I've been playing on Express as theo techer for maybe 4 sets now. I noticed that I got a much higher NW when I have just 7k-8k land than when i have 10k-11k at the end of the set.

I can't frequently login, so maybe Express isn't too good for me since I can't grab frequently and my jets are lying idle in the hangars, but does it hold that I'm better off teching my turns and selling than trying to grow and waste the tech turns in spying, grabbing and building?

Or should I grow as fast and early as I can, weather the imminent grabs, and just tech and stockpile rather than continuing to grow in land?

Any help greatly appreciated!

grab few (2-3) times, build up and tech rest turns, also get highish bpt like 80+ if you are gonna grab land so more turns can be spent on teching, also spending 1-2 days turns simply to get techs up gives more cash.

You should look at the countries that consistently get into the top 10 and see what they do.

Use http://www.eestats.com/express

Getting into the higher networths is all about being efficient with your country. Minimize turns spent doing construction by pre-planning how much land you want to grab, and building the amount of CS.

Don't grab land past what the remainder of the reset can bring back in production returns from the extra land.

Take advantage of the market by buying and selling (if your government types allows it).

Grow early and be big enough to avoid being grabbed to begin with.

Thanks Xin.

Well I'm usually in the top 10 mid-to-late set. But the reason I'm there is I bought a ton of military to deter grabs.

And I keep selling my tech to gain cash for upkeep but the upkeep is brutal so I don't have much in terms of stocked cash even if I keep buying out my private market and sell it at public.

So when the set ends, countries below me jump up in NW so I'm then at rank 17 - 30 after the set since I usually just have 300m cash to buy while the others probably have 3b+.

And I usually plan to stop at 12k land and usually have bpt at start of 50 or 60. But even with my high military I always get grabbed and lose land so I have to grab to gain it back, losing turns that should have been teched.

Do I just keep teching and stocking even if I lost land and not bother gaining it back?

Xin, I need your opinion. I think where I went wrong was that every time I have huge stocked cash, I always buy military to boost my defense, but I still get grabbed anyway.

So maybe I should stockpile my cash and just buy lesser military, since I'm going to be grabbed anyway even if I spent it all on defense? And use the stockpile to jump at the end of the set?

No, you get grabbed if you look like you can't retal and/or you are land fat.

If you have 2m turrets, and 0 jets, and you don't look like you can retal me on 5m turrets with that cash you have on hand plus your production, I'm grabbing you anyway.

Seriously last set was crazy. I had 6m turrets and 3m jets sitting on 10k land. I also had 1m each of troops and tanks and I was still grabbed twice. I lost around 1600 land and had to do 5 ps to get the same amount back.

Another key is that, you need to grow/grab early, so that you are one of the larger countries (in networth, not land) right off the bat. Try to grab every 2 hours too.

Try to maintain 50% jets 50% turrets (you won't need tanks or troops if you join GDI and don't double tap anyone).

Yeah, I had to buy troops and tanks. I multitapped someone so I took precautions.

Just stock up your turns, find someone with low defense, ridiculously high jets and no gdi, and hit them 20 to 30 times followed by massive airbase bombings to lower their networth beyond the retal point.

It is Express afterall lol