Leaderboard reading & threat assessment

The leaderboard tells you who to nuke, who to ally, and when to betray. Most players just watch the numbers. Advanced players use it to play four moves ahead. The key insight: nuke the team with the best economy, not the one you are currently fighting.

Learning objectives:

• Read the leaderboard stats: territory %, gold rate, troop count, warship count, and structure count
• Nuke the team with the strongest economy; crippling eco prevents future nukes and troop donations, not just current troops
• A team at 30% land but with 3 factories and 5 cities is more dangerous than a 40% team with no eco
• Identify the crown player (rank 1); they are the most likely coalition target and useful as a pressure buffer
• Use Show All to spot isolated or stalling players as these are clean annexation opportunities
• Threat tiering: active attacker on your border (immediate) beats strong eco player (delayed but serious) beats large land player with weak eco (manageable)
• Watch betrayal icons; a traitor in your alliance network is a signal to restructure or preempt
• Recognise when you are becoming the top threat as growing too fast paints a coalition target on you
• When in 2nd place: grow laterally against weak targets, not head-on into the leader; let the leader absorb coalition pressure
• Warship counts signal sea lane aggression; if a player is building warships near your ports, disable trade first
• Track who is allied with whom; breaking one alliance in a network can destabilise several others.