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Struggle of Empires FAQ

V 2005.07.15
Corrections to innovan “at” yahoo

Struggle of Empires recreates the military, economic, and political rivalries of the major European powers during the eighteenth century at home and in their far flung colonies. Players make alliances, establish colonies, enslave Africans, improve their economies, build armies and fleets, wage war, and avoid revolutions. And it plays in a decent amount of time, too! Written by Martin Wallace and the other warfrogs (prominently James Hamilton).

As with any empire building game this complex there are some questions about the finer rules. Rather than posting multiple updates to BBG I'm maintaining this FAQ here and will post occasional updates to the BBG entry as this doc stabilizes.

Note that SoE - Quick Reference.doc is a shorter document than this FAQ intended for use during the game.

Alliances Auction

Q: When there are an odd number of players (for example 5 players), which side of the Alliance will the odd player end up on, or always the first camp?
R : The players bid to determine which camp the 5th player will end up in. (source : Martin Wallace)

Q: We're bidding for...?
R: You're proposing who will be opposite each other in the next war and in what turn order. This makes it harder to control who will be your ally --you have to match them up to the correct side over the course of multiple proposal rounds. Note the alliances also alternate turn order. In games with an even number of players you have to look ahead --the last two players left to join have to be opposite each other, which takes newbies a bit of time to catch on to, particularly in a four player game.

Q: Can players once placed in an alliance still bid?
R: Yes. Auction continues until all pass around table. May re-enter bid after passing.

Q: Who opens the second proposal for alliances auction for this war? The third?
R: The player to the left of whom started the first alliance proposal. You will want to use the spare black wooden tokens to keep track of this. The person making the first alliance proposal takes a black wooden marker when they start the first auction round after which clockwise the other players either raise the bid and make a new proposal, or pass. After that's done the person to the left of the black marker also takes a marker and makes the first proposal for the second alliance auction of the war, and so on. If there's more than 2 proposal rounds (ie more than 4 players) some people prefer instead to take the dice and put the "1" "2" "3" "4" as the side face up to track who started each proposal.

Q: Oh, so that's what those extra black wooden markers are for!
R: Yes. They're used to manage the rounds of the alliance proposal auctions at the beginning of each war.

Q: Do I have to start with a bid of 0?
R: No. You may start with any bid you like. Likewise you may increase the bid any amount you want.

Q: Any preference for turn order?
R: War 1 going first is an advantage. You get first pick at Slave and Pop counters and first choice of the tiles. But "Moving last in the final war with a couple of logistics tiles and a war office can be and often is devastating. By the start of the last war most of the decent tiles are gone and while the alliances tiles are available again I generally favour moving later in the turn in the 3rd and quite possibly the 2nd war." (source: James Hamilton) Note also that last turn of each war is when Pirates and Slave Revolt tend to be played on the leaders, particularly after their turn is done and they can no longer respond before the scoring.

Game Opening

Q: In the setup phase when we place five units, may we place them anywhere, or only where we have a control token?
R: Anywhere without restriction. So you may place an army in a colony during setup even if you have no control tokens and no fleets present. The whole world is your oyster during setup. Note also you do not make a sea roll on the units placed in the colonies during setup, unlike the rest of the game.

Q: I'm lost. What tiles should I buy in the opening?
R: Usually the tiles are bought by the players in this order: the two Mercenaries at $3, the single Trained Natives at $4 (with no sea roll required), the single Diplomatic Service at $2, the single Pressgangs at $3 and the single War Office at $8. (These are grouped together in one row in the Player Aid sheets below)

Your goal should be first round to buy one of these, since they are so powerful and shape your Empire the rest of the game. They pay off best if bought early and are tapped each war. In particular any group of 4 or more that lets someone get two of (Diplomatic Service/(2)Mercenaries/Trained Natives) during the opening has been asleep and will probably lose. It's also why the opening order in the first war is important --it determines who gets first pick at buying the most juicy tiles in the game.

Mercenaries and the Trained Natives are a free army and a free action to build/place it. Diplomatic Service is also a pretty good tile at $2. The Alliance Tiles, most of which are free and none of which require the cost of maintenance at the end of each war are pretty useful, and being able to pick up one as a free action just before an attack can be a powerful move. Pressgangs is stronger the more players in the game, the same way fleets become more important the more players.

Usually the War Office is too expensive to be bought by anyone except the person who got stuck going last. But going last also has an advantage because you have the last actions right before scoring happens and no one can undo them. Save using War Office until this last round right before scoring for maximum effect.

Having bought one of these tiles (and used it!), your second action of your first turn should be racing for low hanging fruit from Pop and Slave counters that are sitting around free for the taking at the opening.

After that try to get Company tiles in locations where you have Control Tokens for extra income, Reserves to reroll failed wars, Banking, and Navigation are popular since they're free. So are the free Alliance Tiles. Trained Natives, Navigation and Pressgangs are useful with a Colonial policy. Improved Agriculture, Militia and Logistics (collecting these gives you 3, 4, or 5 moves instead of just 2 each time you choose "move 2 units") are useful for a European policy. (The European neutral counters are tougher and need more armies to defeat them.) And go out there, build up your forces and defeat neutral counters.

But don't bunch yourself up in only one scoring area --you make far more points being spread out and sharing VPs than you do having a monopoly over only one country and locking out other players from 2nd and 3rd place.

Do use your allies to divide and conquer against the stronger European tokens. Two allied players with only 2-3 armys each who agree to split up the German States between them by allying for each other's attacks can be quite effective.

Building Units

Q: Do I need a ship present in a region to replace its Pop or Slave counter?
R: No. You only need a fleet present in a region to move land units (armies and forts) to it.

Q: To replace a slave counter I just need a fleet in Africa?
R: Yes. You do not need a second fleet also present where the slave counter is located to be able to replace it with your own marker. That's only for landing armies and forts.

Q : Can I build my two forts in the same country?
R : Yes. Their combined defense strength is 4. (But you can never build two forts in the same build action. See: Militia)

Q: Do you need to make a naval movement roll when creating new units in the Americas?
R: All units (except one built with the Trained Natives tile) are built in your home country. You then get a free move to put them where you want but that move must obey the normal movement rules, including rolling for sea movement when moving from your home country to the Colonies. (source: Hamilton) If a failed sea roll returns a newly built unit to its "point of origin", it is placed in your home country on the map. It can still be moved out in later actions.

Q: So Trained Natives lets me build in any colony?
R: You must have a control token or military unit (army, fort or fleet) of your color in the colony.

Q: I failed the sea roll when building a fort. What happens?
R: If it was destroyed, place the fort back in your unit pool and take one unrest. If it "returned to point of origin" then place the fort in your home country on the map. You may still use any later movement action to move it out of your home country as a normal action. It's only once placed outside your home country that it becomes fixed.

Q: In the rules it says that each player has 7 navy counters. However there are 8 for each player on the counter sheets. Are the rules wrong, or should the extra navy be set aside?
R: The rules are wrong. When the rules were put together there were 7 navies in the mix. However, room was found on the counter-sheet for an extra navy. (source: Martin Wallace)

Using Action Tiles

Q: When are the special action tiles Diplomatic Service, Mercenary, Native Troops, Press Gangs and War Office used?
R: They are used on your own turn as an extra free action in addition to your 2 "normal" actions and not subject to the normal turn limits. For example, using Diplomatic Service allows you to buy a second tile regardless of your normal turn limitation.

Q: Aren’t I limited to only one tile per turn?
R: The rule doesn't say you can't acquire more than one tile per turn. The rule says of your 2 “normal” actions, you can not use both of them to acquire tiles. Extra actions aren’t subject to any such limitation. (source: Adam Smiles)

Q: Does it cost one of my two normal actions to build a unit with Mercenaries, Pressgangs, Trained Natives?
R: No. Free actions occur in addition to your normal two actions. That's why tiles with free actions tend to be snapped up first.

Q: Can I use a free action tile immediately on purchasing it?
R: Yes. For example, you can buy Mercenary, immediately tap it as a free action to build (and move) a unit, then use your second "normal" action to attack with it.

Q: Someone's attacking me and I still have an untapped tile. As defender can I tap it to add a unit where I'm defending?
R: No. You may only tap tiles on your own turn. (exceptions: Reserves may be tapped, Fighting Withdrawal and Blockade may be played when defending)

Company Tiles

Q: Do you have to have a control marker in a region to be able to take the company for that region?
R: No. You don't have to have anything in a region to take a company. (source: Hammy)

Q: What happens to companies when a player loses all their control counters for that area? Does the Company just remain with the player, can they sell it, is it now returned to the stock?
R: Companies are never returned to stock, you just keep them even if they are no longer of any value to you. (source: Hammy)

Q: When can I tap companies to get money from them?
R: Any time during your turn, as an extra free extra action once per war. For example, you could choose to tap a company as a free action, then use this money to spend 2 gold to attack someone as your first "normal" action.

Q: For both the Levant and East India company tiles, the rules state that you can choose which area you gain income from. Is this "fixed" once chosen?
R: No. You choose each war when you tap it which area you want activate the tile in. Note you get one money per control token in India or East Indies, not both together. Not that many people ever use Levant for the Ottoman Empire.

Movement

(see also SoE movement)

Q : The home countries of the players do not seem all adjacent to the same number of scoring areas. Who is adjacent to what?
R :
Spain is adjacent to the Mediterranean (1)
France is adjacent to the Mediterranean & German States (2)
Britain is adjacent to the German States (1)
United Provinces are adjacent to the German States (1)
Prussia is adjacent to the Baltic, German States & Central Europe (3)
Russia is adjacent to the Baltic, Central Europe & Ottoman Empire (3)
Austria is adjacent to the German States, Central Europe, Ottoman Empire & Mediterranean (4)

Note that only two locations in Europe accept fleets: the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea (fleets in the Mediterranean Sea allow landing troops in both the Mediterranean and Ottoman Empire) For all countries, building a fleet and using then using the free move to move it to the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean Sea is a safe move that doesn't require a sea movement roll. Likewise moving fleets between the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea does not require a sea movement roll.

Attention: Britain & United Provinces are NOT adjacent to the Baltic. So they need a fleet in the Baltic Sea first before they can land armies and forts in the Baltic. (Unless they already have a control token there or in the adjacent region Central Europe)

Directed Graph of Europe

Q: Which regions in Europe are adjacent?
R: They're almost a straight line. The map's pretty obvious, but just to spell it out:

Mediterranean <-> German States <-> Central Europe <-> Baltic
and
Central Europe <-> Ottoman Empire

Note that an army in the Mediterranean without a fleet has a long way to go to reach the Ottoman Empire.

Q: Doesn't that bottle up Europe?
R: There's only 5 european scoring areas, and 3 of them you can land troops by just moving a fleet to the right place. The 2 others, German States and Central Europe, are less accessible, but have 9 and 6 country markers respectively, making them difficult to lock out all other players from (and realisticly, difficult to take without allies present), while their victory points even for 2nd and 3rd place make them prizes worth taking. In Europe you can also move army units to anywhere you have a control marker, and anywhere adjacent to where you have a control marker. With 4 players or less everyone usually can move everywhere. With 5-7 players these very specific movement rules break up Europe a bit to give very badly needed breathing space for the overcrowded players.

Q: Does anyone ever move units back to their home country?
R: Armies and Fleets in your home country can't be attacked. But no, generally you only see a unit sitting there if it failed a sea roll after just being built and has to wait for a different movement action to try again.

Q : I want to move an Army from North America to the Caribbean. Do I have to have a ship in the Caribbean to make this move?
R: Yes. (source: regies) The only way to move armies between the american colonies is by fleet.

Q: I want to move an Army from North America into the Caribbean. Must I make a sea roll to see if it traveled safely?
R: No. The searoll is only when your unit travels over one of the "cords" on the map. Do not roll for sea movement in these cases: a unit moving from a European country into another European country, of a unit moving from one american colony to another american colony. In all the other cases, it is necessary to make the Sea Movement roll to check if the movement was carried out successfully. (source: regies)

Q: If I go over two cords do I make two searolls? I went from North American to Africa and crossed two.
R: Only one sea roll check per movement, no matter how many cords you may cross.

Q: Does a failed sea roll also give the player unrest?
R: Whenever you lose a unit, no matter what the reason, you take unrest. Therefore losing a unit to sea movement incurs a 1 unrest penalty. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: What happens if I get 2 Navigation Tiles?
R: This gives you +4 to the second roll, meaning that your units always get through and never have problems. Using 2 of your 30 actions in the game to draw 2 Navigation tiles is probably a weak move though.

Q: When moving units, do you declare all the movement that will happen simultaneously? and if not, are you allowed to try and move a unit that was returned to it's point of origin again?
R: You move units one at a time, as the movement of the first unit may affect the movement of the second unit, e.g. if you needed a navy to successfully move to a colonial area before moving an army there you would have to see if the navy made it before moving the army. You cannot move the same unit within the same single action, but you could move it again in the next action, as illustrated in the examples of movement in the rules. Hope that makes things a little more clear. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: So if I choose "move 2 units", and the first searoll is "return to point of origin", can I try again with the second move of this action? What if I have Logistics and have also a 3rd, 4th or even 5th movement for this action?
R: No. Think of the "move 2 units" action (or 3, 4, or 5 units depending on how many Logistics upgrades you have) as one set. Each unit's move is independent of each other and may be to different locations, but you're only allowed to move a unit once per "set". The failed unit really takes until the end of all those moves to limp back to port. So when a unit is returned back to port, you can not use any of the other actions in that "set" to try to move it again.

Now if your first action that round was "move two units" and you had a failed sea roll, you can still use your second action also as "move two units". Because it's a different set of movements, you're now allowed to try again.

While a bit fussy of a rule, this makes Europe and the colonies different in feel. Coordinating attacks with allys in Europe is easy. Coordinating attacks "across the ropes" into the colonies always means some units from one ally or another gets hung up in movement. It takes more time, and each war is only so long.

Q: I built a unit, used the free movement, and failed so it returned to origin. Can I use my second action as "move two units" and try to move it again?
R: Yes. You tried to move it in your first action and failed. You can use your second action to move it again. You just can't try to move the same unit more than once in one action.

Q: You can decide to destroy a unit and build it somewhere else as one action. However, you must take one Unrest point for doing so and pay the population point to rebuild the unit. Why would you ever do this?
R: Usually only because you've placed both your forts and now need a fort somewhere else.

Q: Why you can't place ships in the "North Sea" area and then move armies and/or provide naval support directly to Germany? Is it because the geography of Germany is such that fleets would have little impact on any conflict there?
R: The Baltic was an arena of naval combat during this period, which is why having fleets there is a good thing. I have not allowed such fleets to support in Germany as most support would come from rivers or local towns, thus most combat was fought inland. In the colonies armies were much more tied to their supporting naval forces. The North Sea is not an area which gives points, therefore there is no point in contesting it. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: Is it possible to lose a unit from a sea roll when you have Navigation as some guy on BBG is claiming?
R: No it is not. Navigation adds +2 to the second roll. The actual quote is "as Russia with Navigation it took me five goes to get a ship to N America. The first three sank. The fourth was sent back." This is impossible. Clearclaw seems to have only read what's available on the internet, which isn't the full game, and then makes up nonsense from imaginary games he's "played" in order to show everyone how "this was overhyped" and "the rules are broken". And his accusations do get the response he desperately seeks --this one got 37 responses from legitimate people trying to be helpful. Unfortunately he's just wasting everyone's time. It's unlikely he's ever played a single game.

Logistics Tile

Q : How does Logistics work?
R : Each Logistics tile you buy allows you to move an additional unit every time you choose the action "Move two units".
It is permanent for the rest of the game, not just a single use. It's a strong tile, but at the cost of one pop, also expensive.

1 Logistics, you get to move 3 units. (instead of the normal 2)
2 Logistics, you get to move 4 units.
3 Logistics, you get to move 5 units.

...but since each Logistics tile costs one population, by the time you buy all three Logistics tiles you have no population left to build armies with. Rather devilish of the designers, eh?

Naval Combat

(see also SoE combat)

Q: What is the order for taking losses in Naval Combat?
R: At most 2 fleets can be lost in a combat.
First lose 1 fleet if the combat roll was a loss or tie, then lose one fleet if the combat roll was a natural ‘7’.
Lose fleets in this order, one unit each category, skipping absent categories, until loss total fulfilled:
One from player fleets, One from ally fleets, 2^nd from player fleets, 2^nd from ally fleets, then nothing.

It is not necessary for the Attacker to eliminate all the Defender's fleets to get the Naval Supply Bonus for this combat. It is only necessary to win the Naval combat phase of this combat.

Q : Can I use forts in Naval Combat?
R : No.

Q : If I lose the naval action, can I decide to lose an Army unit in place of the naval one?
R : No.

Q : If I gain the Naval bonus but lose my fleet (I rolled a 7), do I still get the +1 bonus?
R : Yes. If you win the naval combat you get +1, whether you have surviving naval units or not. The naval support rule reflects the importance of sea-bourne supplies, which would not be carried by carried by ships-of-the-lines. The supplies would be carried by merchant ships. Defeating the enemy means you have cleared the seas of potential raiders. It would also be the case that you would still have frigates and other smaller ships left over for escort duties. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: If I win with 2 fleets do I get a +2 bonus in Land Combat?
R: No. Not matter how many or how few fleets you used or have left after combat, winning Naval Combat gives a Naval Supply Bonus of only +1 in Land Combat. (Exception: The Blockade tile can be played just before the land combat roll to change a player's naval support bonus to +2)

Q: Does a tie in a naval battle cause each side to lose one unit?
R: A tie in a naval battle results in both sides losing one unit. Neither side gains naval support, even if one side has lost all of its naval units. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: The attacker has no fleets. The defender has no fleets. Is there Naval Combat?
R: A player, (whether attacker or defender), can only gain the naval support bonus if he has at least one naval counter in the area at the start of naval combat. This may belong to him or an ally. It cannot be gained using an Alliance tile. Whoever wins the combat gains the +1 bonus, even if their fleet was wiped out. (source: Martin Wallace) So you skip Naval combat and both players get +0.

Q : Can an attacker start a Naval Attack without a fleet of their own color present?
R : A player can choose to fight a naval combat if an allied player has a fleet in the area and that player allows the fleet to fight. Thus a player without a fleet can still fight a naval action by using another player's fleet. (Martin Wallace) Don't expect this to happen very often though. The ally also takes full causalities in place of the person without any fleets. Not a lot of allies will risk loss and the unrest just to give an ally an extra +1 in land combat.

Q : If a Defender doesn’t have any fleets or player ally fleets willing to commit for the region does he still get to roll the 2d6 and add zero?
R : No, contrary to land combat. Without any naval units at all in the region you automaticly concede naval combat. But you may first call for player allies to contribute their fleets before you concede.

Q: We both have one fleet. Is it smart to fight for the naval bonus?
R: An evenly matched battle is largely a mutual assured destruction scenario. Both sides are looking at a 70% chance of losing their unit. If you're the defender facing someone who can move in a lot more armies than you through their one fleet, losing your fleet to remove theirs and "shut the door" might be good. But usually no.

Q: A defender has a fleet in an area where they have no control counters. An attacker pays 2 gold to attack the defender’s fleet. Can the defender just decline the naval attack and keep their fleet unmolested there?
R: Yes. A fleet can always decline naval combat, even in a "naval only" combat. There was once a "Wind Gauge" tile designed to force a defending navy to fight and also "Surprise Attack" was considered being modified to allow forcing a defending navy to fight, but both of these were dropped in playtest. (source: Hammy) Note that you're giving the attacking player the Naval Supply Bonus, but if you have nothing on land to attack (no forts, armies or control tokens) it's a useless move for the Attacker.

Q: Is it possible to get a +2 Naval Support bonus?
R: Yes, it is a special ability of the Blockade tile. In practice putting it in your hand while going heavy on fleets throws off the other players on what you will do next. Will you play it for +2 Support, or will you start a Blockade of an area? Having two different fleet abilities for this tile keeps the other players unsure how you'll use it.

Land Combat

(see also SoE combat)

Q: What is the order for taking losses in Land Combat?
R: At most 2 land units can be lost in a combat.
First lose 1 unit if the combat roll was a loss or tie, then lose one unit if the combat roll was a natural ‘7’.
Lose units in this order, one unit each category, skipping absent categories, until loss total fulfilled:
One from player army, One from ally army, 2^nd from player army, 2^nd from ally army, One from player forts (defender only, never from a tie), 2^nd from player forts (again defender only, never from a tie), then nothing.

It is not necessary for the Attacker to eliminate all the Defender's unit to take a Control Token. It is only necessary to win the Land combat phase of this combat.

Q : I lost the Naval action. Can I decide to give up my land attack to avoid losing other units?
R : No! It is necessary to go to the end. In the same kind of idea, the attacker and the defender are always obliged to engage all their units in the combat area (but the player allies can still decide which and how many of the units present there they will possibly commit to the battle, if any). (Source : Martin Wallace)

Q: If I lose a battle but still have units there, do I still keep my Control Token?
R: No. Merely winning the battle changes the Control Token ownership, regardless of how many units the defender has left in the area. You do not have to eliminate the defenders from an area to take possession of a Control Token.

Q: If the attacker in a land battle wins the battle but loses their last army, do they still get the control marker?
R: Yes, you still place a control marker even if your last unit is eliminated. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: What happens when I defend a control marker with zero armies and zero forts?
R: The defender has zero army training bonus tiles for this combat (No army or fort to activate them) and any attacker with even one army training tile automaticly gets the attack bonus. You can still add any alliance tiles you own for that area, the +1 naval bonus if you got it, and any player allies willing to add their armies in the area to your defense. (Who are at a much larger risk --since you have no units yourself your allies take both the first and second causality) Finally, you add the difference of 2d6 as normal.

Q: I am attacked in an area where I do not have units (only a Control Token) and an ally decides to help me to defend. If I lose the combat (without rolling a natural 7), does my ally does lose a unit?
R: Yes! He should reflect on the consequences before helping you. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: If a player loses a unit in Land Combat, can he decide to lose a fleet instead of an army?
R: No. He loses an army if possible, and if not that then a fort if possible, if not that then nothing. (note that it is not possible to lose a fort in the event of tie, only by losing the combat or natural 7 roll) (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: Can I attack with only an Alliance Tile? What happens if I take loses?
R: You can defend a naked country counter using any Alliance Tiles that you may have there (source: Hammy), but to attack you must have at least one army of your own included in the attack forces to start a land attack. However, Alliance tiles cannot be used to fulfill loses. So if you attacked with an Army and an Alliance tile (no player Allies), lost the combat, and rolled a 7, you would lose the one army token and gain one unrest, but would ignore the second loss since Alliance Tiles do not take losses. You keep the Alliance Tile in your hand, and can still continue using it as many times as you want in further actions for the rest of the war. (At the end of each war everyone returns their Alliance Tiles back to the stock) If you won the attack but rolled a 7, your army would take the loss as normal.

Q: Can having 2 Army Training give me a +2 bonus in combat?
R: No. The maximum Army Training bonus is +1. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: Anyone work out the chances of rolling a particular result yet?
R:

0	1	2	3	4	5
1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	6-1
2-2	2-1	2-4	2-5	2-6	1-6
3-3	2-3	3-1	3-6	5-1
4-4	3-2	3-5	4-1	6-2
5-5	3-4	4-2	5-2
6-6	4-3	4-6	6-3
	4-5	5-3
	5-4	6-4
	5-6
	6-5
17%	28%	22%	17%	11%	6%

So as you can see, rolling the the highest difference, 5, always also rolls a natural 7 losing you a unit for this big advantage. Pyrrhic victory is built into the chart! But the natural 7 only happens for 1, 3 and 5. There is no way to roll a natural 7 and get a 0. Or any even number and a 7, for that matter.

Q: Is it possible to have a +5 advantage, roll badly, and as the attacker lose two units like Clearclaw claimed on Spielfreaks when he was yet again faultfinding the game's rules?
R: Mathematicly, no. Again, there is no way to roll a natural 7 and get a 0. The guy's a poor liar, and it's doubtful he's ever even played the game. But he sure does waste a lot of time on the internet posting about all the games he hates and all the imaginary sessions he's "played" where his imagined problems have came up. SoE seems to just be the latest in a long line of targets. Note also the actual quote, "And yet as defender I won a combat when the attacker had a 5:1 advantage (a combination of tiles and units). The odds were heavily in his favour, yet he left with two unrest and I took control of the colony." Not only is that impossible, but how as defender would he take control of the colony? But unfortunately he's gotten something like 40 responses to his nonsense, including people who are now trying to "fix the game" based solely on Clearclaw's imaginary problems from his one imaginary playing.

Update: Now being called on how his stories don't even make sense, he says "I'm just going to have to bow out at this point as the game was a week ago and I simply don't remember the details well enough any more to plot point by point arguments. There was a time it was all fresh in my head, but it isn't now any more." Suuuuuuuuure.

Allying with other players

Q: I have three armies in an area with an ally. I decide to help him in his land combat. Do I have to commit all my armies as a lump group, or do I have the choice to commit only 1 or 2 as well as all 3? Could I say "I'll commit one army per gold you pay me?" and only commit as many as they're willing to pay for? Does the same hold true of Naval combat?
R: In playetest we only ever commited with full armies. I am not aware though of anything to stop you only commiting a partial force though why you might want to do so is somewhat beyond me. (source: Hammy) So yes you can, but beware that fewer units means = lower odds = more chance of causalities.

Q: Can a potential ally take money from the other side to stay out of a fight?
R: Money (and only money) can change hands between players at any time and for any purpose. There's no requirement for the two players to be in the same alliance, so it's legal to, say, extort money from someone in return for not attacking them. (source: Martin Wallace)

Alliance Tiles

Q: Can I start an attack with just an Alliance tile?
R: No, alliance tiles cannot be used on their own to start an attack. The attacker needs at least one fleet of his own color or an invited and allowed ally present to participate in the Naval Attack phase. Likewise the attacker needs at least one army of his own color present to participate in the Land Attack phase. (ally is not enough for Land Attack, must have own color army)

Q: Can I defend with just an Alliance Tile?
R: Yes, unlike the attacker. Only in the land combat phase.

Q: Do multiple alliance tiles add together?
R: Yes. So for example if you had both Barvaria and Saxony, you'd have +2 in the German States.

Q: Can I use Alliance Tiles to take causalities?
R: No. This can be an advantage when you have only 1 unit. (you lost or tied and rolled a 7, you're supposed to lose 2 units, you lose 1 and ignore the second loss since you only have no more units and only an Alliance tile. Next turn you send over one army and your Alliance Tile brings you back to +2 again).

Fighting Withdrawal

Q: Does Fighting Withdrawal count for only sea, only land, or both battles?
R: This tile allows you to avoid all loses (both sea and land combined) for the entire combat, but you also automatically lose the control token to the attacker.

Q: May the defender use Fighting Withdrawal even during a success or a tie if they want to avoid losing units?
R: Yes, but they must lose the control counter to the attacker as a result. (Source: Hammy, who designed this particular tile)

Q: Do my allies also avoid loses if I play the tile?
R: Yes, the rules clearly say that your allies also avoid loses as well.

Militia

Q : Can I build 2 fleets at once with the Militia tile? 2 forts?
R : No. The second unit must always be an army.

Q: Do they have to move to the same place together?
R: No, they may move independent of each other to different areas. (and make seperate sea rolls if they both cross a rope going to their destinations)

Blockade

Q: What is a blockade?
R: It's a legal state established under international law under the Treaty of Paris from 1856. Basicly, a legal blockade has the ability to stop neutral ships of ther nations and seize shipments like arms, ammunition or troops without being sued under international law for piracy. But legal shipments like food by neutral countries are still allowed to pass. An ineffective or illegal blockade may not stop any kind of neutral country shipping. When your blockade is broken you are legally obligated to notify other international governments and may not interdict neutral flagged shipments of any kind (including arms, ammunition and troops) for a specific time period after the blockade has been broken. More detail here, here and here.

Q: Can I blockade the Baltic and Mediterranean Sea?
R: No. You may only blockade a colony, not Europe itself. However, the +2 Naval Support Bonus ability may still be used after winning a Naval combat in the Baltic or Mediterranean Sea.

Q: Can a player add more fleets to a Blockade after playing the tile in an area, making it stronger?
R: Yes.

Q: I play "Blockade" on a colony. Can I decline naval combat with enemy naval forces?
R: Yes. At the end of that war though you would lose the Blockade token and it is returned to the stock. (source: Hammy, with reservations) You do not have to endure your naval forces being whittled away by three different enemy allies. You've declared a blockade under international law, they have to break it by moving more ships there than you if they want to land forces there.
However, the Blockade player declining naval combat will give the +1 naval combat bonus to any enemy troops/forts already present in the colony as normal. So blockades are most effective when there's no enemy troops already landed.
Alternate Rule: Some groups play that declining naval combat discards the Blockade tile immediately.

Q: If someone breaks the blockade is the tile discarded?
R: No. While someone in the enemy alliance with more ships at the colony than you can ignore your blockade, that does not break it for all other players, and you are free to add more ships back to the blockade. If your ships at the blockade are reduced to zero then the tile is discarded even though the war has not ended.

Q: Can Trained Natives be used to build an army behind an enemy blockade?
R: Yes, if you already have a control token, army or fort in the area (Not a navy unit). You can't move armies past the blockade, but you can build this one.

Q: Can I claim Pop and Slave tokens behind an enemy blockade?
R: Currently, yes. Blockades currently only stop enemy armies from moving in. This may change with a future ruling.

Q: Can Blockade also stop players in my own Alliance from landing troops in that area?
R: No. Players in your current alliance ignore your blockade.

Q: Can I count ally player fleets in the area to break the blockade?
R: No. Nor can the blockader add player ally fleets to their side. Only your own fleets as a single player count. But you can add Alliance Tiles that you have to your fleet total.

Q: Can ships in a Blockade also be used in Naval Combat and be used to generate the Support Bonus for land combat in that colony?
R: Yes. Naval Combat still happens as normal. All fleets in the blockade can also be used in naval combat, and may also invite allies to help in naval combat as normal (but may not for their Blockade).

Q: It's an action to buy the tile. Is it another action to play it?
R: No. Playing the tile anywhere you have fleets or to modify a Naval Supply Bonus to +2 are both a free action in addition to the player's normal two actions per round.

Q: I want to play Blockade instead for the +2 naval supply bonus. When do I do this? What does "decide before dice are rolled" mean? Before the dice in Naval Combat?
R: After Naval Combat and only if you have won the Naval Supply Bonus, you may choose to play Blockade to increase the Naval Supply Bonus from +1 to +2 as a free action. You may only choose to do this after winning Naval Combat but before rolling the dice for Land Combat. You may not play the Blockade tile after rolling for Land Combat but losing.

Losing units

Q: What is meant by “lose a unit”?
R: Some action tiles (Industry, Government Reform) are only usable once per game and each tile is placed in the box after use to not be reused. This is NOT true of armies, navies and forts. When destroyed they are returned to the player’s reinforcement pool. They are now available immediately for further build.

Army Training

Q: If an army attacks a control counter with 0 defending forces, but both attacker and defender have the same number of army training tiles, does the attacker get the +1 bonus?
R: Yes. Army training only counts if you have an army present. If you have no armies you have nobody trained to benefit from that training, even if you have an ally. In the case you mentioned the attacker would get the bonus as the attacker must have an army so can count army training. (Source: James Hamilton)

Pirate/Slave Revolt

Q: Do I lose my Navy/Army units when losing to the Pirates/Slave Revolt?
R: No. It is not a stand up battle but only a harassment action. You only lose control of the token. You do not lose any units and do not gain unrest. Losing and rolling 7 when any player attempts to take back control takes no causalities/unrest either.

Q: What happens if the Pirate/Slave Revolt wins?
A: The control token is placed on top of the card and is not counted for VP control, income or company income. The first person to defeat the Pirates/Revolt gets to change the control token to their own color and returns the card from the board to the stock. Players never lose units when fighting Pirate/Slave Revolt.

Q: Where can they be placed?
R: Pirates may be placed in any of the six colonies. They ignore armies and cannot be attacked by armies --if the defender has no fleets present they defend with zero and roll (unlike normal naval combat), later attackers with no fleets can not attack at all. You can not use player allies (Alliance Tiles still okay). No one may ally with the Pirates. Only fleets in the area attack/defend against Pirates. Ignore armies and forts. The Pirates have a strength of 1.

Slave Revolt may be placed only in the three colonies North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is a Land Attack with a strength of 3, but Naval Support bonus from fleets can be added against Slave Revolt. You can not use player allies (Alliance Tiles still okay). No one may ally with the Slave Revolt.

The person choosing it immediately plays it against a target control token (even a player in same alliance). It attacks the defender as part of taking the card from stock (strength 1 fleet only battle for pirates, strength 3 for slave revolt). If the defender is successful it is just returned to the stock. If the defender loses, the control token is placed on top of the card, but the defender does not lose any units, not even for rolling 7s. The lost token now does not count for the player in VPs, income or company income. Anyone may attack the pirates/slave revolt (even allies of the player who lost the control token) . You may not use player allies but may use Alliance Tiles in your attack. Do not lose units in the combat, even for rolling 7s. When the card is defeated change the color token to that of the winning player and return the card back to stock.

Q: Why would I ever use Pirates/Slave Revolt?
R: It's the only way to get a weak ally's control tokens. Best used as a 1-2 punch --first action a horrible revolt breaks out and manages to overwhelm your ally's forces. Second turn your army/navy, who just happens to be in the area, puts down the revolt and claims the control token for your own. Note the restrictions on where they can be played. Much as you'd like a Slave Revolt in the Ottoman Empire, you can't.

They're also popular to play on the leading players right before the war ends and scoring happens.

Or play it on someone early in a war as a distraction and watch them waste multiple rounds in their effort to gain the token back. Fun!

Banking/Taxing

Q: Does owning 2 Banking tiles give you six money per unrest?
R: No. Whether you own one banking or two, you still get 3 money per unrest. Taking a second banking is definately a wasted move.

Q: Can a person keep taxing after they have 2o unrest?
R: No. Their country is in revolution, and they, like Charles I, have left office a head shorter than when they started. They are out of the game. (Players must reveal when they have 20 or more unrest --revolution is not hidden) Suggested rule: When a player goes into revolution all his military is removed to the homeland but all his cities remain on the map to defend at 0. (ie. add the difference to a dice roll to 0)

Q: When a player with no money is bidding in the alliance auction, when do they take the unrest?
R: Only if they win the auction. Then they take the unrest to generate the money (ie tax their homeland), and then pay their debt for winning the auction back to the bank.

Money vs Military

Q: What's the relation between home country population and the military?
R: Each military unit costs one money maintenance, but the population cost also means one less money in income. So each military built costs a net of 2 gold each war.

Q: So each control token I have provides one money. How many control tokens on average should I have at the end of each war/how much income will they provide?
R:

players	2	3	4	5	6	7
war 1	10	8.3	7.5	7	6.6	6.4
war 2	15	11.6	10	9	8.3	7.8
war 3	20	15	12.5	11	10	9.2

The most common way of falling into revolution is military buildup beyond your income at the end of a war. Military buildups and idle units cost maintainence.

Scores

Q: What happens if the final scores tie?
R: I do not favour having a tie-breaker. If people do want to play with one then they should agree before the game begins that a tie-breaker house rule is in effect. My suggested tie-breaker would be, in order of precedence:

most control tokens
least unrest
most money

This is not an official errata, it is a suggestion for a house rule. The designer will continue to play without a tie-break rule in being. (source: Martin Wallace)

Q: How does someone dissolving in revolution effect the unrest penalty scoring?
Players who dissolve in unrest are ignored. The 7 VP penalty is for the player with the most unrest yet still solvent. Note that generous ties scoring also applies to the end game penalty. So if 3 players all tied for the highest unrest, all three would lose 7VPs, and the next highest unrest player (or players if there's another tie) would then lose 4VP.

Q: Is it possible for anyone to score 3rd place in Baltic States and the Ottoman Empire?
R: How clever of you to spot this! No, not with the current tile set and the offical rules. But unoffical variants and homebrew tiles sets do. So while they're not used in the original and offical game, it makes the game variant friendly.

Player Aids

SoE - Quick Reference.doc
Prints out as 1 sheet on two sides. Has all major rules and errata corrections summarized in one place.

Battle Aid Chart V1.6 (Errata corrections now included. I myself prefer the Quick Reference.)

SOEplayeraid1.gif (872k size)
SOEplayeraid2.gif (924k size) (Need both)
Place Company, Alliance and other Tiles before game, neutral tokens after they are used/defeated by the players.

I wanted a central Draw Board like in Puerto Rico to order the tiles. This is the result.

Layout the Alliance, Company and other tiles for purchase on the two sheets
in their matching places. Each scoring region is laid out left to right: Country Counters,
Alliance tiles, Companies.

As Neutral Country Counters are used (both from the beginning draw of 5 counters each player
gets and from being defeated in the game) place the used counters on their location on the
Draw Sheets to show what has been used and what remains still in the bag
to be possibly drawn.

Remember that used Industry and Government Reform tiles are not reusable. Once used
they should be placed in the box as out of the game instead of being returned
to the Draw Sheet.

Also Portugal is listed in two places even though there's only one tile just to remind
people where it can be used.

Europe as a directed graph formatted for printout (For those that desire, better quality of the same diagram as in this FAQ)

SoE - battle chart.doc (SoE Combat Results Table. Revised and corrected from BBG version.)
Excell sheet math behind results chart (for statistics geeks who want to verify the numbers for themselves)

SoE 2-3 player variant

On-line play?

Yes, but play in realtime only, not against AI. Thomas Heaney wrote the module for Vassal. Look for V1.3 or later.

http://www.vassalengine.org/community/index.php

Printruns

Struggle of Empires

Oct 2004 by Warfrog: 3,000 copies
July 2005 by Eagle Games: 4,000 copies (exactly same as Warfrog edition, no minifigs) 2,000 are in european distribution, 100 copies were sold at the Origins convention in the US, and 1,900 copies remain for US distribution.

Conquest of the Empire

July 2005 by Eagle Games: Unknown number of copies (Different map, Roman Empire theme, different movement rules, minifigs)

Age of Empires 3

sometime in 2006 by Eagle Games. Rumored (but not confirmed) to be the minifig version of Struggle of Empires.

Grog-nerd or Euro-game?

Grog-nerds pull out their hair over the simple combat system and keep wanting to add World At War trappings like Combat Result Tables. But what gives it appeal to the Puerto Rico/Settlers crowd are the Eurogame elements.

Eliminating other players from the game is impossible. Everyone is in the game until the end. (Setters of Catan)
You can buy civilization tiles to upgrade the tech level of your civiliation and military. Tiles add to your abilities. Some are permanent effects, others cost for each use. (Civilization, Puerto Rico)
Limited number of tiles for upgrade. (Puerto Rico)
You have a limited number of actions compared to what you want to do. (Puerto Rico)
Rolling '7' is bad. (Settlers of Catan)
Victory Points are awarded for each region for 1st, 2nd and 3rd most influence (El Grande, Merchants of Amsterdam)
You get area control by winning battles, not by eliminating the other players from the area. (El Grande, Web of Power)
You do not have to eliminate the other player's units from a region take their Control Tokens (El Grande)
Conflict is more about the players attacking the neutral tokens than among each other. (Wallenstein)
Some actions give you unrest tokens (Age of Renaissance)
Armed conflict is expensive. Negotiation is cheap. (Settlers of Catan)
Auction determines both turn order and who is in which alliance. (Pick any auction game)

Questions Still Out

How important is timing and order in declaring whether to participate or not in Naval Combat? If the Attacker says "I decline" and the Defender says "I'll take the bonus" can the Attacker then change his mind back and say "You'll have to fight me if you try for it."

Sources: Martin Wallace, James Hamilton, spielfreaks, BBG, Olivier ReiXou's French SoE FAQ at http://reixou.free.fr
Mistakes are all mine alone.
Not an employee of Warfrog, just an owner of their game. (And a compiler of their statements on the web.)

0	1	2	3	4	5
1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	6-1
2-2	2-1	2-4	2-5	2-6	1-6
3-3	2-3	3-1	3-6	5-1
4-4	3-2	3-5	4-1	6-2
5-5	3-4	4-2	5-2
6-6	4-3	4-6	6-3
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17%	28%	22%	17%	11%	6%

0	1	2	3	4	5
1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	6-1
2-2	2-1	2-4	2-5	2-6	1-6
3-3	2-3	3-1	3-6	5-1
4-4	3-2	3-5	4-1	6-2
5-5	3-4	4-2	5-2
6-6	4-3	4-6	6-3
	4-5	5-3
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17%	28%	22%	17%	11%	6%

0	1	2	3	4	5
1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	6-1
2-2	2-1	2-4	2-5	2-6	1-6
3-3	2-3	3-1	3-6	5-1
4-4	3-2	3-5	4-1	6-2
5-5	3-4	4-2	5-2
6-6	4-3	4-6	6-3
	4-5	5-3
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17%	28%	22%	17%	11%	6%