Tactical Chess Mode

[mongolian]

The idea of this thread is to come up with mirror 1000pt armies for players to fight 1v1 in constructed.  The idea is to hone player skills.  It's also fun to play the following version/deck bellow because it avoids cheesy units and focuses this "mode" more like a zatikon-chess, something I'm sure the game creators had in mind.   So, without further adieu, Garcia1000 and I introduce:

TACTICAL CHESS MODE
Both opponents will create the same 1000 pt deck listed deck below. (game played in constructed mode)

- 1 General
- 1 Tactician
- 1 Calvary
- 1 Rider
- 2 Footmen
- 1 Pikeman
- 1 Bowman
- 1 Ballista
- 1 Bezerker
- 1 Scout
- 1 Ranger

[mongolian]

Please not the following considerations made for Tactical Chess Mode:
- No healing units
- No long range games
- Focus on simple units
- Ability to use on all skill levels
- Fun and enjoyable strategy

[NozeM]

Great idea!

Good practice sample for us to use the basic units.

[garcia1000]

Benefits:

- This REALLY IMPROVES your tactics and observation. So you won't fall for cheap rider tags, ballista shots, and so on.
- This is a good mode for newbies. Because even if you mess up, you'll usually kill at least half their army, so it feels much closer.
- Learning to use the basic units means you'll do much better in random
- Learning what units beat what units, and how to trade them favourably
- 7 command means you can actually try to kill his general/tactician to hamper his play

I highly recommend this mode! It really helps with other game modes too. I played half a dozen with mongolian and now he is better than me at Zatikon http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

Originally random mode used the same random army for both players.  It was interesting and avoided those un-winnable armies you get in random sometimes.  This army sounds interesting, I could see how you would develop strategies for the specific army.

[mongolian]

The main crowd of people is definitely interested in coop stuff, but i do get a minority of player who don't want to play constructed cause they don't like losing so badly (and fighting turn 3-4 kill decks) and they think random is too random.  I really love random mode and you were right Josiah because I love random for several reasons.  More importantly, I just think more game options/choices = more ability to become addicted to Zatikon.   If a mode was devoted to "chess", it may even draw in a seperate crowd, but then again, it may never be used much.

[mongolian]

After more play testing, I think the best solution to tactical chess is to have 6-10 set armies for the game to cycle through if it ever gets built into a game option.  Having "random" same armies will not the correct solution as each army needs to be well thought out.

[garcia1000]

The problem with mirror randoms is that range vs range decks and summon vs summon decks are boring.

Summon includes decks where one player has a powerup (healer, enchanter) and the other one doesn't.

FUN GAMES:
Rush vs anything
Range vs summon

NON FUN GAMES:
Others

[mongolian]

Yes, mirror armies need to have the incentive to attack or for the most part or it isn't fun.  But don't be too quick about assessment garcia!  I could easily see a mirror deck with 1-4x ballista/catapult and then a 1 barracks. On the other hand, most units are bad choices for mirror armies (healers, summoners).  The other variable to play with in mirror armies is you are not limited to using 1000 pts.  So the creators could use 500 or 1500 pts.