Welcome to a new feature on the AWBW Blog called the Player Spotlight. There's a lot of interesting people on this site, and it's hard to learn much about them from just playing games against them. So from time to time we'll be taking a closer look at a player on AWBW in order to get to know them a bit better. Today I'm quite pleased to shine a little light on this week's spotlight player: Desklamp!
Introduction
Desklamp is a 19 year-old college student who lives in the U.S. Besides AW, he plays Starcraft and enjoys playing board games such as Agricola or Puerto Rico with his friends. He also played tournament chess when he was in high school, and still plays chess now, though not as much as he used to.
On AWBW, Desklamp is fairly new but shows promise for someone with such a low game count. Desklamp has only played 65 games on the site, but has nevertheless done quite well in the Global League so far, posting a record of 16-8-0 and currently is in 21st place out of 131 players. He is also participating in the Colosseum in Division 3, and has gone 1-2-0 in three games against some tough competition. I would rank Desklamp somewhere in the upper mid-level of AWBW players, but he's still improving and I would not be surprised at all to see him break into the top ranks within the next six months.
Games and Recent Results
Desklamp has been doing well lately in his games, and is on a 3-game win streak in the Global League since his last loss, against ymouba on 12/06. He has won against headphone on 12/10, against marxistplot on 12/21, and against TotalFire on 12/21. His other recent loss was a High Funds Colosseum game against TGAL05 on 12/15.
He's currently playing interesting games against:
Lalann in the Colosseum
mxdcyw2000 in the Global League
akiyoshi in the Global League
Interview
I also asked Desklamp some questions about himself and his experiences on AWBW. Here were his replies:
Walker: How did you choose the name "Desklamp"? Is there any significance or meaning behind it?
Desklamp: "Desklamp" is a screen name I chose for myself a long time ago, when I was about 10 years old. There's no significance behind the word itself--at the time, I found it a funny name.
Walker: How did you get interested in AW / AWBW?
Desklamp: I started played AW2 when I was about 12. I remember liking the game a lot, but eventually becoming frustrated with the AI, which was constantly throwing away its units (putting units in the range of indirects, move B copters to where A-Airs could shoot them, etc). Later, I also realized that infantry were extremely strong, and that it was generally possible to win by choosing Grit and building nothing but infantry and artillery. I wanted to play against other people, but the startup cost of teaching someone to play was way too much.
One of my friends who I live with later told me about AWBW after we discovered that we both played AW. (He's Haxxson on the site). I realized right away that this was precisely what I'd wanted--now I could play against opponents who didn't constantly make trivial mistakes, the maps were intelligently made so that spamming infantry wasn't possible, and I didn't even have to wait for my opponent to move each time, since I could just check in once a day and make my move!
Walker: Which AW cartridge game did you enjoy the most?
Desklamp: I most enjoyed AW2, although it's probably just because it's the first one I played on. I liked the fact that unlike in AW:DS, where you could use "boosts" on each level in the campaign, each level you played was completely independent from each other level.
Walker: Do you have a favorite map? A favorite CO to use?
Desklamp: Unorthodox Team Diplomacy is an extremely clever idea. I'm in the middle of a game on it right now--it takes a long time to move because of all the bases, but other than that, it seems like a very well-designed and thought-provoking map.
As for favorite COs, I think I like Sami more than most people because I tend to take her whenever she is not banned and Sturm/Von Bolt aren't legal--I'm perhaps a little bit too enamored with her, but I'm impressed by her SCOP, which is the only SCOP capable of winning the game in a single turn often gets you quite a few properties even when it doesn't do that. But, honestly, I think my real "favorite CO" is usually the highest-tier non-banned CO.
Walker: If you could meet any CO in real life, who would it be?
Desklamp: Sonja. She plays AW like a good game of chess. She tries to play a tight game, but she also likes to win in clever ways, and she tries to predict her opponent's strategy.
Walker: What was something you thought/did when you first joined that you look back on and laugh at now?
Desklamp: When I played AW2 against the AI, I had decided that my two favorite COs were Grit and Colin--Grit because artilleries comboed so well with infantry, and Colin because his guys were cheaper and weaker, but I realized that being weaker didn't make your units worse at some things, like capturing, transport, or meat-shielding. (I also liked Colin's COP.) Because I concluded that that made Colin good, and Kanbei felt symmetrical to Colin, I concluded that Kanbei must be as bad as Colin is good. This made me pretty confused when I first started playing on the site ("Why is Kanbei always banned?").
Walker: If you had one piece of advice for new players, you would tell them...?
Desklamp: Huge tanks aren't as great as they seem to be--in general, cheaper units are better per 1000 funds spent (with infantry being an extreme example).
Walker: Do you have a rivalry with any player(s)? Someone that you particularly hate losing against or have a good history with?
Desklamp: Well, Haxxson and I know and live with each other, and we regularly check League standings to see who's doing better, so... yeah. Right now he's ahead of me, but obviously that's only because he cheats. (I haven't yet figured out how.)
We've played quite a few games against each other on the site by now, and some of them were very complex and interesting. Specifically, the ones I won.
(Author's Note: Desklamp is actually ahead of Haxxson in the Global League right now - apparently he figured out how Haxxson was cheating.)
Walker: If you were playing a 2 vs. 2 team game with $1 million on the line, who would you most want on your team?
Desklamp: dorian5. At the time of writing, dorian5 has the highest rating on the site.
Walker: If there was one thing you'd add to or change about AWBW, what would it be?
Desklamp: I've heard talk about deterministic mode. I can't really claim to be good enough that the luck has ever caused me to lose a game I would have won or won a game I would have lost, but I like the idea sort of on principle, and because this game has a fair amount of positive feedback I can see how being unlucky on an early tank vs. tank fight could cause a good player to lose. I would definitely be happy with League games becoming deterministic.
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Thanks to Desklamp for participating! If someone else would like to volunteer to be featured in the next Player Spotlight, please send me a PM.
Until next time,
Walker
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