Celticjim:

I haven't timed-out yet . . . . that's a mild surprise.

Celticjim: The smell of victory will bring fast moves; possible defeat long periods of thought; imminent defeat either fast moves or long periods to bore one’s opponent! The latter is a perfectly acceptable strategy, though not necessarily sporting.

One of the great things about this game is the element of psychology. I can’t think of any other online game, other than poker, where this manifests itself to such a degree.

Just like in poker, it pisses the hell out of everyone when you wait until the last second to make your bet. Then emotions come into play, followed by mistakes! And a mistake in poker costs...

Jim, a win today, next week, or next month is still a win. Don’t turn a certainty into an improbability!

SL-Mark: haha,great post Mark---very valid points one and all.
And of course my post was undoubtedly attempting to exert a psychological lever somewhere hehe

happy hermit: Eric,I had a look at your one loss the other day,that was interesting--nickchanger I think wasn't it who pulled a fast one on you,made me chuckle and applaud him cuz you are one tough nut to crack *edit*

Celticjim: Missed that one Jim.
Rushing your opponents so as to cause them to make a mistake

Celticjim:

Jim-

The loss to nickchanger was interesting. I played the game with no notes and little thought, which is pretty much how I play anyone that hasn't won a game against me (or that I otherwise have reason to think might be a challenge), but that game had an extra twist.

I had given up a couple of pieces just to get to that position, but my intent was to clear around that back corner, bring in the Recon and determine the pieces even though I was 98% sure the base was in the corner. On the preceding move he sent the message 'good game' which I took as a concession that the base was in the corner, so I simply moved to capture it and save a few moves. That worked out poorly for me. :)

I'll go on record here as saying nickchanger will not win another game against me. :)

-Eric

Do not forget that slowing down while losing has its strategic needs as to not reveal your set ups to the rest of the players in your bracket. So that they can get a feel for your set ups in that particular tourney.

Nothingness: Do you use saved set-ups?

I remember seeing a game once between pcron and Ruth. pcron used a saved set-up and Ruth apparently determined which one and blew him right off the board attacking pieces she had never revealed. There seems to be more risk than reward in that approach.

On my end, I almost always start my games by setting the bombs/base on the back row, putting two Saboteurs on the back row, three Recons in the front row and then hitting 'randomly place remaining pieces'.

happy hermit: Once upon a time I tried to make set-ups especially designed for the specific opponent I was about to encounter. I would save the set-up so I could make a totally different one the next time I'd play this opponent. Ofcourse I didn't pursue this strategy, took too much time. Still with some opponents I make set-ups that feel odd to me and wouldn't use against others. They seem work in those cases. Ofcourse I'm not revealing the specifics :)

No i never use saved setups. What i mean is that if for example i have my base in the right corner of a game that I'm losing badly. instead of just resigning immediately I'll wait or slow down until other games in that section are close to ending. so that an opponent that im in a closer game with doesn't logically deduce where i may have set my base in that game in comparison to the game i just lost!

I too also use set ups when I face specific players. A taylor made Setup for just that game and opponent. In those cases i save them setups. and ill name them after that opponent.

I just got a new job this week and my time moving will be slowed ten fold! So please bear with me in this transitional period. Thanks.

Nothingness: congrats & good luck in your new job!

jonaron and quiet man have extremely similar playing styles and both seem to time out a lot.

Has anyone considered that they might be the same person?

happy hermit: Yes, but one seems to be good at extinction chess the other not

no not the same person. Jonaron AKA ( Lightningbolt) his english is not as good as Quietmans. Jonaron is from canada and i think is French Canadian.

SL-Mark: I think both are pretty good . . .it's just that the game gives one of them a headache. :)

happy hermit: I was throwing in one other into the equation and also to tease another ;)

SL-Mark:

At least it was something I could reply to . . . how can I reply to a comment about language skill from someone that's been so wronged by the language that he abuses it so? :)

Chaos:

I'm not jonaron, I was just making a small joke about jonaron's increasing proclivity for timing-out. :)

happy hermit: I believe you have just been judiciously "moderated" for your mischievousness

SL-Mark:

I was just testing how seriously Chaos was taking her new job here.

happy hermit: Evidently as seriously as she takes her game of espionage, though she is not so diplomatic in her games, in fact quite ruthless as she recently demonstrated to me!

happy hermit: So if you all get into fighting and screaming it's just a conspiracy to see how I react? ;)

Chaos: You are doing a fantastic job.

I was trying to shrewdly compliment you by suggesting that your approach was judicious and diplomatic, favoured traits of a moderator. Referring to our recent game and your ruthless annihilation of myself, I was hinting that there are also some sharp claws and teeth behind the ball of fur. I am sure however, that neither Eric nor myself, would have to face the Chaos Creature.

Although an attempt to create some light hearted banter, there is a serious note in Eric’s original posting, which is that both Jonaron’s and Quiet Man’s playing styles are worth studying.

Naturally we will support you.

SL-Mark:

I don't know about 'worth studying', but to tie it back to another recent thread . . .if someone plays slow enough we are both a risk to time-out. In the past that was only an effective strategy against me (and sometimes against Jozsef). If it now works against jonaron it may catch on with more people. :)

Chaos:

jonaron and I have played a few times.

In League events, we played Open in Season 6 (I won) and Season 8 (a draw). We also played Mini in a Speed Rush event. I forget the event, but he won our individual game.

And, we have played in some random IYT tournies over the years with pretty even results.

Of course, as you so accurately put it, "careful when it matters" starts at Move 1 with jonaron so he gets a different version of my game that almost anyone else. :)

Chaos, this is Lance-a-lot. What's the difference in this website and the games on IYT? I'd like to play a game with anyone who's up for it?

Sir Lance-a-lot: Welcome at BrainKing Sir Lance-a-lot, good to see you here! :) The interface here at BrainKing is quite different and takes some time to get used to. Here they call Sabotage 'Espionage' and they have the same variants, except for the corner variant.

Chaos: got it, thanks for the help

small fast tourny I just signed up for
30 brains entry
anyone interested
ALL GAMES 30 BRAINS ENTRY

Celticjim: Disappointingly, I have no brains!

SL-Mark: LOL I was surprised to find I had some

Celticjim: Me too

SL-Mark: Sorry to hear that Mark but you sure play like you have brains!

Nothingness: Ah, thank you. That's because I practice the Dutch proverb: "An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains." Patience being an important virtue of any exercise in espionage :)

SL-Mark: Why didn't anyone tell me about this proverb before?!

Chaos: Nou breekt mijn klomp!

Chaos: That breaks my wooden shoe

SL-Mark: I thought Dutch was my territory here  You're taking the wind out of my sails! Do all the Scots speak Dutch and wear wooden shoes nowadays or is it just you?

Chaos: Like all aspiring espionagers, just practicing the art of disguise and blending in with the back ground. In Scotland, wear a kilt and paint your face blue, in Holland wear wooden shoes and ride a bike; now you are prepared to deploy some subterfuge.
Just like that undetected '1' pretending to be a '5'

SL-Mark:
in Italy we don't paint our face and we wear our usual shoes, but if we want to make a disguise you will not realize it in time!
;-)

SL-Mark:

Learning when to put to on the disguise and hide is the first step. Learning when to take it off and fight is the next step. :)

dAGGER: Yes, whilst all my disguises are wearing thin against you, that '?' you have on F3 has not been tested yet

happy hermit: I have so many disguises, I am having trouble following them all. Perhaps you should stand and fight, and uncover them for yourself

SL-Mark:
don't worry! I never make disguises in Open Fast.....
That "?" in F3 is exactly what it seems.......