Chapter Tactics is a 40k podcast which focuses on promoting better tactical play and situational awareness across all variations of the game. Today Peteypab, Brandon Grant and Skari use Advanced Metagame Analysis theory and methods to help you break down the meta, and optimize performance. They also break down some of the current 40k Meta and discuss their own plans for tackling it for the end of the season.
Show Notes:
- Note on time stamps, please take the time to listen to the intro to hear about our big giveaways for the month of December, and to find out how you can win a plane trip to one big FLG event!
- Skip to 10:45 for CA talk, Skip to 23:00 for Meta Analysis Talk!
- Head on over to 40kstats.com for more faction stats for all major ITC tournaments!
- Support us on Patreon this month and get a chance to receive random stuff from us!
- Click here for a link for information on downloading best coast pairings app where you can find lists for most of the events I mention.
- Check out the last episode of Chapter Tactics here. Or, click here for a link to a full archive of all of our episodes.
- Check out Skari on Skaredcast, for excellent 40k tactics videos and Monday Meta analysis.
- Commercial music by: www.bensound.com
- Intro by: Justin Mahar
Correction Pablo, If you go on Dakka Dakka and say anything positive about 40k you’ll get laughed and sneered at. So it’s not just playing competitively they look down on, it’s everything..
Is it?
Seems like a clear case of projection. Haven’t found a post on Dakka demeaning other sites as FLG-readers seem happy to do.
As a veteran Dakkanaught, I can speak with authority on my experience with it. Which by and large is negative. From arguing with Mauleed back in 2002 to arguing with Peregrine this year. Nothing changes. The simply fact is Dakka is not a place to enjoy our hobby. It’s where you go to drown in anger and watch the life drain out of you.
I finally quit the place and am better for it.
Is it?
Just go back and watch things like Signals from the Frontline #663 with Reece (and Pablo) being exemplars of arrogant divisiveness in the hobby, laughing, demeaning and mocking people because they enjoy one faction or another in the hobby. Even admitting to revel in the misery of fellow hobbyists that play Warhammer for different reasons than their own.
In 15+ years on the wargaming-related internet, I have never seen anyone ever stoop so low. Not on Dakka. Not on Reddit. Not Facebook. Not on any of the chans.
As another super veteran of Dakka I can agree that there is a lot of negativity there in general terms but I love Dakka even if I don’t post there much these days. I hope it’s still a rowdy and fun place to chat for those that still do.
And lol, Zeisch, if you can’t tell when we’re joking or not I will give you a pass as English isn’t your first language, but come on. Even just in context it has to be obvious that we’re joking even if you don’t find the jokes funny.
Ah, my bad. You are absolutely correct.
Hey guys, super interesting discussion. Not really related to metagame analysis in the technical sense though. Also, Nigel Howard the cricket player and Nigel Howard the economist/mathematician are different people (the latter died in 2008 while the former died in the 70’s).
In the technical sense, metagame analysis typically refers to two different but related concepts in game theory. One is essentially a modification to normal game theory in order to account for the fact that people don’t make strictly rational decisions, but are rather often ruled by their emotions. In that context trying to be rational will often see you “losing” the game (though in the mathematical sense of a game there aren’t necessarily winners and losers per se, you’ll wind up with a worse outcome than you would have got by behaving “irrationally”).
The other idea is basically a kind of rules design, where you look at the possible outcomes and try to choose rules in such a way that everyone is incentivized to adopt your preferred outcome. This relates to things like international sanctions, for example, whereby you try to ensure that a country that harms everyone else in order to benefit itself suffers sanctions that are greater than the benefit it gets.
I don’t mean this to be a criticism, the discussion is super interesting. Just thought it might be some extra info/context. You’re using “meta-game analysis” to mean “using knowledge of what armies/units/lists are popular to inform your own list-building decisions” which would actual fall under the general umbrella of standard game theory without requiring meta-game analysis in the technical sense.
Ah, thanks for the extra info! That’s what I get for doing only a couple of hours worth of research on a subject entire careers are based off of!
Also, you’re right. Though Meta Game Analysis is something most listeners can read and understand immediately when looking at the title of the episode. Which is why I went with it. The term “Meta” and the Metagame does actually have a few established definitions, The two you mentioned are simple just the definitions of what a metagame is, in the purest techincal sense. (something I tried to allude to, but undoubtedly failed). Though with the rise of competitive gaming, Metagaming has evolved a third definition, which is the primary one I spoke about.
I’m not sure if it’s an official definition by any scholastic standards, but it is a definition most gamers see, and understand.