April/2021 1v1 EPIC Tournament with Mirrored Maps

That’s a really cool idea and can definitely take someone by surprise!! GG to both of you and good luck to @Macomber vs @HULK

Yea, the idea of a little extra cash is to “help” Warp Gates as a yet another viable strategy to try to win with. Good try @kinghuang … I may end up using a similar approach against @Macomber … and am thinking if I combine with HULK SMASH, it would be a winning approach! :wink:

Yeah, I think my mistake was in spreading out to two directions.

An early-warp HULK SMASH. That’s enough to give anyone nightmares. :laughing:

Well played @LeDazz. Took an early lead and never let up. Good luck with the rest of the tournament. :four_leaf_clover:

Cheers Sneferu.

Gg man, glad we could break each other’s ducks in the TB and the 1 on 1 fronts! :slight_smile:

@panblanco I’m ready for you bud! Game link above in @HULK’s message.

Joined :slight_smile:

I’m seeing some close matches (keep making those moves!) and for those of you that have played 1v1’s before ( @DarkDragonwing - @panblanco - @BelSon - @Zatoc - @TheLastHero ), how is the extra $500 in cash playing out?

In my game against @Macomber, he used it to create some Warp Gates to make some early moves on the left middle. I was barely able to get enough ships over there to somewhat hold-the-line … and just made a daring long-range jump against his Warp Gate … that (fortunately for me), succeeded by not much.

So I think the extra cash resulted in a bit more of a free-wheeling game that has played well - I’m curious what others are thinking about it?

P.S. Meant to add that I went Science-heavy early … so the extra cash was enough to “make a difference” and finish some technologies earlier that gave me a leg up. I’d like to see this be more of a viable option versus the “tried-n-true” maximize your Industry/Ships.

I really like the extra cash.

I didn’t do the warpgate thing, just kinda spent more on everything else pretty evenly and I like it. The growth rate occurs much faster, so I like it as a variation. It can be deceiving in terms of who is ahead. There is also more leeway for mistakes, but I imagine in a tight game you don’t have room for anything but minor errors.

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My game with @HULK started strong and rapidly went sideways! As he says, I decided to use my extra cash to lay down three very early warp gates to rush his lines. In past 1v1 matches, I’ve played a slow-and-steady style of building up my infrastructure, but in this game, I decided that my best chance at victory (given my venerable opponent) was a rapid early strike. The three early warp gates cost around 800 credits. My strategy helped me to take some key stars in the middle and rush ships into the battle, but I wasn’t able to break through due to the HULK’s strong defending and a few missteps on my part. My disadvantage in infrastructure then became apparent as he leapt ahead of me in research and ships.

I would say I made several mistakes in implementing the early warp gate strategy … I did not research terraforming to start, which would’ve helped reduce the cost of the third gate closest to the combat; I also should have committed more forces to the left middle where the gates led, instead of evenly splitting my ships. Although my intent was to be competitive on both sides of the map, I think a greater volume of ships hitting the one side might’ve made the difference. Lastly, I didn’t adequately defend my warp gate on the front lines, so he took it far too easily! And that was the death blow for my civilization.

Well played @HULK and good luck in the next round.

Me and @suedenim are playing a very tactical similar style.

We both have an identical number of ships coming up to cycle 7

There seems to be little in it for now!!

I think it is going to come down to how we spend our dollar and what we research

A bold strike also might shake things up but I am too tentative to pull that trigger yet

@Zatoc Ha - nice of you to say so. You have a slight edge, but you have 5 games experience on me there :slight_smile:

Well played @panblanco - good game bud. A couple of critical early mistakes put me into a position where it was always going to be hard to come back - most notable was of course the ruler - I will have nightmares about that for some time, i’m sure. My inexperience in 1 vs 1 / turn based / mirror universes culminated in the ruler issue, which lead to me ceding access to both flanks early game - against a lesser oppo i hope to think i could have recovered, but you capitalised nicely.


For those interested in the slightly longer form story… at the initial collision point on the map, i calculated there was a star (on both sides, of course) we both reach in the same tick (assuming optimal routing to middle from both - on the right hand side, my ship had a 4 hour transit, his a 10 hour transit. I worked out my ship had a lower average distance to travel per tick, so the logic suggested i would reach that side first - i proceeded with that in mind, and played more passively on the left (where i had concluded he could get there first). 1 turn later, his ships of course 6 hours into their 10 hour trip, i checked the ruler again, as my ships were about to set off on their 4 hour transit on the right… His ship had a shorter distance to travel than mine. Its a relatively edge case, of course it is the travel time in the final tick that matters - which average travel time would usually mirror nicely, but obviously there are instances, like this, where average travel per tick will lead you up a blind alley (when the ships are setting off at different times)…

So, the result being, i took the fight where i had no defender bonus, and didnt take the fight where i would have had the def bonus. I won an inefficient fight on the right, cost me about 20 ships more than Pan all told, then he followed up with a small attack, that i had to build expensive double industry to see off… Then he followed up with another attack i couldnt hold, and suddenly, both sides are lost (along with that expensive early double IND).

In a mirror game with set weapons, i was honestly tempted to quit there, but we played it out all the way to the 7th cycle - i maintained a small terra / total ships / production lead most of the game, but at a slight cash downside towards the end - but the real issue was just continual positioning woes on the flanks - i made a final hail mary play, coordinating 25% of my total ships to a single star on the same tick which range research would allow me to build a gate, and attack a gate of his which i had lost scan range of a couple of cycles prior (i had hoped this would make my play less obvious) - hoping to get a fox into to chicken coop with a speedy 6 tick warp - but he saw the manoeuvre and dropped gate, thus ended my last roll of the dice.

I finished with a few more ships in total, equal production, but the real story of the game had been told, and no way to put that genie back in the bottle.

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Excellent analysis @LeDazz … I actually was the one who asked Jay to add some more decimal points in the Ruler Tool since yea, it can come down to a hundredth of a light-year … or I’ve even seen less!

I like your Hail-O-Mary move … as that has succeeded for me before … but I’ve also been on the receiving end and when I hit Submit, there’s a big WTF and then Oh Sh*t!

Congrats @panblanco in joining me in round #3 … I’m hoping we meet in round #4 as I recall last time you SMASHED the HULK … so I owe 'ya! :wink:

I have just won a closely fought game v @suedenim. Well played for your first game

Do I go straight into my next game v @Karmadrome

@Zatoc A good game for sure. I’m just happy I stayed in it for long enough to see the mid game.

I was out classed, just couldn’t get my ships moving as fast as Zatoc and when your weapons are locked being able to capture and hold a star becomes more important.

I now have to wait for the next tournament, or have a practice game with another alien that needs a kicking :slight_smile:

I’m ready and waiting @Zatoc :facepunch:

@Karmadrome, give me a day. 1v1 is all about setup as once you have the advantage it swings quickly.

Need to get myself into the build mentality again

Also child is not sleeping so not likely to be thinking straight for 24h

Thanks for the update @Zatoc (better luck next time @suedenim) and fire up your round #2 game against @Karmadrome when you are ready … and the Jolly Green Giant will be waiting for the winner in round #3:wink:

Pinging the players from the April tournament to consider signing up for the new round of the 1v1 Legendary Level League here :wink:

@TheLastHero - @kinghuang - @Keeves - @Lex - @Karmadrome - @Dysp - @wint3ermute - @spymort - @Sneferu - @suedenim - @FinrodFelagund - @LeDazz

There you go :smile: