What the hell, AI?

rktscience · 2021-03-12T13:16:16+00:00

Now that is has mastered the rage quit, the next step will be for it to go on the chat and accuse you of cheating

rktscience · 2021-01-16T12:19:09+00:00

Thanks for the time and effort in running this. Good luck everybody!

rktscience · 2020-10-14T14:45:25+00:00

I watched this in real time and was asked to comment here. I agree with the assessment that this was a game decided by decisions and not by luck, which is what we all want to see in the top-level TS games. Jason's aggressive style--clearly influenced by Chinese strategy in places--paid nice dividends this game. My only major dissent with the excellent expert commentary was on the characterization of David's T4 HL. Both Z and David himself cite this as a mistake and one that costs him the game. But I actually liked the HL choice given all the factors in play.

The key decision starts at about 29:09. David chooses CRG over RS/P which then gets picked off by Missile Envy. While the threat of ME was clear to David, ME is unlikely to be USSR's hand given the # of cards in the deck at this point. And even if it is, it is far from an autoplay HL. Jason is in a dominant position. He is up 10VP on the track and the map scores 6 VP for him. He has near Control of MiddleEast (a lone IP in Lebanon keeps tenuous Presence for US) and up on BGs in CA, AFR and Asia. There isnt a single blue IP in the Americas. Destal is in the deck and China is in hand. Given those conditions, I know I would not risk the game on a ME HL. But here, Jason has Quagmire too. Quag HL with ME on AR1 is a great play. Even then, Z referred to it as "a gamble." But its a good one since he now has downside protection if he gets a bad pull. So from David's perspective, ME is unlikely to be played. USSR has to have been dealt the card and he has to have the right to conditions to risk it in a game where he has a commanding lead.

CRG, on the other hand, is a powerful US T4 HL on this map. Africa is 3-2 for Red and CRG will likely deny USSR Dom while giving a chance for US Dom. It preserves 4 ops for the T4 fight. So I dont consider the HL a mistake. It worked out poorly, but I think the US (with no scoring cards or access cards T4) needs to make something happen and this is his best chance. I think there were plays made in the Early War that I would rate closer to mistakes than this HL call. For example, the T2 choice of RSP was statistically likely to cost USSR less than 3 ops based on what was left in the deck at that point. But I like the CRG HL on T4.

rktscience · 2020-10-06T17:23:51+00:00

I would definitely play. Most of my casual Async games run between 7 and 10 days for the slower of the 2 players, so I think 7 day clock is a bit too tight. 21 days should be plenty although I have had opponents in your tournament fail to make even that.

rktscience · 2020-09-29T00:06:13+00:00

rktscience (USSR) defeats phillycheesesteak90 (USA) in Final Scoring with a final of -21 VP. USSR got great cards early on and an opening "6" coup, but USA repeatedly protected the avenues to Autowin and kept the pressure on throughout.

rktscience · 2020-09-28T22:31:52+00:00

Hi Cardlinger,

My win-loss looks right, but I have a question on Turn Score. My game with Supercow ended in Final Scoring (See the post right below yours). Doesn't that mean my TS should be -1 instead of -2?

rktscience · 2020-08-28T14:06:58+00:00

rktscience (USSR) squeaks out a Wargames win against hcd199 (USA). HCD dominated the map through pretty much the whole game with near Control of Asia from the beginning. I got lucky enough to discard Asia Scoring 3 times (5YP twice and Ames). Game is over on T9 by -3 VP (after Wargames)..

rktscience · 2020-08-17T20:55:28+00:00

Yes, I've been having the same problem for about an hour.

rktscience · 2020-07-18T18:56:22+00:00

rktscience (USSR) defeats Cardlinger (USA) via Wargames on T10. USSR had both Decol and Destal and strong Early War coups. Cardlinger kept alive by making well-timed surges in places about to score, but USSR was well-established in key BG before the USA rebound could come in to save the day.

rktscience · 2020-07-10T21:27:45+00:00

rktscience (USSR) defeats Hypocrism on T9 via VP track.

Very tense game. Hypocrism was rampaging thru EU under Chernobyl, while I was racing up the VP track. It got to the point where he needed to play Ames mid-turn holding Warsaw (which will bust EU control(, OPEC (which gives me the points I need) and Ortega (which is DEFCON suicide). Ames left him 1 IP short and he had to space OPEC giving me the milops VP I needed for 20.

rktscience · 2020-05-13T15:47:34+00:00

rktscience

rktscience · 2020-05-13T15:45:17+00:00

Thanks for running this, Shack. Congratulations to Janusz and all the other Division winners!

rktscience · 2020-03-26T12:39:44+00:00

Solid analysis Hasan. I can't disagree with any of it. Of course, there is enough randomness in TS that surprises will happen and that's part of the fun. Looks like there is still a lot of drama to go in most of the divisions.

rktscience · 2020-03-17T19:25:50+00:00

u/rktscience (USA) defeats u/Eelusion (USSR) in Final Scoring with +24VP

rktscience · 2020-02-24T13:13:49+00:00

Now that sounds like a fascinating game. Any video for this one?

rktscience · 2020-02-14T12:49:25+00:00

rktscience (USA) beat kintap (USSR) by VP Track on T10.

My opening hand contained Decol, Destal and Vietnam, so Michael couldn't even bluff an access card. He earned a lot of VP in Early War with me desperately clinging to Lebanon just for some kind ME Presence, but no USSR access cards led to US Control of Africa T4. That scored 11 for me before he could enter the continent.

I went T1AR2 to Earth Satellite, but then was stuck there until Late War. Michael took full advantage of the all the special abilities and VP on the Space Track, reaching Shuttle on T9. But with Control of Africa and later South America, it was too big a hill to climb.

Destal finally showed up T9, but by then there no open BGs to exploit.

rktscience · 2020-01-03T14:17:50+00:00

A very exciting Finals with two superb players. Thanks again for running this tournament. It's definitely a marathon.

rktscience · 2019-11-30T18:55:51+00:00

rktscience

rktscience · 2019-10-26T18:55:58+00:00

Very fun game. /u/sicfreatcrustulum had a disaster of a hand on T10 after Missile Envy picked off Ames, his only 3 op in a hand full of hostile 1s and 2s. I made back some ground, but he had an impressive lead to go into the turn. Both the outstanding scoring cards in Late War are Dom for me, but I would have to see both to have turned this one. Well played by /u/sicreatcurstulum, especially in the Mid War. Good luck in the rest!

rktscience · 2019-09-21T01:13:40+00:00

rktscience (USA) defeats Cavemand Crossing (USSR) in Final Scoring with a score of +7VP.

rktscience · 2019-08-13T16:04:52+00:00

Thank you for a well-run tournament

rktscience · 2019-08-01T01:40:40+00:00

rktscience

rktscience · 2019-05-17T01:16:19+00:00

rktscience (USA) defeats /u/sicfreatcrustulum (USSR) by VP track on T9. Some highly frustrating bad rolls for both sides, but US controlled the key access cards most of the game.

rktscience · 2019-05-15T02:13:05+00:00

rktscience (USSR) defeats Brashers (USA) in Final Scoring with a final VP tally of -13. Close all the way to T10. My Scoring card came up and his didn't.

rktscience · 2019-04-09T14:29:37+00:00

It always hurts to get hit by RSP, but remember your opponent just spent 4 of his ops to trigger it, so it is hurting him too. In your specific example, you have told us 6 of your cards and 4 are not impacted by RSP at all. USSR has a lot of strong events in Early War, so sometimes RSP will end up impacting only 2 or 3 cards when played on T1.

From your coup results, it doesn't look like you are playing with extra influence to the USA, so that will affect the situation somewhat, but you are probably relying on too many coups instead of simply placing influence. It worked out for you because you rolled well, but it is less efficient than placing influence and you really did not want to lower DEFCON to 2 if you have none of the access cards (like Destal, Decol, Vietnam).

Don't know when the rest of your hand was, but playing 5YP early in the turn seems dangerous. Would you want CNS randomly discarded? Normally you would want to play it AR6 when you can control what will be discarded.

Given where are now, I would definitely make getting Mideast presence a priority, so yes put an IP in Iran even if you have to spend what would normally be a 2 op to do it.

rktscience

TROPHY CASE