Swordbreakers?

I have been working on training a warrior in effective use of swordbreaker.  

I have been trying to use it with a second sword in the other hand and the strategy 'decoy'.  Does this work?  If so should the swordbreaker be in he primary or offhand?

I am also training in disarm and parry.

Am I on the right track here with this weapon?

Might be good to train up in the basics first before going for a trick skill. Often I will have a guy for a year or two or more before going for disarm/sweep/throw. But you can train early in it.

It is very much like a short sword but not as effective at the upper levels. It will break scythes in addition to swords and other bladed weapons.

vV

The few people that I have trained up on Disarm, in their first 3-8 fights have used the skill on a level of training as low as '2', to decent results.

What I was hoping for a more direct answer on, was whether or not 'Decoy' does what I think it does, (draws your opponent's defenses open with one wepon so I can strike with the other), and if so, which hand it is better to have the 'entangle/distract' weapon in?

The trains you are "wasting" (in my mind) on early trick skills could leave you with a dead warrior before too long. Imagine if your gladiator was better at defending himself, if those two disarm skills had gone to parry or dodge. He might be able to avoid having his head bashed in by a morningstar.

As for what works best with decoy, try different combos and see what is best for your gladiator. I've found a few skills cocktails/weapon combos that work well with decoy.

vV

Totally disagree based on multiple wins I have gotten from disarming the opponent. (With under 15 fights as all my warriors are so far)

But what do you consider 'essential' levels for dodge & parry by 15 fights?

Also I concentrate on my weapon and initiative a bit

I don't consider 15 fights to be much of anything.  Until a gladiator hits 100 fights I don't think of him as long term.  There have been exceptions, of course, with hot, young gladiators, but I have seen many such fighters die before their second year.  Around 15 weeks most gladiators are still stumbling around with training wheels.  I also try to take a long-term view with training strategies.  I might have 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 (fat chance) fight goals for a gladiator.  That being said, I don't consider 50 or 100 fights to be long-term.

Out of my 25 gladiators, I've only got a few that I'm excited about, and they tend to be my old farts. I do have some young (around 40-60 fights), experimental gladiators that I am keen to read their exploits.

Well might you enlighten me as to what are train levels you strive for at the 50/100/150 fight levels then?

I have a handful of warriors I am excited about but I know lots will die off. And somehow the ones hat I am least interested in lately have faired the best.

I have dropped hints about such things in random messages on Pitt.  None in threads marked "train levels to strive for" or anything like that.

And it is surprising how a gladiator can pop up out of your ranks and suddenly out live those that you thought would do well.  APPLE NEWTON is a good example.  I thought he would die around 75 fights when I created him.  He's now gone 132 fights beyond my expectations and is currently my oldest gladiator.  My prior eldest, MURMUR, I thought was doomed to have a mediocre record, but he completely surpassed my expectations as well.  My graveyard folder is filled with screen caps of young gladiators who I imagined would some day be monsters rather than worm food.

My elf INNITOWINNIT (105-87-5) is a good example of a gladiator who is not performing as expected.  He started very well. He was 27-8-0 before getting a kill, but the effect his awesome training mojo kicked in and he soon went on a kill spree, hitting 34-14-3, then 38-18-5, which was pretty much the peak of his career. He's put in a terrible 67-69-0 since then. He has trained up in a new weapon and has gone 9-7-0 with it, so there's hope for him now that he's in the top 20.

I'm thrilled when a gladiator has 4x wins over losses, happy with 3x, expect 2x, and anything lower is meh, unless they are a killer, then I cut them some slack.

vV

I've actually been scouring this site for useful information. Did not happen across any threads where I saw you discussing how many train levels you shoot for.

Admittedly the section with all the greatest warriors ever and their fights, I only skimmed. But I think I read every other thread on here.

I just edited my above msg while you were replying.

I have one or two 'training beasts' at the moment. Averaging close to 2 trains per fight.  

I aim for an average of at least one train per fight.  Warriors that do less worry/annoy me that they'll fall behind quick.

You did edit, but I found the edit hardly elucidated the topic I am interested in. You are reticient to say after bringing up the topic. Since you spoke as if an authority on the topic I sought your advice.

Those are good train numbers for a young gladiator.  2 trains per fight can make for a beast.  That number, however, is not sustainable, as higher level trains become more difficult.

Thanks I will.

I sent you a PM as well. Look up, just under the PITT graphic.

How's this for an idea: we have a decoy tournament or something of the ilk? (I just figured out how to log in again) Every member who enters the contest uses decoy exclusively, and we post all fights. We can then discuss and deconstruct the weapon usage strategies moving forward. I have used decoy only a few times in the years of playing this game, and they were all with team fights. I'd love a good reason to use it more.

Also, I'm sure there's a better build of warrior for decoy use. We could figure that out as well (although we probably all have our ideas already).

I am in for anything that helps me learn so I stop running 5-20 turns

>.<

PB, you are welcome to run such a contest. I've actually been playing with decoy for a several years now. As the former mgr Dux might say, it takes some skills to do decoy well.

How does one simply 'set up a contest'?

Announce it in the forums. Make sure it doesn't conflict with any other planned contests. Hope that people are interested in such a thing and participate.

Is there then a way to make sure the people involved fight one another?

"Challenges" seem to only work some times, not automatic.

It sounds less like a contest and more like some old-fashioned, group-think testing (which applies in areas of life other than the Pit).

There's no way to automagically face someone in singles.

As for decoy designs, I've had luck with a number of different stat configurations, but the skills I seek before even attempting decoy remain basically the same (with some changes due to weapon selection) across all the designs.  Decoy being a more veteran strategy than say, total kill, which is suicide in the upper ranks, as decoy would be in the lower ranks.

Would think parry, disarm, initiative maybe lunge or sweep depending on the weapons used.

Is there a reason why there hasn't been a tournament in ages though? Who actually 'runs' BP now?

Keeper runs BP and has for quite some time. The game seems to be on auto-pilot, for the most part. Keeper is no longer active on the boards. We miss you, Keeper.

vV

Well, give a guy that skill cocktail and see what happens.

So all hypothetical 'adjustments' to the game would have to go through Keeper, who doesn't partake in these communications? Does he still run warriors though?