Blast from the past! I played this a bunch when it was first posted here, rose to #2 on the 8v8 US leader board, then went on to make a similar game called Starjack which hit ~1k concurrent players in 2019 (although it's no longer available).

Luck plays a role, but the game is almost entirely about reading what other players are doing and thinking and reacting appropriately. It's poker, not chess. I had a win rate significantly over 50%, and hit a greater than 10 win streak at one point in 8v8.

To add to some strategies posted here - although I haven't played in five years (around the time that movement started to be buffered), so things may have changed. I played a quick game to jog my memory while writing this (and won it of course!)

The army count list tells you even more than exploring, and correctly reading what's happening is key to high level play.

1) An AFK player will slowly accumulate units on a predictable schedule. They may or may not come back. AFK to build up units and suddenly attack is a poor strategy, so you don't have to be worried about them, but there are edge cases where you can get stung.

2) Players that have army counts that drop together are adjacent - use this to understand where on the grid players are.

3) If only a single player has an army count drop, they're attacking a neutral city. It's a good time to attack as they've made a large, long term investment.

4) Players that have expanded but not lost any armies in a while are looking for a chance to attack - be careful if you're next to them.

5) When players fighting a war of attrition, stubbornly trading armies when they're not the only two left, they're probably not very good. A well timed swoop in at the end of the fight will capture all of the production. Don't get involved before that, because they're not very good and will start a war of attrition with you :)

6) At the start, neutral territory has an immense ROI. Capture as much as you possibly can. Don't worry too much about cities.

7) Generally, neutral territory with high numbers at the end of the game correlates with starting locations.

8) Pay a lot of attention to the star ratings of the players to know who is good and who isn't. Picking on beginners is fantastic strategy, because you can generally capture their armies intact.

9) Pay just as much attention to how well people are playing. Expert players will maximise neutral ground, and after the first pop at turn 25, you'll immediately see who you have to pay attention to.

10) If a player has launched a massed attack on you, it's often a better strategy to counterattack if you think you know where their base is better than they know where yours is. If you win, you'll capture their army intact and this often guarantees a win.

11) If you're not in the lead, throw everything you have into conflict where you think you have advantage. You are at this point "default dead", and if you play conservatively you'll lose.

12) If you are in the lead, you can now profitably consolidate cities without the power drop opening you up to attacks. Keep a good chunk of an army close to your base to prevent sneak attacks, and expand out to neutral territory as quickly as you can, preparing to jump on anyone that's weak. You're "default alive".