Reaper Map Help Guide

[blckace]

Most of my losses have been on Reaper map which is due to my lack of understanding of the map but a good thing is after so many losses I feel like an expert on it. I've reviewed all the replayes I could find on the forum and my own (Thanks to all the supertitans who put up their reaper replays and combatex for collecting them), I've made such guides before to help me master the old maps and it really helped me, so I want to share this with the forum hopefully it'll help someone:

1) An attack is always going to come from your heavy side the bulk of your units should be on that side

2) The predeployed sniper is a tricky thing, do we use him for defense or offense? he's not there for offense, he's there for defense, surely if the game drags on longer with your forces marching towrds their heavy side and you still haven't used him for defense by all means use him for offense but so far the best use i've found for him is help controlling the center

3) You can't attack through the middle why? because the middle is practically their spawn point and we all know you can't take someone through their spawn point

4) The golden soldier tile is the tile between two wooden thingys, why is it golden? it has a great strategic value in that it helps you control the center but also when you plan to attack this soldier can be utilized for offense on their heavy side, great right?

5) have you noticed this is the only small map with no predeployed healer? to spawn a healer or not? since you can only spawn one unit per turn it's a big investment if it's going to be a long game this is a great investment, but what if your opponent is planning some crazy rush? you'll fall behind on attacking power severly but then again having buffed units means your units won't die so easily, I have no recommendation because each game is different and playing against different teams is different but I'll tell you this on pass'n'play practice spawning a healer on the first turn worked out well for me

6) Scouting one of the most important concepts in outwitters is complicated here. The predeployed scout is probably going to scout your witspace side but what about the other side are you going to spawn another scout for the heavy side? seems like a bad idea since you'll fall behind on attack power, specially that it could be taken easily if it was a one hp scout if you can send a buffed scout that seems like a great idea, but there's another trick since unit count and attack power are really important on this map, if you see no action going on their heavy side why not be a smart person and move that scout to the other side of the map! Seriously though, sometimes you won't be able to scout, then ask yourself what did my opponent do that could potentially destroy me if I didn't react to it? Because without scouting you need to act two moves ahead to avoid catastrophe

7) Before planning some crazy p2 rush please consider this, surely p1 is planning something is my attack going to be faster? probably no, am I well defended on my heavy side? probably no, so some general rules, scrambler is faster than bombshell, mobi is faster than scrambler and p1 is using the same team as you, they are always faster

8) As p2 if you stop your opponents attack you've won the game, they'll be unit depleted so you can take their wit space and even attack their heavy side if you balanced your forces accordingly

9) The golden offense tile, assume your base is south at the left edge of the map the top tile is where you can put fragile and important units and they would be very hard to kill

10) All the specials are going to come from your heavy side, what are some deviations from this rule? a mobi player could do a crazy sniper attack through the middle, a bombshell player could deploy one their and easily control the center and it will be downhill from there for you unless you were prepared!

11) Don't worry much about your wit space, if they decide to take it, you'll know about it and you'll have time to prepare

As always these aren't hard fixed rules, because there's always room for creative outwitting! Also, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

[laYahooz]

Nice tips blckace! I feel like I'm already utilizing most of these, except for using the sniper for defensive.
Reaper is my favorite map right now and I think it is a really good scrambler map. Like you said, attacking that initial side heavy is how to win. I always go for a heavy scramble and soldier finish on turn 15ish (I hadn't had long games on reaper). Also I don't spawn a medic on this map. I'm interested to hear the opinions on better players on whether to spawn a medic or not.

[GoHeat 3]

As P1 I always spawn a medic but as P2 I sometimes do, but I get very nervous when spawn them!

[terenceshiu2005]

(12-08-2012 08:25 AM)blckace Wrote:  5) have you noticed this is the only small map with no predeployed healer? to spawn a healer or not? since you can only spawn one unit per turn it's a big investment if it's going to be a long game this is a great investment, but what if your opponent is planning some crazy rush? you'll fall behind on attacking power severly but then again having buffed units means your units won't die so easily, I have no recommendation because each game is different and playing against different teams is different but I'll tell you this on pass'n'play practice spawning a healer on the first turn worked out well for me

Thanks for sharing Blckace! This make me headache all the time in this small, but large relatively large map!

[Necrocat219]

I find reaper to be such a hard map, the playstyle is so out of the box compared to other maps! this really helps alot

[CombatEX]

Thanks for sharing your advice. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find Reaper to be the map where I'm most strained for unit count. Even though there are other 1 spawn maps it's not as much of an issue as on Reaper. Probably this is because on maps like Glitch and SFI there is less surface area to cover both your base and your wit space. On Reaper though the backdoor is on the opposite side of the map from your wit space and the walk from your spawn to your backdoor is relatively far. You also receive comparatively less info from a single runner's vision than on a more condensed map like SFI. To top it off, you don't even start with a medic!

[Emuchu]

(12-08-2012 12:29 PM)CombatEX Wrote:  Thanks for sharing your advice. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find Reaper to be the map where I'm most strained for unit count. Even though there are other 1 spawn maps it's not as much of an issue as on Reaper. Probably this is because on maps like Glitch and SFI there is less surface area to cover both your base and your wit space. On Reaper though the backdoor is on the opposite side of the map from your wit space and the walk from your spawn to your backdoor is relatively far. You also receive comparatively less info from a single runner's vision than on a more condensed map like SFI. To top it off, you don't even start with a medic!

As much as the lack of both a Medic and vision get me murdered in this map, I have to say I like it. I'm a little tired of maps like Glitch and and Peekaboo, where the maps are designed with very limited approach options and most games play out in predictable ways.

[Zomus X]

I find that on this map the wit count by the 4th turn is quite high (due to no medic boosts probably) and most players use it to spawn a special. I like going through the middle with a lot of units, including a runner, which I use to step on my opponent's spawn spot if its not guarded well. This usually happens when someone tries to launch a quick attack down the middle early in the game and I retaliate. This is also one of the maps that I feel that specials are pretty balanced in.

[laYahooz]

I agree with Zomus. I've had awesome success with all the specials on reaper. It is my favorite map right now because I believe it is the most balanced one spawn space one.

[brayton]

Reaper is my favourite map since its open to different styles, probable due to the size.
I alsolove how theres 1 spawn, so you have to be careful with choices, and this causes single runner strikes to be pretty silly. With only 1 spawn, and such large space i usually go for runners to be there fast. This, and a lack of soldiercombat leaves heeps of wits. Soi allways get a bombshell or two.
The difference between other single spawn maps is this is large and has more distinct paths(lanes).
Ps. Im a noob, but i usually offense on my sniper/witspace side