Me + Basic economics + Heroscape
13 Tournament Postulates
Thirteen Tournament Postulates
Here are some little rules that I’ve thought of and conglomerated after numerous discussions on these forums. Tournament directors and attendees should be conscious of these factors and how they affect what people will play.
1. As time goes by, previously unbeatable armies will look less impressive, not only because of new and better alternatives, but also because people will have learned how to counter strategies and popular units of the past.
2. As time goes by, more people will begin to have access to “everything,” and their collections will increase in size. Saying that ‘no one will play that many Blastatrons or 4th Mass’ etc... will not be safe to say any more unless expressly prohibited by the tournament regulations.
3. People will also start to play more ‘good’ units, either because they read strategy articles, or they remember how they lost to Major Q9 or Deathreavers.
4. An increase in point total will encourage the use of heroes, heroes and squads devoted to killing heroes, and expensive units in general.
5. A decrease in point total encourages the use of cheap squads, unique squads, heroes that improve those squads, and heroes that are especially good at killing squads.
6. Increasing the number of starting hexes increases the strength of squads, and lengthens the amount of time required to complete a game.
7. Decreasing the number of starting hexes shortens games and strengthens heroes.
8. Extremely flat maps, and maps that extensively feature LoS blockers and/or roads will improve melee performance.
9. Maps that make easily accessible relative height advantages will improve walking ranged units.
10. Maps with height that is difficult to acquire will improve the Airborne Elite, and flying units, especially dragons.
11. Introducing Marvel to classic Heroscape tournaments would shorten games, reduce the effectiveness of Q9 and the KMA, and increase the effectiveness of many neglected hero-killing units and d20 users.
12. Marvel would also make games more lucky and swingy.
13. Most glyphs support squads, especially common and ranged ones, although Thorian and Wannok are notable exceptions to this rule. For a more comprehensive analysis of the effects that certain glyphs have on games, go here.
Here are some little rules that I’ve thought of and conglomerated after numerous discussions on these forums. Tournament directors and attendees should be conscious of these factors and how they affect what people will play.
1. As time goes by, previously unbeatable armies will look less impressive, not only because of new and better alternatives, but also because people will have learned how to counter strategies and popular units of the past.
2. As time goes by, more people will begin to have access to “everything,” and their collections will increase in size. Saying that ‘no one will play that many Blastatrons or 4th Mass’ etc... will not be safe to say any more unless expressly prohibited by the tournament regulations.
3. People will also start to play more ‘good’ units, either because they read strategy articles, or they remember how they lost to Major Q9 or Deathreavers.
4. An increase in point total will encourage the use of heroes, heroes and squads devoted to killing heroes, and expensive units in general.
5. A decrease in point total encourages the use of cheap squads, unique squads, heroes that improve those squads, and heroes that are especially good at killing squads.
6. Increasing the number of starting hexes increases the strength of squads, and lengthens the amount of time required to complete a game.
7. Decreasing the number of starting hexes shortens games and strengthens heroes.
8. Extremely flat maps, and maps that extensively feature LoS blockers and/or roads will improve melee performance.
9. Maps that make easily accessible relative height advantages will improve walking ranged units.
10. Maps with height that is difficult to acquire will improve the Airborne Elite, and flying units, especially dragons.
11. Introducing Marvel to classic Heroscape tournaments would shorten games, reduce the effectiveness of Q9 and the KMA, and increase the effectiveness of many neglected hero-killing units and d20 users.
12. Marvel would also make games more lucky and swingy.
13. Most glyphs support squads, especially common and ranged ones, although Thorian and Wannok are notable exceptions to this rule. For a more comprehensive analysis of the effects that certain glyphs have on games, go here.
Total Comments 5
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Very good article!
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Posted May 8th, 2008 at 06:26 AM by Shades fan
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Wonderful article! At first glance, I agree with every point.
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Posted May 8th, 2008 at 09:11 AM by Velenne
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Another well written article, Jexik.
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Posted May 12th, 2008 at 07:38 AM by ZBeeblebrox
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Wait... u can't use marvelscape in official tournaments?
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Posted July 14th, 2008 at 05:29 PM by dude333
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Why are they called postulates? Can't they be proved and must they be agreed upon because no one can prove them? Can, say, #6 and #7 be proved by other postulates? If they can, we'd call them "theorems" or "corollaries". Can these two be implied from one to another?
I'd say #4, #5, #6, #7 can be implied from "the higher the average point army per starting hex, the better chance heroes will get." Even that sentence may not be a postulate and may be proved  !You know, I am just asking...  |
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Posted October 4th, 2008 at 10:24 PM by LongHeroscaper
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