Start Zone Exodus: A Puzzle

[Elginb]

EDIT: I was thinking overnight that this puzzle needs to be a lot more specific. So let's say the map is Turret Rocks:

http://www.heroscapers.com/downloads..._rocks_6lu.jpg

I'm interested in 2 things: 1) how many moves would it take to get all your figures non-adjacent to one another, and 2) what army can do it in the fewest number of turns.

For Puzzle 1: Your army fills all 24-hexes of the start-zone with single-spaced non-flying figures with a move of 4 (because it's the slow-pokes who have to worry the most about figures like Zelrig). If you could only move one figure at a time, what are the fewest moves you'd need to make for all your figures to be non-adjacent to one another?

For Puzzle 2: Your army must be between 480 and 500 points and fill at least 22 spaces of the start zone. What army composition can gets its figures completely non-adjacent to each other in the fewest number of turns?

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ORIGINAL POST:

I was thinking about the threat Zelrig presents to a crowded Start Zone. When I face Zelrig, I try to place my figures in such a way that I can rapidly leave the start zone such that no figure is left adjacent to one another after a few turns.

Obviously, it all depends on what figures you're using, but I'm curious what the minimum number of moves/turns you'd have to make before all figures in the start zone would no longer be adjacent to one another.

Let's assume you're using a standard 24-hex piece of land and that your army uses up all 24-spaces. I'm not sure what the army composition would be, but certainly some would be better than others (bonding armies or double-spaced common squads would open up gaps quicker than others).

I'll need to think about it tonight away from the computer, but I'd be interested in seeing what other people come up with.

[Ranior]

Originally Posted by Elginb

I was thinking about the threat Zelrig presents to a crowded Start Zone. When I face Zelrig, I try to place my figures in such a way that I can rapidly leave the start zone such that no figure is left adjacent to one another after a few turns.

Obviously, it all depends on what figures you're using, but I'm curious what the minimum number of moves/turns you'd have to make before all figures in the start zone would no longer be adjacent to one another.

Let's assume you're using a standard 24-hex piece of land and that your army uses up all 24-spaces. I'm not sure what the army composition would be, but certainly some would be better than others (bonding armies or double-spaced common squads would open up gaps quicker than others).

I'll need to think about it tonight away from the computer, but I'd be interested in seeing what other people come up with.

Wow, that's a very interesting problem, and doesn't have an easy answer. However there are a lot of variables, such as who's in your army, how your start zone is arranged, and how the map is. The map is important to figure out this problem.

However I already have an easy answer: Just have an army of pure Venoc's. That way you can hope they will all frenzy away the first turn.

[BurnyFlame]

As you said, just getting out of the start zone does not fix the problem. For instance, you could probably have a bunch of elves, and Emirroon to summon them away from the start zone. However, then they would still be in a cluster, which is exactly the same problem, except away from the start zone.

But I think we would need a real map to give a numerical answer.

[Dennys]

Without a specific map, its not really possible to calculate. Also, specific armies will have different rates of exodus. An ashigaru army facing Zelrig can scatter rather fast (Are you reading this Taeblewalker and Cathy!)

Moving 4-8 figures per turn, You could probably scatter the army to all non-adjacent in 1 round.

[Elginb]

Yeah, I was thinking overnight that this puzzle needs to be a lot more specific. So let's say the map is Turret Rocks:

http://www.heroscapers.com/downloads..._rocks_6lu.jpg

I'm interested in 2 things: 1) how many moves would it take to get all your figures non-adjacent to one another, and 2) what army can do it in the fewest number of turns.

For Puzzle 1: Your army fills all 24-hexes of the start-zone with single-spaced non-flying figures with a move of 4 (because it's the slow-pokes who have to worry the most about figures like Zelrig). If you could only move one figure at a time, what are the fewest moves you'd need to make for all your figures to be non-adjacent to one another?

For Puzzle 2: Your army must be between 480 and 500 points and fill at least 22 spaces of the start zone. What army composition can gets its figures completely non-adjacent to each other in the fewest number of turns?

[nyys]

Great, something else to distract me from what I should be doing here at work.

[Dennys]

Stop swearing and using 4 letter words ending in ...k.

[Onacara]

If you are using a Frenzy army and get a good number of Frenzies in a row then you could accomplish this in 1 Order Marker or 2

[Carakki]

Hm...you present a very interesting puzzle. I don't have time to sit down and work out Puzzle #1, but for Puzzle #2...I have noticed that the majority of the responses have included Frenzying out of the starting zone on Order Marker 1, but they seem to have missed that you're looking for an army of figures with 4 movement. The best I could come up with is this:

105 Sir Gilbert
350 5x Knights of Weston
455 Points/21 Spaces

I know it doesn't meet the point total or fill up 22 spaces, but it's the best I could come up with paying attention to the 4-move constraint - only Sir Gilbert has 5 movement. The idea is to place all of your order markers on the Knights, who bond with Gilbert, who in turn uses Jandar's Dispatch to move up more Knights.

[Thorgrim]

Lets see. My army for puzzle 2 would be...

Venoc Vipers X6
Deathwalker 7000
Deathwalker 8000

470 points

Deathwalker 8000 would start shooting all the vipers, possibly clearing them in one turn, but more likely killing 8 per turn. After a full round of DW8000 killing his own vipers, have DW7000 blow up, possibly killing DW8000 as well.

My guess is in 4 turns, none of them will be adjacent... as they will be dead.

[StarofEarendil]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Lets see. My army for puzzle 2 would be...

Venoc Vipers X6
Deathwalker 7000
Deathwalker 8000

470 points

Deathwalker 8000 would start shooting all the vipers, possibly clearing them in one turn, but more likely killing 8 per turn. After a full round of DW8000 killing his own vipers, have DW7000 blow up, possibly killing DW8000 as well.

My guess is in 4 turns, none of them will be adjacent... as they will be dead.

[Calzone]

My solution for Puzzle 2:

First off, I refrained from using any figure that required a dice roll or any other variable for its move speed. That mean no Tarn Vikings, creatures with Frenzy, Hounds, etc. That means that this solution works every time for this map.

My army:

Deathstalkers x3 - 300pts
Armoc Vipers x1 - 365pts*
Venoc Warlord x1 - 485pts*

*Note: You can replace all the vipers with 4 hexes worth of figures worth 180+ pts.


Start Positions:



Red blobs are Deathstalkers, Green dots are Vipers (or substituted figures).



After 2 Order Markers on Deathstalkers:



Red blobs are Deathstalkers, Green dots are Vipers (or substituted figures).
Gray blobs are when Deathstalkers used to be, Gray lines are where they went.

I chose Deathstalkers because they can move 6 hexes worth of figures every order marker at 7 move, which was the highest I could think of at the time. (Blasts + Glads give you 8 hexes worth of figures but at a lower move. There are probably others I can't think of.)

Thinking about it, I think 2OMs may be the limit. I'm not sure that a one order marker evac is possible without relying on a d20 or some other random factor. (Although I would LOVE to be proven wrong. Figuring out how to move that much in 1 turn would be amazing.)