Hello, Good Sirs of the forum!

I'd like to have this 1v1 thoroughly analyzed. It'll be a great learning experience. My main question is, could I have won it? I would think so if I hadn't made so many mistakes while playing. But it's not just that, I'm also asking about my picks.

https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=10817387

Notes I have taken:

• Limited expansion. "Safe" bonuses but probably (emphasis on probably, I'll let you be the judge of that) not ideal considering Africa & the North were completely open to expansion from other starting territories.
  
• Wasted some armies on expansion in late game.
  
• Made unlucky attacks
  
• Exposed myself on Turn 6. Assumed enemy wasn't there.
  
• Enemy also happens to be a big jerk.
  

If you have any advice, please share it with me!

So, here's my analysis of that game. But lets put aside your last note, as it is always irrelevant to the result.

Picks
So, you picked EC, WC, ER, AUS, AA and South America. The problem with that is if you get your first three picks you would effectively have a triple-pick, and give your opponent more expansion, which, in this case happened. The reason triple picking is bad is because it confines you to one area of the map and allows barely any expansion.

If I were you, I'd have picked something like Scand, Greenland, South America, AA, ER and WR. This allows for either 11 APT if you get picks 1,3 and 4 or 12 (albeit with correct play) if you get picks 1,2 and 3. And it also has all of Africa, Australia, Europe & WR and Mexico to expand into (30 or 31 APT provided your opponent isn't there).

The good thing with your picks though is they weren't in any bad bonuses, in this case Indonesia, ME, NA, South Africa, West & East US, Canada, ER, Europe, Caucasus, Australia (3 turns, or 2 with wastelanded pick) and SEA.

Gameplay
Turn 6: Why the 1v1 on Omsk? Totally un-necessary and it gives your position away, as you said. Never do a 1v1 or 2v1 in any case unless: a) you are 100% certain your opponent will not be able to see it, b) if it's a puppet attack (1v1) to help you take a neutral with a 2v1 or c) if it's a puppet attack (1v1) to take an enemy territory. Anyway, in Australia you can assume the enemy will just defend, so in this case just keep adding enough while you fight in CR.
Turn 9: Use the OP card to move your stack of 21 to Thailand then blockade there, it costs you -3 income but you've blocked your bonuses off for at least 3 turns. If you'd done that, then we could assume it would be 21 APT vs 20 APT.

General Advice
* Don't triple-pick, it rarely works
* Always attack neutrals of 2 with 3, it should always work
* Pick where there is lots of expansion possibilities

@OP, if you want a 1v1 match, PM me, and I can give you more pointers there. Just make sure it's multi-day though

Edited 3/25/2016 19:35:14

Quick notes from a mediocre player:

Picks:
I don't like putting my first 3 picks in the same area. As you said, it leaves other areas wide open to expansion (Scandinavia & Greenland is the most obvious spot). Especially in 0% SR, covering the map is generally more important than combos. Later this game, you find yourself with no expansion opportunities, which is because you put all your picks in one spot.

Turn 1:
I agree with your decision to take East Russia first, but it does make me wonder why you bothered going for a combo in East/West China if you weren't going to take it immediately.

Turn 4:
Why are you attacking Tomsk...? That's a wasteland bonus, you're not going to take it.

Turn 5:
I guess taking Tomsk is alright since it has a double-border on China, but I'd have used those armies elsewhere. Good job anticipating Australia.

Turn 6:
Yeah, so there are several things wrong with attacking Omsk. First, attacking a neutral 2 with 1 army doesn't save you any armies; in fact, you end up with 1 less army than if you'd waited and taken it with 3. Secondly, you're still in a wasteland bonus, so that territory is pretty useless. If you were countering West Russia, that would be fine, but the 1-army tap gives away your position so that's pointless. If you wanted to expand into West Russia - well you shouldn't have made all your picks surrounded by wasteland bonuses.

Turn 8:
By this point, the game is over, but I have one thing to point out: You didn't get a card piece this turn. When you have that much income, it's generally worth it to place 2 or 3 armies somewhere random and just take a territory, so you can guarantee yourself a card piece (Iran would've been a good spot, or perhaps Borneo). Now your opponent will have an extra 5 armies this turn.

Turn 9:
Not really sure what you hoped to accomplish by taking Jessej, which only opens you up further.

Edited 3/25/2016 19:55:41

I'm surprised. Most people don't even try to spell my username correctly. They'd rather settle for "clickpig" or "ASwe4trFStsiefhgua".

"wtf is that username did you just slam your face on the keyboard?"

Edited 3/26/2016 00:19:19

I just put OP to save me some trouble. People even have trouble spelling my name as well, I hate it

Thanks for all the advice! Didn't want to end the thread on a weird note, so here's a sign of my improvement (yes it is my alt):
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=10845319

Thank goodness for telling me not to triple pick. And no need to analyze the game above, but I guess you can if you want. He was a noob anyway.

Edit: used wrong link. fixed now.

Edited 3/29/2016 21:08:23