Dirty Strategies III by igorbat: no formation you have

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dwarftough
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Joined: August 4th, 2019, 5:27 pm

Dirty Strategies III by igorbat: no formation you have

Post by dwarftough »

Hi everyone! Some time ago on the Russian forum Wesnothlife known high-rated ladder players igorbat99 published a series of three posts called "Dirty Strategies". They were dedicated to various rush tactics which aren't optimal but with luck and opponent's being not prepared can obtain a quick success. I find them very interesting to read and maybe discuss. I've started translation not in an original order starting from the last one (because it has no images and I'm a bit lazy to past them :) ) but I'm gonna translate others too if folks find it interesting. With that being said, I yield the floor to igorbat99 to tell us about the strategies:

Igorbat99, "Dirty Strategies III: no formation you have"
(Source https://forum.wesnothlife.ru/index.php?topic=3500.0 )

Hopefully the end of the series. All of these strategies are not so demanding for the first slot but still being p1 is appreciated.

Each strategy relies on the following thought: if there is no formation, one can have 4-6 hexes to attack a particular unit. It means that the unit can be killed and the village can be taken. And that means the opponent will have fewer units, barely enough for villages, so part of the villages will have a single unit staying with reinforcememnts being far away, so no formation again => we can kill the unit and take the village and so on.
We'll avoid, because of different reasons, direct confrontations with several infantrymen on flat.

Mass Elvish Archers
Where does it work? Basilisk, the left side of Freeland, Sulla's Ruins.
Who played it actively: Mint(Bonobo)
Against whom it works: in fact loyalist (because loyalist starts making horse and they die quickly to archers, especially on Sulla), dwarf, drake.
Details: attack a village with 3-4 archers, kill the defender and take the village. Also might be comfortable to place an archer very close to enemy in forest and hope that she will survive, because after an unsuccessful attempt to kill aggressors will have no formation with 4-5 hexes to attack them

Mass Elvish Scouts
Where does it work? Scared foorhills, and, I guess, Sills
Who played it actively: Horus2, Danniel_BR
Against whom it works: dwarf, drake, even orc and loyalist suffer a bit: the map is big and horses advance easily
Details: almost the same as Gliders but don't forget about 60% in forest and fortresses. A levelled scout has 50% in the village and monstrous 44-55 HP (approx) so he can even tank regular infantry a bit (carefully, but he can)

Mass Drake Gliders
Where does it work? I've seen on the Basilisk, the same way it should work on Sulla.
Who played it actively: Danniel_BR
Against whom it works: dwarf, elf, even undead. Non first-night-rush orc suffers a bit.
Details: Gliders advance easily and has ranged marksman which allows an almost guaranteed level-up. The especially funny thing is that Gliders are extremely fast, they may scatter around like cockroaches forcing the opp to lose something again in order to catch and kill at least anyone. L2 gliders has decent damage, 45-55 HP (approx) and 50% def on any terrain: a wonderful tank for this strategy, that's it.


Saurian rush
Recruit 3 augurs and 2-3 skirmishers, and fight with them on a direction.

Against whom it works: loyalist. Works poorly against dwarf/elf (because of their infantry - thieves, footpads, dwarf fighters, strong elf fighters - inflict terrible damage by saurians' account) but still can succeed.

Details: an intelligent augur needs 15 exp to level up, so 2 kills (a skirmisher needs 18, two kills and two times to fight). Saurians have a good defense on any non-flat non-water spot. Skirmishing abilities tell us "No formation". In summary, easily level our units and suffer little retaliation because we attack melee units in range, range units in melee and we fight with superior numbers on good terrain. And yes, we ultimately must flee with a slightest sign of danger: saurians are very frail, even the 2 lvl ones. Through this we achieve superiority in numbers, levelups and take villages.

Mass Gryphons
Take 3 gryphon's at start, that will be our landing battallion, we will cur enemy's scouts or fish on a direction.
Where does it work? Weldyn (probably Freeland's/Basilisk/Swamp of Dread
Who played it actively: Mint, Danniel_BR. Recently - Kira1, Cremember
Against whom it works: elf - against elf massing gryphons is one of the best strats (с) Mint
Drake suffers from the strategy
Undead in an early aggression can be conquered: he'll easily sell a bat to you, a ghost can also be killed by you with 4 strikes (drains considered), adepts die like flies as well as ghouls, in short, very irritating.
Even loyalist with not beefy infantrymen the strategy may surprise, especially if loyalist didn't spend money on fish. And a loyalist fish can be killed in the first night - and our gryphons might not be detected and the opp will think we have a single gryphon.
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
Computer_Player
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Joined: March 16th, 2008, 6:39 am

Re: Dirty Strategies III by igorbat: no formation you have

Post by Computer_Player »

Thanks for the translation, these can be very fun, lots of them I didn't even think of. Caveat though i would say these are Advanced Dirty Strategies - you can only employ them if you have mastered the Basics of Wesnoth MP at the minimum. This strats are good to try out once you are confident in the basics since these will force you to learn advanced ones - Line of Sight mind games, Paying attention to Traits, even unit counting (not necessary, but might as well learn them).

BTW do you have replays that showcase these strats? Might be easier to learn seeing them in action.
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igorbat99
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Joined: October 6th, 2015, 11:41 am

Re: Dirty Strategies III by igorbat: no formation you have

Post by igorbat99 »

nah, i didn't provide any replay at russian website. I prodived some screenshots in neighbor paper. (horse rush tactics) https://forum.wesnothlife.ru/index.php?topic=3499.0
dwarftough
Posts: 478
Joined: August 4th, 2019, 5:27 pm

Re: Dirty Strategies III by igorbat: no formation you have

Post by dwarftough »

I've translated that illustrated one too, you can check it out here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=54190
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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