Team Sumo Strategies

[madmax]

The key to winning ... is to prey on players' timidness and cautiousness.

Example?

Green thought he had a big roomy box all for himself

[MrsKsr]

haha xD

[PsYkO]

yup Max that is def one example

[sinewav]

Thanks madmax. I personally knew what PsYkO was talking about, but I wanted more for the sake of the thread. Saying "The key to winning is to prey on timidness and cautiousness" is good for Sun-Tzu, but is an immensely vague statement when talking about Team Sumo strategies (this thread should really be called team sumo tactics anyway).

[PsYkO]

I am a player that views strategy very highly and try and be innovative.. To reveal in depth strategies gives advantages to players like lack max and durka = I lose advantages vs them

[Concord]

the best (in anything) innately do what others plan and deliberate about.

while it may easy for them to give advice, it is hard for them to pin exactly what makes them better, because it is something so ingrained and they carry it everywhere.

[Goodygumdrops]

psyko thinks he has ideas about team sumo that lack, max, and durka haven't had

[PsYkO]

Indeed. Just like they have ideas that I haven't had.

[Kijutsu]

Wait, you guys actually have strategies? When I play sumo, team sumo, I randomly drive around and when I see an opportunity I try to take it.

[Goodygumdrops]

Indeed. Just like they have ideas that I haven't had.

unfortunately, team sumo has less depth than a kiddie pool, so i have no idea what you're talking about

[PsYkO]

What you do in the first 10 seconds of the match is sometimes crucial in terms of strategy (of course skill still holds the most weight). You may think psh, it's only the first 10 seconds. But the first 10 seconds of a fortress match is equally as crucial, but I don't think we would ever hear complaints about the strategy of the fortress grind.

From there, you can play with speed, maze, slow and cautious. Focus on maintaining your space or expanding.

These aspects all coordinate with who your teammate is. which way should the outside person grind in the beginning...what should the inside person do? Which way to make the opening box? Should the outside person make a box next to you or go around to the other side and try and make the box? Should the attacker try to survive the entire match just to annoy the outside and try to get in? Or for fear that the defender will die prematurely, they stay close and always have a box up.

IMO my skill hasn't gotten much better over the years but because of team strategy, everyone plays it differently than when it first came out, and even how they played in the last TST.

[newbie]

the best strategy is to attack the other zone right away

[Flex]

One thing I can say and I know for a fact is, sitting there waiting for the enemy to die isn't skill.

[Lackadaisical]

But it is a skill to get in such a position that you can just sit and wait till the enemy dies.

And it's also quite a skill to be in a way unfavorable position and still be able to out-wait and sit your opponent.

[Phytotron]

One thing I can say and I know for a fact is, sitting there waiting for the enemy to die isn't skill.

That's why "sumo" should only grant a point(s) for a core dump (with tight score detection to minimise points awarded to self-boxers), and only a core dump. The zone should only exist to hold players in place and force them to engage. If I recall correctly (and it's possible I don't), that was the original intent.


I wonder if Lack would apply the principles he just laid out as equally to a last-man-standing server. That's not a rhetorical statement; I'm not making an argument either way. But you know there are many (not necessarily myself) who would shout "runner!" and "camper!" at such behaviour. In which case, one might describe "sumo"—as currently implemented with respect to scoring in particular—as encouraging and rewarding so-called camping; indeed, codifying it as a game mode in and of itself. Again, I'm not necessarily saying that's my position (I have an instachat that says "camping is a myth," and it's not sarcastic), but "sumo," as presently implemented (and there's, like, no deviation on that*) could be described that way.


* And so, by the way, why does everyone do the 30 speed, 10 accel, 5 rubber deal? For pete's sake, is it so hard to be at least somewhat original and change those up a bit? Likewise for Fortress ... hmm, I may have already griped about that here.


Just a few critiques. Not trying to thread hijack.