Friends,

The University's winter break will be next week, December 25 - January 1. I'll drop one more post tomorrow and hope to return to the office on January 2, 2018.









You're welcome.





It is my normal academic and intellectual position to be quite skeptical of statistics. Especially in our game. People set up bogus matches against friends to post ridiculous max damage scores. Seal clubbers have long win streaks against hopelessly overmatched newbies running low-level gear.





Still, when I ran across CAINE in a solo match (on my team, thankfully), I was initially impressed by the gaudy 98% win rate. After all, I had just fought a battle with him and saw some solid tactical decisions. I also saw the HeyChee with maxed out Tarans lay waste to everything in its way. I also knew that he hadn't arrived with a team of five other NOOBZ in a death squad for anyone not utilizing similar gear.

















If CAINE never loses, he must be the best player in the game, right? I mean - 49 out of the last 50? What are the odds? You don't have to be a mathematician for this. If Caine won 49/50, it means he had a winning streak between 25 and 49 games long, because his single loss had to happen somewhere in a string of 50 matches. If it were the 25th game (right in the middle), he'd have a 24 game win streak, a loss, and then a 25 game win streak. If it were the first or last battle, the streak would be 49.





Evenly matched battles would be like a coin toss - each team would have a 50/50 chance. So the odds of winning two in a row would be 1/2 x 1/2, or 1/4 (25%). It's 1/2 to the exponent n (sorry, I can't find superscript on blogger), with n representing the number of wins in the streak. Two to the 25th power is "only" 33,554,432. Two to the 49th power is 562,949,953,421,312.





You got a little sleepy there, but the odds of CAINE winning 25 even battles in a row are one in 33 million. The odds of winning 49 in a row are one in 562 trillion. CAINE's actual longest win streak is 76, but you get the point. The battles aren't fair at all.





Reverend of Death is even better. Who is the Reverend of Death, you ask? I'm not here to take away from CAINE, to deride him, or belittle the accomplishment. He's not a tanker. He is out there playing the game in solo matches, during the Christmas event, with the tools that are available to everyone. They cost quite a bit (cf. " Whales and Whaling "), but anyone can use them. CAINE is quite good at War Robots, but I think theis even better. Who is the Reverend of Death, you ask?





For my money, the Reverend is one of the best players in the game. He's a member of Aurora Tormentum, one of the Aurora Nova clans, so I get to squad with him from time to time. The Reverend took TWO accounts to Champion level (I guess he likes a challenge) with level 10 robots and weapons. We had a sit-down for academic purposes, and here it is!





I know you have dozens of robots and weapons in your main account. What's you favourite hangar(s)?

When I really want to kick some red robot butt, this is my go-to hangar. With all the robots and weapons at only level 10, this hangar is capable of getting you to Champion level and keeping you there, able to hold its own and score well even against and among maxed hangars:





But I find the real fun these days is playing Six Pack custom games (no upgrades beyond level 6) with my Aurora clan mates. This is the Six Pack hangar I have found to be most effective for me:







Who are you? Where does the Rev hang his frock and collar?

I am Canadian. Having lived briefly in Quebec and in B.C. when I was very young, Ontario is where I have spent almost five decades now, having lived in various Ontario towns over the years, always within a few hours of Toronto. I am married without children, and we have two adorable cats. When we do briefly but inevitably find ourselves without animals, as unfortunately happens from time to time, the house feels so empty! I have spent my career in the software development domain.



Why do you use the religious imagery in avatar and your in-game names?

Just for the delicious irony of it, I got legally ordained as a minister with the title of Reverend. I am also fascinated by and spend time on the philosophical consideration of death and humanity’s take on it, approach to it, fear of it, etc.

So considering this game is about killing robots, the name “ReverendOfDeath” just seemed a natural fit. Sticking with it, the name “MinisterOfMayhem” seemed similarly appropriate for my second account.

For my Discord avatar I wanted to combine the two themes, robots and religion, and came across the now famous kneeling droid ...







Why do you like video games?

I like puzzles and mind games, and I find video games that involve puzzles to be particularly enjoyable. Games where what happens is solely random aren’t very interesting, but games that require strategy and problem solving are. The need to “figure out” and solve a level in a game in order to get past it, that kind of challenge keeps me engaged.

War Robots is great for that, because the many combinations of robots, weapons and maps available, combined with the often unpredictable nature of your colleagues and enemies, makes every battle a unique puzzle to solve, a unique challenge to overcome, a unique solution to try to identify and execute.