Dice Wars Strategies

Not sure how many are playing this. As far as my litany about problems with computer games, the one here is the thing about "just what are the rules?" Can't find the rules anywhere, but so far this is what i have gathered, not sure about all of them:

*no reinforcement advantage to grouping your forces, in other words the rate of reinf. is the same if all your countries are spread out.
*reinforcement seems to be related to number of countries, unknown formula
*dice are normal, so 1 die could theoretically defeat 5 dice
*ties lose
*no other advantage to defense tactically except that ties lose
*you certainly can be lucky or unlucky, in battle but also including whether you are attacked or another target is chosen instead
*the exact formula for reinforcement is unknown to me
*no sign of computer cheating in battles; possible in reinforcement rate but I don't think so. If so this is a rare computer game, on the other hand the AI cannot be tweaked.
*the constantly stated numerical value for each country doesnt quite make sense to me.

Here are my strategies:

*start a game where you can build safety to your flanks
*watch for strength and weakness on your flanks to determine opportunities.
*be unagressive on the first round and hope your enemies attack each other
*late rounds, watch your reinforcement rate; if maxed, attacks are risk free, since you are completely reinforced
*however, you can pay the price even in late rounds, by over-extending and winding up with inadequate reinforcements, so just the right rate of aggressiveness is key. The computer sometimes plays poorly in this regard.

I havent kept stats, but would say I reject 2 out of 3 games to start, then win 1 out of 4. The default 7 countries to have in opposition seems about right.

edited

I will leave an enemy next to me, if they have 1 or 2 die, especially if their adjacent position back has 2 stacks of die on it. They cannot attack you through their weak adjacent position.

Not sure the computer is cheating, but I seem to lose a number of battles where I have more die

Quote: odiousgambit

*no reinforcement advantage to grouping your forces, in other words the rate of reinf. is the same if all your countries are spread out.

I disagree. It seems to me the minimum additional armies is the maximum number of contiguous territories. Having small enclaves and exclaves doesn't help. As I wrote in another thread, there seems to be a bonus for taking over new territories your previous turn.

For those who haven't player yet, warning Dice' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/dice/dice.html]Dice Wars is addictive.

Yes - I played for the first time yesterday, and, based on my (limited) observation....

The "score" at the bottom of the map is your largest group of contiguous territories
You receive one reinforcing die for each "point of score"
Reinforcing dice are assigned randomly among your territories
No territory can contain more than 8 dice. Territories with 8 dice are skipped over during the random reinforcement.
Unassigned dice (due to all your territories containing 8 dice) are "held" until needed.

I was most interested with the last rule (which I noticed when one of the computer players had a small group of 3 or 4 territories that were unattacked, and it did not attack its neighbors). By stockpiling dice this way, it is possible to push out from a corner, and then restock all your territories back to the 8-dice max.

Quote: RaleighCraps

I will leave an enemy next to me, if they have 1 or 2 die, especially if their adjacent position back has 2 stacks of die on it. They cannot attack you through their weak adjacent position.

Not sure the computer is cheating, but I seem to lose a number of battles where I have more die

Yep. Stop short of attacking further, if winning puts you next to a stack of greater strength.

Quote: Wizard

It seems to me the minimum additional armies is the maximum number of contiguous territories. Having small enclaves and exclaves doesn't help. As I wrote in another thread, there seems to be a bonus for taking over new territories your previous turn.

I had been assuming all advantage to grouping was flank protection, so I was getting contiguous turf and benefiting without understanding . Now that I know this I'll look to see it in action. Sorry, didnt look for a thread already started.

Quote: CapnDave

Yes - I played for the first time yesterday, and, based on my (limited) observation....

The "score" at the bottom of the map is your largest group of contiguous territories
You receive one reinforcing die for each "point of score"
Reinforcing dice are assigned randomly among your territories
No territory can contain more than 8 dice. Territories with 8 dice are skipped over during the random reinforcement.
Unassigned dice (due to all your territories containing 8 dice) are "held" until needed.

I was most interested with the last rule (which I noticed when one of the computer players had a small group of 3 or 4 territories that were unattacked, and it did not attack its neighbors). By stockpiling dice this way, it is possible to push out from a corner, and then restock all your territories back to the 8-dice max.

Cap'n, you sure have nailed it down, thanks.

I'll see if I can win more often now. Seems to me if I get picky about scenarios, I should win more often.

It seems that a useful strategy is, if possible, to leave a path of lesser stacks through contiguous territories, to a double full stack (or several). The computer then will attack through the 1/2/3 stacks to your strength, leaving single dice along the trail. Then blow them all away.

I like the "history" feature. It's fun to watch the ebb and flow.