Guide: Guide to victory in the Cold War as the US, step by step

[Claire Underwood]

This guide will help you encircle the Russians and thus preventing them from expanding into the world at large. I posted it response to another thread, and was encouraged to make a standalone post.

With this guide the only territory that falls to the Russians is Mongolia. I have not figured out how to prevent them from doing that just yet, since that would require taking Mongolia, Afghanistan, China, both Koreas and the Middle east in two turns only. I suppose really stretching the fabric thin on Europe might save enough tribute to be able to afford buying Mongolia, but I have not tried it, so I can't say if it's possible.

The key to victory is encirclement, so Russia can't advance beyond their starting borders. The A.I only does diplomacy when hard-coded to do so. For example, South Africa will offer themselves for 50 tribute after a while to America.


Turn 1:
This is the situation which you start from.
a.
You've got 100 tribute from the start. Use this to upgrade territories in Europe until you've only got 60 left(2 upgrades, level 1 --> level 2 costs 20 tribute).
b.
Play the first spy mission. It's not very useful, but it unlocks the second one, which is.
c.
Take all armies from The Americas to Europe. This ensures delayed revolts due to low territory level later.
d.
Declare war on South Korea(starts the korean war). Don't start the scenario yet, though.
e.
Check if you've got enough to develop more in Europe. If yes, do it.
f.
Play the Korean war. When asked if you want to keep pushing, the answer is yes(the tribute cost is deducted next turn). This will give you both koreas if you win(total gain of 8 development). The key to this scenario is airpower and sea power. Park the carriers south of Seoul and make the planes patrol around the city, which will hold N.K. back. Make sure to have an army heavy on bazookas. When the initial charge has been defeated build a navy of about 10 ships and destroy the korean east coast. After that it's a done deal. China will intervene, but they are weak against air power too.
g.
This turn should have netted you North Korea and South Korea.


Turn 2:
This turn the russians will have seized China, but that will be corrected this turn too.
a.
Play the second spy mission, it will give you 100 tribute, a card, and control of China(annexation as a lvl 1 territory)
b.
Declare war on OPEC, but don't start the scenario just yet.
c.
Develop Europe as much as you can while keeping enough tribute to buy Afghanistan. Save the game before you start developing, so you don't make a mistake.
d.
Buy off the Afghans.
e.
Play the scenario. This one is really easy. Just attack a few oil wells and you're in the clear. OPEC has a small, infantry-heavy army near the capital. Should not take more than 10 mins.
f.
This turn should have netted you China, Afghanistan and the middle east,


Turn 3 and beyond:
The 3rd turn the russians will seize Mongolia. However, you will have encircled them and have the world to yourself, so that will be the last of their conquests. The points below are more just general considerations from here on out, since you have basically won already. Developing Europe should be first priority(don't forget Greenland) so you wont lose any territory to Russia. I'll sort out the tips by category. The strategy of declaring war before doing anything else is useful going forward too, since you don't accidentally wind up not being able to afford war.

Territories to prioritise:
a.
Congo will become a russian client state after a few turns, so they are the next goal for conquest. I prefer the Middle East-->Ethiopia-->Congo route. There is no warning for when they go communist, so take them ASAP.
b.
Fidel Castro will become a russian client state 1 turn after he throws out Batista, so he needs to be subjugated IMMEDIATELY(same turn he appears). The importance of keeping him under lockdown can't be overstated, because the Russians will start taking territory in The Americas from their cuban base if you let them.
c.
Southeast Asia will give you a warning before going communist, so you can wait until you are warned about them before you need to prioritise them. This will help you keep India out of their hands too, since they take both in 1 turn if not stopped.

Spy Missions:
d.
Spy mission 4(the one with the hostages) offers a massive amount of tribute if you save all or almost all hostages. You can control the fleeing hostages by clicking on them. Make sure to put your spies to bribing lots of enemy troops, and make sure you secure every area before freeing hostages. Also put out spies on the route you want the hosatages to take and guard it, so the roaming enemies don't intercept them.
e.
The last mission destroys half their nukes, so only play it when they have 3 nukes or more("Half" is rounded upward, meaning 2/3 when only three nukes are available for destruction).

War on Russia/WW3:
f.
Industrial victory can be achieved within a few turns with this strategy, since you'll choke the Russians into oblivion.
g.
However, if you keep playing, Russia will eventually accumulate a lot of nukes. Take every opportunity to reduce the number of nukes they have, even if you lose nukes too. Keeping yourself alive is better than dying along with them, after all. They will attack when you controll all of the rest of the world. I managed too keep their nuke number down to 1, which they used on Florida(Is that really a bad thing? XD).
h.
When allowed to select wonders, choose the Space programme and put it in Florida. This will draw the russian nuking there, I think. When they nuke it, use an overrun to take it back. You will have an opportuinty to acquire the Supercollider later anyway. The space programme will remain intact depite nuking, and can be wonderfully combined with cruise missiles and bombers.
i.
Always launch nukes back, to deprive them of as much development and opportunities for overrunning you as possible.
j.
Make sure they are not allowed to overrun China. Mongolia and the two siberian provinces allow them to do that even if you garrison China, so make sure to keep an army in an adjacent territory too. I recommend Afghanistan so you can overrun Kazakhstan when you nuke it.
k.
Taking Warsaw will give you all of eastern Europe and a massive amount of tribute. The battle is made a lot easier by the 1968 revolution too, which will be indicated as ongoing when you move your army onto Warsaw. Taking all of this terrotory will put the russians back more than any other move,and it can be made instantly.
l.
The usefulness of overrunning in this campaign is insane. Since armies can move anywhere, you can take 2-3 territories each turn if you strategise well.

Tips for missions:
m.
I found the missions in Panama, OPEC, Columbia, Ethiopia and Peru really easy and fast.
Panama is quick if you make peace with everyone except the blues.
OPEC is a modified skirmish mission. They can be wrecked with nearly zero effort.
In Columbia they rebels only use partisans to attack, which are weak to attrition. Once you have some attrition tech and a larege amount of territory, planes and missiles(far the AA installations) will help you find and kill the little huts very easily. Use stealth bombers for a casualty-free experience.
Ethiopia is just standing guard. Try to build a lot of mobile AA-guns to dealt with the planes chasing the bombers. It's easier pr protect the northern perimeter thanks to the standing AA:s.
Peru is just really easy. Build a basic economy and search the map. The enemy can be beaten with the initial army on moderate difficulty.
n.
India is a really annoying mission that you should save for last. They really make you work for it. Buying them is an option too, but they are not cheap(I think this is supposed to emulate their staunch non-alingement IRL).
o.
The Cubans will get future tech if the initial invasion fails. There is no other consequence though, so just keep pushing. Make sure to watch for submarines and destroy their ports, so you can bombard them from the ocean. Send all your troops to help the rebels ASAP, since they will fail if you don't, which can be annoying, since you'll have to fight while out-teched. This scenario is a good use of a mercenaries card.

I'll be happy for any feedback you guys got below :D

[Fission Power]

USA has gread advantage and much easire in general.
Try to win as USSR.

[Claire Underwood]

Originally posted by Fission Power:

USA has gread advantage and much easire in general.
Try to win as USSR.

Yeah, I'm trying to work out a viable strategy for that, but haven't gotten very far yet. Besides, I don't wanna play as the bad guys haha

[MHLoppy]

As an aside, I think when it was suggested that you publish this as a guide (from its previous form as a comment), it was meant that you could publish it as an actual guide lol.

[Falchion]

Something I found out: You can actually delay the Korean War to turn 2, and instead attack OPEC on Turn 1 for the higher tribute, as the soviets will not attack Korea until the end of turn 2. Eventually you'll still take both, just that control of the middle east gives more tribute earlier.

[Claire Underwood]

Originally posted by MHLoppy:

As an aside, I think when it was suggested that you publish this as a guide (from its previous form as a comment), it was meant that you could publish it as an actual guide lol.

I didn't know there's such a feature :O
I'm not really that active on Steam, but I'll get around to it probably.
If you want you can do it too, just give me credit :D

[Claire Underwood]

Originally posted by Falchion:

Something I found out: You can actually delay the Korean War to turn 2, and instead attack OPEC on Turn 1 for the higher tribute, as the soviets will not attack Korea until the end of turn 2. Eventually you'll still take both, just that control of the middle east gives more tribute earlier.

They'll go for China anyway then? I never tried this

[Falchion]

Originally posted by Claire Underwood:

Originally posted by Falchion:

Something I found out: You can actually delay the Korean War to turn 2, and instead attack OPEC on Turn 1 for the higher tribute, as the soviets will not attack Korea until the end of turn 2. Eventually you'll still take both, just that control of the middle east gives more tribute earlier.

They'll go for China anyway then? I never tried this

Well either they won't, or even if they do it won't matter since the second spy mission gives you China, then from there I just followed the rest of your strategy!
For a 100% conquer the world victory, once I bought/police action over the rest of the world, I accumulated enough tribute to launch an attack directly into Warsaw's Capital (from one of the NATO countries that linked to it) to immediately take over all of the Warsaw Pact's countries, before moving onto Russia. Do note I also had to manually conquer Mongolia before you take on Moscow too, as it counts as a Soviet Client State and not Soviet Territory, so even if you defeat the soviets you'll only get soviet lands, Mongolia would go back to being independent.

[Claire Underwood]

Originally posted by Falchion:

Originally posted by Claire Underwood:

They'll go for China anyway then? I never tried this

Well either they won't, or even if they do it won't matter since the second spy mission gives you China, then from there I just followed the rest of your strategy!
For a 100% conquer the world victory, once I bought/police action over the rest of the world, I accumulated enough tribute to launch an attack directly into Warsaw's Capital (from one of the NATO countries that linked to it) to immediately take over all of the Warsaw Pact's countries, before moving onto Russia. Do note I also had to manually conquer Mongolia before you take on Moscow too, as it counts as a Soviet Client State and not Soviet Territory, so even if you defeat the soviets you'll only get soviet lands, Mongolia would go back to being independent.

I'd suggest making sure you save all hostages during the "Hostages" spy mission. It pays 500 tribute, which is enough to buy all of the Americas. Winning this mission is easier in the modern age, since the dictator's troops will have a harder time killing freed hostages.

Mexico will join for a little as 13 tribute. Argentina, Peru and Brazil join for 61 tribute. Panama grants the continental unity bonus of 100 of you already have Mexico, and goes for 91. Colombia goes for 91 too, I think.

The soviets WILL declare war on you if you have the rest of the world, so there's no need to spend money on that.

The Soviets always launch on Florida first, so if they only have 1 missile you can avoid the space programme being lost by placing somewhere else.

I'd recommend trying to overrun East Germany before taking Warsaw, so you can have both wonders. The Supercollider is really helpful in early-game in the battles because of the market price interval.

[Claire Underwood]

Ok, so by attacking the Middle east in round 1, followed by Afghanistan/buying off the Mongols in round 2, you can encircle the Russians without letting a single territory slip their way. They leave S. Korea alone until round three. This is not what you want to do though.

If you do this they'll trigger WW3 before the end of the Modern Age, and you won't be able to do the important spy missions, which means you'll have a lot less money and won't be able to buy off South America. Also, they'll have more nukes making retaking the US mainland a pain, too. This all means a lot more effort and not enough time/money to get 100% World Conquest.

[Falchion]

So if they don't take at least Mongolia, they won't be satisfied and will declare war on you?

[Claire Underwood]

Originally posted by Falchion:

So if they don't take at least Mongolia, they won't be satisfied and will declare war on you?

Exactly :D They will attack you if they can afford it and there are no neutral states to attack.

Also, by not attacking the Middle East/Korea when prompted you lose out on a 50 tribute bonus and 2 free territory upgrades in S. Korea.