Article #1 - Priority
The Far Wilds is different from any other strategy game I have played in that each round turns alternate between players. In most games of this type, you move your whole army and then wait for the other guy to move all units. Because of this, in TFW it is much more important what order you do everything. Some actions you can do will be more effective if you do them sooner, they have higher priority.
Lets say you are using Apprentice Timesap. You want to use his ability as early as possible, while the opponent has not moved his best creatures. If you fight against a timesap, you want to attack with your biggest creature first before it can be sapped. The biggest creature, or whichever one you really don’t want sapped, has highest priority.
Priority of actions applies to many situations, not just timesap. Often a weak but useful creature will be in range of something that can kill it, but if you go first you can run away. For example, let’s say your Thistle Falcon is pecking away at the enemies base. Then your opponent drops down a Tenderfoot Archer so that it can shoot the falcon next turn. If you go first, the falcon can easily flap out of range of the archer, so moving the falcon should be the first move you make.
Sometimes it may even be beneficial to end your turn early in order to go first next round. In the above example once you see the archer come out you have a choice: if you pass you will go first next round and your falcon will be safe, but that means you can’t do anything more this turn. You must decide whether a falcon is worth more than whatever else you were going to do.
There are also moves you want to do as late as possible. Bindweed poultice is a good example. If there are several enemy creatures that can attack whatever you want to heal, you should usually heal after they all moved. If one attacks and gets the creature down to 0 or below, and you heal right away, then the other ones attack it again. However, if the opponent thinks your creature is dead, he or she will move their other creatures and once they are all dimmed you can use the bindweed. Remember, creatures and buildings don’t die until the end of the round no matter how low their HP goes. I have seen some players keep attacking a creature even once it reaches negative hit points just in case their opponent has a bindweed or similar card.
In general, you want to keep in mind that whatever you do may change your opponent’s strategy. You don’t want them to know what you are up to until it is too late.
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Article #2 - Containment: "Camping" the enemy base
Camping is sitting outside the enemy base waiting for them to play a creature, which will most likely be dimmed and defenseless. Then you kill the creature before it even gets to undim. This is best done with Hellcat, as it has a long range so it can usually cover all the spawn points, and it has enough power to kill many creatures in one hit.
Can also be done with archers. Here I managed to get a tenderfoot into position, notice how his bow (red line) reaches every hex where the enemy can summon.
SarsAI obligingly summons a Hellcat, which promptly gets riddled with arrows.
Thanks for the target practice, and wasting 3 flux.
Most players will not be like SarsAI and not give your tenderfoot a free kill. However, if you keep them from summoning that is also a victory. To play well you must think not only in terms of a creature killing another, but being able to deny moves that could have been beneficial.
Your hellcat or other assassin of choice can also sit farther away from the base, letting your opponent cast creatures but not letting them get out of the base. If the hellcat is out of reach of the creatures, they must spend a round moving closer and have to dim becoming fair prey.
What to do if your opponent is the one camping your base? Don't summon creatures if you know they will die, save the flux (there are exceptions, leprous shambles comes to mind). Sometimes when I am in this situation I pass hoping my opponent will attack my buildings and dim their creatures so I can summon. By buildings will take some hits, but having a defender out there is important.
So if you do the camping strategy, you may want to skip attacking buildings. Even though your creatures end the round without taking an action, which may seem like a waste, remember that you prevented your opponent from putting down a creature. (you have to decide if that is more important than how much damage you can deal to the buildings).
You can tell if your opponent is waiting for an opening if they are using 'pass' instead of 'all pass' (all pass your turns will start almost instantly, and usually means your opponent will not do anything more this round). If they all pass, go ahead and hit the buildings.
To win the game you don't need to completely destroy the opposing forces. You only need enough of an upper hand to keep control of
one more flux well long enough. So it is ok to leave your opponent creatures and buildings as long as they can't stop you in time. (Unless your opponent does something like two Bards Inspiration... there are always exceptions to my advice)
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Mini Article - Cycling
Cycling is an interesting feature, but it should be used very sparingly. You essentially lose a card from your hand, think of it as your opponent casting 1/3 of a Knowing Despair for free.
Cycling is meant primarily to help give you the right domain card if you are playing more than one domain, as the official tutorial mentions. You can also use it if you are playing single domain and can't use the domain card you have in your hand (like if you have Heart of the Mountain and there are no mountains anywhere on the map. I played a game like that where all my units were used to try to find a mountain...)
You can also cycle a non domain card if you have seven cards in your hand and can't play anything. Like all the cards in your hand need more domain than you have, or more flux (if this happens a lot think about editing your deck). However, I think it is usually better to play a card than cycle it if you can, at least you get some benefit. Don't cycle if you are fine for domain and have less than seven.
