In Teams: Breaking Opponent Bonus Zones

[Viceroy63]

In Teams: Breaking Opponent Bonus Zones
by Viceroy63

I have been meaning to write this article for quite some time now. I have always understood that there has been two schools of though about this but which way is the better way. On the one hand we have the school of thought that the breaking of enemy bonus zones is of high consideration even before the building and forming of one's own bonus zone. And at the other extreme is the school of thought to ignore the other teams bonus zones so as to give full concentration and effort to the building of one's own bonus zone.

This latter school of thought then becomes much like a race to see which team builds and takes advantage of the bonus zone extra troops first as the eventual confrontations of forces are mostly held in check until after the construction of the bonus zones while the school of thought that regards the breaking of enemy bonus zones are in fact engaging the enemy right away. The very act of positioning your forces for the breaking of potential bonus zones is an act of immediate confrontations of forces.

I use to be of that school that encourages the creation of bonus zones especially in those games where there are no spoils and are also Trench settings. I use to think that the bonus zones in these types of games are what determines the winners. That is until I recently lost just such a game before any bonus zones could even be formed. That's because good strategy is better than bonus zones. And the breaking of bonus zones over building them is very good strategy.

I personally think that the reason for the breaking of bonuses is better than the building of them is because in the breaking of bonuses you are actively engaging the enemy right away, while if you are focusing in building Bonus zones you are not so much actively engaging the enemy forces but delaying it. It's a question of timing. Normally it has to be that the one who hits first and hardest, hits best.

Like two boxers holding back their power punch and just throwing jabs until the right opportunity to plant those power punches arrives. In the same way the team looking to build bonus zones first is not looking for the opportunity to plant their power punches first while the team looking to break any potential enemy bonus zones is planting their power punches first and hardest.

In the end it comes down to basic economics. It is always easier to destroy than to develop and easier to knock down than to build up. While some may spend time and effort building up the bonus zones the team looking to knock them down will often be more successful and deliver that power punch first and hardest. Remember that it took eight years to build up the World Trade Center but both Towers were "Pulled" down in less than Two hours. OK so actually it took months to plant the explosives but still it was easier to Knock them down than to build them up.

So when you play in teams remember that you will do the best for the team if you position your stacks to the breaking of potential bonuses or at least not let the opponents build up bonus zones in the first place. So in order of importance here is the Order in regards to bonuses and bonus zones.

The 1st four are Bruceswar's priorities in order:
1- break bonuses
2- break populations to below 12 to break popln bonuses
3- take your own bonuses
4- eliminate a player
These 4 subject to the facts-on-the -ground when the beginning game-drop is first seen.

Unless you already had dropped, almost completely in a bonus region, that would be the exception to the rule. Otherwise then, it is simply best to do number 1 before number 2. If given a choice between 1 and 3, always do number 1 first. It's that simple. Unless as mentioned circumstance on the ground (initial drops) change matters.

And in view of that fourth protocol (4- eliminate a player); If you can eliminate a player in the first round then why not. Unless the early elimination of an opposing team player leads to your own elimination as well. Then what is the point. Usually this is a most unlikely probability and I don't believe that Bruceswar meant it in just that context. But still given the choice of just breaking a bonus or attempting the elimination of a player, do the first. It's a question of economics although special circumstances always deserve special consideration.

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[Jippd]

Some good points.

I think overall you should do what is more cost efficient.

I disagree with your order though.

Killing a player should not rank as 4th.

To give an example... Escalating game and the player is worth 4-5 cards. The bonus to break is only a +1 and 10 defends the bonus, whereas the enemy with 4-5 cards only has 8 troops.

It would be more cost effective to kill the player and get the cards then to try to break the bonus.

Cost-effectiveness is the name of the game.

[Viceroy63]

I agree with you in that if special circumstances allow for the elimination of a player that you should go with that. But to attempt as some do to sort of chip away at the last color say Silver with each player that has the opportunity to hit Silver doing so just because they all have a shot at him is not the best way to go about it and in those normal circumstance that team should not be trying to eliminate anyone. Only when special circumstances present themselves otherwise the elimination of a player should not be a prime consideration but in the order that it is in. At least in the beginning of the game.

If I am playing in a team and I see that the last member of my team is accessed by all of the enemy color, I would use that to try and set up a trap to counter assault the opposing team, cut him off and weaken them some how. I would anticipate that as the first thing that I do is to analyze the game and predict what each player is going to do and how best to counter that. So If I play like that, then I am going to assume that others play like that and I would advise my team accordingly. That makes going for number 4 a bad idea when my team can just efficiently set up stacks to counter any BZ formations by the other team.

Also if all of my team has access to a certain player then we will continue to all have access to that player in some way on down the line. At least for a few rounds so it is not something that needs to be done right away at least. Predictability is a weakness and the surprise supreme.

Let me clear up that credit for this list goes to Bruceswar and Emelar added to it. So it is a Brucewar/Emelar production.There are actually like 9 points in total in order of importance.