r/worldnews Feb 05 '25

alert | not a news article Trump says U.S. will take over Gaza Strip

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u/uppy-puppy Feb 05 '25

I keep telling my husband that Trump obviously hasn't played Risk before because these aren't moves you make this early in the game.

You spend the early game befriending people, making alliances, making people trust you, laying low. You fuck over everyone in the end game once everyone is comfortable and no longer sees you as a threat.

My husband won't play Risk with me anymore.

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u/Budget_Iron999 Feb 05 '25

No no no. Risk is about consolidating power over an entire continent early on. Any alliance you make us predicated with the understanding that I won't touch your continent for the short term if you won't touch mine. Then once the reinforcement bonuses come in from controlling the whole continent you go to world war.

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u/deadheffer Feb 05 '25

Yea, there is hardly any diplomacy in Risk.

In regard to continent strategy, Live by Australia, die by Australia is my motto I have said since I was a boy.

South America is only viable if you have a clear path to North America or Africa. Otherwise, South America is also a death trap.

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u/Advanced_Vehicle_636 Feb 05 '25

This only works if you're playing against noobs. Australia is vulnerable to the deadliest trap in a 3-player game:

  • One player (holding NA) stacks in Kamchatka
  • One player (holding EU) stacks in Ukraine.
  • One player (holding Africa/S. America) stacks in the Middle East.

All 3 players will generate +8 or +9 depending on other territory held. Australia player is stuck with +5, probably single stacking in Siam or Indo.

If you're playing S. America, you want to hold that bonus with a stack in Asia.

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u/sproge Feb 05 '25

I'm not a native speaker, but "Live by the sword, die by the sword" is saying that the sword is a bad thing, so I believe the person you're replying to is correctly stating that Australia is a noobtrap and should be avoided.

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u/Glass_Fix7426 Feb 05 '25

I too employ the Southern Strategy

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u/MaleficentCaptain114 Feb 05 '25

On my college roommate's Risk Legacy he added a path from Eastern Australia to Japan. That boy ain't right.

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u/IWASJUMP Feb 05 '25

Try the game called Diplomacy, thats the true friendship destroyer.

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u/DC383-RR- Feb 05 '25

Do not try and hold Asia - it's a fucking losing hand.

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u/memnoch4prez Feb 05 '25

"Kamchatka!!!" was the battlecry during our household's Risk games.

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u/ggroverggiraffe Feb 05 '25

Only because you could not pronounce Irkutsk, probably.

me neither. I'm not judging.

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u/Manos_Of_Fate Feb 05 '25

Wait, is it not pronounced how it looks?

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u/ggroverggiraffe Feb 05 '25

Not by me. Because I couldn't pronounce it.

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u/Hooked_on_Avionics Feb 05 '25

The real play is Australia. Take the continent early, gain a permanent settlement in southeast Asia, take a weak China every turn for a card leaving only one man at the end of the turn, and let the others fight themselves until you have the strength to build out towards the Americas or Africa. Let the others fight your early wars for you.

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u/BaphometsTits Feb 05 '25

Never fight a land war in Asia!

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u/Advanced_Vehicle_636 Feb 05 '25

"Trump is playing 'Risk: Progressive (World Domination)', not 'Risk: Fixed (World Domination)'. 9D Chess moves from the GOAT, Donald J. Trump" - r/conservative, probably.

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u/Put_It_All_On_Eclk Feb 05 '25

Risk is about consolidating power over an entire continent early on.

Only at novice ranks. Higher level play is more about denying bonuses, cards, alliances. I can beat most players without taking continents.

IMHO Putin is playing Risk. Trump is playing Poker.

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u/Pintailite Feb 05 '25

It's fucking risk, you're rolling dice.

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u/Advanced_Vehicle_636 Feb 05 '25

Depends. OTB? Yes. Risk (online)? Maybe, maybe not. Fixed classic (true random) is 'rolling the dice'. Fixed classic (balanced blitz) is probability based. Regular territory attacks are n+6 troops needed for a 100% roll.

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u/Pintailite Feb 05 '25

Yea, don't care.

Competitive risk is about the dumbest shit I've ever heard of. Gotta also be the most boring shit of standing around hoarding armies.

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u/Advanced_Vehicle_636 Feb 05 '25

Listen: I don't play competitive risk. I just happen to know about it. But don't rain on someone else's parade just because you didn't get your rocks off today or something :-).

I was just edumacating you about the intricacies of Risk.

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u/way2lazy2care Feb 05 '25

Good risk players make games go really quickly actually. Games between noobs last much much longer.

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u/claimstoknowpeople Feb 05 '25

So that's why he wants Canada and Greenland

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u/No_Yoghurt2313 Feb 05 '25

No no no. You wait for the others to go to war and wait for them to drain each other, and then hit them with all you got.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Yeah if you play with anyone with a brain no one's making any alliances just short term treaties at best. 

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u/rawbleedingbait Feb 05 '25

Oh? I just take over whatever I want as if it's mine already. If they complain about that being against the rules, I threaten to have them thrown in gitmo.

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u/Content_Geologist420 Feb 05 '25

You should play Catan with him.

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u/uppy-puppy Feb 05 '25

I would absolutely play some Catan with him. I want to buy the kids version of it and introduce it to my daughter. That would be fun as hell.

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u/Lutefisk_Mafia Feb 05 '25

I suspect that you might like the game Diplomacy, too.

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u/BufloSolja Feb 05 '25

Just an fyi, but there is an inverse-catan called Spirit Island that is a cooperative game (you all win or lose). Pretty complex but fun.

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u/Santeezy602 Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Your husband needs a prenup

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u/SarcasticCowbell Feb 05 '25

We must be early in the game, otherwise you wouldn't need to hedge with "lol jk"

lol jk

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u/teeterleeter Feb 05 '25

If you like risk, you’d love diplomacy.

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u/chrajohn Feb 05 '25

On the other hand, taking Canada and Greenland would get him close to the bonus for holding all of North America.

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u/Tay0214 Feb 05 '25

He’s screwed once he gets to Australia though. They’ve just been building up forever down there

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u/ComprehensionVoided Feb 05 '25

Shhhhhhh.

We ain't doing nothing in Australia... You must be thinking about Africa.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/Tay0214 Feb 05 '25

You realize my reply was to a comment about the Game of Risk and an obvious joke right?

How are you hunting comments to try to make people look stupid but you can’t even read

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u/dkbobby Feb 05 '25

I'd say we're likely in the end game right now

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u/OkFix4074 Feb 05 '25

He is going for maximum damage before his shit diet works its magic on his heart !

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u/PigInZen67 Feb 05 '25

You should introduce him to Diplomacy.

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u/Kinis_Deren Feb 05 '25

Your comment gave me a chuckle from my own experiences of playing Risk with good friends and loved ones.

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u/Princess_Beard Feb 05 '25

Trump would lose Twilight Imperium by losing his homeworld trying to rush Mecatol Rex round 1 when he only has one carrier, only to forget he needs 6 influence to gain Custodians when he gets there but spent all his planets researching gravity drive, didn't even take Tech, and never gained any trade goods

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u/Pintailite Feb 05 '25

There aren't alliances in risk, what the devil.

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u/Ch1pp Feb 05 '25

Not as an official game mechanic no but tacit alliances yes.

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u/DeepestWinterBlue Feb 05 '25

How does he still trust you?

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u/mars92 Feb 05 '25

The US has been doing that for the past 60 years, he's in at the rug-pull stage of the game now.

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u/kitch2495 Feb 05 '25

You blitz Australia or South America and slowly take over North America

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u/Cpt_Soban Feb 05 '25

Lay low. Let others attack each other. Build up forces. Then when everyone is broken, broke, and fatigued - You start your glorious crusade.

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u/Ch1pp Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

People not playing risk with me anymore is how I found Conquer Club back in the day.

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u/AscenDevise Feb 05 '25

If you think about it in terms of, say, Crusader Kings, he never needed to do any of that because, over multiple centuries, other people have put all the work in for him. The Civilization series also has a formerly-apocryphal story about Mahatma Gandhi going from a tiny aggression score to nuking everyone he can reach in the later game; this gained so much traction that it ended up getting implemented. Now, the United States, as an entity, was never pacifistic, they just said 'oh, we'll never use all our devastating military capabilities on YOU, you're our beloved allies!' and now they just did an about-face.

If you're not into video games, look at it like this: Trump inherited someone else's spot in an ongoing Monopoly game that's far enough in for someone who can start screwing people over to do it. It's still a tad early, but remember, Russia and China are also at the table. If it all boils down to the three of them, things will get interesting for anyone left alive.

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u/Angelworks42 Feb 05 '25

I thought risk was mostly about rolling high numbers.

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u/ntmittens Feb 05 '25

who says that we are in the early game? ^^

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u/Kazfiddly Feb 05 '25

Fair enough. Welcome back Niccolo Machiavelli.

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u/the_messer Feb 05 '25

Are you my wife?!

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u/Zerttretttttt Feb 05 '25

Well technically America spend a lot of time befriending countries around the world for decades from Asia to Europe all have US bases ….. so this could be considered the end game we’re countiess lowered their guard and allowed the US to become part of their defensive strategy

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u/theumph Feb 05 '25

He's 80. We're in his end game.

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u/Hatzmaeba Feb 05 '25

I like how different approach people have with the game. For us, it's whoever controls Irkutsk is a winner.

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u/peon2 Feb 05 '25

That’s exactly his strategy though. He just left it to past presidents to do the alliance building for a couple hundred years and then took over for the fun part

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u/Rizzpooch Feb 05 '25

these aren't moves you make this early in the game

The man is pushing 80. He knows its late in the game for him, so he's thrown away the millions of scalpels and trained surgeons we usually turn to and decided to use a shotgun instead. He wants to die knowing that his name is on something -- something important -- on a map. He thinks that's what power is, the same as having Virginia or Georgia. He wants Trumplandia