FTA

[Kamikaze28]

(07-07-2012 08:49 PM)Harti Wrote:  

(07-07-2012 08:38 PM)stevewastaken Wrote:  In the HA player run league, the solution was to start the starting player with 3 Action Points on his first turn, rather than the standard 5. While there is still a statistical advantage to FTA using the 3 AP system, it is pretty slight, when previously it was significant. That same solution would probably have the same results for Outwitters as well, considering both games start with 5 action points.

Interesting because this would be 'our' first shot towards balancing as well. This approach is even used in Trading Card Games like Magic: the Gathering (player 2 has 1 extra card in their opening hand).

I'm positive this will work for Outwitters - but once you've got to occupy 2 bonus spaces with predeployeds and would have to set up a couple of things to prevent STA, you can't (due to the limit of 3). This will require quite a lot of maptesting.

Alex and Adam said in one of the two podcasts which accompanied the release that they have metrics running to keep an eye on such things.

There is one thing to keep in mind though: is it general FTA, independent of the map or is it a map specific problem? To answer this, we have to be patient and let the game run its course. In this early stage of league play, rushing an opponent as P1 is easier than defending as P2 - therefore we may see a false imbalance towards FTA. Once these rush tactics are known and understood and possibly countered effectively, their use might diminish and we will get more reliable results.

Thinking about general ways to reduce FTA is not wrong, but given that there are several maps and hopefully more to come, I'd argue that it would be best to identify those maps with heavy FTA and change their layout.