Originally
posted by
Gerdler:
Raz I don't see how it is any difference whatsoever. If you wanna get 1 huge country you still have to play your others well and grab well which takes time. And since presumably others are going for the same you will still have similar competition. Basically it is neither harder nor easier.
Grabbing is far far better in FFA than on alliance so if you run a string of one you should always be able to beat the best alliance finish ever my miles. running 16 countries like that enables you to FA one to 1st or get a great average, I honestly don't see why there should be any difference in the level of skill required.
It's not the same and it's not even close and I learned this a few sets ago when i first came back and went for avg. If you think its the same I challenge you to do it and prove me wrong. In theory sure, but try and destock 16 countries, I personally crashed both bushels and oil when i tried to destock. It's both complicated and a pain in the ass, I managed short of $500m (125k-135k acres avg each country) avg i think and I thought I was going to do much better. SV managed $800m as a comparable I think.
The following set I was again going for avg until LOC declared war. After CC took out LOC i had 12 countries left, grabbed to 50k acres each, boosted one country to $4.7b.
Last set we warred LOC again, and when that war was done I again grabbed to 50k acres boosted 1 country and finished #1. Both sets I boosted one country I spent very little time, and actually enjoyed playing.
Playing for avg is tedious, time consuming and takes precision since (depending on your acreage) you rely on the market. With the stockpiles you accumulate during a full netting set you can easily manipulate the market for you own benefit when you don't need to destock 16 netting countries.
EDIT: This is my experience and my own opinion.