Score: 10
"Fabulous tactics game"
date: May 24, 2007
Great strat/tactics board game on a hex map. You and the computer pull from shuffled tiles and play them to convert nearby tiles (vaguely Othello-like), but you only convert tiles of lower value. Playing by your own tiles raises their value, giving you attacking and defending moves with each tile. Your low-value tiles are hard to defend and poor attackers, but can be used to bolster your mid-range tiles.
This version (unlike prior versions on "another web site") has multiple skill levels for the computer player and has options for the capture/bolster rules that should change the gameplay considerably.
The higher skill levels seem to weigh different attributes of moves differently. I am less able to goad the Skilled player into wasting moves on new "islands" of junk tiles, for example, and the Beginner player doesn't defend edge pieces very well.
Strategy tips:
- Like Othello, the corners and edges are strongest defensive spots. Holding two rows on the edge, the 2 space in the top-left or bottom-right corner, or 3 spaces in the other corners is guarranteed points.
- Look for pieces with only one open space next to them. When that space is taken, that piece is locked: it will never change sides or value. Lock your mid-range tiles and take lockable enemy tiles.
- Similarly, leaving a tile with only one open space is risky.
- What the computer values is not always what you should be valuing.
- If you get a string of low-value tiles, use them to bolster mid-value tiles, lock tiles in, or put them off in a new island. You'll get to them later.
- Try not to put tiles with the same value next to one another. This makes them easy (and tempting) to capture. Doing this on a lowbie "distraction island" is good against the Beginner player, however.
- If you (or the computer) gets a string of low (or high) tiles, look for the higher percentage of high (or low) tiles later. A string of low tiles early in the game is good for you: build attacking opportunities. A string of high tiles early in the game means you have to lock in points fast.
- It is defensive to lock in a low value (12 or under) enemy tile even if you can't capture it. Only one point worth of defense, but that adds up.
- Don't string low values on the edges. The middle is the dumping ground.
= In short: play for the edges and look for defense. You'll win. If you're frustrated and want a change, alter the rules in the "setup game" menu.
I've been playing this game for over a year on "another site" but stopped because my average score was over 1,000. This version plays better and has more options. Great fun.
Author's Response:
Everyone should read this review. It is very enlightening (even to me... a couple of these points I didn't consider, but makes sense in retrospect)and will help you win the game a lot more often. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Also, this should be the only version out there. I know there's one site that code-jacked the game to put their logo and a new title in it and pass it off as their game and in the process broke some of the code so the game didn't even play right, but maybe that's not the one you're referring to.
Xowl, I invite you to go to my personal site and try out Proximity DX, the sequel, which is still in development and currently only available as a rough demo, and give me your thoughts on it. I'm very curious what you would have to say about it.
