Strategy and Tactics

"If you're patient and follow a stable, disciplined game plan, there are innumerable ways for the uncertainties of the game to foul your opponents' efforts. That's not to say you should always play conservatively. Sometimes the slim possibility of victory depends on a reckless pursuit of good luck. The principle is: discern the path having the highest probability of victory and follow it tenaciously. If you commit to a plan, you'd be surprised how often you'll pull victory from the fire. Treat the game as though you have one way to win and your opponents have thousands of ways to lose."

-- Cyrano on March 21, 2003, after achieving the Wall of Flame with a record of 15-3

Phase 1: Growth and Expansion
It's All About the Economy, Stupid
Risk Taking
Phase 2: Rock - Paper - Scissors
Think in Terms of Zones of Control
Diplomacy
Think in Terms of Tempo
Don't Waste Forces!
Don't be Divided and Conquered
Tank Tricks
Phase 3: Strategic
Nuclear Winter
Enjoy the Game!

Phase 1: Growth and Expansion

Games typically have three phases, the first of which is the Growth and Expansion Phase. This phase occurs at the start of the game and represents the period of time when players are quickly growing their empires. Typically players are at tech levels 1 or 2.

During this phase you should try to grow as quickly as possible, while at the same time investing as many resources as you can into scientists. This is a difficult balancing act; it's easy to become obsessed with one of these goals, but you will not be successful unless you do both.

In order to expand, you should purchase lots of chariots (or rifles at tech level 2). You should try to expand in all directions, but you should avoid getting into conflicts with other players. You will almost always start at least three countries away from any other player so you should have a couple of turns to expand before running into any possible resistance. When you inevitably do run into another player, you should try your best to avoid conflict. Not only is it a waste of the resources that you have now, but you are giving up the opportunity to gain additional territory and resources. Try to avoid conflict by populating border countries with only defensive units (phalanxes and pistols). Doing this makes it more difficult and costly for your opponent to attack you, and also sends a signal that you have no intention to attack her, at least in the short term.

Your tech level is extremely important; it's very rare that a player with a lower tech level wins the game. Units at each tech level are a significantly better value than the units at the previous level. Therefore, if you are going to win the game, you must invest heavily in scientists early. Try to purchase as many scientists as you can while still maintaining reasonable growth.

Terrain and weather are very significant factors; be sure to pay close attention to them. When you attack those barbarians in the Yukon in the snow, your 2 strength chariots become 0.67 strength chariots. Typically you don't have enough forces to expand in every direction, so choose the path that gives you the best combination of the following:

• Least resistance from bad weather and terrain
• Most resources
• Least proximity to enemies
• Most defensible

Obviously a country that has rough terrain is more difficult for you to capture, but it is also more difficult for your enemies to capture from you. I suggest going after the mountainous countries early; barbarians are much easier to fight than other players.

The strategic importance of a country is more important than its resource value. For example, North America has three bottlenecks: Alaska/Yukon, Columbia/Mexico/SW USA, and Quebec/Greenland. The combination of weather and terrain makes these choke points virtually unassailable. If you start in North America, you must capture these choke points as quickly as possible or die trying.

Pay attention to the weather forecasts of the countries you are planning to capture, as well as the timing of the weather changes (the weather changes every 20 hours and is shown in the log). If it's fall and not yet snowing in the northern countries, you may want to grab them when you have the chance.

Be sure to leave at least two units in any country that borders barbarians. It's rare when barbarians capture a country that has at least two units.

Plan for the worst. You may be facing three barbarians this turn, but next turn an opponent with fifty units might show up. Make sure critical territories can be reinforced in an emergency by building a factory or keeping many units nearby.

It's All About the Economy, Stupid

The player who finally wins a game of Global Conflict will, in the absence of serious tactical mistakes, be the one who has the strongest economy and can afford to build the most troops. This should be fairly obvious, really. Once you have a superior economy, it is fairly straightforward to out build your opponents and use your superior military might to expand your borders and increase your economic edge. Wash, rinse, repeat until you win.

The two most likely exceptions to the largest economy leading to ultimate victory are: (1) another player with a technological edge uses superior forces to overwhelm your more numerous but weaker forces, or (2) you, the player with the lead economy, become deeply involved in combat with the second and third players whose combined income is greater than your lead economy. Taking these potential problems into account, your goal should be to achieve economic superiority while neither falling behind technologically nor engaging all or your enemies simultaneously.

Not engaging all of your enemies simultaneously is a matter of "diplomacy" and strategic positioning. If you set up one of your borders in defensible terrain and stock it with defensive units, chances are your opponent won't be able to wear you down much on that front. That's all the more resources you can spend crushing your other opponents.

Not falling behind technologically is obviously a matter of buying enough scientists. But invariably while you are concentrating on your conquests, someone's technology level will sneak past yours and give you a good scare. The good news is that generally your superior economy will still allow you to prevail - you should have the money to buy both more scientists and enough troops to hold off the technologically superior forces. The only time it is truly difficult to hold off a technologically superior force with your lesser technology but your superior resources is if your opponent has nuclear weapons. Rifles can be held off by a bunch of phalanxes, light tanks by a bunch of pistols, bombers by a bunch of anti-air, and nuclear weapons by... Well, in that last case, retreat as much as you need to while desperately trying to reach tech level 5 yourself before your opponent achieves economic superiority himself!

A corollary to a superior economy generally being preferable to a superior tech level is to focus more on capturing territory than on getting a tech lead. A tech lead is great, if you can achieve it, but instead of trying to extend a tech lead even further, it is generally best to exploit your advantage immediately by building superior forces to expanding your borders. And if you never do achieve a tech lead but generally maintain tech parity, who cares so long as your economy continues to grow?

Risk Taking

If your performance is average or even slightly above average, you will lose the game. Coming in second place is no better than getting wiped out on the first turn; actually it's worse because you have wasted a lot of time. In order to win you have to perform exceptionally well, and in order to perform exceptionally well you have to take risks.

As the attacker you have an incredible advantage over the defender. You can choose if and when you want to attack, how many times you want to attack, and when you want to stop. If a battle looks close and it would be of great strategic value if you were to win, then try performing an attack or two and then re-evaluate. If it goes poorly you can minimize your losses by reinforcing the country afterward. If it goes well, you can exploit your initial luck and gain a considerable advantage. Global Conflict isn't a chess game; it's about odds and opportunities, and how to exploit them.

Phase 2: Rock - Paper - Scissors

The second phase represents the period of time when most of the empty (barbarian-owned) countries have been claimed and the players turn on each other. Typically the players are at tech levels 3 and 4.

It's no accident that the game turns bloody when players hit tech level 3. It's at this level when some great offensive units become available (light tanks and artillery). Light tanks are powerful and fast, great for capturing territory behind the line that your enemy has carelessly left unguarded. They are also great for shifting between fronts and surprising your enemy. Artillery are very good at attacking, but should be used in concert with tanks, since alone they are fairly defenseless.

At tech level 4 the units get even more powerful with the introduction of planes. A bomber shows up on the map with an attack strength of 7, but when it gets into a fight against land units (and no anti-air), it's virtually indestructible.

In this phase you need to be concerned not so much with the strength of your forces, but with the composition, and more importantly, the composition of your enemy's forces. If he has nothing but tanks, then build bombers. If he has nothing but bombers, then build fighters. If he has nothing but fighters, then build anti-air units. If he has nothing but anti-air units, then build tanks. Look at the types of units that make up the bulk of his force, and build the appropriate units that will crush it. Many players seem to have a favorite type of unit; use this to your advantage and know the strengths and weaknesses of all types of units. A country with 50 attack points can destroy a country with 100 defense points with the right types of units.

Units of a higher tech level are not necessarily more effective. Many players destroy themselves by buying only light tanks when they reach tech level three. Light tanks are useful only when rapid movement is required, typically when one needs to shift fronts or reinforce a distant territory. For any other purpose, a combination of rifles, pistols, artillery, and anti-tank units will be more effective.

Think in Terms of Zones of Control

The best defense is often a good offense. Likewise, the best offense is...a good offense. It is generally preferable to be building offensive units instead of defensive ones when you can. How do they provide you an effective defense, however? In Global Conflict an army is allowed to strike at each an every one of its neighboring territories as many times as it likes in a single turn. So think of each of your armies as having the potential to control every one of its neighboring territories. Dump 50 chariots in Austria and none of your opponents will likely be able to take and hold Germany, Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, or Ukraine! That's projection of power! If your opponent also thinks in terms of zones of control and, for instance, puts 40 chariots in France, you will be unable to advance into either Germany or Italy. At that point you have a choice of either trying to maintain the standoff or, instead, adding some phalanxes to your force so you can try to advance against your opponent without getting crushed in one of her zones of control (probably using the mountains in Italy to give you a defensive bonus against those forces in France).

Also note how much easier it is to maintain a border with offensive forces than it is to establish one that way. If you can get into Austria with 10 chariots before your opponent can get his eight chariots into Germany, you're set. No advance into Germany can be made without you annihilating those forces. However, if your opponent gets into Germany with those chariots you won't be likely to take and hold Austria. Thus you risk losing your army in Austria, or you must instead hole up in Ukraine and set up zones of control over Poland, Austria, and Romania. However, in the latter case you no longer influence Germany, Italy, or Yugoslavia, nor do you get any income from Austria. Far preferable to have gotten your chariots into Austria sooner, if possible!

Diplomacy

One of the "features" of Global Conflict is diplomacy. There is no messaging facility between players, but messages are communicated nonetheless. Like in the game of Bridge, you should know how to read the signals that other players are sending and how to send your own.

Your enemy's enemy may be your ally. Try to get your enemies to attack each other; let them waste 100 resources worth of units killing each other every turn. Send out signals by putting only defensive units on your border; if you've got nothing but anti-tank units, he can tell that you're probably not planning an attack. If you don't have a factory in the country he will feel even more secure. You may even want to pull out of the country completely. He may take over the country, or he may see this as an opportunity to leave you alone and devote his resources to fighting on his other two fronts.

Introduce your enemies to each other. If you are getting pounded on two fronts, perhaps you can get out of the way and let your two enemies fight each other for a while.

Avoid losing a lot of units fighting over a country that really isn't that important. Ask yourself if it's really worth losing 50 resources worth of units every turn over a country that produces 1 resource.

Try to gang up on the player who appears to be winning. There's no point in wiping out a smaller player, only to be wiped out yourself. If you are losing, your best chance of winning involves attacking the player who is winning. Other losing players should come to the same conclusion.

Try to learn the habits of other players; most players have a style and sometimes you can predict how they are going to act.

Think in Terms of Tempo

Tempo is very important in Global Conflict because every resource you spend is an investment in your future. Just like you'd prefer money in the bank to start earning you interest as soon as possible, you want resources you spend in Global Conflict to start improving your game position immediately. In some cases you won't be able to buy too many troops on your front lines, either because of troop building limits in low-resource territories or because you've just captured new territories. In some cases you may have a very good reason to build forces behind the lines so that next turn they can move forward to fill an important need. However, in many cases forces built behind the lines will not be useful for several turns. In that case, you'd be better served by buying scientists, which immediately start making tech advances. Similarly, however, buying a bunch of scientists who won't advance your tech to a new level for several turns when you could be buying chariots, which would next turn drive your opponent back out of key territory, is probably a mistake.

Tempo can also be used to your advantage when managing multiple fronts simultaneously. Need to hold off a powerful force on two fronts? Are your resources stretched too thin? Try to set things up so you can spend all of your resources on one front this turn, and then most of your resources on the other front the following turn. For example, retreat from Greenland to England to give yourself a reprieve from an army in Quebec (destroying the factory in Greenland and building one in England if necessary) so you can spend all your resources in Ukraine to hold off the West Russian horde. Next turn you can build in England and perhaps you will have held both borders with only the smallest of losses (who cares about Greenland?).

Don't Waste Forces!

Retreat from areas you cannot hold - don't lose forces unnecessarily. If you make a risky attack and things don't go well, don't continue to push things and lose more troops - cut your losses. You'll want those forces later, no matter how small, so save them. Risk taking is important, but suicide is stupid.

Don't be Divided and Conquered

A single army comprised of all your forces is far stronger than two armies with half of your forces each. Certainly it is not practical to have only one army since you'll definitely have more than one front and want to expand in multiple directions. However, when possible, unite your forces. If faced with two armies of only half the strength of your united army, chances are you'll be able to easily defeat both and have plenty of surviving forces to exploit the victories. Similarly, if you are having trouble holding multiple fronts against sizable armies, consider retreating in a way that combines the two fronts into one and allows you to unite your forces. Holding England against Greenland and Spain against Algeria gains you an additional seven resources per turn if you can pull it off, but retreating to France and concentrating all of your defensive forces there allows you to defend both fronts with a single, stronger army.

Tank Tricks

Always keep in mind the 2-move capability of tanks. Exploit it yourself when you can, and be sure to thwart your opponents when they try to use the ability against you. If there's any chance of losing a battle (say, in England) and you have a key territory immediately behind the front line (say, France with a factory), place a weak unit in that territory (ideally a chariot that has survived since the stone age!) to prevent its capture via tank should England fall.

Another tank trick to keep in mind is the capture of territory at advanced tech levels. At tech levels 4 and 5, planes tend to rule the day and in many battles the victor will be left with only aerial forces. However, since planes cannot capture territory, crushing an enemy force offers little advantage because no new territory can be gained. To overcome this, consider leaving a tank behind the front lines in a position where it can rush forward in a 2-move advance and capture new territory after your plane-only forces are victorious.

Phase 3: Strategic

The Strategic phase is the period of time when at least one player has access to nuclear weapons (tech level 5). One characteristic of the strategic phase is that, if you are playing with good players, countries rarely get nuked. However, strategic units have a great effect on the strategy.

Make sure you know exactly how nukes and SDI's work, both offensively and defensively. If you know how they work, then the battles are quite predictable:

• If one country launches a nuke at a defenseless country (one with no SDI's), then that country will probably be nuked (90% chance).
• If one country launches a nuke at a reasonably well protected country (at least 2 SDI's), then the country will probably not be nuked (14% chance).
• If a defending country is going to lose the battle, it will launch all its nukes.

Given these rules, certain strategies are obvious:

• If the enemy country has at least one nuke, then build at least 2 SDI's (building one definitely isn't safe enough).
• If you have the capability of building nukes and the enemy has no SDI's, then build a nuke. Your opponent will likely have to match your resource expense by building a couple of SDI's.
• Use nukes defensively. If your enemy has a lot more units than you but doesn't have any SDI's, then you can protect your smaller group of units with a single nuke unit.
• If you are the first to hit tech level 5, build lots of nukes. Chances are you won't get to use them because your enemy will back off to save his units, but you will gain valuable territory. It's actually better for you if you don't have to use them since, because you are winning, you are the player that should be most concerned about a nuclear winter.

Nuclear weapons are powerful, but generally SDI's keep them in check. You can use conventional forces to change the balance:

• Try to destroy enemy SDI's using conventional forces. When enough of them are destroyed that you have a reasonable chance of your nukes getting through, then launch the nukes.
• If your country is well protected by SDI's, you can force your enemy to waste his nukes by attacking him with conventional forces. If he has a smaller force, then his nukes will probably be launched.

Ultimately, games are usually won by conventional forces. Try not let the glamour of nuclear weapons distract you from your conventional strategy.

Nuclear Winter

Nuclear winter does not normally occur by accident; it will typically only occur when a losing player decides to deny the win to anyone. In order to avoid nuclear winter, the winning player should obviously avoid using nukes and defend his border countries with SDI's.

In order to create a chance of nuclear winter, at least 6 different countries must be nuked. Finding 6 countries unguarded by SDI's is difficult for the losing player. In addition, the cost to her is 90 resources. If the winning player plays well, it should be very difficult for the losing player cause nuclear winter.

The purpose of nuclear winter is to force the winning player to win the game without using many of his nukes, and to add some time pressure.

Enjoy the Game!

Global Conflict was designed to be a "Beer & Pretzels" war game. If you run into some bad luck, don't get too stressed out over it. The game is intended to be fun, something anyone can play without learning a lot of rules. If you lose, it's not a reflection of your intelligence or war-gaming skills. We know that the game is not very realistic. If you want to play a realistic war game, then pick up the best war game on the market today - "World in Flames" by Australian Design Group