krazyhades – Page 7 – GameAnalysis.net

[D3] Quin69 analyzes the area damage weapon property in Diablo 3

YouTuber Quin69 goes into the mechanics of the "area damage" weapon property. The initial overview of the rules of area damage functionality is followed with a powerfully convincing mathematical calculation to demonstrate its efficacy relative to other DPS properties. I found the entire video both entertaining and enlightening despite not being a D3 player. I think you will enjoy it too.

[EU4] Reman on the Secretly-OP Caddo Tribe

Europa Universalis IV YouTuber Reman's Paradox (inspired by this Reddit post) shares how the Caddo native tribe has incredible potential. The technique involves abusing game mechanics and events to allow the player to use one native government type with a separate native religion type that were never intended to be accessible simultaneously.

[AoE2] Key commentary selections from EGM Grand Finals Game 1

I previously posted the games of TheViper vs Daut in the Age of Empires 2 Escape Gaming Masters grand finals. Here I've pulled out some key moments in the coverage of game 1.

Right off the bat TheViper makes a grievous error with the placement of his initial lumber camp. The camp is badly blocked in by trees, causing a bottleneck of wood-delivering villagers at the small accessible portion. TheViper in effect has fewer villagers than he should, due to the accrued idle time. It does not take long for the difference to make itself felt, as he is left without the option of placing down a Dark Age rush ("drush") timing barracks:

[Angband] Ingwe Ingweron uses a mountain climbing analogy to show why slower does not mean safer

Angband is a classic permadeath roguelike game in which the player character delves through the depths of a randomly generated dungeon, facing (or fleeing) monsters, gathering loot, and ultimately preparing to fight Morgoth, Lord of Darkness on the 100th floor. The further one descends, the more dangerous the floors become.

Fearing character loss, players may be inclined to progress slowly and cautiously, gradually building up before descending further. Forum member Ingwe Ingweron crafted an insightful response (quoted here in full) to another forum member explaining how slow and cautious progression can actually be more dangerous than a fast dive, with lovely analogy to alpine vs. siege mountain climbing risk reduction strategies. Continue reading

[LoL] RheingoldRiver’s “How to Theorycraft Effectively”

RheingoldRiver’s How to Theorycraft Effectively provides excellent guidance for analysts and theorists, with well-put general advice supported by specific suggestions for effectively gaining insight using a spreadsheet tool. I strongly recommend reading her post in full, as she goes into the specifics of constructing an effective question and the spreadsheet targeted at answering it. At the highest level, the steps she goes into are:

Choose a good question
Decide what stats you need to answer the question
Figure out what intermediate values you need, and calculate them
Make your formulas universal enough that you can autofill EVERYTHING!
Decide how you want to present the final data, and fill in that formula
Make sure everything is correct
Duplicate your chart with other starting values
Make gameplay decisions based on your numbers

[AoE2] EGM Grand Final – TheViper vs Daut

Commentators ZeroEmpires and T90Official provide coverage of an Age of Empires 2 grand finals between players TheViper and Daut. I will in another post revisit some of the key commentary moments, but for now: enjoy!

Game 1:

[Meta] Stronger players win by making fewer blunders, not by gradual outplay

Chess grandmaster Ben Finegold makes an excellent point about how stronger players defeats weaker ones. The idea holds water beyond chess.

It's not (generally) that the stronger player gradually accrues advantage until it becomes overwhelming. Instead, the situation is much more binary: the weaker player does okay right up until they make a blunder for the strong player to exploit. Suddenly, a close game becomes one-sided.

[HoMM3] TheKnownWorld on Using Multiple Heroes

Heroes of Might and Magic III YouTuber and Twitch streamer TheKnownWorld presents a short and sweet argument for using multiple heroes, backed up by clear comparisons and helpful tips.

One especially hard-hitting point in the video is the day 3 treasury comparison between the single- and multi-hero examples: even though hiring extra heroes costs 2,500 gold apiece, the faster rate of exploration and access to more loose resource piles means that the multi-hero approach largely pays for itself.

[AoE2] Losing map control forces painful investment into towers

Here we have an Age of Empires 2: Rise of the Rajas match between top-tier players TheViper and Dogao, with commentary by ZeroEmpires and EscapeAoE. A few key moments in the commentary stood out.

Suffering from economic raiding, TheViper identifies cost-effective spots for watchtower placement. One tower in particular stands out as being in range to protecting three different resource patches, apparently netting good value from the wood and stone invested in the structure:

Unfortunately for TheViper, Dogao's harassment is able to continue due to a vulnerable angle and an exposed second wood patch. TheViper is forced to invest in more defensive watchtowers on a small tree cluster that will be quickly exhausted. Down the line, the opportunity cost of constructing those towers will hurt, as villagers mining stone for towers are not gathering food or gold for teching up:

[Mathcrafting] “On probability math, and how we can apply those skills and formulas to make more informed decisions.”

Redditor drawingdead0 wrote the following post on using the online Hypergeometric Calculator tool to make useful approximations of random chance to inform decisionmaking. The online hypergeometric calculator’s use translates readily to other games with random elements.
Continue reading “[Mathcrafting] “On probability math, and how we can apply those skills and formulas to make more informed decisions.””