Let me start off by saying that I LOVE this game. It's addictive, you see. And as a chain smoker I can relate to that. But here is my issue. I never win. Well I do. Bare with me.

I win ONLY when someone is in every way an inferior player. Or if I am playing with superior teammates. Here is an example game:
http://WarLight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=2479775

I was really excited at first, until I went back and watched it. Yellow made a lot of mistakes that I would not make. Or maybe I'm just seeing them as mistakes because I trounced him? I would like your guys opinions on whether or not I played well, some pointers on how to improve, and also some criticism of my orders.

Am I being hyper critical of myself? I lose most 1v1 and 2v2 games (especially on the Poland map. Grrr). Does this happen to everyone?

Thanks :)

Unless you are fighting against the best players around, most wins are based on the other players making mistakes, and you making less mistakes. The vast majority of players are, at best, not very good. The point is to have fun, not be the end-all, be-all, best player around. Only a few people can realistically compete for that title anyway.

In this game, you out-played your opponents. Given a set of rules on a particular board against particular people, you played well enough to win. Would you have lost to significantly better players? Certainly. So would all but 0.1% of the players here.

Whether you should be happy with this win or not depends entirely on you and what your goal from playing is. If you had fun playing it, then I really hope that you are happy about the game, because that's the most important part. If that's not enough for you to feel good, then work on getting better. I would recommend playing against tougher opponents in that case.

Couldn't agree with Ben More, but to provide some constructive criticism,

This map had unique settings and rules. I wasn't privy to your team chat, but I would have ensured that every single one of the single territory bonuses was selected as a 1 or 2 on your team picks, and two people should have just staked out Europe with 1 territory to act as a block there.

However, Yellow played it very poorly, and you luckily threw him out of his bonuses early. From there, an AI could have won against them.

I really didn't see anything too wrong with your play that was glaringly awful.

Then on the teamwork bit, perhaps you could have let blue take the +4 bonuses in East Asia so he could have been on better footing against grey.

If you're up for a 1v1, just invite me.

Mine and John's game:

http://WarLight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=2488021

Tips on where to improve? Also a big thank you to John for helping me out :)

Don't play poland map, 75% luck and random distribution if you want to improve your game-play in an efficient way. Try the strategic 1v1 multi-day and take the time to think about your moves. Watch replays from good ladder players and compare it to your move patterns. (it's easy b/c the settings are the same)

This is why most open games are, to be honest, a bit rubbish. 75% luck and so many poor map choices and settings.

i like your attitude dkristopherw

Selfreflection is what most people lack. Especially those trolling forums.

hey myhand, check memo-index tournament messages

I'm just average, but I think you should have been more agressive by attacking his weak spots. Also, you didn't defend when you had to (Tura, Kazakhstan) and didn't attack preventively like he did.
But, I think you could've turned the tables if you had known about his presence in Greenland. He knew where your bonuses were, while you didn't.

ok i checked, find number 3