Hello all. I am not a very good player when it comes to 1v1 and I have a low win rate. I think my main weakness is when I come across someone, no matter what turn it is. I think my picks are ok but my strategy crumbles when I find someone. So if you have any helpful tips can you please put them here!

I really want to improve and level up, like everyone, but also improve my win rate.

Thanks!

What I try to do is to look what picks look the best, then try and pick to counter those. 1 of my picks is in a bonus where I can grow.

Hope the little wisdom I have helps you :D

First of all, forget win ration! Start thinking about things that matter in game, not after the game!

If you speak of strategy, then play for and by it!

First lets get the basics over with few questions?
- Do you know the difference of No-Luck Cycle, Cycle and random movement?
- I take that granted that you understand manual is strategic, Automatic rather of more luck, random - but still is strategic in balanced map more or less.
- Luck factor, Card factor! Eliminating them will let you play with option of Pure skill.

So, my advice would be. Prefer to play with:
- No-Luck Cycle
- No Luck, No Cards
- Manual Distribution

Find balanced maps! Earth is the standard Rank-Ladder version so prefer it. Cards are fun and good things, but they change the strategy. Better perfect the core strategy that derivates from variables such as territory picking, Initial-basic income and how to use Cyclic movement to benefit for your moves.

Think moves ahead. Not what you can get after 1-turn but in next few turns. Understand that defense ratio is higher than attack ratio - meaning if you have higher chance killing enemy armies at defending, but this does not mean it is best-option for any case. Try to understand what situation needs!

Game-Geopolitics is term I use to understand the map. Words like expansion area, contact area, bottlenecks-bridges. Try to achieve position where you can easily defend your territories, put make it harder for enemy to defend. Sometimes (actually most of the times) its better to have slightly lower income, put better position in board - like having bottleneck-bridge territories under your control while threatening enemy bonuses. If it is small map then you should have slight knowledge where your enemy is located, try to figure out his exact income and on territory you will meet him - like on earth map evasive attacks happen a lot. And for the last - what is best place to study, learn than history! So after every game before rushing into playing another, take your time and study the history what you did wrong and was it preventable!

I am rookie as well in 1vs1. Put this would be fast 5 minute course to this game logic.

1. Norman from M'Hunters has a pretty solid combat guide that consists of formalized rules for good gameplay- he's used them to program two very successful bots for the Warlight AI challenges: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NyhCpIQKShAbWGXicO_ph9whV_UyMS-3a7_re0C7R8Y/edit#heading=h.g1s8mzy7wor0

2. Head to the 1v1 ladder: https://www.warlight.net/LadderSeason?ID=0

Click on the profiles of each of the top 10 (so the box on the bottom left). Check their gameplay, looking at the last 10 completed games of each. Go to Menu->History, start from Distribution (view both players' picks and think about why they picked what they picked) and go all the way until Surrender/Elimination (obviously, ignore games that ended in a boot unless it was late into the game). Warlight is a game of decision-making- i.e., thinking- so try and figure out why each player did what they did, and how these decisions interacted.

You'll notice that there's no clear-cut "best" choice each turn- a lot of the combat here is rock-paper-scissors. For example, suppose your map had one FTB (First-Turn Bonus)- say, Scandinavia. If you counterpick that FTB, then you've got a high chance of beating someone whose pick strategy centered around getting that FTB. However, they could be expecting the counterpick and have picked around that. But suppose they did that... and you didn't actually counter the FTB, you just went for it yourself- now you get the FTB and you're at an advantage. So A > B > C > A (actually happens a lot of the time in Ladder games, sometimes players don't pick or counter the FTB, expecting the FTB to be countered- and making it very easy to take the FTB). That said, though, there are clearly better approaches to the game, ones that succeed more often that others because they better account for the cumulative range of possibilities throughout the game. So you should try and glean that from gameplay, PM'ing players with questions if you don't understand their moves.

On top of that, just play more games and read more forum posts that are about the game. You've got a long way to go (as do I and a lot of other players). Good luck!

Edited 7/8/2015 20:46:33

• https://www.warlight.net/wiki/Basic_Strategy
  
• https://www.warlight.net/wiki/Combat_basics
  
• https://www.warlight.net/wiki/Advanced_Strategy
  

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You could PM me, to ask for 1v1 ladder game to be created. Make sure you analyze it!

So guys, thanks to your strategies I won a game. I don't want to brag and I know I have a long way to go but I just wanted to share what I did to win:
Link: https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=9060585

As there was a FTB (First Turn Bonus) pick available, I grabbed that, whilst at the same time picking spots in which bonuses could be grabbed a bit later. I also made sure I did eight picks, so if I missed out on any I knew where my opponent was. On turn 1 I got the FTB and expanded in Central America, Africa and the Indonesian islands so I could have a good base income. Then when I met him on turn 3, I decided to place all 11 troops on Malaysia, and forget about the SA bonus at that point, I also had 1st move order so I used that to my advantage, so I did. Finally on turn 4 I decided to get the SA bonus and get at least one of the EC bonus territories, knowing it'd reduce his income, I also knew he'd attack me like I did to him on turn 3, so I made sure to fortify it.

I am aware this is only a beginning step, but I think I'm becoming better at analyzing my moves and what picks I should take. The abbreviations should be understandable when you look at the history though.

Ryzys - There is no good 1v1 strategy. The trouble is that is too much of a blanket. How many combinations of maps/settings are possible (your game was not on ME even)? You'd need to limit your discussion to 1v1 ladder IMO. And the best thing to do there is study games between people at the top of the ladder head to head. You'll see the most competitive games that way. Once you get decent at the ladder, you can apply the same logic to other maps (efficient bonuses, long term expansion, counters, etc.)

When you find the other person, stop trying to take new bonuses and deploy all your armies to fight your enemy. Try to take a territory in each of his bonuses so he loses income, rather than trying to kill his existing armies.

Ryzys, maybe the GG Warlight Strategy Guide can help you improve:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B024HXqzvoGCejhhajNFa1ZOVlE/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 4, what is mostly about what to do when meeting your enemy should be most helpful for you.

Thanks for the PDF file Orange. I'd read it before but not thoroughly, it actually contains good stuff in there too.

Thanks for sharing that link, Orange! It's a worthwhile read.

Unless your picking strategy has improved in the last two weeks it needs work. A lot of work. The picks you made in the autogame listed as one of your favorite games were very bad.

Unless your picking strategy has improved in the last two weeks it needs work. A lot of work. The picks you made in the autogame listed as one of your favorite games were very bad.

Coming from a player whose won TWO 1v1's, that is so rich. And if my picks were bad then why did I end up winning the match. <<< I know that I just gave you the cut!

The Idiot Savant truly lives up to his name then.

EDIT: Idiot Savant, like knyte said if you wanna be helpful post one of your match links so I'm able to see what you chose.
I also edited out the alt account bit

I created this forum for more experienced players to share good strategies, and you obviously came out to criticize me, which doesn't help. So why don't you just sod off and continue your idiot ways if you provide nothing useful!

Edited 7/22/2015 05:31:36

^ Idiot Savant is clearly the alt of a good player. Look at the game he posted asking for advice. He knows how to play.

That said, I would also appreciate it if he outlined some pick strategies himself if there's anything he's got to add to the two guides already posted.

"And if my picks were bad then why did I end up winning the match."

Your opponent was completely and utterly terrible. That doesn't mean that beating them proves you played well.

Game in question: https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=9054858

Your opponent makes three picks, all in the same area.

Greenland and Scandinavia are typically good picks. Europe is not. Europe is only a good pick when it can be used like this: https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=9140961

Your picks, while arguably better were still bad. Very bad actually. Your 1/2/3 were a ftb and its counter, against a good player you'd have been hosed so bad it isn't funny because they'd have likely gotten south africa and left you with South America and Antarctica.

1/2/3 in the same region is bad enough, 4/5/6 in the same region as them is far worse. You want a good spread over the entire board. North Africa as 4 is also terrible. It's not only the same size as east or west africa while providing equal income, but it has a wasteland in it. If you were going to pick N/W/E Africa as 4/5/6 (which you shouldn't), at the very least you should have picked North Africa as 6 so you only got it if your opponent had both west and east africa.

Please don't try and fool yourself into thinking that beating this: 1v1: 21 / 281 (7%)

is a sign of having played well in that particular game.


What you asked for when making this thread was criticism, just because you're unable to take criticisms without getting defensive and angry doesn't make those criticisms any less accurate.

To Idiot Savant:

This might be a bit late, but when I created this forum, I wanted to ask players (mainly the experienced ones) on advice on how to improve, not criticism as I never posted a link for my first post. ChrisCMU and DanWL helped in a way, along with others, but you- sort of.

It also doesn't matter if my opponent was rubbish, a win is still a win. In your game link you provided you played a player who had crap picks also. So the link you provided is just like mine IMO- crap picks, poor play from opponent.

Also my opponent had far better stats than what you posted, and at that time I was worse both statistically and strategically than him.

To make you happy, I'll post a link to a recent match I won (autogame strategic 1v1, on ME like Chris suggested)- which can be found here: https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=9197382. I'll admit my opponent didn't pick well, whereas I did. I also know that I played well that match. Plus my picks would be better according to you as I got a good spread over the map. But you'd probably say my opponent was/is rubbish (at the time I had worse stats than him)

Also, the link you posted of my games was different to the one I posted.

Edited 8/9/2015 04:05:13

thank you Ryzys i found this tread helpfull since i am no good at 1v1 games

Alex would you like to verse me in a 1v1 (multiday, using the Strat 1v1 template)? If so PM me and I'll make it