Battle Strategy
1 on 1s are getting mighty old, in my opinion. I still seem to have communication problems with partners, but I prefer team games. Here's some pointers on getting IWL games and working in teams.
Don't fall for that garbage like "who challenges me to an IWL match?" or "will you challenge me?" unless you get to choose all the map. Usually, they want to play on their favorite map or with their favorite settings. Don't agree to that. Make sure YOU start any game that you are challenged to.
Since we are humans, we don't see the full potential of our advantages overorcs until we have mages. Therefore it is important to choose a map that delays the game and gives us a chance to develop mages. A great map for this is High Seas Combat.-Durandal
Be a good sport. Don't be a jerk. Always say "good game" if they are half way civil opponents. Never leave a game without saying anything. I play IWL because I enjoy the people (with a few exceptions).
When you are playing team games, watch what you say carefully. Communication is very important. Keep each other up to date with what you're building. If you plan to team up on someone, designate a meeting place for your troops first. Never say "I'm dead" unless there is 0 chance of a recovery. If you truly are on your way out, tell your teammate you're about to die, what the enemy has and what he has destroyed. Your ally can send everything he has if there's a chance to save you. If there is no chance of helping a teammate who is going down, save your own troops. Go attack the enemy's base or protect your own.
NEW Keeping your troops and those of your ally together is key. On maps where it's tough to expand, combine your armies to get new mines until the one player is all set with towers and troops. Early combined attacks on an enemy can often take them out of the game. Combine your troops (including sea units) to take out new enemy towns early.
This is one of those DUH things, but we aren't doing it well :)
Issuing Challenges
In general, people should challenge a lot more. I can't say enough good things about challenging. Challenging brings you new map experiences, new resource settings, and in general improves your skill much more than winning on your pet map. If you keep it up, eventually you will be good on almost every map, and when confronted with a new map, you will do well. Also your war2 learning curve increases quite a bit when you challenge, you will find new strats you can apply to your pet maps or can be used against you on your pet maps. Furthermore challenging gets you more games, since more people are willing to accept a challenge, then issue one. So you will get more bonus points AND far more importantly you will get warcraft2 experience that you can't get by smurfing and playing mediocre players. Challenge more, you will be a better player for it. And once you are a better player, then you will start racking up the points.
If you don't believe me, look at the players that are doing well in the IWL now, like Backlash. He doesn't shy away from a challenge. He will play anybody, and does. He has always been like that, but never got the huge points under the old rules (though he still had a few hundred) because people could play on their own map and settings. That isn't possible anymore, your opponent will always determine one of them. Now he is kicking ass because of his experience. He can play any map, any setting. Additional evidence for my theory, look at the number of games good players play. They A LOT of games. It isn't just because they have the time, lots of people hang out in kchat and never seem to play a game. It is because they challenge, and thus get the high quality games you need to improve as a player.
If you are new to the IWL, challenging is even more important. When I first joined IWL, like everyone else I had zero points. I tried to play all the best players, and lost quite a bit. This is what you are supposed to do. You have nothing to lose, only playing ability to gain. Challenge, challenge, challenge! You start with zero points, so who cares if you lose a few matches. When I see a player with no or little points refuse a challenge from me or anyone they believe is better, I think what an idiot. He is too afraid to lose, and he isn't going to get any better. -Thrugg
Rematches:
Generally speaking, immediate rematches are a bad idea. Only play them if your opponent sucks horribly, and you are sure you can beat them. Otherwise don't bother. If your opponent has just lost a close game, he has a much better idea of what he did wrong, and how to improve than you did. If you lost a game by a landslide, don't bother with a rematch. Go play somebody else, let your mind brood over the loss and figure out what went wrong. There is no point in losing again. If you lost a close match, you might want to play another game. However, if you are like me, you think that every time you lost it was close! When in actual fact it was a landslide. Generally you are too annoyed to think straight after a loss anyway. If you look at when people play a 2 game series, about 70% of the time one person wins both matches. If you don't believe me, read the win/loss log for a week. Don't rematch unless you crushed your opposition. - Thrugg
Rung Matches
Don't be afraid to challenge your friends to a rung match. If they are mature adults, they won't take it personally. Rung challenges are good for the nation for a lot of reasons:
They move the poor/inactive (often the same thing) players to the bottom of the rung where they can be removed by the Clan leader or challenged out.
They encourage better players to stay in the clan, because they have a high rung position and earn bonus points.
It allows the better players (higher in the ladder presumably) have the final say when your team is trying to decide on a map/resource. This is generally a good thing.
Good intense gaming experience!
So when you play a rung match, you are really doing your nation a favour. So don't feel bad!
