will still be a recognized African player.) What else does he do? Don't violate the SA treaty till the end-game. If you can't get the treaty (or don't trust the SA player anyways), build the Balance of Terror with as many armies in North Africa as in Brazil. Pick up the Meddling East ASAP (the most important country in the game in my opinion). Play around in EU. If you can, keep from the start or get an Expeditionary Force into NA to make it tougher to take you out, and also an easy way to get your card if fenced into Africa. (Africa is is a natural spoiler since it can strike anywhere except NAfrom its home guard units pretty easily. People will keep a close eye on you.) The end-game... There are two different patterns possibly found. If you have Northerners, by this time they will be weak since they haven't had the control of a continent to draw upon. (Atleast they SHOULDN'T be allowed to hold NA, EU, or AS!) You have the advantage in position over both of the other Southerners. Good Luck, your game will be over soon. The other norm is for the Northerners being gone (either from a three-player game or from early attrition.) At this time, Australia in the corner will be becoming frisky, and you will find a joint alliance between SA and AF to work down AU. With luck, you will beat SA in for the kill (or of course perform the surgical stab on SA if he overextends himself because he is soooo far from home.) Of course if you cannot break AU because of a lack of performance from SA or a stab from SA, you are in deep poop. AU will eventually stop SA in Kanmchatka, and you will be turned on becuase you are a lot closer and probably initiated the attack on AU homeland anyways. <This went deeper than I thought, so I will only talk about Africa. Whenever I get feeling again in my fingers after so much typing, I'll continue.> (this is of course only for those who are still reading this.) Walt Pesch Commander of the Martian Brigades ihnp4!ihuxp!wbpesch -- Walt Pesch AT&T Network Systems ihnp4!ihuxp!wbpesch