Sillysoft Forums

[n00less cluebie]

Ok, so I brought this up HERE:

[Rhye]

Cluebie, I'm all for this idea... I had thought of doing something similar earlier as well (although not as much for newbies). I'd be willing to help you, whether it be in a major part or as just a player in these set-up games.

*support*

[kude]

Sounds like a great idea. I can only hope it'll be done in classic?

[Stelee]

what about a section on: Baden and OZ?

hehe

[gfips]

First I think thats a great idea N00!

Second mind: Mark Bauer would be the perfect contact for helping you on this (for making a professional video).

If he does not have the time to help - my third mind:
Just for "filming" the desktop (adding sound over micro is possible) for a tutorial the freeware windows software "Camstudio" might be a quite helpful "amateur" solution (just google it). You could film an offline game with 6 controlled humans explaining the individual situtions and upload these avi-files on youtube. So much for theory (i have no plan if it would really suitable work)

[Milltycoon]

I would be happy to help in whatever way I might be able to. If nothing else, I could provide a music score to the video.

[engie]

I'm happy to help.

[*Manimal]

I could easily just film and cast myself playing a classic game (or cut and edit parts of ones) live using a screen recording program, explaining and narrating all of these ideas. All you have to do to get me to do this is ensure that we have a decent classic full house!

[*Manimal]

I'll actually take this into my own hands and grab the footage of me playing and commenting games today, so come on out if you want to possibly hear me talking about you and your gameplay! I'll be shifting maps probably, but I want to get a good dose of classic, since it's slower paced and more thought based.

[n00less cluebie]

That sounds great *Mani! I think, I'd like to try to create something a little more structured as a tutorial, but a commented "Sample Game" would be awesome as well! I'm in midst of writing a script first, and when it's finished, I'll post it here for comments.

May be we'll be able to cut up sections of your game to use as examples within the tutorial as well. . . .

[n00less cluebie]

OK, here's my script for the dialogue for part one. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Fire away.

My idea is to read the script in the background, while interspersing both clips from live games like *Mani is doing and set mock-up diagrams and/or video clips of the different concepts, separated by title-cards for the different sections of the video.

edited to add: Whoops! I didn't even mention half-killing! I'll have to plop that in between asshat and suicide!

-----------------------------Begin Script-------------------------------

You’ve just purchased Sillysoft’s Award Winning Lux Deluxe, or may be you’ve had it for years and only now decided to try some online play, and are a bit intimidated about playing with people who have played this game hundreds, thousands, nay TENS of THOUSANDS of times? Have no fear! I, n00less cluebie, along with some of my fellow Luxxers will be your guide through some of the dizzying terminologies and strategies that pervade this community. Whether you were a Stats Major at College and have played Risk for decades, or whether you downloaded this by mistake while searching for Angry Birds, we’ll have you playing with Pros in no time.
What the Lux?
First, a little background: Lux is similar to Risk in many ways, but it’s understanding the few key differences that mark the difference between the pwn-ee, and the pwn-ER. Lux, like Risk is a map-based game where you move armies around the board, attacking your enemies, where battles are determined through dice-rolls. You earn new armies each turn, based upon how many territories you control, whether you own whole continents, and whether you can trade in a set of 3 cards worth bonus armies. Your turn consists of placing your armies on the map, doing your attacks, and fortifying any armies between connecting territories. But there are some unique features of Lux that you will not find on any competing product out there:
Lux is FAST: This ain’t you’re grandpa’s boardgame, where a single game might take a whole afternoon of rolling dice. Most hosts set a turn-time limit of less than 30-seconds, so prepare yourself for some adrenaline pumping action, as you’ll discover you can play ten’s of games in a single day, hundred’s a week, and before you know it, you’ll have played thousands before you can say: “Yes dear, I’ll take out the garbage in a minute; just let me finish this game.” Because of the speed of games, you’ll find yourself facing the same opponents time and again, so if you act like a Dick, you’ll find your reputation precedes you, and other players will react accordingly. This is not to say that you shouldn’t play aggressively, but if you’re rude and obnoxious to the other players, or if you constantly break your word, you’ll find yourself being targeted and eliminated by the other players in no time at all.
Lux has a dizzying number of options: Between over 900 different maps, more than 10 different AI’s, and a large number of Game settings, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. My first suggestion is that for online play, try to stick with the Classic map until you get your feet wet, and then you can try out the the other settings using the knowledge you gained in Classic. Also be aware of what the game settings are. Unlike Risk, Lux allows the bonus value of continents to grow with each turn, at a variable rate, so while at the beginning of the game, whether an opponent holds Australia with a 2-bonus army may not be such a big deal, but if it grows to a bonus of 100, well, you might need to reconsider what you’re doing; we’ll get back to this in the strategy section. And unfortunately, not every game may have 6 humans, (the so-called “Full House”) so you may be playing a game with both humans and “Bots”. It’s best to get an idea of how the different Bot-AI’s play, and important to know if your room is playing “Bots First” or not. (That is, do we eliminate the AI before we start taking on the other Humans or not?) Check with the room’s host, the rule may also be listed in the room’s description.
Lux has its own slang: pay attention to the chat window, and read what the other players are saying. This can NOT be stressed enough! Nothing says “n00b” like the player who is unresponsive in the chat. Communicating with your opponents is often an important part of the game, and you won’t be able to communicate with them if you don’t know the lingo. So let’s get you up to speed, on some Lux-centric terms
Asshat (ăs'-hăt) - v. asshatted, asshatting, asshats
v. tr.
To significantly hurt another player without significantly improving your own position.
n.
One who asshats

Unlike a game such as chess, in Lux you are playing against up to 5 other people, so a stupid move on your part, doesn’t only hurt yourself, but can also be detrimental of the majority of the other players on the board, and there are few things more frustrating than playing a flawless game and having victory in your grasp, when another player gives the game away to one of your other opponents. Don’t be an Asshat.

insertion:
Half-kill (haf-kill) – v. half-killed, half-killing, half-kills
v. tr.
To weaken a player to the point where a third player will be able to easily kill your target, thus denying you the benefit of the attack.

This can be intentional, or unintentional, or simply the result of a missed-kill. Often newbies make the error of focusing so much on claiming a continent, that they don’t realize that by doing so, they may have won the battle but lost the war, because while they were so focused on holding all of North America, they inadvertently weakened an opponent and another player will be able to run the table, and win the game. The term “Half” need not be literal. Sometimes simply eliminating a players satellite (see below) may be enough to constitute a half-kill, and sometimes, killing all of a players armies except for the damn 2 in Japan that you either forgot about, or just didn’t have enough armies to make it all the way is considered a “Half-kill” Note also that this term is often subjective, and touchy players may accuse you of half-killing them, when you actually made a strategically sound move. But basically, if you attacked a player, and someone else ended up with that players cards, there’s a good chance you committed a half-kill.


Suicide (soo-uh-sahyd) v. suicided, suiciding, suicides

v int.
To give up on winning and kill off all of ones armies. Usually done to keep someone else from winning. Sometimes known as “Flipping the Board”

This is even worse than asshating; don’t suicide.

Card (kahrd) v. carded, carding, cards
v. inr.
To make a single successful attack on a weakly defended country in order to earn a card, at the minimum cost of armies.

In many Lux games, the difference between losing and winning is being able to cash a set of cards at the right time and place; so it’s important to know how to earn a card on your turn without weakening yourself too much. Thus many times you simply want to make one successful attack, earn your card, and end your turn, waiting for the right time to strike out at your opponents. This is of prime importance when playing the CLASSIC map, and there are a few other terms that are related to Cards and Carding

Farm (fahrm) v. farmed, farming, farms
v. tr.
To card from a specific territory, in order to depopulate a continent for an opponent who has a larger concentration of armies poised to conquer it.

Ok, so here’s where we lose a lot of would-be Luxxers: ‘Wait, I’m supposed to HELP my opponents get a continent? Doesn’t that make it HARDER for me to win?’ Well, the answer lies in looking at the bigger picture. First, remember what we said about playing the same opponents and your reputation? If you’re viewed as someone who helps another player out, they may be willing to help YOU out in the future. But outside of the kind of meta-gaming, often this strategy can help you out in the same game; as you may find other opponents farming for YOU in the continents you are trying to conquer, and if your strategy is simply to card for a turn, instead of an all-out-assault over the whole map, then it really shouldn’t matter whether you card by “farming” for someone, or make your attack elsewhere. Overall, this is USUALLY a good thing to do.

Burn (burn) v. burned, burning, burns
v. tr.
To attack from a specific territory onto a non-weak country, in order to depopulate a continent for an opponent who has a larger concentration of armies poised to conquer it.
OK, now burning is more questionable than farming, and may not always be helpful to you. Sometimes you may not even be able to card while weakening your own forces to help out your opponent. I would not personally suggest burning, unless you’re getting an equal action back from the opponent you are helping (e.g. you burn for him in North America, he burns for you in Africa) Play this one by ear.

Lock (lok) v. locked, locking, locks
v. tr.
To set up a position, where an opponent is unable to card. That is, to ensure that an opponent is only adjacent to territories with large concentrations of armies.

Locking can happen either intentionally or unintentionally. But beware: a locked opponent will often strike out; especially if she feels you locked her on purpose! Always be aware of the whole map to see what’s going on. However, locking could also lead to….

Turtle (tur-tl) v. turtled, turtling, turtles
v. int.
To end your turn without making any attacks whatsoever, but to simply place your armies, and hide inside your shell, hoping no one else will attack you.
n.
One who turtles

Turtling is a controversial topic. Done correctly, it can often be used as a strategy to lay in wait, and then strike out with blistering swiftness against your enemies, to demolish them all in the time they reach for their nachos. However, it is more often the case, that players do this simply to “give up” any chance at winning, and to hide in hope of getting 2nd or 3rd place instead of last. Turtling is more or less successful depending on how many cards you are holding. This practice is frowned at by some, especially if your opponents feel you had a chance to continue the struggle and are giving up prematurely.

Satellite (sat-l-ayht) n. satellites
n.
A concentration of armies positioned away from any continent you may possess for the express purposes of both making yourself harder to be conquered by other players, as well as having a large army stack with which to attempt to vanquish a weaker player. Also having a satellite often makes it more difficult for you to be locked

If you leave all your armies bunched together, you make yourself a big fat target for the other players to kill you and take your cards, also if you keep all your armies defending the borders of a continent, you’ll find you’re not poised to attack when the opportunity presents itself. However, even when you have a nice satellite, and another player is weak and flush with cards, you may still be unable to make the kill because you have a ….

Block (blok) v. blocked, blocking, blocks
v. tr.
To set up a concentration of armies which protect a weaker player from being conquered by other opponents.

Sometimes, a player is weak, but for some reason or other you are not in position to make the kill, but it may be worth your while to help ensure that no one else makes the kill either, and allow you to make a try the following turn. This is where it’s vital to be able to analyze the entire map and see who are the prey and who are the predators, and to try to anticipate what your opponents are going to do, and plan accordingly.

If you can handle all of the above, you’ll be treading water in Lux, and you’re ready to start thinking about how and when to make the kills, and more important, how to end up winning the whole game, but we’ll get into that in our next video where we’ll discuss pathing, cashing, teleportation, card vs. income maps, multiple-kills, and some other secrets to take you from n00b to master.

[Schroberts]

HEY! I know I just stumbled in here, but I think this is a great idea, n00less! I'd be happy to help in any way you'd use me... (I know, I know. Go ahead and say it.).

I'll admit that I haven't managed to read all the way through the script you've put together, but I'd be willing to lend an editing eye. I actually used to be the editor on my high school and college papers back in the day, and I always kinda miss doing that sorta thing.

Anywhere else you think I could be of use, lemme know! I'll do my part for this crazy lil community we call Lux.

[n00less cluebie]

Jump right in! Read it, and comment/edit away. I'll reserve veto rights to myself, and anyone who can actually videographize it, but all suggestions are welcome!

And schroberts, I have a SPECIAL position prepared for you. I even bought you these special knee-pads

[n00less cluebie]

Part II:


(The saga continues!) Again, comments, suggestions, edits, questions welcome!

-----------------------------Begin Script-------------------------------

So in our last video we managed to figure out the lingo, and get some basic concepts of how to interact with our opponents in a way that keeps us in the game and given the right opportunity, the chance to win the game outright. But to get there we need to recognize the golden opportunities, as well as have the skills necessary to turn theory into practice, and launch ourselves up the leaderboards, to win the acclaim and envy of the opposition.
So the first thing we have to do is set-ourselves up to be able to advantage of any opportunities that come up. This usually means consolidating our forces, and only carding instead of attacking every other country we happen to be next to; taking income if we can hold it, and it doesn’t cost us too many armies, and doesn’t half-kill anyone else, usually farming for other players, and having them farm for you, or even the occasional burn while also setting up a satellite from which our main attack will be launched, or even, occasionally turtling when we have to; so…..Now what?
First we have to be able to distinguish a GOOD kill from a BAD kill. There’s little point in killing another opponent, if the attrition from the kill leaves you weak enough to be subsequently swallowed by one of the remaining players, so you need to make sure that any kill you make leaves you in a STRONGER position than you started from, and that means cashing:
Cash (kash) v. cashed, cashing, cashes
v. int.
To trade in a set of 3-cards either all-of-the-same type, or one-of-each; a wildcard may substitute for any type of card, so that any 3 cards with a wild must contain a cash, while any set of 5 cards must have a cash with or without a wild.
Another newbie mistake is to cash your cards randomly, whenever you feel like; but if you are going to be a shark in the Lux waters, you’re going to need to be more aware. While Lux provides many options for determining the sequence of values of a cash, the most commonly hosted options are either 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20… or 5, 10, 15…. The difference between these two settings is drastic. In the first case, the first player who cashes will receive 4 bonus armies, compared to the sixth players 20 bonus armies which is a large difference, but not always insurmountable. However, with the 5, 10, 15… settings the difference between receiving 5 armies, and receiving 30 may often be the entire game right there. In any case, you need to evaluate a player’s position based on three main variables
1. How many armies that player has on the board—The fewer the better!
2. How difficult is it to reach every outpost that player controls (don’t forget about those pesky armies in Japan!) The more clumped your opponent is together, the better your chances
3. How many cards that player has in his hand, and what that cash (or cashes!) will be worth. The more cards, and the higher the cash value, the better!
Some maps (like standard-settings classic) are considered “card maps”. That is, killing a player for his cards is much more important that whether you manage to hold a continent for a few turns. When a cash may be worth 40-50 armies, all of a sudden, those 2 you get from Oz don’t seem so important anymore. However, some maps (like most versions of Biohazard Classic Part-Deux) owning income may be as important, or even occasionally more important than the value of a cash; and strategy might dictate that breaking someone’s continent (a move that might be often classified as asshatting in Classic) might be even more important than making a kill. But that’s a discussion for a latter time.
Now, assuming your opponent is ripe for the plucking, you need to see if killing him will help you in the here-and-now. The most important thing to determine is whether the cards you take from your opponent PLUS THE CARDS YOU HOLD IN YOUR HAND CURRENTLY will be more than five. Just like in Risk, if you end up with 5 or more cards in the middle of your turn, you must cash in at least 1 set of cards (and there’s a secret Lux ‘feature’ involved in here, that we’ll talk about later). If you can cash in the middle of your turn, even if you’ve weakened yourself considerably while killing your opponent, the bonus armies from your cash may be enough to shore yourself up for another turn (occasionally it’s worthwhile to defend some of your newfound gains), or even give you enough armies to continue on and kill OTHER players (more on multi-kills later!) If you CAN’T cash mid-turn you’re probably best holding off on the attack for now, or else you will probably just be putting yourself up on the chopping block for the next player….
So great, now you see your golden opportunity, time to go for the kill! But how? Well it all comes down to how you….
Path (path) v. pathed, pathing, paths
v. int.
To plan a route of attack that eliminates all of your opponents armies while avoiding as many other forces as you can, and avoiding having to leave excess armies at dead ends.
Efficiency is key here, because you never know when your luck is going to turn, and what once seemed like plenty of armies to eliminate the opposition turns out to be JUST short, and those 3 you had to leave in Argentina might have been the forces that would have turned the tide. It’s very useful to analyze the map, and plan contingency routes that hit all the countries you might need to visit without having to split your forces up. This becomes even more important if you’re going to try to chain together two, three, or even more kills into one round.
You’ve made your first kill, and you’ve cashed at least 1 set of cards! Wonderful! Now you can just end your turn and relax at the thought of a job well done. Not if you want to reach the next level! Multi-kills in Risk are often difficult, and in Lux, where you may have less than 30-seconds on the clock, it might seem outrageous to consider multiple targets, but Lux has a hidden undocumented (at least until now) feature that can help you succeed. I am of course referring to the ability to….
Teleport (tel-uh-pawrt) v. teleported, teleporting, teleports
v. tr.
The action of moving a stack of armies across the board while making a mid-turn cash
In Lux Delux, if you cash after killing an army, you are given the option of not only deciding where to place the new bonus armies you received from your set of cards, but you ALSO get to place ALL THE ARMIES THAT WERE PART OF THE STACK WITH WHICH YOU LAST ATTACKED. This ability to redistribute significant numbers of armies allows a competent player to plan ahead and place these armies on the map in such a way to accomplish a second or third kill in the same turn. Keep track of the cards, and you can cash a second or third time in the same turn, and use that teleportation trick again. Occasionally, a Luxxer even manages to eliminate all five other opponents in a one-round-killfest, and the bragging rights are HUGE! But even a double or triple kill can lead to overall victory in the game, where stopping after the first kill might only have landed you second place. Once you have mastered the multi-kill you’re well on your way to becoming a Lux Master, and it won’t be long before it’s YOUR name, up top the leaderboards.

[soundboy]

Pretty Cool, Cl00b.

I would warn that this fine approach could establish a standard that many oddballs would find detrimental to the unpredictable and eclectic nature of the game in its current state.

God Hates Tea Parties.
(What an ironic statement!)

[Rhye]

Once again Cluebie, thanks for doing this. Those newbies will be veterans in no time!

Since no one has given you anything constructive yet, I think I'll appoint myself to that duty. I'll just give my little comments after one of your quotes so that you can edit the script accordingly (if you choose to listen that is.) I'm going to say everything plainly and flatly so that I can get my point across without all the politeness. It is an awesome script though!

I'll be using Chess Annotation Symbols to describe certain points (just replace the word "move" with "point"). I.E.,
! (a particularly good—and usually surprising—move) !! (an excellent move) ? (a bad move) ?? (a blunder) !? (an interesting move that may not be best) ?! (a dubious move – one which may turn out to be bad)
One last comment before I analyze the script... if you're going to make this written part official I'd like to grammatically check it for you.

"You’ve just purchased Sillysoft’s Award Winning Lux Deluxe"
Make sure the game's name is incorrectly spelled as it should be.

"but if you’re rude and obnoxious to the other players, or if you constantly break your word, you’ll find yourself being targeted and eliminated by the other players in no time at all."
!? This is very strong and powerful point which emphasizes diplomacy. While it is important to not be "rude" and "obnoxious" you are going to make moves or say things that aren't going to be well received by the public. For this reason, I suggest making the statement less black and white or rephrasing it.

"pay attention to the chat window, and read what the other players are saying. This can NOT be stressed enough! Nothing says “n00b” like the player who is unresponsive in the chat."
!

"Often newbies make the error of focusing so much on claiming a continent, that they don’t realize that by doing so, they may have won the battle but lost the war"
!

"But basically, if you attacked a player, and someone else ended up with that players cards, there’s a good chance you committed a half-kill."
?! This may be too basic. It isn't a tough concept to understand and by dumbing it down that much you may make players tend to be passive.

"and if your strategy is simply to card for a turn, instead of an all-out-assault over the whole map, then it really shouldn’t matter whether you card by “farming” for someone, or make your attack elsewhere. Overall, this is USUALLY a good thing to do."
!! Many players incorrectly assume that burning/farming for someone is a diplomatic move that can sometimes be strategic. I believe that it's a strategic move that can sometimes be diplomatic. By farming you use those armies that are sitting within a continent that someone else is fighting for to your advantage. In the process you do make the continent easier for your opponent to capture, but if your opponent was determined to get that continent your armies would've died anyway. At least if you farm with them your sacrifice wasn't in vain.

"To attack from a specific territory onto a non-weak country, in order to depopulate a continent for an opponent who has a larger concentration of armies poised to conquer it.
OK, now burning is more questionable than farming, and may not always be helpful to you. Sometimes you may not even be able to card while weakening your own forces to help out your opponent. I would not personally suggest burning, unless you’re getting an equal action back from the opponent you are helping (e.g. you burn for him in North America, he burns for you in Africa) Play this one by ear"
I use burn in another way. I'll tell someone to burn South Italy when I actually expect them to farm South Italy (by your definition). I say this because if I said "farm" South Italy then they would expect us to use South Italy as a ground which will only be farmed and not captured until further notice. That was obviously not what I wanted to happen. I'm not sure if this is a Classic v. Rome problem or if you made a slight error so I'll let you figure that out...

"hoping no one else will attack you."
?! That is a subjective point which shouldn't be placed inside of your definition.

(Part I and Part II will be separate posts for organizational purposes.)

[Big Will E Style]

My only comment would be that it looks rather long. I wouldn't have the attention span to watch the whole thing and improve my game. One suggestion for that would be to break it up into individual videos like classic, bio, Rome or maybe by category like RAW, etiquette, strategy, forums, basics etc.

[Mumps]

/me thinks n00less should do the whole thing in a david attenborough voice

Jokes aside though it all looks very good and comprehensive.

On the point of RAW/rankings. I think you shouldn't concentrate on the rankings as much as just making the newbies aware of them. You may even need to wait for para's new rankings system to create that section ...
I think the rest is great.

[n00less cluebie]

[gfips]

1st - i think you concept is great
2nd - i like the idea to divide in separat individual videos