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RAGL Frontline Reports :: S06.2

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 4:47 am
by netnazgul
The season started spinning at more common pace which means less games and more delays; people already were worrying about it going by schedule as planned, the unprecedented thing that has never happened before, but fortunately we are saved from this monstrosity now. This led to a new idea of delays having just a hard limit (i.e. 4, to allow delaying two consecutive weeks of matches), so if you delayed a match and then played it, you can't use this delay for other match anymore. Thus, delays should have more value as one wouldn't drop delays lightly because there won't be a possibility to delay afterwards when it actually matters. This mechanic is likely to be imposed next season.

The player roster has received some updates, as lundiz joined the ranks of Minions via Waiting List option and the vacant spot left due to uneven count in the group. First strikes were dealt as well, with DoDoCat and Julle being the major slackers; Bain vs Julle match was never reported or delayed during the week, which meant a Strike 3 for Julle and a straight away disqualification from the tournament.

This week also culminated in a RAGL day on saturday which has seen quite a bunch of matches being played during the day, most of them on stream as well. Let's see whether we will be able to repeat it - hopefully RAGL day stream this friday or weekend incoming.

Which also brought an issue to remind players about proper match reporting: you should either report the results as described via email, or can do it via Discord, but either use PM to Officials (@netnazgul preferably) or a private technical division channel and add officials to mention; if you do it on public channels and/or not mention the officials, it may simply be lost and what's more important it doesn't really register as a report but a mere message. Of course, replays should be correctly named and uploaded as well.

Notable weekly highlights

Season 6 Scoreboards and Fixtures thread.

:: barf 2-0 eskimo
The reigning champion, barf held an examination of eskimo the winner of Minions division on Shadowfiend II and Uzala. Both did a 1ref-wf build and launched infantry carrier vehicles out, but of course barf's ranger micro was impeccable, getting him 3-2 score on oils. The unexpected came just after that as barf didn't wait for anything to happen from his opponent and just launched a full-on basepush with his second MCV onto eskimo's natural expansion. It was stalled however when eskimo cemented the defence with 2 tesla coils; at the same time eskimo ran another MCV to outside expansion and also managed to almost catch barf's one in the open... only to be trampled by multi-pronged attack on his main from 2 sides.

Uzala saw barf going a meta 2ref, while eskimo went 1ref-wf with engineer on hold until APC out. APC micro was decent, but barf just had none of that and stuffed his own APC with grenadiers into eskimo's main, where they destroyed all power in a flash.
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:: eskimo 2-0 FiveAces
Another test for eskimo came later in the likes of FiveAces, the double RAGL champion. This time though it went by a completely different scenario. On Shadowfiend II FiveAces played very defensively, doing a double ref whereas eskimo opted for a faster eco build and a 4:00 MCV. Also getting better oil grab in the early game and denying FiveAces a successful infantry-only flank attack, eskimo then did a nice flank of his own and forced FiveAces to unpack his expansion conyard right into another army. MCV survived, but by that time eskimo had control of both outside expansions and solid assets lead. He then lost half of the expansion and traded the army, which left FiveAces with several heavy tanks and 2 yaks. This wasn't enough to stop any of the dispatches running around for eskimo, and when FiveAces got his blind expansion attempt caught in the open, the hope of a positive result died with it.

Second game on Forgotten Plains was a real half-an-hour thriller of Allies mirror. This time FiveAces went ref-wf, though being slightly greedy on rifles count. Getting the third "bain" MCV was a nice capture for him, which required eskimo moving out with his original one.
FiveAces then almost immediately went into four helipads, which were reduced to just one in a midmap attack, at the same time two groups of medium tanks by eskimo raided the flanks, getting as much as 3 ore trucks before perishing. FiveAces thus had a larger army and assets lead, but there was just no approach for attack possible as eskimo fortified the bases densily with pillboxes.
During the following 15 minutes the game has seen just about every unit possible being built by players, sparing the minelayers. It just seemed that FiveAces was out of options, not being able to inflict any sufficient damage around the map, even GPS didn't help him much, while eskimo slowly and steadily moved the frontline at the top of the map until driving his opponent from key eco points completely there. Having initially better eco and trading mostly evenly, eskimo got a decisive assets advantage by 30min, which culminated in a rather ineffective but still finalizing nuclear blast.


:: mechANIC 1-1 Odourless
mechANIC in his away orb-ish green colors played against Odourless in what may be considered the highlight of the week for Minions division. First game on Map X saw Odourless taking the proactive play right from the start, having extensive scouting and also doing a fast service depot and MCV, while mechANIC brought up 3 barracks and 3 refineries before considering the SD. The expansion by Odourless however wasn't optimal as he ran his MCV into the corner ore and largely forgot about it for some time, also going fast Dome by 5:30; at this point mechANIC cemented his middle presence with a cliff turret and moved his original MCV upwards to expand... only to be flanked by 2 med tanks that destroyed an ore truck and forced a response. The huge battle then commenced on the right side of the map, with mechANIC having a better army disposition and Odourless losing his artillery piece early to light tanks, which mostly decided the outcome. This was an uphill for Odourless from this point as he was locked outside of any ore positions and drained his main.

On Shadowfiend it was of course a calmer early game considering the distances. Again, Odourless was faster in eco department while mechANIC did a safe double ref build. Oil derricks switched allegiance several times before ending 3 to 1 in Odourless' favour. Interestingly enough, he also fielded a medium tank before MCV, which didn't provide any substantial benefit as the army clash did occur only when there were 2 tanks from his side; also the concave didn't favour him again and mechANIC came clean with a decent sized army, but was stopped at the top-left expansion spot where Odourless had already brought up two pillboxes and a barracks rally point. So, the game continued into allied mirror T2 play with the map being split to left and right sides. Both players fielded very tank-heavy squads that met in the middle when Odourless launched an attack; everything died in the battle, but that was beneficial for Odourless as he had a better economy and ore truck spread, this exchange giving him the huge 13K assets lead. mechANIC couldn't control the game at that point and didn't have enough army strength to hold position, so the game was done. Only required 3 more minutes for mechANIC to agree with the fact.


FiveAces' cast again had a RAGL match being highlighted, this time the cheese clash of the season between WhoCares and SirCake:




Also check last week's streams that included some RAGL action going on (including Orb vs eskimo and Orb vs ZxGanon), those were plenty:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328436577
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/326531880
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/327792729
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328478977
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328479265
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328097866


Events to watch for
Happy continues to delay the inevitable and is now the only player to not have played any matches at the start of week 3. Barf did the same only having one match played, and Anjew became the victim of delayers, managing to scrap a single match on the first week, but getting dumped by his opponents on other fronts. These delayed matches, as well as Unano vs eskimo derby, are the potential highlights of the week.
In Minions division, it is still largely uncertain of who will contest the leadership with WhoCares. Thus it is tough to call the better matches out there, with those having Bain against Dualwarhead and Odourless maybe become the ones. SirCake vs mechANIC match also has the potential of spicing the things up.


Follow the competition through forums and Discord server and don't miss on weekly streams by FiveAces (Tuesday EU evenings) and netnazgul (somewhere around the weekend)!

Re: RAGL Frontline Reports :: S06.2

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:15 am
by SirCake
Thanks for the report. You entertained my bus drive^^
Is this delay rule idea in effect now or is it irrelevant for this season?

Re: RAGL Frontline Reports :: S06.2

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 2:30 pm
by netnazgul
SirCake wrote:
Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:15 am
Is this delay rule idea in effect now or is it irrelevant for this season?
This delay rule is an idea :) Would be unfair to enforce it into the ongoing season. But it's an open suggestion for the next season, would like to hear some feedback and/or critics about it.

Re: RAGL Frontline Reports :: S06.2

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:46 pm
by WhoCares
nice report

Re: RAGL Frontline Reports :: S06.2

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 8:47 pm
by camundahl
Thanks for the report! I really enjoy reading these.