Alex, it's pretty obvious now that this guy is no one's alternate account. He's just too bad to be another Mal or even another Flawless. He also bought a membership.

True he isn't that bad but he is not the best

Well Alex the fact that you realized it after only 262 comments is remarkable!!

Your perceptions skills are improving consistently these days!!!

does the sarcasm come naturally?

Trulissa, why do you bully me!!!!

cuz shes mean

dead piggy, what do you mean 'the old triple trick' and why is that bad? and why do i see lots of 'good' players attacking 5v2 in the early rounds? that confuses me. it seems like a waste of armies. are they doing it when they think the other guy might be over there, so they can't lose to a 4v2?

Triple picking is putting your 123 picks in and around one bonus intending to take it fast. It is bad because you aren't able to expand very quickly after the initial boost you *sometimes* get from taking your first bonus a turn fast. In your game with dodo commander your income grew in line with his. Having your bonuses packed together means once one is broken the others follow shortly after so you can't simply sacrifice a bonus and go on the attack somewhere else (like dodo commander did). You also are easily counter picked especially if your opponent gets one of your top 3 picks.

I speak from experience,

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3204156

Show me an example of a good player attacking 5v2 in the early rounds and I'll be more specific but it's to ensure they have lots of armies in the right place for the start of the next turn and their next turn's deployment is more flexible.

In ladder settings you can't lose a 4v2.

ok i think my picking strategy works good against bad players but this is why i am losing the occasional game against good players instead of destroying them 95% of the time.

is there are article or post somewhere i can read on optimal territory selection against advanced players?

Against advanced players? There's no.. optimal picking strategy. There are 2 major picking styles, and then mixes in between. 'Aggressive' picks vs 'Safe' picks.

'Aggressive' picking has to do with planning the game to end at turn 6-7. You make this your goal, and so you focus your picks around the highest probability of breaking your opponent quickly. This includes risky options that normally would be glanced over, but would surprise your opponent and win the game.

'Safe' picking has to do with picking in a way that you get a nice even spread across the board and can effectively pin the opponent down to 1 area of the map. This has to do with more control of the board, and understanding of how to cut your opponent off in a decent manner.

Anything in between would involve either 2 safe picks, 1 aggressive pick, or 2 aggressive picks, 1 safe pick.

As far as I know, the majority of the advanced players are mixed. However, the best players in the game either stick to 1 or the other. Some don't even justify their picks using what I said above, and are more creative. 13Chris37 is a good example of this imo.

But neither style inherently wins out, unless the map is obviously favored to the safe picker, or to the aggressive picker. So when you ask: What is optimal? I pause to give you a clear answer until you understand the ideology behind picking strats.

The correct answer: None of these picking strats are ideal. Between advanced players, unless there is a huge mistake or a non-optimal order, picks rarely matter. Gameplay does.

What you should do? Look at the top players. Observe how they pick and play, then create your own variation. If your variation doesn't work, try something else.

What top players do? Change their strat dependent on the player, the settings, and the board at play.

cool thanks. i would definitely say that i'd want to be a safe picker, though i don't like that it's called safe and the other agressive. i've been owned by agressive play before but it's just cheap tricks and annoying, no real skill just some random surprise attack on round 1 or 2. fk that i like really long drawn out games where i mindfuck people and they want to break their keyboard cuz i came back and beat them even though they broke my bonus in 3 places and thought that had it cuz i'm such a genius. thats not 'safe'.

i nominate new names for those: Smart Pickers and Trickster Pickers

who is the best Smart Picker? i wanna watch some games.

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3439511

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=2097492

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3239533

http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=3401688

"http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=2097492 "

Libya as pick 2 (or any pick) right there = head asplode

i don't get that. at all.

He got extremely lucky that Nigeria in pick 6 game through. If it hadn't, libya is basically worthless right there imo

ok so the dead piggy picking strategy is instead of doing a triple pick, do three double picks, if possible, otherwise 2 double picks and 2 random 'safe' picks.

seems easy enough to switch to that, i'll try it for a bit.

lollipop was (I assume) going for safety and a multipick if he also got nigeria, and a counter to west africa if not. He didnt get lucky, he was *hoping* sze would pick nigeria. And then sze would spend some time taking it, only for it to be easily broken.

It's nice to see this thread has become civil.

I personally am an aggressive/trickster picker, but that's gotten me into trouble recently, I might switch to safe.

billy, u r trying to create simple rules on how to play this... its a little bit mroe complex than that

my picks are usually always the ame if i know the map if its the big world map that walrighters plays zombies on then i always go for south america it has the fastest bonus and i only need to protect a few areas whereas anywhere else entire fronts can be made evev in i dont xpand into africa and central america i have a pretty clear shot at asia through the pacific islands and hawaii plus i usually control the entire contintent by turn 5 or 6 because if its my game i have 22 picks so i can spread out this way i am the most formiddible threat the fastest and nobody really opposes me when im expanding (plus im good at making/breaking alliances)