Post by Garibaldi on Jul 7, 2010 14:57:00 GMT -8
There hasn’t been much written about rumble teaming since rumble was first introduced in ’06. There was a good deal of discussion and speculation 4 years ago and players had a hard time winning rumble melees even at max – 0. Therefore, the rumble teaming strategy that’s considered most effective today was passed down, largely, via oral tradition.
Since this guide contains mostly personal observations and experience along with some oral tradition, it may contain inaccuracies. I welcome any comments either to agree with or refute any points in this guide.
When rumble was first introduced even the better players had trouble with it. It took the oceans a while to learn how to deal with barbarians.
When discussing teaming in a rumble melee, it must be pointed out that you or your team mates can defend each other. This is done by clicking on the mate you want to defend. A small rectangle will appear above the mate’s mini puzzle. When you’re defending, some the attacks and sprinkles sent to your mate will go to you.
Early in rumble history it was thought that the best way to win was to have the not-so-good rumblers defend the rumblers that were able to build large insta kills in order to give them time to build. There were 2 things wrong with this:
1. There are no insta kills in rumble. The best one can hope for is to ‘nearly’ fill an opponent’s board. The opponent will still usually have at least a couple shots. If he digs out (bots can sometimes do that) he’s sending rather large hits back to someone.
B. It takes to much time to teach a greenie how to team. Trying to let inexperienced mates know who the best rumblers are so they can defend them was extremely difficult. Even knowing who the best rumblers are can be near impossible on large ships.
What eventually emerged as the best teaming method was to team in large teams of 3, 4, or more and forget about trying to defend. Since stalling is largely ineffective in rumble and the hits from several mates don’t build up in a queue, it’s easy for several mates to take out a bot and not be sending more ammunition for the bot to send back. Indeed, the best reason to team is that you’re less likely to be sending ammunition that can be directed back at your mates by a bot that isn’t going out soon.
A quick word about stalling: The way to stall in a rumble is to not shoot until the last instant before the game shoots automatically. Remember that anything fired automatically will shoot from the last fist you fired from. Stalling isn’t a particularly effective way to stay alive since you only save a few seconds per shot, but it’ll help a little, especially when your board is nearly full and you have room to break some small stuff. It’s best not to stall unless you’re in danger of going out. Stalling is particularly effective in one-on-one fights. The few seconds you manage to stay in it could be the time it takes for your opponent to go out.
A quick word about defending: The one place it’s considered wise to defend is in cursed isle. Mates are usually expected to defend their thralls (if they have one) if the thrall is being attacked. The object is to save the thrall for the next swordfight. It’s better to loose you in a rumble than your thrall. You’ll be back for the next swordfight, but your thrall won’t. I’ll usually watch other mate’s thralls if I don’t have one. When I see their thrall being attacked and it’s not defended, I’ll defend it.
As with swordfight melees, ghosting can be effective. Just before you break a big cluster or strike, look at your foes. If there’s one that has a nearly full board, target that one long enough to make the break. There’s a good chance you can knock ‘em out.
What’s the best way to punch? It doesn’t matter much. If you can build big strikes with a lot of charged balls, that’s great; it you can build small strikes, that’s good too; if you can sprinkle like mad and bust an occasional large cluster, that’s wonderful. Anything that’s helping to fill the bots board is good. If you can sprinkle like mad, accurately shooting quickly and breaking something with almost every shot until you can break a big cluster, you can win against the best rumblers. When you sprinkle remember, the attached balls that drop and are different colors than the busted cluster, are the most damaging part of sprinkling. Just clearing your board to stay alive as long as possible is a big help.
What’s the best bludgeon to use? As with sword fighting, your weapon doesn’t matter in a melee. What’s best is a mix of weapons sending different colored sprinkles and strikes. Even fists aren’t a problem.
You may have noticed that teaming in a rumble melee is less important than in a swordfight melee. That may be, but proper rumble teaming will win a melee even if you’re out numbered and the bots are ahead on cannon hits.
Take a look at this link. forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=665271 It’s the most in-depth discussion of rumble teaming I know of. It’s from shortly after rumble was introduced. You’ll notice that a consensus was never reached and no one ever really mentioned the method we use today as a primary teaming strategy.
Since this guide contains mostly personal observations and experience along with some oral tradition, it may contain inaccuracies. I welcome any comments either to agree with or refute any points in this guide.
Advanced Rumble Teaming Guide
When rumble was first introduced even the better players had trouble with it. It took the oceans a while to learn how to deal with barbarians.
When discussing teaming in a rumble melee, it must be pointed out that you or your team mates can defend each other. This is done by clicking on the mate you want to defend. A small rectangle will appear above the mate’s mini puzzle. When you’re defending, some the attacks and sprinkles sent to your mate will go to you.
Early in rumble history it was thought that the best way to win was to have the not-so-good rumblers defend the rumblers that were able to build large insta kills in order to give them time to build. There were 2 things wrong with this:
1. There are no insta kills in rumble. The best one can hope for is to ‘nearly’ fill an opponent’s board. The opponent will still usually have at least a couple shots. If he digs out (bots can sometimes do that) he’s sending rather large hits back to someone.
B. It takes to much time to teach a greenie how to team. Trying to let inexperienced mates know who the best rumblers are so they can defend them was extremely difficult. Even knowing who the best rumblers are can be near impossible on large ships.
What eventually emerged as the best teaming method was to team in large teams of 3, 4, or more and forget about trying to defend. Since stalling is largely ineffective in rumble and the hits from several mates don’t build up in a queue, it’s easy for several mates to take out a bot and not be sending more ammunition for the bot to send back. Indeed, the best reason to team is that you’re less likely to be sending ammunition that can be directed back at your mates by a bot that isn’t going out soon.
A quick word about stalling: The way to stall in a rumble is to not shoot until the last instant before the game shoots automatically. Remember that anything fired automatically will shoot from the last fist you fired from. Stalling isn’t a particularly effective way to stay alive since you only save a few seconds per shot, but it’ll help a little, especially when your board is nearly full and you have room to break some small stuff. It’s best not to stall unless you’re in danger of going out. Stalling is particularly effective in one-on-one fights. The few seconds you manage to stay in it could be the time it takes for your opponent to go out.
A quick word about defending: The one place it’s considered wise to defend is in cursed isle. Mates are usually expected to defend their thralls (if they have one) if the thrall is being attacked. The object is to save the thrall for the next swordfight. It’s better to loose you in a rumble than your thrall. You’ll be back for the next swordfight, but your thrall won’t. I’ll usually watch other mate’s thralls if I don’t have one. When I see their thrall being attacked and it’s not defended, I’ll defend it.
As with swordfight melees, ghosting can be effective. Just before you break a big cluster or strike, look at your foes. If there’s one that has a nearly full board, target that one long enough to make the break. There’s a good chance you can knock ‘em out.
What’s the best way to punch? It doesn’t matter much. If you can build big strikes with a lot of charged balls, that’s great; it you can build small strikes, that’s good too; if you can sprinkle like mad and bust an occasional large cluster, that’s wonderful. Anything that’s helping to fill the bots board is good. If you can sprinkle like mad, accurately shooting quickly and breaking something with almost every shot until you can break a big cluster, you can win against the best rumblers. When you sprinkle remember, the attached balls that drop and are different colors than the busted cluster, are the most damaging part of sprinkling. Just clearing your board to stay alive as long as possible is a big help.
What’s the best bludgeon to use? As with sword fighting, your weapon doesn’t matter in a melee. What’s best is a mix of weapons sending different colored sprinkles and strikes. Even fists aren’t a problem.
You may have noticed that teaming in a rumble melee is less important than in a swordfight melee. That may be, but proper rumble teaming will win a melee even if you’re out numbered and the bots are ahead on cannon hits.
Take a look at this link. forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=665271 It’s the most in-depth discussion of rumble teaming I know of. It’s from shortly after rumble was introduced. You’ll notice that a consensus was never reached and no one ever really mentioned the method we use today as a primary teaming strategy.
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