[Replay] [Commentary] Double-Bombshell on Sharkfood Island

[nivra0]

Fun game with Onofre's Arm. I get promoted to Super-Titan after this

Replay

Commentary:

Turn 1: I have FTA, so I bank 2 wits, and leave myself exposed.
Turn 2: He has the same idea, but he's second player. Banks 4 wits.
Turn 3: My bombshell comes out. 0 wits left.
Turn 4: His comes out, he has more wits, so can move and buff it. 0 wits left.
Turn 5: I see an unguarded Wit Hex and a medic kill. I'm losing an unbuffed runner one space away from spawn(2 wits) + 2 wits to move and kill. Total: 4 wits. He's losing a Medic 2 moves from spawn(but 2nd move is inconsequential, so call it one move. He also has to use one wit to kill me. He also loses one wit from the wit hex, and has to move another unit onto the hex to retake it. Total: 5-7 wits. I also gain scouting, and it may slow down his medic buffing. 0 wits left.

Turn 6: He shells up on his wit space. He banks a wit.
Turn 7: This runner I plan to keep around for vision, so I buff it. I haven’t buffed my bombshell yet. I don’t feel the need. I know where his units are, and he can’t reach me yet. Bank 3 wits. Knowing where his bombshell is, I decide to take a more central position and control the middle, cutting off his forward recruiting path, while protecting the vertical line in front of my base. I feel this will give me a more direct recruiting pattern and put pressure on his spawn while still holding a strong defense. It also keeps his heavy which is way up top away from the front.

Turn 8: Banks another 2 wits. 3 wits.
Turn 9: I use up my extra wits to set up an offensive. At this point, I made a mistake with my front. I haven’t used bombshells enough, and forgot that they can bomb empty spots 3 hexes away, and splash to 4 hexes. I setup my front line 4 hexes away where he can splash me. I also screw up and forget to buff my bombshell. 0 wits left.

Turn 10: He splashes me, then uses 2 wits to reposition medic and heavy. He doesn’t yet know I have a bombshell there(although he probably could’ve guessed). Recruits a heavy. Good decision considering I had two 3 health soldiers, but I think it costs him down the road. He uses 8 wits total. 1 wit left.

Turn 11: I’m stuck. It’ll cost way too many wits to move my front back, but at least I can splash his front too, so it’s not too bad a position. However, his medic is positioned to heal his front whereas mine is back at my spawn. I take the easy kill, and then decide to press the attack rather than trade splash damage with the medic positioning disadvantage. I choose the 2 health runner so he can’t splash it to death. Trade analysis post-splash: He loses a medic + 2 moves and a soldier + 2 moves, and uses 3 wits to kill my units: 11 wits. I will end up losing a heavy + 2 moves, a buffed runner + 1 move, and 4 wits to attack: 13 wits. Not an attack I would normally choose, but again, he had a medic advantage on me. 0 wits left.

Turn 12: He uses 5 wits, and optimizes his position, splashing my soldier. 2 wits left.
Turn 13: I’m at a disadvantage. A straightforward attack would kill his heavy, but leave me with almost no forces left. I decide to pressure him with my soldiers, keeping them out of shark range, but within striking range of his bombshell. I choose not to splash him, as I figured 2 soldier hits would kill a heavy anyways. Bad move on my part. 0 wits left.

Turn 14: He maneuvers to protect his bombshell and splash my soldiers again. I would’ve positioned the top heavy out of splash range, and the runner apart from the bottom heavy so they won’t both be splashed. Bank 1 wit. 3 wits left.

Turn 15: My soldiers are almost dead. Time to do some damage. But to what? I have two choices: (1) I can bring his base to 1 hp, and then runner spam to try and get that last hit. This will likely force him to wall-up to prevent my runners from going around, or (2) I can take out the heavy. this is where I rue my decision not to splash him. A 3 hp shark could be splashed and killed with one soldier. I keep recruiting, even if only a runner to keep up the pressure. I have the unit advantage. Gotta keep it. 0 wits left.

Turn 16: Retreat and Heal. I like the shark retreat. I’m not sure I like the medic. I would’ve considered a soldier here. 3 wits left.

Turn 17: Soldier spam time. I have a numerical advantage, so pumping soldier helps me hold onto that. I space them out so he can only splash one at a time. I also keep them within threatening distance of his bombshell. 0 wits left.

Turn 18: Gotta protect the bombshell. 2 wits left.
Turn 19: The power of splash damage. I can kill a 5hp heavy with 2 soldiers and a splash. The second soldier should’ve been positioned bottom left, so that his soldier couldn’t hit it without moving.I grab his spawn, forcing him to either retreat his soldier or bomb my runner.

Turn 20: I would’ve bombed the runner, move the 4hp soldier above the blue 4hp soldier, summoned a soldier to take his place, and then killed the 4 hp soldier, and buff the new one. Both the base and the bombshell can take a hit and the medic can heal the bomb. That would give him two 4hp soldiers, a medic, and a bombshell vs. a 1 hp soldier, a 4hp soldier, a medic and a 3hp bombshell. If he had done that, I would’ve had to retreat/regroup/defend. I think the top soldier would’ve died regardless. He can’t get out of splash range on one turn. Instead, he loses a chance to summon, and still only kills one soldier. bank 4 wits. 6 wits left. That’s the game, right there.