RDFs

Some of the changes we made in our new version are very subtle. At first glance, you many not think anything is different. It is hard for us to remember them now. We have been playing the new rules so long, we forget how the original worked! Here is an example:

In the old game, you would keep newly prospected cards secret until you wanted to pay the salaries on it. Now, all cards are kept face up at all times. All players know what people have and where they are. This is much more dangerous. If another player gets to attack first, your new company could be gone before you even get there!

In the last game we played, I was at war with the US -Nathaniel. He needed oil badly. While researching new oil he kept pulling everything but oil. He spent around $2.4 TL before he finally turned over oil. It was a big company: 5 in Saudi Arabia. Was he excited? No! He was even more disappointed now. Why? Because I had a big stack of Russian armies sitting right next door in Iraq. He knew I could easily overrun Saudi Arabia and seize his grand new oil company long before he could stage troops there.

Lesson: You need bases strategically located around the globe, fully stocked with RDFs. (Rapid Deployment Forces) This way you can quickly respond to regional crises no matter where they are. The Commonwealth has a great built in advantage here. With Canada, England, India and Australia, they start off able to strike just about anywhere. The down side is, you are spread pretty thin and have to defend everywhere at once.

So stay mobile and think global.