The First round of the playoffs is over and some (perhaps) surprises came up. Some very fun games to watch and my game of the week was actually one of the most exciting matchups so far this season in my opinion. I encourage everyone to watch the games, and enjoy the bit of info below! There were a lot of games this week so I couldn't go too in depth, but I may if I have the time since there will be less games.
[READMORELINKDOTS]
Match 1 - SlipKn0T v _Arg
Prediction from last week (2-0).
Game 1
Map - Arabia
Civ Chosen - Mong Hun Persia v Mong Hun China
Flank 1 - Persia v Hun
Pocket - Mong v China
Flank 2 - Hun v Mong
Comments: Game starts off with Flank 1 getting most of the castle age action, getting doubled and some serious damage done to the _Arg flank. It seems that Slip gets out to a good head start by stopping flank 2 from using scouts effectively. The game drops before anything gets too interesting. SlipKn0T wins.
Civ Chosen - Mong Hun Persia v Mong Hun China
Flank 1 - Persia v Hun
Pocket - Mong v China
Flank 2 - Hun v Mong
Comments: Game starts off with Flank 1 getting most of the castle age action, getting doubled and some serious damage done to the _Arg flank. It seems that Slip gets out to a good head start by stopping flank 2 from using scouts effectively. The game drops before anything gets too interesting. SlipKn0T wins.
Game 2
Map - Migration
Civ Chosen - Hun Viking Japan v Hun Viking Persia
Flank 1 - Hun v Hun
Pocket - Japan v Viking
Flank 2 - Viking v Persia
Comments: Not the best start for either team, most migra maps will have at least one person with no sheep for 20 minutes 11. Slip takes the advantage on water at 15 mins getting off to the early lead. Slip pocket is first to land middle. _Arg pocket follows suit about 2 minutes later. Both Slip flanks keep pressure high on water and seem to have it secured. Out of nowhere on flank 1, Slip’s ships do not fire at the enemy and he loses many many ships keeping _Arg’s chances alive. _Arg pocket with imp galleons seems to be doing a lot of damage but the focus is now on the middle. Once the middle is under control by Slip’s archers and the sea is taken over again _Arg says gg. SlipKn0T wins.
Civ Chosen - Hun Viking Japan v Hun Viking Persia
Flank 1 - Hun v Hun
Pocket - Japan v Viking
Flank 2 - Viking v Persia
Comments: Not the best start for either team, most migra maps will have at least one person with no sheep for 20 minutes 11. Slip takes the advantage on water at 15 mins getting off to the early lead. Slip pocket is first to land middle. _Arg pocket follows suit about 2 minutes later. Both Slip flanks keep pressure high on water and seem to have it secured. Out of nowhere on flank 1, Slip’s ships do not fire at the enemy and he loses many many ships keeping _Arg’s chances alive. _Arg pocket with imp galleons seems to be doing a lot of damage but the focus is now on the middle. Once the middle is under control by Slip’s archers and the sea is taken over again _Arg says gg. SlipKn0T wins.
Game 3
No Game 3
Match 1 Results
SlipKn0T wins 2-0
Match 2 - [CL‘S] v [BL]
Prediction from last week (2-1).
Game 1
Map - Arabia
Civ Chosen - Hun Mong Maya v Hun Mong Maya
Flank 1 - Hun v Maya
Pocket - Mongol v Hun
Flank 2 - Maya v Mongol
Comments: Game quickly turns into a drushing battle with no one clearly ahead. Flank 2 CL’s walling leads Flank 2 BL to go to pocket and stop gold intake stalling his boom and knights very badly and causes an early lead for BL. With BL pocket going knights and boom without being touched he harasses nicely and rockets BL into the winning seat. Pretty clear win from BL but would have been much more interesting if Pocket CL’s gold pile had not been on a terrible hill and very forward. BL wins
Civ Chosen - Hun Mong Maya v Hun Mong Maya
Flank 1 - Hun v Maya
Pocket - Mongol v Hun
Flank 2 - Maya v Mongol
Comments: Game quickly turns into a drushing battle with no one clearly ahead. Flank 2 CL’s walling leads Flank 2 BL to go to pocket and stop gold intake stalling his boom and knights very badly and causes an early lead for BL. With BL pocket going knights and boom without being touched he harasses nicely and rockets BL into the winning seat. Pretty clear win from BL but would have been much more interesting if Pocket CL’s gold pile had not been on a terrible hill and very forward. BL wins
Game 2
Map - Arena
Civ Chosen - Maya Spain Mong v Maya Spain Turk
Flank 1 - Mong v Maya
Pocket - Spain v Turk
Flank 2 - Maya v Spain
Comments: Flank 1 and 2 for both teams build castles early in castle age to attack with UUs. Flank 2 BL decides to go tc before making the castle. Once he gets the castle up he does not have the gold for conqs. Starts are decent all around otherwise. Wakko has a chance to steal boars easily but is a gentleman and leaves them. Both Maya flanks do wall breaks with plumes and wreak havoc on enemy ecos. BL’s break seems to be more effective and stays attacking longer stopping the CL’s Mongol for awhile. Flank 1 CL’s seems to be in big trouble from not pushing the Maya out and is forward castled inside of his walls. Pocket CL’s eventually comes to the rescue with cavaliers. CL’s pocket goes heavy boom into pala, BL’s pocket goes heavy camel and jans. Heavy action takes place on Flank 2 with conqs heavy camels and jans against plumes and paladins. The score shifts about 1000 points very very quickly and flank 2 BL gets wiped off the map instantly. The inability to kill CL’s flank 1 completely proves to be the deciding factor in the end. CL’s wins.
Civ Chosen - Maya Spain Mong v Maya Spain Turk
Flank 1 - Mong v Maya
Pocket - Spain v Turk
Flank 2 - Maya v Spain
Comments: Flank 1 and 2 for both teams build castles early in castle age to attack with UUs. Flank 2 BL decides to go tc before making the castle. Once he gets the castle up he does not have the gold for conqs. Starts are decent all around otherwise. Wakko has a chance to steal boars easily but is a gentleman and leaves them. Both Maya flanks do wall breaks with plumes and wreak havoc on enemy ecos. BL’s break seems to be more effective and stays attacking longer stopping the CL’s Mongol for awhile. Flank 1 CL’s seems to be in big trouble from not pushing the Maya out and is forward castled inside of his walls. Pocket CL’s eventually comes to the rescue with cavaliers. CL’s pocket goes heavy boom into pala, BL’s pocket goes heavy camel and jans. Heavy action takes place on Flank 2 with conqs heavy camels and jans against plumes and paladins. The score shifts about 1000 points very very quickly and flank 2 BL gets wiped off the map instantly. The inability to kill CL’s flank 1 completely proves to be the deciding factor in the end. CL’s wins.
Game 3
Map - Blind Random
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Viking v Hun Mongol Viking
Flank 1 - Mongol v Hun
Pocket - Viking v Viking
Flank 2 - Hun v Mongol
Comments: Map is Scandinavia, that map with water on 2 of the four edges. It always makes a very dynamic and interesting game because it is fairly open and there are a wide array of options that can be done here. Flank 2 CL’s goes 3 militia drush. Personal note, I don’t think a drush was even close to the right call when you have docked same side. It is basically going to be a waste of the 7 fishing ships you have made. That is exactly what happens and CL’s goes behind early because of it. On the other side on Flank 1, CL’s does not even dock. This is a wtf decision really, leaving free unchallenged fishing spot for enemy and must focus everything on winning the ground attack. Since he didn’t dock, best would have probably been a very aggressive forward, but instead he goes archers and spear. BL pocket goes fc and knights while pocket for CL tries to win grush on flank 2 side which is done successfully. I don’t know which of the next two things happened first. Wakko deleted tc and says gg as knights and CA are doubling him with no way to kill them. I don’t know if tc delete was accidental or not, but it was clear that wakko could do nothing when both groups of enemies were there. BL wins.
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Viking v Hun Mongol Viking
Flank 1 - Mongol v Hun
Pocket - Viking v Viking
Flank 2 - Hun v Mongol
Comments: Map is Scandinavia, that map with water on 2 of the four edges. It always makes a very dynamic and interesting game because it is fairly open and there are a wide array of options that can be done here. Flank 2 CL’s goes 3 militia drush. Personal note, I don’t think a drush was even close to the right call when you have docked same side. It is basically going to be a waste of the 7 fishing ships you have made. That is exactly what happens and CL’s goes behind early because of it. On the other side on Flank 1, CL’s does not even dock. This is a wtf decision really, leaving free unchallenged fishing spot for enemy and must focus everything on winning the ground attack. Since he didn’t dock, best would have probably been a very aggressive forward, but instead he goes archers and spear. BL pocket goes fc and knights while pocket for CL tries to win grush on flank 2 side which is done successfully. I don’t know which of the next two things happened first. Wakko deleted tc and says gg as knights and CA are doubling him with no way to kill them. I don’t know if tc delete was accidental or not, but it was clear that wakko could do nothing when both groups of enemies were there. BL wins.
Match 2 Results
1-2 BL wins
Match 3 - Lone v PoJ
Prediction from last week (x-x).
Game 1
Map - Arabia
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Persia v Hun Mongol China
Flank 1 - Hun v Hun
Pocket - Persia v China
Flank 2 - Mongol v Mongol
Comments: PoJ’s best map and home map. Flank 1 PoJ steals boar and so does Flank 2 PoJ. Flank 1 Lone goes drush and so does flank 2 PoJ. Flank 1 PoJ walls and stops drush fairly easily but flank 2 Lone gets hit a bit and has to scramble to wall and keep the militia from killing vils and slowing resources. Pocket Lone goes 30 pop double stable to castle and pocket PoJ goes 32 pop double stable up to castle. Flank 1 PoJ is first to get doubled and takes a bit of damage from knights. Instead of going full on one flank, pocket Lone sends knights to both flanks. He also sends some to pocket PoJ. I think this was a mistake. It looks like if Lone pocket had gone full to flank 1 they could have trapped him in feudal age or made him lose many many vils while upping. Flank 1 PoJ was very vulnerable and pocket PoJ did not have enough to rescue. Flank 2 PoJ sneaks crossbows to Lone pocket and kills 6 gold taking vils. Pocket PoJ comes with knights too and does extensive damage and really turns the game completely around. The double continues and flank 1 PoJ is left alone to recover and does so quite well. With the Lone pocket under constant pressure and the PoJ pocket left to boom and pump knights, the game starts pulling away for PoJ. PoJ stops Lone pocket from being able to get any gold and any real chance of booming effectively because of the constant harass from xbows and knights/camels. More and more floods of knights come to Lone pocket, must be very frustrating. Without a pocket, the game looks pretty much over. Pocket PoJ goes imp and so does Flank 2 Lone. Pocket PoJ floods flank 1 Lone with knights upping to cavaliers and just swarms his base. Flank 1 PoJ joins in with what must be 60 or so CA and it is clear it is over. PoJ wins.
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Persia v Hun Mongol China
Flank 1 - Hun v Hun
Pocket - Persia v China
Flank 2 - Mongol v Mongol
Comments: PoJ’s best map and home map. Flank 1 PoJ steals boar and so does Flank 2 PoJ. Flank 1 Lone goes drush and so does flank 2 PoJ. Flank 1 PoJ walls and stops drush fairly easily but flank 2 Lone gets hit a bit and has to scramble to wall and keep the militia from killing vils and slowing resources. Pocket Lone goes 30 pop double stable to castle and pocket PoJ goes 32 pop double stable up to castle. Flank 1 PoJ is first to get doubled and takes a bit of damage from knights. Instead of going full on one flank, pocket Lone sends knights to both flanks. He also sends some to pocket PoJ. I think this was a mistake. It looks like if Lone pocket had gone full to flank 1 they could have trapped him in feudal age or made him lose many many vils while upping. Flank 1 PoJ was very vulnerable and pocket PoJ did not have enough to rescue. Flank 2 PoJ sneaks crossbows to Lone pocket and kills 6 gold taking vils. Pocket PoJ comes with knights too and does extensive damage and really turns the game completely around. The double continues and flank 1 PoJ is left alone to recover and does so quite well. With the Lone pocket under constant pressure and the PoJ pocket left to boom and pump knights, the game starts pulling away for PoJ. PoJ stops Lone pocket from being able to get any gold and any real chance of booming effectively because of the constant harass from xbows and knights/camels. More and more floods of knights come to Lone pocket, must be very frustrating. Without a pocket, the game looks pretty much over. Pocket PoJ goes imp and so does Flank 2 Lone. Pocket PoJ floods flank 1 Lone with knights upping to cavaliers and just swarms his base. Flank 1 PoJ joins in with what must be 60 or so CA and it is clear it is over. PoJ wins.
Game 2
Map - Baltic
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Mongol v Viking Hun Mongol
Flank 1 - Viking v Viking
Pocket - Hun v Mongol
Flank 2 - Mongol v Hun
Comments: An early triple with scouts by the Lone team on flank 2 PoJ is quite fun to watch and they kill 3 villagers in the early game. The harassment causes docks for flank 2 PoJ to be late and he loses fish early and only has 2 docks. Flank 2 PoJ decides to try a landing. It goes very poorly to say the least. He loses 4 villagers and does not get any buildings built. Lone starts winning water by trapping PoJ pocket against the shore making him lose all galleys. If at first you don’t succeed try, try again. That must be the motto for flank 2 PoJ because he lands yet again with 4 vils which again leads to 4 vils being dead and no buildings being completed. It looks as if flank 2 PoJ was being slung and that is why he needed to land so badly, but it did not work obviously. So instead now flank 2 PoJ makes knights and lands those instead, these do very little damage if any to flank 2 Lone. Pocket Lone lands and goes knights more successfully and attacks pocket PoJ very strongly. Sea is won and all players are under control. Looks like Lone wins this one from here as pocket for PoJ is getting killed by rams and knights. Those 4 knights that landed keep running around but with nothing to kill. 2 of them get converted. Flank 1 Lone lands as well looking to go arbalest. Really not much to say, PoJ slowly dies and can only just defend defend defend until they can’t anymore. Both sides for Lone push and pocket is landed with knights upping to cavalier. No way to stop it just hoping for a miracle. Flank 2 PoJ does go paladins and attacks the landing of Lone Pocket. PoJ gets squished on both sides and all that is left to do is run to the middle and get ready to resign. Lone wins.
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Mongol v Viking Hun Mongol
Flank 1 - Viking v Viking
Pocket - Hun v Mongol
Flank 2 - Mongol v Hun
Comments: An early triple with scouts by the Lone team on flank 2 PoJ is quite fun to watch and they kill 3 villagers in the early game. The harassment causes docks for flank 2 PoJ to be late and he loses fish early and only has 2 docks. Flank 2 PoJ decides to try a landing. It goes very poorly to say the least. He loses 4 villagers and does not get any buildings built. Lone starts winning water by trapping PoJ pocket against the shore making him lose all galleys. If at first you don’t succeed try, try again. That must be the motto for flank 2 PoJ because he lands yet again with 4 vils which again leads to 4 vils being dead and no buildings being completed. It looks as if flank 2 PoJ was being slung and that is why he needed to land so badly, but it did not work obviously. So instead now flank 2 PoJ makes knights and lands those instead, these do very little damage if any to flank 2 Lone. Pocket Lone lands and goes knights more successfully and attacks pocket PoJ very strongly. Sea is won and all players are under control. Looks like Lone wins this one from here as pocket for PoJ is getting killed by rams and knights. Those 4 knights that landed keep running around but with nothing to kill. 2 of them get converted. Flank 1 Lone lands as well looking to go arbalest. Really not much to say, PoJ slowly dies and can only just defend defend defend until they can’t anymore. Both sides for Lone push and pocket is landed with knights upping to cavalier. No way to stop it just hoping for a miracle. Flank 2 PoJ does go paladins and attacks the landing of Lone Pocket. PoJ gets squished on both sides and all that is left to do is run to the middle and get ready to resign. Lone wins.
Game 3
Map - Blind Random
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Mongol v Maya Hun Mongol
Flank 1 - Mongol v Mongol
Pocket - Viking v Hun
Flank 2 - Hun v Maya
Comments: First thing is first. The civ difference is the single most crucial aspect of this game. On blind random there is a good chance that a water map or at least a map with some water will be the one chosen. PoJ must not have liked their chances on water so committed to going without Viking. This is a huge risk which Lone did not copy. My guess would be that PoJ did not like their chances on water anyway so they were hoping for a mostly land map (or if not would go landing) and to win that way. The map turns out to be islands though so Lone already has a huge advantage by having Viking in their line up. Also, personally I think Viking pocket is ideal on islands (either that or Japanese for huge fish boom and earliest imp). So count on Lone pocket to control the seas with massive amounts of warships and a fairly early imp. PoJ will most likely be forced to try something different since winning water will be incredibly difficult. Flank 1 Lone goes no loom up to feudal (just interesting because he is the only one that did). The grush as far as fishing goes is won very early by Lone. It all happens at once, the flanks of Lone attack, the pocket of Lone helps flank 1, and all the fishing is stopped on the flank 1 of PoJ. Big galley battle happens in the middle of the map with all 6 players fighting and Lone has PoJ surrounded. At 19 minutes in the scores are drastically different and sea looks to be won by Lone. Pocket Lone goes castle first followed by pocket PoJ then flank 2 Lone. Lone keeps pressure on PoJ and keeps the PoJ flanks from going castle for quite awhile. 1000 point difference by minute 23. Lone traps all PoJ‘s navy in the corner and PoJ loses all. They say gg and gl. Lone wins.
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Mongol v Maya Hun Mongol
Flank 1 - Mongol v Mongol
Pocket - Viking v Hun
Flank 2 - Hun v Maya
Comments: First thing is first. The civ difference is the single most crucial aspect of this game. On blind random there is a good chance that a water map or at least a map with some water will be the one chosen. PoJ must not have liked their chances on water so committed to going without Viking. This is a huge risk which Lone did not copy. My guess would be that PoJ did not like their chances on water anyway so they were hoping for a mostly land map (or if not would go landing) and to win that way. The map turns out to be islands though so Lone already has a huge advantage by having Viking in their line up. Also, personally I think Viking pocket is ideal on islands (either that or Japanese for huge fish boom and earliest imp). So count on Lone pocket to control the seas with massive amounts of warships and a fairly early imp. PoJ will most likely be forced to try something different since winning water will be incredibly difficult. Flank 1 Lone goes no loom up to feudal (just interesting because he is the only one that did). The grush as far as fishing goes is won very early by Lone. It all happens at once, the flanks of Lone attack, the pocket of Lone helps flank 1, and all the fishing is stopped on the flank 1 of PoJ. Big galley battle happens in the middle of the map with all 6 players fighting and Lone has PoJ surrounded. At 19 minutes in the scores are drastically different and sea looks to be won by Lone. Pocket Lone goes castle first followed by pocket PoJ then flank 2 Lone. Lone keeps pressure on PoJ and keeps the PoJ flanks from going castle for quite awhile. 1000 point difference by minute 23. Lone traps all PoJ‘s navy in the corner and PoJ loses all. They say gg and gl. Lone wins.
Match 3 Results
Lone wins 2-1
Match 4 - Immortals v RVK
Prediction from last week (x-x).
Game 1
Map - Baltic
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun v Viking Hun
Flank 1 - Viking v Viking
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Hun v Hun
Comments: Only a 2v2 which is a surprise to start with. Was hoping for a good 3v3. Civ wars on both sides. Both Vikings kill each other’s fishes and Immortals double flank 2 to try and take sea. After a very long battle, sea is won by Immortals. Flank 2 RVK tries his best to retake sea but by the time he has enough galleons to make a shot at it, his ally has been landed. Flank 1 slings Flank 2 for Immortals to flood knights and rams wiping Flank 1 RVK out pretty quickly. After the landing is established the game winds down fairly quickly. Immortals surprising RVK in game 1! Immortals win.
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun v Viking Hun
Flank 1 - Viking v Viking
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Hun v Hun
Comments: Only a 2v2 which is a surprise to start with. Was hoping for a good 3v3. Civ wars on both sides. Both Vikings kill each other’s fishes and Immortals double flank 2 to try and take sea. After a very long battle, sea is won by Immortals. Flank 2 RVK tries his best to retake sea but by the time he has enough galleons to make a shot at it, his ally has been landed. Flank 1 slings Flank 2 for Immortals to flood knights and rams wiping Flank 1 RVK out pretty quickly. After the landing is established the game winds down fairly quickly. Immortals surprising RVK in game 1! Immortals win.
Game 2
Map -
Civ Chosen - Hun Aztec v Hun Aztec
Flank 1 - Aztec v Hun
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Hun v Aztec
Comments: Even though this is a smaller game only being a 2v2, I really like the Aztec v Hun matchup twice on this map. I think this game should be rather dynamic and have some interesting ways of mixing defensive walling with aggression. I expect lots of drushing aha. Surya must have read me typing that through time, because he says he is thinking to monk rush instead because other will be expecting drush. Both on Flank 1 drush while neither on Flank 2 make a rax in dark. Flank 1’s Immortal seems to get the better of the drush coming out ahead slightly but not doing any damage to enemy eco. Flank 2’s Immortal, as promised, goes monks and converts some of Flank 2’s RVK’s buildings. Flank 2’s Immortal keeps constant pressure on his opponent as Flank 1’s Immortal pushes hard with CA and rams breaking into the RVK base. It seems that Flank 2 Immortal’s goal is to stall and slow down RiuT until the game is already over. It doesn’t work and RiuT comes in and saves the other flank just in time. The scores switch and it looks fairly even for a moment but with Flank 1’s RVK being minus a real base or any army something big has to happen or RVK will be out of it. Once Flank 2 Immortal ups and goes eew the game is pretty much over. Immortals win
Civ Chosen - Hun Aztec v Hun Aztec
Flank 1 - Aztec v Hun
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Hun v Aztec
Comments: Even though this is a smaller game only being a 2v2, I really like the Aztec v Hun matchup twice on this map. I think this game should be rather dynamic and have some interesting ways of mixing defensive walling with aggression. I expect lots of drushing aha. Surya must have read me typing that through time, because he says he is thinking to monk rush instead because other will be expecting drush. Both on Flank 1 drush while neither on Flank 2 make a rax in dark. Flank 1’s Immortal seems to get the better of the drush coming out ahead slightly but not doing any damage to enemy eco. Flank 2’s Immortal, as promised, goes monks and converts some of Flank 2’s RVK’s buildings. Flank 2’s Immortal keeps constant pressure on his opponent as Flank 1’s Immortal pushes hard with CA and rams breaking into the RVK base. It seems that Flank 2 Immortal’s goal is to stall and slow down RiuT until the game is already over. It doesn’t work and RiuT comes in and saves the other flank just in time. The scores switch and it looks fairly even for a moment but with Flank 1’s RVK being minus a real base or any army something big has to happen or RVK will be out of it. Once Flank 2 Immortal ups and goes eew the game is pretty much over. Immortals win
Game 3
No Game 3
Match 4 Results
Immortals win 2-0
Match 5 - wW A v UsK
Prediction from last week (2-0).
Game 1
Map - Arabia
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Maya v Hun Mongol China
Flank 1 - Maya v Hun
Pocket - Hun v Mongol
Flank 2 - Mongol v China
Comments: Game starts with a lot of boar stealing going on which is always fun to watch. Flank 1 wW steals flank 1 UsK’s boar very early and on flank 2 both players steal one boar from the other player so it evens out. Flank 1 for UsK tries to steal boar back but wW defends it and kills the scout. Flank 1 wW then goes drush. Since flank 1 UsK is down a boar he is forced to put 7 on berries which is a perfect place for the militia to hit and it does some big damage. Flank 1 wW makes four more militia on way up to feudal with three on gold and upgrades to m@a as soon as he hits feudal. On flank 2, both go 2 ranges wW goes skirm first, UsK goes mostly archer. Flank 1 UsK counters the m@a with scouts and after killing them goes to raid flank 1 wW but spears are defending. Both pockets go 2 stable knights. Flank 1 for UsK sneaks 2 villagers forward to build a tower on the forward wood of flank 1 wW. It barely gets up in time before being caught. The teams play opposites instead of matching, so while pocket UsK goes to help flank 2, pocket wW goes to kill flank 1. This imbalance makes the game much faster paced and frustrating to both flanks being attacked. Flank 2 takes the double by house walling and playing very defensively with archers building more and more barriers to stop the knights and enemy archers from getting in. Flank 1 for UsK is not as lucky. With an open map he takes tremendous damage from the knight raid and also has to deal with crossbows. At this point in the game, even though the scores are very even, it looks like gg. Pocket UsK sends some camels and a knight to try and help but the force is big and flank 1 UsK is stopped from taking in any resources and looks trapped in feudal age. Flank 2 wW pretty much stops the 2v1 by himself with good defending. So with the only real damage being done is to Flank 1 UsK, there is really no way to catch up unless UsK can manage a 2v3. One last battle takes place in flank 1 UsK’s town and pocket loses all camels and knights that were helping and flank 1 UsK loses all army. UsK resigns. wW wins.
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Maya v Hun Mongol China
Flank 1 - Maya v Hun
Pocket - Hun v Mongol
Flank 2 - Mongol v China
Comments: Game starts with a lot of boar stealing going on which is always fun to watch. Flank 1 wW steals flank 1 UsK’s boar very early and on flank 2 both players steal one boar from the other player so it evens out. Flank 1 for UsK tries to steal boar back but wW defends it and kills the scout. Flank 1 wW then goes drush. Since flank 1 UsK is down a boar he is forced to put 7 on berries which is a perfect place for the militia to hit and it does some big damage. Flank 1 wW makes four more militia on way up to feudal with three on gold and upgrades to m@a as soon as he hits feudal. On flank 2, both go 2 ranges wW goes skirm first, UsK goes mostly archer. Flank 1 UsK counters the m@a with scouts and after killing them goes to raid flank 1 wW but spears are defending. Both pockets go 2 stable knights. Flank 1 for UsK sneaks 2 villagers forward to build a tower on the forward wood of flank 1 wW. It barely gets up in time before being caught. The teams play opposites instead of matching, so while pocket UsK goes to help flank 2, pocket wW goes to kill flank 1. This imbalance makes the game much faster paced and frustrating to both flanks being attacked. Flank 2 takes the double by house walling and playing very defensively with archers building more and more barriers to stop the knights and enemy archers from getting in. Flank 1 for UsK is not as lucky. With an open map he takes tremendous damage from the knight raid and also has to deal with crossbows. At this point in the game, even though the scores are very even, it looks like gg. Pocket UsK sends some camels and a knight to try and help but the force is big and flank 1 UsK is stopped from taking in any resources and looks trapped in feudal age. Flank 2 wW pretty much stops the 2v1 by himself with good defending. So with the only real damage being done is to Flank 1 UsK, there is really no way to catch up unless UsK can manage a 2v3. One last battle takes place in flank 1 UsK’s town and pocket loses all camels and knights that were helping and flank 1 UsK loses all army. UsK resigns. wW wins.
Game 2
Map - Arena
Civ Chosen - Spain Turk Persia v Spain Turk Mongol
Flank 1 - Spain v Turk
Pocket - Turk v Spain
Flank 2 - Persia v Mongol
Comments: Early on, wW works together to steal flank 2’s boar…again -_- One thing I noticed is that none of the wW players got loom before upping, but 2 of the UsK players did. This is a small advantage for wW because it is like having a free extra villager if there is no idle time for tc. On flank 1 both make a castle in the front corner of their bases making an early castle war happen. Pocket wW does something interesting by going forward castle on flank 2. He gets caught and flank 2 UsK towers the castle before it gets completed. Flank 2 tries to wall the castle in so it cannot be finished, but conqs from flank 1 wW arrive to stop it from happening. Pocket UsK goes big boom and so does flank 2 of wW. The forward castle does finally get up after losing about 5 vils and a few conqs trying to finish it. The forward castle makes janissaries and breaks into flank 2 UsK. Flank 2 tries making mangonels to stop it, but good micro kills the first mangonel before it even gets a shot off. On flank 1 wW breaks into UsK’s base with conqs and does major damage to the economy of flank 1 UsK. So far, all damage to economy has been on one side which is not good for UsK. Game looks like wW should win in imp as long as they don’t make a big mistake. Once flank 2 wW goes imp and comes in with knights that are upping to cavaliers, town centres start going down in flank 2 UsK’s base. He gets a defensive castle up, but only after losing a town centre and about 20 vils. But on flank 1 a bit of a surprise happens because flank 1 UsK imps before wW and takes down the corner castle and threatens to push with guns and trebs. Defensive conqs and flank 2’s cavaliers seem to be enough to hold him off though. Flank 2 wW gets paladin upgrade first which really makes things tough for UsK’s flank 1 who has to deal with mass conqs and pala. Both sides for wW slow push and there really isn’t much that UsK can do to stop it because of the economy disadvantage of flank 2’s UsK. Flank 1 UsK goes heavy camel to stop the pala, but then has to deal with the pala leaving and fighting econqs. wW establishes trade first and flank 2 UsK gets pushed hard and loses a castle. At this point nothing can really save UsK. UsK does stop the push on flank 2 but finds themselves very behind and as soon as troops remass and push again, they can’t be stopped on that side. UsK says gg. wW wins.
Civ Chosen - Spain Turk Persia v Spain Turk Mongol
Flank 1 - Spain v Turk
Pocket - Turk v Spain
Flank 2 - Persia v Mongol
Comments: Early on, wW works together to steal flank 2’s boar…again -_- One thing I noticed is that none of the wW players got loom before upping, but 2 of the UsK players did. This is a small advantage for wW because it is like having a free extra villager if there is no idle time for tc. On flank 1 both make a castle in the front corner of their bases making an early castle war happen. Pocket wW does something interesting by going forward castle on flank 2. He gets caught and flank 2 UsK towers the castle before it gets completed. Flank 2 tries to wall the castle in so it cannot be finished, but conqs from flank 1 wW arrive to stop it from happening. Pocket UsK goes big boom and so does flank 2 of wW. The forward castle does finally get up after losing about 5 vils and a few conqs trying to finish it. The forward castle makes janissaries and breaks into flank 2 UsK. Flank 2 tries making mangonels to stop it, but good micro kills the first mangonel before it even gets a shot off. On flank 1 wW breaks into UsK’s base with conqs and does major damage to the economy of flank 1 UsK. So far, all damage to economy has been on one side which is not good for UsK. Game looks like wW should win in imp as long as they don’t make a big mistake. Once flank 2 wW goes imp and comes in with knights that are upping to cavaliers, town centres start going down in flank 2 UsK’s base. He gets a defensive castle up, but only after losing a town centre and about 20 vils. But on flank 1 a bit of a surprise happens because flank 1 UsK imps before wW and takes down the corner castle and threatens to push with guns and trebs. Defensive conqs and flank 2’s cavaliers seem to be enough to hold him off though. Flank 2 wW gets paladin upgrade first which really makes things tough for UsK’s flank 1 who has to deal with mass conqs and pala. Both sides for wW slow push and there really isn’t much that UsK can do to stop it because of the economy disadvantage of flank 2’s UsK. Flank 1 UsK goes heavy camel to stop the pala, but then has to deal with the pala leaving and fighting econqs. wW establishes trade first and flank 2 UsK gets pushed hard and loses a castle. At this point nothing can really save UsK. UsK does stop the push on flank 2 but finds themselves very behind and as soon as troops remass and push again, they can’t be stopped on that side. UsK says gg. wW wins.
Game 3
No Game 3
Match 5 Results
wW wins 2-0
Match 6 - DyT v VN
Prediction from last week (x-x).
Game 1
Map - Arabia
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Maya v Hun Mongol Maya
Flank 1 - Maya v Maya
Pocket - Hun v Hun
Flank 2 - Mongol v Mongol
Comments: First true civ-war matchup so far in the playoffs. Not a single person drushes so the game could be even more interesting 11. Everyone walls quite a bit. Flank 2 for DyT goes scouts and goes cross map to help double on Flank 1. Pocket DyT gets in big trouble early when Flank 2 VN’s archers and spears show up and kill his wood and park on his gold mine. The archers last long enough for reinforcements to come from pocket putting DyT very behind early in castle. Also, on Flank 1 VN seems to hold the advantage in archers and skirms and harasses Flank 1 DyT’s eco. Flank 2 DyT castles pretty fast though and sends knights to Flank 2 VN’s unguarded base. This attack does HUGE damage on the unguarded eco for VN. He must have lost about 25-30 vils in under 2 minutes. Then everything goes crazy. Flank 2 DyT attacks pocket VN while pocket VN looks for a target to kill, hitting Flank 1 then moving to pocket DyT. People start imping Flank 1’s VN pushes hard with elite plumes his opponent counters going elite eagles as pocket DyT helps by providing many knights. On Flank 2 though, DyT is pushing very hard on the VN player who seems completely destroyed because of the eco disadvantage early on. It becomes a race to see which flank can finish the opponent first. Flank 2’s VN loses in that race and runs to safety in the pocket base and attempts to quickly boom to be of some help to the team. The 2v3 is handled very nicely by VN. Flank 1’s VN pushes hard and takes out a vast portion of the enemy army of eew and hussars. Though, I disagree with the sudden forward running of the plumes, seems the slow push was a better way to go, but he DID reach the trade and do some damage there but lost alllll of his plumes. With Flank 2’s VN (well now more like pocket 2 11) full boomed, he spams hussars to contribute to the fight. It comes too late though and the new 3v3 is over before it begins. Very good game. DyT wins.
Civ Chosen - Hun Mongol Maya v Hun Mongol Maya
Flank 1 - Maya v Maya
Pocket - Hun v Hun
Flank 2 - Mongol v Mongol
Comments: First true civ-war matchup so far in the playoffs. Not a single person drushes so the game could be even more interesting 11. Everyone walls quite a bit. Flank 2 for DyT goes scouts and goes cross map to help double on Flank 1. Pocket DyT gets in big trouble early when Flank 2 VN’s archers and spears show up and kill his wood and park on his gold mine. The archers last long enough for reinforcements to come from pocket putting DyT very behind early in castle. Also, on Flank 1 VN seems to hold the advantage in archers and skirms and harasses Flank 1 DyT’s eco. Flank 2 DyT castles pretty fast though and sends knights to Flank 2 VN’s unguarded base. This attack does HUGE damage on the unguarded eco for VN. He must have lost about 25-30 vils in under 2 minutes. Then everything goes crazy. Flank 2 DyT attacks pocket VN while pocket VN looks for a target to kill, hitting Flank 1 then moving to pocket DyT. People start imping Flank 1’s VN pushes hard with elite plumes his opponent counters going elite eagles as pocket DyT helps by providing many knights. On Flank 2 though, DyT is pushing very hard on the VN player who seems completely destroyed because of the eco disadvantage early on. It becomes a race to see which flank can finish the opponent first. Flank 2’s VN loses in that race and runs to safety in the pocket base and attempts to quickly boom to be of some help to the team. The 2v3 is handled very nicely by VN. Flank 1’s VN pushes hard and takes out a vast portion of the enemy army of eew and hussars. Though, I disagree with the sudden forward running of the plumes, seems the slow push was a better way to go, but he DID reach the trade and do some damage there but lost alllll of his plumes. With Flank 2’s VN (well now more like pocket 2 11) full boomed, he spams hussars to contribute to the fight. It comes too late though and the new 3v3 is over before it begins. Very good game. DyT wins.
Game 2
Map - Islands
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Japan vs. Viking Hun Japan
Flank 1 - Viking v Japan
Pocket - Hun v Viking
Flank 2 - Japan v Hun
Comments: Pocket DyT has quite an interesting start. Gets stuck with 1300 food and 400 gold and can’t up because doesn’t have the buildings :S. Awkward start that gets the team behind initially. Pocket VN goes grush to enemy pocket. After some water battles and cool traps, VN is pushing both flanks successfully and has a big lead. Pocket DyT tries to go 1 tc to imp, while this is done by quite a few people now, it is a very fragile strategy, and if it is fairly even game, it is a winning way to go, but if your team is behind and you do not have the economy to pump 1000 galleons it is very risky. DyT stops the push on Flank 2’s side and DyT pocket goes imp. Game cuts out around 28 min. Would have been good to see the rest. VN wins.
Civ Chosen - Viking Hun Japan vs. Viking Hun Japan
Flank 1 - Viking v Japan
Pocket - Hun v Viking
Flank 2 - Japan v Hun
Comments: Pocket DyT has quite an interesting start. Gets stuck with 1300 food and 400 gold and can’t up because doesn’t have the buildings :S. Awkward start that gets the team behind initially. Pocket VN goes grush to enemy pocket. After some water battles and cool traps, VN is pushing both flanks successfully and has a big lead. Pocket DyT tries to go 1 tc to imp, while this is done by quite a few people now, it is a very fragile strategy, and if it is fairly even game, it is a winning way to go, but if your team is behind and you do not have the economy to pump 1000 galleons it is very risky. DyT stops the push on Flank 2’s side and DyT pocket goes imp. Game cuts out around 28 min. Would have been good to see the rest. VN wins.
Game 3
Map - Full Random (this should be BR…)
Civ Chosen -
Flank 1 - Maya v Mongol
Pocket - Viking v Viking
Flank 2 - Hun v Maya
Comments: As the map title says above, this game should probably be invalid since it was not the map specified, but I don’t care if the operators don’t 11. Map is migration. VN jumps out to the early lead and VN pocket lands middle early. Flank 1 VN pushes very well and seems to almost secure the side but gets sandwiched in a giant fight and a huge game shift occurs. The battle evens up on water, but VN seems to have complete control of the centre island. Flank 1 VN loses all battle ships. Flank 2 VN seems to have the same problems and loses water. Dark Knight, the pocket for VN, tries to do everything at once and really keeps his team alive quite some time by fighting on both land and water as his team-mates establish on the centre. A hard push comes from Flank 2 on the centre island with plumes and trebs with galleons covering. Units keep getting stuck and unable to reach the line of combat giving the advantage to the advancing DyT armies. A defensive castle attempt is stopped which really puts the VN team in a lot of trouble. DyT’s mix of units keeps pushing hard and seems unstoppable as they roll through the established VN base in the middle. Flank 2 DyT ups to cavaliers and all seems lost for VN who are still unable to stop the mass eplume/treb/seige ram push by Flank 1 DyT. VN resigns. DyT wins.
Civ Chosen -
Flank 1 - Maya v Mongol
Pocket - Viking v Viking
Flank 2 - Hun v Maya
Comments: As the map title says above, this game should probably be invalid since it was not the map specified, but I don’t care if the operators don’t 11. Map is migration. VN jumps out to the early lead and VN pocket lands middle early. Flank 1 VN pushes very well and seems to almost secure the side but gets sandwiched in a giant fight and a huge game shift occurs. The battle evens up on water, but VN seems to have complete control of the centre island. Flank 1 VN loses all battle ships. Flank 2 VN seems to have the same problems and loses water. Dark Knight, the pocket for VN, tries to do everything at once and really keeps his team alive quite some time by fighting on both land and water as his team-mates establish on the centre. A hard push comes from Flank 2 on the centre island with plumes and trebs with galleons covering. Units keep getting stuck and unable to reach the line of combat giving the advantage to the advancing DyT armies. A defensive castle attempt is stopped which really puts the VN team in a lot of trouble. DyT’s mix of units keeps pushing hard and seems unstoppable as they roll through the established VN base in the middle. Flank 2 DyT ups to cavaliers and all seems lost for VN who are still unable to stop the mass eplume/treb/seige ram push by Flank 1 DyT. VN resigns. DyT wins.
Match 6 Results
Dyt wins 2-1
Match 7 - LKC b zZ
Prediction from last week (2-1).
Game 1
AW LKC
Game 2
AW LKC
Game 3
No Game 3
Match 7 Results
LKC wins by AW
Match 8 - wW B v nC
Prediction from last week (2-1).
Game 1
Map - Migration
Civ Chosen - Persia Viking v Persia Viking
Flank 1 - Persia v Persia
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Viking v Viking
Comments: Another 2v2 instead of 3v3 but, on the bright side, Jordan is playing ^_^ Flank 1 nC has an awful start not being able to find sheep and has to have an idle tc for a few seconds. Flank 1 wW goes deer first. Flank 2 nC goes dock first and flank 2 wW goes deer first as well. Pretty bad starts all around except for flank 1 wW 11. Looks like flank 2 wW is not going grush (?) and landing very early. Most likely trying to fc, but that is going to be a big mistake if he cannot get transports to the main island after he castles. wW takes center isle and tries to boom early but they sacrifice water entirely. Some poor micro by flank 1 of wW loses all galleys before they can up to war galleys and sea is completely owned by nC. Flank 2 wW castles on the main isle near the town of flank 2 nC to try and drive him off the land. Both nC’s go to imp quickly with the free fish boom. The castle goes down from rams and arbs/skirms/monks from flank 2 nC. Flank 1 nC spams cavaliers to the mainland killing flank 1 wW. wW says gg. nC wins.
Civ Chosen - Persia Viking v Persia Viking
Flank 1 - Persia v Persia
Pocket - n/a
Flank 2 - Viking v Viking
Comments: Another 2v2 instead of 3v3 but, on the bright side, Jordan is playing ^_^ Flank 1 nC has an awful start not being able to find sheep and has to have an idle tc for a few seconds. Flank 1 wW goes deer first. Flank 2 nC goes dock first and flank 2 wW goes deer first as well. Pretty bad starts all around except for flank 1 wW 11. Looks like flank 2 wW is not going grush (?) and landing very early. Most likely trying to fc, but that is going to be a big mistake if he cannot get transports to the main island after he castles. wW takes center isle and tries to boom early but they sacrifice water entirely. Some poor micro by flank 1 of wW loses all galleys before they can up to war galleys and sea is completely owned by nC. Flank 2 wW castles on the main isle near the town of flank 2 nC to try and drive him off the land. Both nC’s go to imp quickly with the free fish boom. The castle goes down from rams and arbs/skirms/monks from flank 2 nC. Flank 1 nC spams cavaliers to the mainland killing flank 1 wW. wW says gg. nC wins.
Game 2
AW nC
Game 3
No Game 3
Match 8 Results
nC wins by 1-0 + AW
Summary: Firstly, shame on zZ for getting AL in the playoff bracket -_- Other than that, it is a shame to see PoJ out, but the power of Lone is quite surprising. Even more surprising is the seeming imbalance in difficulties in each side of the bracket. nC advances which is not surprising since Jordan and Skittle were the two playing the only game. Immortals winning came as a shock to some after losing some easier games. All in all, I would say the highlights are Lone's overcoming an early "mystery" favourite, [BL] edging out [CL's] and wW continuing their dominance as is SlipKn0T. We are down to 8 teams let's see what happens.
Next Week's predictions:
Match 1
SlipKn0T (1,6) v [BL] (3,5)
||| 2-0 (2) ||| 2-1 (3) ||| 1-2 (4) ||| 0-2 (7) |||
Gotta go with the Dominant SlipKn0T here. They have shown very little weakness and I believe a 2-0 is the most likely result.
Match 2
Lone (2.5) v Immortals (1.7)
||| 2-0 (5) ||| 2-1 (4) ||| 1-2 (4) ||| 0-2 (4) |||
As much of a shame as it is. I am expecting Immortals to be able to win this after their win over RVK in 2-0. Lone will need to play exquisitely to have a chance here. I would say 1-2 Immortals win.
Match 3
wW (1,6) v DyT (3,5)
||| 2-0 (2) ||| 2-1 (3) ||| 1-2 (4) ||| 0-2 (7) |||
wW is another very very good team. They focus and use teamwork superbly, they look the most dangerous of any team so far this season. 2-0 for wW.
Match 4
LKC (1.65) v nC (3)
||| 2-0 (2) ||| 2-1 (3) ||| 1-2 (3.5) ||| 0-2 (6) |||
This is a tough one to call for multiple reasons. It looks as if Jordan will be playing for nC, but I don't know who their third player will be. This would be my most likely upset of the week, but I wouldn't be too expectant on it. My guess...2-1 LKC.
---
And there has been some change on the leaderboard for the RTS-L gambling game. With a few new faces participating as well!
Player | Bank |
[wW]StrongMan_ | 308 |
Maximus | 222,75 |
plfan | 160 |
SirJono | 95 |
(_blank) LeastAuklet | 62 |
leothegreat | 53,5 |
Hani_ | 50 |
_LuG_ | 47 |
Emarosa | 35 |
ThunderS_ | 30 |
sly_guy | 29 |
_Ares_ | 1 |
[linethru]pooos[/linethru] | 0 |
[linethru]Fuzer[/linethru] | 0 |
[linethru]_MariaN[/linethru]_ | 0 |
[linethru]Larreser[/linethru] | 0 |
Well that is about all, thank you for reading and keep up the brilliant games guys!
Except for zZ, shame on you...shameshameshame...
~Nainai