On Cards and Commanders... Part 2: Diplomat

Alright, lets get right into it. The diplomat strategy is one of the more advanced strategies in the game. I say this not necessarily because it is better than the others, but rather harder to use. It can be very powerful however. The thing I must say about the diplomat strategy is that it is strictly defensive. There are virtually no offensive benefits involved at all.

Diplomat Commander
The diplomat commander is a great guy to have around for defensive purposes. He allows you roll with an 8-die on any spot that he is being attacked. This includes the land, water, and moon. Obviously he should be positioned at one of you entrances or some spot you're wishing to protect. Please note that placing him on a base neutralizes his effect, since you get to roll two 8-sided dice as defense there anyway. Also, you may want to think about keeping him protected with other mods on the same spot. He can be very valuable because of some of the cards that are available through him, and may become a target.

Diplomat Cards
Once again, there are no offensive cards here. If you want some offense, it may be a good idea to combine your strategy with the nuke cards or one of the other 3 decks. I'll discuss some of the more important ones.

Colony Influence: This card is to be saved until very end of the game. It is worth 3 points added to your final score, which can be a game-winning determinant in many instances. Notably, there are 4 of these cards in the diplomat deck, and only 2 in each of the land, water, and moon deck. Therefore, the chances of getting them this way is much greater. Make sure your corresponding commander is ALIVE at the end of the last turn, or you will not be able to play the cards. One more thing, although it is legal to use these cards for another player in order to help them win the game at the end, it is generally considered bad taste, and I'm not sure anyone would prefer to win that way, so we don't do it.

Territorial Station: This is a simple yet useful card. It is relatively cheap at only 1 energy to play. It allows you to place one of your stations on any space you occupy (land only of course). Since this usually costs 5 energy, this can be a big help. I suggest placing you station at a defensive point like an entrance to your continent. You can also use it as a quick way to get to the moon, by placing it on a space with many mods. Make sure you have the moon commander to allow you to travel there, though.

Energy Crisis: Here's a free and very useful card. Playing it forces every other player at the table to give you one of their energies, meaning you can score a potential 4 extra energy to use as you please. It's also quite an inconvenience to the other players who may have been saving an exact amount of energy for something.

Evacuation: This card can only be played after another player declares an attack on you. You are then allowed to take all your mods from that territory and place them in any other connected territory that you control. By doing this, you give up the territory being attacked, but may be able to save you in some instances from losing a sizable force, especially if you can evacuate your mods to a a station. This is also a helpful card to play for someone else... for instance if you need to get somewhere and they are in your way and are willing to move to avoid a fight, you can just play the card to let them move somewhere else. Make sure both players have a diplomat before attempting this, though.

Cease Fire: This is without a doubt the most powerful card in the diplomat's deck. If not for the chance of drawing this card, I would actually suggest never going with a diplomat strategy. There are 2 of them in the deck. The card allows you to stop an attacker in his tracks. After an attack is declared, use the card (it costs 2 energy by the way), and that person cannot attack any of your territories for the rest of his turn. If you do it right, you can sometimes trap someone where they are, and if this is done on the last turn it can completely ruin someone's plans of winning the game. You can also deter someone from attacking you altogether by letting them know you have it, but be careful because if people know you have it, they may frequency jam you (which I will talk about later). With that being said I will also add that it's a good idea to frequency jam someone with alot of diplomat cards before attacking them, unless you are somehow sure they do not have a cease fire.

Check out the next post coming soon where I will discuss the Land Commander and his cards! Leave me a comment!