Six player games need retooling, now more than ever

[foggy pelican]

So basically, portals have been introduced, which introduce a fun dimension for those of us who like the nonstandard features in Risk: Global Domination. However, now more than ever, multiplayer needs a retool. Example:

Suppose you're playing Capital Conquest with unstable portals & fog of war on one of the many Risk maps which start players off with 12 territories. Player 1 generally has a major advantage over Player 6 to begin with in Risk; this is fine, it's a time-worn tradition. Risk: Global Domination even mitigates this some with a couple additional troops.

Player 1 gets the most premium choice of capitals, with the least need to defend it, as they go first and can immediately dump 6 more troops on the capital if they so desire.
Player 6 gets the worst choice of regions in which to place a capital, unless they want to go head-to-head with someone. They can't put their capital on any territory with 1 troop adjacent to a (Player 1/Player 2) territory with (2/3+) troops, because that player could place 6 (sometimes 5) troops next to their capital and have even odds of winning a second capital before Player 6 even gets a turn. So they're multiply handicapped.

In this scenario, on the 1st turn, Player 1 gets 6 troops (12 territories + capital), and Player 6 usually gets at most 8 troops if they held their capital, because they've usually lost at least 1 territory, and thus get (base: 3)+(bonus: 3)+(capital: 2). So the 3 bonus troops is really 2 bonus troops.

Then you add in the moving portals, which also preference Player 1 because they're both the first able to defend theirs and to set up attacks, and the first to be able to attack when portals open.

Then you add in the fog of war element, and by Player 6's turn, if they have no portals left, they have no way of judging whether reaching 'n breaching through a portal is going to be a good strategy, because 5 players have already had the opportunity to deny them visibility.

Won't buy Nitro, must end here.

[shy finch]

I've found myself with a different experience in unstable portals / caps / manual placement personally.

Player 1 tends to go for a small continent, as does player 2, players 3-4 tend to pick something close (but not too close) to them, players 5 & 6 tend to have a lot more visibility of where players are separately to begin with, can see who's more likely to clash, and can disrupt continent bonuses if no-one else does before them.

Going first in portals is sure, a +1 in exploration (mainly handy for undefended caps or undefended continents) - however, everyone already sees where the portals are the turn before - so only the highest troop gain players or the smallest continent holders tend to defend these anyway.

Player 6 is at a massive advantage on portals than any other player, why's that?
You capture a continent, other players hop through portals /retaliate against each other, you go last - so you get your continent back - and you can sabotage anyone that hasn't already been - and better yet? They can't use the portals for revenge. If you so wish, you can even leave troops hidden through those to ensure they're not getting a bonus the following turn too....

Player 6 can ensure they get their continent bonus (or at least only have neighbours to deal with) - so they're the most likely to get their continent bonus on the "portals moving" round, but the least likely to hold their continent in the "portals open" round.
Player 1 has the reverse, so it's a player preference on which you find more beneficial.

I've personally been loving later turn orders 😄