/superdupergames-archive/11582.raw

  1Homeworlds Online (SDG# 11582)
  2Started: 2008.10.7, Ended: 2008.10.25
  3Participants: MadWuher (S), TwoShort (N)
  4Winner: TwoShort
  5
  61) TwoShort: Homeworld R1 B3 G3
  7
  82) MadWuher: Homeworld B1 R2 G3
  9TwoShort: Howdy
 10MadWuher: Hey there. It's been a while.
 11
 123) TwoShort: Build G1 Twoshort
 13
 144) MadWuher: Build G1 Madwuher
 15
 165) TwoShort: Trade G1 Y1 Twoshort
 17
 186) MadWuher: Trade G1 Y1 Madwuher
 19
 207) TwoShort: Build G1 Twoshort
 21
 228) MadWuher: Build G1 Madwuher
 23
 249) TwoShort: Discover G1 Twoshort Y2 Yolonda
 25
 2610) MadWuher: Discover G1 Madwuher Y3 Edora
 27
 2811) TwoShort: Build Y1 Twoshort
 29
 3012) MadWuher: Build Y2 Madwuher
 31
 3213) TwoShort: Discover Y1 Twoshort G2 Grogar
 33
 3414) MadWuher: Discover Y1 Madwuher G3 Bologna
 35
 3615) TwoShort: Build G1 Twoshort
 37
 3816) MadWuher: Build G2 Madwuher
 39
 40
 4117) TwoShort: Discover G1 Yolonda Y3 Yak
 42
 4318) MadWuher: Sacrifice G2 Madwuher
 44Build G2 Madwuher
 45Build Y2 Bologna
 46
 4719) TwoShort: Sacrifice G3 Twoshort
 48Build G2 Twoshort
 49Build Y2 Grogar
 50Build Y3 Twoshort
 51
 5220) MadWuher: Sacrifice G1 Edora
 53Build Y3 Madwuher
 54
 5521) TwoShort: Discover Y1 Grogar G3 Grody
 56
 5722) MadWuher: Discover G2 Madwuher B3 Edora
 58
 5923) TwoShort: Sacrifice G1 Yak
 60Build Y3 Grody
 61
 6224) MadWuher: Move Y3 Madwuher Edora
 63
 6425) TwoShort: Trade G1 R1 Twoshort
 65
 6626) MadWuher: Build G1 Edora
 67
 6827) TwoShort: Sacrifice Y2 Grogar
 69Discover Y3 Grody R1 Gunrule
 70Move Y3 Gunrule Edora
 71
 7228) MadWuher: Build Y2 Edora
 73
 7429) TwoShort: Trade Y3 R3 Edora
 75
 7630) MadWuher: Sacrifice Y2 Edora
 77Discover Y3 Edora R2 Camelot
 78Move G2 Edora Camelot
 79
 8031) TwoShort: Trade Y1 B1 Twoshort
 81
 8232) MadWuher: Sacrifice G1 Edora
 83Build Y1 Madwuher
 84
 8533) TwoShort: Sacrifice G2 Twoshort
 86Build Y2 Twoshort
 87Build Y3 Grody
 88
 8934) MadWuher: Trade Y2 B2 Madwuher
 90
 9135) TwoShort: Trade Y2 R2 Twoshort
 92
 9336) MadWuher: Build Y2 Camelot
 94
 9537) TwoShort: Sacrifice Y3 Twoshort
 96Move Y3 Grody Madwuher
 97Move R3 Edora Madwuher
 98Pass
 99
10038) MadWuher: Sacrifice Y2 Camelot
101Move Y1 Bologna Madwuher
102Move Y2 Bologna Madwuher
103
10439) TwoShort: Sacrifice R2 Twoshort
105Attack G3S Madwuher
106Attack Y2S Madwuher
107TwoShort: I think that's checkmate; thanks for the game. You had me really worried for a while there.
108MadWuher: If I might ask, where did I make my first bonehead move?
109MadWuher: I see that you like to move ships to planets of size 3 right away (and of course it puts the pressure on me). Any comments or hints as to when you came up with your strategy here?
110MadWuher: Since it's game. Want to go for a big bang? Suppose we fill up my system with as many ships as possible (I think the max is 16, but I digress) and do one giant catastrophe. Up for it?
111
11240) MadWuher: Sacrifice G2 Camelot
113Build B1 Madwuher
114Build B2 Madwuher
115TwoShort: Eh... I'm not that intrigued by a big catastrophe; but I'll always rehash strategy :)
116
117TwoShort: I didn't come up with this specific strategy until two moves ago when I took the R2; but I basically always try to get more big stuff in range of moving in than you can take in one turn, and get a sacable R2 in the backfield; and also some ships of the color of the other guys stars and a bunch of big yellow. I just try to push whatever threats I can. So as far as where you went wrong, it's where I was able to switch from making the moves you forced me to, to making ones that forced you to do things.
118TwoShort: You were doing well when I took the r1: it was because I couldn't figure out how to stop you from getting more 3 points than me. According to the "Gun Rule" (if the other guy draws a gun, draw your gun), you should have taken a red yourself, which would have thrown you off your grow pace only slightly, but it was the best I could do. When you didn't take the red, I was able to jump on the offensive and force the action a few turns. Once you got your ships out of there to Camelot though, you were back in control: poised to sacrifice your G2 to take the remaining y2 & y3, which would have given you a commanding lead in 3s and in yellow. So I flipped the y1 to blue mainly to put it back in the stash and force you to use the g3 if you wanted all that yellow, which would have been more painful, but you probably should have done it. At the least, you should not have taken the y1 there. Letting me take the big Ys is probably the move I'd say decided the game. Obviously you didn't see the threat represented by my taking the r2, but by that point the defense options would have been pretty drastic and probably just delayed the inevitable.
119
120TwoShort: Hmmm, did I mention a willingness to yack on about Homeworlds strategy?
121
12241) TwoShort: Sacrifice G3 Madwuher
123Build R1 Madwuher
124Build R2 Madwuher
125Pass
126Catastrophe Madwuher Blue
127Catastrophe Madwuher Yellow
128Catastrophe Madwuher Red
129MadWuher: Time for a quick death....... and bow out gracefully.
130MadWuher: RUNNNNN!!!!!!
131MadWuher: ARGH!!!!! I am trying to go out either in a blaze of glory, or just by running away, but it won't allow me to leave the system undefended. =(
132
133MadWuher: Oh well, guess you get to take me out in style....
134
135TwoShort: Thanks for the game!
136MadWuher: Anytime..... Still trying to figure out the multitude of strategies that people use. If I might ask, how many moves ahead do you typically plan out. Another few questions, since you are the highest rated player here, do you find yourself using any similar game ending moves against your opponents?
137TwoShort: Hmmm, I don't really plan ahead in the sense of a strategy I'm going to follow; I'll re-evaluate that each turn. As far as thinking ahead the results of a particular move, for the critical ones I'll set it up, make my move, and look through the responses I see, playing out the most obvious chain of moves. But generally I don't think you need to look at much more than a couple moves ahead. In most cases, a Homeworlds player has so much power to affect the board that purely tactical advantages are short lived; If I'm trading material for position, I want to be pretty sure I see a payoff that gets me back to a material advantage in fairly short order.
138TwoShort: As far as ending moves... My basic strategy is to threaten to blow up stars or move in and sacrifice red so they'll be forced to spend moves dealing with the threats and I can take more pieces. If that works you eventually get enough of an advantage that they can't stop everything. But at least as often, they don't notice that I'm forcing them to do something particular or be destroyed, and they do something else. That seems to most often be leaving themselves open for me to move in more big pieces than they can take in a turn while I have a big red in my backfield.
139TwoShort: But really, the actual game-ending sequence is usually academic; it's just a matter of what turns out to work for the guy in control of the game, which is generally the guy with more 3 pointers.