Tribe Theseus

[Undercover Monk]

Members:
1. Chaz
2. bgg1996
3. Wordcross
4. jbvntx
5. Zag

treemail:

your journey starts today
but if you want to stay
you will have to work together
and make the right play

dont try and go it alone
watch the moves others have shown
and drive your opponents into a corner
or you may be going home
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The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[wordcross]

So I've never done one of these games before, and I'm only marginally familiar with survivor...

Is the poem supposed to be a riddle? I sounds like it is. Just based on surface meaning I might hazard that the second half refers to TRON? I'm not sure about the "go it alone" part, but the rest sure could fit.

of course, my first inclination when I read "don't try and go it alone" was the famous "It's dangerous to go alone, take this" line from Legend of Zelda.

Other thoughts or enlightenments?
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[Zag]

I got less than that, I'm afraid.

UM did say, in the main thread, "The first team challenge will be posted tomorrow morning." However, this post was posted only minutes after that one. Possibly it isn't the challenge, but just some flavor text?

However, the "watch the movies" comment makes me think otherwise. Possibly it is a hint to look at something in the "youtube" thread or maybe the "Name the Movie" thread.

[wordcross]

I see watch the "moves" not "movies". Did I miss something?
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[Zag]

LOL. Dyslexics of the world untie!

[Zag]

So, it is the game Isolation, which I assume means this: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1875/isolation

Assuming that's correct, here's a (depressing, for us) strategy analysis.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/309973/isolation-a-little-too-simple

[wordcross]

That is a bit depressing. I'll have to look at UM's board when I get home. I can't access it for some reason here at work.

I'll take a look at some more strategy when i can see the board. There must be a way to make an island with an odd number of squares, which would put us ahead. Or, if the other team isn't paying attention we could do separate islands and make ours bigger. We'll just have to be very careful about it.
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[Undercover Monk]

as to your concerns over possible inactives i will try to contact Chaz on facebook but i doubt there will be replacements available however it will make an easy target or votes. good luck i think the link is now fixed
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The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[Zag]

Assuming the rules are like the game that I linked to, then the blacked-out cell is, I think, only the one that you are leaving. With multiple pawns on a side, this makes the game quite different. The strategy should be that we pick one player and carve out for him a nice big area. Then the rest of the players try to squash the areas of the opponents. One opponents are isolated, it just becomes a game of which team has a player in the biggest area.

Assuming we agree, then it should be one of our players on the edge who gets an area carved out for him. Since the choices are Chaz and me, I guess it should be me. Once he is isolated, he should not move until everyone else on the team has been trapped. Then, hopefully, the area carved out for him will be bigger than the area(s) carved out for the opponents. I suspect that 5 spaces will be plenty, probably 4 is enough. So I was thinking that I will move out to E7 and then just run along the 7 column as far as I can. If Amb is asleep, I'll get it all. Then you guys go and chew up the board as best you can, carving it as small as possible.

Another approach is that jbv and bgg move F7 - E7 - D6 - C5 and F4 -E3 - D2 and then try to meet in the middle, carving out a big middle space for word. I suspect that this will meet too much interference, though.

They might make the mistake of thinking that they are supposed to take turns within the team, but the mod did not say any such thing. We might get a jump on them as they are trying to be gracious to each other.

[Undercover Monk]

you can black out any open space. you dont have to black out the space you just left.
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The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[wordcross]

Alright, in that case our strategy should be to spread out. It will be much more difficult for them to pin us down in multiple locations as compared to if we were bunched together.

and conversely, we want to keep them as bunched up as possible.

I think that, with the current rule set, we actually have the advantage by going first. we get to black out a square before they even move.

I would definitely suggest blacking out C2 or C6. My preference would be C2 since Sentran is generally more active and may want to take an active part. blacking out that spot means that Sentran cannot move upwards without being blocked off, so the team will be forced to move downward. We can keep blacking out spots down from C2 if they start at the bottom, and work out where to go depending on if they start in the middle.

As for where we should move first, I agree that our edges are a good place to start. I would put you on F7 so they can't block your moves by blacking E7.

If they respond by copying us and blacking E3, I would then put bgg at F5 so we don't bother sticking Chaz in a corner.

Any other ideas/arguments/suggestions?
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[Zag]

works for me.

[wordcross]

should we wait for bgg or jbv to post opinions? Or are you comfortable starting and letting them analyze when they have a chance?
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[Zag]

Let's wait till tomorrow, to give them a chance to chime in.

[wordcross]

works for me
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[Zag]

I just had a bad thought -- Is a simple reflection strategy enough for a win for them? They always make the reflected move from us -- if we had a move, they should, too.

Edit: I guess not, because we get to move and blacken a space each turn. We could move and then blacken the reflective move.

UM, can you move diagonally?

[wordcross]

What do you mean by diagonal? it's a hex grid, so "adjacent" I would think is fairly obvious. I'm not saying that to be a dick, I just wonder if UM would be as confused by the question as I?
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[wordcross]

Also, I had originally thought that the mirror trick would assure them a win until UM explained you could put the black-outs anywhere. If they mirrored us it would keep us from mirroring them, but it would A) put them at a disadvantage in moves and B) fall apart whenever our moves were ahead of theirs and they tried to black a space we're occupying.
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[wordcross]

I prodded bgg and jbv via pm so they know the game has started.
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Undercover Monk]

[Zag]

[bgg1996]

Has anybody played this game before?
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The one member below 18

[wordcross]

I've not played this particular game (especially not in this incarnation), but I've played games on a hex grid before. The trick is to block in anticipation to limit the number of moves they can make 3 turns from now. That's why I suggested putting a dot a row out, rather than right up next to them.

My suggestion for move this round is to put bgg on F4. That way I'm not crowding up with zag and jbv, but we limit the effectiveness of them blacking f5.

as for the black out, we can do C4. Their best move would be to get lexprod up and over to escape the possible blockade.

At best they'll get one player past our wall. we'll deal with that as we need to, and block all the rest as we go.

so, my suggestion is bgg to F4, black out C4
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[wordcross]

just as a note, we do need to be aware of their tactics. Lexprod, at the very least, is a veteran board-gamer. He's seen just about every game there is to see, and I imagine he's spearheading their efforts.
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[Zag]

[bgg1996]

I'll do that, then.
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The one member below 18

[Zag]

Well, word, you're screwed, but I think we got this.

I think that our next block should be C2. We can let Amb move to C7 because we can still block him at D7. After that, we just react to whatever move they make, blocking in D7, D2, and C2-6. I don't see that they can stop us.

We just have to make sure that bgg and I stay free and we have it won.

Either bgg goes to E4 or I go to E6, and black out C2. opinions?

[Zag]

I looked at it some more, and I think bgg should make the move. The advantage is that if they force him to choose moving into the middle or staying on the edge, he can move to the middle and then word can squeak out and take the edge. If they force me to choose, we can't count on jbvntx showing up.

So bgg, move to E4 and Block C2. Unless you have another idea you want to discuss -- I don't mean to be the bossy jerk. (Well, I do, somewhat. But I'm very apologetic about it. )

After that, all our blocks are automatic: They can't get out of the D2-C2-C3-C4-C5-C6-D7 trap.

[Zag]

Hmmm. Maybe moving to E3 would be better, since I'm pretty sure Chaz is gone for a while. Your choice.

[wordcross]

I pretty much agree (edit: with your next to the last post before mine).

Unfortunately everyone on their team seems to be posting, so we can't count on any players staying sedentary, but like you said, after we do C2 it's pretty much just reactionary on our part.

Depending on how they move, I have some ideas on quicker blockage, so don't be super eager to post moves, but I think we've more or less got this.
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[wordcross]

so yeah, my vote is for E4 block C2
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[bgg1996]

move to E4 and Block C2??
This will work?
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The one member below 18

[Zag]

Yes. It puts us here, with their turn.



Now what can they do?

[wordcross]

It bothers me that they moved amb when they did. I can't imagine what they thought that would accomplish.

If they don't move to B2 or B3, we should try to get bgg toward the gap at C3. In order to completely hem him in they'd have to hasten their own demise. That's assuming they don't blacken something that puts us at a big disadvantage.
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[wordcross]

jbv still hasn't picked up his PM. I doubt we can count on him showing up. Really, there's almost no reason to move me anywhere anyway.
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[Zag]

lol.

If they force bgg to choose center or top, then he can choose center and then next turn you can move to G5. That will force them to spend a turn blocking F4. Not that I think that there is any risk.

Good point on bgg heading for C3. Not that it matters. It's all over but the crying.

[wordcross]

I prodded chaz on facebook. Hopefully he's just been busy and didn't realize he was expected. That might give us some extra flexibility just in case.
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[jbvntx]

Hi all. I'm here now. I'll read all the posts and catch up.
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jbv

[Zag]

Cool! If we can count on you being here, then it is better for me to move than for bgg. I'll go ahead and move to E6 and block C2, unless anyone has a better option.

Edit: Meh, there isn't a better option. Sorry for being heavy-handed, but I hate the way these games drag on if people don't take the initiative. If there were any doubt that we're going to win, I'd be more inclusive.

[wordcross]

Good. If they don't go for B4 or B5, we'll head you over toward C5
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