Posts from The Crusade (autumn, winter 2013-14)

And I forgot to mention that there are "red," "blue," and neutral templates.

For example, this is a clear "red" template, simply because the layouts tend to generate slightly worse results for blue. I once conducted research on this topic and published the statistics.

Among the "blue" templates, we can mention Mini-Nost, where the layouts are, on average, the same, so the Castle, restarts, and the first choice of computer players matter. As does the non-tempo nature of the template.

Diamond is also "blue" according to the current tournament rules (1000+400 control), as the computer players move immediately after the blue player's turn, so on the red player's turn, it already has complete information about the situation on the map, and there is no need to revise its plans under the ticking timer.

6lm10a is also "blue" because the guards in the corner treasure rooms are slightly weaker there (3K versus 6K), and the expansive nature of the template creates approximately equal layouts and the prospect of a late game.

The gameplay is quite different for red and blue on 8xm12a; red more often gets the poor central zone with many roads, while blue gets the rich corner zone with long roads. So, here it is more a matter of taste, which color to play.

I should note that 8mm6 (original) is "red" due to the more convenient road network for red, but 8mm6a is already "neutral"; it was actually edited for this purpose.

In Jebus, the situation is such that the weaker the Castles, the more advantageous it is to play as blue - the advantage of restarts decides, and you can make up for a day's lag due to the layout. And for strong Castles, it is better to play as red - the right to the first turn decides.

Speed-2, 6 min, seasonal rules

What kind of template is this anyway?