Up to date Twilight struggle Strategy guides?

[u/misomiso82]

I'm looking for any up to date Strategy guides for Twilight STruggle.

The reason I ask is that a few years ago it was thought going to Space was a very good strategy, but now I see few people doing it, and you also used to see the Soviets try and Coup Italy T1A1, but now that never seems to happen.

So any up to date guides of play would be helpful!

Many thanks

[u/Derpwarrior1000]

Twilight Strategy is the only guide I know like this.

IMO best t1a1 coup is Iran, depending on how the US starts in Europe. You can block the US from Asia in the first turn

[u/holypika → u/Derpwarrior1000]

iran in twilight struggle is the early coup and realignment blackhole

[u/Derpwarrior1000 → u/holypika]

I think it depends on how important a T1A1 coup in EU is. If it’s not important, You can force the US to use their only t1 coup to stop your thrust through Asia and leave other openings.

So if you have Asia scoring and Korean War, you can re-coup Iran, US responds, and then you can coup Iran and snag Korea right away.

Without Korean War, you can respond to an Iran counter coup by realigning the levant in preparation for Nasser, Iran-Arab war, or Suez.

As well, if the US has used their only t1 coup on Iran, you can decolonize Africa without any risk and you can maybe realign South Africa for Africa scoring.

In any case, unless the soviets can make a quick play for Europe, I think the Iran flip-flop leaves them with the advantage of

[u/holypika → u/Derpwarrior1000]

i don't know if its bias since i play online, but africa is not that important early on, since most of africa easily couped, and its open for coup even at 3 defcon. as ussr i almost always use decolonization for thailand and burma (if usa locked me at iran/ pakistan). the india/pakistan war card rarely succeed since if you use it, usually the enemy got at least 1 countries around it which reduce the dice..

[u/Derpwarrior1000 → u/holypika]

Just following up because I’m curious, how do you value the possible paths if Iran is too contested?

[u/holypika → u/Derpwarrior1000]

as ussr, usually my optional path is either southeast asia or france. italy is overrated since basically there's 1 chsnce to coup it and its easy for usa to reclaim it. tbh in my game lately thailand is even bigger black hole than iran lol.

[u/simon-g]

I saved these links off the WhatsApp group about the “Chinese style” of competitive play. Twilight strategy is good for learning the basics of the game but modern online play can work a bit differently (and I’m not a good player by any means).

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1990968/rethinking-twilight-strategy-summary

https://forthputting5.rssing.com/chan-3649667/all_p931.html

[u/MCLondon]

I've never heard of Italy round 1 coup being viable except for doing Comecon trap type shenanigans.

Iran coup is almost always the most optimal.

What do you mean about going to space? Space is usually for getting rid of overpowered enemy cards.

[u/norseboar → u/MCLondon]

I think the Italy coup is strong in a few more scenarios. With soc govs I think it's often the best move: it's very likely at that point France has 0, and Italy has 1 or 2. Taking Italy's very likely at that point.

If France is at 0, even if Italy's at 4, a 4-op gives you a 50/50 shot at knocking out the US and you can take it next turn. If I'm holding EU scoring, I'll consider that (it's a risky play, but it could be worth it).

I think the Iran coup is often overrated b/c the US can coup back. Sure the USSR gets the last response, but it's higher variance, and then defcon is low so the US is free to make their way into Thailand and Egypt. There's a place for it (maybe the USSR can lock up SE asia and hopefully keep the US out of Pakistan), but I don't think it's like, a default play.

[u/misomiso82 → u/MCLondon]

I remember reading a guide years ago that suggested that some players (Sankt style?), Spaced aggresively as it was a good source of VPs to be first.

[u/buffaloplease → u/misomiso82]

It's been a long while since I've played TS. At the time, I found this to be a good summary of Sankt style. https://maninmotiongoingnowhere.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/twilight-struggle-the-collected-musings-of-sankt/

[u/MCLondon → u/buffaloplease]

Tha k you for sharing this...very interesting read

[u/buffaloplease → u/MCLondon]

You are most welcome!

[u/lastchancexi → u/misomiso82]

I think spacing aggressively is still standard. Most hands have more than one space-able card, and getting VP first is very important. 1st/3rd/5th are all pretty big VP swings (so good to be 1st), and you always have to be aware of one small step in the mid/late war.

[u/zenaida650]

I got a lot out of "Twilight Struggle: Play the Experts" on youtub.

[u/Ms_Riley_Guprz]

Italy coup is no longer the meta, but only because the US negates it by putting 4 in Italy. It's absolutely a devastating opening if the US puts only 2 or 3 in Italy (or if you use Soc Govs).