The U in the Lab: Domination on the Moon

Fellow Pilots,

I'm not quite ready with the tanking solution post mentioned in yesterday's article about War Robots being in a Nash Equilibrium.  Instead, I've got a one game video and "lecture" for you.  We'll call this series "In The Lab," and we'll use the laboratory for dissecting things one game at a time.

Here's the game, recorded in 4K for your viewing pleasure:

I started in a Kumiho to grab beacons, but got killed very quickly after barrages of Orkans and finally Hydras.  Then, I selected a Lancelot with Ancile and Scourges.  While my team took over the territory, I absorbed damage and got two beacons.  I took only a few shots, mostly making sure that the blue team owned the territory.  This robot survived well over five minutes.  The three takeaways:

1. Don't do things that don't need doing!  It's often smarter to sit tight than to attack.  Give the battle some time to develop and change before you go charging at the enemy.  You can make better decisions if you give yourself some time.  As a glaring example that I didn't comment on, at 4:06 a Trebuchet Butch from the red team walked all the way through center into the blue team.  I have NO idea why.  
2. Avoid trading robots in 1 vs 1 gunfights.  At about 5:35, an Orkan Griffin stands still under CHARLIE in order to fight my Lancelot mano a mano.  It's just bad game play to give up a robot to take one of your opponents' robots.  You don't have enough chess pieces to win by giving them away.  Same thing around 4:45; moving to the side to take cover, even giving up a beacon, is a better play.
3. Remember how long battles last.  A three-two beacon game result in seven minute battles.  This one is a classic example.  If you are behind on the beacon bar, you have to play faster.  If you are ahead, as I was in this game, the clock is your friend.  See rule #1 above!

I'm interested to see what fellow pilots think of this battle and the above, so comment away!  See you Monday.

Your humble servant,

Dr. Yat


Faculty Notes

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