I wish I could take credit for that colour selection, but I got it randomly when I got autojoined.

Also turn 4 was annoying for me, I changed from moving to norway first move to this. I guess you should always go for first instinct.

Hello dead piggy my friend :) for the heck of it i decided to triple pick on one of my ladder games. here it is http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3667978
AND I WONNNNNN hahah but it was a rare situation when triple picking was actually a good option. take a look and tell me what you think plwase :)

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3681900 my bad wrong link in previous post

Triple picking is always a good option if you play against piggy:/

Dear Piggy,

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3658767

This 41 turn ladder game which I played recently turned into an uphill battle very quickly and I could never turn it around. I knew getting knocked out of America was the end of me but I decided to try my best regardless. I have two questions here.

First, what could I have done differently throughout the game which would have helped turn this in my favor?

Second, what would you have done differently than I did, picks or anything?

Thanks!

Your loyal reader,

NoobSchool (Ahol)

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3687604

Dear Piggy,

My counterpicking strategy worked perfectly, but i still lost. Quite disappointing. DId i lose becuase i blockaded East Africa?

Thanks

Dear thewarlightmaster,

I think a triple in W africa is the best option sometimes, though there are so many things that can go wrong, and you have absolutely no flexibility or intel. After that you played it out well. I would point to this as an example of how to do it right.

thanks for sharing,
Piggy

Dear freddie mercury,

Yeah you lost because you blockaded in africa. After that him having congo made holding South Africa impossible and he had nicer expansion to boot. If you hadn't blockaded you would have easily won.

Thanks for your question,
Piggy

Dear Noobschool,

Interesting. This game is long enough that I think I can see a pattern in your mistakes. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I think this answer will be much better than a "what I would have done" for each turn.

Deploying and not attacking: If you deploy and don't attack you are idling a large number of armies, and giving your opponent a whole turn to react to them. I understand being wary of suiciding them into a larger enemy stack, but that is a chance you just have to take. Deploying and not attacking is only for holding onto a valuable territory.

Trying to hold SEA: trying to eliminate someone before they break one of your bonuses is like trying to catch a greased piggy (=(:). If there isn't a bottle neck you're gambling on a whole ton of things, including the infamously fickle first move. They have nothing to defend so they are extremely flexible and unpredictable. This game you spend 23income over 3 turns to defend a bonus worth 3, and then lose it anyway. You didn't need it to win.

Use of cards: You do not need to use cards as soon as you get them. Use them for essential objectives, they are worth a lot more when you know your opponent doesn't have one.

Attack the enemy bonuses: Even now I am surpried game after game, at how important it is to be threatening the enemy bonuses. You can nothing else going for you, and still win.

So I suppose the "meta" theme, is be more aggressive. Start each turn focused on how you are going to get up in the other guys face.

Thanks for your question,
Piggy

I'm guessing a lot of my problems in this game ( http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3688197 ) are similar to those outlines in the response to NoobSchool?

I did win, but I assumed that it was pretty much over on turn 12, yet despite that it dragged on for 11 more turns - a few of which he had more income than me.Or does this more boil down to my negligence is terms of not having picks in asia to stop his expansion before it could begin?

Dear Nauzhror,

I am mesmerized by blue in this game, West China 2nd bonus? Very bold. Thought provoking.

You should just look to a few simple rules to make life easier for you. Finish your first 3 bonuses asap. Making more than a 5v2 towards your opponent is unecessary until you finish your starting bonuses. Starting to complete South America before checking central america, and then before getting blue out of it is unwise. It forces you to be defending an investment rather than attacking. Going to East Africa seems goofy, you know he is in Asia because where else could he have made his 2 other picks? Your route there is faster and thats where his expansion is anyway. You don't need to pick asia, its fine to let him have it and then attack it.

Thanks for your question,
Piggy

A few days ago Lolowut asked me which of my games was best in terms of skill on both sides. I had to pick a recent multiday game with a top player, so I settled on this game with dunga as it reflects top tier games well and I lost (I think analysing your own win publically is a bit vulgar). http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3530797

He also requested a post mortem, here it is:

Picks: This game centres around the very safe SA/CA combo being split in half with back ups in E Asia. I opt for safety in Central Russia, which is probably too cautious. I would struggle to complete it while keeping an E China combo from being completed first. Dunga makes the risky SA/Eafrica combo. It is a risk because if I had first pick, my SA pick would counter africa and CA. He also risks getting all 3 of his top picks, and having poor expansion opportunities in a game that will be decided by expansion.

My plan was to complete russia, and then use South East Asia to deny dunga indonesia until I complete SEA. The 2 problems with this plan were that SEA is a horrible bonus. It is very vulnerable to E China and it is long and thin, making it inefficient to complete.

The other is that counterpicks work a lot better when there isnt another area where your enemy can make you fight, because usually a counterpick will cost the counterpicker more in the short term. The benefit comes after you complete your 3 starting bonuses whereas your enemy cant and your income advantage starts to be decisive. I have to constantly worry that if dunga pushes me out of malaysia my position will be much worse than his for a long time to come. I am tied to defending it which leaves me exposed on the other side of the map.

Dungas plan is to complete E africa efficiently and then fight me wherever he finds me with a safe bonus and the initiative on his side. This is a much nicer plan =D

In the game I spend too much income killing neutrals. Attacking malaysia turn 2 is unecessary, if dunga completes indo first (which is unlikely) we will have equal income and I a bigger stack, which is winning anyway. A stack on thailand is also good against Echina which is much more likely to be dungas first bonus. Attacking mexico is pointless. Attacking colombia guarantees we have equal income and I have smaller stacks, for no good reason. I overstretched myself by being aggressive in 2 places at once. Then the weakness of SEA shows itself, and the weakness of CA being less flexible against SA shows itself and it is gg.

This is a game at the limit of my understanding, so I didn't criticise dungas moves. He thinks about games very differently to me so hopefully he will come and comment too.

Thanks for your question lolowut,
Piggy

I agree that i got lucky geting the 1. The game would go on with a definitive advantage for you, but i would be the one attacking indonesia. It would be a very though first bonus to choose. But the risk paid of and i got the 1.

I didnt think i would get 123 really, so it was not a concern, it would be a game with no definitive advantage (probably a 60/40 because of china), i could go through alaska or either brake the wasteland in california.

I agree that your attack in indonesia was unnecessary, but you needed to use your knowledge somehow, and the major problem about the game was SEA, because you denied me my bonus, but your was too far away.

I do think i played very well in all SA situation, using momentum and being the one doing the threats instaed of being in danger. All was ok, but the game turn to me at turn 4 and 5. The fact the my threats were much more dangerous made me be able to hold both fronts and at turn 5 the game was almost over. I could even have predicted he running way and making a late 2 attack for an even better result.
But there i already had too much. He needed to waste armies to match my income, in which case would be impossible for him to hold both fronts.

It was a gg, and i think myself and piggy will be able to show lots of more high level games. I have the feeling that piggy commits a lot to the game, and think through most of the turns, and this games are always full of movements and tricks to learn.

And its an honor to be mentioned here as a high tier defeat of yours piggy. I know you could have bring a good victory if you wanted.

Piggy, I'd like to thank you for doing this. (Although I don't remember making the question). I learned a lot from both sides of the analysis, and I hope others did too! ^^

Dear Piggy,

First of all thanks for your advice :) It`s really helpfull.
I have a question that is bothering me for a while now (it doesn`t have a gamelink):

What is the best to do in the situation that you can see two of the three territories you need for a bonus (for example first turn of single-player lever 2). Let`s say I place 8 armies on Argentinia. What is the best to do?
1. attack both territories with 4 armies.
2. attack Brazil(or Peru) with 8
3. attack the one of the above with 5. so you are sure you will take it over and you have armies left to take over the other territories next turn.

I`m not asking this because of level 2, but because I come along of this alot in multi-player games and I mostly use option 1, but it gives you two territories to defend, while they don`t have that much armies on them.

^there are normal settings, nothing weird. (if it makes a lot of differents, please give your opinion on both 16% luck and 75% luck.

Thanks in advance,

Min34

Dear Min,

It depends on what is going on on the rest of the map. Option 1 is best if having leftovers is a good thing and flexibility at the start of next turn isn't important. Option 2 is best if you think you will bump into someone in N africa or Venezuela. Option 3 is best if flexibility is important at the start of next turn. These answers assume 16%, I think option 3 is a little better with 75% but I can't be sure.

Thanks for your question,
Piggy

Dear Piggy,

Is there anything specific you feel I did wrong in this ( http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3745784 ) game against Eeyore? I felt I played fairly well, but I am sure I made some mistakes as well. Do you think my odds of winning would have significantly increased had I not failed the 3v2 on turn 1 in SEA?

Dear Veldiryn,

Eeyore countered two of your picks with one of his, East China makes it very hard for you to hold indonesia and SEA. He was able to punish you for making the predictable (but fine) first turn bonus picks without having to take a risk with xinjiang, caucasus or middle east. If you were not in SEA and indonesia it is still a fine bonus. This situation is common, when there is a chance of taking SEA first turn, you can take EChina without risk, and counter SEA if the other person takes it. Sometimes when a player finds themselves unchallenged in a SEA first turn bonus they will take hong kong, incase their opponent is there.

You should have gone for South America before indonesia because you can complete it in 2 turns. You should have used your reinforcement card on turn 5.

You did play well, you kept trying to pop africa which is the only thing that could save you, and you didnt push into china when you didnt need to and avoided a counterattack etc.

Getting SEA first turn would hopefully have led you to go for south america, and you would have bumped into eeyore before he went to hong kong, you might have completed south america a turn before west africa and had a nice stack advantage there but in the end hong kong has so much control over both your bonuses. Eeyore only need keep enough on nigeria to keep you out and the rest can wreak havoc in SEA indonesia, so he has the advantage.

Thanks for the question,
Piggy

"You should have gone for South America before indonesia because you can complete it in 2 turns. You should have used your reinforcement card on turn 5. "

While that would have let me get 12 income after turn 3, I wasn't sure if that was actually worth it because it'd also have meant 12 income till turn 5 instead of 16 after turn 4.

Is that necessarily better? In the past I've always tried to prioritize moving at least one territory per turn in the long thin bonuses since otherwise it postpones when they can be completed no matter how many spare armies you have.

Whoops, wrong forum account. Veldiryn = me.