critique my drake strategies

[darksaurian]

I have always been really terrible with drakes, most terrain is the same to them and then I always would get slaughtered by undead. So I read the "how to play as drakes" thread and changed my strategies and now I think they are a lot of fun. It is a very different game now. I play a lot slower and protect my expensive units. At night I defend and use skirmishers to kill adepts. I kill adepts with skirmishers, clashers, and fighters. And I burn skeletons and ghosts. If adepts are attacking I make it so they have to attack a burner instead of a clasher so I can at least retaliate a little.

Anyway I played a rough Isar's Cross game and it was close at the beginning but in the end we won. But red yelled at me a little for not helping him at night. But it would have taken my whole army to kill one adept and I figured his other adepts would slaughter me if I put myself out there. So I wonder, who was right? I think I was right to play cautious.

I attached my replay so If any pros can watch it and tell me anything I did wrong or give me any pointers that would be cool. I want to try to become a drake master.

[Caphriel]

I haven't watched the replay, but I do have one thing to say:

Don't play Isar's cross. Seriously. There's not enough room for proper time-of-day flow. You're right not to commit a Drake army to a fight with the Undead at night; it's suicide.

[darksaurian]

Yeah I figure it's asking a lot for people to spend the time watching the replay. I figure I just throw it up there just in case a pro actually wants to spend the time.

I'll play any map, it's just that there's not always many people waiting to play a game in the lobby and it's always easiest to get an Isar's cross game going.

[donkey_noob_trash1]

I haven't watched the replay, but I do have one thing to say:

Don't play Isar's cross. Seriously. There's not enough room for proper time-of-day flow. You're right not to commit a Drake army to a fight with the Undead at night; it's suicide.

I play Isar's cross. It's fast and furious, with most of the strategy coming from how to create an effective army using low gold resources. It also teaches you how to communicate and plan with your partner, an essential skill set to have if you want to be successful on 4 player maps. If you're new to the game, Isar's will teach you some basic stuff. However, most good players stay away from the map, because it's generally considered to be unbalanced.

As Caphriel indicates, a partner who wants you to put your drakes in range of adepts at night is essentially asking you to sacrafice those units. On a map like Isar's, conservation of units is pretty much your top priority, since you have little income. I haven't looked at the replay, but I am about 99% certain you were right to hide from the adepts.

[Pentarctagon]

you could join the wesnoth ladder if you want to test yourself in a more competitive (and usually more skilled) environment.

[darksaurian]

ladder? I guess I have some research to do, I guess there's a few threads around here about that.

Yeah red told me to attack at night but it was second watch and I was purple, so when the undead took their turn it would be... um whatever that one between night and day is with 0% bonus. So it wouldn't have been super dangerous. But it still seemed like a waste to me because I would do piddly damage with my -25% attack. I'd rather make my move at the neutral daylight time (what is that time? Dawn?) and then press further during morning and afternoon.

[norbert]

ladder? I guess I have some research to do, I guess there's a few threads around here about that.

Some links to start with:
- Its website: http://ladder.subversiva.org/
- http://wiki.wesnoth.org/RelatedTools ("Ladder of Wesnoth - LoW is an open source game ladder system adapted for Wesnoth that uses Elo to rate players in 1 vs 1 games.")
- Forum thread: http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=17941

[Dixie]

(what is that time? Dawn?)

dawn is when the sun rises, dusk is when it sets. So yeah, in your case it was dawn

[norbert]

dawn is when the sun rises, dusk is when it sets.

Yep. I remember that (many) years ago, I had trouble remembering, not being a native speaker and all. But then I saw the movie From Dusk till Dawn, about "terrifying evil" that has been unleashed. In movies these things, of course, happen during the night. So, from dusk till dawn has to be from sunset until the sun rises.

[darksaurian]

Man I got destroyed by that elf_sovern guy. He was orcs and I was drakes. I had 11 kills to his 2 but he totally outnumbered me and overwhelmed me and I couldn't hold enough flags. Actually he sort of used the same strategies I use when orc or undead. But drakes too expensive and mix of lawful/chaotic, they don't work that way. In conclusion I am still a drake nOOb. I think I will scan the strategy & tips section for drake replays because I honestly don't know what I could have done different.

[Hulavuta]

I made a little Drakes strategy guide. But I don't keep it updated, and some of the information might not be helpful, but you might learn something, so here: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29325

[darksaurian]

Danke schon.

[monochromatic]

darksaurian: remembering our match a couple days ago, I was experimenting with rushing. So, during first night, I tried rushing you, to which you responded not too well. You packed you units together, and recruited skirmishers. Luckily for you, I had incredibly bad luck during my rush (I think my stats were inflicted -69%, taken +24%, or something like that at one point), but during day, when I decided a rush will not work, you still kept your units packed together and only attacked units that were in front of you. But orcish units are cheap; I could easily replace them. So you didn't make much progress during the day, and that allowed me to pound you with units the following night.

So the thing is, use the drakes' mobility to your advantage. Rather than group your units together, attack in many directions. Use a saurian for village stealing. The northerners playstyle is very dependent on economy. Taking their villages would spell their demise unless the player responded properly. Don't let your villages be stolen, you need the gold to buy units.

[Hulavuta]

Hmm, my strategy for drakes somewhat contradicts sovereign's, I would say that the group and absorb method is very effective. Have a big clump of drakes and surround units and destroy them. Also works when you use their mobility to surround them, cutting off escape. c

[5dPZ]

Drake rule number 1: Surround and kill.

Alternative to rule 1: Form a line and attack.

Alternative to alternative: retreat and form a line.

Alternative to alternative to alternative: retreat out of range.

If you attack, can't surround, can't kill, can't form a line to prevent your enemies' counterattack, you lost with drake.

If you defend, can't back out of enemy range, can't have <3 attacking hexes (2 if undead) to all your units, you lost with drake.