Translations of "How igorbat99's play competitive 1vs1" series

[dwarftough]

Loyalists vs Drakes by Igorbat99 (translation from Russian)

Let me start simple - I've played over 20 games with pre-picked Drake (Flare) against pre-picked Loyalist with... Lieutenant (many games), Fire Mage (many games), White Mage (few games), Swordsman/Javelineer (even fewer games).

So:

Blind recruit for Loyalist:

• Horseman, Merman, 4 Spearmen. Sometimes variations with 2 Horsemen, or Horseman + Cavalryman replacing one Spearman
• Cavalryman x2, Horseman, Spearman, Spearman/Cavalryman [horseman rush]

Blind recruit for Drake: Clasher, 2 Fighters, Augur, Skirmisher, Glider

Pre-pick for Drake: Glider, 3 Augurs, 2 Skirmishers

Pre-pick for Loyalist
Note: Suicide rush on second night/dawn against leader is the most common cause of lizard rush victories - nearly all games ended by turns 6-7.

Recruit: Merman + 4 Spearmen + Cavalryman

Notes:

Leader - Red Mage
Oh mighty one, your monstrous 10-4 Red Mage almost guarantees killing all lizards except tough/veteran Saurian Skirmishers. You can choke Drake on second night when playing second - of course, since at dawn lizards become easy prey.

Leader - Lieutenant
Consider starting with a mage. Pure Drake is so weak against mass spearmen/archers with 1 Horseman and Lieutenant on frontline that having a mage won't worsen the situation, while forcing Drake to think four times before adding many lizards to his drake forces. Meanwhile, your 8-3 magical damage can eliminate any bold lizard that gets too close to your frontline on defensive terrain.


Drake Strategies

1. Fire Drake - meaning your striking force is Burners, with Clashers as cover/wall, plus some Augurs and Skirmishers (but not as army core). The idea is to match numbers (like 20 units vs Loyalist's 25) and fight on open ground - your damage per tile is overwhelming. You can level up Burners to gain frontline superiority - this should be your goal. Here Augurs will likely level as healers rather than damage-dealers.

Something similar can be seen here (if I'm not mistaken):
[bridge_troll vs Kral, part1]
[bridge_troll vs Kral, part2]

But personally I play like this:
2. Angry Drake - late-game focused, not arcade-style, with roughly 40% Clashers, 35% Augurs, 20% Skirmishers, 5% remaining starter units/Burners for breakthroughs during day. I had a game (couldn't find replay on ladder) on Scared Foothills where this composition dominated. Key idea - Augurs attacking from 2 tiles against non-Heavy Infantry don't die at night, so this formation grinds down Loyalists while healing most damage through mass Augurs. Our Augurs level quickly, then Loyalist formation collapses. Meanwhile, a battered Loyalist at night can't deal serious damage by day - they simply lack safe ways to engage Clashers.
Key difference - ignoring Burners as they're not the army core.
[game link]

3. My personal favorite - Lizard Rush. Core idea - 3 Augurs can highly likely kill any Loyalist unit in a village, while Skirmisher highly likely captures it. For the 1st-2nd night, recruit Clashers to protect your poor lizards from rampaging Cavalrymen (a strong Clasher can oneshot ANY Cavalryman), then resume cold-blooded swarming. Important - you don't need more than 3-4 Augurs per flank, just enough to guarantee a village capture before placing a Skirmisher/Clasher. You might think your army would soon consist mostly of melee Saurians - not so. Time to open the second front - you can attack 2 directions simultaneously as early as the second night, typically threatening 3 villages at once. It's incredibly hard to maintain a solid formation - you'll likely get something for free somewhere, while grinding elsewhere to ease the next night's assault. Worried about XP? Your lizards level incredibly fast, so focus on those who'll level up first (smart Augurs and Skirmishers).

As you might guess, this is exactly what I recommend you do.



Loyalist Strategies
How to counter?

1. (Fire Drake) This is the simplest Drake to beat. Just swarm our 14g army of Spearmen/Archers/Mermen, come and die against Drake Clashers. In theory, 3 Spearmen are enough to kill Clasher in a village, leaving our wounded warriors covered by units occupying the village and surroundings. Remember - time is against us, so start pressuring opponent from day one. On maps like the Caves of the Basilisk or the Freelands, opening a second front helps. For every four our 14g units, Drakes need at least 3 defenders (56g vs 57g), but this seriously distracts attention.

2. (Angry Drake) You should force the fighting, like in #1, take gambits where all your units end up nearly dead but it's daytime and Drake's wall is dead. If Augurs on open terrain try to damage your fresh troops, they may meet an ignoble end by the second day. If they retreat instead, you can withdraw-heal-cover with fresh/uninjured forces. Difference from #1 - Drake almost certainly can't push you back from his village - daytime damage isn't enough, and if leader engages, he might get wrecked too

3. (Lizard Rush) Remember - giving up units for free isn't an option. You can surrender a village for 1-2 turns, then push with formation forcing lizards to attack on open terrain. You might consider getting Heavy Infantryman if really pressured, especially if lizard rush continues beyond the first defensive night. But remember - Heavy Infantryman is a one-way unit. He can't go attack and seriously undermines your daytime options. If Drake tries to finish and fails to kill Heavy Infantryman... your gamble paid off. Otherwise the opponent gets an extra cycle: stole village, lost nothing by day, making your situation worse.

I think swarming 2 Spearmen-Archer-Elites should work. Elite means Cavalryman (to kill lizards) or Mage (to burn lizards, forcing retreat). The idea is that lizards are very weak by day and die incredibly easily outside 60% defense. But even then they hit hard. Your task isn't too hard - maintain solid formation, don't give Augurs 3-tile attack options.

That's all for today - go play lizard rush against wooden Loyalists, love Wesnoth!

[dwarftough]

Undead vs Drake by Igorbat99 (translation from Russian)

Undead vs Drake - how much this phrase means to a Wesnothlife.ru player's heart...

Perhaps the most painful matchup on our platform. A matchup many champions consider completely unfair, while some foreign players claim - "it's fine, quite balanced." How can this be? Let's analyze.

Key features:

• All Drakes have -50% cold resistance (at the time of writing, after 1.16 Drake Burner line got -40% in mainline - note by translator dwarftough), meaning Adepts deal: 11-2 / 15-2 / 19-2 damage depending on time of day
• Gliders always die at night from 2 hits
• Fighters/Clashers/Burners always die at night from 3 hits (i.e. 2 Adepts)
• Saurians take 15-2; 12-2; 9-2 - meaning only 31+ HP Saurians survive 2 night hits

This creates situations where Drakes can't withstand Undead's night assault.

Game over? Not quite. To deal damage, Adepts must reach you. Our goal is preventing this. How? Simple - by sacrificing villages, entire fronts, hugging map edges, baiting Adepts into 1-tile attacks while scouting elsewhere.

Blind Recruit for Undead:

[3-Adept rush]: 3 Adepts, Skeleton on weak flank, Ghoul/Skeleton with Adepts, Bat(+Zombie?)/Ghost

[Safe start]: 2 Adepts, Skeleton on a weak flank, Skeleton/Ghoul with Adepts, 2 Bats/Bat+Ghost/Bat(Ghost) + Skeleton/Ghoul/Archer

Blind Recruit for Drake:

Fighter, 2 Soldiers, Glider, Augur, Skirmisher

Thoughts on maps
Narrow small maps - this is where Undead absolutely destroys Drake without a chance. Large maps (Fallenstar Lake, WL's Ashy Island) - these are maps where Undead neither has time to catch Drake nor escape from him.

What about classic maps? My opinion - on the standard map pool (Caves of the Basilisk/Sulla's Ruins/Hamlets/Weldyn's Channel) - the matchup favors Drake. On The Freelands - it favors Undead.

Undead Strategy:
I aim to push Drake from his border village on first night. Typically opponent brings his leader and troops but lets you take the next village too. Whether to take it and retreat all Adepts is debatable - I prefer keeping my tank. Regarding units: use Adepts and Archers where Archers tank. Ghouls die too easily, Skeletons with axes give cheap XP to Burners and cost 1g more.

Then, at the second Night (turns 10-12), attack both flanks. Key elements is to have enough units for all roles:
Sacrificial unit: Will take village and likely die (XP sacrifice)
Wall units: Create defensive zones to protect Adepts from night breakthroughs
Adepts: 3-4 killers on "strong flank", 2-3 on weak flank. "Strong flank" depends on opponent's forces - if Adepts can't survive Drake and Skirmisher night assaults, Skeletons won't achieve much.

Why not finish on second night? You likely won't have enough Adepts for both flanks - Drake's mobility and 1-2 skirmishers allow breakthrough. Let's calculate:
Skeleton (34HP) vs Burner: 6 * 3/4 *6/5 = 5 damage
So from two tiles (opponent will have 2 Burners) ≈ likely 30 damage
It means a Glider finishes the Skeleton
Then you get a gap in your zone of control that lets 6-3 Fighters (strong) and 6-4 Skirmishers flank from all around. Your 30HP Adepts risk dying from 3 tiles
Result: 1 Adept and 1 wounded Adept left with skeleton cover. How will you kill Drake at night? How defend the lost flank? Exactly.

And if you commit fully to one flank, Drake just escapes.

Why push on 3rd-4th night? Each proper Drake night costs him 9-15-21g for 8-16 experience on important units (usually Burners or even Gliders). Sometimes folks level up Skirmishers to better kill Adepts, or Fighters to handle Skeleton Archers.

Drake Strategy:
Recruits:

Against excessive Adept spam: Mass Fighters + Skirmishers

Against excessive Skeleton/Ghoul spam: More Burners and Gliders

Mixed composition (a mix of Adepts with Skeleton Archers/Ghouls/Ghosts (about half their army being proper Undead - the rest being this mixed stew): then Fighters become your army core, with 1-2 Skirmishers per flank/your main breakthrough flank, and 1-2 Burners per flank/breakthrough flank. It's crucial to recapture villages when the Undead stays in them (and they will stay) - hence why I mention having them on flanks too.


The underlying philosophy is this - we don't hold onto our villages, possibly splitting forces (sending some units, usually just single ones, to the very edge of the map), but not toward our keep - more like to the right side, for example. Example game: leadfox vs flappy_bird https://wesnoth.gamingladder.info/gamed ... %3A42%3A37

At dawn/second night we pressure the Undead's forward unit(s) to gain XP, while preventing them from digging too deep into your army during "counterattack" - this is the matchup's most delicate moment for us. So what if the Undead kills those pinning units by spending 2-3 units per kill - with the rest they won't be able to reliably break through (with lethal results). Best to pressure with Skirmishers and Fighters - Gliders die in 2 hits, and Burners are TOO expensive. If the Undead counterattacks, their fearsome army ends up fighting during wrong time of day. Yes, their Adepts still deal 15-2... But who said: a) they'll actually land those hits [without time-of-day penalties, Adepts die in open terrain] b) they'll finish off wounded targets: with Skirmishers (even just 1 remaining) we can split the opponent's army so they only deal damage in inefficient ways.

Then our task is surviving 3-4 nights, repeating this cycle. Crucial to understand - our leveled units might backfire - high upkeep units will drain us, we'll lose many villages, while level 2 Drakes still die to about three Adept hits at night (with some cleanup). So the Undead might end up nearly unitless yet holding all our villages against our pile of Level 2s... only to crush us next night with fresh 5-6 Adepts on a flank + Skeleton/Ghost cover, all because we messed up, didn't heal properly or failed to dislodge some enemy unit from our village, leaving ourselves exposed to those 19-2 cannons.

Example game: Solymos - igorbat99 https://wesnoth.gamingladder.info/gamed ... %3A43%3A30
Excellent play example: Maboul - Dauntless https://web.archive.org/web/20230208101 ... me_id=1225

That's all for today - survive the Undead and keep loving Wesnoth!