Gameplay commentary: map Peekaboo

[Alvendor]

Thought I'd share a recent game I played. Hopefully some can get some tips from it or suggest how I can improve my play. I would also find it interesting if other people shared there replays with commentaries of certain openings, plays etc.

Background: I have been playing my fair share of Outwitters since it was released and is ranked #5 in masters. I don't think my opponent Harti needs an introduction on this forum. We have played 2 games before this one and he kicked my butt quite easily in both of them.

In game replay Here

This is how I experienced the situations at the time:
   
Turn1:
Ok I know my opponent has more experience than me so I don't want a long game as I am more likely to make a mistake than he is. I have the first turn advantage which is excellent. My plan is to really think through every move I make and take advantage of my FTA by going full frontal and attack on the right side where he is weaker (as his spawn point is top).

I can either take the bonus space with the heavy or the soldier. I prefer the soldier, as the heavy is too immobile to do anything else than guard that space. I also move my medic to my spawn point (common move) and create a new soldier. I move my heavy straight forward as I want to cover the distance as fast as possible.
   
Turn 3:
I move my soldier and see his runner but I can't see his soldier so I assume its still behind the bush. Now I get a plan; I can move my heavy forward/right, take a 2 health runner and kill his runner. Then in turn 4 he will take my runner with his soldier and I can take his soldier with my heavy in turn 5.
   
Turn 5
Instead of using his mid soldier he creates a new one and takes my runner. Doesn't matter to me. I take his soldier with my heavy. I put a runner top of my heavy to protect it from soldier/snipe combo.
   
Turn 7
Now my original plan was to attack the right side, but it actually looks like I can continue pressing on top so I kill his soldier. Notice how he can't afford to move his heavy as I continuously apply pressure.
   
Turn 9
Crap! I am so used to playing against Bombshells, that he had Scramblers didn't even enter my mind. Oh well, I kill the scrambler and the heavy he just turned.

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Turn 11
Double Crap! I haven't thought this through, his sniper will kill me. I'd better retreat! (At this point I consider my chances of winning very poor).
   
Turn 13
Ok now I can either defend or try to push the right side. His sniper is very slow so I might have a chance, plus, attacking is more fun.
   
Turn 15
I kill his medic with my runner and move another runner to the middle to pick off a sniper next turn. I reposition my soldiers to force his heavy to retreat.
   
Turn 17
He killed my runner, I try with another runner but use a medic on it first. Taking his bonus space is too dangerous so I stand ground with my soldiers. Every round that space is neutral I'm gaining. Things are looking good again.
   
Turn 19
Now I can kill off a sniper and start zeroing in on his base.

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Turn 21
I move in with runner and soldiers
   
Turn 22
Game finished

This game is a good example of how first turn advantage can be used by pressuring the opponent constantly. At turn 8-12 I almost lost the game due to good defense by the opponent. Had he got a few extra wits for starting second my steamrolling strategy wouldn't have worked as good as it did.

[Kamikaze28]

This is a very interesting game - thank you for putting the time into commenting everything.

[GinoGinuzzi]

awesome! hope u'll add other commentaries

[Syvan]

Nice game. Harti, if you are checking this thread, that hold was impeccable. In your replays I'm always surprised by your ability to bank the resources for a special.

Thanks for the commentary. I think these sorts of threads could be a nice way to discuss strategy. Although, I think it might be more beneficial to post losses and wouldn't risk offending the loser.

[Harti]

In that turn he shielded the Heavy I would've been able to pull a Scrambler out. I was like fuuuu.jpg as I had not considered the block.

Might write a detailed commentary about this too, pretty interesting!

[Harti]

Forgive me I didn't make screenshots of every turn, I guess you can watch and pause the replay while reading this.
Sometimes the Replay pause is buggy so you will either need to tap the button twice or use the rewind/fast forward button to make it pause again.


Turn 2: 5 wit.
I'm P2, against a very good player and I can't even see anything. Boosting the Runner wouldn't make much sense if P1 already drew their Soldier. Uncomfortable situation which left me vulnerable to a Runner. That they would boost it was genius. [Saved 2 wit]

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Turn 4: 8 wit.
Obviously need to get rid of that Runner because it would take on my Medic. Could as well just shielded it properly. Knew that the Heavy would come and eat the Soldier. But I'd have 10 wit next turn so I wouldn't mind actually. [Saved 4 wit]
What I kinda forgot is that he could either put a Runner or a Soldier in the way.

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Turn 6: 10 wit.
I built a Runner to see what's going on. If I'd attacked the Medic to finally get rid of that nuisance, I wouldn't have been able to use the Scrambler very well (also didn't even know if it was there). Building this Runner may have cost me the game.

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Turn 8: 10 wit.
I could opt for a Heavy and boost it, then eat the 4 HP Soldier together with the Runner. But they'd have killed my Heavy (4 spawn + 1 boost + 1 move + 1 attack = 7) at the cost of 3 which just wasn't affordable.
So I chose the Scrambler to get that Heavy and probably equalize the unit disadvantage I had before. It was just too sad I didn't have 11 wit.

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Turn 10: 6 wit.
It is quite obvious, I guess, I need to get rid of at least one Soldier. I hoped that getting the Heavy north would help relieve the pressure a bit.

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Turn 12: 6 wit.
I noticed a flank change which would buy me a turn or two. I wanted to check what's going on again and I boosted the Runner to have it not die immediately. Then I noticed that I should have buffed the Sniper instead. Well, I still had to be prepared for an attack towards my spawn point so I built another Sniper.
Looking at the situation now without fog of war it's quite an awkward choice. I, however, didn't know how many Soldiers he really had so I was playing safe.

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Turn 14: 5 wit. Which I basically forgot about.
Yeah I did expect them to take my wit flag which was why I put my Runner there in the first place. But I didn't actually expect him to expose his Soldier to my Heavy. I knew that turn 12 was the turn that really cost me the game. With 5 wits only I couldn't do much.
While building the Runner to get rid of that Runner I had the idea to put a Runner in the way so they couldn't attack both my Sniper and Medic the turn after. So I dropkicked the Runner with the Heavy instead which should turn out as a bad choice since I wouldn't ever be able to re-take that bonus space again. [Saved 1 wit]
(Should probably have taken care of the Soldier instead)

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Turn 16: 6 wit.
Needed to kill the additional Runner. Noticed that if I stayed at that position with my Heavy it'd be just killed. Medic was gone - blast. [Saved 2 wit]

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Turn 18: 7 wit.
Getting the important Medic back to enable my Sniper to move one space towards the neutral bonus space. [Saved 2 wit]

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Turn 20: 7 wit.
Note that I don't see anything. Boosted the Heavy to save it from 2So+R. Removed the Medic from the danger zone so that I could use it next turn maybe. And finally a Runner for some vision. [Saved 2 wit]

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Turn 22: 7 wit.
The reason why I even began to play this turn is that I didn't see the southern Runner at that point of time. Well-timed attack and thanks to the lack of units I didn't stand a chance. Resigned!

[Alvendor]

Very nice to get your view of the game! I guess I need learn to incorporate special units better. They are so seldom used it is hard to get experience with them.

Funny how fog of war can get you paranoid. At turn 11-12 you were afraid of me attacking middle and I was afraid you would be attacking the left flank