Interview of Jean de Metz & Melciar - 3rd of the 2016 2vs2 PBEM Tournament (part 2) (Community)

Interested in getting some insights into the strategies of some of the best players of AoW3? Want to know what they think are the best combos and units? This is part 2 of the first of a series of 3 interviews with the players who qualified for the final phase of the 2016 PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament, which involved 16 teams.

Au Articel par Hiliadan

An introduction to Jean and Melciar and the answers to the first questions of this interview can be found in the first part of the interview.

7/ How did you work in your team? Did you share screenshots or discuss strategies between turns? If yes, with what tools (Dropbox, text, call, …)?
Melciar: We discuss our strategy on Steam and Skype. We share screenshots too. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't help and everything goes wrong...

Jean: Team games are the most interesting format for me. I always discuss strategy and share screenshots with my teammates. I think that Skype and Discord are the best tools for it. I don't like Dropbox because you can only upload screenshots there and you still have to use other programs to contact you teammate. In Skype I can look at the screenshots and talk to my teammate at the same time. I like to discuss strategy via voice with Hellbrick. "

8/ What are the big differences between free for all and team games in your opinion? What strategies did you develop in your matches that you could not have achieved alone?
Melciar: FFA is almost survival. You need to catch the very moment when your neighbours fight each other and then attack the weakest. A team game is a format where you need to build your team strategy.

Jean: Team games are all about cooperation. Here you can take any class with its weaknesses because your teammate can help you. For example, you can play Dreadnought or Warlord in the underground but these classes are often blind there. As for summoners, you often face the following situation: you need to scout and summon units to your army at the same time. So a good teammate can always help you with scouting and different resources.
Right now I don't like FFA games. Honestly, I haven't yet finished any FFA games at all but right now I'm playing two games of this kind. In both of them I can see how powerful shadow diplomacy is. I believe that no matter how good you are at this game, you can never fight several players at the same time. It's challenging, yes, but not that interesting to me.
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9/ What was the hardest match you played in this tournament?
Melciar: Every match was tough for me, really.

Jean: The hardest match was against Warlord Keldon and Fistandantilus (note from the editor: check out the detailed report of this game). In this game we were very close to defeat. I have to say that I always run the risk of not finishing my 2-2 tournament games in time. It makes it even more difficult for me because I have to keep in mind that the match can be decided by score.


 One of the tough battle of the game mentionned by Jean vs Fistandantilus and Warlord Keldon

10/ What results do you expect for the 3 teams in the final phase?
Melciar: I have no idea.

Jean: I expect my team to lose in the upcoming round. Melciar is definitely not ready for this tournament and I think that Bastards of the North will punish him for his mistakes. What's more, our opponents are placed very high in the rankings and I'm not sure I myself can outplay them.
I think that Gabriel will claim another title though Tussell can be his weakness now since he very rarely plays these days and can get out of shape.

(note from the editor: in the end, Melciar and Jean surrender their match against the Bastards of the North, for personal reasons, leaving their opponents to face Coup de Grâce in the finale)
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11/ Any advice for players who would like to improve?
Melciar: Play a lot. Train fights vs the AI so that later you can play them automatically. Analyze your games.

Jean: I'm not going to say usual things here like "train tactical battles, scout better and cooperate with your teammates, etc". What's more important for me is the psychological aspect. I've heard some players say things like: "how can I defeat a true master like you?" or "he is just too good for me". I just can't understand this. Look, guys, Age of Wonders is not chess or any other intellectual game where you sometimes need to have a certain type of mind to show good results. Here everyone can win a game and you don't need to train for many years in order to defeat the top players on the battlefield. Believe in yourself. At the same time you need to understand that if you lose very often or can't win against somebody it's not because you are always unlucky...
Maybe you just do something wrong in this game? Try to change you play style or simply ask a strong player for an advice. That's why I always enjoy reading reports on the battlefield - I can find something new for me there. I myself write reports and play in team with different players where we can watch each other moves. I don't like when players say almost nothing after a game explaining that they don't want to reveal anything. How can new players learn then?


You can find some very good reports written by Jean (and others) in this thread, to follow his advice of learning by watching what others do - this screenshot illustrates his plans with Hellbrick to beat a double-AD combo, very good report

If you're interested by competitive plays, please check this video library gathering most competitive PBEM and live MP videos.