Peace strategy in Individual Play is
actually rather simple. Make peace with everyone for $100. The only people who you don't
make peace with are the ones that you expect to crowd you and any player that you want to
attack very early in the game. The other part of the strategy of peace is also simple.
Turn 0 in all games, quick or otherwise, run the full time. Take advantage of this and
come back as many times as you can so that you can make peace with everyone in Turn 0 (if
possible) and then use that cash! Every treaty that you make in Turn 0 instead of Turn 1
will count for hundred's of dollars by the time you get to combat in most cases. It also
counts in strategic position (even more valuable than money in some cases!).
Sometimes, if you don't offer/accept peace with
a nearby opponent you can fool that opponent into buying too many technologies straight
away, while you hold them off with low technology such as Porcupines, Flags and M-31's (if
the situation warrants it). You then win the war without too much loss as you out-expand
them and have hopefully captured a position very close to their base for when you can
afford to buy the advances a few turns later (don't try this with a really good player.
You will be punished).
In the case of somebody crowding you, it is a
very bad idea to sign peace with them as they can then try and put flags and such around
your base, forcing you to break the treaty to get out of your own base and protect your
empire! A very bad thing indeed....
In the case that you want to attack somebody in the early stages of the game, you should
not sign a peace treaty with them if it will cost you too much to break it. On small maps
like Duel with 4-6 players, you will need to be ready to fight with someone almost from
the moment you put down your base. If you make peace with that person, you are just asking
to be contained and destroyed before you can afford the money to break the treaty. On the
other hand, on some other maps like Bad Lands and the like where you can have the
Patriot/Hercules/Radar by Turn 4, you may make peace with all your neighbours so that you
can contain their expansion in the first 2 or 3 turns. Then on Turn 3, you pick the most
likely target (or two!) to build a factory in Hercules range of and get in first on Turn
4. Few opponents expect to have their base attacked in force on Turn 4. Certainly not by
someone outside of Transport/Cargo range and most certainly not by someone who would have
to spend $200-$300 to break the treaty with them. You can take advantage of this lack of
vision on their part and destroy them with Grizzli's flown in by Hercules.
Some people argue that you should not sign
peace with any player that you consider to be much better than you. I must disagree with
this viewpoint. If somebody is much better than you, it does not matter whether you don't
sign a treaty with him or do. If you sign a treaty with this great player, you both have
more money, but you have a bit better chance of killing somebody else as early as he does.
Also, this great player will have to waste money breaking the peace treaty with you and
that gives you a chance to react if you are careful. On the other hand, if you don't sign
a peace treaty, your opponent will be less able to compete with the other players on the
board. However, you too will find it more difficult to compete. Also he will have more
time in which to outstrip you in expansion and he will be able to attack you for free when
it comes to that point. All in all, I prefer to sign peace with everyone and just assume
that I'm going to be better than them anyway. I'm rarely wrong.
One final note. Never offer peace in a 2 player
game. They can refuse to accept it until you are ready to attack them. Then you get
no benefit from it, while they gain an advantage. Of course, if your opponent chooses to
offer you peace, then you can accept it and speed the game up a bit, or not. If, despite
this, you still want to offer peace, then don't offer peace if you are first in on a Quick
game type duel. In a duel, the first turn DOES NOT last the full length of time, so your
opponent could come in, sign the peace treaty and get an extra $100 (or whatever) in the
first turn and you get nothing. Obviously this is to be avoided...