Day 1 - Roswell's turn
The FTA counter on the map is different from FTA counters on normal maps - all of the bases start as neutral. On Color of Envy there are 3 neutral bases and 3 starting infantry per player, which is the root of the FTA issues. Because there are an odd number of bases, one player will be able to capture 2 bases first, while the other player will be able to capture only 1 base first. Here, the FTA counter is set so that Hellraider can capture one forward base (north or south, his choice) and the backwards base on the first turn. Whichever forward base Hellraider chooses to capture first will be the front that he will have the advantage on in the game, while Roswell will have the advantage on the opposite front - each player will be 1/2 turn ahead on their advantage fronts.
Because Hellraider gets to choose which front he will be 1/2 turn ahead on, it is advantageous for him to choose the side with more properties to be captured, so that he can gain funding quicker. On Color of Envy, this is the southern front. Below I've illustrated which base is responsible for capturing which properties
Red = northern base, Green = middle base, Blue = southern base.
As you can see, the northern base will capture 5 properties, the middle base will capture 3, and the southern base will capture 7. This will result in slight FTA, as Hellraider is able to make the better choice and take the advantage on the better front, which he does in the game. In addition Hellraider has the advantage from the central base, which means that he is able to capture 12 properties first (10 properties + 2 bases), while Roswell is able to only capture 6 first (5 properties + 1 base). Note that these numbers depend on the chosen capture phase somewhat, but any reasonable capture phase will result in a significant advantage in properties captured first for Player 1.
In addition to the funding advantage from being able to capture twice as many properties first, Hellraider also receives a positioning advantage from being able to capture two bases first. Two bases first means two infantry first, which means that Hellraider will have an infantry advantage in getting to the contested properties. This will be more easily shown as the game continues on.
Day 3 - Roswell's turn
On day 3 the initial effects of the FTA are apparent. Hellraider is 1/2 turn ahead on the southern front (he is beginning capture of the city 3W of his base before Roswell) and 1/2 turn behind on the northern front (finishing capture of the northern base after Roswell). But he is able to send an extra infantry north from the middle base, essentially canceling Roswell's advantage. The extra inf will allow Hellraider to contest Roswell's capture of the contested properties more easily than Roswell can on the opposite front.
Day 4 - Roswell's turn
Here you can see that Hellraider has chosen to rush for the contested city on the southern front by skipping the capture of the city 3W of the southern base. (In high funds games, it is becoming clear that rushing for contested properties is a much better strategy than in normal games. Because the properties are worth more, it is worth sacrificing a 1k infantry to prevent your opponent from capturing a city worth 2.5k. Therefore rushing for contested properties and either a) capturing your contested property cleanly or b) disrupting your opponent's capture of their contested property, is a cost-effective and smart strategy.) Hellraider has also chosen to skip the capture of the port on the northern front, and has sent his infantry (which came from the middle base, remember) to a position where it will be able to disrupt Roswell's capture of the contested city. This leaves Roswell in a bit of a predicament: in order to disrupt Hellraider's capture of the southern city, he has to abandon capturing his city. On the other hand, Hellraider is able to capture his city AND disrupt Roswell's capture, simply because he is a turn ahead from the central base.
It is also worth noting that Hellraider declines to build a tank this turn, although he has the money to afford it. However, he will be able to build 2 tanks next turn (with 15k). This allows Hellraider to a) build more infantry earlier in order to capture more properties and b) see where Roswell builds his first vehicle from, to allow Hellraider to build his tanks from the appropriate bases to counter. It is arguable whether this is better than building the first tank on day 4 or not.
Note: Hellraider points out that "delaying a tank was definitely the right choice because not having every infantry as soon as possible is so costly in HF."
Day 5 - Hellraider's turn
Roswell decides to abandon his capture and contest Hellraider's city in the south, and he also mirrors Hellraider and rushes in the north. However, he makes 3 mistakes.
1) He does not begin capturing the port, but rather sends that infantry 3 spaces south. This will reduce the amount of funding he has in a couple turns.
2) He moves his infantry from his southern base to the city 1N, 2E instead of the city 3S. This will leave his infantry on the front without support for one extra day.
3) He builds his tank on the wrong base. Remember that for Roswell the northern front is his strong front, but is also the front where he has the most properties to capture. This means that he should be trying to build infantry from that base; building the tank will delay his captures on the front where he has more properties, which will delay his funding.
A better turn would have looked more like this:
Roswell should have built the tank from either the middle or southern base, and deciding which base to build it from affects whether or not he can contest Hellraider's capture. If he builds from the middle base, his tank will not be able to get to the front in time to stop Hellraider from capturing the city. On the other hand, if he builds the tank from the southern base, that means he will not be able to capture the city 1N, 2E of the southern base on day 5. However, it is probably worth it to disrupt the capture of Hellraider's city and delay the capture of his own city, so Roswell should build the tank on the southern base (not the central base, as depicted).
Day 6 - Roswell's turn
As an end result, the game is already looking very bad for Roswell on day 6. He contests Hellraider's city, but has no support and essentially throws away his infantry without preventing Hellraider's capture - he merely delays it by a turn. He has a tank that will be sent to the southern front, but Hellraider has already built a counter tank for that front. Meanwhile, Hellraider has successfully denied Roswell his contested city on the northern front, has a backup inf and a 2:1 tank advantage as a result of FTA from the middle base. From here on out Roswell is fighting very lopsided odds, having been beaten down by FTA and his mistakes on day 4.
Here's what a slightly better version looks like for Roswell:
Day 6 (alternate) - Roswell's turn
Roswell is still in a lot of trouble due to Hellraider's FTA, but at least here he disrupts Hellraider's capture entirely. In reality, building the tank from the southern base instead of the north would likely force Hellraider to send his second tank south, which would also give Roswell a little help on the northern front. The added funding from the port and city captures would also allow him not to fall further behind in vehicle count and funding.
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In conclusion, the FTA on Color of Envy could be fixed using a few simple measures:
1) Move the backwards neutral base further back 4-6 spaces into the corners. This would still result in an advantage getting to the contested cities, but it would delay Player 1's supporting infantry enough that the imbalance would not allow Player 1 to unfairly disrupt Player 2's city while capturing their own.
2) Start with an even number of infantry. This has the same effect as #1; it delays the capture of the 3rd neutral base by a couple turns, lessening the effect of the imbalance on capture of the contested cities.
3) Move the cities or bases so that there are an even amount to be captured by both bases. This will alleviate the funding imbalance somewhat.
4) Make the contested cities slightly less contested.
New FTA counters for HF maps with 3 bases have been put in on newer maps like Morning Glory and Seven Devils. These counters are not yet perfect either, but they are a bit more balanced than on Color of Envy. Other improvements will no doubt have to be made as the HF metagame develops.
Stay tuned for more information on high funds gameplay as Season 6 of the Colosseum continues. In addition to better countering FTA issues, the CO tier list for high funds games still needs a lot of work and testing, and determining the finer points of gameplay (unit choice, general strategy, desirable map features, etc.) is ongoing as well.
Until next time,
Walker
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