Saturday, April 27, 2013

Explore more. Trust the net less.

Groups of humans are arguably the most brilliant and most spectacularly idiotic creatures. We cling tight to chain letters and urban myths in the face of evidenced argument and critical thought.  Still, sometimes we get people to the moon and back safely.

This is the same with net lists. "Ook! Ook! Me heap big smart winperson. Me know aaAAlllll!" 

Sometimes they have good points. Sometimes they can't see past their environment - their Meta. Often they can't see why they work. By way of example 40k (hush! Comparison doesn't see venue borders!)had a fearsome list called "leafblower" that dominated the tournament scene for a season. Opinions vary on the reason Leafblower stopped ruling the roost. In the final assessment people learned how it operated and learned the lesson Warmachine players are forced to learn early : focus on the goal, not your opponent.  This was the same with the eHaley double Stormwall.

The simplest truth of the argument is that there is no "one list" to rule them all. No panacea. Enkidu left the building, and Gilgamesh is SOL.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods. Theorymachine regularly collapses under application.

Let's look at what netlists are good for.
The massively parallel processing power of humanity allows us to compare and contrast on a grand scale.  If we see the same tools used repeatedly a correlation exists.  Less used tools may be a victim of overlap of roles as much as anything else. The truth is a bit muddy. 

Today we snitch resources from endgame gaming (dot) net. Look at the lists closely and you will see one common thread:   The Adepticon Masters tournament top ranks did not include anything terribly surprising.

I'd call them straightforward if anything. No list is screaming a design to counter a singular threat. So what made them effective :

Knowledge of the basics and practice practice practice.

Each of the duplicate factions present variations that appear to be indicative of personal taste rather than a "leafblower".  Each piece had a plan, an objective, and complimented or overlapped other functions.


1 comment:

  1. Just to review:

    This is why netlists are bad:

    List 1 is achingly subject to directed fire and sprays. The list underscores the lynchpin of a Protectorate army (disassemble in the correct order to win) while being unable to perform effective counters to shooting. Privateers' tough does not extend to the attendant priest.
    List 2 can't withstand taking the first charge. While the Errants can defend with a fairly robust ARM Long Gunners (and when did you see them last?) are a sound counter. Winter Guard and Kovnik Joe.
    List 3 ... Fire on a colossal. Ignite + the Choir's Battle had best be punching the hell out of heavies at dice +4 or so. If it needs Fire you've already made a critical mistake depending on POW12 versus (average) ARM18

    If you've heard the podcast (And why haven't you?!?) you heard the bit about netlisting being bad about explaining *why* something is good/bad.

    Homework Assignment: Why is it bad?


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