This trick requires basic knowledge and some advanced knowledge of the game to understand.

Let's establish the foundation first:

- A “set of ODs” is a situation where both players use 1 Order Delay card at the same time. When a set of ODs is played, move order stays the same.
- From now on I’ll refer to “a set of ODs” just as “ODs”. In order to keep the next part understandable, we’ll have to divide a turn into a few relevant phases: before ODs, between ODs and after ODs (see the image below).



- The “after ODs phase” is irrelevant for the trick. It’s just the phase where actual moves are executed.
- The “between ODs phase” will always flip move order. That's why in a situation where 2 sets of ODs are played (t37 https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=33173841) move order might intuitively end up looking wrong, but based on the algorithm it is in fact correct.

Now that you understand the basics, it’s time for the trick:

The “before ODs phase” has two different possible outcomes:

1. If there are no moves in this phase, move order does not get flipped.
2. If there is any move in this phase, move order gets flipped, just like how the “between ODs phase” works. The game however does recognize a 0-move (https://www.warzone.com/Forum/652358-warzone-secre) as a valid move in this situation, and will therefore flip move order already if the “before ODs phase” consists solely of one 0-move.

So, if you make a 0-move prior to your OD card in a situation where you don’t have any actual attacks prior to your OD card, you can make sure that move order always ends up in a certain way after the ODs. This means you’ll be able to pick your amount of delays more precisely and that you’ll be more likely to out-delay your opponent.

A few notes:

- The OD trick only works if your opponent doesn't have any moves in the "before ODs phase", which doesn't matter for the usefulness of the trick since any moves in the “before ODs phase” would already flip move order.
- The trick could technically work in the “between ODs phase”, but it requires an actual move too and is therefore deemed useless.
- It doesn't matter if one or two players use this trick: as long as there is a move in the "before ODs phase", move order gets flipped.

Edited 5/23/2023 08:39:47

Just beautiful!

Remember kids, to always flip your move order. 10/10

Didn't know about 0s. Will bump Fizzer's pseudocode of order delays here.

Collect each player's orders into queues

while any queue is non-empty:  
  if the top order in every non-empty queue is an order delay card:
    remove the delay card from the top of each non-empty queue
   
  for each player, sorted by the game's move order:
    if the top order for this player's queue is not an order delay card:
      dequeue the top order in this player's queue and execute it

  reverse the game's move order

That means double-order delays will switch move order.

Practice: https://www.warzone.com/SinglePlayer/Level?ID=1399971

Edited 5/23/2023 10:57:22

Gak has 200 IQ

Credit to Gokbaba for testing this out

Aside from the actual workings of OD cards, this should mean that 0 moves are no different than real moves until the next couple of orders are dequeued.
That is, 0 moves are removed from the move order only in the next iteration of the loop kallisti posted and only in the part where orders are processed, not cards.

At least I think that's why a 0 move produces the same effect as an actual move in this case. The code could behave differently.

Edited 5/23/2023 12:47:50

All these tricks work because the system doesn't know in advance if your order is going to be executed or not. And while that happens the procedure enters the phase of reversing the move order at the end regardless. It is a loophole.

For example, if you have a moveset like
A BB AA B0,
then even though B0 is a failed to execute order it still REVERSES the cycle. But you never notice that, since move order gets a reset the next turn.

Edited 5/23/2023 14:16:35

nice

edit: awesome how we keep expanding knowledge warzone is a crazy game

Double edit: cooler even when ppl share to public

Edited 5/23/2023 14:37:39