6 player free for all strategy

[riggable]

When playing a 6 player standard game on a normal sized map, unless your very lucky theres no clear place to start out. You armies could be spread out over the map with maybe not even 2 territories in the same continent. Whats your strategy to get around this and to get hold of a position that you could have a chance at wining from?

[Elwar]

I'm fairly new to the game, but my very quickly acquired strategy is to just.build.up. Don't rock the boat, attack single 1's. And if someone takes a territory and its decently defended, don't think that attacking him will keep the balance, it'll just screw you up as the others move in for the kill. Also slowly grouping and moving your forces towards easily defendable territories seems like a good plan as well.

[RobinJ]

Just get some sort of power base to work from, even if it is not a continent. Build up there. If it's flat rate, take a card every turn if its worth it and try to manoeuvre yourself towards a continent. Quite often, others will go all out to take Oceania or S. America, which lets you pick up the pieces. If it's no cards then just deploying might be an idea until a better opportunity arises. If it's escalating, then there is not much value in taking a continent anyway so there is no need to worry.

[Bob Janova]

I feel that just making simple attacks against 1s if there are any available for a few turns, to get the card, and watching for a weak patch to go for is the best strategy if you have no clear targets. Don't weaken yourself any more than necessary in the beginning, and hope for a rainbow card set to strike when you need to.

[0ojakeo0]

hope the dice like you

[MeDeFe]

Get a continent and play in such a way that the other players will not want to break your bonus. I'm holding the midlands on the siege map (6 territories, 6 bonus armies, 6 borders) because I'm acting like a buffer area between the strongest player and the rest. Noone wants to attack me because that would weaken them too much.
You could also try to get a small continent and expand gradually, with a continent bonus of 2 or 3 you often don't appear to be a threat, even if you have 18 territories or more.
If you cannot get a continent get a foothold in a continent noone wants to hold, like Asia on the classic map, or Cyroodil on Tamriel, deploy your three armies every turn, get your cards and bide your time. It's amazing how well that can work, soon you'll be sitting on upwards of 60 armies, noone will attack you and if you see a weakness you can go for a continent grab if you feel like it.

Of course, if you're playing escalating things are very different.

[wcaclimbing]

If im scrambled all over the board to start, I usually try to find a country that, if i attack it, will make a fort chain for me so i can bring more of my armies together. Then I just take one country a turn until i have enough armies to make a spot in a country where i wont get wiped out.

[khazalid]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

[riggable]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

care to elaborate why you think that?

[AAFitz]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

care to elaborate why you think that?

short version: easier to kill, and harder to be killed...if youre in one place it almost certainly means you wont win

[Genghis Khan CA]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

Listen to this man - he is one of the best on 6p esc

Being spread out puts you near more players so you are in better position to take players out, but also gives the chance for you to get blocked in one spot if you are in danger yourself.

Continents are overrated...

[poo-maker]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

care to elaborate why you think that?

Im pretty sure that khaz said this because... its true

The way to win in 6 player esc is to have a nice run through your opponents. The easiest way to start this "chain reaction" is by killing 1 person and taking their cards. You then use the cards that you gained to kill the next person, and so on...

To start your "chain reaction" you must have a starting point. That is usually a player that is a card after you, and that you can reach. The first couple rounds of esc games are mainly to position yourselves in places where you can reach your target/s. This is why khaz said that its good to start in spread out positions, as it gives you the opportunities to form different tactics and to target different players as opposed to being presented with only 1 good tactic.

[wacicha]

the best start on 6p esc is one with spread out positions, so if its esc youre playing be thankful

care to elaborate why you think that?

short version: easier to kill, and harder to be killed...if youre in one place it almost certainly means you wont win

I hate being close together or even close to a small cont. If you are spread out you got a better chance of not being eliminated. most people log on and look to see who they can take out for cards if you are spread out then you are not the choice

[bob72]

I had loads of armies there playing a freestyle and escalating armies game.

Man it's tough you never know when someone is going to chain reaction bulldozer you out of the game.

Here is a perfer example of a guy coming from nowhere to win.

http://www.conquerclub.com/game.php?game=572893

He went from 18 armies and no continents to win the game.

[Genghis Khan CA]

I had loads of armies there playing a freestyle and escalating armies game.

Man it's tough you never know when someone is going to chain reaction bulldozer you out of the game.

Here is a perfer example of a guy coming from nowhere to win.

http://www.conquerclub.com/game.php?game=572893

He went from 18 armies and no continents to win the game.

I once went from 1 army to win a game in escalating

If you play more games you will learn to spot when a chain reaction will happen... you can try to prevent it by blocking weak players - or even better start one yourself!

[khazalid]

as a a general rule, this is the ideal start on a classic map. 2 in na 1 in europe, one in africa, one in SA 2 in asia and 1 in oz

[Genghis Khan CA]

as a a general rule, this is the ideal start on a classic map. 2 in na 1 in europe, one in africa, one in SA 2 in asia and 1 in oz

If I don't get 1 in aus, I cry like a little girl...

[comic boy]

One of the reasons that more experienced escalating players like to play among themselves is the following scenario ;

Round 6 and Red Green and Blue are all nicely settled in Australia,considering their deployment next turn, when with his first cash
Yellow ( who normally plays flat rate ) blasts them all away and sits proudly on Siam surveying his new continent.

Epilogue : Much spitting of blood from 3 players and the 2 that were nowhere near Australia fight out the win

[chessplaya]

One of the reasons that more experienced escalating players like to play among themselves is the following scenario ;

Round 6 and Red Green and Blue are all nicely settled in Australia,considering their deployment next turn, when with his first cash
Yellow ( who normally plays flat rate ) blasts them all away and sits proudly on Siam surveying his new continent.

Epilogue : Much spitting of blood from 3 players and the 2 that were nowhere near Australia fight out the win

^^^^^^ pessimist

[alster]

I hate it when people slander Oceania like that!!!

[rondosocal]

Just get some sort of power base to work from, even if it is not a continent. Build up there. If it's flat rate, take a card every turn if its worth it and try to manoeuvre yourself towards a continent. Quite often, others will go all out to take Oceania or S. America, which lets you pick up the pieces. If it's no cards then just deploying might be an idea until a better opportunity arises. If it's escalating, then there is not much value in taking a continent anyway so there is no need to worry.

[Genghis Khan CA]

Your last sentence is very interesting. More evidence?

Probably best to write in your post - few people read the subject line

The reasoning why taking a continent in escalating, particularly on a map like classic, has little value is simple...

1) A bonus of 2 armies is of little consequence when a set of cards is worth 30+ armies

2) Escalating games are usually short affairs - think of this, you take Australia in round 5, and lose 10 armies doing so. The game will probably last another 4 or 5 rounds anyway, meaning that at best you break even in armies - or you may give the game to another player by weakening yourself too much or weakening another player too much.

3) If you take other players out of a continent you miss the opportunity to block them from other players. Blocking is important because it prevents other players from getting their cards... which means you can get them later on

4) Especially if you are playing with lower ranked players, having a continent can make you a target. Since, as discussed, the benefits of holding a continent are small compared with card values, you are better off preserving your armies rather than have someone wipe out the 10 armies you have sitting on Indonesia.

I could go on but hopefully my point is clear by now