I'm having a blast this season. It's fun how power tends to differ around different areas of the map. You can be running for your life in one area but dominating in another.

I've lost multiple games due to being too reckless with my commander. I think, "That big stack will never be defeated, I'll just add my commander to it for +7 and it'll be safe." Yeah. That big stack is not safe. Lesson learned.

Protip: Deploying/attacking in LD goes a lot faster if you use the Ctrl hotkey. You can create supply lines very effortlessly. See https://www.warlight.net/wiki/Hotkeys

Note: This thread is just for those who are enjoying the season. If these settings aren't your cup of tea that's fine, you can just ignore this thread.

If these settings aren't your cup of tea that's fine, you can just ignore this thread.

*downvotes*

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On a serious note, this is probably my favorite template in the past few seasons so far, to be honest. I'm a bit reluctant to join ladders though, as I end up being too lazy to properly play them. I'll probably for- er, convince someone to give me practice runs and then check if it's worth the effort :P

I'll help you do that Zeph, I'll be 102nd when I get ranked.

Semi-protip: Put 1 of your first 3 picks in a bonus you can FTB with a commander.

I agree, this season is one of my favorites.

I just don't understand how anyone can deem this not to be more tactical or 'strategic' than the regular games.

My favorite of all though was a few seasons ago with LD and multi attack. That had me thinking and studying more even than this one.

I guess i'm just a LD junky

You can't, tomjh, as you'll need to capture 3 territories while you can take only 2.

It doesn't seem like a terrible template to me either. In fact I made a commanders+LD template shortly after commanders were added. I think the two unpopular settings complement each other.

I find commanders to be somewhat unstrategic because they add randomness by increasing the importance of guessing your opponent's moves. Guess wrong and attack with your commander into a big stack, and it doesn't just set you back, it's instant game over. And if commanders are away from the fighting, they just take a free neutral territory every turn. Not much decision-making or weighing of pros-cons there, so also less strategic.

LD and decreased income fixes this somewhat by making deployments much more predictable and commanders safer. Your opponent can never deploy more than a bonus's income plus the base income, so the game won't be decided by a surprise deployment of 20 armies somewhere. Commanders can still get free neutral territories if they're not on the front lines, but at least with LD that only helps them in that area. They can't run around getting income to be deployed on the other side of the map.

Edited 9/5/2016 14:41:03

I actually really enjoy LD games such as the old realtime ladder turkey. Commanders and no army stand guard not so much, I thought commanders were mainly going to be used in diplo's tbh.

I didn't play too many games this seasonal as they were too time consuming and I wasn't all that good, but from what I saw, Europe/Asia dominates, even when wastelanded as commanders are very effective at removing those wastelands. The large dense mass of euro/asia allows for more efficient supply chains.

Guess wrong and attack with your commander into a big stack, and it doesn't just set you back, it's instant game over.

If you think you are winning, consider only safe commander moves. If you think you are losing, consider aggressive commander moves.

I like the variety of settiongs. Next one should be multi-attack, or no split

Thanks for info about ctrl key! I was unaware about this feature.

It would be even nicer to have highlighted bonuses that are not fully deployed (on the text list visible in deploying phase) - sometimes it is a bit confusing which bonuses are deployed and which are not yet (especially on bigger maps).

Edited 9/7/2016 08:27:18

You can easily see that if you click on land, then click on More info button, then select bonus to see what is yours and what it isn't.

But, you probably asked for quicker way to do check.

I'm having a blast this season.

I like the variety of settings

Ditto. However, it might be possible to improve the template:
-add attack only & transfer only
-add airlift cards (maybe a la France LD from RT ladder)
-maybe select a map that is slightly bigger an has either a single landmass or more than 1 landmass tying for largest.

As others have commented this map is biased towards the Eurasian landmass with these settings. Eurasia can be dominant even with multiple wastelands.

In top games we're frequently seeing both players putting all 6 picks there. These games are interesting but typically short and influenced somewhat strongly by first pick.

In top games where 1 player ends up with all picks in the Americas, in all cases I've seen they lose. Maybe the Americas can win with an ideal wasteland/warlord layout, but such a layout is not common.

Edited 9/6/2016 21:11:23

My big issue with commanders is the picking format. You should be able to pick commander spot separately from your pick set. Always having commander as first pick is less strategic IMO. Especially if the #1 pick is vital and you miss it.

Until that is changed, I will likely not play ANY commander setup.

Edited 9/7/2016 03:45:55

how can it be less strategic?
You have to balance the premium spot with the fact your commander will be there if you take it. If anything this makes it more strategic
Anything with added decision making is added strategy

Especially if the #1 pick is vital and you miss it.

Airlift cards might help. However, it's often possible to counter these premium spots without them.

If it's available, one option is to put pick 1 in the premium spot and picks 2, 3 in an ftb 3-bonus that is nearby. Either you get the commander in the premium spot or you will get the ftb to counter the premium spot on turn 2 or 3. If you have the ftb, you know that the opponent commander is in the premium spot (and they don't necessarily know where your commander is).

Edited 9/7/2016 19:10:26

unfortunately, airlifts are looked upon as not strategic by the majority of the competitive people.

unfortunately, airlifts are looked upon as not strategic by the majority of the competitive people.

Well, that's because in many cases, including this one, arilift cards are not strategic.

If you include airlift cards on this template, then your commander essentially becomes useless, except for expansion on the first turns. You can't use it to attack any of your opponent's territories, since an airlift could cost you the game.

And any strategy used to corner an enemy commander becomes useless too, since a single airlift will be enough to make it all for nothing.

What's the consensus on airlifts in the France LD template from the RT Ladder? I seem to recall (correct me if I'm wrong) that MoD and Sultan endorsed it.

You start with 1 airlift and get another 4(?) turns later. After that you don't get another for dozens of turns (far longer than most games last).

This improves the all-or-nothing problem you mentioned, and it would allow for 2 commander relocations.

Edited 9/7/2016 22:22:12

how come only 1-2 games are on at a time for the seasonal ladder, while for the other ladders I can choose how many games I can play?

you can't choose number of games at a time. You are getting one new game about every four days, up to about 20(You may be getting more if you start later to catch up with others). The point is, you get those games no matter if you finish earlier, so if you play fast you end with 1-2 games at a time(but you may also end with 20 if you play very slow)