S convert the enemy pieces to win this unique and addictive turn based strategy game. three levels of difficulty. one and two player modes. most games are about resource depletion : a resource called health. balance of power is about resource distribution : a resource called influence. the more influence you have the greater your status. the higher your status the more influence you can take. the aim is to take all the influence from the enemy. when their influence is gone they will start to see things your way. some game basics the objective is to convert enemy pieces to your team. the number of pieces you need to get are displayed below the board. a red target score represents the pieces you need and a blue target score represents how many the opposition needs. you move by selecting a piece and then selecting an adjacent empty square. you "influence" enemies by selecting a piece and then selecting an adjacent enemy. each round you will take influence points from the enemy based on your pieces status. the leader will take 3 points, a minister will take 2 points and a back bencher will take 1 point. you can also "influence" your own pieces by selecting a piece and then selecting an adjacent team member. each round you give influence points to your team members based on your pieces status. the leader will give 3 points, a minister will give 2 points and a back bencher will give 1 point. you can't influence a team member who has more influence than you (ie a piece with 10 points can't influence a piece with 15 points). when a pieces influence reaches 0 they will turn grey and are now a fence sitters. if a piece is sitting on the fence it can't influence any other piece. it a fence sitter continues to lose points it switches to the opposition. status is allocated at the start of the game based on influence points. the more influence points the higher the status. during the game status will be re-allocated if any pieces influence points exceed the leader's points : this is called a re-shuffle. in the beginning... at the start of a new game all pieces are randomly allocated a position. take a moment to review the position of all pieces. during the game all pieces are inevitably pulled towards one point on the board. successfully identifying this "epicentre" will greatly improve your chances of winning. in general moves that bring your pieces closer to the epicenter are better than moves that take them further away. the inevitable sacrifice in most games there will be one piece (a back bencher usually) that should be sacrificed. this piece is probably close to the enemies leader and may also be a good distance from your leader. you will be tempted to waste moves trying to help this piece but you should see this as an opportunity to improve the position of your pieces. attack early and often if you start with pieces adjacent to enemies of equal or similar status you should attack them as soon as possible. give preference to attacking stronger pieces as this can lead to them losing status. in this way you may take a few enemy pieces quickly and be well positioned for victory. the lure stronger pieces will often follow weaker pieces to attack them. knowing this you can lure the enemy into positions where they can be weakened. for example, maneuvering the enemy piece between two of your pieces maximises you options for attack. watch for winners when you convert an enemy piece it will have to stop attacking your piece (as it is now a weaker team member). you don't want these pieces to be inactive for any length of time. therefore keep an eye out for pieces that are close to being converted and get them back in the game as soon as you have them within your control. two key principles you increase your chance of winning by getting all your pieces into the game as soon as possible. pieces should avoid attack by stronger enemy pieces unless they can be supported by your stronger pieces of their own team.
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