NP, you are a nice guy so far so I don't mind much at all ;)
This place is a little wierd, its quite polarized really. On the one hand there are a lot of people who are pretty nice and willing to help others, etc. to varying degrees.
There are a few normal people. Not sure where, but they are here somewhere.
Then there are the trolls, and arrogant jerks who typically lack understanding of the game and don't know it. These guys are pretty common in open seat team games, sadly, making it much harder for any decent player who wants to improve, or wants a viable chance of winning. When you are new you won't notice much, but team games are a very different dynamic from 1v1 games so while you are learning I think you should either find a partner who you can trust, or try to learn from 1v1s. When you lose, go to the history and click back through the game, from the beginning, and try to understand where you messed up, and what the opponent did/shouldn't have done. If you are really serious, try to do this with the top ladder games from the top 25 or so players. You will get a sense of what picks will work and the like, when to stack (make large concentrations) of troops and attack the opponent, and the like. Even the losers of those games are good, so study both sides!
Level means nothing. Ladder rankings and community reputation however, will, with regards to judging whether a player is good. Somewhat ironically players with win-rates in the 60s-high 70s are usually better than players with 80%+, because the latter often farm their wins on unsuspecting noobs.
The basic tips I can give you that should help you everywhere you go -
Use your history in and out of game - study your opponent, avoid wasteland bonuses, etc.
If you are losing by a lot, surrender. Its not required but it is considered basic etiquette by decent/higher level players. Any decent player will not think worse of you.
ABSOLUTELY AVOID BEING BOOTED. Many players and clans reject players who get booted too often. Consider whether you want multiday or RT games. 5 min with no autoboot is usually good for RT (real time) games. In mutliday settings, go through
Single player games will be a bit helpful for grasping the basics. Autogames are fine for learning the basics too. I would avoid other games for a whiel until you at least understand autogames decently.
Always, always read settings before you join games. Even Autogames at first.
(in almost every common setting) - expand into safe areas, try to break opponents bonuses, protect your own, never assume your opponent will leave your bonuses, etc. alone. A good one will not. Defend choke points to avoid double/triple bordering (when an opponent controls one territory that reaches many of your spots at once. Really hard to defend.)
Any player who is genuinely trying to help will probably see that you are new, and will not (should not) begrudge a bit of an explanation for why they want you to do a different move. If they can't explain it very well, then they likely are not very good themselves. If they tell you in a game with few players and a lot of big bonuses to concentrate your picks in one area, they don't know what they are talking about. In almost every template, Bottleneck's post takes precedence -
https://www.warlight.net/Forum/68452-warlight-masters-spread-out
Edited 4/24/2016 01:08:39
