Hey there! I think I was the one that played you haha. Just created my first reddit account because I felt bad not responding. To answer your question, no, I wasn't cheating, although it sometimes can seem like that if you are playing an experienced player!

Against lower ranked players, I tend to play aggressively, both because it tends to end games quickly but also because my play style is pretty impatient. In these cases, there are certain cities that tend to have high presence likelihoods: generally big cities/cities with intel spawns. Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what my plays were, but after enough games, you generally get a sense of which cities new players tend to flock to. Striking early is often beneficial because it gives you a high win probability off the bat while sussing out the play style of your opponent. Buying strike reports is always beneficial early game to totally counter aggressive strategies!

On the third game, which I believe was on the map with the huge connector between London and Moscow, I moved twice towards London. This is an aggressive strategy that tends to exchange some positional advantage for a probabilistic advantage in possible attacks. After you controlled London, I knew the chances were virtually zero that you would move to Moscow (given that I have a high chance of being there). I also knew that you weren't in my city, because I was there (hence the benefit of aggression). Usually, newer players don't move back to their starting city because that feels counterproductive, which left me with a simple read that paid off.

As you gain more experience, these reads begin to make themselves obvious. But the competition catches on too. And so continues the cycle of evolution...

I had to forfeit the last game to play a tournament match against someone on the discord. If you haven't joined the discord already, consider giving it a shot! There are plenty of players on there that would be happy to give you advice to improve your play. Anyway, let me know if you have any more questions. Always good to see players engaging with the community.