So do you need some luck??

[gamer3213000]

I have played a few games and getting the basics down. So.....can you pretty much win ever game if you are smart enough OR is some luck of the card draw involved. I ask because I started a game as the US and the USSR played several middle east and asia cards then played both the score cards on turn one. So........basically starting on turn two I was already down 12 VPs........the game went down hill from there. Just curious, thanks. I am still trying to figure out when is the best time to use each type of opps vs the event or the influence:):)

[Benkyo]

If you are playing against the bot, you can win every game, sure. Well, maybe 999/1000 games or something.

[AronFJenks]

Originally posted by Benkyo:

If you are playing against the bot, you can win every game, sure. Well, maybe 999/1000 games or something.

YEs.

Sometimes you just lose. Sometimes the scoring cards come out at horrible times. The US is susceptible to the "Storm" loss.

Ben: Notice, OP did not say he was playing against AI bot.

[Benkyo]

Originally posted by AronFJenks:

Ben: Notice, OP did not say he was playing against AI bot.

Sure, but it's where new players tend to start *shrug*.

[AronFJenks]

Originally posted by Benkyo:

Originally posted by AronFJenks:

Ben: Notice, OP did not say he was playing against AI bot.

Sure, but it's where new players tend to start *shrug*.

True, I played against a friend once or twice but then mostly "learned" by playing the AI bot.

Among my few losses:

1) several stupid DefCon suicides because I assumed the AI was too stupid to actually trap me into doing it and I didn't want to waste a bad turn getting rid of the dangerous card.

2) Defcon suicide because I misunderstood CMC and thought it would protect me, despite the DEFCON WARNING" that was on the screen, which I ignored and immediately lost.

3) Early on I lost a game because I failed to understand region scoring - I lost "control" of Europe on the final turn, and because I did not have a non-battleground, I also lost "domination".

4) A couple of games where thins just went poorly at the beginning and I couldn't avoid a Wargames loss.

5) A couple of games where things just went horrible early on and I lost on the VP track. Terrible hands with low-ops cards that help the opponent, while the opponent got all the 3s and 4s, UN intervention, and all the nasty cards came right back at the first reshuffle. And occasionally I just get a 1 on almost every roll and the AI gets a 6.

But for the most part, I expect to win against the AI 99% of the time now that I am crystal clear on the rules, scoring, and I know the deck thoroughly. And I know no to stupidly risk a defcon loss when I am ahead by a large margin. Or ahead at all. Why risk it?

[gamer3213000]

Thanks guys, I have played the actual board game a few times, won a few lost a few, but mostly play the AI, recently came back and it appears I have lost my learning curve. I am just glad it sounds like sometimes you luck can just be horrible and your fate sealed early on regardless of how good you are and I as not just totally stupid:) I will have to spend some time watching a vid or something to remember the "death by defcon" trap:)

[AronFJenks]

Originally posted by gamer3213000:

I am just glad it sounds like sometimes you luck can just be horrible and your fate sealed early on regardless of how good you are and I as not just totally stupid:)

Just to clarify - this happens very rarely, and even then, a player better and/or more experienced than myself might have avoided it. I'm not sure.

But, there aren't that many cards in the early war, and a die only has 6 possible outcomes. So, it's not too difficult to envision a situation in which a terrible AI (And it is really truly terrible) will have an overwhelming amount of highly unlikely good luck in:

1) its own cards
2) The dice rolls, and
3) the human opponent's cards.