Round 2... Brawl! (Elagatua vs gh_st)

Replay link: drive.google.com/file/d/1mH0S...
0:00 Intro
1:05 Map discussion begins
2:20 Base reinforcement pathing
7:02 Pipeseams
9:48 Giving away information
11:19 Asymmetric capture sequences
13:35 Airports and ports
15:54 Contestable properties
20:37 Tier 3 COs
22:25 Kindle benefits from the terrain layout
26:35 Drake vs Kindle strategic considerations
27:55 How to value Urban Blight's economic damage
31:00 Replay begins
37:34 Tangent - Opener meta discussion
40:08 Back to the replay
53:10 Tangent - Army positioning is critical
55:16 Tangent - The main point
58:36 Brawling starts
1:12:08 Very technical turn
1:19:20 Decisive turn
1:25:50 CO powers online
1:29:50 Nope nope nope
1:33:00 Cleanup
1:37:05 The tech arrives
1:39:45 Full vision runthrough

[@DeejusProductions]

Note to self, win/lose tourney games slower so I can view these vids before babooning my openings

[@Rocky712_]

Those detailed map explanations are really helpful. Sure, each map is different, but a lot of those concepts will help me and others to easier identify how to plan - and a good plan is always important to set yourself up to a good game.

[@JamyJamal]

Great video and breakdown of your strategy. I dont think i will ever play AWBW competitively, but i really do enjoying getting to the mind of a great player!

[@ggh_st]

Look mom I'm famous! Sorry the game took so long to start, real life happened. Don't think I can bring myself to watch this one, but hopefully the people can learn from my many mistakes.

[@Elagatua]

no worries, i've been on a months long hiatus from GL because real life has been busy as well. this map is pretty technical and i try to avoid criticizing my opponents in my videos as a general rule, but i also know it is frustrating to look back at games where i haven't played very well

[@OperationMechstorm]

Great analysis Elagatua! Finally listened through it all! I definitely think Drake's role in the matchup should be more to realize the mid property is lost as soon as any interrupts happen, and just pull back and ball up and let army values amass, using his own diagonal and indirects on his side's contesteds to force Kindle to overextend instead if she wants the game to end before army values get too high. I was very shocked at how deep Drake was going in all this, it felt like Kindle having her cake and eating it too 😆 One thing I'd like to expound on at 1:29:38 - You say that tech units should be bought from the fastest base to the front, but that's not necessarily true. In this instance it is fine since you bought a Md and infantry from the other base, and the inf reinforce the same speed from either base - so you lost nothing putting the tech on the faster base. What can come up (especially more in HF) is a turn where you'd be buying a Md and a tank, and in that case the real question to ask is "Will my Md be any slower to support if bought from the slower base?".(It can also matter if bases are not on the same diagonal, and so a bought Md from a forward base steals one or more movement from an inf on the backward base). In this game, the Md actually only needs 4 squares of movement on day 17 to cover your diagonal, and so working backward it means you could have afforded to buy the Md on the base that is 1 square slower. Now obviously TANKS need every square they can get to reach that diagonal (that's how it's defined), so in a hypothetical turn where you want to buy both a Md and a tank, the correct placement would be tank on fast base, Md on slow base (assuming you do not want to start pushing out to an even further diagonal anyway).

[@Elagatua]

re: tech unit buys, you're right that it's a generalization, true mastery is knowing when to try and break the rules!

[@pawnquacker]

Great analysis! The emphasis on the diagonal was really instructive.

[@Pm3m_Dia]

Busting the horizontal pipeseam can be beneficial in terms of hitting it with tanks (built from center base and move 5 tiles) over time instead of using an artillery. Still propably not worth doing but could be done.

[@Elagatua]

yeah that's true, although my point of view would be that if you are building 2 or more tanks per turn, it's a bit late to be slowly chipping away at the pipeseam.

[@younes530]

Nice

[@inversepie6512]

First! I love you.

[@Yearofthebows24]

I think the pipe seams are a trap. If you continually pump out infantry from the middle base and use the other two for vehicles, they get to the front lines faster and provide more pressure. If you have a need to destroy the seams, just wait until you get a bomber and one shot it (unless youre drake) with the com tower boost. I just finished my Smacky game on this map and my opponent wasted valuable turns hitting the seam. I had much more pressure and traps with my forward artillery. There is no need to force the seam open early; you lose too much map control

[@Eternalwarpuppy]

Was there any merit to using High Society on day 13? It looked like the extra attack power could have made a difference in a lot of engagements and done game ending damage right there.

[@Elagatua]

in this situation, the amount of extra damage i would get from a super wouldn't be worth the cost of not having the COP up the following turn. because as long as the COP is available, drake has to be extremely careful in his positioning around cities. additionally, if i wanted to take a bigger engagement, i would have needed to cross the reinforcement diagonal with more units, which would have strengthened drake's counterattack with his super the following turn. so in this case, the COP was a stronger move, though kindle's SCOP can be completely insane on certain maps (stalingrad comes to mind immediately)

[@inversepie6512]

How did you decide to buil the Md tank when you did?

[@Elagatua]

Turn after the SCOP, if you watch my deploys carefully you will notice that i saved a decent chunk of funds so that i could tech and repair stuff without hurting my tempo too much