How to play USA 2.1

[isaiah40]

How to play USA 2.1?

What strategies do you think would do best?

Click image to enlarge.

[iAmCaffeine]

I wouldn't.

[koontz1973]

Corner starts are going to be a must here. Large drop in the centre and it is game over. But with so many ways to get around, this will prove who can watch what they are doing with deploys for sweeps. This should prove quite a nice edition to the large maps players (me )

[ViperOverLord]

Make sure to get first turn.

[Jippd]

That map makes me dizzy just looking at it

[iamkoolerthanu]

Can someone tell me how many of each plane there is

I see 2 blue 2 green and 4-5 black

Just want to be sure lol


And the top right seems like the best spot to start in my eyes, small bonuses are easy to secure early on

[Jippd]

Can someone tell me how many of each plane there is

I see 2 blue 2 green and 4-5 black

Just want to be sure lol


And the top right seems like the best spot to start in my eyes, small bonuses are easy to secure early on

I count 2 blue 2 green and 6 black. Look at them one colored region at a time and it is easier to break up all of the business that is going on.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Ah, I missed the far left black plane. Thank youz!

[OliverFA]

Perhaps this will sound as a simple advice, but I would say: use the map size in your advantage. If your opponents are not attentive enough, you can quietly build an empire without making much noise.

[Ragnars Wolves]

My dad (GrudgeBringer) played it as his last game (taking a break) and won it. I watched the game as I was trying to learn something on a map so 'BUSY'.

1. He was lucky enough to start in the Top right hand province.
2. He had an understanding of how you get extra troops per turn. (HUGE)
3. He ...errrr, helped another player take the bottom right (Yellow) while making a 5 turn treaty with White ( I believe) in the middle.
4. And he did all the usual things a good player will do..no big deal there.

5. I think this was the biggest thing he did though...he put a small amount of troops EVERY turn on his Airport and then started dropping more and more % wise as he grew. He would make sure no one had access to his airport except him and as he got bigger any airport, they couldn't stop him then as they couldn't reach him.

He said it was the most tedious game he ever played as he had to scour every avenue, every turn and the end game was just mopping up and mopping up and mopping up. The most boring game at the end (even more than Hive or Eurasia).

Green was really his only other competition (West Coast and Alaska) but dominating his airport took care of that. Of course there was much more to it, but that was the basics I saw.

LOL, I will NEVER play that game...I would go crazy!!!!

[inkjetlakes]

I'm just playing it right now, lol .. and of course, I don't have the experience to go with it. Thanks for the tips so .. go for the airports and the top corners. Thanks

[Fewnix]

Specific strategies vary with the settings. but as a general rule start by taking control of a large chunk of the map, such as most if the New England region, by taking the terts held by the oppo and ignoring the neutrals and not worrying about tert zone boni. Strip the terts you hold in the inside of the region to singletons- by advancing all as you take the oppo terts and by forting troops from terts you hold in the inside of the region to terts you hold on the border of the region, adjacent to oppo held terts, building stacks on the border of the region. THEN start to go for tert zone boni by taking neutrals AND start to expand into adjacent regions, linking up with regions you or your team mates are strong in.

With 289 terts on the map don't worry about eliminating any oppo or cutting oppo tert holdings below 12 terts and below a 4 deploy until much later in the game. E.g. in a game with 12 players divided into 4 trips teams, each player starts at the drop with 45 troops, 3 on each of 15 terts and a 5 deploy. So each player has little prob taking a tert or two in their turn keeping their tert holdings 12+, their deploy 4+. and surviving any early attempts to eliminate them. Eliminating oppo is more of a mop up operation that occurs as the game draws to a close.

One way a game goes after taking out the oppo in the New England region you take tert zone boni like Maine (ME) (1), New Hampshire (NH) (1), Vermont (VT) (1), Massachusetts (MA) (3) AND start to expand into the Great Lakes Region say taking out the oppo in Maryland (MD) (3) West Virginia (WV) (2). You ink up with your or your team mates holdings in the South East and Rocky Mountains region so your side controls a large chunk of the map, top right to bottom right to centre. Various oppo drop below 12 terts and have only a 3 deploy As you expand across the map some of the oppo drop to half a dozen terts, to 3 or 4 terts, get eliminated. You win.


something like that.

[MGSteve]

I've been playing this map a lot ever since I discovered it. The short and simple is this: Bonus, bonus, bonus! Start where you have the most terts or where you're most likely to get and collect on a bonus the quickest. Take that bonus asap, then continue to expand wherever the next easiest bonus is. You need to take more bonuses every time and use the extra troops you get from them to take more bonuses and so on. State bonuses and Capital bonuses at first and regional bonuses later if it works out. If you aren't expanding, you are falling behind and dying.

And since there are lots of neutral terts separating the areas where you have troops, it's best to try to completely remove all the oppo troops in any area you're working. If you take a neutral and find a green occupied tert behind it, advance everything and do your best to clear all the oppo troops until it's just you and neuts. That way they will have to go through some neuts to get back into the area and otherwise it's all yours.

Corners mean very little here and the airports are terts to avoid until you have lots of bonuses and heavy troops to use since all the same colored airports can see (You are using fog, right?!) and attack each other. So avoid the states with airports unless it's AK and WA, which can only attack each other and the cities bordering them, or HI and Los Angeles, another pair. All the others can attack each other and those are the ones to be avoided until they can be approached with sufficient troops.

Like other maps, it's often a good idea to put everything you have into an all out, try to break every bonus they have assault when someone gets powerful. Often a good multi-bonus break will take the wind out of someone's sails (or the troops outta their due) to the extent that they will never recover since you will be growing and expanding your bonuses at the same time that you're destroying theirs. And it's basically the same whether it's 1v1 or 3 team quads. It's all about running and gathering all the bonuses you can as quickly as possible. The only time you shouldn't be trying for more bonuses is when you're destroying theirs or you've reached the point where you have enough to get the job done and are using everything to eliminate oppos.

In team games, do your best to work with your mates by sharing borders anytime you can take neighboring bonuses and forting all your troops in an area you aren't working to the mate who's in reach there. Like any game, fort to your mates when and where possible, deploy on them if it would be more advantageous for the team to do so. But it all comes down to the biggest due the quickest here. I play no spoils, unlimited forts and fog in almost every game here. But even with escalating spoils, bonuses, the biggest due is the key to winning here.

[Trephining]

Of course any good "how do I play this map?" question has to start with the "it depends on the settings" answer.

If playing Trench 2v2, you can almost certainly find a few states that you can accomplish what I call "trench-walling" of the bonuses, meaning you capture not just the bonus, but also all the territories that can attack that bonus, rendering it unbreakable because of the Trench setting.

If playing Fog, you can control a large part of the country and not reveal your strength much by how you place your troops, meaning you have multiple medium stacks within your borders so that if an opponent breaks you, they are compelled to follow a carefully-laid-out trail of 1`-army terts which are actually the least-damaging to you.

It can be a drag to finish out a game if playing teams of Polymorphic with Trench settings. Nice map to play "hide and seek" on. I spent 20+ minutes just trying to find the last remaining opponents territory one time.

[nàme]

In a decent sized game, I would think the key would be to start in Washington State, then moving south towards california. As you go, also hit Alaska from Seattle to get another bonus, which leaves only three places of vulnerability for two bonuses. After capturing Oregon, you would have a minium of 15 troops due (16 terits min = 5 + 2 capitals + 3 + 3 + 2). Wait a few turns and you should easily be able to sweep California and Nevada, possibily Hawaii. Once Hawaii is dealt with, you have the West with only 6 territories to defend. In the meantime, you could also hit Montana and Idaho, which would let you keep a stranglehold on Salt Lake City which will knock your vulnerable places down to five. After that, secure Arizona, then hit via airport whichever guy is one spot above you for troops (I do this so the biggest people can't come cruising in on two of the weakest and clean up, but also because it'll get you closer to winning).

[t4mcr53s2]

I like mg steves advice for 1 v 1 he's beat me a few times with it ... I usually try to hit opponents terts not neutrals on most maps but have concluded it doesn't work here 1 v 1 with all the neutrals ; you only get a small deploy advantage by hitting single enemy terts and he meanwhile gets a larger bonus by taking a state; of course if you hit a state he owns go all out to try to break his bonus/take it for yourself

[TheFlashPoint]

In 1v1, its all about grabbing the best early bonuses. Unlike the above strategies for multiplayer games, you don't want to waste troops grabbing the +1 bonuses in New England. Kentucky (at +4) offers the best return. Grabbing two states whose capitals lie on the same highway also offers a good return (Massachusetts + Wisconsin, Minnesota + Oklahoma, etc.)

In foggy games, watching the game log is critical. Some states (California: +9, Texas: +8, New York: +7, Georgia: +6, Pennsylvania & Illinois: +5) offer unique bonuses that can reveal your opponent's position.

In trench games, if you grab the lead, keep defending while grabbing bonuses. Grab an airport before your opponent.

In trench/foggy games, if you fall behind and all seems lost, keep defending and attacking on all exposed fronts while grabbing an airport away from the action. If your opponent suffers a brief moment of inattention, you may be able to break his biggest bonuses and turn the tide.

[MGSteve]

I have to disagree about passing over the small +1 states in New England. Here, as on other maps, the small boni are great ways to start because the small boost they give your due can provide the troops to take the larger boni. And while California's big 9 bonus is great, it takes a helluva lot more troops to conquer it and even more to hold it. I'll go for the smallest ones I can take and always avoid states with airports, except for AK, WA and HI, until I have plenty of troops to guard against all the other airports with. Starting big is a great way to lose and starting with the smallest bonus you can take is a sure way to get a good quick leg up on the competition while they're still working on those big boni.

[TheFlashPoint]

I have to disagree about passing over the small +1 states in New England. Here, as on other maps, the small boni are great ways to start because the small boost they give your due can provide the troops to take the larger boni. And while California's big 9 bonus is great, it takes a helluva lot more troops to conquer it and even more to hold it. I'll go for the smallest ones I can take and always avoid states with airports, except for AK, WA and HI, until I have plenty of troops to guard against all the other airports with. Starting big is a great way to lose and starting with the smallest bonus you can take is a sure way to get a good quick leg up on the competition while they're still working on those big boni.

There may be multiplayer game-theoretic benefit to securing the smallest possible bonus early in the match. My experience is mostly 1v1, and I can speak confidently from my success in those games.

I agree with MGSteve that attempting to capture California out of the gate is a poor strategy. However, I believe that there are almost always better options available than the New England states.

Aside from the poor return (+1 bonus) for the cost of capturing 3 territories against 2 + 2 + 5 neutrals, the capitals in Vermont and New Hampshire are not connected to a highway and don't have the potential to give the extra +2 bonus for two capitals on the same highway. Maine does have a capital on a highway, but it also has an extra territory to capture before getting the +1 bonus.

There is some benefit in being difficult to reach or having fewer fronts to defend. The authors of this map saw that and made states like Florida, Hawaii, Alaska, Michigan, and Maine give very poor bonuses compared to their size in relation to other states.

If you can spend a little extra time analyzing your opponents' position and whether or not they are inclined to counterattack, it is best to locate a slightly larger bonus. If you can find two disconnected states with highway-connected capitals, even better. While your opponent is having dice troubles with Concord, you can focus on expanding to multiple bonuses on multiple fronts and taking home the easy victory.

The best strategy on this map is inelegant: If you get dropped on Frankfurt Kentucky and your opponent is not in Dayton Ohio, take Kentucky. Proceed aggressively but not recklessly on multiple fronts. You will win.

[TheFlashPoint]

I have to disagree about passing over the small +1 states in New England. Here, as on other maps, the small boni are great ways to start because the small boost they give your due can provide the troops to take the larger boni. And while California's big 9 bonus is great, it takes a helluva lot more troops to conquer it and even more to hold it. I'll go for the smallest ones I can take and always avoid states with airports, except for AK, WA and HI, until I have plenty of troops to guard against all the other airports with. Starting big is a great way to lose and starting with the smallest bonus you can take is a sure way to get a good quick leg up on the competition while they're still working on those big boni.

There may be a multiplayer game theoretic benefit to securing the smallest possible bonus in the early game. My experience on this map is limited to 1v1 games and I will speak confidently from my success in those games.

The New England territories offer the worst return in relation to the cost of capturing them. A +1 bonus in return for overcoming 2 + 2 + 5 troops (Vermont and New Hampshire) or 2 + 2 + 2 + 5 (Maine) is not good compared to most other states. In addition, the capitals of VT, NH, and CT are not highway connected and do not offer a higher potental bonus later on.

There may be some unquantifiable benefit to being difficult to reach or having fewer fronts to defend. The authors of this map saw this and left Florida, Michigan, Hawaii, Alaska, and Maine with poor bonuses compared to their size.

I agree with MGSteve that attempting to secure too large a bonus out of the gate is a poor strategy. If you have time to analyze the drop, identify a medium sized bonus (4 or fewer territories) that your opponent would be disinclined to counterattack. If it has a highway connected Capital, even better. While your opponent is having dice troubles with Concord, you can move on to multiple bonuses on multiple fronts and take home the easy victory.

The best strategy is drop-dependent. A common scenario might involve a drop in Frankfurt, Kentucky with a neutral Dayton, Ohio. In this case, take Kentucky. Proceed aggressively but not recklessly on multiple fronts while countering opponent bonuses. You will win.

[TheFlashPoint]

Just put up 20 Trench Foggy USA 2.1 games. Im at 2350 points. Come and get em.

[Fewnix]

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