Strategy

As one rapidly discovers in playing Critical Mass, play is dominated by several factors:
  1. Position is unstable: This is to say that an apparently weak player can (and frequently does) reverse the tables, by detonating a chain reaction that takes over most of the board.
  2. The edges and corners are the most important cells to take, as with games such as Reversi (Othello).
  3. If you only control a few cells, you will be forced to place more and more pieces in those cells. When you explode them, your opponent will normally set off a chain reaction that deprives you of the original cell.
  4. The results of a move become progressively harder for humans to predict as the game continues.
  5. The computer has some difficulty determining good moves early in the game.
  6. As a result, humans should concentrate on dominating the game from the beginning.
In addition, some observations can be made about the computer players:
If you come across consistently effective strategies, please let me know.