I don't think giving them a victory in one Mentoring game is going to give people the confidence they need to stick with the game. And personally, I would never want anyone to let me win. There is of course a lot to say about not absolutely destroying them in a Mentoring game.

The Mentor game is supposed to be a lesson in the game from someone who is willing to give advice and support, so they can be good enough to beat some other players when they are done. They won't beat others if they don't learn some basic skills, and if we hand them an easy victory, all it would do is ingrain them more in bad habits.

little offtopic
about bad habits
upper in this thread Wiz59mt was going to kick my ass so i gave him a chance
result was...impressive...he somehow managed to hold against me for a whole 5 turns!
replay attached...

I'll have to check and see how long I lasted against mrak when I get home tonight.

Once again........

I didn't get any messages during my Mentor games, which surprised me. I thought the point was to help out new players by giving them tips and pointers along the way. But it turned out to be just another game.

I was shocked when somebody said in chat that their mentor sent them a several-page email with tips and strategy. It seems that different conscripts are getting inconsistant welcomes to the game.

First, remember that there are several mentors, and different people will obviously have different approaches.

Also, different conscripts need different amounts/kinds of help. If somebody's doing well and not making any really noticable mistakes, you're less likely to tell him that he's doing something wrong than you are if that person is too hopelessly unskilled to defeat a house plant. And sometimes, the player isn't a newbie any more...I've got one opponent right now who didn't accept his challenge until he was a lieutenant, so I haven't found much of anything to comment on.

I'd say every Mentor, at the very least, needs to kick off the game with a message to break the ice. Without communication there's really no point to a mentor game.

I agree, noobs need to feel like they're playing against a real person who wants to help them, not a faceless elite who will inevitably decimate them.

I also think that there should be some more advanced tutorials added to help noobs learn more basic and advanced rules and tactics. Tiger wrote a great strategy guide, and it'd be great if some of that were made into interactive tutorials. A few tutorials that would have really helped me out in the beginning would be:

1) When/where/how to use transports and tanks. The rules weren't clear to me at first, why some units (tanks/bots) could load onto a transport and unload in the same turn, while others (rockets/LAVs) couldn't. I think I remember that the tutorial said something about this in the Ant stage, but the rules weren't very clear to me.

2) World War tutorial: I thought that the rules about disclosures, guerillas, and indemnity weren't fully explained in the tutorials. It would be helpful to have a scripted World War simulation on Emerald (maybe just 5 turns) that goes over these rules with new players so they know what to expect.

3) Advanced land/naval transport tactics: How to use fast moving units in an offensive strategy, tanks/bot/transport combo on land to take out a few tanks, and 4 amphs/transports in the sea to take out a battleship or other targets. Also, how terrain can help/hinder such tactics.

4) Advanced bomber/artillary defense: The bomber tutorial is pretty good, but it would be helpful to see this in combination with rocket launchers, and guerillas, facing an enemy using tanks/transport/bots.

These are a few things that I've picked up along the way, and that I've taught to the relative noobs I've played, and it's helped their games a lot, which, in turn, increases their enjoyment because they aren't crushed so badly in the future.

A theme in most reviews, and one I agree with, was that the training would teach you how to play, but not how to play well. We need some tutorials that take you through tactical decisions and explain WHY you are making the decisions that you are making. Some replays which focus on certain themes would also be useful.

the idea is - to make a final large tutorial named "how to win in multiplayer"
such tutorial should start with through explanation that multiplayer can go PBEM-style which means player can send turns not often - like 1 turn per day.Player should not insist on finishing game in one sit because the opponent may be not have enough time or be in different time zone.If he want to play alot he should start a bunch of games and send turns to each opponent.If he still want to play a fast game with one opponent he should go to chat and talk with people there and may be someone agree to put off everything else to play one game fast.But even this way the medium map can take 3 hour and large can take 5.

having explained this - the tutorial should deal with typical mistakes of newbies.
mentors should make a list of those mistakes (like invading neutral with one LAV) and the tutorial should explain what to do or NOT to do.

Um, stupid question.

How DO you send a message?

Press enter during your turn in a multiplayer game and you can send a message. You can also send a message from the player list, and from the MAN web site if you have MAN.

The Menu button on the right hand control panel gives you the option Send Message.

I`d like more input in what I`m doing wrong. I can kill the AI easily, but I usually get killed in Multiplayer. I played Tiger and he destroyed me in 6 moves (I think) but I played Lola and I beat her (she surrendered). I dont really know what I did to win one and lose the other(and lose so quickly).... Also I'd like more tutorials or info on how to effectively use Naval ships, as I`m still a little uncertain.

send me a cahllenge (my mentor account) i'll help teach u what u;'re doing wrong. My advice tends to come in different forms,

if i see u doing soemthing wrong i let u know.
I offer advice on what to use each unit for
And i offer advice on what i'd try todo on ur next turn if i was u.

Sounds good, I`ll challenge you later today...

Have you read my articles about this game?
There is article about naval operations:
http://massiveassault.wargamer.com/beg3.html

Tiger is one of the best players, so I wouldn't worry too much about losing to him. Think of it as trial by fire

I'm no MENTOR, and I doubt I play as fast as Enforcer, but I'll gladly comment and advise in any game where people ask me. Feel free to issue me a challenge.

Also raid the replays forum, it's an invaluable resource.