Problem: You are playing strategic 1v1 and there is one bonus that is the standout best- no counter chance, first turn bonus, think the lord of all the bonuses. You know that both you and your opponent will have it as the number one pick, leaving you with a coin flip for who gets it. Coin flips are not fun.

Solution: Instead of assigning your picks a priority (lets say 1-6) you are given a set amount of "chips" that you can place during distribution stage. You distribute these chips any way you see fit, and starting territories are assigned based on how you and your opponent used the chips.

Example: Lets use the same starting problem scenario, but instead of making picks 1-6 you each have 20 chips to assign. You decide you are willing to place 10 of them on the bonus, your opponent places 15, they get the bonus, however you used your extra 10 chips to get other solid bonuses and your opponent is left with junk. Neither player gets to see how the other distributes their chips just like now you can't see the others picks, and you could place chips during distribution much like you place reinforcements now.

I think this would be interesting for a few reasons:

1) It would mix up distribution a crazy amount- distribution is one of the elements that normally doesn't change and it can get stale

2) You could place a more exact value on your starts- you could do crazy things like value multiple territories exactly the same by spending equal chips on them, or you could dump everything on you start you can't live without and be left with random other picks.

3) It allows for a lot of meta game- think if you expect your opponent to spend a lot on one bonus you could ignore it entirely (or spend a small amount on a counter) and the rest of your picks would have more force behind them.

4) Overall it would be interesting to see how the community adapts and strategies change.



I know this would take coding to make happen, for now its just an idea and I would like to hear what the community thinks. Sound interesting? Drawbacks I am missing? Confused?

Also, I am aware of uservoice, I may submit it, but for now I think the forum will allow for more discussion.

Sounds interesting.

You should try it out manually. By that I mean find an opponent you trust, encrypt your chip distributions and send them through chat (1), and then pick based on the bids.

(1) Encrypt using the same method as this variant: http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread?ThreadID=5052

Sounds awesome. If you're looking for someone to test with I would love to help.

Fizzer, what is the encryption for? Is there a way to do this without using a third party to tell you which picks you end up with?

Nice idea. i like it a lot

Tigger and lolo are playing a game at the moment, I acted as the third party to determine the picks, I will post the link here when it is over (or one of them will), and hopefully they will have some feedback about it.

very interesting idea.
but what if both players put same # of chips one first pick?

Chaos- I was thinking about this and the only way I see it working is to have the third party flip a coin before hand to determine who gets it. You couldn't let them both pick it because then you would also have to give both of them an extra pick, and they would both know they both know about that bonus. If that makes sense.

Perhaps to minimize the chance of this occurring I could assign a higher number of chips, making the probability of an exact match less likely. But that is imperfect.

using a third party in some way is best i think.

another variant: submit 8 picks to a third. arty. the third party uses a practice game (or some other method) to determine the pick order. both players are told which picks they can have and are given the option to use the 7th and/or 8th pick(s) as a substitute for the last 2 spots they end up with.

giving players more control over their picks would make "strategic 1v1s" more strategic.

I like the idea a lot too.

I think you need a third party because people cheated in the pick your opponents one. They would just submit their own picks instead of what you picked for them.

Speaking of which, there needs to be some sort of enforcement method for that. Like you are able to boot a player from a tournament that cheats, or something.

If any makes a game with this i will play.

omg! incredible! a new idea i really like! :D
great idea, i'd like to see it implemented, especially since strategic 1V1 gets a bit repetitive after a while, especially picking phase.
it would also be nice for 2V2, but might be harder to implement (if both teammates put chips on something etc.) or maybe a shared pool to encourage more communication during picking

We have a few practice games going, depending on how they go and if there is interest I will start up a silent auction game creation thread. I wouldn't mind being the third party for any games that people want to set up together