Cashing in 2 groups of spoils during a single turn

[macro1770]

Am kinda new to this game and picking things up as i go along. It took me a few turns to understand the spoils. Am in a game at moment and red who was not in a really strong position cashed in spoils at the beginning of their turn. Red then eliminated green from the game and then cashed in a second group of spoils and attacked me. Red has now got 41 troops sitting on my border, when most she had at beginning of turn in any one region was 6 troops. It kinda thrown me!! I was expecting red to cash in spoils as they had 5 spoils in hand. But gaining almost 50 troops in one go??? So question is how can it be possible to cash in 2 groups of spoils in same turn. And how many troops do you get when cashing in, it kinda differs from one go to next.

[spiesr]

Some info form the instructions page:

What's a group of spoils? You earn spoils at the end of every turn in which you successfully conquer a region, just like reality! These spoils each represent a region on the map and can be blue, green or red. If you acquire 3 spoils of any one colour, or one of each, you now have a "group" of spoils which you may exchange for additional troops at this time. The value of these spoils depends on which spoils game option was chosen: escalating or flat-rate. You also get a 2 troop bonus on any region that you own if it is represented in the group.

You cannot accumulate more than 5 spoils, therefore there may be a mid-turn cashing in of groups after eliminating an opponent.

Escalating groups are worth 4,6,8,10,12,15,20... (i.e. the first group of spoils turned in by any player is worth 4 troops, the second group is worth 6, etc.)
Flat Rate groups are worth 4 for red, 6 for green, 8 for blue and 10 for mixed.
Nuclear groups are not worth any troops. Instead, each region in the group is nuked to a single neutral troop (even if you own it!).

What you saw in your game is a common strategy in escalating game types. If after eliminating an opponent you have 5 or more spoils, you are required to cash some in. Note that you may cash in more than one set at a time this way if you have more that one set. Escalating spoils go 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, and then 5 more for each new set chased by any player in the game, so the number of troops received is constantly increasing.

[macro1770]

Cheers for that. KInda got my head round it know, I think!!

[Taras Bulba]

How are the spoils grouped? Example:I have 5 spoils: Magadan, Edmonton, Madrid, Cairo, Jakarta. I have to choose a group composed of 3 regions. How do I know which regions belong to a group? I just select by trial and error and I often get "Illegal group".

[Orange-Idaho-Dog]

Trade in's have to be either 3 of the same color, or 1 of each color. The actual territory doesn't matter, except when you own it. When you own it, you get 2 bonus troops added to it, on top of the trade in value.

In a Flat Rate game,

RRR = 4 troops
GGG = 6 troops
BBB = 8 troops
RBG = 10 troops



In an Escalating game, like already mentioned, the number of troops increases each time a player cashes in a set of cards. The color of the cards don't affect the value of the trade in, but you still need one of the above combinations to trade in.


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When you have 5 cards, you will have a set no matter what. At that point, you must trade in 3 cards. Say for instance you have 5 cards, you trade in 3. Then you kill a player who has 5 cards, giving you a total of 7 cards. You'll have at least 1 trade in, but you could have 2. In an escalating game, if you trade in 1 set for 30 troops, and the second for 35 troops, you now have 65 troops to deploy.

An escalating game is usually decided when 1 player starts the 'chain' of having a trade in, killing a player and using their cards to trade in again. Use those troops to kill another player, cash in again, and so on. You could potentially eliminate 7 players in 1 turn.

[rockfist]

My advice is avoid the escalating lottery.

Flat rate or no spoils on large boards takes more skill and planning. On small boards flat rate can be as random or more random than escalating though.

[natty dread]

My advice is avoid the escalating lottery.

Flat rate or no spoils on large boards takes more skill and planning. On small boards flat rate can be as random or more random than escalating though.

You, sir, clearly do not understand escalating.

Escalating is a brilliant gametype. It takes a lot more strategy than the people who don't know how to play it think.

You have to plan your kills carefully. You have to position your troops optimally. Every single turn counts, you make one mistake and you're toast if there's even a halfway decent player in the game.

Then you have to time your kill to the perfect time to facilitate the chain reaction that sweeps the board clean of your enemies.

Escalating: Easy to learn - hard to master.

Flat rate is just about getting the most mixed sets.

And no spoils.... 3-8 guys sitting on their empires going "durrr.... someone's gonna attack soon.... no wait, they aren't cause this is flat rate, durrrr...."