First Turn Advantage

[Szei]

This is primarily directed towards beta testers or people who have played a lot of games in masters league since release.

So I haven't played enough games to tell how big a deal this is, and the impact also certainly varies depending on the map, but was first turn advantage discussed during beta? If so, what were the conclusions? I imagine it must not have been a huge deal or it would have been addressed, but I'd just like to hear what people think about it.

[Kamikaze28]

FTA was brought up during beta but not discussed at length (at least not in my opinion). It is very devastating on certain maps if you don't immediately respond in kind as the second player.

There is also a mixup between two different things. FTA (first turn advantage) is about the inherent advantage the first player has due to his moving first on a conceptual level. What most people describe however is a rush by the first player, which is an everything-on-one-card, FTA-exploiting opening. If you manage to take this first offensive, your opponent will most likely have huge gaps and openings that you can take advantage of. FTA-rushes can quickly turn into a 'first turn disadvantage' that way.

Edit: Also, there is already another thread about the same topic.

[oneadamleft]

We are on the lookout for unstoppable openers. If you encounter something that seems totally unfair, show us a replay in the bug report thread.

[Harti]

(07-07-2012 04:08 AM)oneadamleft Wrote:  We are on the lookout for unstoppable openers. If you encounter something that seems totally unfair, show us a replay in the bug report thread.

But note that it has to be well-founded, i.e. play a couple of unranked games on that map as P1 get more proof.

(They are really hard to convince because the "P2 can play around the FTA and we want him to do exactly this" argument is king!)

[Szei]

Nice to know you're looking out for this kind of thing. Oh and sorry about reposting essentially the same topic as Normak, I didn't recognize the acronym =/

As for Normak's suggestion, it is true that in many turn based games there are penalties for the first player like not drawing a card on the first turn so starting with less wits could make sense. However, games like Chess don't give the opening player a penalty so it's not necessarily required.

Probably best to just wait and see how the game evolves at the top level and then take action at that point if necessary.

[knighthalo123]

FTA is so op ._. all the games i play that i dont have FTA, the guy rushes with a soldier or a scout which causes me to waste an extra wit to destroy it, also they get more turns D:<

[A. Normak]

Yeah, just like I said in MY FTA THREAD is a problem. Not a huge one if you know how to deal with it, but I think it sho;d be solved. In chess, 1P is only one move ahead, he can`t kill 1/5 of all your pieces during his first turn. Sharkfood Island is the most FTA affected map- it can take a few turns to finish the game.