war room - a new idea for a newbie post
 
When I play a newbie, I am always polite and even offer to give a few basic tips to bring them up to speed.  These tips include:
 
The trap:  when a stronger piece descends, and you only have one place to go. If you move left and right 5 times you can't move and will then be taken.  Or in other words- a player makes a vertical attack on you and you move to the left or right first then you get trapped and will be taken.  You have to avoid this.  Normally the player will pull back, move left/right then descend on you.  WHEN THE PLAYER PULLS BACK -GO FORWARD, this will avoid the trap.  No one told me this until I asked Lighty (currently ranked 1), who was extremely helpful.  I probably lost 20 games not knowing that.  Perhaps I havn't described this well, but avoid being trapped by moving at the right time....
 
The show:  Only take a piece with another piece that is ranked 1 or 2 higher, or you will give away too much information (of course this only applies generally).  
 
The charge: If you know where the 1 is charge the 2 around and kill all pieces that have moved, (very basic but important)
 
I may not be accurate but this could be added to the war room as tips for newbies, along with other things that better players than me know.  
 
Finally, I am not trying to take the fun out of the game, but just bring new players up to speed on just survival against good players.....
 
After all it's better for all of us if more people join the site...
 
Mungobrush
 
 

I'm all for your posts about helping newbies, but might want to move to the Strategy board.  

To make the list of colours complete:
 
Mauve/Pink = bot  
Green = Moderator  
Blue/Bold Blue = Playing a game  
Bold black = registered  
black = unregistered (25 game limit)  
Red = Admin
Grey = Idle player (not active for 5 minutes)
Light Pink = Bot is idle

A few more basic tips:
 
(from a player whose best ranking achieved for classic stratego was around 30 of 200, 2009-ish), this bit was added 2012.
 
Use the spy as a scout when the 1 is gone.
 
6s, 7s and 8s can also be useful as scouts.  The more powerful the piece the more likely it is to kill a couple of smaller pieces on its mission.  
 
If you show your 1 early, expect your moved pieces to be attacked by a 2.
 
Don't trade down (swap off a 5 for a 5) if you are down a powerful piece.  There are exceptions, like for example if you are up a lot in smaller pieces.  I play many newbies who are down a 3 and a 4 and continue to swap off 4s and 5s.
 
People who use a lot of 8s early will be attempting, i) to kill 9s quickly and ii) will not be after your flag, but will go for the win by killing all your pieces.
 
Make sure you don't get caught off guard in the end game by letting through a charging 8 (we've all done it......lol)  
 
Oh..and one more thing, good players will charge a 6 at the end stage (bluffing it as an 8) with the hope to capture an unwary 7 -who attacks the supposed 8, which is in fact a 6...hmmm......... does that make sense?

Hi,
 
When setting up my pieces I usually take care that I always have another high piece ( gen/colo ) around my Marshall so I dont have to expose him.
 
But if I can take the major with the Marshall, it depends on who my opponent is and where my other pieces are.
 
Its a question which is impossible to answer I think.

Quote from Erwin01 on Aug 1^st, 2007, 8:12am:

 
This really shouldnt be provided by meta. By Lightwing personal i have no problems with it (i cant control him, its his choice), BUT not by meta or out the name of meta. Let them use there own creativity or else we can just all play against identical bots.

Agreed with lightwing. There isnt a player in the top 20 who shows their marshal and general early in a game consistantly. Maybe once in a while against a player that he has played a few times, to show them a different look, and to make them be aware of every peice.

OK IF YOUR A NEWBIE AND YOUR PLAYING A HARDCORE HIGH RANKED PLAYER I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GO RIGHT AT THEM WITH YOUR HIGHEST RANKED PIECE HITTING WHATEVER YOU CAN IN THE FIRST TWO ROWS BUT KEEPING TO ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER BECAUSE THE SPY IS MOST LIKELY SOMEWHERE IN THE 2ND ROW PROBABLY BEHIND ONE OF THE LAKES  IF YOU GET LUCKY AND TAKE DOWN ABOUT 4 OR 5 PIECES THEN SIT BACK AND MAKE THEM ATTACK YOU NOW WITHOUT PANICKING OR MOVING MORE THEN A VERY FEW PIECES THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST WAY FOR A VICTORY IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING YET -----------------------GOODLUCK YOU'LL NEED IT!!!!!!

Thanks for the info

Strategy all boils down to one thing...Get out of your trenches, march past the lakes, and send your worthless army forward into cannon, sword, rifle, and bayonett.  
 
Don't waste time scouting.  This is a war son.  And we don't keep our generals behind enemy lines safely in bunkers.  We get'em a rifle and send them first over the trenches to lead the troops.  
 
Kill them all.  
 
Look on the bright side: once your marshall is imploded into 750 pieces on the battle field, there will be more of him to go around.