General Strategy

How Much Strategy Does Super Nova Have?
Super Nova has strategy, but its own unique kind. The first time I played Super Nova I thought there was minimal strategy. However, after several playtest sessions I began to realize that Chort, Super Nova's designer, won frequently and was almost always in a position to win. Strategy was important, but I didn't know what kind to use.

Purely tactical strategies, such as might be used in games like Chess, Go, or Bridge, rarely work in Super Nova. Super Nova requires a more psychological approach such as you might use in Poker. To succeed, you must be able to read the opposition, keep a Poker face, use short-term tactics, and plan long-term strategy. Sort of a Poker-meets-Chess-meets-Gin Rummy kind of card game.

Although luck certainly helps, as it does in any card game, the tips described here should give you a significant advantage over most players. The most important part of Super Nova strategy is your overall game plan.

The Overall Game Plan:
Super Nova requires a game-long strategy to be consistently successful. As a general rule, you should:

not build any valuable (P3 or P4) planets on the first turn
not be the game's leader during the middle game
stockpile cards that will allow you to gain Population Potential rapidly
collect cards that will allow you to stave off attacks from other players
make friends when you can, but not at the expense of stockpiling useful cards
try to predict which turn will be the last turn of the game
on the last turn, play all your cards that increase your Population Potential
use your defensive cards to try to hold your Population Potential until the end of the turn
have fun, and win or lose gracefully...that is, begin collecting friends for the next game :-)

If I were forced to use a few words to describe my Super Nova strategy they would be lurk, and make friends.

The Psychological Game:
Many players focus on the special abilities of their cards when forming their strategy. Mentally, I refer to these folks as Zen Players because they are always focused on the present situation. Although "Zen playing" can be very helpful in many other games and sports it is not a good strategy for Super Nova; Super Nova requires a long term plan.

It is nearly impossible to win Super Nova strictly on good cards and tactics. To win, you often need help from other players; sometimes their help may be explicit, other times their "help" may simply be that they leave you alone. If you appear to be winning other players will gang up on you and winning will be nearly impossible. Hence, Super Nova is often a game of psychological impressions.

A Super Nova game typically breaks down into 3 distinct segments, each requiring a slightly different strategy. Brilliantly, I have decided to call the these segments the Beginning-, Middle-, and End-games. Click on the above links to learn more about these segments of the game.