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        Arimaa >> Say Hello >> Hey
        
(Message started by: Tellmarch on Feb 17^th, 2012, 6:32pm)

Title: Hey
Post by Tellmarch on Feb 17^th, 2012, 6:32pm

Hi there,
I like strategy games, and heard about arimaa a few days ago.
I've played, among other games, chess (where I believe I played against your champion chessandgo in a tournament as a kid, small world ^^ ), go, shogi.
I decided to try arimaa for a bit :-)

So far I've mostly played against bots, trying to climb slowly the bot ladder. A typical game of me would be
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/games/jsShowGame.cgi?gid=216092&s=b , my last game: everything goes well until move 23, where I have a nice advantage (I think), and after 3 awful moves I'm dead :-)

Apart from introducing myself, I'd like to know if there are some resources to learn about the basic strategies/tactics of the games?
I was giving the link to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Arimaa , so I've began reading it, are there some other links I should know about?

Tellmarch

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Fritzlein on Feb 18^th, 2012, 9:46am

on 02/17/12 at 18:32:33, Tellmarch wrote:

Welcome to Arimaa, Tellmarch! Thank you for giving it a try even though you have tasted of the classics. I believe our natural player base is chess refugees, but since most chess players cannot conceive of a chess-like game that might prove deeper than chess, it is a very slow trickle of converts. On the other hand, our retention rate of those who bother to investigate Arimaa is very high.

You must tell us about our reigning Arimaa World Champion. Did he scowl over the chess board? Fidget? Or did he sit perfectly still and calmly destroy everyone?

Quote:

So far I've mostly played against bots, trying to climb slowly the bot ladder. A typical game of me would be
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/games/jsShowGame.cgi?gid=216092&s=b , my last game: everything goes well until move 23, where I have a nice advantage (I think), and after 3 awful moves I'm dead :-)

Yes, we all go through this against bots. Superior strategy plus tactical blunder equals loss. :P The interesting thing is that if you study Arimaa long enough, you can get better than the bots tactically as well, except perhaps at the very endgame.

Quote:

Apart from introducing myself, I'd like to know if there are some resources to learn about the basic strategies/tactics of the games?
I was giving the link to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Arimaa , so I've began reading it, are there some other links I should know about?

Tellmarch

There is my book Beginning Arimaa, videos linked below the left-hand menu in the game room, live and recorded commentary of World Championship games. But at the moment there is a unique written resource: tharkun's comments on all his games. In the upper right of the game room is a link to "commented games". If you really are serious about studying Arimaa, you will replay tharkun's games alongside his commentary, see if you understand what he is saying, and respond if you have questions/disagreements. I imagine he won't be doing this commentary forever, so take advantage quickly!

(But if you are like me, you will find that Arimaa is so much fun to just play that you can't stop long enough to study it. :))

Title: Re: Hey
Post by tharkun on Feb 18^th, 2012, 5:16pm

on 02/18/12 at 09:46:11, Fritzlein wrote:

But at the moment there is a unique written resource: tharkun's comments on all his games. In the upper right of the game room is a link to "commented games". If you really are serious about studying Arimaa, you will replay tharkun's games alongside his commentary, see if you understand what he is saying, and respond if you have questions/disagreements. I imagine he won't be doing this commentary forever, so take advantage quickly!

Thanks for the thumbs up! I am planning to continue to analyse all my games (with the possible exception of simultaneous games), but the extent of my analysis will depend on time and motivation. I generally won't analyse my games immediately after I have played them. Arimaa is a really difficult game: in many games I cannot really pinpoint why I won/lost. That's why I analyse my games some time after I have played them, so that I have increased my playing strength in the meantime. Otherwise I found that I simply do not have the tactical and strategic armoury to make meaningful comments.

I think that the most effective way to improve is to analyse your games with a stronger player. There is a thread in the forum where you can ask for feedback. You can also ask someone directly, but in that case do not be offended if they refuse, since it is labor-intensive.

Title: Re: Hey
Post by chessandgo on Feb 19^th, 2012, 5:40am

Awesome, salut Jean ! Qu'est-ce que tu deviens ? :)

On a side note, I think Tellmarch is the only guy of my generation named Jean as well that I've ever met. When we played together we actually did look a bit similar, and my coach trying to have a look at my position from afar thought he was me and me him. :)

Title: Re: Hey
Post by chessandgo on Feb 19^th, 2012, 5:45am

When trying to goal, it's actually easier to advance a rabbit along the edge than in the center. You tried the d-file on move 25s, but your d3 rabbit could be catpured on traps f3 and c3. When Bomb advances a rabbit along the h-file on move 25g on the contrary, even if you block it with a piece or with (several) rabbits, you probably won't be able to capture the Rabbit, so it's a "free" attack for Gold.

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Eltripas on Feb 19^th, 2012, 3:05pm

on 02/19/12 at 05:40:57, chessandgo wrote:

Who won?

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Tellmarch on Feb 19^th, 2012, 3:38pm

He won, of course ^^

Thanks for the welcome :)

I think I like this game a lot, it's pretty interesting.
Maybe I should take a break from playing and calm down a bit though, everything was going well in the ladder, but now I've lost my 9 last games against bots :)

I'll watch some of these video you talked about Fritz, and read somme of tharkun's commentaries too ^^

Title: Re: Hey
Post by ginrunner on Feb 19^th, 2012, 9:45pm

the bots get exponentially harder (my opinion) but the weird thing when playing them you will get breakthroughs and beat 3 or four in row row then be stuck again.

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Tellmarch on Feb 20^th, 2012, 1:35am

on 02/19/12 at 21:45:38, ginrunner wrote:

the bots get exponentially harder (my opinion) but the weird thing when playing them you will get breakthroughs and beat 3 or four in row row then be stuck again.

Indeed, I managed to break the curse and won 3 in a row ^^

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Tellmarch on Feb 22^nd, 2012, 6:55pm

on 02/19/12 at 21:45:38, ginrunner wrote:

the bots get exponentially harder (my opinion) but the weird thing when playing them you will get breakthroughs and beat 3 or four in row row then be stuck again.

What you didn't tell me is that the last bot was 1000 times tougher than all the others >:(

But after a lot of despair, throwing away lots of games with a clear advantage, tons of one move blunder, nightmares of the time beeper, i finally won :D

Quote:

Congratulations Tellmarch. You've reached the top.

Title: Re: Hey
Post by ginrunner on Feb 22^nd, 2012, 9:20pm

congrats!

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Hippo on Feb 23^rd, 2012, 4:54am

on 02/22/12 at 18:55:11, Tellmarch wrote:

Do I subtract it well you did it in 8 days?
Wow. Congrtats

Title: Re: Hey
Post by Fritzlein on Feb 23^rd, 2012, 11:14am

Jeepers! ("Wow" and "congrats" were already taken...)

Title: Re: Hey
Post by ginrunner on Feb 23^rd, 2012, 6:34pm

I took the opportunity to play him now so I could say I beat him because at some point that won't be possible.