Pinning: A miniguide v2.0

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[Knight of the Horizon]

It seems a lot of people are having difficulties with pinning, so I thought I'd make this brief guide on how it works, so that you can better avoid it and use it. 3nodding You might also want to check out my basic tactics guide as many of the techniques are discussed there as well. smile

As per Panagrammic:

Quote:

Pinning

Your units may sometimes be pinned or be unable to execute their planned move. This happens when enemy units move into your region before your units move out. The rules for movement order are:
- All regions are randomly sorted
- All movements are then done by region, in sort order
- The number of units involved in the move does not matter.

Tip: to maximize your chances of pinning your enemy, try to surround them and move units into their region from more than one region.

Here are some basic logical deductions that can be made from this rule. 3nodding


What this means to us

• Stacks fight as teams. Either all units in the stack will complete their move, or all will defend. They can't be split up unless you explicitly tell them to.
  
• Opposing units cannot "ghost" through your attacking units. If two regions attack each other, all units will be involved in the fight in one of the two locations. This is a powerful defensive feature that works against "sneaking behind" the opposing forces. 3nodding
  
• Attacking from multiple directions will improve pin chances. This is because you only need a high priority in one attacking region to get a pin. More regions means more chances to get that high priority.
  
• It's difficult to guarantee a pin on a certain location. 1 attacking region = 50% chance for a pin, 2 regions = 66%, 3 regions = 75%, 4 regions = 80% chance, etc.

Why the heck does pinning even exist?

Great question! In a pinless system, units would easily be able to "ghost" through each other. If I attacked your region and you attacked mine, our forces would never meet and we'd steal each other's regions. >w< Pinning ensures that a fight WILL happen when two groups attack each other. 3nodding

Pinning also gives a bit of "territorial armor." In the event that your opponent decides to attack your area, you'll get a chance to get pinned and defend against it. 3nodding

Example

This horseman will NOT be able to move onto my portal after my guys leave.

Why? Either:
A) I'll have a priority than him, and pin him, or
B) He'll have a higher priority than me and I'll be pinned.

Therefore, this attack is completely safe. : D Thanks pinning. <3


Basic Pin Technique: Throwing a Steak to the Dogs

You don't have to attack with all your men to create the same type of "perfectly safe" condition. 3nodding One will suffice. ^^

This maneuver is completely safe as well. The minions will not be able to move onto my portal without pinning three guys. 3nodding

Either:
A) I'll pin him, and he will fight Corwin, or
B) He'll pin me and have to fight 3 guys.. Either way is completely safe. smile

Even if he was much stronger than Corwin, I wouldn't be risking the portal (just Corwin) in this maneuver. c: He would still have to fight three guys if he managed to pin me. <3

Note: Neither of these techniques affect your chances of being pinned. They merely ensure that if the enemy would have successfully snuck in behind you, he'll instead be pinned. wink

I'll add more soon. 3nodding
If pinning still confuses you in any way, just ask and I'll try to make things more clear. : D

[Knight of the Horizon]

Chance of being pinned by number of regions

• 1 attacking region: 50% chance
  
• 2 attacking regions: 66% chance
  
• 3 attacking regions: 75% chance
  
• 4 attacking regions: 80% chance
  
• 5 attacking regions: 83% chance
  
• 6 attacking regions: 86% chance
  
• 7 attacking regions: 88% chance
  
• 8 attacking regions: 89% chance
  
• 9 attacking regions: 90% chance

Another Example
Here I was worried about him stealing the region under my men and threatening my portal, but I wanted to take my base back as well.

Notice since I'm "attacking" both regions, they can't move in behind me without pinning me, so this maneuver is safe. c:

[Knight of the Horizon]

As per Panagrammic:

Quote:

Pinning was put in for a number of reasons. One was to answer the simple philosophical question of "what happens if two stacks try to move through each other," but it also gives some very real disadvantage to the strategy of "put everything in one big stack and move around."

The retreat failure was put in because it was too easy to pin down a stack with a fast unit without any penalties.

Now, it realistically doesn't seem like a enfeebled Man-at-arms with one HP lying on the road should be able to stop my Imperial Army with 20 dragons. However, if you require a certain number of units to pin down a larger stack (say, 1:3 ratio, or something) then you get one of two side effects:

- large stacks are again unstoppable, or
- you need some sort of stack splitting rule

Stack splitting is tricky -- which units split? -- and an army that is depending on the synergy between two units is going to be surprised when one unit ends up in one battle and another unit is in a different region.

Putting in some more restrictions on retreat -- i.e., you can't retreat first round, or can't retreat if you're outnumbered 3:1, or can't retreat if you are the attacking player -- seem to make sense.

Open to suggestions, of course.

[Moarie]

emotion_awesome

[Moarie]

two people already hate your thread rofl

[Moarie]

i'll give it a <3 ;o

[Knight of the Horizon]

sightxDOSx

two people already hate your thread rofl

Eh only one. 3nodding

My other guide got </3ed instantly too. o.o; Yay stalker. xd

[Knight of the Horizon]

Kinda wondering how much I said that was completely obvious and wasting space/time... but eh. xd At least people will know how pinning works now. rofl

[Moarie]

Ze3k

sightxDOSx

two people already hate your thread rofl

Eh only one. 3nodding

My other guide got </3ed instantly too. o.o; Yay stalker. xd

me? stalker? emotion_awesome no not really o3o just stalking your thread but no not a stalker emotion_awesome //contradicting myself emotion_awesome

[Shintouyu]

Jeez, who down-voted this thread? neutral

[Knight of the Horizon]

Shintouyu

Jeez, who down-voted this thread? neutral

Dunno. xd One of my secret haters. cool

EDIT: Nvm, one of pinning's secret haters. xd

[Cursy]

this is helpful, thanks for making it emotion_dowant

[berry-sweet-promise]

Quote:

Chances of pinning are determined by the number of regions you're attacking from, not the number of units you're moving. The more regions you're attacking from, the more likely you'll get a pin.

Quote:

Currently, the rules for pinning:

- All regions are randomly sorted
- All movements are then done by region, in sort order

Can you explain the regions in more details. What is this randomly sorting? And I do not see how what Pan said is an explanation of your first point on what it means.

Also please explain your first example under spread the units out. Wouldnt Succubus be able to pin the portal to the top left? So how can this attack be negated (prove negative, contradicted with, make ineffective) by pinning ?

[Knight of the Horizon]

berry-sweet-promise

Quote:

Chances of pinning are determined by the number of regions you're attacking from, not the number of units you're moving. The more regions you're attacking from, the more likely you'll get a pin.

Quote:

Currently, the rules for pinning:

- All regions are randomly sorted
- All movements are then done by region, in sort order

Can you explain the regions in more details. What is this randomly sorting? And I do not see how what Pan said is an explanation of your first point on what it means.

Also please explain your first example under spread the units out. Wouldnt Succubus be able to pin the portal to the top left? So how can this attack be negated (prove negative, contradicted with, make ineffective) by pinning ?

Basically some random order gets assigned to every region (like so) and then the stacks move in that order. In this example, heavy infantry moves first. 3nodding

Step 1. Heavy Infantry moves to region 5. Omg region 5 hasn't moved yet.. It's pinned!! (Skip region 5's turn.)
Step 2. Region 2 does nothing. .__.
Step 3. Succubus moves to region 4. Omg region region 4 hasn't moved yet.. It's pinned!! (Skip Region 4's turn.)
Step 4. Do nothing.. It's pinned.
Step 5. Do nothing.. It's pinned.
Step 6. Three guys move to region 5.

As for point one, notice that if the heavy hadn't attacked, the minions would have pinned region 6. ;o Basically the more regions I attack with, the more "rolls" I get to get a higher priority number than her. 3nodding


Yes, succubus could pin the portal on the top left. I don't really care if she does though, because she'll get a nice surprise.. (Notice I'm summoning a quest knight there. : D)

But by not being able to negate the attack, I meant that the attack WILL happen... Even if she pins the penitent warden (+hidden questing knight), I'm still gonna have 4 guys move to attack Belphegor's portal, so my attack wasn't negated. 3nodding Only mitigated. wink

I'll put a better scenario up soon. smile