World maps are such a mess, with so many combinations, any nation can get lucky or really unlucky.

I managed to win two gunboats in a row as Western-Canada, so I'm kind of biased towards them.

@Hthefourth - USA is winning the game I am in the middle of at the moment! But I am inclined to think its a matter of luck and circumstances - for example, in this game, Pacific Russia was banned, how much did that help out China and Western Canada...

It's more or less all diplomacy. Tactics are tactics; you either have them or you don't. Strategy is more conducive to diplomacy because of the lack of corners; the whole map is a giant loop, so there's no such thing as a corner. You're going to have to turn your back to one, perhaps multiple, sides from beginning to end, so you must maintain strong alliances everywhere.

Of course there's the standard "luck" -- dropouts and bans and the like. But it's not a crapshoot, not even close; it's all about diplomacy.

Frozen Antarctica is a rather disadvantaged country.

I have never managed to play a world map without somebody getting banned, so I am not playing it anymore.

We have an open spot where Xapi went AWOL if you'd like to try an established one with powerhouse players who won't be getting banned. Xapi's Europe wasn't in too bad of shape, although his CD was very untimely.

No no no don't do that please don't do that

Eden is begging to not have a replacement next to him (he is Near East), but I need an ally to take on hellalt in PacRussia. It's really been a fun game, but Xapi's CD really altered the balance of the game.

holy crap... 10 messages and no one mentions the WORST country to play in world!
SOUTH AFRICA! Start already disjointed and surrounded by well established countries (Kenya, Ghana, Brazil, Argentina, Antarctica).

Well, I sure could... you know, once I eat Europe. =)

Europe's actually in a pretty bad spot to be honest, going to lose half his centers guaranteed.

Yes, SA is arguably the worst and Ghana maybe the best one on average. They didn't get the balance right there.

I think Libya is another one of those shitty countries to have, but I have seen many good games from almost every American and Asian power, so I'd say those are about equal.

Both Brazil and Argentina can make a good showing too, especially if they work together and expand outward.

I think to a point to say that diplomacy is all that matters is silly. That is true in the standard game in large part because we all know the board so well. Especially while we are learning the game, it is not even.

I think South Africa is really screwed, and Oz/Frozen Antarctica don't have it much better. I also think USA has it really rough. It is like Russia with two coasts, but only starts with 3 units AND none of its SCs are adjacent. What power in normal diplomacy has all of its SCs separate? That is almost unthinkable. I haven't looked at the board enough but I also think that Europe and Middle East (or whatever it is called) have a tough draw as well.

The join between Near east and all of its neighbors is a stalemate waiting to happen. Every direction is a single file land bridge, so you would expect Near-east to have fleets to compensate. But no, they have 3 armies, which if they don't escape soon, they get landlocked in.