| Some Thoughts On Strategy | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 13 2012, 02:28 PM (46 Views) | |
| Kate | Feb 13 2012, 02:28 PM Post #1 |
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I've already briefly explained why, as a player, I am a metaphorical ninja. Let's look at the three steps of my ninja process again... 1. Espionage 2. Sabotage 3. Assassination Now, let's extract some real in-game application from the first two steps from the metaphor. Simply put, these steps involve gathering information, manipulating informatioin, and using that information to manipulate the behavior of other players. The third step is simply the part where you construct and execute a vote-out, usually a blindside, using the fruits of your labor... the compiled results of your efforts in steps one and two. It's ok to let other people control (or should I say "control") the game for a while. The assassination step only comes into play when you make your BIG moves. Big Mike was only a minor assassination. A Newman blindside the night of Deal or No Deal would have been my first major assassination of the game. For now, I've remained fairly under the radar, but steps one and two are definitely in full swing, what, with my secret Helen alliance, my steady stream of information intake, and the way I'm starting to be able to use it to my benefit. Now, let's talk about trust. It's a strange word in these sorts of games. How do I establish trust with other players? Through espionage and sabotage, that's how!!! And that's just it. It's all about the same "diplomatic" process. It's not about personality, or people that like each other, etc. You can frame it that way. But at the end of the day, it's about self-interest... your own, and that of others. The best way to establish trust is to manipulate information in a way that makes a potential alliance appear to be symbiotic. As long as two people have mutual benefit in working together, they have no reason not to work together. Trust is established based on the GOALS of the players involved. Nothing else. Even though other players don't realize it. The best way to get someone to work with you isn't to get them to like you. It's to show them that you benefit them. So when do you flip on your allies? You flip on your allies the second you realize that the alliance is no longer going to appear mutually beneficial... in the eyes of EITHER PARTY. It's not enough to turn on your allies when they benefit more than you. You have to turn on them if you start to appear to be too much in control over THEM AS WELL. This is what Newman is failing to do. He thinks he has more control than his allies, so he thinks they are still valuable to him. But they are not, because he is no longer equally valuable to them, so they should turn on him. If he were empathetic to their plight, he'd know that a pre-emptive strike is essential in this scenario. But he's not thinking that way, so he will be a casualty before they will. Finally, let's talk about control. It's not enough to be in control on a single level. You aspire, in this game, for control on three levels. 1. You want your alliance/tribe to be in control of the game. 2. You want your sub-alliance to be in control of your alliance/tribe. 3. You want, as an individual, to be in control of your sub-alliance. If you can attain and maintain this sort of dynamic, you will make it to the end of the game, but that is no easy task... because you have to be in control on all three levels while appearing to be SHARING control equally with the others involved. You have to appear as if you have not atttained the third level to those involved in your second level alliance. And you have to appear as if you have not attained the second level to those involved only in your third level alliance. Symbiosis is very rarely real. It's all about appearances... which you create using ESPIONAGE and SABOTAGE. The game is a cycle. |
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| BROBST | Feb 13 2012, 02:36 PM Post #2 |
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Very well put, dude. And always easier said than done. That's what a lot of players don't seem to realize......they know "IN THEORY" how to play SURVIVOR........but they don't know "IN ACTION" how to achieve the goals they know theoretically. Y E T . . . A good entry for players to bookmark after the game. |
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| Kate | Feb 13 2012, 02:39 PM Post #3 |
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Even when you know how to get your goals achieved, it's always hard to achieve them. The more players in a game that also get it, the harder it is to get what you want done, because moves will be countered will be countered. There will always be a lot of guessing involved because when the board is crowded with ninjas, nothing will be as it seems... for anyone. The best player and the worst player will always BOTH be in danger at any given moment. |
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2:35 AM Jul 11