You most like already heard about the recent discovery that explains the pathing and ability to block specific units with other units. There are a few threads and videos about it out there already, but I decided to do some testing to make a more definitive conclusion.
MbL Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rQDYWi0lxw
Thread with another video explanation by seancsnm:
https://www.aoezone.net/threads/cool-pathing-discovery.159660/
Backstory
Recent discoveries show that units created earlier in the game have precedence over units created later. That means that if two units are created after each other, the first unit will always be able to pass the second, as the second unit will never be able to block the first one effectively. At the same time, the first unit created will always be able to block the second unit.
It gets even crazier though, as MbL discovered that some units generated right from the start of the game, still have precedence over other units, even though they might seem to generate at the exact same time when the game begins.
Object Generation
To understand this, we need to go over how the game generates objects (such as units). Objects defined in random map scripts are generated sequentially. That means that the game takes the first objects defined in the script, generates that - then checks the second object defined and generates that, the third one and so on. So there is a definite order in which objects are generated.
Now in the vast, vast majority of random map scripts, we have the villagers generated first, the herdable second and the boars third (there are objects generated in-between these units, but that's irrelevant). That means that:
Multiplayer
This is all fine and dandy as it seems like it's pretty equal across the board. No one has an advantage over other players, as long as they all aware of this information - OR DO THEY?! *dramatic sound-effect*
Going back to the object generation, I explained that objects are created sequentially, but how exactly does it work with multiple players? Does it create all the objects for one player before moving on to the second, making all of the objects of player one have precedence? Fortunately for us, it doesn't exactly do that. However, it is not far from what's actually happening.
The game takes the very first object in the random map script, generates it for player one, then player two, then player three and so on. It moves on to the second object and proceeds, in the same manner, starting with player one and ending with player eight.
This means that if we take the starting scout for example - player one has precedence over all other players in the game, leaving him/her with a scout that is unable to blocked by any other scout in the game. Player two has a scout that can be blocked by only player one, but immune to everyone else. Player three can be blocked by player one and player two, but not the other players and... you get the point.
Does this matter? It kind of does. As mentioned earlier, boar stealing is a prevalent strategy among many players. If player one (the host of the game) chooses to lame a boar from any other player, the opponents only chance of denying the steal is to block the actual boar. If player two tries to steal a boar from player one, however, player one can choose between blocking the boar or the scout, which can be a lot stronger in many situations.
(the above colours are merely used to make the concept more readable and easy to understand. It's not the colours of the players that matter but rather their position in the game-lobby)
An example of this can be found in a recent game from the Two Pools Tournament by LidaKor and in this video casted by T90Official:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEXqhkQ7fwc
MbL is able to block the scout of TheViper because his scout spawned earlier. If TheViper had tried to do something similar in this situation, it would not have worked out for him - actually, it would have been quite the contrary as he would have semi-blocked his own scout by trying to move into a unit in which it doesn't have precedence over.
Perhaps this is widely known by many people, but this was news to me - and I think a discovery like this has the potential of shaping future events as being the host and the positions of the players in the lobby suddenly weigh a whole lot more than it used to.
MbL Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rQDYWi0lxw
Thread with another video explanation by seancsnm:
https://www.aoezone.net/threads/cool-pathing-discovery.159660/
Backstory
Recent discoveries show that units created earlier in the game have precedence over units created later. That means that if two units are created after each other, the first unit will always be able to pass the second, as the second unit will never be able to block the first one effectively. At the same time, the first unit created will always be able to block the second unit.
It gets even crazier though, as MbL discovered that some units generated right from the start of the game, still have precedence over other units, even though they might seem to generate at the exact same time when the game begins.
Object Generation
To understand this, we need to go over how the game generates objects (such as units). Objects defined in random map scripts are generated sequentially. That means that the game takes the first objects defined in the script, generates that - then checks the second object defined and generates that, the third one and so on. So there is a definite order in which objects are generated.
Now in the vast, vast majority of random map scripts, we have the villagers generated first, the herdable second and the boars third (there are objects generated in-between these units, but that's irrelevant). That means that:
- Scouts and herdable are created before the boar so they can block boars being lured (we have known this for years, but that proves the theory).
- The starting villagers are created before any other units, so they have precedence over any other unit in the game, making them un-blockable.
Multiplayer
This is all fine and dandy as it seems like it's pretty equal across the board. No one has an advantage over other players, as long as they all aware of this information - OR DO THEY?! *dramatic sound-effect*
Going back to the object generation, I explained that objects are created sequentially, but how exactly does it work with multiple players? Does it create all the objects for one player before moving on to the second, making all of the objects of player one have precedence? Fortunately for us, it doesn't exactly do that. However, it is not far from what's actually happening.
The game takes the very first object in the random map script, generates it for player one, then player two, then player three and so on. It moves on to the second object and proceeds, in the same manner, starting with player one and ending with player eight.
This means that if we take the starting scout for example - player one has precedence over all other players in the game, leaving him/her with a scout that is unable to blocked by any other scout in the game. Player two has a scout that can be blocked by only player one, but immune to everyone else. Player three can be blocked by player one and player two, but not the other players and... you get the point.
Does this matter? It kind of does. As mentioned earlier, boar stealing is a prevalent strategy among many players. If player one (the host of the game) chooses to lame a boar from any other player, the opponents only chance of denying the steal is to block the actual boar. If player two tries to steal a boar from player one, however, player one can choose between blocking the boar or the scout, which can be a lot stronger in many situations.
(the above colours are merely used to make the concept more readable and easy to understand. It's not the colours of the players that matter but rather their position in the game-lobby)
An example of this can be found in a recent game from the Two Pools Tournament by LidaKor and in this video casted by T90Official:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEXqhkQ7fwc
MbL is able to block the scout of TheViper because his scout spawned earlier. If TheViper had tried to do something similar in this situation, it would not have worked out for him - actually, it would have been quite the contrary as he would have semi-blocked his own scout by trying to move into a unit in which it doesn't have precedence over.
Perhaps this is widely known by many people, but this was news to me - and I think a discovery like this has the potential of shaping future events as being the host and the positions of the players in the lobby suddenly weigh a whole lot more than it used to.
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