Most of my setups, though not all, revolved around bombs and strong soldiers held in reserve behind the bombs, sort of a rope-a-dope...sometimes, I'd kill all of their miners before the bombs surrounding the flag could be disarmed which guarantees no quick win for them. There are risks to that, in that the strong pieces can be stuck while the opponent picks off everything else, but even once people knew I regularly did that, I could still win pretty much always, so it's more than a strong opening layout.
replySounds good. My "channels" were a way to move the right pieces to where they were needed. I did this repeatedly, and my opponents never learned.
replyOne thing Stratego did was implement the "fog of war". My Empire game took inspiration from Stratego and Risk.
In hindsight, maybe Stratego in childhood is part of why I love Civ games so much, which, I think, tickles a lot of the same brain parts. The setting up the board part is heavily why I liked Stratego so much, and in Civ games, you get to plan your cities and empire. Or, maybe it's just the kind of game I find satisfying, and Stratego was the first instance of it I played.
replyAnd, I'm also working on a game that kind of pulls on that same kind of upfront planning, where how you place your pieces to start is as important as how you move them; a settling and strategy game that's heavy on clever defense and using terrain and the interplay of pieces.