
BURBS - KEEP OR WEEP
by Bill Bunten

Use your initial selection of Burbs wisely.  If you lose one early, you may
lose the game.  A normal game of "King of the Hill" lets you choose three new
burbs.  A good strategy is to pick the first site by centering your cursor in
the center of the world.  This way you have a burb near the native capital
(which is always near the center of the world).  Pick your 2nd and 3rd Burb
by placing your cursor on your first burb.  These burbs should be close
enough to support each other.  I usually pick Infantry for all three burbs so
they can dig in and defend.  I also usually pick Airplanes for the next unit
in each Burb to be built.

Airplanes allow you to discover surrounding area, see approaching attacks and
support your adjacent burbs.  When combined with infantry in a cluster of
three burbs you are in good shape to explore and defend.  If you see a small
piece of swamp in the vicinity you can paratroop into it and usually discover
oil.  After moving and taking the oil resource you can get back to your Burb.
If a roving opposing unit enters the area one of your other planes can hit
him, and if need be, your third plane can paratroop next to your unprotected
burb.

After making the planes in each of the three burbs to complement the
Infantry, I usually convert all three burbs to tank production.  When the
tanks appear, I can go on the offensive with a three unit army.  As your
front moves, you can use "Transfer" to transport an infantry and plane to
your new front burb.  In this way your tanks move your territory forward and
your Infantry and planes provide support.

By now, you will have moved your other forces that began in your starting
corner into the area.  I usually have a Command Center, Spy, Battleship and
Tank moving together.  I bring these units into the closest burb I own near
the Native Capital.  I continue to expand territory with the tanks until I
feel I need to group all attack units near the Native Capital (no later than
turn 10).  If I have done a good job expanding territory and holding on to
burbs, I will be in good shape to bring all my tanks, with support planes
close to the Native Capital.  Start bombing  the native units in the capital
a few turns before the attack.  Finally around turn 4, attack with the tanks
leading, followed by the infantry and your command center. It is now all or
nothing.  Even if another player is winning on points, you can still win by
taking the Native Capital.  The trick is taking it late enough in the game
that you can't loose it again to another player.  That's why you use your
Command Center as well in the final attack so it is also ready to defend.

In summary: Burbs are the income producers - making money or units.  It is
essential that you don't loose them to wandering opponents as your move your
front.  The system of clustered burbs with planes and infantry to paradrop
has worked for me.


AIR POWER, by Dan Bunten

My key to success in Conquest is Airplanes!  Buy them and use them.  Enough
said.  (Well, actually, there are a few more things I could say about them
and since Scott said he needed 500 words from me for the manual, I guess I'll
say them).

Planes are great for discovering the world.  Build a carrier and a plane and
send them on a circumnavigation mission to discover the general shape of the
world as early as you can.  This is especially true for games on medium and
large worlds or games longer than 30 turns.  (In "King of the Hill" and other
quick and dirty battles, recon is not the big issue).  One secret to using
planes for recon with carriers and the comcen is called "passive recon".  If
you don't use a plane during the orders phase it will do a passive recon at
the end of the turn.  This type of mission has 0% chance of crash and leaves
whatever units are spotted shown at the next orders phase.  (Passive recon
has a "persistence" of 10 rounds where active recon only keeps units "seen"
for 5).  In the case of moving air platforms (like the comcen or a carrier),
as long as you don't move too far ahead each turn, the plane will be
uncovering the land and any unit threats in front of it.  (Nothing makes you
feel dumber than watching your comcen blindly stumble into a mess of units it
didn't see!)  The other advantage to passive recon is that the plane is
always available when you need it for strikes (since you never actually
"used" it).

Aside from the obvious use of planes to hit units to soften them up (which
works well on both offense and defense) the "Dogfight" mission is probably
their next most profitable use.  Any time you see an enemy plane on your
screen hit it with a Dogfight!  It keeps them from using that plane and it
gives you the best odds of knocking it out.  Try to do Short Range Dogfights
if possible since they are the most effective.  If your "destination" is
within 5 spaces of the enemy plane they'll engage and if you're inside the
short range circle you get the equivalent of 2 hits on him!

Finally, the last really great use of planes is Paradrop.  I try to keep a
couple of infantry ready in any burb where I have a plane so I can drop them
next to any enemy that looks like easy pickings.  However, don't do this
mission until you've cleared the skies of enemy planes.  Losing both the
plane and the infantry is too high a cost.  But, if the target is a comcen,
disregard the risks and go for it!  Imagine your opponent's shock when they
hit execute and see your infantry on either side of their comcen!  A real
game stopper!


POSTURE FOR SUCCESS by Scott Osborn

Okay, here goes.  All my secrets, spread out like tabloid headlines for TOTAL
STRANGERS to trample on, are revealed.  All my favorite strategies, at which
I labored long and hard to steal, I am now expected to simply GIVE to the
reader of this manual.  Life, dear reader, is anything but fair...

I go in for menus.  Sure, maybe I spend too much time at my favorite fast
food establishment, admiring the drive-thru menu while curses and honking
horns make vain attempts at disrupting my viewing pleasure.  But I'm getting
better:  I've gotten down to ONLY one hour a day.

One of my favorite menus has got to be the Unit Posture Menu.  Just thinking
about how it looks there on the screen, the neat little box, the bright green
color of the menu bar against the beautiful, pure white of the background,
the little words, neatly placed...  But I digress.  My apologies.

As I was saying, I LIKE the Unit Posture Menu.  I form all my "Invasion
Forces" with the Repeat option from this menu.  Just clicking on one of my
guys and giving him the "Invasion Spot", then using this little marvel to
pass on the "Invasion Spot", makes my invasion management skills mostly
unnecessary!

I also like the Pursue choice.  Hey:  Once I find my enemy's spy or comcen,
I pop on this baby and let 'er rip.  And I use it with MORE than just the one
unit.  If they're close to the ocean, I use it with my battleships and subs,
too.

I kinda stay away from the Blitz, though.  I save it for emergency
situations; like when one of my enemy's burbs has gotten low in the defense
department and some of my guys can get there and take it before he's
repositioned.  That, and when one of my burbs gets in the same predicament.


Which brings me to another of my favorite strategies:  Burb taking.  Let's
face it, burbs are as necessary to us as forms are to the government.  You
get enough burbs, you get the game, I always say.  So do this:  Take your
enemies' burbs, but don't let 'em get yours.  Works in all the scenarios,
trust me.  Too bad though; implementing this bit of wisdom is the hard part.
But hey, I'm telling you enough as it is!  I give up all my secrets, and now
you want more!  Sheesh, what does it take?

But let's get back to the Posture Menu.  Now the Sneak has got to be one of
my all-time favorite moves:  Don't you just love it when you surprise
someone?  Yeah, me too.  Well, this one is one of those "Cardiac Surprises"
that can end a game REAL prematurely for some folks.  Find your enemy's
crucial stronghold, like a major port burb, and send about five of your guys
sneaking towards it.  Then, right before they all get there, start a
"Diversionary Attack" somewhere close by.  Watch 'em send all their support
over there (to stop what they suppose is a major invasion), then Boom!, you
got their burb.

Now the Wait command I only got one real purpose for, though I know that
there are plenty of other good ways to use it.  I use the Til Repair one.
This way, the second they're ready, they're up and at 'em, back on the front
where they need to be.  Hey, I love wasting time, but I can't let my guys get
away with that kind of stuff.

Lastly, the Home command is, to me anyway, an economic bandaid.  When my guy
has the deadly dreaded NO SUP bleeding from his chest, I slap on the Home
option, then cut 'em loose when the red stops flowing.

I hope these strategies help you.  Wait a minute.  I worked long and hard to
get these, and here I am just GIVING them to you!  I don't hope they help
you.  I hope they backfire on you.  I hope that, when we play each other, I
have already stolen someone else's strategies and I just whip the snot out of
all of your guys!


ONLY HALF THE PEOPLE SHOULD READ THIS
by JD Robinson

I spent a lot of time trying to dream up "fake" hints so I wouldn't have 
to give away secrets about how I really play.  Maybe something like "If 
you continually run your ships aground, it increases the chance of an air 
strike succeeding." But, Scott said I have to be truthful and helpful.  
The problem is, if everyone reads these, they'll cease to be effective.  
So, if you're one of the few people who read this far in the manual, as 
you apparently are, give yourself a big pleasure pat on the hindside.

* In cut-throat games (the way real Conquestadors play), always be 
prepared to do the "hair trigger" turn if you see the other guy is getting 
into trouble.  It's usually difficult to plan two whole turns in advance, 
but you can plan so that not giving any orders next turn won't hurt you.  
Do this, then hit the Execute button as soon as the Enter Orders message 
comes up.  Your opponent often won't even realize he needs to hurry since 
this causes one long beep at the start of his turn.  I've KO'd quite a few 
unwary sorts with this ploy.

* Remember that your opponent can see as much of your destinations as you 
can of his.  Put off giving a final destination in a close encounter until 
the very last second, so he'll have less a chance of seeing where you're 
going.  Or if you want to be really sneaky, give a unit a short 
intermediate to throw the other guy off, then change direction to where 
you really wanted to go.

* If you're playing a guy like Dan who's spy-happy, use yours as bait.  
Some people can't resist going after a (seemingly) defenseless spy.  Also, 
if you're playing a scenario where you get a lot of money to start with, 
consider spending some of it on another spy.  It seems wasteful, but 
there's no better way to mess with a guy's mind that to have two spies 
from the start.

* Look for ways to use NED (our name for the conglomerate of 
computer-controlled players) against someone.  Find one of NED's 
strongholds and lead the other guy into a trap.  Figure out who NED's 
picking on and help out.  Remember, it's usually easier to beat the 
computer than it is to beat the computer/human team.

* Give human players a red herring by getting a cease fire going with one 
of the computer opponents.  When you break a cease-fire, it's almost 
always inferred that you're about to attack that person.  So you get 
postured to attack the human, then break the c.f. with the computer to 
throw everyone off.  It's the small things that count.

* Another favorite is naming yourself something like "We're" or "Think 
about".  This may seem innocuous, but they make the messages that appear 
on the other guy's machine come across like "We're offering alliance to 
Ochre Order," even though it was you.

* Above all, do anything possible to perturb or surprise your opponent.  
If you're a good typist, send endless harassing chat across the wire after 
you're finished giving orders.  If you're not a typist, try holding down 
the period key for a few seconds.  Anything that distracts your opponent 
works to your favor.  Hard-core pencil and paper players will tell you 
this doesn't matter, but we know better.
