Learn the rules. You can either watch the animated tutorial, read the official rules, or read the explanation at Wikibooks.
Sign up at Arimaa.com.
Enter the gameroom, and go to the bot ladder. Choose to play the bot at the bottom.
Set up with your elephant front and center, and most or all rabbits in the back row. For now, place cats behind the traps. They will serve as home defenders, while your stronger pieces move forward.
Learn to recognize capture opportunities. The weakest bots will make it easy for you to capture pieces. Often, you can flip an enemy piece by pulling and then pushing it.
Try to make capture threats around multiple traps. The enemy elephant can only protect one trap at a time, and any other defender can potentially be captured itself. A single piece can be threatened with capture in two traps, via a fork.
Recognize false protection. Having two pieces next to a trap does not always prevent a capture in that trap. One with stronger local forces can often force captures unless the opponent brings in reinforcements.
If the enemy camel advances, attack it with your elephant. If the enemy camel doesn't retreat, threaten it with capture. If the enemy elephant prevents that, try to take the camel hostage. This can make your own camel the strongest free piece. Ideally, a hostaged piece should not be able to move even if unfrozen. If you hold a hostage against the side of the board, try to have a friendly rabbit below it, another rabbit below that, and another weak piece right below your elephant. Such a phalanx will stop the opponent from burrowing the hostaged piece. Advance a horse on the other wing; with the enemy camel and elephant both tied down, a horse faces no threat unless the enemy elephant abandons its camel. Don't expose your own camel to capture; a horse-for-camel trade is acceptable, but an even camel trade would waste a hostage. If the opponent does abandon his camel, be sure to capture it and move your elephant toward the action.
Recognize goal opportunities, yours and the opponent's. If you have a one-turn goal threat, execute it, and you will have won. If you don't have such a goal threat, check whether your opponent would; if so, do whatever you can to stop it. One-turn goal threats, especially those which would use all four steps of a turn, are not always obvious. A rabbit may need to be unfrozen, or another piece might have to be moved out of the way. Even if there is no immediate goal threat, keep an eye on any open spaces which a rabbit might pass through. There may be no point in threatening goal if the goal line is well defended. By contrast, a goal threat may be preferable to a capture if the goal line is thin.
Pay attention to how many rabbits you and your opponent retain. If you lose all eight rabbits, you lose the game. In the rare event that each player loses his last rabbit in the same move, the one who made the move wins.
Move up the bot ladder. Bots get harder as you go, and long-term strategy becomes increasingly important.
Frame an enemy piece when given the opportunity. A frame is not always a good move, but it is important to understand frames. If the pinned piece is not the elephant, dislodging it will capture the framed piece. If the pinned piece is the elephant or is securely in place, rotate out any strong pieces which aren't needed to hold the frame. Take care that the framed piece does not get a chance to escape, and that the opponent does not get a chance for an even trade or better.
Practice attacking enemy traps. If your own horse gets framed, try to free it using your camel along with supporting pieces. You may then have an advantage around that trap.
Pay attention to material. Consider the safety of your own pieces when forming attack plans. If you put a friendly piece at risk of capture, consider how you would be compensated for the loss of that piece. A strong goal threat can outweigh a material lead; one forced to prioritize goal defense could quickly become weak elsewhere.
Comments
0 comment