Classic: Is South America a bad territory to go for?

[WorldCup4James]

I have been interested in the Classic Cities Map for a few weeks and have played from the perspective of every continent. From my experience, I think the strategy where you get Australia first then spread out towards the barren Asia while watching your oponents fight over the other continents gives you a 90% win. I've also won a few games from starting in Europe but that took a bit more challenge.

Meanwhile, I found SA to be like an automated lost. I went for SA first in all 3 of my current games (you can check it out), and each one I am last place. I think defending 2 important border for 2 troops in SA is much harder than the one border that no one cares about in Ausy. Imo, SA should receive more troops than Ausy,

This is the predominant belief of many players, which in the end hurts you because, in many cases, lots of players will be competing over Australia, and you just might completely weaken yourself fighting over the continent.
Also, Australia is a double-edged sword (you can attack only one large continent), the person who controls generally has to control "choke points" like Alaska, Middle East in order to have a big presence in the end game and not be gobbled up others.
As for South America, I think that it offers great offensive capabilities, just make sure you can defend it for a whole turn if you go for the entire continent, as it is very valuable because you can reach North America and hold both continents while only guarding 3 borders.

[AquilaOne]

In my experiences, South America is one of the worst starting continents to acquire. It's small and relatively easy to conquer, but you will lose a long term arms race with BOTH border continents and you will find yourself weak and then dead very quickly. Australia is good because it's far removed and Asia is rarely colonized in the early game. North America is also strong because an uninhabited Asia is good security and there are few ports of entry. Long-term, though, a player with a power base in Australia that's used to reinforce foreign divisions that eventually acquire a second continent is the way to go.

[tunderball]

I really do think that this depends on your situation, I'm pretty new to this site so I can't really speak about how it is online but I normally play risk with friends around a board. When you've got constant interaction face to face with people I find it very easy to come to some mutual understanding with players.
It can be something as simple as a little smile or a nod, but it's easy to strike up a truce with the player in Africa, who is just as worried about his borders as you. A truce along these borders leaves you to focus on fughting the player in North America, with your all important +2 troops. While your 'friend' in Africa has to deal with the powerhouses in Europe and the inevitable Australia player who is fast creeping his way through Asia.
In short I often find South America to be one of the best continents if you play well in the early game, if all doesn't go to plan however you can be caught in the middle of two superior powers and sandwitched into oblivion. My advice would be have a border agreement or atleast a mutual understanding with Africa (but don't take your eye off the player). And whatever you do do not let another player comfortably secure North America

[Gumby1]

I've played over 20 years of the unmentionable board game. For the past 3 years I have played online on another site. I've probably played well over 1000 games on the classic map. Each starting continent is winable except for NA and obviously Asia. The more you play the more you will find how best to defend and play from each continent. Don't limit yourself to only starting from Aus. Try them all. Good luck!

[Bruceswar]

Its going to depend on your settings. escalating is different than flat rate. 3 player different from 8 player. Fog different than sun. Change the parameters and you'll change the results.

well for this example, I am talking about escalating, unlimited, 3-5 players, sunny.

I agree with your comparison of SA vs Aus. I find it hard to believe that Aus gives you a 90% victory rate, however. There should be a difference in amount of armies awarded for SA vs Aus. It doesn't seem fair for SA to increase to 3 and be equal to Africa. So, the only solution would be to decrease Aus to 1. Or, open up another route into Aus.

lol Ausy is very easy to win from and I think every classic game I won (besides a few) was from me starting in Ausy
Ausy shouldn't decrease to 1, just a waste of territory then. They should decrease Africa to 2 borders and have it be equal to SA at 3 troops.

@ the bolded part... rarely take a bonus. Especially the higher you get in number of people.

[rockfist]

I've won from NA. I prefer starting there to Europe or Africa in most cases, but I only play flat rate or no spoils and usually play only assassin of late on the classic map.

[mudfighter]

@ the bolded part... rarely take a bonus. Especially the higher you get in number of people.

Thanks for the only helpful comment for that scenario!

Don't waste your troops on getting a small bonus in escalating games. You can do it with a good drop. Otherwise take the keypoints on the map and build some stacks waiting for the best moment to kill any of the weak players who wasted their troops in a fight for a continent... Locating and stacking is much more important in escalating games than any small bonus.

[stahrgazer]

I've played over 20 years of the unmentionable board game. For the past 3 years I have played online on another site. I've probably played well over 1000 games on the classic map. Each starting continent is winable except for NA and obviously Asia. The more you play the more you will find how best to defend and play from each continent. Don't limit yourself to only starting from Aus. Try them all. Good luck!

um.. sorry, but NA is quite winnable; while it's larger than Europe, it's much more defensible once taken (3 entrances from only 3 regions, rather than 3 entrances from 6 regions). Taking it rather relies on you having quite a few of the regions to start with, is all. Between African and NA, NA is easier to defend...(Africa is 3 entrances from 4 regions) it's just that NA makes a juicier target and is harder to get to start with.

And as for the thread originator... I've won from SA before.

[Gumby1]

I stand corrected. You can win from NA. I have just found it harder to play with than Europe because SA usually attacks you (assuming someone has SA). You are right, if you have a good drop and take it quick then it is easy to hold.