Hello readers, welcome to my 6th blog. This blog is inspired partly by Saint's earlier blog about strategy in games ( right here). It got me to thinking about how I play video games; I did put up a comment to his blog, but I really don't think I got my point across. So in here, I'm just going to write out my philosophy to strategy games, and games in general.
Let me define something for you first: A plan is what you decided to do in the next battle; Tactics are something you employ to accomplish a plan; A Strategy is a plan that you do every time regardless of the situation.
1). Be prepared for anything
I guess I can draw parallels to my name sake (Ender's Game). In the battle room the only thing you could rely on, was the fact that it will never be the same; this is the same for a lot of battles video games. A battle Strategy is good, when you know what's going to happen; and you never do.
Sure you can predict what the AI's going to do 90% of the time in a good game; but when the AI is really good (or really bad for that matter) you don't know what it's going to do.
The tide of battle can change in an instant, especially in video games. Cut scenes can double the number of enemies, your 99.44% hit chance misses, or your enemy gets a critical hit despite the 2% chance; when your opponent gets it, it's just plain annoying. But preparing for the worst, even when it seems impossible, is the best path for victory.
2). Be careful
Really this just means paying attention. Don't let any enemy AI get the upper hand, don't screw anything up, prepare for it if you do, etc.
(maybe in this instance you should be afraid)
3). Don't be afraid to do something totally different
In some games this means using the pitiful unit you just got in your Army because he gets exponentially better (*cough* Donnel *cough*), not becoming overly reliant on extremely powerful characters (*cough* Fredrick *cough*), or just approaching a battle in a why you usually wouldn't try before.
In both games and life; opportunities are everywhere for those who keep an open mind. This point is really important, as it can be the difference between victory and a grind in some games.
(at this point, I'm running out of Fire Emblem comics, so I'll do something new soon.)
4). Know thine enemy
If nothing else, this helps you not commit suicide by sending a unit to fight someone they can't win.
5). Know what you're doing
This is probably the hardest and easiest think to master out of all of these. Really it just comes down to NOT ignoring a games mechanics. With the exception of the fighting genre, you cannot win a battle if you do not know how to play.
That's it for now. I may add an extension to this list later, but for now; it is what it is... and maybe I'll stop including Fire Emblem Awakening in my blogs.