During Nemo’s war you will have a lot of dice to roll, and a lot of choices to make. If you are seeking a path to victory in all this chaos, then here are my thoughts on the ways to victory…

During the Game:

Upgrade Early; The technologies in this game are key. Okay, you only get four random ones, but they are powerful and you do need them. You will need to salvage some of the ships that you destroy in order to get these upgrades. It’s up to you when and where, but bear in mind that you need to spread your kills across the map – that will maximise your points. When you go for a bold attack, you will kill ships for points and then typically salvage the last one!

Searching Early; Early in the game, the ships aren’t revealed so you are safe to search. Search early, get the treasure and trade it later to help you push your luck on the dice rolls. This is particularly good for uprisings and repairs. The spare treasure at the end will form your loot.

Lull Turns; These turns will give you fewer actions, but they will allow you to heal (rest) more cheaply. Have a spare action from turn-to-turn in order to make the most of the lull turn and heal your weakest stat point. However, if you are happy with your stats, then no need to carry over the action point – use it and hope to role well and get more actions next time.

Specialise; There is one focus to your personality, a way in which you score the most points. Specialise your actions, your upgrades, your choices to the actions that will help you. Doing this is the only way to get to a triumphant victory. A generalist will be less likely to lose, but a specialist is required to get to the chronicles of history!

Liberate; Liberate the people of the world through uprisings – it’s points at the end, but it’s also a reduction in your notoriety. Too much notoriety from war and you will hit the automatic loss condition. Too little, and you will be overrun by ships in the late game. Score notoriety early and then manage it early with uprisings. This is a balancing act that you will need to juggle the whole way through.

Stalk to Salvage; Sometimes you will need the extra salvage, or face an opponent early that is too strong to fight. When you fight a yellow ship early in the game, you will maybe need a stalk attack – a +1 Dice Roll Modifier. The only way to achieve this is to do a stalk attack. This early stalk attack can get you the bonus, but you can only attack one ship – this (unless playing war) is then a good way to get a ship for salvage and speed up a route to an upgrade.

Weapons; Speaking of war, if you are going to fight into the late game then you are going to need weapons -torpedoes or other weapons to fight stronger ships. If you don’t draw them at the start, think carefully about swapping personalities later in the game and going for a different objective. Only with the weapons could you really take on the tougher ships and score the big points required to win the game.

Risk; Balancing risk in the game is key. Sometimes you will need to use the dice roll modifiers, and take the risk of losing your health statistics. Risk them for the events that matter to your score, risk them for the bonuses that help you later in the game, but be careful to not risk them when you will still more than likely lose. If a modified dice roll is a 9+, then sometimes you are better off to just roll without the modifier and see what happens. This is the challenge, this is the way the game offers you choices that tempt you into losing your stats. Be careful not to fall into traps.

Resting; Resting might seem like a wasteful action, but a strong rest (spending treasure) to get the +2 to a statistic can really boost your chance of winning the game. When you have lost health, and get a lull turn, a single action to boost your chances for the future can earn you points and help your late game. Take the opportunity to rest and spend the treasure to avoid having to repeat this action!

Story; I normally advocate for a winning strategy, but this is a story and not a puzzle. Enjoy the ride, and enjoy the roller coaster of the dice and the impact your starting personality.

Good Luck!