Should I make a Tips Thread/Guide?

[Ceaseless]

Connect 4 has been a fun game where it's solved enough to know the answers but complex enough to still enjoy working out the rationale for them. I'm wondering if there are enough people who would even read the Connect 4 forums to make it worth posting some ideas that help follow the general concepts in the game.

[play4row]

yeah i'd read it. the forum is quiet right now but these threads get found by people searching months later, so a guide has a long tail even if only a few of us reply now. odd/even threats is the part i'd want most, that was the slowest thing for me to actually start seeing on the board.

[Ceaseless]

yeah i'd read it. the forum is quiet right now but these threads get found by people searching months later, so a guide has a long tail even if only a few of us reply now. odd/even threats is the part i'd want most, that was the slowest thing for me to actually start seeing on the board.

Yeah, parity is definitely on the top of the list of things to nail down.

[play4row]

the rule clicked fast for me, seeing which threat squares actually get reached took way longer. counting a threat on a row the column never fills up to, that kind of thing. a couple of worked examples would do more than the definition.

7x6 or 9x9 though? you covered the odd height difference in the other thread, and i still don't know which one people here actually play.

[Ceaseless]

the rule clicked fast for me, seeing which threat squares actually get reached took way longer. counting a threat on a row the column never fills up to, that kind of thing. a couple of worked examples would do more than the definition.

7x6 or 9x9 though? you covered the odd height difference in the other thread, and i still don't know which one people here actually play.

Actually gets reached? You're going to have to give examples of what you were confused by there. If they're not reached, what happened, did they get undercut by a different threat? Did the opponent execute a tactical finish that ended the game first? I'm unsure if what you're describing is even a parity issue or if something else was intervening.

As for which one is played, you can check the game page and see recently played games. You can check player profiles like Arena players to see how often they play, etc. You can even host yourself and see where you're getting games.

[play4row]

not parity i don't think, it's the step before. early on i'd count every threat i could make, including ones sitting high in a column, then the game ends with that column three deep and half of them were never real squares. nothing intervened, i was just miscounting.

and fair, the game page would answer the 7x6 question quicker than asking here.