Tutoring thread

[Alvendor]

(03-17-2014 12:56 AM)HuskyPete Wrote:  Actually that's the difference as you go up in difficulty. When I was gifted, something as simple as a general tip on how to start the match properly and make sure you count out your turn before you start were enough to make a big difference. At the higher levels, there is no tip to make you win. You just need to play better. So learning what "better" is seems to be the key. Since ST have seen all the opens and attacks, it is not enough to follow a script. You need to be able to understand how the plans are generated and modify them to counter your opponent. One mistake at a very early point in the match cann doom you to lose. I sometimes review a 50 turn game and really believe I lost on turn 5. Crazy.

I went through a period last year when it felt like I had stopped learning new strategic concepts or tips and trick or whatever you wanna call it. Any league games I lost felt like I was quite even in skill to the other player and it was due to randomness or that he had more experience on that map, not that the he had a better understanding of the game in general than me.

The conclusion I drew was that all the strategic concepts were already known and the only way to become better was to learn openings on each map or try to think further in advance on each turn. This was quite demotivating and I didn't play much for a long time.

Things changed when I got back into Outwitters because of the Elite Championship tournament and noticed that other players' skill level had definitely increased during the time I had been away. This kind of spark my interest again.

Today I can point to several points I didn't know a year back when I foolishly thought I knew everything =) I think its true you stop learning easy to use tips that will improve your play as you get better. But if they are thought of as strategic concepts they are still there and you will probably never run out of things to learn. The problem is only that they are subtler and harder to discover the better you get.