EPTNOTE: There isn't really an overarching point or argument to this post. I am just describing some changes in strategy.
A good example from Starcraft II of what I am talking about should be the SlayerS team use of the blue flame hellion at MLG Anaheim.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/bCBow.jpg)
+ ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/w6i5f.png)
Shifts in strategy happen all the time at different levels and on different servers. But this change was different because it wasn't brought on by any recent balance changes. It was pure innovation.
So now that everybody knows what we are talking about, I am going to explore some similar changes I recorded in the game I made for the positional game design post.
The instructions from the old post:
+ Show Spoiler +
To explore what kind of effect secondary military objectives have on games, I made a simple game that can be played on a chess board. Here are the rules:
1s can move 1 space
2s can move 2 spaces
3s can move 3 spaces etc.
Green spaces upgrade from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, etc.
Each upgrade space can be only used once per peice.
To take a peice, move into it.
The game is lost when all peices are gone
When the game was first played, it was mainly me playing with my immediate family. The standard strategy is something I like to call Power Style. With power style, you try to level up a single piece as fast as possible.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ylb9o.png)
An example of two people playing Power Style
Some small variations on Power Style came about after a few plays. It was noticed that the white player could make a dash horizontally after getting a 2, and try to get a 3 from black's side. A second piece was also often brought up by each player after the three was gotten, to break the deadlock.
The next major strategy to the game is called "Bring 4". This came about at Thanksgiving, when a lot of my extended family also played the game. The idea was to bring a lot of 1s into the center of the board, and then use them to protect each other while leveling up. This clashed with the previously dominant power style, and made for some epic games.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fEiOw.png)
Bring 4 clashing with Bring 1 AKA Power Style
At first it seemed as though Power Style would stay on top, because even a small mistake by the Bring 4 player could result in a total loss. But as players got more comfortable with the game, less mistakes were made, and eventually power style died out. Bring 4 eventually evolved into Bring 3, but they are very similar.
Bring 3 stayed dominant for a long time. But it was briefly challenged by what I call Swarm Style. In Swarm Style AKA Bring 8, a player moves all 8 of their pieces forward. While very scary, the key to beating this style is to cut it off at the corners before it reaches the 3rd and 4th row. But by playing traditional Bring 3, a player can't move fast enough to cut off the corners before the swarm gets out of control. To solve this problem, players started leaving behind 1 of their pieces, and transitioning into a Bring 2 when it was clear the opponent was going for Swarm Style. I like to think of swarm style as a cheese. It can catch an unsuspecting opponent off guard, but if you have seen it before, its not a threat.
The most recent strategy came about yesterday from jampidampi. I like it call it the side poke. It prioritizes getting a two on each side of the board as fast as possible. If a player is doing a bring 3, and does not realize the threat, they can lose control of their far upgrade spot. After controlling the side spot, the poking player can continue to move pieces to their side. The side poking player will then have control of 3 spots, and the bring 3 player will be trapped with 1.
If you want to play the game, you can play on a chess board using pawns as 1s, horses, as 2s, bishops as 3s, queens as 4s, and kings as 5s. You can also play the online at http://www.firecaster.com/joelgame.html , though you will probably need to bring a friend to play against considering there are not many people online.
