SMG Studio

 I prefer playing fixed card games with 6 players but holy lord, there are so many players that just get control of a continent and then collect cards.

If there's a Mexican standoff between 3-4 players and everyone just sits collecting cards because no one has an advantage.....guess what?  20 turns from now you'll still be collecting cards and no on will have an advantage.  The game will last forever if no one makes a move!

I swear I lose more games because of sheer boredom than skill or bad luck.  I don't know how or why people sit there attacking the same territory over and over to build up troops when their opponents are doing the exact same thing.

Players that sit and build up troops in Australia by attacking, collecting a card and then retreating are the worst.  They end up with a massive amount of troops in that one area.  They won't attack and nobody dares attack them.  What's the point of playing if you're going to do that crap?

There really needs to be a timer on games or rules that set a limit on the number of troops you can have on one territory.

The game is called RISK not CARD COLLECTING.

OK Sam, thanks.

You know what else has "never been part of the game"?  Not being able to communicate with the other players.

I don't get why people like you act like the traditional boardgame and the online version are the same or why you wouldn't want improvements.

When you play the online version enough you find out that many player's "strategy" is to just sit there and wait for the other players to do all the dirty work.

That's boring, especially if you have multiple players in a single game using that "strategy".

There either needs to be a better communication system....(it's actually gotten worse since I started playing, the emoticon selection is terrible.....the "confused" emoticon is gone for instance.  Why? 

If there were a limit on the number of players in a territory and it doesn't have to be a hard limit, maybe the limit kicks in after 3 turns of the player doing nothing......and they start losing 2 men per round or something. 

That or a timer should be optional.  The game just doesn't work without communication between players. 

Dude.....if everyone sits around collecting cards and amassing troops the game goes on forever....that's not a "strategy".

Games like that always end the same way, somebody gets bored and suicides or quits and bots out.

There literally is no strategy to sitting there and waiting for someone else to do something.  And a "long game' is fine but most people don't have 5 hours to sit and play a game of Risk where people just attack one Asian territory over and over to collect cards.

It's the biggest flaw in the online version....no communication.  In a board game of Risk you can talk to other players....online everyone just sits there waiting for someone else to do something.

In my experience most games aren't won or lost because of skill, they're won or lost because of luck, be it good or bad and whether or not you get suicided on or whether or not a player doesn't confirm or just quits and bots out in game.

I've won and lost many games just because other players got fed up and quit or suicided on some other player.

I go through phases with online Risk where I play if for like a week and then don't play again for months and the reason is it's just not that fun because it's so random and too many players sit around doing nothing.

I think that some players who occupy Australia and who cannot manage to expand to Europe or Africa use bots to encourage other players to fight each other. They would suddenly become inactive and allow the bot which takes over to attack EU and Africa. Other players would not retaliate because they would think that an AI is attacking them and as we all know there is no point in fighting a bot unless really necessary. As a result of the bot attack the other strong 2 players start fighting each other because they want to leave the bot for the end. As soon one or both of them are weakened, the sleeping third player "wakes up" and takes control, easily beating the opponents. I find this unfair, but not as uncommon as people may think. We all lose connection and rejoin the game sometimes, but to do that deliberately and to activate at an opportune moment is not fair.

As far as the bots go I've complained endlessly about them.  it's one thing if you know it's a bot from the start but a huge problem is people not confirming or people quitting in the middle of a game.

I've lost several games in the past few days because of people quitting and the bots surrounding me while letting the other player(s) conquer territory with no resistance.

I was on Discord arguing with the mods and some SMG people about how broken the bots are and they claim they aren't broken lol.  We've all seen bots not attack to take away bonuses or instead of trying to take over territories the bots will just attack a random territory or fortify.

The bots in SMG Risk have zero tactical sense.   I use them to my advantage all the time but I've had it bite me in the ass too.  If you let a bot get too strong and it moves large numbers of troops next to you you're done unless you can break out but that often weakens you to the point that another player will take you out.  It would be one thing if the bot were actually accomplishing anything but their decisions almost never make tactical sense.

I was told the bots have different "personalities", some are aggressive, some defensive etc, but they ALL SUCK.

Sam, I understand the game.  I've been playing it for decades just like most people here.  The problem in the online version is there is no communication.  In the board game you can communicate with a weak player next to you to team up and weaken or take out the strongest player.

In the online version you don't know anyone so nobody trusts anyone else.  Even if you make an alliance with someone they might stab you in the back the first chance they get.

Maybe you enjoy playing 5 hour games where people just sit and collect cards, everyone attacking the same territory over and over but I don't.  I don't have that kind of time.

I enjoy playing the game but I can't sit there and dedicate 5 hours to collecting cards.  And what inevitably happens in those games is people bot out from boredom or they suicide.  So then you just wasted 2 hours playing a game and were defeated because some random person suicided on you.

Risk is a great game but there is room for improvement, plenty of room.  You can't apply the same rules for a game with no communication or face to face interaction as you do for the board game.

The bots have changed their behaviour recently. They used not to attack defending armies if they had fewer armies. Now they use their bonus armies to build up their armies and as soon as they have advantage they attack.  So, it is not safe anymore to barricade in Australia or SA and have bots on the borders. And yes, once the bots pick on someone they relentlessly attack. I found out that the best way to control the bots is to get rid of them in vicinity of your major forces early in the game even at high cost. If you do so, they usually become someone else's problem, if you do not, they keep building up until they finally attack you all of the sudden.