pondering strategy

[iFrtz]

Hi all,

this is my first post on bga
hope I'm getting the format right!

Orion Duel is such an interesting game, but I can't find much discussion about it so I'd be curious to hear peoples ideas/questions/musings on strategy, if anyone is interested in sharing

a couple of thoughts to maybe get things started:

Even though Orion Duel is so unique, sometimes it reminds me of Go (although I haven't played Go much and my understanding is of it is very superficial).
Some similarities:
- The way you force the opponents hand sometimes. And being aware of how your opponent might be able to force your hand.
- "projecting" power through how central your position is.
- stronger or weaker connections based on how many moves it would take to prevent a possible link between pieces of the same color.
- the importance of giving up early enough on an unwinable area of the board in order to focus on another.

Something I don't quite understand is strategy for placing galaxies and black holes. Is there any? I can't figure out a way to place them advantageously, but in another discussion people seem to imply that placing them would reduce potential first-player advantage (if that even exists) - compared to random placement.

What do you all think? What are some things you noticed/came up with, regarding strategy? Looking forward to an interesting exchange

[Ciri Pin]

Hey

I see your post only now. I really love Orion Duel and I wish it was more popular/easier to find players.

I don't know GO and never really positioned black holes and galaxies myself, so can't answer on that. But I'm with the designer on this, I don't think there is first player advantage, or not very significant at least.

As for strategies, here are some general thoughts:

- Black holes should never be underestimated: even if you "have" just one it can take as little as two moves for the opponent to secure victory, by placing my color next to other two black holes. If is only connected to your color there is usually nothing to be done at that point (only exception: place a piece in a specific way to prevent the opponent from connecting the black hole because of their lack of the right pieces)

- Once it is likely that no one will win with either of the 3 conditions, just abandon every plan and focus on securing galaxies and avoiding black holes (once all the pieces are used, that's all that matters, as who as the most galaxies>black holes wins).

- A great strategy is simply to be aggressive and don't have any other plan than stopping your opponent - it's also easier to keep up with things that way because you only keep an eye on their winning/losing conditions.

- Always consider that the other player has limited pieces and you know exactly which ones. It can get you out of situations where you seem to be losing, because maybe you clearly can't block the line but you can make the board incompatible with the other player's pieces (for example circling around a black hole)

Let me know what you think!

[RicardoRix]

I've only played a few games. But I do fairly well on abstract games.
I think you have to first draw a parallel with the game hex. This game is essentially the game of hex re-imagined into a more modern board game setting.

However the differences are still quite large, place 3 hexes not just 1, and the goals are different, so it changes things quite a lot.

The main first take away with hex is that 2 cells are 'virtually' connected even placed one step apart, because if the opponent ever places in 1 of the 2 hexes, then you can play in the other and make a solid connection.
Personally I use a similar idea in this game:
Look at 1 particular galaxy, if you are 2 away then you pretty much connected to it. The opponent legally can't cover it, and really has to go out of their way to block. When just 1 away from a galaxy or a black-hole, then those spaces are now completely "safe" as only you can legally play there.
Scan the board with these things in mind.

Once you have connected 2 galaxys then every move is a threat to almost win the game and requires a forced defending move from your opponent.
The other: if you play here, I'll play there is: If you play up to 2 away from 2 different galaxies then you're definitely connected to at-least 1.

The main threat in the game is to make a large connected area taking in galaxies and threatening an end-to-end.
In comparison black-holes are really difficult to link together, it's very slow and doesn't combine with other threats.

The single 1x2 own colour tile is your best piece, use this as a threat in your back pocket to finish the game.
Alternatively play it early, maybe the 1st turn to secure an advantage that you hopefully never let slip. The #1 640 ELO rated guy did this against me, placed near 2 galaxys in a fairly central position.
When playing 3 tiles, nearly always try to not increase the number of connections for your opponent, or just rather - put their hex into some useless place, prefereably next to a black-hole.
Keep in mind your #tiles of each type you don't really want to run out if possible, it could lead to slight advantage for your opponent.

[RicardoRix]

OK, here is a game I am orange.
I will try and illustrate somethings I was banging on about.

The 2 black-holes in green are "safe" only blue can play onto them. If my opponent approaches one of them, then I'll play over it.

But ignoring the forced black-hole win, pretend I don't have that:
The galaxy and connection to an end in red is similar, but further from the win. A series of forced moves is likely.

The top 2 galaxys are "safe" and I already have 1 other galaxy covered.
Firstly I must be blocked from making the bottom connection.
Note, because of the top galaxy at the end connection I am absolutely guaranteed a connection to the top end wall, and not just the galaxy.
I can then play to the 4th galaxy top left (highlighted in red) and make that "safe" as-well.
It might not be an absolutely guaranteed win, but it illustrates my points.
I would possibly need to parry some moves of my opponent while I mop up the 4 "safe" galaxys.

[YourRoyalSkyness]

Started playing this game and loving it! I wishes the player base was higher, wonder if there is any way to solve that .

Here are some of my thoughts on strats:

* I think player choice boards aren’t fun, I played a game where I went second and the first player seemed to make a perfect board that I couldn’t compete against. I think random is way better.

* I think it’s silly that people place their best piece (the two tile with only your color) in their first move, be more creative and I’m sure there’s a good way to place one of your 3 square tiles! Save your best piece for later!

* Be mindful not to run out of any piece type too early. Keep an eye on if your opponent has run out of any piece types and try to use that against them

* Middle of the board is a strong place to be; if the opponent has placed their pieces next to several galaxies then try to quarantine them together with access to only 3. It could hurt you in the tiebreak to hand over free galaxies but in the 10 games I’ve played so far I haven’t needed any tie break victories >:)

* Especially in the middle game try to make every move do 2-3 things, either hurting the opponent or getting you closer to winning conditions.

Them’s my thoughts, good luck in your explorations space adventures!