Became better

Share and discuss strategies for playing the game, and get help and tips from other players.

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Skuilla
Posts: 13
Joined: August 16th, 2019, 4:22 pm

Became better

Post by Skuilla »

Hi,
I know battle for wesnoth for a long time, but I can not improve my skill and this is so frustating.
I have read the guide on the site and see some replay of pros, but almost every time I start a match on mutiplayer, I lose.
Nothing seems useful to improve my game, for this reason in this years I play the game for some periods and abandon it every time.
Any tips? I understand that is necessary lose to improve, but it's about 7 years of losing match for a months, quit the game for a years and restart every year.
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josteph
Inactive Developer
Posts: 741
Joined: August 19th, 2017, 6:58 pm

Re: Became better

Post by josteph »

Persistence is a virtue :)

You might post some of your replays on viewtopic.php?f=3&t=39944 to be reviewed.

Also, I think, try focusing on learning to play as one faction for starters? That should be easier than trying to master all possible matchups from both directions at once. I'm not sure what faction to recommend, though.
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sergey
Posts: 475
Joined: January 9th, 2015, 9:25 pm

Re: Became better

Post by sergey »

Skuilla, we played with you twice in August. First time I won because you exposed your leader and I was lucky to kill him, otherwise you would won. Second time you was also winning, but disconnected and we didn't finish. So, it seems that you play better than me. But I don't loose all my multiplayer matches, it is about 50% / 50%. I try to take easy both wins and defeats.

You will play much better if you will deal with your frustration. It is almost impossible to win if your are defeated mentally before the battle begins. In my opinion, you already play well in order to get fun from the game. Play with opponents that are about your level of skills. Take defeats easy.

Alternatively, if you want to become pro, try to join the unofficial ladder, discuss your strategy with ladder players, learn from them and so on. Even then there will be players who will defeat you. That's inevitable, unless you want to spend your whole free time to master the game. But that also doesn't give 100% guarantee.

If it is hard for you to improve your skills and it requires a lot of time.. perhaps it is better to play for fun and spend your time on other things? That is a conclusion I came to :)

P.S. Have you joined Wesnoth discord? viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45019 I use it to arrange games with players who are about my level of skills. If you want, we can play again.
Author of SP scenario Dragon Fight and SP campaign Captured by a Nightmare.
Created The Rise of Wesnoth (alternative mechanics) version of the mainline campaign.
Skuilla
Posts: 13
Joined: August 16th, 2019, 4:22 pm

Re: Became better

Post by Skuilla »

Hi sergey,
my winning rate is far from 50%, generally when I start a match search my opponent on ladder in order to understand how much could be strong, if I found the nick I generally lose also if his score is 0 win and 15 defeat.
So I think that these players are good enough to start the ladder but not so much to gain point, despite this I am worse.
I am not interested in becaming a pro, but having maybe a 70/80% winning rate with people not signed in the ladder.
However thanks for the reply.
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sergey
Posts: 475
Joined: January 9th, 2015, 9:25 pm

Re: Became better

Post by sergey »

What is your current winning rate with players not signed in the ladder?

How many games you play per day/week/month? I'm not going to say that you should play more. Perhaps it would be better to play less. If I try to win, I am focusing on the game and it is not that easy actually. I can't play many games in a row and keep being focused. Also, do you understand that your frustration makes you play worse? If you want to improve your skills, I would suggest to not abandon the game, but play less. And try to have fun and learn instead of increase your win rate.
Author of SP scenario Dragon Fight and SP campaign Captured by a Nightmare.
Created The Rise of Wesnoth (alternative mechanics) version of the mainline campaign.
Skuilla
Posts: 13
Joined: August 16th, 2019, 4:22 pm

Re: Became better

Post by Skuilla »

Mmmm ok, I do not know my winning rate, today I play to games with losses with the same guy. Generally play 1 or 2 match.
The thing that hate is not understand what to do and where I wrong. So I quit the game for a while.
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sergey
Posts: 475
Joined: January 9th, 2015, 9:25 pm

Re: Became better

Post by sergey »

At least you should understand that there is a lot of things that you could do better. If you want to improve your play, you should find out at least some of them. It requires a lot of thinking, discussions and experiments.

Read all resources on this page viewtopic.php?f=3&t=39524 Watch all Neki's videos. Not only read, but understand and remember what units can effectively counter another units as described in the "How to play..." series. Learn unit stats. Watch tournament replays viewforum.php?f=70

I will try to provide more detailed feedback in your another topic viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50733
Author of SP scenario Dragon Fight and SP campaign Captured by a Nightmare.
Created The Rise of Wesnoth (alternative mechanics) version of the mainline campaign.
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beetlenaut
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Re: Became better

Post by beetlenaut »

Why don't you try playing a couple campaigns all the way through? Playing against the computer is different than playing against a human, but many of the skills really do transfer. Also, nobody sees it when you lose, so your pride stays intact! Choose the highest difficulty that you can win--even if it takes a few attempts. If you have already played a lot of campaigns, play some expert-level ones at the highest difficulty. (Except for SotBE on nightmare. You can't beat some scenarios in that one until you get good luck.)
Campaigns: Dead Water,
The Founding of Borstep,
Secrets of the Ancients,
and WML Guide
Skuilla
Posts: 13
Joined: August 16th, 2019, 4:22 pm

Re: Became better

Post by Skuilla »

I played some campaing in normal difficult, but I found it very boring, not because are simple but for certain objectives on certain scenarios.
For example I hate things like, escape from, resist to or level a units before x turn. I know that wesnoth is main single player, but I think that multiplater is the more interesting part.
Mawmoocn
Posts: 154
Joined: March 16th, 2019, 3:54 pm

Re: Became better

Post by Mawmoocn »

Hmm, based on my experience, try 1 scenario, complete it differently, and try to use ZoC, counterattack, reposition units as fish bait, try to predict behaviours and enemy movement, and see the difference with and without that strategy.

Preferably, try to save replays and look if your strategy needs too much luck or probably needs to have excess gold, for a breathable work strategy.

Less gold or units lost, can mean more room for wins.

Play slow, see if you can play without combat animations, find places and look for zones that gives you advantages (e.g. enemy units move slow on this place), sometimes, you may try to risk, if you want to end the battle early or in a tight (desperate) situation.

Use ZoC and keep a reserve of fresh units, to finish off wounded units, minimize casualties (if low or acceptable risk), save wounded units (when possible or not part of a strategy) with a healer and ZoC.

Protect units with experience, save these units or make them as fish (enemy) bait to kill other enemy units. If you can, try to level them up to suitable units, for long term battle situations or short term high win potential.

Wounded units can be used as fish bait or remove them from battle.
Use good terrain for your units, when it’s your opponents turn, try to place your opponent in a crappy terrain, either by baiting or luring them on those positions. Try to avoid being on crappy terrain unless, it's part of your own strategy, and you can accept the risk involved, when you fail.

Basically, most units have no resistances and vulnerabilities. You’ll most likely have wounded units, regardless of outcome.
Tad_Carlucci
Inactive Developer
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Joined: April 24th, 2016, 4:18 pm

Re: Became better

Post by Tad_Carlucci »

I often have wounded units which I have no intention of ever recalling or promoting. I try to use these to slow down or divert enemy units. Sometimes they surprise me and survive, even advance. But, usually, they give me the one-more-turn I need to get an important unit into position.
I forked real life and now I'm getting merge conflicts.
dwarftough
Posts: 481
Joined: August 4th, 2019, 5:27 pm

Re: Became better

Post by dwarftough »

beetlenaut wrote: September 8th, 2019, 8:13 pm Why don't you try playing a couple campaigns all the way through? Playing against the computer is different than playing against a human, but many of the skills really do transfer. Also, nobody sees it when you lose, so your pride stays intact! Choose the highest difficulty that you can win--even if it takes a few attempts. If you have already played a lot of campaigns, play some expert-level ones at the highest difficulty. (Except for SotBE on nightmare. You can't beat some scenarios in that one until you get good luck.)
(Maybe offtopic but still) I find some problems with playing campaigns, mostly because usually I became obsessed with a story like when reading a book. And the tough fight, especially very tough, turns out be an annoying obstacle. I finished your Secrets of the Ancients today but I managed to do it only switching difficulty to "Unpleasant". I fought on "Corrupt" but "Entering the Northlands" scenario became very difficult: too many enemies sneaking here and there and overriding my veterans. I also tried HttT on Hard but "The Siege of Elensefar" is super hard and frustraiting.

And the worst thing is that it's usually stated that a good player should play at least Normal difficulty, better Hard. So playing Easy with all of that becomes a blow to your pride even if noone knows. Of course I can try later with higher difficulty but the intrigue of the story is lost
Co-founder and current maintainer of IsarFoundation, Afterlife Rated and overall Wesnoth Autohost Project
Developer and maintainer of my fork of World Conquest, Invincibles Conquest II
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EarthCake
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Joined: March 29th, 2019, 1:57 pm
Location: The Wall

Re: Became better

Post by EarthCake »

dwarftough wrote: September 10th, 2019, 5:57 pm And the worst thing is that it's usually stated that a good player should play at least Normal difficulty, better Hard. So playing Easy with all of that becomes a blow to your pride even if noone knows. Of course I can try later with higher difficulty but the intrigue of the story is lost
It depends on the difficulty of campaign. In example, UtBS' easiest difficulty should be very similar to HttT's hard. (Correct me if I am wrong. ) So if you play on Easy UtBS but you can't beat HttT on hardest difficulty, that is not shame.
Discoqueen
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Re: Became better

Post by Discoqueen »

Single player is a waste of time. Skills that you hone there never translate to the next level, i.e. multiplayer
Byron
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Joined: May 23rd, 2013, 7:41 am
Location: West Virginia

Re: Became better

Post by Byron »

Curb your dogma. Having fun is not a 'waste of time'.
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