Rob Bryan writes:
>The fool's mate means some homeworlds lose immediately, but that
>doesn't strike me as the deal killer. Rather, if I build second and
>go first, I believe I have a strategy such that going first in such a
>game is significantly worse than going second in a 1st1st game. In a
>perfect world, I would come to Origins this year and demonstrate :)
Seen. Ick. Suits my intuition that 2b1st just gives the second player
too much of an advantage, but good work.
>In short, I'm going to match the color of 1-point star you use with my
>own, and then use the tempo advantage to take the last, blocking you
>out of that color right off the bat. If you use the r1b2-G3 homeworld
>you and I favor (as jeep did in that game) I can prevent you ever
>getting a red ship at all.
Hmm. Prevent you getting a red ship that helps you, anyway -- I'll
note that Jeep did get a red ship, it just didn't help him.
>The best I can come up with to balance the start is: 1st builder plays
>1st, but must use a large star. It's inelegant.
It is.
Not as inelegant as any attempt to fix the switchback start -- the
best I can see is "2nd player cannot duplicate either of the pieces
nor the piece composition of 1st player" (which still allows
microverse, but not doubling up smalls or small universe). And that's
just a band-aid.
>> Terminology: OK, here's where I have to get all whiney. Haven't ANY of you
>> Homeworlds players gotten a copy of 3HOUSE?
>I did! It is excellent and everyone should buy it.
I have it (at least one copy)! But I confess that I've only skimmed
it.
--
Joshua Kronengold (mneme@(io.com, labcats.org)) |\ _,,,--,,_ ,)
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