https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=10679323

I just got completely destroyed there, and I had no idea how to deal with any of the huge stacks coming my way. I tried to bring them down, but it didn't work out well.

Strategy in WarLight is 80% starting picks. just get good picks and try to gain a bonus each turn. Anticipate where your opponent might be and assume hes doing just as well as you. look at the history to check wastelands.

Edited 3/6/2016 04:08:07

I mean actual help, not just vague descriptions of what I need to do.

k

I know I'm not that good either but this is what i noticed:

Your starting picks weren't that great. I don't know weather you wanted to start in these positions or not. But lets say that you did. Africa isn't a good pick because of all the 10 and 4 army wastelands. You could have only expanded in north africa and then maybe europe. Antarctica was a good pick, well done with that. Panama wasn't the best because mainland america would be tough to get through. Your starting picks didn't really allow you to expand that much. On the other hand your opponent had good starting positions. He could expand and conquer bonuses quite easily. Middle asia was tough as well because of all the 4 but russia was good to conquer. Because he could expand more easily and get more bonuses he had an advantage over you.

Hope this helps :)

*On the assumption you are a main account

Ok first thing is first! This should be in the general thread, As the help forum is in relation to how the site mechanics actually work.. If that makes any sense! Anywho

Ok you are doing better than most level 15s as you are making 6 picks... This is good. But since you understand basic picking lets advance into advance picking! So this would be roughly two parts 1. Efficiency and 2. Move Order

So lets talk about 1. Efficiency really quickly..

Lets take a look at your South Africa and North Africa and compare them to South America take a quick look and try to come out with an answer of whats so different about them? Here is the answer... If we look at South America it is 4 bonus for a 5 territory. While if we look at South + North Africa it is 3 bonus for 5 territory bonus. So you could be spending armies on achieving a extra territory on taking a bonus which is not even worth the same as South America! So efficiency is important. A general rule to help newbies is to divide the amount of the bonus over the territories so e.g South America 4/5 = 0.8 the more the more efficient it is!

2. Move Order

This is knowing the game mechanics of Warlight and exploiting them for your own gain. I'm going to try and describe this as simple as possible. You will always get either your 1 pick or 2 pick! So lets imagine if we were playing a 1v1 ladder game and we made the exact same picks, Assuming I got the first pick and I am player A it would be divided like this (ABBAAB) so I would get my 145 picks while you would get your 236 pick. This is complicated but can be easily learned off if effort was made.

This is roughly some stuff out of the top of my head. Hopefully it helped if you have any problems or somewhat think i can help you out a little bit more, Please don't hesitate to give me a mail https://www.warlight.net/Profile?p=6559504553

1. Your pick was what killed you. North Africa was bad since it is inefficient and had zero quick expansion since West Africa and East Africa were Wastelanded, (3 bonus for 5 territories.) you could have chosen a 4 for the same time it took but gotten more. (4 bonus for 5 territories.)
2. Your opponent got a first turn bonus in South East Asia which gave him an instant advantage over you income wise.
3. You had no way to threaten any of his bonuses while yours were being hammered on and you didn't really have a chance from there.

^^^

You need to get your picking in check before you start digging in to the Gameplay or fighting.

What I would do if I was you is go to Warlight > Community > Ladders > 1v1 Ladder and review some of the #1 ranking games and see how and why they picked. If you are struggling with this just ask here or mail someone who might know.

---

A nice enviroment for you to improve would be within a clan, CORP is a ideal clan for this as it is friendly and can teach the basics well.

I'm not a pro especially on those settings but by looking at your game, I can't see any big mistake from you, more lack of luck.

I don't know if we can call this a mistake but your attack in indonesia breaking your stack ended your last hopes, and you knew he had a stack around so sooner or later he would transfer it in your direction (as he already completed bonuses behind him) so maybe not progress his way towards his stack when you have 2nd order.

The other turning point was that the game lasted quite long and in long run, he had expansion advantage with less wastelands on his way compare to you. You were never far from him income wise until the last few turns.

And appart from that your starting picks were decent but his were brilliant, it reminds me a bit MotD style : he went the unexpected, and secure as many intel as possible (100% here). Plus he got a FTB via combo and which was quite safe. Have to say before looking at your picks I tried to decide where I would go and i didnt see this so I would have lost too. His 73% 1v1 win rate is not stolen.

So for the future :
- expect his transfer back from a stack you saw and attack only if you have 1st order (but he could still deploy all though, so it depends whats hapepnning elsewhere)
- make the game quick if you know you ll face more wastelands than your opponent possible starts at some point
- try get some intel at starting point, plus if possible FTB (via combo or not).

General advice: if a guy has a fat stack and is running through you, and you cannot stop it, I would just try to make your own stacks and charge through his bonuses. Although at that point, you probably already lost.

First, picks:

Some bonuses are inefficient due to their size:income ratio:

These bonuses are:

North Africa
South Africa
West US
Canada
Middle East
Europe

These bonuses should *never be picked.

There's much more to picking than just selecting bonuses other than the ones listed above though. For example, North Africa is bad for more reasons here than that it gives 3 income instead of 4. It has lousy expansion opportunities, West and East Africa, usually its two best options were both wastelanded, that left you with Europe and South America to choose between, but you already had access to South America because you picked Antarctica.

Central America and Antarctica were both great picks, though not necessarily together since a player in South America could foil both bonuses if they played well.

At a glance I'd have picked something like:

1. Southeast Asia
2. Middle East
3. Central America
4. Scandinavia
5. West Russia
6. Europe

(I checked your opponents picks after deciding mine, we picked very similarly)

Yes, I'd pick two of the bonuses I said to never pick. Middle East is because it combos with Southeast Asia to comprise a first-turn-bonus. Europe is because it is sixth pick, and the only way you can ever get sixth pick is if your opponent has both your fourth and fifth picks, ad Europe handily counters both Scandinavia and West Russia in this scenario.


*Never actually means pick them when they serve a specific purpose only, there are uses for them, but they should only be picked by competent players that understand when the benefits outweigh the inherent negatives.

Now, onto actual gameplay:

Turns 1-3 are perfect. No errors.

Turn 4 you make two rrors. Australia is a massively superior bonus to expand into as opposed to South Africa.

Also when you attack Argentina, you should transfer your 1 army from Siple to Argentina afterwards so you do not need to deploy as many armies to finish taking South America.



The game was lost at this point. It might not have been apparent from your perspective, but there was nothing you could do to win after turn 4. He could perhaps mess up and lose, but relying on opponent imcompetence is not a winning strategy.

lol he hasnt even read any of this

Three Steps to Improve Your Strategic Gameplay


100% Guarantee:

Step 1.) Wake up from bed one morning a few days/weeks/months/years/decades/centuries from now.
Step 2.) Tell yourself "I am now a master of WarLight Strategy."
Step 3.) Profit
Step 4.) (Not necessary, but I'm nice) Post this message on someone else's Help Thread to spread your wisdom.

She*

And yeah I've read it.

You sure sound thankful for everyone trying to help you; spending their time and such.

He took a first turn bonus, giving him superior armies
You took a bonus in Africa that was inefficient with no expansion opportunities
He knew you were in Antartica and attacked you there.
After your blockade, he had far more expansion opportunities.

You were at a big disadvantage after the picks -- he had a quicker start, more expansion opportunities, and more knowledge about your position.

don't know if we can call this a mistake but your attack in indonesia breaking your stack ended your last hopes, and you knew he had a stack around so sooner or later he would transfer it in your direction (as he already completed bonuses behind him) so maybe not progress his way towards his stack when you have 2nd order.

To be more precise, you knew exactly that that stack was going to be there, as it takes 4 turns to reach Papua New Guinea from Scott. Keep the last know position of the enemy stack in mind and try to figure out which way it is moving (in this case there was only one logical way). Keep track of where it should be so you can predict when you`ll meet it.

Turns 1-3 are perfect. No errors.

Not true, entering Algeria was wrong. She should`ve entered Niger and take Algeria next turn. That way the leftovers have a better position (one is already bordering Europe, making it easier to enter it next turn if you wanted for some reason). Granted this is some micromanagement (and keeping in mind that its unlikely she`ll enter Europe next turn, it isn`t really wrong either). In the rare case of an enemy picking and going for Europe as fast as he can on this map, it would also help having a defending army ready.

Edited 3/7/2016 18:05:13

You sure sound thankful for everyone trying to help you; spending their time and such.

XD

Thanks, sorry. I wasn't thinking well lol