Conquer Club

I like playing 1 v 1, but am not particularly good at it, and would like to improve my skills.

My current average is 22/73 wins (30.14%) for my completed games.

I am looking at my games and trying to figure out what factors affect winning and how they each relate to the end result.

These are the factors I've considered so far... (not in any particular order, that's what I'm looking for help with)

Drop..................................................0.00% (Please feel free to fill in your thoughts)
First play (first to take your turn)................0.00%
Specific map rules..................................0.00%
Familiarity with the map..........................0.00%
Strategy.............................................0.00%
Opponent skill......................................0.00%
Dice..................................................0.00%


I am looking for input on
1) Order of importance
2) Percentage of value
3) Missing components


I have seen in my games that going first is usually a significant factor effecting outcome. Also the dice on the first round seem extremely important. In many of the games I've lost (at least my brain feels this way) I will lose all of my first round attacks, while my opponent wins his.

Opponent skill is obviously a factor as a poor series of moves can be self-destructive. Especially when coupled with a lack of familiarity with a map. (I have made this mistake on Age of Realms, not realizing certain distant regions actually connect)

Dropping a bonus is obviously huge.

Specific maps like "New World" favor the first player. Because of the auto-deploy the second player suffers a sever disadvantage that is extremely difficult to overcome.

What do you say?

Sorry if I don't give you the guide your looking for but i like 1v1 as well

my usual strategy is to take a region, build up, take another region, build up, take region and so on until I achieve victory

Another tip is to pick a map and master it( bonuses, strategic areas, gameplay)
try a small map the move on to larger maps

but overall strategy, a good first turn, map mastery and some good dice will get you victory

Notes:
here are my definitions

territory - ex. London
region - ex Asia

1v1 maps as far as I know always has neutral territories. and when playing players as the one who posted prior to me, u know he's gonna waste some of his troops on the neutral armies (since he's looking for easy attained bonuses). This is your advantage. Keep ur opponents region bonus as low as possible while plotting to keep him or her form holding the bonuses they're lookin' for. If ur at an advantage on territories and keep ur opponent from gaining bonuses u will in most cases win, I believe.

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this strategy however has been tested with great success in games with no specific start locations w/autodeploy. I have yet to break the code on how to play strategically on maps like age of realms and feudal war, though. but waiting out for them to come to u and then take them on a comeback has worked several times for me. also checking the log for what kind of bonuses they get and what I can see on the map (that is if its fog) often helps me determine where they're at and if I at that point have uilt my arm up throughout my turns i can often go for a break.

- best tip though: never take from neutral a terriory u are likely to have lost to ur opponent the very next round. (gained through experience:P)

---

but if u want the percentage scale then I'd say:


Drop...................................................5.00% (very little in my opinion, but can in rare cases be matchdeciding (someone could for instance start with a bonus; ex all oseania in the classic map or europe in doodle earth))
First play (first to take your turn)................10.00% (on maps that often are finshed in very few turns (less than 8 ) I'd say it is very important)
Specific map rules..................................0.00% (can't see this having, unless different rules apply for ur opponent)
Familiarity with the map..........................33.00% (having it may not make a big difference if ur opponent has it too, but if u lack it, and ur opponent has it, u will probably loose imo)
Strategy.............................................33.00% (if u have none u might as well not play at all. ur strategy is ur plan of how to win, and without it, well... u know)
Opponent skill......................................0.00% (none actually, he doesn't bring anything extra to the game that u can't have urself. experience is good for ur opponent, but u can have it as well. imo one can just as well loose to a cook as a brigadier provided an advantage on those areas I have given most percentages to.)
Dice..................................................18.00% (unfortunely much more decisive than one would like, other times it can win u games.I don't really like to give this area to much of the percenteges since I like to believe this game is mostly based on skill. but if ur rolls are crap, nothin' else matters, u can't win.)

Eliminating factors that are subject to change each game, I have boiled the factors down to 4, and have supplied my gut reactions (no hard data to support these numbers).

Drop..................................................30.00%
First play (first to take your turn)................30.00%
Strategy.............................................30.00%
Dice..................................................10.00%

oldrisky44 wrote:Eliminating factors that are subject to change each game, I have boiled the factors down to 4, and have supplied my gut reactions (no hard data to support these numbers).

Drop..................................................30.00%
First play (first to take your turn)................30.00%
Strategy.............................................30.00%
Dice..................................................10.00%

I almost exclusively play 1vs1, and 1vs1 on a select number of 'standard' or 'run-of-the-mill' strategy type maps (so no Conquest or quirky maps).

I've found the drop, while important, is not as important as the First Play and Strategy. If anything, really all the drop does is determine what my First Play will be. If I'm playing a map like Germany (which I love for 1vs1), my opponent and I will start with 4 troops, with a buffer of two regions before either of us drop below 4 troops (so if you lose a region the first turn, you're still in the game with 4 troops to deploy on your turn).

So if I am playing on Germany, I'll look for a relatively isolated region of theirs, perhaps surrounded somewhat by my troops or my troops and neutrals. Deploy there, and with a 7 vs 3, I've got pretty good odds to capture it. I try to make this First Play also on an area where I can then move those left over troops immediately to another frontline if I captured the isolated region---moving them usually in Reinforcements to bolster up on top of a 3 troop region I have somewhere else.

From then on, I try to repeat taking out isolated regions usually, and moving my troops to a new front line, so when I deploy, I've got some extra troops already there to fight with---all the while, keeping an eye on what my opponent is doing. I.E. if they are making a big stack, I might try to knock it down a few so it can't run across the map and ruin my areas.

By conquering isolated opponent areas, and moving my troops to a defensible/offensive frontline, I can usually maintain my region count higher, while knocking my opponent eventually down to 3 troops deployable based on their region count. So I suppose it all comes down to measured defensive expansion, using your troops and neutrals as impassables.


--Andy

I love galapagos, WWII Poland and new world for 1v1. I disagree with the statement that auto deploys favor the first to play. It's what you do with those auto deploys that make a difference. Honestly in one v one the dice play a bigger role than they should. One on one favors the conservative player I'd guess 60-70% of the time

Get out there and play--learn about five maps at a time. Learn what works and does not work during play. Experience and learning from mistakes and finally not making mistakes will make you a great 1v1 player.

Highlanderattack is the best 1v1 player on CC, play him and see what he does. Yes he will destroy you but see how he did it
you will get better immediately.

chipv wrote:Highlanderattack is the best 1v1 player on CC, play him and see what he does. Yes he will destroy you but see how he did it
you will get better immediately.

Don't sell yourself short chip. You are a good player also. One nobody should take lightly!

Actually it's Highlander's tourney that put me on to the 1v1 scene.

Thanks for the advice guys, I don't mind getting the fuzz knocked out of my belly button for the sake of learning experience, but I like to keep a record of what works and doesn't work and write out these little general strategies as it helps me refine my skills. So please continue to add tips, notes, and corrections.

I will let you know after about 1300 1v1s...

Highlander won the 2009-10 College Hoops tourney, which I consider one of the years' toughest annual 1 vs. 1 test on the CC site. He's definitely a force when it comes to 1 vs. 1