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This is the continuation of the post I started here. That's where all the setup and the first week of the tournament was capture. The experimental phase. This will be a lighter entry as I'm off from my normal schedule due to the holiday (Thanksgiving... uniquely American, maybe Canadian) and travel (to my parents). We might cover Week 2 and 3 here.
A couple words on notation. I use shorthand for common gadgets to avoid typing Quantum Jumper 8 million times. It's QJ. It's the only QJ in the game. If I use an abbreviation that you don't know, check the link, and then ask. I also find the fight logging to be a necessary drudgery. It keeps track of an evolving metagame. I am sincerly hoping that Playdom do not release Special Ops 5 until late December, and really, until after New Year's Eve, partially because this time of year is crazy enough, and partial because I don't want a drastic shift in metagame in the middle of the tournament, like they did when they dropped Special Op 4 right after 3. Last thing, I will assume some defaults. There are some alt costumes that are so prevalent, that they've replaced the default uniform (at my level) to become the new default. If I don't say otherwise:
- Colossus = Modern Bruiser Colossus
- Emma = P5 Tactician Emma
- Cap = WW2 Tactician Cap
- Strange = Modern Blaster Strange
If I put them in another class, it means they are wearing the alt, but in the alt class. If they are in a default, or a third costume, I will notate the costume if default class, otherwise the whole she-bang.
At any rate, here we are. Let's get into it.
Day 7 - November 19th – 1268 ELO - Vibranium[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic1_zps57fdc1c2.jpg
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Down 30 points from yesterday and back to Vibranium. Up 450 from the start.
Bad News: Down 186 points overnight. Bad. Largely because I didn't play much at all yesterday, so I didn't make gains to offset the loss and push progress forward. No big deal. It's still very early. I'm still in the top 1%. So, if I were here on the last day of the tournament, I'd feel okay about finishing Adamatium and great about Vibranium.
More disturbing is how I lost the 186. I went 1 win, 9 losses and a tie. Ugly. Will not be running that again. I am thinking that the Power Armor is the problem as I see more high level people running Quicksilver. Back to logging.
Fight Log[]
- Emma, Ghost Rider, Generalist - Coulson, QJ, Dark Sigil, Digital Decoy.
- Beast, Tact Strange, Generalist (Reinforced) - HIB, HIB, QJ, Pinion.
- Emma, Cap, Generalist - Golden Tyrant Blade, MFG, SudSupp, QJ
- Inf Emma, Colossus, Power Armor Infiltrator - Pinion, Coulson, ARC, P4.
- Inf Emma, Tact Strange, Scrapper - Pinion, MFG, Cosmic Flame, QJ.
- Adamatium League - 1306 ELO
- Emma, Cap, Generalist - Pinion, Flare, Faulteater, QJ.
- Tact Strange, Ghost Rider, Generalist - Coulson, Sinister Scepter, Traumatic Post, MFG
- Tact Strange, Beast, Generalist (Reinforced) - HIB, HIB, QJ, Pinion
- Loss. Ugly.
- Strange, Mock, Power Armor Infiltrator - QJ, X, X, X
- Emma, Tact Strange, Scrapper - Faulteater, Pinion, MFG, Sudden Support
- Ghost Rider, Mock, Bruiser - Blade of the Guardian, X, X, X
- Tact Strange, Cap, Scrapper (reinforced) - Signpost, QJ, Golden Tyrant, and X-Play.
- Adamntium again - 1315 ELO, top .5% - 4841st
- Inf Emma, Mock, Generalist - MFG, Coulson, QJ, Hex Wand
- Emma, Mock, Power Armor Infiltrator - Dark Sigil, QJ, P4, Pinion
- DARK RUSH LIVES... but loses... you needed a tank, son
- Cap, Mock, Scrapper - QJ, P4, Pinion, Coulson
- Emma, Mod Thor, Generalist - ARC, Flare, QJ, MFG
- Ugly, Buggy Loss. Emma got an extra turn for I dunno why and wasted my agent and my Emma after Thor got his Thunder off. Worth looking at.
- Emma, Mock, Generalist - Cosmic Flame, Dark Sigil, QJ, Signpost.
- Bad loss. He had Agent, Emma, went Signpost, QJ. Mock gets two turns, Emma gets two turns. He's 20 levels above, which was all the advantage he needed.
- Emma, Tact Strange, Power Armor Infiltrator - Dark Sigil, Chrono Overdrive, Coulson, Plasma Sword
- Plasma Sword
- Loss. He got off first. I stunned his agent then was gonna kill him with Decimate when Strange's Shield saves him and Emma's proc unstuns him. Chrono+Combat Reflexes+Plasma Sword and agent bites the dust.
- Tact Strange, Scrap Colossus, Generalist - Signpost, Cosmic Flame, Coulson, Faulteater.
- I guess the idea here is to heal very large while DoTing the enemy. DoTs are slow. Easy Win
- Colossus, Ghost Rider, Bruiser Agent - Dark Sigil, QJ, P4, Pinion
- He had PVP bonus advantage and level advantage. I just win.
- Emma, Bruiser Cap, Bruiser - Coulson, QJ, Pinion, P4
- Emma, Strange, Generalist - Signpost, Cosmic Flame, QJ, Faulteater
AFK Experiments[]
I tried Ghost Rider with WW2 Bruiser Cap and my tactician agent loadout (Qj*2+Pinion+Coulson) for AFK. Ghost Rider can be hard to kill and he seems to have some anti-Emma tech.
Minus 57, 1 win, 5 losses from Ghost Rider, Cap, and Tactician Loadout. Scrap heap.
Changed PVP Away team to WW2 Cap, Strange, Tactician Agent with QJ, Coulson, Signpost, and Sinister Scepter. See how that rolls.
+12. This is the Strange-Cap team, with my agent either in the 7.3 fights or 7.3 boss setup. No idea which.
+18. 1 fight. Encouraging, but small sample size.
Meta[]
Using the 21 unique (fought one person twice) fights above, I can do some work on the meta.
- 14 Emma
- 8 Strange
- 5 Cap
- 5 Mock
- 4 Ghost Rider
- 4 Colossus
Meta Points[]
- It's still Emma World out there. For all the reports about how Playdom has ruined her, she's still a standard feature in PVP. Largely because there aren't good AFK answers for her. She does a lot of the team in damage reduction, attack surpression, buff clearing, and road paving (getting tanks out of the way) that I don't really see her going anywhere, even though you can now debuff her. She is not going anywhere from the PVP environment until there is an answer for her.
- Tanking is still here. But it's fading. Too many things that ignore tanking. I am not seeing a ton of Beast, so I am not worried about running Cap. I run Cap as a bruiser, and I'm not that afraid of Strange as most people are running him as a tactician.
- Strange. A great update to one of my favorites. His Defender proc gives a nice survivability, and boy can he dish damage. He remains squishy, but not as squishy as he used to be, and in PVP you can modify your bonus to compensate. I consider running him as a Tactician a great move in midlevels due to Torch and Blaster Strange, but bizzare given the utter lack of blasters in my PVP, especially as Tactician Strange is more expensive (though hardly expensive), and vulnerable to the plethora of Power Armors out there. And oh yeah, this just in, tanking is still here, and a lot of tanks are bruisers. Of course, some people worry about the excessive numbers of tacticians. I suppose I should, and maybe try my AFK with Tactician Strange. It's a question of working to strength or working away from weakness.
- Ghost Rider. I think it's a passing phase. He is not that great in AFK because he requires some tactical decision making. He's a good answer to extra turns, as he stacks the Sin, runs a Burnout and Penances someone to death. He takes a lot of stacks of Vengeance before his damage is really meaningful in aggressive high level PVP. And I haven't seen him process Infernal Contract more than twice in a row. I don't worry about him, though for my AFK team, I won't be running my Power Armor.
Day Seven Results[]
- League: Adamantium (I'd be very surprised if I stay there)
- Rating: 1398
- Ranking: .2%
- 2305th if you're interested.
- Record: 289-238-3
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 192
- Defenses: 312
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.76
Day 8 - November 20th – 1258 ELO - Vibranium[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic2_zps22b7a22e.jpg
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Up 10 points from yesterday.
The Bad News:Down 140 points overnight. 9 wins, 19 losses overnight. 32% Wins. Fail. But again, acceptable considering the overall strategy. Play PVP, figure what works, make a move before the last two days, then grind to maintain. So, I can take that setting off. Might be time to try something completely different.
Fight Log[]
- Bruiser Cap, Ghost Rider, Generalist - QJ, MFG, Sudden Support, Golden Tyrant Blade
- Emma, Cap, Blaster - QJ, Faulteater, The Experiment, Construct Matrix
- This was a tough fight, but I can't decide if it's because he got his agent off ahead of mine or because this is an actual worthwhile build.
- Mock, Ghost Rider, Bruiser (Reinforced) - Soulfinder, Girl's Best Friend, Digital Decoy, QJ
- Inf Emma, Tact Strange, Generalist (Reinforced) - Rocket Pistol, Crowbar, QJ, Coulson
- Puzzling. Not hard, but puzzling. Crowbar has to be outleveled massively.
- Emma, Mock, Generalist (Reinforced) - Only for Killing, MFG, Dark Sigil, Coulson
- Only For Killing is an odd choice for AFK. Initial damage is so-so, and human players can play around Mental Anguish or have Emma remove it. I could see using it on the computer, but not for AFK.
- Emma, Mock, Generalist - Pinion, Coulson, QJ, P4
- Adamatium - 5040 people at least.
- Emma, Cap, Scrapper - Goldent Tyrant Blade, Rook, MFG, P4
- AFK - 48
- Bruiser Cap, Quicksilver, Blaster (Reinforced) - Marksman's Spotter, QJ, Curative Reach, GSE
- Emma, Bruiser Cap, Bruiser - Target Painter, MFG, QJ, GSE
- Emma, Cap, Infiltrator Power Armor - Dark Sigil, Golden Tyrant Blade, Signpost, P4
- Anyone else get a feeling of accomplishment when you beat someone with Power of Four and they get Power of Four off and you still wind up with both heroes and the agent upright? This went P4-Signpost-3xSigil, when it's clearly designed to be Sigpost-P4-Sigil-3x GTB.
- Emma, Bruiser Cap, Generalist - The Experiment, Phoenix Flare, QJ, Sudden Support
- Sudden Support does not juice damage like even the nerfed Chrono Overdrive. I get that it does other things, but you're carrying it to make the Flare deadly. ARC>CO>SS for damage. And the AI will never use Sudden Support properly.
- Emma, Tact Strange, Generalist - Grief, Sudden Support, Scroll of Melsalam, QJ
- Scroll of Melsalam
- Scroll of Melsalam is one of those items that I would never allow the AI to use, as the AI is an idiot when it comes to healing. It will always heal on the first turn. I didn't see it here, because, with the lack of tank, his agent never got a turn.
- Tact Strange, Ghost Rider, Tactian - Dark Sigil, Golden Tyrant, Soulfinder, Power of Four
- Mock, Quicksilver, Generalist - Signpost, Only for Killing, QJ, Coulson
- Tact Strange, Inf Emma, Generalist - Chrono Overdrive, Sinister Scepter, Power of Four, Golden Tyrant Blade
- Tact Strange, Inf Emma, Generalist (reinforced) - Blade of the Guardian, Construct Matrix, QJ, Hex Wand
- 15K more attack bonus, Loss.
- Emma, Cap, Generalist - Faulteater, QJ, MFG, Dark Sigil
- High ranked guy, but largely because he's done 272 attacks. 54% winning. I am stronger in all aspects.
- Tact Strange, Ghost Rider, Generalist - Sinister Scepter, Traumatic Post, Coulson, MFG
- Inf Emma, Cap, Scrapper - MFG, GSE, Chrono Overdrive, Power of Four.
- Win. But he never used the Power of Four despite his agent going first and using a tank. When I finish my current project, I'm gonna look in the data and see what triggers P4 use.
Metagame Change[]
We knew this day would come, but Quantum Jumper's bug where you got an agent turn after the first time you used it has been fixed. But, in exchange, they reduced the cooldown by a turn, so you can now QJ every other turn. This brings to mind a strategy involving a quick action weapon, like the HIB, 2 QJ and the Coulson. That's a big shot when I need it, extra turns for the team. Since a lot of my team's success is predicated on just AOE'ing people to death around and under tanks with extra turns up the wazzoo... Not bad. But I'm gonna miss that turn. Still rocking it 2 QJ, Coulson and Pinion. If only there were a stealthy quick action gun. Or people started playing blasters. Either way.
Mockingbird is bugged and not switching classes, which makes her annoying. Not annoying enough to return to AFK duty, but still. Why can't they just fix her once and for all.
Storm got a new update. Very strongly defensive. I wouldn't be surprised to see her back in PVP at low and mid levels with her alt. I am on the fence. I could buy the costumes, and will definitely buy the blaster at some point, if only because I believe in owning upgraded versions of base characters. Pinion solves most of her puzzles, so I'm not worried.
AFK Experiments[]
Bruiser Cap, Herc, Inf Power Armor Agent with Pinion, 2 QJ and Coulson. Loser. 1 and 4, - 48.
Bruiser Cap, Emma, Inf Power Armor Agent with Pinion, 2 QJ and Coulson. 6 Wins, 4 Losses + 10. Worth another go, even though it's boring and herd like.
Observations[]
I am astonished at the lack of tanking. People who don't use tanks are at a distinct disadvantage in AFK PVP. Especially if they don't use p5 Emma, who magically clears debuffs at the most inopportune times. I am enjoying free shots at the agent, leading to fights where I don't even see the enemy agent get a turn.
That leads to my critique in week 1's post of the Blade of the Guardian. I cannot imagine giving people free runs to my agent, which using him as a tank accomplishes. Now, that doesn't mean it's straight junk. You can come up with kooky plans to make this work. Here's a kooky idea for you. Run with Mod Colossus, Ww2 Cap and the BotG. Thus, you reroute attacks and create a puzzle to get through. The only thing he is certain of is that he won't hit his intended target. Use the other three slots for something evil, like QJ-ARC-Phoenix Flare. They will have a hard time getting to you before you go off. This might be an opportunity to go Scrapper Colossus, Bruiser Cap, and Power Armor on the agent. Or Bruiser Colossus, Tact Cap, Power Armor agent. Without stealth or psychic, they are not getting to your agent cleanly.
Despite someone in another group saying that WW2 Cap now sucks, WW2 Cap is back in a huge way in my afternoon session. People who believe that the matching engine matches you based on what you play can take comfort that I haven't noticed too many repeats and I always play with the same team. So, I don't believe that's the case.
Day Eight Results[]
- League: Adamantium (Nice to Know I Can Get There)
- Rating: 1468
- Ranking: .2%
- 1617th if you're interested.
- Record: 325-271-3
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 214
- Defenses: 385
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.8
I am going to my folks place for Thanksgiving, which involves a day mostly spent in the car tomorrow, so no blog update is likely. Then, I'm unlikely to play much while at my folks for Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Followed by a long day in the car on Sunday. So, my apologies, but I'm unlikely to do this level of blog until Monday. We're going to get a good sample size on the Most Boring AFK Setup Ever.
Day 9 - November 21st - No Idea[]
Accepted 50 gifts. Did not play today. Robust sample size for The Boring Team in AFK PVP, I reckon.
Day 14 - November 26th – 1062 ELO - Diamond[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic3_zpsbe28ac50.jpg
Overweekend Report[]
Dispensing with the Good News, Bad News. It's all pretty bad. Down over 400 points and two leagues. It's okay. How'd I do? Well, good thing I track my results the way I do.
- Record: 364-326-4
- Net Change: +39 - +55 - +1 (41% wins AFK... go Boring Team)
- Attacks - 216
- Defenses - 478
- Ratio: 1:2.2
Tournament Strategy[]
Okay, Good News. The Boring Team wins at an acceptable rate to maintain standing while playing. The bad news, there really isn't any. Yes, 400 points and two leagues, but there's plenty of time to make that up. The road ahead has two paths. And each path has it's own questions.
- Get back in the swing now, push towards the top and either
- Break through the 2200 plateau for what I beleive will be creamy emptiness.
- Not sure this is possible in my grouping.
- Not sure the creamy emptiness (minimal attacks) will occur in my grouping.
- Get back to Adamantium/Vibranium shuffle and treadmill through.
- Break through the 2200 plateau for what I beleive will be creamy emptiness.
- Sit back and wait until later to make my ascent.
- How long to sit? Final week?
- Harder?
At any rate, time will tell. I'm too busy to play PVP this AM, so this number will probably get worse before it gets better. But that's okay. What's motivating this is something I heard from the last tournament, a comment from bhdevault, who finished in the top 10 or so.
"Everyone says the battle is the last few hours, and maybe it IS to get to a certain rating point, but at the top the battle is the whole month. "
So, we reach a question. Advance all the way to the top and sit out the last days, or hang around and rush later? I am not sure. I think both are valid. There is no additional reward for finishing better than the top .5%.
Progress[]
1200 is Vibranium. Took 12 fights (11-1) to get back there. Seeing ZERO tanks in this run of 12 fights. Seeing more Demon Set. I am currently researching Grief, and since I would like to play with it, I bought Fury. One wonders if it's a good time to run Mockingbird, except that she doesn't exploit those. But, with no tanks, a Power of Four - Fury *3 and Grief *1 seems like a good idea with a Quantum Jumper to round out the first turn. This might be a good idea with Cap and Colossus. Two walls, and a slugger. If tanking is really dead in this environment (have to remember that I am in Diamond for these fights, fighting largely other Diamond members), this should work very nicely.
Day 14 Results[]
- League: Adamantium (Nice to Know I Can Get There)
- Rating: 1601
- Ranking: .1%
- 1445th if you're interested.
- Record: 395-343-4
- 54% Win
- Attacks: ???
- Defenses: 492
- Attack:Defense - 1:???
(I forgot to check the attacks... can't manage it if I'm not measuring) I am trying the Boring Team with a switchout of 1 QJ for 1 Power of Four based on a discussion I am having. I am anticipating a roughly 40% win rate and a drop of ~100-150 points.
Day 15 - November 27th – 1431 ELO - Vibranium[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic4_zps0fcc34c2.jpg
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Up 369 points from yesterday.
The Bad News:Down 170 points overnight. 27-19-1 overnight. Yep, that's getting close to 60%. And still hemorrhaging points. The bright side of the darkness is that in 47 fights, I only lost about 3.6 points per fight. Without the wins, this could have been very ugly. While it's good for Agent Wanderer to lose 95% of his AFK matches because he can make it up with volume, I don't have that level of dedication, so I'm still looking at a 1:2+ offense to defense ratio.
Day 15 Results[]
- League: Adamantium
- Rating: 1730
- Ranking: 0%
- 557th if you're interested.
- Record: 469-388-5
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 314
- Defenses: 548
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.74
Analysis[]
I played an hour of high speed PVP this evening, collecting ally bonuses. I only collected from the folks over L100, which is maybe half, maybe a bit more. Seeing some interesting things that I didn't log because I was playing fast to get as much done in an hour as I could. One had three quick action devices and a Quantum Jumper. I think it would work better with two QA's and two QJs. I am finding the QJs to be very interesting. If fights get long, I just beat people down with extra turns and AoEs. I wish I had gotten the Cosmic Flare as I could add DOTs and Debuffs. I am not having trouble with anyone, which means, more Boring Team Modified. Emma, Bruiser Cap, Inf Power Armor, QJ-Pinion-Coulson-Power of Four. I am not thrilled with this setup, despite the 58% win last night. It did not fare well during the day today.
I am hoping to fall 200 points or less overnight. That would put me in position to run to 1800 or beyond. I've kind of decided to run for the top so I might coast on the final day. That would require starting to play more, like today (grew 319 points on the day, which built on the 170 point loss and the 600 point gain yesterday). Decision was kind of made for me because I like extra data (I'm impatient), and I'd prefer to start the finishing kick from the front of the pack rather than the back. Worked last time. I am pleased to be in the top 600 right now. Good night. See you in the AM. Keep fingers crossed for a sub 200 loss.
Day 16 - November 28th – 1523 ELO - Adamantium[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic5_zps05317875.jpg
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Up 92 points from yesterday.
The Bad News:Down 207 points overnight. 2 and 17 for an abyssmal return. So much for the Power of Four version of the boring team. Or, it's time to just forget about setting anything, because it's not like you can do worse than 2 and 17.
AFK Alteration[]
Have seen some interesting things and the nonfunctionality of Boring Team at Adamantium League play. So, constructing a new build. Signpost, QJ, Marksmans Spotter, Coulsons. Still Boring Team. Thinking is to get as much stamina out there and constrain the AI to using the agent as I would like him used. It was 2 and 1 for +16 in it's first run.
I ran this once in offensive, just to see what it would run like. I replaced Cap with Colossus, because I prefer Colossus on Offense, Cap on Defense. It worked very nicely. With the Marksman's Spotter, I could get Combat Reflexes from a tactician Cap, which led to a 30% damage increase to a Coulson to the enemy agent. One Shot Overkill. That made it a 3 on 2, where the AI doesn't do as well. From my research, the AI doesn't seem to factor the number of teammates or the number of enemies. Else, it would spam Cap's Shield Guard when he's at a disadvantage.
Progress[]
With the morning 5 and the lunch 5, I am back in the top 1 and back to 1650 or so. Based on the distribution of scores, I would only feel good about remaining in Adamantium overnight if I were to start the night in the top 500 or so. That I stayed there while in the top 600 was a bit lucky, as I could have lost more matches or even seen more matches overnight. The dream is to be in a place where I don't see as many attacks by being high.
I have seen some folks talking about sitting low until the last couple of days. They might not remember the scrum that the last couple of days were last go and that I had to do about 150 fights on the last day to climb from just outside of Adamantium to the middle point of Adamntium. I think you can leave it for later, but I don't think you're going to want to start from a base of 1000 with two days to go. The competition will be intense and you will see a ton of AFK action. That's why I'm lighting for the top now.
End of Day Analysis[]
Low attack volume from yesterday (33 total defenses if I recorded yesterday's number accurately) combined with increased volume of attacks by me (56 if yesterday's count was accurate) have started to level the A/D ratio. Remember, it was up around 2 defenses for every attack. Oddly, the win percentage is where it's been, 55%. Seeing a lot more Captain America as I get into the upper reaches of Adamantium.
I have put in to have Monday the 10th off from work. I have the extra days off that I will need to use since I'm working on Christmas Eve. I'm going to try running Dragon on my tablet while I play and see if I can record it in more detail than I did last time.
I am running a hybrid of the two strategies I laid out. Normally, I don't like to fence sit, but something said in the conversation with Wanderer struck me... something to the effect that for some players it's a fight at the end, but for the players at the top, it's the whole month. I figured that I enjoy PVP (obviously, since I'll probably have 30K words written just about this tournament by the time it's done), but not enough to have played 1000 attacks by now in this tourney. So, not deeply into it enough to be on the top 10 for the whole tourney, but with my hybrid strategy, maybe by the end. I made my 300 points )with 25 points to spare), so maybe this isn't a dream. Maybe it is.
Day 16 Results[]
- League: Adamantium
- Rating: 1849
- Ranking: 0%
- 291st if you're interested.
- Record: 515-421-5
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 360
- Defenses: 581
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.61
Day 17 - November 29th – 1593 ELO - Adamantium[]
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r682/PKBHI/Pic6_zpsf076434f.jpg
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Up 70 points from yesterday.
The Bad News:Down 253 points overnight. 1 and 19 for an abyssmal return. Might have to go back to a basic. Something like Boring Team, QJx2, Coulson and Signpost. That should force the AI into som things. Or I might just have to figure that I'm going to lose 95% of my AFK matches while in the upper tier of Adamantium. The silver lining is that I'm not only in Adamatium at 1593, I'm still in the top .2%. The margin for error is something like another 130 points.
Today's Goals[]
- ELO - 1900+. A morning session, a lunch session, and an hour tonight.
- Spend no resource that is not free.
- Develop an idea for AFK for tonight. Possibly done.
AFK Experiments[]
The ongoing narrative from my AFK experience is that I find something that works in a small sample during the day, and then overnight, it kind of falls apart. That might be because I'm moving up more in my nighttime session, but for whatever reason, that's been the story. Search in the dark, put something together, see limited success, come back down a ton of points. One might be tempted to give up, but let's try and think our way out. How can I force turn advantage and force a progression on the AI? There are two parts to that question. One is understanding the logic of the heroes I chose to use, the other is to understand how I can manipulate my agent into doing useful things. The logic of the heroes can largely be deduced by crowdsourced observation. I'll give you a simple one. Everyone knew that Scarlet Witch used to progress as follows:
- Chaos Shield
- Hex Spheres
- Extra turn - Arcane Blast or reapply Hex Spheres if there were unhexed people.
- Probability Field
- Repeat.
They changed her AI (which I thought was a bit backwards anyway) to look more like this:
- Hex Spheres
- Chaos Shield
- Extra turn - Arcane Blast or reapply Hex Spheres if there were unhexed people.
- Probability Field
- Repeat
It does that new proc most of the time and the old proc occasionally (because Heaven forbid anything should ever work efficiently or even predictably).
Other heroes are more complicated in their progressions, and I know there are layers of complexity within even Scarlet Witch's program that are harder to observe, especially without crowdsourcing. And even with that kind of team effort, we still can't get at the meat of it because the reporting can be substandard.
At any rate, knowing your AI progression OR using heroes without bad progressions for example, Captain America... everything WW2 Cap does is useful, since he doesn't have to put up his Shield Guard... it's not always optimal (for example: When he's alone one against three, he should Shield Guard unless he can kill two with his Shield Toss... it's the only way he can hit hard enough to equalize the numbers). But Cap always does something useful. Mockingbird does too.
The Agent's progression is a bit more complicated. One wouldn't be wrong to suggest that it's fairly random and scattered. In the past, I have used items like the Destroyer Power Relic or the Handheld Hohlraum that have Warm-Ups to manipulate the agent's first step. I've decided those are not a good idea, as I don't know that I want to use them when I am able to, and they are dead space. But, what if there were some items to use that didn't consume a turn and were useful. Oh wait, there are. Quick Action items. It's a question of finding the right mix.
First Setup[]
- WW2 Cap - Bruiser
- P5 Emma - Tactician
- Generalist Agent
- Signpost
- The Experiment
- Quantum Jumper
- Quantum Jumper
Logic: Ideally, Agent will go Signpost, The Experiment, QJ in the first round. Worst that happens, agent goes QJ in the first round. The Experiment keeps me a little insulated from Emma, and drains the living hell out of stamina on area attacks, which Cap kind of invites. It works on Stealth attacks, ground attacks, everything except Subtle. Signpost keeps my agent upright, drains off health and stamina, and goes every round. Cap forces some tactical issues, while Emma can supress damage, clear debuffs, and play permission with Tap and Stuns. Someone wanted to know what a Blue-White MTG deck would look like... this is Turbo-Blue-White permission.
I predict... it won't work.
Results were mixed. 2-5, but only -10. Mark of quality opponents. Fights went: -12, -15, -8, -7, +15, +25, -8. 2 people at the same rank, 5 at higher rank. If we associate rank with quality, that's a tough slate. Hence, losing record, minor loss. If I'd won one more fight...
It sucked in the second outing, -100 in about ten fights. Ick.
Trying Boring Team with Inf Power Armor, Signpost, The Experiment, Marksman's Spotter and QJ for the overnight.
Day 17 Results[]
- League: Adamantium
- Rating: 1913
- Ranking: 0%
- 209th if you're interested.
- Record: 573-470-5
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 419
- Defenses: 629
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.5 (getting closer with increased play)
Day 18 - November 30th– 1692 ELO - Adamantium[]
Overnight Report[]
The Good News: Up 99 points from yesterday.
The Bad News:Down 221 points overnight. 2 and 17. Brutal. Gonna try something different that should force a more scripted approach. Good reports from others, but they are in a different meta. It might also be time to scrap the Boring Team.
Today's Goals[]
I met yesterday's goals, and got the results that I thought I would see. Really lousy AFK results, but still showing progress and maintaining Adamantium overnight.
- ELO - 2000+. A morning session, a lunch session, and an hour tonight.
- Spend no resource that is not free.
Random Thoughts[]
If there are two sets of people, say full monthers and late entrants, who do you think has the advantage? I am obviously of the opinion that the late entrants will be at a disadvantage as they will have to make up more ground. That assumes that full monthers have prosecuted this the way I have, which is to say, spending refreshable resources, while collecting refreshables. As I have said previously, I did about 150 fights on the final day of the tournament. That was the extent of my resources at the time, plus two gold. I am hoarding much better because I have a better vision of my path to success. In the first tournament, I didn't believe that I could finish in the top 1000. In this tournament, I know I can finish in the top .5%, so it's a question of charting a course to get there, or setting a higher goal (like top 200). I don't see the point in the artificial higher goal, so it's just a matter of refining what I did last time, and doing it again, with changes based on how others are changing their games.
And that's where this discussion of full monthers and late entrants comes to the fore. At present, only about a million people have entered this tournament. That leaves it about 1.6 Million short of the previous tournament. If the "only about a million" number is true, then there are theoretically 1.6 million players (aka 1.5 times the current number of players) who will get into the tournament in the last few days. If you thought the last day or so was nuts last time, you were right because it was. But it's going to pale in comparisson to the final couple days if there are even a million players out therer who haven't jumped in yet because they are planning on a late ascent from the middle to their goals. Thus, it would be better to only have to make a couple hundred points than the could hundred plus the 800+ it takes to get there. I am not entirely sure someone could jump 1000 points in a day that's an utter scrum like last time. So, I'm happy to build incrementally a lead that they will have to cut into in shorter time.
Analysis[]
Have had a disastrous day. I had a meeting this morning that ate about an hour and a half, which limited my play this AM. My play this AM saw me get into slow death matches with people twice where they earned the upperhand, largely because all three of theirs went before any of mine. As is my wont, to maximize my time, when it gets down to 3 on 1 with Colossus half dead, rather than wait for them to get through him, I refresh. Saves time, gets me back sooner. Well, both refreshes led to flash crashes on the next fight. So, instead of taking a 15-25 point loss, I wind up with 2 15-25 point losses. Had a third flash crash this evening that turned a 6 point win into a 24 (rounded up to 25) point loss. So that was ~60 points of unearned loss, plus the usual AFK during the day of ~80.
In the evening session, when I play at length, I was just winning too many sub 10 points in getting back to 1900, so the prospect of slogging to 2000 with the new special op launched... well, grim. So, I'm parking at 1913, where I parked yesterday. If I lose the same, I could make my 2000 tomorrow morning. Disappointing, but really, it's one day back.
In other news, doing 50 fights a day has turned the A:D ratio drastically. The A:D ratio is key. I know I had a high one and was in adamatium early, but volume in the time that you are in the tournament is key.
Day 18 Results[]
- League: Adamantium
- Rating: 1913
- Ranking: 0%
- 220th if you're interested.
- Record: 620-504-5
- 55% Win
- Attacks: 469
- Defenses: 660
- Attack:Defense - 1:1.4 (getting closer with increased play, or with increased rating)
Day 19 - December 1st - 1736[]
Sorry. I was grumpy, so had not much to say.
The post is getting long and my computer strains to edit it all. So, we shall continue the oddysey here