Moments of Idiocy

[EricPhail]

How do you pull yourself back into order after making a truly idiotic move?

For reference I post this moments after making an error (failing to advance troops when I needed to, because my thoughts were on the next move when I shouldn't) that denied me a near certain win that turn, It may yet cost me more.

[clowncar]

Mine are so frequent that I just got used to it ...... the only times I get upset about it is if I am in a team game

[Dukasaur]

How do you pull yourself back into order after making a truly idiotic move?

For reference I post this moments after making an error (failing to advance troops when I needed to, because my thoughts were on the next move when I shouldn't) that denied me a near certain win that turn, It may yet cost me more.

I usually pick up something heavy and smash myself in the head with it.

(Warning: ConquerClub is not responsible for the results of your experimentation with this method.)

[Jippd]

How do you pull yourself back into order after making a truly idiotic move?

For reference I post this moments after making an error (failing to advance troops when I needed to, because my thoughts were on the next move when I shouldn't) that denied me a near certain win that turn, It may yet cost me more.

Know that mistakes happen and strive to learn from those mistakes which will make you better in future games.

[P4Ssoa]

Curse and move on.

Look at the new situation and make a new strategic plan to get a grip on the game.

[AyeTrain]

Mistakes happen in real war, too. Adjust your thinking to the new strategic situation and make the best of it.

You'll never achieve never making a mistake, but to minimize this, I use the Overlord strategy: lots and lots of planning. If I have a complicated move in mind that will either win or---if I do it wrong---lose spectacularly, I'll write out my steps in Notepad. Which countries, in which order, how many troops to leave here and how many there, etc. You still have to discipline yourself to follow your plans and not assume you remember what to do, but it minimizes the chance of losing via misclicking.

[agentcom]

Great advice from everyone here. My addition would be this: Once you make a big mistake, stop and walk away or spin around in your chair or something. I find that my most common and also most frustrating big F ups come back-to-back. It usually goes something like (1) "Oh crap, I didn't mean to hit that territ" (2) "Well screw this and screw CC" (3) <clicks End Assaults> (4) "Oh !%#$% !#$$%!@ !!@#$^^&#$!!! I forgot to use the other stack on the other other side of the screen (4) <goes into blind rage> (5) <presses End Reinforcements> (6) Realizes Step 5 was probably another mistake (7) <contemplates relative merits of throwing computer against wall or drinking heavily> (8) decides on the latter (9) screw ups continue for the rest of the night.

If you're like me, you realize that the initial mistake screws up your reasoning and forces later mistakes out of haste, lack of care, or whatever and it would be best to just step away after the first mistake and come back in 5 to see if there's any way to salvage it. But if you're like me, that will never happen, so this sequence unfolds on somewhat regular basis.

Fortunately for me, it only happens a few times a year, but that is because I can at least follow the advice of a couple earlier posters of mapping out your move in advance. I wish I had one of my pieces of paper laying around in which I had planned an elaborate elimination strategy, but I'll sometimes take up the entirety of a sheet of letter paper writing down attack paths, odds calculations and contingency plans in a sort of flow chart-esque diagram. So for me planning ahead helps to reduce a lot of mistakes.

Also, in the sequence of events above, you can replace Step 1 with instances of really bad dice or some other anomaly and the result can be the same ... (1) "&#$#$#$% dice!! (2) "I can't win this!" (3) <end-assaults-end-reinforcements-can't-hit-the-e-key-fast-enough> (4) "Oh wait, I could've still won" (5) Steps 7-9 above.

[SimplyObsessed]

Start a new game and ignore the other one a bit. Then eventually face the bitter pill and take your turn when there isn't long left on the clock..

[waltero]

Keep in mind that everybody makes mistakes. When you make a mistake, best thing to do is shake it off and understand that your opponent will make a bigger mistake.
Play the entire game simply knowing that your opponent will mess up and you will take the win.
Two good players are playing a game...one makes a mistake other guy does not take full advantage of your mistake. You simply wait until he makes a mistake (knowing full well that he will) once you see it you pounce on him and take the win.

[LIVExFREE]

Just remember.. you can't win 'em all

[clowncar]

I am in a terminator game with lots of opponents ... was stuck in a situation with 3 spoils for 30 troops that amazingly I could not use to finish an opponent due to good blocking ( questionable positioning by me ) by my opponents. I studied and studied but couldn't find a way so I deployed for defense or I would surely get eliminated. Then proceeded to hit "end assaults" .... without taking a spoil with any one of my huge stacks near a 1 stack. What is done is done... in this case I probably won't have to endure the mistake for long .... death should be fairly painless. Onto the next moment of idiocy.

[IcePack]

Great advice from everyone here. My addition would be this: Once you make a big mistake, stop and walk away or spin around in your chair or something. I find that my most common and also most frustrating big F ups come back-to-back. It usually goes something like (1) "Oh crap, I didn't mean to hit that territ" (2) "Well screw this and screw CC" (3) <clicks End Assaults> (4) "Oh !%#$% !#$$%!@ !!@#$^^&#$!!! I forgot to use the other stack on the other other side of the screen (4) <goes into blind rage> (5) <presses End Reinforcements> (6) Realizes Step 5 was probably another mistake (7) <contemplates relative merits of throwing computer against wall or drinking heavily> (8) decides on the latter (9) screw ups continue for the rest of the night.

If you're like me, you realize that the initial mistake screws up your reasoning and forces later mistakes out of haste, lack of care, or whatever and it would be best to just step away after the first mistake and come back in 5 to see if there's any way to salvage it. But if you're like me, that will never happen, so this sequence unfolds on somewhat regular basis.

Fortunately for me, it only happens a few times a year, but that is because I can at least follow the advice of a couple earlier posters of mapping out your move in advance. I wish I had one of my pieces of paper laying around in which I had planned an elaborate elimination strategy, but I'll sometimes take up the entirety of a sheet of letter paper writing down attack paths, odds calculations and contingency plans in a sort of flow chart-esque diagram. So for me planning ahead helps to reduce a lot of mistakes.

Also, in the sequence of events above, you can replace Step 1 with instances of really bad dice or some other anomaly and the result can be the same ... (1) "&#$#$#$% dice!! (2) "I can't win this!" (3) <end-assaults-end-reinforcements-can't-hit-the-e-key-fast-enough> (4) "Oh wait, I could've still won" (5) Steps 7-9 above.

the worst is on #3, and THEN you realize there was another way to possibly win....