oh shit I post the same video twice....meant to post this second one!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7BCV2rRrBo

No worries freefalling, I was just a bit jealous of you scores :)

Thanks for showing off your skills. I've watched the recording, trying to figure out how to plan my moves better but so far I just seem to plateau around 300 points

300 isn't bad, I was telling people after one week 500 would be ideal, two weeks 1k. You will play like 5 games and make your max like once or twice if you are lucky. I would just like to make a diagram for you guys on the strategies I kind of implement.

So the board has 81 pieces or 9x9.. every time you have 2 connected, and use 3 moves to complete (1 move is free) most times its -5 pieces and 3x2 new pieces = 6 so in short
3 movers = -1

Now if you have 3 connected pieces then you have to do 2 moves to complete it, and there is 1 free move again.
so clear 5 and it's 1 free move = 3 new blocks or 2 movers = +2 (say you start with 35 on the board and have 3 connected and you finish it... after you finish you are back to 33 on the board).

In the middle of that is
3 movers with 6 in a row = 0 and
3 movers with 7 in a row = +1
but oftentimes its better to use an open ended 3 mover where there are 4 blocks that can be filled from two different locations and juts keep removing 5 blocks the whole game.

*I hardly ever use more than 5 in a row and I am always trying to save 2 movers or to open them up any time I can.*


When you get over 60 blocks on the board you really have to get lucky to survive or maybe you have a lot of 3 movers out on the board already and probably a couple 1 movers or basically a combination of sequences that get you back to the next stage 40-50 pieces.

The most important time to learn how to play in is the 40-50 pieces on board stage. If you are losing in these stages it's because you aren't leaving connected opened squares. Half the board is open, but if you are only connected with 15 empty squares than you might as well be in the impossible 60+ zone. So in cleaning up the board move the pieces that block other pieces in and it's critical that you find 2 movers or anything to clear pieces off the board.

When you are playing good you will have less than 40 pieces on the board somewhat often. However, all it takes is one sequence getting blocked and you have a 4 in a row blocked somewhere on the board. These stages become critical and most often times bring you back to the 40-50 pieces out on the board. Make a plan to either use the best 3 movers until you get a 2 mover, or simply to get as many pieces off the board as you can immediately.

Really, when you have 3 or 4 in a row, they are usually located somewhere strong. It's best to open those locations back up, unless they are on the outside, if they are then it's not as important to clear them, but can still help to open up new squares for pieces to fall into. Otherwise, diagonals or connected pieces in the middle come first.

New video to come, and post some of your own and I can critique :D

Cheers

Aww man should have looked to edit that ^^ there isn't really a good linez terminology that would make it easier to communicate these ideas... feel free to find me on kdice and ask me questions about linez :D

Great advice and analysis. What do you use to record your games?

demo 2min video thing...wasn't that great tbh no audio. You can use quicktime. I'm still trying to figure that out

looks like bugthug has been playing all day... 296 expert points (cough addict cough)

new respect for the bugthug... although I have 10k exp points... not sure what that says about me :D