Toughest opponent

[celebaglar]

On the same lines as the "Favourite bolthole" thread, who have you found to be the toughest opponent?

This one's easy for me because I have played against so few people, which means Mads takes the plaudits by some margin.

Who's your nemesis?

[Natmus]

Matija is tough, as he makes very few mistakes and has infinite patience.

Bill is pretty good too, understand all the aspects of the game and has begun to be pretty mean, but has made a few minor errors, that in one game cost him it, and in one lost him the clear advantage he was about to get.

I have a long standing wish to play a two player game against Jean-Yves, as I haven't had any good contests against him ever. The few games I have had against him have been lopsided things.

For my money, Matija is the hardest nut to crack, with Bill a close second, and J-Y an unknown (but I suspect he is an able player after all ).

[Ringthane]

My playing style makes it hard for me to select a valid target. Matija plays with mathematical perfection, and will follow his strategy to the edge of time, reminds me of the Entish conversations in LOTR... I have been inches from beating JY, which somehow deprives him of utter divinity... I'm still not sure about Premis...
I guess everyone who has already learned how to withstand my bursts of aggression can be very hard to beat. If I absolutely had to choose I'd say Mads and Matija.

[sparrowhawk]

I can't really say. I've either started in really lucky positions and therefore had fairly easy wins, or in some dark hole in the corner and had little chance, usually in the SE or SW corners.

My recent game against Ringy was my favourite to date since the alpha days. A desperate defence and utter despair saved by a rush of blood to the Bunny King's head which let me sneak a victory in

I'd say Mads is very tough, Matija also. Celeb I have only played twice I think . First time I think that I started either on Blood ro Kor, so he didn't get a look in and the game was too unbalanced. Current one he and Mads are whittling my superior troops down systematically, forcing my hand earlier than I had hoped. So a crafty old fox.

I would say that I was an above average player, but I play by feel rather than by numbers, so I tend to get bitten on the bum by my own mistakes (A keep in the Domain of Blood in the Mads/Celeb game being a classic example)

Ringy has two strengths - his unpredictability, and his fearlessness. Paradoxically his two main weaknesses too

I have not finished any games yet against any of the female players, except Marie when she was brand new to the game, so I can't judge them.

Haven't yet played Premis (very scared of him!), Valen, any of the new lot (except just started a new game against Merlin in a very off place indeed...)

Who have I missed?

[sparrowhawk]

Ringthane said:

I have been inches from beating JY, which somehow deprives him of utter divinity...

Being an atheist I deny my own existence! Whoosh! (Vanishes in puff of half-baked logic)

[sparrowhawk]

And another thing whilst we talk of tough nuts to crack.

Please could all players review their experience status in the Members' details page. Some of you still claim to have only "some experience". Come on! As if.

[Freiegeister]

Jean-Yves said:

And another thing whilst we talk of tough nuts to crack.

Please could all players review their experience status in the Members' details page. Some of you still claim to have only "some experience". Come on! As if.

Do we factor playing LoM into our experience? ;D

Maybe auto-calculate player experience from the number of games they have played with a multiplier for wins? Or alternatively display: Games Played # | Wins # after their name in the opponent selection dropdown, or a ranking?

[celebaglar]

Freiegeister said:

Do we factor playing LoM into our experience? ;D

I wouldn't have thought so, as Chris will testify.

Maybe auto-calculate player experience from the number of games they have played with a multiplier for wins? Or alternatively display: Games Played # | Wins # after their name in the opponent selection dropdown, or a ranking?

I'm not so sure, since that doesn't take account any games played before the database was wiped (and will be again).

As for the "live" version, I'd favour a ranking system based on points, in some ways similar to that applied in tennis, but with different criteria in awarding the points. You can then have "ranking" games and "friendlies", which would cater for both the competitive requirements of some players and breaking the newbies in gently.