Every turn in Monsterpocalypse has a structure to it. For monster activations there is a Power Phase, Hyper Phase, Advancement Phase, Attack Phase and a Push Phase. For unit activations there is a Spawn Phase, Advancement Phase, Attack Phase, and Push Phase. These phases are part of the rules and you must follow them.
However, there is another way to segment your turn so that you maximize your effectiveness. By breaking your turn up into the following seven phases, you will achieve far greater efficiency with your game play:
1. Assess The Situation, 2. Set Objectives & Goals, 3. Prioritize Objectives & Goals, 4. Plan Your Turn, 5. Assess Retaliation, 6. Reassess Your Plan, 7. Implement Your Plan
Step 1: Assess The Situation
Before doing anything in your turn you have to find out your current situation. If you are behind in the damage race or low on power dice you may have a very different set of objectives and goals than if you were ahead. Here is a list of possible questions you should ask yourself when assessing the situation:
- How many power dice do you have compared to your opponent?
- Are you ahead or behind in the damage race?
- What is your current on-board unit strength?
- How does your power base look?
- Have you been operating at a luck advantage or handicap? (See: Luck)
- What type of activation can your opponent do next?
- Can you preform a back-to-back monster activation?
Step 2: Set Objectives & Goals
At any particular time there are numerous combination of moves, actions, and attacks a player can perform, however only a few will be beneficial. It is important to know what your objectives and goals are in a given turn.
There is a distinction between objectives and goals. An objective is something that doesn’t require a die roll, such as securing a power base, disrupting your opponent’s power base, setting up a screen, or moving your monster into a screened position. If you don’t have to rely on a die roll to achieve a task, it is an objective.
A goal is anything that requires a die roll, ie an attack, Pathfinder, or power up. Objectives and goals go hand in hand. It is an objective to get a unit into position to make an attack, it is a goal to hit that attack.
In this example it is Krakenoctus’ unit turn. Here are the list of possible objectives & goals:
Objective: Secure Power Base
Objective: Disrupt Opposing Power Base
Goal: Destroy Opposing Units
Goal: Damage Robo Kondo
Objective: Screen Krakenoctus
Step 3: Prioritize Your Objectives & Goals
Not all objectives and goals are created equal. If your opponent is going to activate his monster next and your monster is exposed to a form killing power attack, screening will probably be of higher priority than destroying a pesky unit that is disrupting your power base. However, this may not always be the case. Sometimes you have to consider your monster form a lost cause and prepare yourself to preform a big retaliatory attack. So destroying that pesky power base disrupting unit may be of higher priority.
When setting the priority of your goals it is important to weigh the chance to hit with the importance of that goal. Goals that have a high chance to hit a unit may have a lower priority than those that have a low chance to hit a monster.
Here is how the list of Objectives and Goals could be prioritized from the above example:
1. Objective: Screen Krakenoctus
2. Goal: Damage Robo Kondo
3. Goal: Destroy Opposing Units
4. Objective: Disrupt Opposing Power Base
5. Objective: Secure Power Base
Step 4: Plan Your Turn
This step is where you figure out how you will conduct your turn. What units will you spawn? Where will you spawn them? Where will they move? Who will attack? Do you power up? How many steps will your monster need to make? What action will you preform? How many dice will you use for everything?
It is important to plan out your turn in full before you spend any dice. You do not want to spawn your units, move them, then realize that not all of your units are in range to achieve the goal.
It is helpful to lay your action dice out on the board to figure out how they will be spent. Spawning a 2 cost unit at the O-14 spawn point, put 2 action dice there. Moving a unit to N-12, put an action die there. Planning to attack, lay out the dice you plan to use.
Below is a unit work sheet. It helps when calculating what exactly you can do with your units.
In the example shown above, Krakenoctus’ player plans to do the following:
Spawn:
Hunter Kor’al @ O-14
Nautilus Blaster @ P-15
Nullifer Pod @ J-14
Move:
Grunt Vanguard @ N-14 to N-8
Spiral Relay @ O-11 to P-9
Spadefin Skimmer @ G-14 to G-9
Tanker Truck @ B-13 to D-9
Attack:
Combined blast: Hunter Kor’al (Leader) & Nautilus Blaster using 2 Action dice and 3 Boost dice versus Robo Kondo’s now 3 defense with a 79.45% chance to hit. If the attack is successful, Power Gorge triggers giving a Power die.
Here is the Vassal log of the plan in action:
Step 5: Assess Retaliation
After you have worked out what you plan to do, work out what your opponent will do in retaliation.
Whenever anyone asks me for advice on how to play Monsterpocalypse, the first thing I tell them is to always play two games at the same time; your game and your opponent’s game. Knowing what your opponent can and will do gives you a big advantage.
Step 6: Reassess Your Plan
After you have assessed your opponent’s retaliation to your turn, go back and reassess your plan, making tweaks to optimize it.
During step 6, it is a good idea to step back for a moment, take a breath, and look at your plan again. See if there is anything better you can do. Can you place units a little differently to make a better hit percentage, or screen more efficiently? Can you use your abilities in a different manner that gives a slight advantage over your original plan.
In the Krakenoctus vs Robo Kondo example, it is possible to increase the chance to hit while still screening Krakenoctus by moving units a little differently and utilizing some abilities.
Spawn:
Hunter Kor’al @ O-14
Nautilus Blaster @ P-15
Nullifer Pod @ J-14
Move:
Spadefin Skimmer @ G-14 to G-9
Hunter Kor’al @ 0-14 to N-12
Attack:
Combined blast: Hunter Kor’al (Leader), Nautilus Blaster and Grunt Vanguard using 3 Action dice and 4 Boost dice versus Robo Kondo’s now 3 defense with a 94.01% chance to hit. If the hit is successful, Power Gorge triggers giving a Power die, Syncronized Move triggers allowing the Grunt Vanguard to move to N-8.
Action:
Sprint Spiral Relay to P-9
This reassessed plan requires the attack to hit in order to screen, sort of an all-or-nothing plan, but it increases the chance to hit by 14.56%.
Here is the Vassal log of the reassessed plan in action:
Step 7: Implement Your Plan
After all the assessing and planning, here is where you actually put your plan into action. Spawn your units, move your figures, roll your dice. The only surprises that should come here are from the die rolls.
Epilogue:
After you get use to following these seven steps there are a few more things you can do to play more competitively:
- Either don’t indicate your plan or indicate a false plan. If your opponent can see what you are planning by looking at how you place your action dice on the map, or which units you set aside to spawn, he/she can start to plan out their turn in advance, leaving them more time to complete these 7 steps. If you surprise your opponent at step 7 with your plan, your opponent will have less opportunity to implement an effective retaliation. This is especially effective in timed-turn matches.
- When playing in a time-turn match, it is important to come up with a back-up plan first. Something quick and easy to fulfill some basic objectives and goals. It may not be optimal but if you are running out of time before you have completed all 7 steps, go with your backup plan. The back-up plan is better than being caught with your pants down when time is up.
- After you see your opponent’s monster, force and city, and determine the map, but before you place the first building, develop a loose strategy for defeating your opponent. If your strategy consists of power dice denial, then your objectives and goals each turn may change. If you are facing a non-healing monster, dealing monster damage may have a higher priority than destroying units or disrupting a power base.
May all your power ups succeed and all your strikes be super!
Good luck!
I would like to thank Nathan Camp aka 4GJ! on Vassal for helping me with this article. Your determination and persistence at becoming a better player is truly inspiring.
