Round Two, More of a Punishment than a Reward?

[lament junco]

Given my previous post: https://discord.com/channels/465846009164070912/1064816155035959337
I now have to ask given these settings is round two actually more of a participation punishment?

Sounds like a SEVEN HOUR and thirty seven minute round two match has already been played. It was certainly played on a Risk board but with caps settings on was it even a game of Risk? The short answer is NO. These settings do not remotely resemble a game of Risk. These settings do not reward active play, nor passive play, strategic play, nor haphazard play, good neighbor play, nor bad neighbor play, fast play, nor slow play… Certainly those type of choices will affect the outcome, but there is no reward here. This is punishment. A tournament game that pretends to be Risk that could make a player never want to play Risk again simply doesn’t seem like a good idea to expose 1000+ players to. How many of them are relatively new to the game? And how many of those players will never return? Time will tell.

That said, I look forward to my match, but will I look back on it fondly? Will you enjoy yours? Win or lose I doubt it.

[wary ravine]

Maybe it’s supposed to be an endurance test? Not sure though

[lament junco]

Sure maybe, but it is known that these settings suck and would likely result in permanent stalemate if the lobby is all high level GMs, so they chose to include these settings early in the tournament. To what end to punish as many players as possible?

Btw this is fan-art… I don’t know if this is even my complete well reasoned opinion. It is just an opinion.

[turbid obsidian]

Average game time right now is around 3 hours and 30 minutes. If you remove the 7 hour game then that drops to 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Last three games have all been below a hour and 30 as well. Be aggressive(not to aggressive), pick on others and work together and you’ll get people out and get it going.

[lament junco]

Thanks, I really do look forward to my game. If I play my normal aggressive game… it’s sure to help the game end sooner…. with 2 or 7 points for me 😂😭😂

[turbid obsidian]

You a bit aggressive eh?

There is a good balance. You’ll want to snag a bonus asap but don’t get to weak. then try and get one or two more. Then with in the few turns working on clearing other players out and/or picking on someone to the point of elimination.

[lament junco]

I have figured out how to play the early game successfully whether I have an option for a portal cap or not, and how to grab a bonus or two and grow that into 3 or 4 without offending anyone too much, but beyond that it seems like you have to just sit and wait and wait and wait for someone else to make big mistakes. Even their small mistakes are not enough to advance the game, unless they miss fortify and leave power off cap.

If I try to slightly weaken a player who is growing too fast I’ll immediately get attacked by 1 or 2 other players. If I try to adjust positions so that both me and my neighbor can earn more, that neighbor will inevitably misunderstand and attack to both our detriment. If I try to explore the board just a bit this is interpreted as hyper aggressive and punished by the whole board.
If this is just a waiting game… then I guess I’ll wait, but it seems equivalent to starting a correspondence game of chess and then just waiting for your opponent to die of old age while waiting for your letter to arrive, then declaring loudly that you have had a great victory.

[shadow lintel]

My round 2 was disappointing to say the least... Going in with 13 points from my first round feeling pretty good about moving on. Get to final three players after some oddly played bounty kills were made. Then the grind began. The biggest player at the time didn't want to continue anymore and since I was the only one really playing of the three decided to suicide his 3k+ into me. Other player didn't understand caps and rather than give me second - mowed through the rest of my territories before ending the game by taking the suicide players cap which only had 1 troop left on it - leaving his bounty on the table. It's just unfortunate that I'm sure plenty of the players in rnd 2 will have their games ruined by someone who is just done playing.
Good luck in your game!