Hive is great because it has the level of positional strategy of chess but with a lot less development with computers meaning there is still a lot of nuance on the best strategies as they are all developed by humans.
Could you explain a bit more what the trade offs are for the different structures? I think you've mentioned before that the idea of the buffet opening is so your opponent's beetles have further to get to your Queen, right? What's the idea behind the J and F structures?
Re the buffer you're right, that's one of the ideas, but mainly is to have a flexible shape (for instance a diamond shape where the queen is at the tip and the middle is flexible) and having extra spawn points for your ants (so that they don't have to be placed next to your queen at any time). Re the J and F, one idea is to create the sort of pseudopocket I mention. Another one is that both flanks are available to spawn new pieces and it's easier to get a beetle game going on in the inner hive (there are some good games by Loizz about it). Also by placing the queen in line you prevent the 'risk' of playing a C opening, which is considered more prone to draws (and you prevent the Z too in case is not your taste). It's more complicated than this but I think these are some key ideas! (Hooefully to be explained in another video :D)
When would it be worth it to use a buffered opening ? I always think it's too early in the game to decide weither or not I should use regular or buffered... So i Just use it or not depending on my mood rather than strategic thinking...
There are two main points to consider I think: 1) the first 2/3 white's moves. As you said it's not much but in some cases you can already rule out some variations (for instance when white plays 3.wM instead of 3.wA they can't make a quick attack with the ant, or when white plays 3 pieces in line to delay the queen placement, in these cases black can complete the favourite 4-pieces setup without disturb). It might also work better against certain startbug than others (1.wP maybe but that could be just matter of taste). 2) the score situation of the match. In my opinion buffers work well when white pushes more for the victory, since black has more counterchances. If white is ok with a draw then black might have some problems playing aggressively at all costs compared to classical queen configurations (especially in material-focused endgames). But other top players might have different ideas so please feel free everyone to chip in with your thoughts :)
@@FrascoAdAbstra thx for detailed answear. That makes sense. I have also wandered what type of bugs to use for buffer. I personnaly use Ladybug + Mosquito + queen. I have seen quodlibet use Grasshoper + lady bug + queen. The one you use more often is Grasshoper + Mosquito + queen. So many options 😅
@@lackingoxygen7170 sorry for the late reply! I have actually tried a few of them and there are some subtleties that are not easy to explain here. I can direct you to a video about buffer I made recently, hope it helps :) ruclips.net/video/6Un-eM_zOqA/видео.html
I subscribe to Play Hive Like a Champion. Love strategy videos for Hive!
Thank you and welcome!!
thanks mate, hive need more theory development! Hopefully we can get engines in the near future like in chess
I hope so too!
Hive is great because it has the level of positional strategy of chess but with a lot less development with computers meaning there is still a lot of nuance on the best strategies as they are all developed by humans.
Sooner or later a strong AI will come, but we enjoy (and we will still enjoy) the development of the strategy in Hive as a community!
Could you explain a bit more what the trade offs are for the different structures? I think you've mentioned before that the idea of the buffet opening is so your opponent's beetles have further to get to your Queen, right? What's the idea behind the J and F structures?
Re the buffer you're right, that's one of the ideas, but mainly is to have a flexible shape (for instance a diamond shape where the queen is at the tip and the middle is flexible) and having extra spawn points for your ants (so that they don't have to be placed next to your queen at any time).
Re the J and F, one idea is to create the sort of pseudopocket I mention. Another one is that both flanks are available to spawn new pieces and it's easier to get a beetle game going on in the inner hive (there are some good games by Loizz about it). Also by placing the queen in line you prevent the 'risk' of playing a C opening, which is considered more prone to draws (and you prevent the Z too in case is not your taste).
It's more complicated than this but I think these are some key ideas! (Hooefully to be explained in another video :D)
When would it be worth it to use a buffered opening ? I always think it's too early in the game to decide weither or not I should use regular or buffered... So i Just use it or not depending on my mood rather than strategic thinking...
There are two main points to consider I think:
1) the first 2/3 white's moves. As you said it's not much but in some cases you can already rule out some variations (for instance when white plays 3.wM instead of 3.wA they can't make a quick attack with the ant, or when white plays 3 pieces in line to delay the queen placement, in these cases black can complete the favourite 4-pieces setup without disturb). It might also work better against certain startbug than others (1.wP maybe but that could be just matter of taste).
2) the score situation of the match. In my opinion buffers work well when white pushes more for the victory, since black has more counterchances. If white is ok with a draw then black might have some problems playing aggressively at all costs compared to classical queen configurations (especially in material-focused endgames).
But other top players might have different ideas so please feel free everyone to chip in with your thoughts :)
@@FrascoAdAbstra thx for detailed answear. That makes sense.
I have also wandered what type of bugs to use for buffer.
I personnaly use Ladybug + Mosquito + queen. I have seen quodlibet use Grasshoper + lady bug + queen. The one you use more often is Grasshoper + Mosquito + queen.
So many options 😅
@@lackingoxygen7170 sorry for the late reply! I have actually tried a few of them and there are some subtleties that are not easy to explain here. I can direct you to a video about buffer I made recently, hope it helps :) ruclips.net/video/6Un-eM_zOqA/видео.html
The beetle Game remember me this Game T!HV-Gandac-Quodlibet-2022-09-10-1405.sgf so crazy 🤣🤣 anyway, good vídeo 👍
That's a very cool game!!
How can I find this game? You two made me curious. I looked on the Boardspace archive but I could not find it there.
@@daniels2423 You must found it, search the 10th of September in 2022
Based pfp