Friend or Foal? (20260105)

[opal kraken]

Discuss strategies for Friend or Foal? (20260105)

[verbal tusk]

Haven't played this yet, but I'm questioning the title.

[frigid geyser]

Yaddak did propose an alliance. Had some luck with benders but made too slow of progress.

[low cliff]

Just convert aquarion shark

[exotic bone]

Started off strong and then didn't know where to go but temporarily Top 100 Diamond 🥹

I can't upload a screenshot

[verbal tusk]

You need to get to message level 3 to be allowed to post pictures and videos. It's a security feature. Just talk in public channels and you'll start to level up.

[vernal hound]

everyone else starts with 2 cities?? gee Bill

13 stars tho

[snow drift]

got destroyed by sharks😂

[slender glade]

Best start yet, #169😎

[lime lantern]

this is a really difficult challenge ;-;
the bots start with units that are far out and close to your spawn, 2 cities each, more techs, some capital upgrades, and more stars and spt, all you get is 8 extra starting stars and that's it
no idea how to do this one well x3

[hollow parcel]

Well this one is interesting, all will be in getting the right moves in the first couple turns so that then one can steamroll. Trial and error should be the title

[vagrant marsh]

I was on a roll converting enemies in their villages, but then they all teamed me and got taken out by like turn 14. Converting with your MB is a good starting strat to get the surrounding villages, but then you gotta switch to stronger units quickly after that

[raven dawn]

i personally rushed naval

took over one of the oumaji cities with mindbender

and other with my naval

also yadakk proposed peace

i agreed

and then i pushed aquarion

and after i invaded yad

but it was too long

i didnt take over everyone

[green lance]

Sounds like we are all going to take a while with this one

[fickle tangle]

Congrats !-[mayhem]-!. Your recent activity just advanced you to level 5!

[worn palm]

I did really well (for me) on the first try, still in top 100 for the first time ever. I used mind benders to steal a city from aquarion and took over their capitol with scouts and their own converted unit. Then oumaji was easy to take over with mind benders, yadak kept making defenders and i converted a lot of them, i then used catapults so i could walk in and siege with converted defenders. It seemed a pretty random strategy at the time but it worked somehow. Not sure if i'll be able to improve on the first try at all :p

[snow drift]

make a lot of MBs?

[tulip mist]

Yeah I think MB’s is the way to go, they all shield up really quickly. Just the start is difficult, where they have like 7 riders near your city, but they take each other out I think

[green lance]

I did similar but late game, aqarion got me. Did you move your scouts round the edge?

[worn palm]

Yes but only in the end. And, i killed aquarion first, then oumaji , then moved to yaddak. For aquarion capitol i used two scouts and a captured amphibian. Also had a captured shark but i kinda wasted that one. I used 3 mindbenders in total, two i sent first to aquarion and then yaddak, and one to oumaji together with warriors and a scout.

I think i got lucky though. cause the others were just fighting each other a lot in the beginning. And i didnt develop economy very well.

[faint reef]

I got crunched and frustrated from the jump. Is a second MB on turn 0, effective?

[exotic bone]

It was for me since the riders can't one shot your MBs they can group together and one can MB while the other heals or separate them and try to convert multiple units

[vagrant marsh]

Got obliterated again, but this time I couldn't convert any units in enemy villages resulting in only two villages that were all taken on T20...

[faint reef]

Yep me too. I keep getting mauled by the Aquarian. I turn the guy in the city and they kill him I heal my MB and this repeated a few rounds. Finally got a little more footing but no better result. As soon I thought I had traction a Knight wiped me out … ugh. This has been painful

[tulip mist]

Pff made one different step in the beginning and got absolutely crushed before turn 5. Just resigned…

[lucid helm]

Your weekly map is here! Hope it helps 🙂

[hollow parcel]

We need to make a side quest, who take n2 win

[cloud prism]

I got population from 1

[frigid geyser]

I really pushed and made some progress but scored less this time. Got stuck in a loop where a shark would land in a city, id convert it, another shark would eat it, id convert that shark... Probably lasted 6 turns

[lucid helm]

#12 diamond league: started with 2 mind benders and went for peace monument

[dry forge]

I did that too and was wiped out by turn 6. Diamond league

[hollow parcel]

Cloak is the play, early embassies are good eco, end peace can take out a lot of pressure. Then cloak spam do the rest

[fickle tangle]

Congrats feyd. Your recent activity just advanced you to level 9!

[sand ridge]

Good map for diplomacy

I didn’t do that tho

I got all monuments and just barely captured everyone on the final turn and I’m just barely outside the leaderboard at the moment

[hot perch]

I got 21k from a lot of mind benders. I think it's easier if Aquarion don't get too strong, otherwise it just gets infested with sharks.

[versed heron]

does anyone have good sense of what triggers Aq to pump sharks or not? Is it as simple as how many units you get close to it's cities?

[stiff otter]

On the tile with the 3, should be a village, isn't there?

[versed heron]

it's a ruin at the start, but when Aq finds water ruins they spawn into cities

[vagrant marsh]

I assume teaming up against Aquarion firat is prudent?

I just convered an Aq rider and realized its benefits on water! (Free boat)

[faint reef]

Thanks all! Great advice I did much better tonight. Still unable to clear the field but much better 12,685. It feels less daunting thx

[vagrant marsh]

I've also finally breached 10k!

Definitely room for improvement for next time as well!

[green lance]

Ye just watched @fierce palm video and it makes so much sense

[frigid geyser]

Got diplomacy t0, all my peace offers rejected 😭, overrun by sharks

[frigid geyser]

3 units!?!

[versed heron]

that's almost certainly from disbanding on the last turn in order to upgrade cities. Might be worth checking out some of the week challenge youtube play throughs, T20 is all about points optimization

[frigid geyser]

Ahhh right right. Easy to forget about such things when you're still fighting for your life on t20

[tulip mist]

Amazing! And how did you start? I find it difficult to find the right beginning in this one

[tulip mist]

They don’t accept my peace haha

[hollow parcel]

I sell them all

[hollow parcel]

That's the hard part

[hollow parcel]

But pretty much the first turn are as lingueeni

Yesterday a retry fixig some errors turn9, but made a new mistake later and arrived 30pt below my max...

[raven dawn]

max i got was top 294, around 20k score

my strategy was training second mind bender and pushing first one to the middle

converting enemies

and then i converted shark on south city

captured the city

and then using this shark took aqua's capital

and then using cloaks and mindbenders i destroyed all others

[hollow parcel]

The multi account situation is growing out of hand

[frigid geyser]

Lol well there goes today's shot

[hollow parcel]

Today didn't make the same errors ad yesterday upped my points of 2k

Now i don't know what else to' optimise

Only way to increase points is to make more temples t12, so need to make faster markets

[sudden moon]

Ramdingler crushed my top score 😁 I'm SloveniaPoly7

[hollow parcel]

Hi, 20pt from you ahahah

You to do cloak?

[copper skiff]

I found a really good opening

[hollow parcel]

Hi

We can see that, my cant do 30k right now, maybe i can squeeze 1k, but that's also difficult, i maxed citys, so or temples or more optimal placement, but don't know how

[hollow parcel]

At what turn you get going markets?

[copper skiff]

10

[hollow parcel]

First market for me is t11, and only lv3

That can be optimised

Tomorrow will try

[copper skiff]

I still need to optimise a bunch

[hollow parcel]

Is the opening the same as your yt video?

[copper skiff]

I also wanna try some other openings

[hollow parcel]

I cant, single account will lock me out of optimisation

[copper skiff]

Can’t say since I want number 1

[hollow parcel]

You have all the podium ahahah

[copper skiff]

I got phone,pc and laptop

Buy another account?

I could get another on my old phone but I ain’t that crazy

[hollow parcel]

The problem is not to have different devices, is that i don't want to' spend that much time and move from one device to the other ahahha

[copper skiff]

It’s all about optimisation for temples and markets

You’re already top 10

Congratulations

[hollow parcel]

Yep understand that, will study my game and try to optimise it, for sure i have one cloak too much

[hollow parcel]

Was 2 before yesterday

[copper skiff]

I mean you’re actually top 4 if you think about it

[hollow parcel]

True ahahah

[copper skiff]

lol

[raven dawn]

its insane though

3 alts

lmao

[copper skiff]

2 alts

[raven dawn]

i meant 3 accounts

[copper skiff]

What can I say. I love Polytopia

[raven dawn]

https://tenor.com/view/johnklipi-polytopia-3d-gif-4702942229007749868

[hollow parcel]

Also in diamond so you need to keep them up to speed

Well looking at it i have some order optimisation than can boost my eco/military of a couple turns, assuming the bots don’t change too much their behaviour

A lot of optimisation is possible, wow, didn't expect that much, can atk omaji 3 turn earlier

@copper skiff will come for you, on a a single account;)

[wary palm]

This is quite an efficient market setup but could be better with 3 sawmills in a row

[hollow parcel]

Do you expand gogol before the other?

Looks fine but also more work to set them up

[hollow parcel]

I had used this one, tomorrow will try optimised start and then study a better markets

[wary palm]

Yes

[hollow parcel]

My rub omaji to the expansion before gogol

[sudden moon]

Yes. I do cloak at turn 2 and send it to aquarion capital. Before that I create embassy with oumaji and send peace treaty which is accepted. I also only have one account. Not enough time to play more than one game per day...

[runic tree]

lol

[vocal matrix]

Hello 👋🏻

[runic tree]

guess I need temples

[tulip mist]

How do you guys capture everything?? I didn’t find a good start yet…

[sudden moon]

Here is a hint: only one mindbender goes to the right and then to forrest tile. Upgrade city with hunting on t0. Develop Diplo and embassy plus peace with oumaji. Cloak on t2. Send it to aquarion capital or to closest yaddak city that will be empty on t4. Don't worry about aquarius rider as it will attack the city where you use mindbender. That should give you a great start to get to top 20. But don't know how to overtake ramdingler. Need to think about another strategy.

[hollow parcel]

Well found some optimisations in my strategy, BUT i messed up a couple of stuff and lost many start due to omaji taking back a city from me… suppose tomorrow i can try again

[gloomy echo]

My opening (15k) double MB strat

I take hunting and meditation, upgrade capital t0 and take explorer to get all the greeting stars on t0 train another mb and take another t1 tech

T1 i move my top mb down to the mountain to convert that aqua rider. I push my second MB up to oumaji to take their first village

With your aqua rider you can explore the ocean and get the four corners early without investing into fishing and with t0 peace and converting you can get alter of peace by t5

Not the best strategy but if you're struggling to get past 10k it's a decent start

[frigid geyser]

Copied a Ramdinger opening on YouTube through turn 7 or so. Will try and replicate from memory tomorrow and do some better planning. Missed altar of peace out of foolishness

[copper skiff]

Well done 👏

[cloud prism]

I keep getting rushed. I've done two different strategies that I saw and both times I get rushed vs finishing with a 20k+ score.

[maiden spire]

Spawn a bunch of mind readers, make one friend for a while then take the rest. The bot is erratic and doesn’t fight hard

[versed heron]

the key thing I've found is to avoid attacking or mindbending Oumaji early on so they'll take a treaty, and focus on putting pressure on Aquarion so they go defensive and don't spam sharks. This is a really high variance challenge, some minor shifts in the early game can crack things wide open

[vagrant marsh]

@copper skiff The real question is, why didn't you name your second alt "Ramdangler" then it would have looked like:
Ramdingler
Ramdongler
Ramdangler

[oblique thistle]

Ramdengler
Ramdungler
Ramdyngler

[verbal tusk]

This depends on which league you're in. I'm guessing you're in a lower league where the bots are easier. In the diamond league, the bots are crazy, and they will fight.

[maiden spire]

Thank you. I didn’t know that, very helpful!

[hollow parcel]

Don't say those names in front of the mirror

[hollow parcel]

Well today failed to top my previous score. Too hard to optimise without multiple try. Optimising means walking on the edge of failure

[shy nexus]

All the bots opted into defenders for some reason so I was set with my mindbenders.

[vocal matrix]

I learned a bit this week 🙂 Two weeks in a row my best game was my first 😌

[tulip mist]

So no meditation for altar of peace in the beginning? And they won’t go for your capital directly?

[hollow parcel]

I do altar the last 5 turn after no more bots are on the maps

[sand ridge]

Mind bending won’t ruin pacifist monument

So I got T0 meditation and got altar of peace early on because I mainly used my mind bender

[gloomy echo]

same

[spare plume]

Thank you. This advice moved me from sub 10,000 to just over 20,000 in one run. First time I eliminated any of the bots and I was able to eliminate all of them on t19

[noble spade]

I found this SO difficult. Went from demotion to promotion from gold league on the last day. Brilliant map so much to learn!

[hollow parcel]

Today better but not enough, looking forward to tomorrow to see what you have done @copper skiff gg

[sudden moon]

Almost ... But high score failed to upload... 31,845
I'm not sure why I can't add screenshot. Wouldnt be nice if I overtook Ramdingler 😂

[hollow parcel]

No pic no score? XD can imagine the frustration

[sudden moon]

I got the same error several times in the past when my internet connection was not good. But this time I had perfect connection and other websites were working. And clicking ok when asked to upload again doesn't work... Devs?

[mighty kestrel]

Doesn’t work as in fails again?

[sudden moon]

I clicked 10 times and nothing happened. Then I clicked on cancel. Then on the high score list it says rank invalid. I would attach screenshot but doesn't work for me.

[fickle tangle]

Congrats r717. Your recent activity just advanced you to level 1!

[mighty kestrel]

Hmm... could you tap the top right corner five times and send the logs to me in DM? I'm suspecting that the backend validation of the game fails, for whatever reason.

[sudden moon]

Here are the logs from Battle of Polytopia 2.16.0.15379

Here are the logs from Battle of Polytopia 2.16.0.15379

[hollow parcel]

It happened weeks ago one time to me too

Sucks

[mighty kestrel]

Nothing stands out in the logs, but the game is marked as invalid on the backend. When I run the replay of it it seems to have an invalid city level up in there for some reason.

Huh. It says you're trying to build a water temple on a tile with coordinates 1493172229, 12. so like... data corruption? Turn 18.

[sudden moon]

No idea. The game behaved like always and I didn't see anything strange.

[narrow glen]

Doesn’t matter what I do, my first mind bender gets rushed and killed on T2, silver league 😓

[raven dawn]

💀