Poker Stars SnG dilemma

[sergsz]

Have a little dilemma about the very loose poker stars $5 18-people SnG's. Sklansky's book on tournaments suggests not trying to risk large portions of your stack even if you have +EV, focusing on survival value and saving your stack for times when you have an even bigger edge. But there are tons of maniacs in these tourneys who will make huge raises with all kinds of hands (sometimes just overcards if the flop doesn't hit their Big Slick but they have already committed some money into a raised pot). Hence the dilemma, if you fold to these oversized bets/raises unless you have a monster hand, you are slowly losing money and you're in poor shape by the time the blinds start getting into the 100/200 range. If you risk calling these maniacs, you can buid up a decent stack, but the more you do it - the more risk you run of actually running into a very strong hand and going broke or close to broke.
Any advice on how to deal with the maniacs? What standards do you have for calling 3-4 X pot bets, or all-in bets? The nuts, Two-pair or better, TPTK?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Post a couple of specific hands. It's pretty hard to give a general answer.

[Cosimo]

Of course, the objective isn't to win one tournament; it's to have a winning tournament record. If the maniacs are playing at you, play back if you have an edge. Early on, someone is going to be taking their money, so it might as well be you. If you do have an edge, you'll survive most of the time and be far enough ahead in chips to help you along later in the tourney.