Thought Process – Two plays with seemingly minor differences? Here’s how I decide.

Hello, I’m a Draconis 8 player, I play under the name DanTheMeek, and at the time that I’m typing this article, I’m currently ranked number 1 life time (granted the games only been available for like 3 weeks) on the elo leader boards.  I was requested to write an article for the site, so I’ve decided to give you all a little peek into my thought process on a given turn in the game, and hopefully, in doing so, illustrate the importance of the little things a beginner player might not consider.  To that end, please observe the following game state I found myself in a week or so ago:

This is turn 2, on turn 1 my 7 speed enforced won the speed battle for a point, and took one of the high grounds (since I saw that their card’s highest side was 39, I took the 28 high ground knowing doing so would prevent them from getting high ground).  They responded in a reasonable fashion, attacking the side of the territory for a point that would also allow their range to score a second point off my enforced’s unprotected side.  For turn 2 I picked a 13 speed fear, who defeated their 1 speed fear in speed, and now I’m tasked with where to play.

I’d request that you stop for a moment and ask yourself, where would YOU play in this scenario?  I think most people would be inclined to attack the range champion directly, other wise your fear is wasted, and you can’t get High ground regardless, but beyond that, HOW would you attack the ranged unit?

Some of you might not think about this too hard, your getting a net +3 point advantage either way, so you’d just pick a side and go with it, and if so, that’s fine, but in my opinion your missing a big part of the beauty of Draconis 8.  For those who did, and would think about it, though, it wouldn’t surprise me if a number of you chose this position:

There’s a lot to like about this position.  It covers up the weak side of both the enforced unit, and one of the weak sides of the fear unit.  In the heat of the moment of a Real Time battle, I can’t say I might not make the same choice.  But given the time to think (which I had in this particular game, here’s the choice I would (and did) make:

Why?  On the surface doesn’t it look weaker?  I left two exposed 6s, an exposed 4, and got the same total score.  But lets dig deeper.

First, lets talk about our exposed weak sides.  Not all exposed sides are created equal.  While its true I’ve exposed a 6 I wouldn’t have in the other position, this extra 6 is in the direction their range now “covers”.  This means that if they want to attack that 6, they have to sacrifice that potential range point.

Next, lets talk about what their exposed weak sides.  Before their weakest side was a 17, now its a 6, and its a 6 in a spot I might want to play to anyway, to cover my enforced later on.  Maybe they beat me to it, and cover it up, but its still a larger weak point they have to defend, and one that can’t be pushed into an edge to hide later.

Speaking of edges, its now in my interest to push the game to the right, there by “killing” both their 39 side, and their two range points.  Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, but its a new vulnerability I’ve created and may be able to exploit.

Lets also consider confuse.  From the first position, a confuse on the bottom exposed 6 of my vampire also lets them flip around my water elemental, negating my high ground and creating a 3 point swing.  Such vulnerability does not exist with position 2.

And confuse isn’t our only concern, in the first position a stomp an easily score 3 points against me, pushing the vampire into the range point, and that’s arguably  only happening if they misplay.  Far worse still is if they push my water elemental to the right and take the high ground while still beating both of my 6 and 4 with their other two weaker side resulting in a potential 6 point swing (2 against me, 2 from high ground, -2 to my elemental).  Even if they can’t take the high ground, they can still get potentially a 4 point swing this way.  From the top though, the best a stomp can do is two points.  Maybe they still get 4 from stomping the elemental and taking the high ground, but its less devastating of  single play then the 6 they other wise might have gotten.

There’s also value in attacking for 20 against that top high ground, making it harder for them to get a 2 or  3 point play in the future by going there.

But there’s one more thing to consider I haven’t even mentioned yet.  Because I’m going first, I see what my opponent has.  His highest point play, in either position, is to attack the elemental from below, allowing him to put the enforced side  against the high ground, and attack the  4 with whatever side he chooses.  It’s a 3 point swing in his favor, and regardless of position, he can’t get more then 2 against the vampire.  If he does go for the elemental from the second position, however, he creates a 4 card column, and in so doing, pushes my 6 off the board, meaning I have the same number of exposed 6’s either way, only in position 2 that exposed 6 is in a place he doesn’t want to go (covering up his range) and might not ever get to if I can seal that side as an edge as well.

Also of note, that fear card of his has 4 pretty strong sides, all of which are still in play in position 1, but in position 2, at least one of those sides is getting pushed off the edge (assuming he goes for the 3 point play).

Everything above, its all just a lot of little things.  But when you put it all together, in my estimation, it makes position two the better play, despite in the moment generating the same points, and on quick glance being the worse play.  For the record, I did end up winning this game, but even if I hadn’t, I’d still argue for position 2 as being the best play given everything I knew at that moment.

I hope you enjoyed this brief snap shot of my thought process, or at least gained a greater appreciation for the level of depth and consideration that Draconis provides with each and every turn, if your interested in exploring it.  If these kind of articles are of interest to you, please let me know (I’m frequently on the Draconis 8 discord), and perhaps I’ll create more in the future.  Regardless though, thank you for time.  If your already in the Draconis 8 beta, I hope your having as much of a blast as I am, and if your not, I hope you’ll consider checking it out, its truly a fantastically designed game.  A near perfect example of easy to learn, hard to master, and a breath of fresh air in a sea of games that kind all feel kind of similar.