On January 18 2015 06:25 Trfel wrote:The way that LightningStrike played the start of this game still feels really weird to me. His thoughts seemed to be all over the place and his posting was somewhat random (particularly asking for rsoultin). However, since then he seems to have gained confidence and seems more towny. Especially after glancing through the scumgame he linked (yes I'm aware I played in that game, I wanted to look at it again anyway).
LoneMeow seems very strange to me. At first I liked his questioning, and I still do, but all he has done is pick on people for small things. The one read he provided was at the request of GlowingBear. I know that LoneMeow is a very good player, and provides a lot of content without using a large number of posts, so I will wait for now.... but I am a bit suspicious.
I don't see why coolTLname is being scumread right now. He hasn't done very much, but I like the catch on Damdred's scumread of The Shining. I also like the analysis of jarjarbinks. However, coolTLname, while post count and mafia are related, there are many other more important tells. For example, TheWarWaffle made maybe about 6 posts in all of Day 1 last game, and he was town. Meanwhile, Half the Sky made many posts, and she was scum. The main point against coolTLname is how he waited for GlowingBear to vote The Shining before he voted. However, assuming that coolTLname really is new to TL, this makes sense, since it is reasonable for a new player to wait and see how the veterans react to things they bring up. I know that I did this in my first game of TL mafia, and still do sometimes (I wait to see how the first few people react to my case before I vote, in case there is an obvious hole that I missed; perhaps as I improve more and become more confident I will vote without waiting for responses first). That doesn't mean that new players aren't expected to stand by their reads, but it is reasonable for them to look to veterans for leadership at times. (he was modkilled, but I will leave this paragraph in here anyway just because)
I generally like the way that Damdred and GlowingBear have been playing so far. Their analysis shows that they are reading the thread and trying to scumhunt, as well as generating discussion. I did notice that GlowingBear provided a lot of comments on posts in the thread, and I liked those. However, he also provided overall reads, but didn't show why he made those reads (they also didn't necessarily align with the comments he provided). The recent vote on Breshke is a continuation of this. However, I'm sure either of them could play a very capable scum game as well. Not a good Day 1 lynch.
DarthPunk is coming up null. I have been waiting for more posts from him to provide more thoughts, but since he hasn't posted in a while, I will share my thoughts now. I do like that he picked up on LightingStrike's weird play at the start of the game. That was the same feeling that I got. However, he hasn't done very much at all except for saying that my opening made it seem that I am town. My opening doesn't really say anything about my alignment for reasons previously stated by geript, however the way I followed it up is more important (more on this later). For the record, several of you seem to be familiar with DarthPunk's playstyle, and I am completely unfamiliar with it, so that doesn't help.
Geript's first post seemed a bit towny, and his second post seemed a bit scummy (it seemed like a poor use of a post when you are limiting yourself to ten). That's one fewer post to use to push a lynch later. Overall, geript seems fine for now, and is probably a poor Day 1 lynch.
Rsoultin and jarjar, you two need to talk so that jarjar feels comfortable with Day 1. That aside, while jarjar's opening post is pretty horrible, he has given some useful thoughts since then. As for rsoultin, I feel that her play lines up exactly with (my knowledge of) her town meta. I also liked the questioning that she used with regards to my opening. Still, I take note that jarjar said that she is capable of doing this as either alignment. One thing I did find really strange is that rsoultin provided her thoughts using a Damdred quote. I have no idea why she would do this except to compare opinions, but she didn't provide any thoughts on Damdred (I know their thoughts on other players were side by side, but still), and it gave the impression that her reads were less independent.
I do need to clarify that based on how last game (Newbie Mafia) went and my postgame discussions with GlowingBear, I have been trying a slightly different playstyle this game. My opening attempted to generate discussion, and a relatively large number of posts were made about it (the quality of the discussion it generated is more questionable, so perhaps it didn't work out as I intended). The reason I pushed that (false) viewpoint was because I wanted to get as much discussion from it as possible, which I believe I did. As for providing less content per post than in previous games, this is a conscious change I made after seeing how last game went. Brief summary of my play in last game: there wasn't much discussion on the first day, and I was busy, so I didn't share many thoughts or put in the effort that I wanted, and then I died. My death provided absolutely nothing for town to work with, since I hadn't shared any thoughts as they were not anywhere near conclusive. This game I am trying to share my thoughts more frequently to prevent something like that from happening again. The downside is that my posts will not contain as much quality content as I would like, but I believe that I have provided enough content. Everything I say is there for a reason (in the case of the coolTLname paragraph, the reason is because I don't want to delete it; not always the best reason, but whatever).
With that in mind, I will answer geript's question.
On January 17 2015 16:37 geript wrote:
3. @Trfel. Which, if any, of my reads do you disagree with and why? Additionally, are there any players or points that you think I've noticeably missed in my analysis?
I (obviously) disagree with your read on me. I was intentionally being stubborn to argue with rsoultin and generate discussion, which (as I already stated) I think I was somewhat successful in.
I was not so sure about your townread on LightningStrike at the time you made the post in question, but given some rereading and his posting since then, it seems reasonable. Rsoultin's play does seem towny so far, but he hasn't done anything that I couldn't see him doing as scum. I don't think that jarjar is a good lynch, however the reasons for that are mostly due to posts he made after you posted the read.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.