In this game: http://www.wargear.net/games/player/65531

Is this a legitimate strategy?  capn is blocking me from taking the staging area (due to D1VD1 dice) so I can only take squares for the rest of the match?

This is different from the game description which states there should be a D1VD0 at the staging area.

~ATH

I really goofed when I made the scenarios and did not properly implement a number of the twists that the final board had put in.  The D1vD1 error was fixed on Monday, so the strategy that your opponent is using is not possible in new games.  

Don't know what to tell you about that game, other then he should play it straight and get out of that territory, or terminate the game.

Octagons Starting Strategy:

So as first player in Large Start Squares (LSS), what is the best strategy for determining the opening tile placement?  Many times I've heard the pros say they are connected on one side or the other but is that really true?  Doesn't the second player even have a chance to break up that movement?

It's all semantics here. But, when I say "I'm connected to the left side", I do mean that there is NOTHING my opponent can do to stop the connection. Furthermore, I mean that the play connecting to the left is, as far as I can tell, independent of all other play.

As first player, I look for spots connected to both sides. It's so complicated to work it out from move one, but I still  try to work out as much as I can. Sometimes I can see the connection to one side, but the other side is too complicated to work out. Nonetheless, it "looks connected". Those are the spots to look for. Sometimes the second player is winning, and I instead settle for the "best looking swindle".

I don't have a great method outside of calculation because the random setup makes each situation so different (which is why we like that scenario A LOT). However, my "calculations" are informed by "shapes" (jumps, standard sacrifices, etc, that I've worked out before).

Short Answer: Hugh is smart and being smart is the best strategy.

I need some help with a design flaw in Octagons:

Hey there,

We had discussed a bug on Octagons earlier.

Specifically, that someone could sneak attack and win without connecting.

I recall that you had changed the dice mods to reduce the likelihood of that happening.

But it still is possible. I used it here: http://www.wargear.net/games/view/682012

I think there is an easy fix to prevent this: Turn abandon off.

The already present Max 1 unit coupled with abandon off means that no one can try it.With there, there is no need for any dice at all. Only d1 v d0 would be fine!

-Pratik.

The problem i think with just doing abandon off is the attack octagon won't work anymore. I think I remember having abandon off at one point and then Hugh parking a unit there and changing the game.

This board was made before factories so there may be a solution there.

But (its been awhile) when I try make a factory how come the type drop-down is greyed out and stuck on "disable"

I haven't played octagons in years, but why not just make it 6v6 to attack the capital?  That way moving a few units there won't be enough to get through 37, but moving all 500 should be plenty.

Pratik suggested using the AutoNeutralReset factory and I remembered how to use them so I think I'm all set. The updated version is live.

Quick update here for anyone following:

All 4 octagon scenarios now seem to be updated. I have tested the small version extensively, and that works perfectly. Briefly tested all 3 large scenarios, and those seem fine too.

Changes:

- No more sneak attack to win. You must work a chain linking the two sides of your board. The work around has been removed.

- you must now attack the attack octagon with 2 units. On all 4 scenarios! If you attack with only 1 unit, you will not be able to proceed. You can use either 2 or A or T attacks (since the attack octagon has a maximum of 2 units, even A/T attacks are fine).

Thanks to Amidon for fixing the issues! And to Chele Nica and Litotes who helped test the board.