The Art of Deception

[monochromatic]

This is very WIP. It's just the beginning of something. So comments please. There'll be more to come!
Note: this is intended for inclusion into the 'How to Play' series.

Current skeleton:

Code: Select all

Preface
Section I - General Tactics
    Article I - Playing Deceptively
    Article II - Tricking your Opponent
    Article III - Understanding the Flow of the Game
Section II - Specific Tactics
    Article I - Feints
    Article II - Ambushes
    Article III - Bluffing
    Article IV - Baiting
Section III - Manuevering Deceptively
    Article I - Using Fog of War
    Article II - Controlling your Opponent
Conclusion

There will probably be more, but this os for now.
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The Art of Deception

Preface

"All warfare is based on deception." You have all heard this. From Sun Tzu's 'Art of War', this is one of the many famous quotes from that book. As I will reiterate, warfare is not just all about front-lines and strategies. As there are people involved, a cunning military general will use deceptive tactics to lure his opponent into his trap. And of course, this is not easy to pull off; one needs to have a good understanding of the human psyche and a good knowledge on reading to the enemy's reaction. This of course also applies to Wesnoth. Especially in multiplayer, deception plays a large part in the game. Playing Wesnoth isn't always about having a great front-line - although that plays a large part - but it involves a lot of thought and quick-thinking to play effectively or react properly.

You see, any Wesnoth match is a chain of events. Nothing is 'coincidental' or 'lucky'. Since the Wesnoth Random Number Generator is not rigged, luck does not play a role in the match itself. Doing one thing leads to another, thus a vital mistake - even early in the game - can lead to defeat. A surprising number of Wesnoth matches (and real world battles) are decided by a single crucial mistake, whether accidental or honestly misjudged. But not all battles turned out that way. It is not fair to declare victory upon getting a little ahead, and neither is that true.

What is the key here? People. War is not just about maneuvering, but also manipulating the enemy to fight in conditions favorable to you. Because battles involve people, that allows the battle to swing favor in either contender, whether one side has an advantage or not.

Now one of the main differences in real world battles and Wesnoth matches are that everything in the real world involves people, thus allowing more giveaways and manipulation. I am especially referring to the actual soldiers doing battle against each other. In Wesnoth, each unit is simply a set of defined values, and thus the unit will fight the same way no matter what. Other examples of this comparison include weather, communication, and fear/morale. In that sense, Wesnoth strategy is more straightforward than actual real world strategy, since there much less possibilities in which things could act differently. The chief variable of the equation would be, in fact, the player him/herself.  

Controlling these variables - rather exploiting these loopholes - to one's advantage through manipulation is deception, which brings us back to the beginning of this article. As I will reiterate, war (and subsequently Wesnoth as well) is not only about having a great front-line; it also involves a great depth of strategies and deceit in order to control the game.

slightly desplaced at the moment:

Feints

Probably the most common of these. Send a couple units in a way that your opponent cannot understad, so he will react badly, putting you in an advantageous situation. For example, in the situation I wrote above, how do you use a feint to distract the main enemy force? A possible tactic is to send fast, light scouts (Elvish Scouts and Drake Gliders are perfect for this) around the enemy to attack his rear and/or take his villages. At this point, the enemy has a couple choices in front of him.

• He send a great part of his force back to deal with the scouts and the rest of his troops go defensive. This is probably the worst reaction he can have. This puts you at a great advantage, you can now use his villages to get more gold, and recruit an army to fight back. Time it especially to have your scouts almost dead as your army is advancing, which puts him in a dilemma. Should he finish off the scouts or attack your new main force? If your scouts die too early, the feint has failed, and if your army advances too early, the enemy may catch up on your plan an attack. But timing it properly puts him into a dire situation, psychologically. Thus you have regained your standing plus more.
• He can send a small detachment of the main force combined with some new recruits to deal with your scout force, while his main army continues to take important areas. This is probably the most normal reaction. This way you have two choices in front of you, based on the Time of Day. If the Time of Day coming is favorable for you, you may be able to try to lure the units with your scouts towards his leader while your main force tries to engage with the coming enemy mina force. He may react badly and send more units back, which in that case is very good for you, or he might be calm and continue to defend with his force. If the Time of Day will be favorable for him, use your scouts to maneuver around the attacking units and attack the main force from the back. This way it will distract his forces until the Time of Day is favorable, which then you can advance.
• He can send newly recruited forces to deal with your units and continue to advance with his main force. This is probably the best reaction he could have, which also may potentially put you into a difficult situation. He probably recognized the feint, and decided to attack anyway. In this case, you have to use those scouts to attack them from the back to delay them, while you prepare for your last stand. It's only here where a good frontline is important.

[Yoyobuae]

Sun Tzu says: “Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to
which he must conform. They entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of
ostensible profit, they wait for him in strength.”

I guess this is more of a mind game than pure deception. In Wesnoth this tactic applies beautifully. First, there are villages that serve as really good bait. Second, the closer you bring your opponent the slower his reinforcements and the faster your reinforcements will reach the frontline. Third, your leader can easily participate in battle while the opponent's cannot.

I've won some initially lopsided battles like this. After losing 2,3,4 villages in a 1v1 (my drakes vs loys at that), I managed a great comeback with nearly all lv2 units and crazy kill/loss ratios (like 20 to 6).

The key here: greed. Wesnoth rewards taking villages very well. It's typical to defend villages at all costs. It all makes seem a free village steal much more valuable than they really are. Players will tend to become reckless and go for a quick win by stealing whatever village in reach and then spamming with their acquired wealth.

That's when you punish them. Focus on piling up the kills, lock the attacking units in place and kill them all. He will replace the kills with reinforcements. But those take time to reach the frontlines. Meanwhile one can single out village stealers and kill them one by one.

Eventually, advancements will start overcoming the gold disadvantage. Pretty useful for a faction with very good lv2 units (I love drake lv2s ).

It took me a lot to learn that valuable lesson: losing villages =/= losing the battle. Au contraire, I'm realizing that letting villages go is the better choice in many situations. It's often better to trade villages for kills. The cost of kills may or may not offset the gold disadvantage, either way you keep the exp gained.

[Huumy]

One way to play mind games with your opponent is to position your faster or better moving units so that he can't see them until it's too late.

Good example of this what I've actually done few times in freelands: I'm loyalist and my opponent is undead or knalgans. Lets say I'm advancing from one side during day. And the other side where is lots of villages, one village in the middle of grassland, I have an spearman or Heavy infantry in the most front village. My opponent moves with his bat or thief so that he can reach both the front village and swamp village behind it. Usually so that my unit in front can't even reach his unit.
So what you can do if you have a horseman near your keep, maybe you just recruited it last turn, so your opponent doesn't know it's there. Move the horseman 8 hexes (if it's fast 9 hexes) away from the swamp village and leave your front unit in the village where it was. When your opponent moves the unit, that have just enough mp to reach the swamp village, to the swamp village he:
1. sees the horseman and goes "omg" or
2. doesn't see the horseman and is surprised next turn when you charge him.

Btw works best with bats or thieves, they die in one hit.

[Yoyobuae]

Btw works best with bats or thieves, they die in one hit.

... or drake leaders. What a silly way to lose an almost won game. Had like 4/5 lv2 from earlier combat too. Hate horsemen

[monochromatic]

Hey guys, a new preface! A slightly more general approach, and I did some behind-the-curtain re-organization of the articles. In fact, I'll post my current skeleton up at the top. Anyway, continue to comment and give me more ideas! Thanks.