Pax pamir, second edition - Strategy guide

Document version: 1.0.2

Federico’s strategy guide

Introduction
This is a subjective strategy guide that I created using all information I considered useful, by reading
forums, thinking, discussing with friends, and playing of course.

Personal thoughts
● This game is awesome: thanks to the creators.
● This game is best played with 5 players, hoping they have some experience. Even if different, I
also enjoyed the Wakhan solo mode.
● There is an excellent free Vassal module I recommend.

[Beginner] Fundamentals

Fundamental questions

Basic strategy questions

These are basic strategy questions for beginners:
1. Is my coalition dominant or can I easily make it dominant quickly?
2. If 1 is not (my coalition is not dominant), do I have the cylinders out that would give me points if
the dominance check fails and can I make it fail? Depending on the situation, try to get your
coalition dominant (deploy blocks, destroy enemies’ blocks), change loyalty, or deploy cylinders
(deploy spies and tribes).
3. If 1 is yes (my coalition is dominant), do I have the most influence in the coalition? Depending
on the situation, play to keep your coalition dominant (deploy blocks, destroy enemies’ blocks) or
to improve your influence (get prizes, pay for gifts, play loyal patriots, assassinate enemy
patriots).

General questions
These are more general questions, that every player should ask (can be useful to design any winning
strategy)
1. In case of a dominance check, what will be the scoring right now?
2. What is the current strategy of my opponents?
3. Is my next action going to impact one or the other?
4. If 3 is not, think for a better action.
5. If 3 is yes, then when? You can’t wait more than a couple of turns.

[Intermediate] Tips and tricks

Actions
● Look for good opportunities to get at least one useful bonus action per turn.
● Sometimes you're better off taking two court actions than buying a card.
● Do not forget to tax your enemies, or eventually the market.
 ● The build action is used less than other ones, and you probably don’t need more than one card
with the build action.
● Try predicting what other people are going to do and finding ways to exploit their actions as
much as possible.
● The most valuable actions in the cards are: tax, battle and move. Double actions are obviously
better than single actions.

Influence
● In general, try keeping your influence only slightly ahead of the other players and focus on
helping your faction get a successful dominance check.
● Focus on increasing your influence and building a significant advantage only if your faction's
dominance seems more or less inevitable.
● If you're frozen out of an influence war and have little opportunity to get in, try building up a
weaker coalition and securing a failed dominance check, while the other players fight each
other over influence. If you think you have no way to secure some points, prepare for the next
round, by picking some cards and rupees.

Loyalty
● It's always handy to have an exit plan from your existing coalition. Keep a spy on a card you
can kill to change loyalty, or hold a rival patriot in your hand.

Market
● In the market, keep an eye on the events, patriots, and cards that can change the suit; try to
guess what the other players are going to do with them.
● In the market, the presence of many patriots of the same coalition can help you understand
the future loyalty of the other players.
● In the market, keep an eye on event cards, so that you can mitigate their impact.
● In the market, pay attention to cards that change suit. Try anticipating a suit change to still
have one or more bonus actions.
● In the market, keep an eye on threat cards, those which can destroy your strategy. Remember
who has taken the card and prepare a counter measure.

Playing cards
● Prefer playing cards that match the current favoured suit.
● Overestimating political cards is an easy mistake. Treat them as good cards and do not base
your strategy on acquiring them at all costs, for example overpaying them. Their importance can
vary depending on the game (cards in the deck, strategies...) as well.
● Discard older cards that are no longer giving you the actions you need, particularly if those older
cards are infested with spies.

[Advanced] Elements for understanding the game

Reach and momentum

● "Reach" in Pax Pamir's sense is the ability to affect the game state, and mostly comes down to
hand size and court size (more cards = more options), card quality (three rank cards in
particular), and available funds.
● "Momentum" in this sense is the ability to convert a strong position to something actually game
winning, but if you don't then also have a way of scoring that dominance or using those pieces to
gain an advantage then that position will get away from you sooner or later.
Tips for maximising reach and momentum
● Save some rupees and avoid playing many cards with leverage, which can be a source of lack
of money at some point.
● Keep one or two useful powerful cards in your hand: a loyal patriot to easily increase the
influence of your coalition, or an enemy patriot to allow you to suddenly change loyalty, or a
military card in order to deploy 3 or more blocks on the map. Play them at the crucial time to
favour your momentum.

Deck analysis

By patriots/loyalty

Loyalty Total Political Intelligence Economic Military

Afghan 7 (7%) 5 (21.7%) 1 (4%) 1 (3.6%) 0 (0%)

British 13 (13%) 0 (0%) 7 (28%) 1 (3.6%) 5 (20.8%)

Russian 10 (10%) 0 (0%) 5 (20%) 2 (7.1%) 3 (12.5%)

Average 10 (10%) 1.67 (7.3%) 4.33 (17.3%) 1.33 (4.8%) 2.67 (11.1%)

Loyalty Transcapia Persia Herat Kabul Kandahar Punjab

Afghan 0 (0%) 1 (5.9%) 1 (7.1%) 3 (17.6%) 1 (6.7%) 1 (4.8%)

British 1 (6.3%) 2 (11.8%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (20%) 7 (33.3%)

Russian 6 (37.5%) 4 (23.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Average 2.33 2.33 0.33 (2.4%) 1 (5.9%) 1.33 (8.9%) 2.67

(14.6%) (13.7%) (12.7%)

Loyalty Armies Roads Tribes Spies Leveraged Suit change

Afghan 2 (3.6%) 2 (4.4%) 5 (17.9%) 3 (5.9%) 1 (7.7%) 4 (12.5%)

British 8 (14.5%) 1 (2.2%) 0 (0%) 9 (17.6%) 2 (15.4%) 6 (18.75%)

Russian 5 (9.1%) 3 (6.7%) 0 (0%) 9 (17.6%) 1 (7.7%) 1 (3.1%)

Average 5 (9.1%) 2 (4.4%) 1.67 (6%) 7 (13.7%) 1.33 3.67 (11.5

(10.2%) %)

Loyalty Tax Gift Build Move Battle Betray

Afghan 3 (7.3%) 2 (9.1%) 3 (13%) 1 (1.7%) 3 (7.1%%) 1 (4.5%)

British 3 (7.3%) 4 (18.2%) 1 (4.3%) 16 (26.7%) 5 (12%) 2 (9.1%)

Russian 3 (7.3%) 1 (4.5%) 3 (13%) 9 (15%%) 8 (19%) 1 (4.5%)

Average 3 (7.3%) 2.33 2.33 8.67 5.33 1.33 (6.1%)

(10.6%) (10.1%) (14.4%) (12.7%)
 ● Afghan patriots strong points: political.
● British patriots strong points: Punjab, intelligence, move, military, Kandahar.
● Russian patriots strong points: Transcapia, Persia, intelligence.

By region

Region Total Political Intelligence Economic Military

Transcapia 16 (16%) 4 (17.4%) 5 (20%) 3 (10.7%) 4 (16.7%)

Persia 17 (17%) 4 (17.4%) 6 (24%) 4 (14.3%) 3 (12.5%)

Herat 14 (14%) 4 (17.4%) 1 (4%) 7 (25%) 2 (8.3%)

Kabul 17 (17%) 3 (13%) 4 (16%) 7 (25%) 3 (12.5%)

Kandahar 15 (15%) 4 (17.4%) 3 (12%) 4 (14.3%) 4 (16.7%)

Punjab 21 (21%) 4 (17.4%) 6 (24%) 3 (10.7%) 8 (33.3%)

Average 16.67 3.83 4.17 4.67 4

Region Afghan British Russian

Transcapia 0 (0%) 1 (7.7%) 6 (60%)

Persia 1 (14.3%) 2 (15.4%) 4 (40%)

Herat 1 (14.3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Kabul 3 (42.9%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Kandahar 1 (14.3%) 3 (23.1%) 0 (0%)

Punjab 1 (14.3%) 7 (53.8%) 0 (0%)

Average 1.17 2.17 1.67

Region Armies Roads Tribes Spies Leveraged Suit change

Transcapia 8 (14.5%) 4 (8.9%) 5 (17.9%) 10 (19.6%) 2 (15.4%) 3 (9.4%)

Persia 8 (14.5%) 6 (13.3%) 5 (17.9%) 12 (23.5%) 4 (30.8%) 7 (21.9%)

Herat 6 (10.9%) 12 (26.7%) 5 (17.9%) 2 (3.9%) 1 (7.7%) 4 (12.5%)

Kabul 8 (14.5%) 13 (28.9%) 4 (14.3%) 11 (21.6%) 1 (7.7%) 4 (12.5%)

Kandahar 6 (10.9%) 6 (13.3%) 4 (14.3%) 6 (11.8%) 3 (23.1%) 5 (15.6%)

Punjab 15 (27.3%) 4 (8.9%) 5 (17.9%) 10 (19.6%) 2 (15.4%) 9 (28.1%)

Average 9.17 7.5 4.67 8.5 2.17 5.33

Region Tax Gift Build Move Battle Betray

Transcapia 6 (14.6%) 4 (18.2%) 4 (17.4%) 9 (15%) 7 (16.7%) 5 (22.7%)

Persia 8 (19.5%) 2 (9.1%) 5 (21.7%) 8 (13.3%) 9 (21.4%) 2 (9.1%)

Herat 8 (19.5%) 4 (18.2%) 2 (8.7%) 8 (13.3%) 7 (16.7%) 3 (13.6%)

Kabul 8 (19.5%) 4 (18.2%) 5 (21.7%) 10 (16.7%) 4 (9.5%) 3 (13.6%)

Kandahar 5 (12.2%) 3 (13.6%) 5 (21.7%) 8 (13.3%) 6 (14.3%) 2 (9.1%)

Punjab 6 (14.6%) 5 (22.7%) 2 (8.7%) 17 (28.3%) 9 (21.4%) 7 (31.8%)

Average 6.83 3.67 3.83 10 7 3.67

● Transcapia’s cards strong points: Russian patriots, battle, tribes, intelligence.

● Persia’s cards strong points: Russian patriots, leveraged, intelligence, spies, suit change, build,
battle.
● Herat’s cards strong points: roads, economic.
● Kabul’s cards strong points: Afghan patriots, roads, economic, build, spies.
● Kandahar’s cards strong points: British patriots, leveraged, build.
● Punjab’s cards strong points: British patriots, military, betray, move, suit change, armies,
intelligence, gift, battle, number patriots.