Tactics: the bear trap

Once state vs state kill events start, you have to be on your toes.  Players warp in, quickly probe for weakness, and lash out.  Since typically kills are the metric being tracked, small players can load up on traps and hospitals to get their fare share of points.  Large players have a harder time attracting medium sized attackers, because attacking can't be backed by hospitals, while defending can.  However, large players can set an ambush.  Here's how.

First, create a small force of tier 1 or tier 2 troops.  These are to be the bait at your base.  Second, create a large force of tier 3 troops, which will be used to ambush an attacker.  Ideally, you have enough hospital bids to support both forces. Third, send your main force on an 8 hour war rally.  This is the critical part, since these troops do not appear in your defense when scouted, so you can disguise your strength.  If you cancel your war rally, they immediately become available for defense.  Third, re-speck your commander to max out defensive capabilities, and equip him with whatever gear you have that will give him the biggest defensive bonus.

Now we wait for the kill event to start.  When you spot an enemy in your region, you should start by scouting them.  This is important, because it will tell you if your enemy is too strong to ambush, and often a mechanism to earn a counter scout.  If they have determined that you are an appropriate target, they may start a march towards your base.  Now, if your scout revealed that they are too big to ambush and the march is sufficiently far away, you should send a second scout to see how many troops they left behind.  If you determine that your large hidden force is sufficient to defeat him, wait until just before his march reaches your base, and cancel the war rally.  With the trap sprung, you can often defeat your enemy while taking significantly fewer casualties, especially if they have sent a smaller force based on an initial scout.  Suddenly, your opponent is surprised to find he has lost his force, and you are on the scoreboard.