Too Buff or Not to Buff? That is the Question

[EkoFox]

Keny, if it costs you one extra wit to buff, (your medic should usually be by the Spawn Point), the instead of one Heavy or Sniper taking the unit out in one hit, it takes two extra wits for the opponent to kill the soldier. Now you made your opponent use 2 extra wits to your one extra wit.

[keny01]

Eko, Only if he doesn't have runners. It still takes only two hits, just two soldier hits, or one sniper or heavy and runner. If I see an opponent load up on soldiers, I load up on unbuffed soldiers. If he has a varied unit composition, I may buff, since I have to.

But if you buff every soldier, you risk it being a waste, since except on small maps, when the soldier gets to the battle, he may not need the extra point.

[EkoFox]

I agree that the best defense against boosted soldiers is un-boosted soldiers, but I never send I boosted soldiers near the enemy base since: 3hp = 3 units which can 1 hit ko and 4hp = Only Scrambler can OHKO

[Joggies]

To buff or not to buff is an interesting question, but it is not the right question. At least it is not the principal dilemma. Buffing is a tool which can assist (or hinder) you in meeting the most fundamental questions of Outwitters.

The most important thing is the map dynamics, based on which teams are playing. As always you need to build an overall wit advantage, or a decisive unit advantage in a crucial part of the map.

Contemplating the buffing question might be a useful tool for improving your understanding of the overall Outwitter economy. But I would caution against looking for takehome answers. The fact that the best players vary their approach considerably based on the situation, should lead you to look at the deeper factors at play.

---

(01-24-2013 08:26 AM)keny01 Wrote:  Buffing soldiers seems such a waste, I hate to do it. It's 2 to create and 1 to buff, but that assumes your medic is adjascent. If not, then add a wit to position the medic. 4 wits? Even at 3 wits it's a lot, 50% more.

Unless there is a reason, I don't buff soldiers.

Hi Keny. I think you might benefit from looking at the problem a different way. This should also help your general play.

Every soldier you build has to move off the spawn point to be any use right? Most will probably have to move at least twice to be useful too right? You should think about adding '1' to your mental value attached to each unit. So a solider position one jump from your base actually cost you 3 wits. 4 if it is buffed. So in the end its a significant but not massive percent increase isn't it? If it means that your opponent is forced to attack with two units to kill your well positioned soldier, that extra wit investment really paid off, huh?

But caution as well: if you are pumping out buffed soliders en masse and your opponent is pumping out normal ones, you'll find that investment is likely to get wasted. (It takes them two attacks to kill you either way).

The tactics of it all depends on where you expect your solider to fight (near your spawn point, or near your opponents?) and what units it is likely to fight against.

[Necrocat219]

All units cost 1 more than they are advertised with the exception of snipers in rare circumstanses, and in those circumstances the sniper immediately becomes useful and you gain a 'delayed wit'; costs 3 but will cost 1 more wit later on moving it off. Anyways here are 'realistic' costs of getting a unit into battle, and I use that term very loosely because some units can be useful straight away, while you can extend the lifetime of a particular unit that you spend many wits on it over the course of the game:

Unbuffed minimum spending costs:
runner: 2 wits
Soldier: 3-4 wits
Heavy: 5-7 wits
Sniper:4+
Sniper (def) 3+, +1 in future
Medic: 3 wits + 1-2 wits for loss of previous medic and killing the killer runner
Bombshell: 9-10 wits
Mobi: 8 wits, +1 for every manoevour
Scrambler: 8-9 wits
Bramble: 8 + 1 for each child

Just add one for medic-boosted units. I didn't take into consideration combat or trade-efficiency so That would be the Scouting 1 dmg from BS, the various trades with the Scrambler and the efficient trades with the Mobi. With the Bramble it's even harder to do as it depends on each individual map and matchup. Also the medic is unique in that I compared it to a 3 wit runner taking out your medic (1hp)

[1ucky]

While in theory, a 4 hp soldier seems like a good idea, I find its sometimes not that useful. I think this is especially true in maps with only one spawn spot, where almost everyone just spams soldiers. A three hp soldier can take two hits from soldiers too. I do find five hp heavies very useful. Usually takes three hits to kill, which forces them to use a lot of wits.

[Necrocat219]

(02-04-2013 04:54 AM)1ucky Wrote:  While in theory, a 4 hp soldier seems like a good idea, I find its sometimes not that useful. I think this is especially true in maps with only one spawn spot, where almost everyone just spams soldiers. A three hp soldier can take two hits from soldiers too. I do find five hp heavies very useful. Usually takes three hits to kill, which forces them to use a lot of wits.

On one spawn maps 4hp soldiers seem to be even more valuable than on 2 spawn maps thanks to how precious that spawn is