Help me to improve 🙏

[FrankJones]

@ RoyalRook

I hope you appreciate (and perhaps acknowledge) the hours people in this thread put into responding to your post. So far, you have no given any indication as such.

By not doing so, and by criticizing literally everyone who replied, your initial post comes across as, "Look how good I am and how unlucky I am, I lost a game and had no control over it."

Granted, I doubt it was altruism that prompted myself and xspuipuke and others to respond. I imagine we all did it for the same reason: We enjoy the game, enjoy discussing it, and enjoy analyzing it.

For me, I also enjoy learning and teaching. I have been an educator much of my life in various different ways, and I have found that when I teach, I often learn as well. For me, reviewing this interesting game was worth it regardless of whether the three players involved gain anything from the analysis or appreciate the analysis.

I also wanted to see whether I could hang with the big dogs in Arena playing 3-player Preludes, of which I am not a fan. My analysis: Yes, I definitely can. I know I'm a high-tier player, and this analysis confirmed it for me. I didn't see anything here that would make me say, "Oh wow, look at that play that I never would have thought of." If anything, I saw more of, "Oh wow, look how much better of a play I could have made".

Of course, just like watching poker on TV, the game is easier when you can see the other players' cards .

Regardless, even if we were responding to your post for our own reasons, you can still give acknowledgement and appreciation. I mean, you have a 580-rated player giving you advice. And a player who has achieved 486 in a few weeks on the site. If you go into an experience convinced you did everything perfectly, and are not interested in considering other viewpoints, then, well, I'll see you in a few months when you're still at 530 and I am at 600.

[FrankJones]

I would've stalled the shit out of that gen as UNMI. Having the power to end with a win is crucial but I wouldn't just risk it. Even if another gen is most probably more advantageous to my opponent, the chance of losing it right here and now is not worth the gamble except when my only move left is to either end it now or risk another gen. Then yes, probably end and hope.

I think the play is, stall, see what Ecoline does, and then decide. If Ecoline plays the city first, possibly making Large Convoy unaffordable that Gen (which is exactly what Ecoline did), then Ecoline cannot win. And UNMI definitely could have stalled until Ecoline passed.

[Sonid]

If you go into an experience convinced you did everything perfectly, and are not interested in considering other viewpoints, then, well, I'll see you in a few months when you're still at 530 and I am at 600.

Major insight right here! I had fun reading the analysis in this thread.

I will have to think on what is the worst city card now. I actually like corporate stronghold IF milestones are still in play. It's a cheap card that competes for two milestones at once. Pretty easy to remake the lost VP if you buddy up with a forest or two or steal a good placement bonus.

[FrankJones]

If you go into an experience convinced you did everything perfectly, and are not interested in considering other viewpoints, then, well, I'll see you in a few months when you're still at 530 and I am at 600.

Major insight right here! I had fun reading the analysis in this thread.

I will have to think on what is the worst city card now. I actually like corporate stronghold IF milestones are still in play. It's a cheap card that competes for two milestones at once. Pretty easy to remake the lost VP if you buddy up with a forest or two or steal a good placement bonus.

As with most things, it's situational. It's not often I have both in my hand, so if I really need to put down a city, I'll play either of them if need be. Either one is obviously better than a standard project city as long as I have one energy production. I find immigrant city a bit rough. The minus 1 money production might never catch up to the +3 for Cupola City, especially in a low-player count game.

Underground city is superb if you have energy to spare, which is not uncommon if you have gotten to play Mass converter, or maybe power grid as Thorgate with a lot of power tags. I once had a game as Thorgate with 31 Energy production. There is no city I would consider unplayable, which is more than I can say for everyone's beloved hate-card Underground detonations.

[FrankJones]

If you go into an experience convinced you did everything perfectly, and are not interested in considering other viewpoints, then, well, I'll see you in a few months when you're still at 530 and I am at 600.

Major insight right here! I had fun reading the analysis in this thread.

I will have to think on what is the worst city card now. I actually like corporate stronghold IF milestones are still in play. It's a cheap card that competes for two milestones at once. Pretty easy to remake the lost VP if you buddy up with a forest or two or steal a good placement bonus.

I really feel as though I learn a lot from analyzing games, and I love that the games on BGA are open information for study.

[RoyalRook]

I figure it out!!!!! Thanks for all the posts, I just need some perspective so I can think differently.

So my problem wasn't that I didn't go to the right path. The problem was actually I didn't go all out like I usually do b/c I didn't have enough tempo, I didn't have enough tempo b/c I didn't have enough cash, even as Credicor.

Where do I get more cash? Loan!!!! I should have taken Loan, Biofuels and yes Cupla. See? You guys were right about Cupla.

This is how the line should have went: Arctic Algae, SP Ocean to the 2 Cards bonus; Sp Ocean 2 plants Eastern Edge, Convert Greenery to get 4MC and a steel(depending on the 2 new cards of course); Cupla next to the 2plant ocean and go from there. From this point I perhaps just take all the oxy points and neutralize Ecoline's NRA. This will also gave me a shot at Terraformer perhaps with the extra cash.

How would you play the line with Loan? And/or what would you take as the other prelude partnering with Loan?

PS I just watched the replay for the first time, I didn't even saw ecoline draw Large Convoy and NRA and didn't sp ocean convert on gen1. I don't know what happened, that's not how I usually play at all, I am far more aggressive and observant than this lolz. This is what happens when you play 40+ games at the same time while doing a huge 2p tournament. No wonder I lost this one, I must have confused this one with another game while playing and forgot to check space agency draw and that I have arctic algae.

[PotatOS]

Hi Rook,

Thanks for posting a game for review. I think reviewing games with high rated players is instructive for everyone!

I will let you know my blind thoughts as I look through the game.

Opening Hand
Notes before seeing your pick:

Credicor is an easy pick over Inventrix.

Apart from a strong corp, your opening hand is not great - especially the preludes. You cannot play engine with this hand - you need to Terraform. You have good oxygen track control (Arctic + possibly Ore Processor), but no heat control. I would strongly consider GHG for heat control.

You are playing against a (very) high rated, and a low rated player. This means attack cards against the strong player are viable for you. I would pick Sabo and hit kojpratozaur immediately.
Also, against high rated players expect attack cards in gen 1 (Tapping, AMC, plant hate).

Preludes: Galilean slows you down too much and you have no titanium targets. AMC potential makes it too high risk Stay away from it. The rest are debatable.

You don’t have any safe conversion lines, so I would not rely on early plants.

Line1 (Ore Processor) - VERY vulnerable to energy tapping:
Credicor with Biofuels + Martian.
Cards: Ore, Artificial, Sabo, AA, GHG, Viral, Greenhouses
Gen 1 play Sabo on high rated player + AA + Artificial. Pass. Gen 2 you have Ore online.
Game plan: Look for heat control / events. Consider Terraformer / Gardner / Builder lines
Since you go first gen1 this line lets you float 3 plants for a long time gen2. These plants are likely gone by gen 2.
You want a rush game. Your potential fall lines are if the game opens with 2 engine players who stall the game to 10+, or if the game opens with two corps that rush and score more efficiently than you. Not many corps can outrush Credicor, except ecocline and a few others in optimal scenarios. This line protects against Ecocline by stealing oxygen track points. But if you are hit by tapping your game is basically over.

Line2 (Cupola) - Safe line
Credicor with Loan + Martian
Cards: Cupola, Sabo, AA, Viral, Greenhouses, GHG. Leaving you with 75 mc for a full tempo rush hand
This line is safer, since you start and can avoid tapping. You are also not floating plants. This sets you up to SP greeneries with your loan cash to get gardner - a critical award in a rush game.
Gen1.
1. Cupola, preferably on east spot. Then play AA or Sabo if opponent preludes make you worried for plant hate.
2. AA/Sabo + SP two greenereis next to your City. Assume someone put an ocean on 2x cards spot, you can then SP next to this ocean. If you feel gardner is safe you can choose to only SP 1 greenery and save cash for potential big events in draft.

This line is safe and sets you up with 1mc prod, 2 TR and strong ground control. Gardner is guaranteed for you next gen. You are close to getting GHG on with viral for heat control. You can then work towards Terraformer or potentially builder if the draft draw aligns with that.

I would pick Line2. Loan is typically considered bad by higher rated (2p) players. But in a 3p rush game aiming for gen 8 it’s very potent in my experience. I often pick it if the other preludes are poor and we need to rush, like in this scenario.

Your pick
Biofuels + Martian without ore processor feels directionless. I would only pick these preludes if you idea was to setup an ore processor or use the energy for Cupola. Now you are just floating energy prod and plants with no immediate plan.

Game start.
You see both opponents are TR corps. This will be a TR fight going to gen 7/8 possibly gen 9 latest. If you had set up an ore processor, you would hurt ecoclines oxygen TR a good bit. If you picked the cupola/loan line you could SP greens to steal gardner from Ecoline and deny oxygen track points. Both of these lines would have decently for the game state we are in.

Ecoline got NRA / Large convoy from ASA. You are in trouble! No-one has good early heat control, game could possibly go to gen 9.

You get punished for floating plants and now you are down in tempo in a full rush game against ecocline + UMNI. Very vulnerable position.

With sabotage you could have eaten 9mc off ecocline through titanium steal.

Drafts:
Drafting Industrial center with no cities played against UMNI and Ecoline Is very questionable.
Letting ants go through over lava city with your GHG coming up is extremely risky. Ants can completely shut down your GHG, and lava city is not a threat at all.

Gen 3
You could have sp’ed green to gardner, but you sp’ed oceans to kelp and secured gardner. This cost a lot of tempo. If the goal was to steal Gardner just sp greeneries, as you are Credicor and it’s way more efficient. If the goal was to get Kelp on, then this happened too late to be worth it.

Later:
Option: Don’t play local heat trapping and consider risky thermalist fund. Otherwise landlord is too easy for eco

Overall
A tough game with some interesting decisions. I think the game mostly came down to the early draft decision. Ecoline played very well, and with the position you were in at the start, winning the game was going to be very unlikely.

Notes for improvement

• Reconsider the value of loan in a rush 3p game.
  
  Reconsider the risk of floating early plants against high rated players.
  
  Reconsider the value of Sabo in a high vs high vs low rated matchup. The missed 9mc hit to Ecoline would have prevented Ecoline from affording early Archaebacteria + buying Earth Office on rewatch.
  
  Reconsider the value of sp’ing for Kelp. A lategame kelp is not worth it, when the oxygen track is mostly maxed out. Rather with creditor I would prefer sp’ing greens. But you did not have Cupola to support it, so a tough position.
  
  Important one: I think you are playing too many turn based game simultaneously. When I go over 30 games the pressure to keep up will make you do careless plays. I prefer to stay at max 15-20 to be able to focus and have time to analyse deep lines, when necessary. I have observed this in our games too. Sometimes you swoop in to a turn based table and make a move in 3 seconds. For turn based play, you could use some extra time to play more precise. If the goal is Elo / Arena points, this is definitely worth it. I have also observed you perform complicated lines and evaluations, so I know you are more than capable of it

[bwalsh96]

I agree with Beans and Potatos. The sabotage comment was one of the first things I noticed. You just needed to pick a direction. Seems like you were just waiting for better cards vs playing what you had.

[RoyalRook]

Thank you so much for the reply, I skim over it but will read it again. I was fine until I signed up for this huge swiss tournament AND another 2p tournament. So my queue jammed up with 15+ 2p games at the same time. I was able to win stage 1 of the swiss no problem(14 straight wins), but then stage 2 I have to play 500 to 700s like LeHunter and Jess, that's when I just got too distracted. But yeah, I was just trying to hit my k factor, I will be more focused and not to play 2p tempo on 3ps.

Regarding to Sabo, it's really interesting. All the old steam concept of never take Sabo in 3p are wrong. In my lone 3p arena game with Kulikk, Sabo won me the game while playing carelessly again. The saving grace is I held Sabo forever till the very end instead of playing early to ice the game. So it's really interesting. I think I should definitely held on to Sabo and play on Ecoline at the start of the game whether it's high ranked opponent or not, especially after taken Loan, I wouldn't feel the initial self harm at all.

Yeah I use less than 3 seconds to play on turn based b/c my work schedule is crazy. It's a miracle that I get to play at all. But I am high frequency, so that's just how I function at work as well.

[FrankJones]

Excellent analysis by Potatoes.

Even in a 3-player game, I am keeping Sabotage, and perhaps saving it for a moment when it looks like it can do some real damage (Maybe prevent a player from claiming a ML that I can also claim but that player has turn priority.

It is worth noting that in this game, auto-defaulting to attacking ecoline because UNMI was low-rated might not have been optimal; UNMI nearly won the game, and in my opinion, would have won the game by single-move actioning during gen 8.

I thought UNMI played reasonably well. Are we sure that's a 200-rated player? Maybe it's a player who hasn't played a lot of games and is just "on the way up" to his or her natural rating.

EDIT - never mind; UNMI has played hundreds of games. Well, tip of the hat to UNMI for hanging tough with two players rated 5000+ and 600+.