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Casual tourney 2 - round 1 JB-- vs. waxoid
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waxoid

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waxoid

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I took some screenshots of round 1 game vs. JB--, figured I'd post here for fun. Close pair of games. I took screenshots after my move, so you have to interpolate what JB-- did. I've realized I need to take screenshots zoomed out, as some of these shots suffer from not letting you see what's happening on the edges (quite important on this map).

JB-- is a very dangerous veteran, a tough draw for round 1. I don't think either of us would want to point to these games as the apex of uniwar play, both of us had distractions going on including JB-- playing from vacation, but hey it is a 'casual tourney' and we just played a couple of games, let's see what happened!

First, here's the round 1 map. AzureIsle3, a diabolical, nasty and altogether not nice map courtesy C. Hawaiian.


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waxoid

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Right away, the map raises questions – like what is it about? Is it about controlling the edges in order to cut off the opponent and pressure bases there? Or is it about commanding the center, where the opposing bases are set up with a mere 3 spaces between them, including a small swamp?

I would describe our matches as consisting of JB-- asserting the first case, with me asserting the second. Which of us was right? The answer is that each of us was able to prove our point on precisely one of the two games we played. Per the approach in this tourney, we played mirror matches on new maps, and the tiebreaker rules are (a) who wins in fewer rounds and (b) if same round, who has better material (kill/loss) stats.

First screenshot jumps ahead to rounds 5 and 6 where the action is just starting. Here's the first game, with JB-- as sap and me as Titans.



This was the pivotal move on my part, to go for capture on his center base. Looks pretty tempting at this point, right? I wasn't really confident that I could hold the position well, noting sap ability to move fast around the perimeter, but couldn't resist the curiosity of seeing how it would play out if I tried. Heck it had been awhile since I'd lost a game by taking a base too early. The hard question here was where to place the plasma. I think this may have been part of the blunder – I needed it in the north to pinch off access to my NW base. However, there were lines that made it very helpful to have it in the south. The answer might be that the attack just fundamentally wasn't sound.
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waxoid

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waxoid

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Here's game 2 in round 5, with me as blue sap and JB-- as red titan.



A very different situation, but again I'm playing strong for the center with a two tank attack around the swamp, and JB-- is maneuvering around the edges, harrassing from the medi bases, which might turn out to be an important part of playing for control of the edges.
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waxoid

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game 1 round 7, I go through with the capture, but you can see the sacrifice required. His tank ominously has me cut off from my base in the north. Exercise for the reader: why are all those mechas required (or are they)? What are the scenarios in which JB-- could stop the capture?





game 2 round 6, I proceed with my threat to build a battery in the center. Is it safe?

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waxoid

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Skipping a round, here's game 1 round 9. Now the disaster is clear; JB has masterfully escaped with the heli and quickly occupied the NW base behind tank cover. I face a wall of units and EMPs in the south. I compound the problem with a bad build – the eclipse was hoping to help with the NW defense but I should've doubled down in center with a plasma and try to slug it out there, at least for more time. I am at least getting some small material compensation in taking the tank, but things look bad.





Also skipping a round, here is game 2 round 8. Teleport attack on the battery! It definitely looked more dangerous before I responded. Speeders slamming in to pressure from the edges, the defense is a bit thin and maybe Titans will break through. I wrote more about teleport attacks in this topic http://www.uniwar.com/forum/posts/list/1491.page, and Sapiens have even more tools for wriggling out of them. I (finally) build an engineer, and opt for EMP to start, which extends the freeze time. The tank is like a kid in a candy store, cracking speeders is what he's made for. Note this is a classic battery, no move after.

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waxoid

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game 1 round 10. The mob has overrun the captured base.





game 2 round 9. It's clear the battery is going to be fine. My goal at this point is to capture as much material advantage as possible, because the attack has cost me time. The additional mecha teleported in the south is just a bonus at this point.

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game 1 round 11. Another mistake, I hit the marine with the eclipse, still hoping I can stop the capture, but exposing the eclipse to damage when I should just be playing for defense and time at this point.





game 2 round 10. I've reestablished control of space in the south, and can resume pressure on red's center base, now wielding a clear advantage in material.

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waxoid

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game 1 round 12





game 2 round 11. Yes, *another* one of those batteries. But he's continuing to build speeders.

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waxoid

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game 1 round 13. JB-- is now up a base, so in the head to head race he is now a bit ahead because I have not yet captured a base (that I can hold onto anyway!) in game 2.





game 2 round 12. The capture attempt won't go clearly, but it will force some of the focus of his speeders, in particular preventing all 5 combo'ing on my tank right below it. With their extended range they are a pack of angry hornets that can easily tear a tank down. For this reason I took another painful pause and did a +2 heal on both tanks. I'm hoping to be able to hit hard and capture in the next round.

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waxoid

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Quick intermission to check the state of the war report.

Game 1 war report after my move in round 13:





And game 2 war report after my move in round 12:




My advantage at this point is that I have only lost 200cr (recall that doesn't credit JB-- for the +100 he should have for having reprogrammed one more mecha than I have in my game.) This gives me a material edge, the question is whether that will let me accelerate through the end game. Given the end is in sight in both games.

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waxoid

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Game 1 round 14. A walker joins the last ditch defense! Is it a time winner or a time loser?





Game 2 round 13. Here's the push. JB-- laid his speeders across the top trying to defend, and I was glad to see that since it allowed me to secure the capture and split his speeders, basically preventing the speeders ganging up on something valuable to take material compensation. (There's at least one more speeder on the east, my tank took one in advancing.)

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waxoid

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Game 1 round 15. The victory here was holding the chokepoint and base one more round. Blue still looks dangerously close to closing the game. Doom is rumbling around the south in the form of a tank I won't be able to answer, but it will take a couple of turns.





Game 2 round 14. The battery on the right has finally been able to step onto the beautiful space it has long desired, where it is both protected and covers both of red's bases in the east. The material edge is sharp now, and the other advantage is that there is no defense at the bottleneck, it's been blown clear. My troops are rolling toward the remaining bases with no significant resistance.


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waxoid

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Game 1 round 16.





Game 2 round 15. A capture in the upper left, so we are now tied in bases. Why has the mecha II teleported to the top middle, what will become of it?


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waxoid

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Game 1 round 17. The gig is up, but the walker is still firing and there is still a vestige of the bottleneck defense.





Game 2 round 16. JB-- considered it a significant error that he allowed me to capture a mecha here. It was a time advantage and gave me a clear chance to finish in round 17 (other paths were definitely more murky), however that didn't turn out to be pivotal since the game was scored in round 18 anyway (more below).

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Game 1 round 18. QED.





Game 2 round 17. The final two bases are captured in round 17.

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