So I am trying to help my brother get into this game, but I have to say, its pretty damn disappointing trying to play this game as a new player. He is not short on defense or strong defensive allies. But he is nearly unable to gain land each day due to the top 40 countries grabbing him day after day for nearly as much land as he is able to grab per day. The only reason he is able to hold onto any land he grabs, is because nearly half you top 40 fluffers fail to break him.

He made 4 P.S. last night on countries about half his networth and roughly ~2.4k land less than his at the time. (For numbers, he was roughly 1.4mil at 6.9k acres to their 650k and 4.5k acres). His gains were from 117A (271A) to 146A (315A) for a little over 1100 acres gained in 4 P.S.

Later that night, he gets hit by 3 P.S. from countries between 3x to 4x his size who all had over double his land, (For numbers, he was at 1.7mil and 8k acres when attacked by people around 5.5mil or more and 16k land or more. Their gains from him range from 233A (515A) to 292A (612A) for about 800 acres lost.

How is a smaller country supposed to gain land when they hit riskier targets around half their level, but end up losing as much land as they can gain per attack to countries 3-4 times their size hitting them from completely safe networth rages.. I am sorry to all the top netting countries (I am in the top 40 myself), but this doesn't seem fair or encouraging to newer players at all..

woops, ment to edit not reply

To be honest... play a techer & be landthin.

or retal anyone who hits you, like I do.

It's simple, get to the top or you are done. In a few days time he won't be hit much anymore though when everyone has had their fill. It's a brutal world, but we all went through it when we started, why should he be any different?

Good point crest, I forgot a number of the top countries stop grabbing so much soon. Maybe he should go into vacation mode until then? lol

Sounds like your brother needs to get into the top 40 then! I would suggest having lots of jets to retal hits, that'd stop em coming in!

I dunno what strat he is playing but people of all strats are on top! You got to get on top and stay there.

The key here is not to look like a good target so you don't become one.

It's unfortunate but that is how it is in primary. Really the only way to avoid hits like that is to become such a unapealing target that ppl will leave you alone.

Example a 2m networth country with 5500acres plus will most likely be targeted if his Dr is 1,2 for gains.

But

If that county is 2m net with 3000acres highly likely no one will hit.

Also even if he is 100% turrets and his allies are good if he has enough land an low dr he will get hit.

It's not that people stop grabbing soon, but it's that
1) most don't double tap, so won't be back
2) some should start growing out of humanitarian range
3) (or 2b) soon people start midfeeding bigger targets

Thanks for the input everyone. He is new (first set, but I've given him tips and links to more info) and admits to making a number of mistakes like running out of food a few times.

He is trying out a Casher because he doesn't have a lot of time to play and didn't want to worry about selling stuff on the market his first time. I never expected him to hit the top ranks his first go, but I don't remember getting grabbed for quite as much when I was first starting either. I never played a Casher though, so maybe they get hit more?

If he could get enough jets to retal these guys back, they would probably farm him until humanitarian limit, lol. He hasn't been retaled once yet from targets he has attacked, only gets hit from people 3x-4x his size. Sounds like he missed the buss for staying out of the top guys target range and should focus on gaining net without gaining land for a few days.

If you want him to get hooked, let him play and war in primary first and not try to win in reset #1. Winning a battle against another player will surely get him hooked. Worked for me when I started 14 years ago in 1B. After fighting for a couple rounds, I wanted to learn more so I could fight better, then try for rank after gaining some experience.

OMA: That's really how this server is, it is essentially a race to the top. If for some reason you fall out of the top (i.e your NW falls less than half the rank 1's NW), you are likely to get farmed out of the top 40.

The way to climb into the top 40 when you are already behind, usually involves holding A LOT of jets to retal the top 40. This does put you at risk from being attacked from countries below you though. Alternatively, just holding 1b cash on hand is also sufficient to deter most countries from grabbing your brother. It essentially boils down to "the ability to retal".

Also, I hope your brother is safelisted with you.

Early in the game (first 2 weeks), it is doubly important not to look land fat. Once past the first 3-4 weeks, even if you are land thin, you WILL get grabbed by the top 40 if you are below half their NW as targets run thin. Unless you're like thinner than most.

The risk of holding a lot of jets (and not enough turrets) or a lot of cash also involves the risk that someone will spy you and farm you. Happens almost every set. If you know the retal is coming anyways, might as well make out with as much land as possible.

Kind of like getting hit by an all jetter and you proceeding to farm them, just in this case, you preempt the attack.

I had the same problem a few sets ago when I started. Couldnt grow, kept getting smoked. Then I realized that the more I focused on tech, the faster I could grow under the radar without getting fat. It helped me, and now I find teching the least frustrating strat since I don't log on too often

Booo Hooo, hey friend, I'm gonna tell you exactly what all the putzes that lay this game say, Get bigger faster, or suffer the landgrabs of the bottom-feeding herbivores in ignominy.

Alternatively you can do as I do and build a war machine. Then, when it gets out of hand, you can retaliate hard, unlike in the alliance game where it gets you killed off quick, you do have options here. You can Nuke the sumfluff, or you can artillery him into the ground, steal a lot of his tech, or some combination of the above. He has no tag protection here, go off on him and have some fun, for chrissakes.

Most the people hitting his brother probably have GDI protection and single tap./

Most of them are in GDI and single tap. Two of them decided to get greedy though. The one that succeeded in getting through got missiles in return. I am not sure if he is planning on sending missiles back at the guy who failed three times though.

He understands that attacking is part of the game and is forgiving of the people who only hit him once. He is just a bit frustrated that he can't seem gain land anymore right now because every time he does it all gets taken back the same night. I suggested he just focus on buying Business/Residential/Weapons tech and jets and stop attacking for now to get land thin.

And yes, even though he will be playing from a different city 80% of the time (except on holidays and when he visits), we are safelisted for that 20% of the time we may play from the same house. Unfortunately this means we cant be allies :(