NEWCOMERS BEWARE: Freestyle Speed Habit
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:22 am
PLEASE NOTE: This post is for newcomers. To inform them about potential dangers that they might encounter during a game. Experienced players will likely not find anything of interest in this post, but constructive contributions to this thread are greatly appreciated.
Nope, this thread is not about drug addiction, it's about getting set in your ways when you go to play Speed Freestyle games after playing a bunch of Casual Freestyle games. In Speed Freestyle games it's never a good idea to end your turn quickly, resist the urge to quickly click the [End Assaults] button, then observe what the other players are doing. You might be able to secure more territory, weaken a key opponent when it counts, or reposition yourself to an emerging threat!
When you're about to click [End Assaults], make sure that you're 100% certain you want to finish attacking. Remember, this game rewards patience. If the above advice is not in depth enough, then click on the -SHOW: DETAILED EXPLANATION- link below. It will show the more verbose original post, which you can read if you've got time to kill.
Have fun!
Artimis
Nope, this thread is not about drug addiction, it's about getting set in your ways when you go to play Speed Freestyle games after playing a bunch of Casual Freestyle games. In Speed Freestyle games it's never a good idea to end your turn quickly, resist the urge to quickly click the [End Assaults] button, then observe what the other players are doing. You might be able to secure more territory, weaken a key opponent when it counts, or reposition yourself to an emerging threat!
When you're about to click [End Assaults], make sure that you're 100% certain you want to finish attacking. Remember, this game rewards patience. If the above advice is not in depth enough, then click on the -SHOW: DETAILED EXPLANATION- link below. It will show the more verbose original post, which you can read if you've got time to kill.
Detailed Explanation
I expect someone is going to poke fun at the title, but as you read on you'll see why I settled on the word "Habit". 
A little background first, in a Casual Freestyle Play Order game the round can last up to 24 hours and when you take your turn you have a maximum of 1 hour to complete your deployment, assaults and reinforcements. The point to note here is that you have to end your turn if you want to receive a Spoil in those Casual Freestyle Play Order games with the Escalating Spoils or Flat Rate Spoils setting.
After playing a few Casual Freestyle games myself I tried some Speed Freestyle games. Of course I was in the 'habit' of ending my turn once I'd completed all my intended moves and I was doing it quite quickly too. I was used to Casual Freestyle games where the round outlasted the turn, in a Speed Freestyle game the round is only as long as the turn! This is a very bad habit in Speed games, it allows the other players who haven't ended their turn free range to maul your position and there's nothing you can do until your next turn.
It's all about brinkmanship, the closer you can get to the end of the round before the times up, the more advantage you can squeeze out of the game. Particularly if the Speed Freestyle game you're playing has the No Spoils setting, effectively there is no penalty for running out of time, you won't get a Spoil anyway so you don't need to end your turn, ever. The best part is, you don't have to wait for the other players to click the 'Begin' button because you ran out of time instead of ending your turn. You're not prevented from beginning your turn straight away in the next round if you were last to finish, as would normally be the case.
A few questions you might ask:
Q: That's a bit cheeky, should I really be doing things like that?
A: Well, you want to win don't you?!
Believe me when I say it works, got my arse kicked enough times by the players who use it. It doesn't break any rules so it's legitimate, so you might as well give as good as you get! 
Q: Sounds like I need to keep a close eye on my opponents, should I click [Refresh Map] much?
A: HELL YES! It refreshes automatically every 10 seconds or so, but moves can be made in a flash, so click [Refresh Map] often. Also the Clickable Map plugin can help speed up your game, I don't use it so I can't tell you much, but check it out here at Plugins & Addons if you're interested, just ask around.
Speed games in general are a tricky business if you have a slow/poor connection, but it is fun and I'd encourage anyone to give it a try at least once.
A little background first, in a Casual Freestyle Play Order game the round can last up to 24 hours and when you take your turn you have a maximum of 1 hour to complete your deployment, assaults and reinforcements. The point to note here is that you have to end your turn if you want to receive a Spoil in those Casual Freestyle Play Order games with the Escalating Spoils or Flat Rate Spoils setting.After playing a few Casual Freestyle games myself I tried some Speed Freestyle games. Of course I was in the 'habit' of ending my turn once I'd completed all my intended moves and I was doing it quite quickly too. I was used to Casual Freestyle games where the round outlasted the turn, in a Speed Freestyle game the round is only as long as the turn! This is a very bad habit in Speed games, it allows the other players who haven't ended their turn free range to maul your position and there's nothing you can do until your next turn.
It's all about brinkmanship, the closer you can get to the end of the round before the times up, the more advantage you can squeeze out of the game. Particularly if the Speed Freestyle game you're playing has the No Spoils setting, effectively there is no penalty for running out of time, you won't get a Spoil anyway so you don't need to end your turn, ever. The best part is, you don't have to wait for the other players to click the 'Begin' button because you ran out of time instead of ending your turn. You're not prevented from beginning your turn straight away in the next round if you were last to finish, as would normally be the case.
A few questions you might ask:
Q: That's a bit cheeky, should I really be doing things like that?
A: Well, you want to win don't you?!
Believe me when I say it works, got my arse kicked enough times by the players who use it. It doesn't break any rules so it's legitimate, so you might as well give as good as you get! Q: Sounds like I need to keep a close eye on my opponents, should I click [Refresh Map] much?
A: HELL YES! It refreshes automatically every 10 seconds or so, but moves can be made in a flash, so click [Refresh Map] often. Also the Clickable Map plugin can help speed up your game, I don't use it so I can't tell you much, but check it out here at Plugins & Addons if you're interested, just ask around.
Speed games in general are a tricky business if you have a slow/poor connection, but it is fun and I'd encourage anyone to give it a try at least once.
Artimis
Can't be bothered to install FireFox on my decrepid old beat up machine and can't be bothered to download and install the scripts either. But hey, I'm happy for the players that can be bothered to do so.