Quick strategy guide for anyone else who stumbles upon this little gem of an rts.
Perks
- You are probably not winning until you make some meta progression upgrades. Prioritizing the perk rarity followed by the number of production upgrades will greatly increase your odds
- Restarting until you get a rare or better perk will make your life much easier
- In terms of perk priority, raw stat boosts are far more valuable as opposed to upgrade count, especially since the shop can start you off with up to 5 each. With a maxed out shop you can ignore raw upgrade count perks for the entire game
- Defensive/offensive focus perks are the best in the game, a flat +20 to attack/defence without upgrades is unmatched. Extended logistics is the next best to improve manoeuvrability. Their uncommon equivalents are fine to pick up as well.
- Concentrated industry for optimal use requires you don't drop your production upgrades on your first nodes (and slower starts can be death sentences on maps like Europe). I wouldn't take it.
Strategy
- Check the different AI perks at the start of battle, prioritizing AI's that specialize in production. If the AI ever gets blitzkrieg and extended logistics, unless you have an absolutely cracked build and godly rng, you are finished
- Chaining all your tiles into one is a good way to pile resources onto a tile and will be the first thing you do in most levels. The AI prefers to not even attack a node when there's a large value difference, so just piling up a bunch of units on a chokepoint is a great way to stall while you focus elsewhere.
- This is probably obvious, but having multiple nodes attack the same one will speed up the attack/transfer rate. Good for breaking down enemy fortifications when possible
- The strategy for most of the earlier stages is to rush adjacent factions before they can build up. Ideally aim for their production upgrade hexes to destroy their supply line.
- Shift up your attacks to focus on undefended/weakened nodes. The AI stumbles when you break up its chains quickly, which will help you to expand. Generally, once your production rate is higher than anyone else on the map you will probably win.
- The hardest stage in the game is easily Europe, the end boss is a joke by comparison. I've only managed to beat it once and it took me like 20 minutes. Restarting for something easier is advisable.
