"AWOL Strategies" Advantage or Disadvantage? Misuse?

[asunder]

Now that awol is in effect and we have had some time to experience... Missing turns, so far im seeing a general attitude that someone missing their turn is to their disadvantage and to the other players advantage, however, that may not be the case. It appears players can go using the ability to defer troops and hold off on Reserve Cards (potentially increasing their reserve troop #) as a mechanism to gain the upper hand later on in the game. So the strategy is to become strong and sturdy, holding a set, (ensuring u wont be eliminated that round) and then miss a turn, while the next round, other reserves are cashed in, yours numbers increase, then you step in and lay down the crush. So while its all fine and dandy to have your strategy.. i would like others thoughts on this and would u consider this misuse to use the awol feature as a part of your strategy?

Hmm

 

[Borgified]

I think it's a disadvantage to miss turns unles each consecutive card turn in is worth more and more troops. I'm not even sure, is that the case with The Survivor games, is each consecutive turn in worth more?

In my case, I missed a turn by accident, and was elminated before I could ever turn in cards even though I thought I was strong enough not to be elminated. So I think missing a turn is too risky of a strategy.

 

[asunder]

I think it's a disadvantage to miss turns unles each consecutive card turn in is worth more and more troops. I'm not even sure, is that the case with The Survivor games, is each consecutive turn in worth more?

In my case, I missed a turn by accident, and was elminated before I could ever turn in cards even though I thought I was strong enough not to be elminated. So I think missing a turn is too risky of a strategy.

I think it was more risky, in the survivor game, yes. because that map is very small, and troop counts are low. but not to the other teams advantage or disadvantage. I am speaking however more generally, in games also where you are playing doubles or triples, and there is more of a troop count (bigger map) and there are multiple teams (3 or more) i think it can become very useful. It's all relative on what is "less" or "more" risky in each game. What is too risky isn't rly the question, because risk is risk. It's more about what is abuse/misuse, appropriate. etc.

 

[ghost]

we probably shouldn't bring attention to this wondrous fact, instead.. use it to our advantage. Hey Borgi.. you up for missing some more survivor turns if it means getting better cards, and use of our deferred troops.. as a bumper?

 

[coolname]

Given the fact the average MajCom player is maxed out in playing 4 games (and the strategists in 4+ games) at the same time, I think it would be really hard to coordinate AWOL for individual players. Perhaps it is advantageous to be AWOL in 1 game, but it will cost you dearly in your other 3 (or more) games. So I guess only 1-game players would be a potential threat. How many are there of those? What is the average number of games someone is involved in at the same time?

(I assume that AWOL in 1 game is AWOL in all your games. I'm not sure about that).

 

[asunder]

Given the fact the average MajCom player is maxed out in playing 4 games (and the strategists in 4+ games) at the same time, I think it would be really hard to coordinate AWOL for individual players. Perhaps it is advantageous to be AWOL in 1 game, but it will cost you dearly in your other 3 (or more) games. So I guess only 1-game players would be a potential threat. How many are there of those? What is the average number of games someone is involved in at the same time?

(I assume that AWOL in 1 game is AWOL in all your games. I'm not sure about that).

No it doesn't necessarily mean in all games, Like a player may deliberately awol on only the games where they see its appropriate. Like you might take your turns in some but not in others. The timing depends and could be in different parts of the game.

 

[Evan]

Remember you dont get deferred troops while awol. You only get them for the turn(s) you missed prior to being awol. Also, once you come out of awol you have to wait a round before you can take a turn. I think these negate any advantage. People can still attack awol players. If I want to wait for the number of reserves to increase, wouldn't it be smarter not to miss turns, keep getting my bonuses, and simply not attack anyone?

 

[Evan]

(I assume that AWOL in 1 game is AWOL in all your games. I'm not sure about that).

awol is on a pergame basis

 

[asunder]

Remember you dont get deferred troops while awol. You only get them for the turn(s) you missed prior to being awol. Also, once you come out of awol you have to wait a round before you can take a turn. I think these negate any advantage. People can still attack awol players. If I want to wait for the number of reserves to increase, wouldn't it be smarter not to miss turns, keep getting my bonuses, and simply not attack anyone?

Then maybe i am wrong when saying "awol", and i mean just missing 1 turn. If you miss 1 turn, you just receive your deferred troops next turn, correct, no?

 

[Incandenza]

Correct, but generally speaking it's still not an effective strategy to miss a turn. Granted, there will be isolated incidents where it can help, or where a veteran catches a new player unaware, but said isolated incidents are a small price to pay for the missed-turn and AWOL systems.

 

[Badorties]

in late game escalating, i wouldn't dare miss a turn. I might not take a region to position myself behind others with 5 reserves, but the ability to deploy on a weak border, or reinforce to a changing hotspot is too invaluable.

 

[coolname]

awol is on a pergame basis

Wouldn't a lot of the strategic-AWOL-ing be mitigated/solved by having AWOL on a perplayer instead of per game basis? Perhaps not, it might have (a lot) of unintended consequences. I don't see why you would take turns in one game and not in another (I for one cannot the yellow TURN buttons...)

 

[Spazm]

If anything, I see missing a turn (not necessarily AWOL) as being the biggest potential benefit, if at all, in the first few rounds. Especially in games with less players, you know you won't be eliminated and there are smaller troops numbers. Two sets of troops in one turn can be a nice advantage in some situations, especially if in a 3-4 person game the other players assume you aren't coming back and don't defend against you.

 

[Shepherd]

the only possible advantage I can see of missing turns on purpose is to lull your opponents into a false sense of confidence, but since the AWOL system here gives opponents a one round heads-up before an AWOL player takes his/her next turn this effect is severely mitigated.

A player who thinks they'll dominate the board by suddenly dropping a stack of 9 or 12 troops is taking a pretty significant chance; by missing and allowing your opposition to peck away at your undefended regions you're putting yourself in a hole you may never climb out of. Personally I'd rather get my troops gradually and keep myself in the game.

 

[asunder]

thanks for all the thoughts/feedback on this topic everyone!

 

[MrBenn]

Am I right in thinking that if you miss a turn, you only get three of your reserves from your skipped turn, regardless of any bonuses you hold?

 

[Atlas-shrugged]

I play realtime games all the time at another site and when I miss a turn I usually benefit because I always play Increasing value reserves,so I usually just look at it as an advantage instead of worrying that I missed my turn,I never use it as a strategy though, it is going to happen when you play 2 -5 minute turn games. But it is a loss too because you miss getting a card when you miss a turn .

The way to avoid this or to make it more like the board game was ,where you would never get that advantage,is to have an option that missed turns will penalize the reserve bonus amount by 5,
Of course you miss getting a reserve when you miss your turn so really you are already getting penalized that way too.

 

[asunder]

yeah a penalty like that makes sense and seems fair. i totally see what u mean by benefiting from missing a turn in speed games.