KOTH: Attack of the Clones

[dumbluck]

/shameless plug

The Art of War mod is supposed to fix this (when it's eventually finished...)

/shameless plug

[gregebowman]

I don't read this website everyday like I used to, but what the heck is KOTH? I'm assuming it's some sort of PBM game, but the abbreviation escapes me. Will this strategy you're talking about work in a solo game?

[oleg]

Originally posted by gregebowman:
I don't read this website everyday like I used to, but what the heck is KOTH? I'm assuming it's some sort of PBM game, but the abbreviation escapes me. Will this strategy you're talking about work in a solo game?

King of the Hill

[primitive]

King of the Hill is a one-on-one tournament on PBW.
The games tend to be very fast, many as short as 40 turns, so it is wise to use more agressive tactics than usual for longer games.

[Stone Mill]

Originally posted by Dralasite:

Maybe you can get the next person you match with to play a game where you don't pick 20/20/bezerk?

That would seem unusual. I would estimate that most people don't want to be told how to create their race. And they don't necesarily want to broadcast their stats. And this would be a pain in the butt to enforce.

I've never created a 20/20/berserk race, but the next time I play KOTH, I most certainly will, just to be on a level playing field.

DavidG and Zarix,
I love using intel and other strategies, and have been on winning teams in big PBW games because of it. In big games, there are many variables, so even a talisman player (see: beating the Talisman thread) is not an unstoppable threat. I would expect a 20/20/berserk race would have the same problems. So I still see the flexibility I enjoy in larger PBW games.

The difficulty lies in one-on-one games: If you go for the intel route, it is very, very risky against an agressive 20/20/berserker. If you are building intel facilities, you are foregoing those precious research and mineral facilities... so that will obviously put you behind the 8-ball. If you aren't dead from and early assault, you will find you may do plenty of damage, but intel alone won't win you the war... even the ships you capture will fight with your stats, not his! It seems like a nice complimentary tactic, but you will still need to slug it out with ships. And if you can't hit, you can't hit...

[Stone Mill]

As Fyron alluded (I think), choosing a warlike race also just makes plain sense in KOTH.

I also agree with his point about the Talisman being unrealistic in KOTH. You will never get to it. And the research you spend on it will rear it's ugly head when you are severely behind in all the fundamentals.

20/20/berserker is now the new fundamental start point. I have been playing SEIV from inception, I have listened to the good players, and watched what they do, and I am convinced.

Don't say that you haven't been warned...

[geoschmo]

Many of your points are valid Stone Mill. I don't suggest that KOTH is the only way to play. And do not suggest a player good at KOTH would be good at all types of SEIV games. That variety is one fo the beauties of SEIV.

Even if every player has the 20/20/berzerker traits you suggest, that still leaves 13 characteristics to tweak and all the advanced traits to choose from in an effort to gain an advantage over your opponent. There is still lots of room for variety in empire setup. Koth is a min/maxers dream.

And then there is the luck of the starting positions to account for. And in-game execution of strategy.

I think a good indication of the popularity of the format is the players that keep coming back for more even though they keep getting spanked.

Finding the formula for victory is the challange. Your suggestions are just one ingredient. An important one, but still just a part of the overall picture.

Personally though I would love the challange of a default or same empire setup. I think more than a few people would give it a try if it were suggested. Kind of like a stock car race. Then you'd really know it was all the skill of the driver.

Geoschmo