Battle Analysis:

 

Sirhatter                                                           vs                                 UltimateChu

The Halloween Nimmo                                                             The Disco Kacheek

 

Relevant Information:

                                                sirhatter                                    UltimateChu

Hitpoints                                   859                                          765

Strength                                    450                                          650

Defense                                    450                                          350     

 

Known Weapons                     Pirate Cutlass                           Pirate Cutlass

                                                SoS                                          Ghostkerbomb

                                                Heavy Robe of Thievery           Portable Kiln                                                                           

Noxious Carrot Blade               U-Bend of Great Justice

                                                Ghostkershield                          Ghostkershield

                                                Jade Scorchstone                     Kacheek Healer (?)

                                                Clawed Shield                          ????????

                                                Freezing Potion                         H4k Helm

 

 

Pre-Battle Analysis:

            This was the third of what turns out to be 4 fights between myself and this previously unknown warrior (see my earlier articles in this series). It was fought December 31th 2005.

 

            After my fiasco of the night before, I’m looking for revenge! Chu has gained 3 hitpoints in the last 16 hours. As you have already read, I have made my wallet lighter by some 200 dollars. Plenty of excitement on both ends then. Will this match be less of a debacle for me than the previous one.

 

Round 1:

 

            What am I thinking: Don’t forget to freeze dummy. Click that freezing potion, make sure it stays clicked! Chu seems pretty smart. He remembered that I beat his sink last time, he won’t do that again but he might burrow. I can’t throw my SoS much anyway, might as well bring it out now..

 

            What I think he is thinking: I think he will burrow and freeze. He may well be feeling good about himself, as he should.

 

My Move: Freezing Potion + Sword of Skardsen + Nimmo Chant (!)

His Move: G-Bomb + H4000 Helmet + Burrow(!)

 

The screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility1.jpg

 

            The Result: Plenty of offensive fire, and great guesswork all around! Chu correctly predicts I will not play defense, so he takes this opportunity to land his G-Bomb before my G-shield, or clawed shield, or any other trick I may have up my sleeve blocks a piece of it. If he had guts of steel, he coulda gone for the glory win, and round 1 KO (and gotten it!), but he’s right in thinking he’s the favorite, so no need to go crazy. Meanwhile I guess he’s going to burrow, and also gash him myself, but I must also play defense now earlier than I would have liked since I lost a big chunk of hitpoints

 

Round 2:

 

Both Parties Frozen, nothing to see here. Move along.

 

 

Round 3:

 

            What I am Thinking: Time to go to work. When I earned my draw in the first fight, I Did it largely on the Cutlass + G-Shield, an incredibly versatile and difficult combination to stop, unless you happen to be one of the lucky people who own a Jhudora’s Wand (price: eleventy billion points and climbing. So much about this combo makes it effective. The fact that decent pieces of it beat both burrow and sink. The fact that if you shut down any one icon type entirely, I am still pushing through at least 10 icons. (In spite of the current glitch in the battledome code that indicates the icons may be fractional or not quite 5-5, most people agree that the cutlass does 5 light, 5 earth, and at least 7 if not much more physical). At the time the Cutlass was released, I along with a lot of others were unimpressed. It was more expensive than the SoS and G-Sword in the tower, blocked by what was then a much more popular J-Wand, did less icons than the G-Sword… what was the big deal? Well, after having it in my set, I will say this. It is more consistent than the g-sword, does a better spread and variety of icons, and fares just as well against the g-shield, a weapon that is increasingly common in the master-level of fighting. Lower down or higher up, the G-Sword is better, but even if money were no object, I’d take my cutlass over the widely beloved Ghostkersword.

 

That’s controversial. But that’s how I feel. My set right now has a lot of balance. At some point if I can scrape a few mil together I can get a Kiln or a Mask of Coltzan to give me still more options, but with a big dark attack, a big earth attack, I can overload one player opponents and trash burrow and sink as needed. This is my balance. Burrow and sink become less useful the higher up you go. If you haven’t noticed, when I am on my game, and when most top fighters are on their game, the fights go longer. Sure your strength increases, and your weapons get stronger, but your tactical awareness also increases, and you don’t blindly berserk or fierce attack into your opponent, you start to get a feel for what your opponent does, and you maximize all of  your available options. Plus the ghostkershield shuts down so many weapons that are just dominating in midlevel fights. I don’t have the exact #’s (and am unconvinced idb’s are 100% accurate), but assuming your defense boost can match up against your opponents strength boost, a gshield wipes out 8 out of 10 icons against the ramtors spellbook, 8 out of 10 against the scuzzys comb (and would combine to do 13 out of 20 against the both in tandem), 4 out of 6 against the scarab ring, in addition to getting all but 4.5 out of 14 or so of the w-claws icons, practically all of the SoS (the first bigtime weapon most people own),. Only the kiln, mask, and sometimes ultra bubble gun fare even OK against this force of nature. Cutlass + Gshield, you will see, is my bread and butter move, and if I am not acting on a hunch, this is my default option. I can choose a lot of moves based off of this, including a burrow to wipe out any g-bomb or pea coming for one round, or I can use my nimmo chant to enhance the cutlass attacks (and make it 8 light and even more air), or really do almost anything. This is a move that I personally cannot stop adequately myself, and it is not insanely expensive to acquire these weapons, so needless to say I am a big fan of this option.

 

 

What I am thinking he is thinking: He has to be a little worried. Last time we fought he only had a cutlass and kiln. He knows I have my clawed shield lurking, and can’t really throw the kiln too much. Have I picked up something to stop the cutlass? He has to use it to find out.

 

My Move: Cutlass + G-Shield + Nimmo Chant (how I love thee!)

His Move: Gshield + Kacheek Smile

 

The Screenshot:: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility2.jpg

 

            The Result: It’s obvious that he missed with a reflector somewhere. I will take the result quite happily! I was behind after his early use of the G-Bomb, and now not only has he spent that, but he’s given me back most of his lead. I will be happy to repeat this move again, but have to think he has an earth reflector somewhere. There’s no way he could throw his U-bend of the great justice, he has to know I don’t have any water-based weapons!

 

 

 

Round 4:

 

            What I am Thinking: So that was cool! Lets see if I can do that again!

 

            What I am thinking he is thinking: If he (sirhatter) is going to make that move, then two can play that game… my strength boost is much bigger after all!

 

My Move: Cutlass + Clawed Shield + Nimmo Chant

His Move: Gshield + Kacheek Smile + unknown earth reflector (!)

 

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility3.jpg

 

            The Result: Very clever on chu’s part. A smart but not brilliant fighter would figure that if he missed with the reflector, the coast would be clear to try to overload on earth. Of course for me, the carrotblade will average about 8 icons (adjusting for his smaller defense boost) against a gshield, while the cutlass will push through about 9 icons, give or take. So while he may have been able to convince someone either more intelligent or more foolish than myself to take the bait and try some earth attack only to get trashed, I am either too dumb, or too much of a genius to fall for that trick. You can be the judge. (Based on the night before, I personally am voting myself for too dumb). I have no reason to throw the carrotblade until I see either a jwand or a sink coming. I see neither, so I again land another sucker punch. This one hurts especially badly given how many icons my cutlass landed for (24 to be exact!) Sometimes being clever doesn’t work out, but I still like chu’s thinking here, even if he is now behind in a fight he has no business being down in. Of course, the better move for him woulda been cutlass + gshield all along, but if he was going to try to reflect once, he might as well try twice. The jig should be up for him though, and he needs to find a way back into this fight. For what it’s worth I smelled a kiln coming myself, and guessed wrongly, but I still get the better of this one. I don’t ever like running two defensive weapons, unless you feel really strongly about your opponent’s next move, and this screenshot should show why, even though, again, I like chu’s thinking.

 

 

 

 

Round 5:

 

            What I am Thinking: Not enough as it turns out. I should have seen Chu was going to heal, he’s below one third of his hitpoints, and his species healer wont even work to maximum effectiveness. Here is something to remember: When your opponent is going to heal, DON’T PLAY DEFENSE! Your opponent can either heal + use a weapon, or heal + use a shield. If he or she heals + uses a shield, you have nothing to defend against and are free to do something other than play defense yourself! If your opponent uses a weapon + heals, your opponent  cannot play defense!!!! You get two free shots in, against only one shot for your opponent. I wouldn’t necessarily berserk here, but its worth at least considering, if your two weapons combine to average over 14 or so icons, and your opponent doesn’t really have a super strong weapon themselves. At the very least, don’t use a shield and use a species ability. I usually am VERY good about this and this lets me win a higher percentage of fights than I normally would be entitled to (as a few hitpoints I can steal here and there add up), but in this case, I dropped my guard, and went back to my default move.

 

            What I think he is thinking: He has to stop playing with his reflectors. That’s all I know for sure.

 

My Move: Cutlass + G-Shield + Nimmo Chant (?)

His Move: Gshield + Kacheek Life Potion + Life Drain on weak (!)

 

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility4.jpg

 

            The Result: Ouch! Somehow, if you life drain first, you can get back over the 1/3rd threshold and then get in a full heal? And why did it only take 10% and not 39%? These are the questions I am asking myself. I am not happy at all about my all around stupidity, as this could really turn a battle against me. The only upside is I have not yet had to heal, and own a big advantage in unused faerie abilities, so I am still ahead, and now have to focus and not get caught up in why the battledome engine did what it just did to me. The term in poker would be to go on tilt, or to start acting crazy and to lose control. I do not want to go on tilt here and have to keep my discipline. If I lose this fight I must concede that Chu has my number and is the better fighter.

 

 

Round 6:

 

            What I am Thinking: I am still fuming about the last round, and am thinking that drain life must only take 10%. So I figure this is high time to use it. Maybe the battledome engine was fixed after all. My cutlass has been beautiful all day, and so has my G-Shield. It’s go-time baby.

 

            What I think he is thinking: He will bring the offense. He has to! Part of the reason I am using drain life is it will give me extra hit points. I am half way expecting a kiln + Cutlass + berserk here to try to get a win. Two weapons would not surprise me at all.

 

My Move: Cutlass + G-Shield + Drain Life @ 39%

His Move: G-Shield + Goo Blaster + Kacheek Smile

 

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility5.jpg

 

            The Result: Goo blaster? Goo blaster?!? Ok. It doesn’t bother me I suppose. Its only 11 icons. The water could bother me some, but at least nimmos get the 20% resistance to water. My drain life did 39%. I’m not happy about that, but it files away in my mental repository, and at some point maybe I can get the wheels turning enough upstairs to figure this mystery out. I am still ahead, and even though I “wasted” 39% power, the drain life wasn’t totally useless, it’s about the equivalent of me using burrow and blocking 10 icons or so. This fight is hugely winnable for me now, and it’s up to me to make the right moves.

 

 

Round 7:

 

            What I am Thinking: What I am Thinking: This is a big round for me. I’m officially at the point where I could lose this fight. He is only about 25 unblocked icons away from KO’ing me, and that’s either a Cutlass + Smile landing unblocked, or a Cutlass + Kiln  + Smile partially blocked by a gshield, if the cutlass hits for enough. My defense is a huge asset, but remember while I am blocking 5 physical icons, since he has an edge in attack power, it only translates into about 3.5 icons, and so on for the light and air and earth. A berserk of course could end me here, but I don’t see him doing that. I need a few hitpoints, but not a ton, since I will have to go with a Jade soon anyway and cash in on my lead. I could cutlass again, but if he berserks it wont do me any good. I will elect now to steal something, since I don’t think he has that U-bend anymore. Maybe I can get something good.

 

            What he is thinking: See the screeny. He does a pretty good job of predicting my move, correctly guessing that I will steal. The burrow is not far off from what I actually do, and he just misses on the cutlass, since he figures I will burrow.

 

My Move: G-Shield + Heavy Robe of Thievery + Healing Vapor on MEDIUM

His Move: ??? + Cutlass + Kacheek Smile

           

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility6.jpg

 

            The Result: Chu brings the offense, and gets to doing what he should be doing all along. I am guessing the weapon we don’t see here is the G-Shield, that is what would make the most sense. While my healing vapor on the surface looks like a waste of 20% power, I am not upset at all. If Chu had used a kiln, he woulda done exactly 154 extra damage, which woulda put me at 37 hitpoints if I used the vapor, and dead if I didn’t. So I am quite happy with that move. I end up stealing a Shovel Plus. Not too useful for me, but it’s OK. I’ve narrowed down his set for, and his suspected earth reflector has been revealed. Time for me to Jade and make a run for it.

 

Round 8:

 

            What I am Thinking: Time to heal Dan. This also gives me a good chance to reassess.  Chu’s set. I had sent him a letter the previous round indicating that he had switched a lot up in the last 12 days. His reply is in the screeny this round. So right now I am thinking about what he has. Lets see if you can go through this with me. Again, if its greyed out, its either stolen or already used.

 

Freezing Potion                                     Pirate Captain’s Cutlass

Kacheek Life Potion                                         Goo Blaster

Ghostkerbomb                                                 Ghostkershield

Shovel Plus                                                       ????? (kiln?)

 

I think I have his set pretty well narrowed down. In deciding to use my shield or cutlass, I opt for the cutlass, because I think he doesn’t have enough attack power to really hurt me with only an 11 iconer as his 2nd weapon. Even if he berserks, he is getting about 46 icons with a modifier of 14 hitpoints per icon for maybe700 damage tops. It would hurt me badly, but I can survive anything he throws at me, and besides, even if he did that I would land 300 hitpoints of damage myself and it would be a very tight finish. I don’t want to give up a free shot here, so I take my cutlass at him, when normally I would play safe against a different opponent and use a ghostkershield

 

            What I think he is thinking: If he thought like me he’d throw two weapons. Of course I didn’t do that given the chance, so I can’t criticize him too much if he doesn’t. He has to know that I have to heal here. Bringing out the kiln or the mystery 8th weapon might make sense here.

 

            What he is actually thinking: It seems that The Neopets Team (TNT) deletes neomails automatically every two weeks or so, so his exact response is lost to time. But after he saw I stole his shovel plus, he actually had an ultra dual shovel in reserve. He was sure I’d feel safe in using my carrotblade, and he could land a devastating blow and crush me here. Unfortunately for him, while I did feel safe with the carrotblade, I still had no reason to throw it. Again, I only throw it when I see a sink coming, or when my opponent doesn’t know I own one, to try and throw my opponent off. Since I had to heal, the odds that I would use it here are even smaller. Still this was his thought, and it was a very elaborately set up plan, with the hopes of achieving a beautiful and unexpected victory.

 

My Move: Jade Scorchstone + Cutlass + Nimmo Chant (!)

His Move: G-Shield + ??? (ultra dual shovel) + Kacheek Smile (?)

 

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility7.jpg

 

            The Result: I am critical of chu’s move here. That mystery 8th weapon wasn’t the kiln after all. It was that shovel, and it missed. I at the time had no idea what it was, and figured he had gone mad and used a U-Bend or dark reflector. Either way I am now sitting on a 500 hitpoint lead, with only a 9% deficit in power. I am still behind 4 strength boosts, but it shouldn’t matter. I can now safely win this fight if I am not stupid. No reason to get clever at all.

 

 

Round 9:

 

            What I am Thinking: Yarrrr! Me be a pirate, a swingin my cutlass all day matey!

 

            What I think he is thinking: Time to do something dramatic? After my hitpoints are knocked down?

 

My Move: G-Shield + Cutlass + Nimmo Chant

His Move: Cutlass + Ultra Dual Shovel + Defend

           

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility8.jpg

 

            The Result: By chu not using a species attack, I’ve gained an extra 6 icons in the exchange, which compensates for me being down 4 boosts. I understand what he is thinking, in that he is trying to conserve power. He also elects not to use a gshield, which is understandable. At this point I need to screw up to win, and by screwing up, I mean using my noxious carrotblade because I should be thinking the coast is clear. If I do make that move in error, he would be down to 47 hitpoints only, but would be able to rip an extra 100 off of me from the reflection, and then top it off with an extra 110 from me not using my gshield, which would put the fight at 481-47. He could then put me in an either-or bind. Either I let him use regeneration to gain all of his power back, or I risk some sort of shield + diamond dust prayer, or I risk some sort of suicide attack. Even with a large lead like that his situation wouldn’t be totally hopeless. Even now its not totally hopeless, but the proverbial hourglass doesn’t have much sand left at all. I have a lot of respect for how Chu trains, and thinks about the battledome, so I am not counting him out. But we both know this series is very nearly evened up now.

 

 

Round 10:

 

            What I am Thinking: Cutlass + Gshield… don’t be an idiot and go crazy. Don’t be an idiot and go crazy.

 

            What he is thinking: I am not even thinking for him anymore. Plus Thinkfacility is pretty witty, so his comments say it all.

 

My Move: Cutlass + G-Shield + Nimmo Chant

His Move: ??? + Cutlass + Regen (Strong)

           

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacility9.jpg

 

            The Result: He is still hoping that I Bring my carrotblade. But it isn’t coming. I imagine that in retrospect he spent 15 million (maybe more? Maybe less?)  for that weapon. When you have a new toy that costs that much money, well by golly sometimes you want to use it. This just isn’t working for him though. At some point he’s got to figure I either sold that blade, or that I just wont use it. I can’t really criticize him though, because it may have been his best hope, and he’s probably stolen victories in the past thinking a similar way.  I now know I can see this win out safely.

 

 

 

Round 11:

 

            What I am Thinking: I must have had a brain freeze. I know he doesn’t have a kiln. I am worried about it though. I don’t want to draw. I am seeing all sorts of things I shouldn’t be.

 

            What he is thinking: Maybe he will finally bring out that infernal noxious carrotblade!.

 

My Move: Clawed Shield + Cutlass + Nimmo Leap (?)

His Move: ??? + Cutlass + Defend

           

The Screenshot: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacilitya.jpg

 

            The Result: Ugly all around. A lot of missed reflectors there. To a total newbie, it almost looks like we each only get to pick one weapon. I snap out of it right about now.

 

 

Round 12:

 

            What I am Thinking. OK enough is enough. He has 22 freaking hitpoints. There’s no way I am going to let him weasel out of this for one more round with some sort of 10% regen or something goofy. (the 10 % regen by the way would give him about 65 hitpoints. I am going to burn the last of my power and burrow, not worry about any big attacks coming and just CLOSE THIS FIGHT OFF. Note that I don’t use my carrotblade here. Not for fear of the shovel (since I think he may have a dark reflectorb for all I know), but more out of the realization that if he goes to the G-Shield again, I can at least land a few extra physical icons to close this thing out.

 

            What I think he is thinking: Not even concerned. As it turns out he rightly chooses to kamikaze.

 

My Move: Cutlass + SoS + BURROW strong

His Move: Cutlass + Goo Blaster + berserk

 

The Screenshots: http://idb.finalhit.org/uploads/sirhatter/thinkfacilityb.jpg

And…

 

 

            The Result: I win. Though you saw that coming for a few rounds probably. You probably were also wondering why I just didn’t get on with it earlier, and I wish I had an answer for you. Chu had set an elaborate trap for me, that I was too oblivious to notice. His comment at the very end in the last screenshot about says it all. The lesson in this all, is if you have the advantage, you don’t need to use outrageous tactics. That’s for the underdog. Stick with your best move until your opponent proves he has an answer for it. Then mix in a few other moves behind that one.  Once you are behind in a fight, then you can start to think about doing the unexpected. That would be all for today, hope you enjoyed the read.