First Player Advantage

From Gamedozer

[edit] The First Player Advantage

Before we learn how to combat the First Player Advantage, it’s a good idea to learn just exactly what this advantage is. The First Player Advantage is the advantage that the player who moves first gains by being able to get to key property first or to attack first.

[edit] Adjusting For The First Player Advantage

Now that you know what the First Player Advantage is, how does a mapmaker design a map so that the first player does have a leg up on the competition? The primary way is to carefully consider the placement of “center” tiles on a map. Center tiles are places where both players tend to rush to, usually because there is some clear strategic advantage to capturing these areas. Usually there are buildings in these locations. A map maker must design a map so that the first player is not able to get unreasonable control of the key property due to being able to get his scorpions or commandos there first. One way to do this is to make sure that buildings are not within one commando distance of each other. When central buildings are this close, the first player is able to easily piggyback capture the first property and make it difficult for the second player to capture the corresponding property. It is also a bad idea to group clusters of buildings or high defensive terrain near each other in the center of the map. This allows the first player to rush in on a defender, even when the defender is on highly protected terrain, and get an upper hand.

Another way to counter the first player advantage is to design maps with multiple paths to victory. If there are several different important regions of a map, the second player can simply choose to concentrate on a separate region than the first player. It also makes the map more interesting, and eliminates the possibility for “one map wonders” who play the same map over and over again using the same strategies to development.

Yet another way to combat the first player advantage is to give Blue (the second player) a slight advantage at the on set of the game. This advantage should generally be slight, usually in the form of a bonus Commando on one of his properties. This effectively gives Blue a bonus turn and Red more money, balancing things out nicely.

Back to the Map Making Guide.