Game theory – Strategy vs Tactics
Lets start with the observation there is no ‘Strategy’ Category on Daily ‘Nade.
(as of this writing. OH SNAPS!) (ndEngine Added 
)
Interesting? no…
Typical of historical FPS mentalities? Yes.
Though military interest in game theory and bot AI are changing this.
the question of why should cut your eye.i didn’t say that
Quickly Americans before we fall asleep! lets define.[1]
A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.
(The word strategy has military connotations, because it derives from the Greek word for general)
A tactic is a conceptual action.
(A tactic is implemented as one or more tasks aimed at a specific goal)
Tactics is concerned with the conduct of an engagement while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked.
In other words, how a battle is fought is a matter of tactics: the terms that it is fought on and whether it should be fought at all is a matter of strategy.
BRAH you awake? cool cool.
Lets also introduce the idea of disciplines of thought, we will reefer to them as styles of play.
Defined and recognized by the proponents of said field in which research is published to esteemed peers (Daily ‘Nade readers for example) and the learned societies “peer groups/ clans/ pub all stars” and facilitators to which their practitioners belong.
Basically that’s a really lame way of saying not everyone agrees, and the byproduct is many different styles of gameplay(we will define types in a different article).
Cool is we can extrapolate that styles of play are bigger than any one player; they are ideas.
A quick diatribe on this anyways. People get almost religious about “how you should play”, “no psg”, “rush! u scared?” blah blah blah. this is dogma, which is fine ( its like weak minded street sweepers), what is not fine is WHEN IT GETS YOU TO STOP THINKING. (stop thinking forever that is; short periods of monkey see help define us as we ultimately reject them..wait whats the topic again?)
*keep the idea of dynamic play in your mind; have your style but as bob fish says, “play the board”.
One of the main takeaways from styles of play is lack of symmetry. “LR rulz!!”, ”SR8 4 eva!”. yawn. yeah you get it. lets call this an imbalance.
The second coolio trickle down is (most likely) there’s not a theoretically best way to play.
This means we can wax poetic on best practices and have theoretical wars till we’re so GEEKd up our FLAME WARS MELT OUR PUTERS.
Go US! And they tell us it’s just learned desensitization to responses of gratuitous violence as a means of arbitration. Jerks.
The best part about this nonsense is that you already do it to somewhat; that’s right, you filthy beasts, your already pedigrees.
Most common example of strategy is rushing to a camp…yes READ MY LIPS.
Though we will call them advantageous positions, to give proper respect to such esteemed pros. Almost every good player will do many “strategic pauses“ like such ie peek for a small amounts of time while having these favorable imbalances looking for easy tactical knock outs.
TS Strategy pop quiz : name one good traditional plan from jeep spawn in turnpike terror versus an evenly matched team? and an unorthodox (non-traditional) one?
We play turnpike everyday 4 billion times at least, you should know these without thinking. But needs multiple plans from each spawn, and the best plans have to keep getting refined. Whats the plan if 1 man down? 2 man down? Whats the time limit to just /kill because a round loss is eminent?
(Again this needs its own article.)
Think of it this way: if you hooked up 5 monitors and played as everyone of your team and counted all the odds at any given time and used them to your advantage in a vegas casino
…YOU WOULD GET KICKED THE FRAK OUT FOR NOT SPENDING MONEY.
SNAP BACK AWAKE AMERICANS! There’s more dammit…tactical debrief.
No point in an exhaustive definition, these few are listed for clarity and example for future articles:
The Movement (its really comprised of two parts)
Movement. Fluid movement is the cornerstone of your game. Its like a fighters abs. It helps your aim, limits exposure, gives you tactical abilities you would never have without.
Functional Jumps: All maps have functional jumps that can help give you speed, limit exposure, tactical advantage. This is not superman/icy jumps, this is whats the fastest jumps to get to other side of map where my team needs me.
We already defended imbalance, now think of favorable imbalance(s) as tactical advantages and or collections of such.
This concept is clutch and whole styles of play are based around identifying, collecting and using them to win. (we will define the iCare’s behind this in a different article).
Time: yawn..this is covered in other articles.
Picking a plan/position/role: best is gear, direction, and understanding of what it really is you are doing for the team in your position. Position is really a strategic sub category, but can be argued as a tactic so i included it. (maybe I’ll take it out later)
Think of Position as (a location in a defined space duh) that you can see, control, engage the enemy or set up a tactical advantage.
Uncommon knowledge: when everyone “knows” something. Always keep breaking the rules and doing something “no good player” would do as an option in the back of your mind. As an interesting aside watch a good player verse a total nub in a 1vs1 situation. It is interesting how much we rely on people making our idea of smart moves.
No related posts.
lol wtf?
I’m sorry, but the grammar errors and punctuation errors in this story made it very difficult to read. It also makes the UrT community look like a bunch of kids without spellcheck (or even grammar check). I think it reflects poorly on the entire website and should be unposted, fixed, and reposted. Ty.
Example 1:
“…Though military interest in game theory and bot AI are changing this.
the question of whyshould cut your eye.i didnt say that…”
What?
Example 2:
Lets also introduce the idea of disciplines of thought, we will reefer to them as styles of play.
Catch the mistake? Sure, let’s smoke some reefer when we are trying to come off as a pseudo-intellectual (it might be appropriate). I think you meant *refer*.
I think that the use of lol, abbreviations, and common vernacular are okay, I just don’t believe that the rules of grammar should be so ignored that the article becomes impossible to understand. Also, you put the time in to write the article – which seems well researched and thoughtful, but not the time to spell check it? What gives?
Furthermore, though the content is intriguing, it is carelessly laid out. Meaning: it’s missing a thesis, and any kind of hints as to direction.This article has so many headings and bold-faced “topic-points” that it practically needs a table of contents to bring it together. Whoever wrote this article must love the use of italics, bold, CAPS, and size differences in text .
Finally, why the slights at Americans throughout? I know you were trying to be funny, but assuming you’re not an American it comes off as demeaning and stereotyping. It alienates part of the UrT community.
The title of this article offered promise for a very useful resource, but to say that you came up short would be enormous understatement. You come across as someone who thinks he is talking down to his audience, only to prove otherwise through the complete lack of focus and structure in your post.
Mad skillz at UrT does not a writer make.
I think that what bothered me most about the grammar was the “talking down” that you are refering to (that and that it makes the post unintelligible). I don’t mind being talked “down-to,” but when that person is using awful grammar and poor spelling… it just seems ironic.
Like, “let’s use as many big words as we can, to make me seem smarter than you…” Meanwhile, the author misspells:
1. alseep (asleep)
2. Definded (defined)
3. stratigic (strategic)
4. religous (religious)
Though, to be sure, someone will debate my use of ironic. But you know what I mean.
Wodefnrul explanation of facts available here.
Once again ill say it, the site has nothing than any half experienced player doesn’t know.
I hope the author was drunk o.O
I found reading this article so frustrating that i took the time to rewrite it as it should have been done in the beginning. With all due respect to Riot, this is how I think this article should have been written…
Strategy, Tactics & Techniques
When considering your approach to game play in UrT, it is important to both understand and consider both the relationships and differences between strategies, tactics, and techniques. A strong understanding of how to put these concepts into practice can give you, and your clan, and advantage over your opponents.
To begin the walk into this area of exploration, lets begin with some definitions of terms to allow us to better consider what it is we are talking about.
Strategy: a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim
Tactics: an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end
Techniques: a way of carrying out a particular task
(source: New Oxford American dictionary)
To put this into the context of UrT, let’s redefine these slightly, with examples for clarity.
Strategy: (Team level) Your overall game plan. An example would be a plan in a CTF match to focus on a strong defense of the flag with a smaller attacking unit on offense. In this situation, the overall aim is to draw the opponents into a full press attack (to try to overcome your strong defense) and hope that your offensive unit can use this to their own advantage.
Tactics: (Unit level) These are subservient to the strategy, as they focus on smaller goals to help in achieving the main goal. In the above-mentioned CTF game, an example would be the methods employed by the defending unit to protect the flag. An example of this would be the use of a defined “kill zone” where your defenders set up an area of crossfire to overwhelm incoming attacks.
Techniques: (Individual level) These are the small tricks and moves that you use to help you achieve your tactical goal, and therefore move towards achieving victory though the successful implementation of your overall strategy. These can be exemplified by special jumps used to access particular areas more quickly, using ‘nades to clear an area before rushing, or simply using a wall for cover to allow you to pop in and out to shoot and defend/attack a particular area.
Now, although I have explained this by placing strategy at the “team level”, and techniques at the “individual level”, this is not necessarily the case. Each player can have their own strategies, tactics, and techniques; it is just easier to demonstrate it using these parallels.
To look at an individual as an example, his/her overall strategy could be to keep moving to avoid being a stationary target. His/her tactics could include the use of well-timed and planned slides into cover, which allows for mobility, while assuring a safe spot to recover energy. A technique could be the tossing of a grenade to clear the planned “safe spot” before sliding in. This is greatly oversimplified, but this is essentially how these different aspects of planning breakdown.
Granted, I am not a great UrT player, so my knowledge of the intricacies of such things is limited, but I am sure that others will be a wealth of knowledge in this area.
In that spirit, I will close by asking you all to offer input and share your advice on Strategies, Tactics, & Techniques with follow-up comments.
Cheers
|tR|Skeez
@|tR|Skeez
Hey… thanks alot! now i can understand what Riot want to convey to us by his guide! cheers..
thx skeez!
I hope that riot will fix this soon.
The only part in this whole article that was readable was the part where he copied pasted the definitions of strategy and tactics.
This article really should have never been published (quality control please).
The author and his clan were recently banned from FTWGL for harboring hackers and banned players. Would you expect such a person to be able to write a coherent article? I suspect the article was published to mock this individual.