Doc strategies

[beanbagboy]

Anyone have good basic doc strategies? I didn't see a strategy page for the more basic roles on the wiki (Nothing except being a good townie/mafioso) so I want to know what you guys think.

My experience is to save known innocents, or yoursylph if you think necessary. Save those the mafia is likely to target, be they veterans, good players, etc. Failing that, save randomly as good mafia attacks randomly.

What do you think? If this is already a topic somewhere, I'll delete it, I didn't see anything and there doesn't seem to be a search feature...

[Mert]

If it is obvious who the scum most need to get rid of (pretty-much-confirmed cop, for example) then it is often beneficial to roll a die to add in a 10-20% chance you'll protect somebody other than the obvious bit. It has the advantage of not

guaranteeing

that the scum will be able to kill an innocent, while not massively detracting from your duty to give the cop the opportunity to investigate that night.

It's late, so that probably doesn't make as much sense as it could...

[beanbagboy]

I think you're saying that you shouldn't save an obvious target. (It's ok, I don't mind, we all have our moments.)

Thanks, that is interesting to know!

[Mert]

I think you're saying that you shouldn't save an obvious target. (It's ok, I don't mind, we all have our moments.)

Thanks, that is interesting to know!

No no, you

should

, but only with, say, a 90% certainty... obviously if the scum know you're not going to save the target then they'll kill that person, but if there's a small doubt that you won't then it could cause them to waste a nightkill trying to outguess the doc.

[jeep]

I seem to recall assigning values to players and determining that you should save the "known cop" well over 99% of the time. Someone can probably do a search either here or on the archive. I'll see if I can find it myself. I might be mis-remembering, though.

-JEEP

[petroleumjelly]

Teehee! <3 Mert. You have learned much from our newbie game...

I usually advocate protecting confirmed innocents / highly believed Cops within a 90% chance, leaving a 10% chance to protect people you think still have (what you consider to be) a fair chance of dying. This way, 9/10 scum will just plain fail if they try to kill a confirmed Mason, or claimed Cop, or something. Once scum realize this fact, they will try to kill somebody they think their kill will go through on - which is something I would prefer in the first place. But 10% of the time, they might also run across my protection that way.

Also, your post seems to imply Doctors can protect themselves - which is

not

true for most games here on mafia scum.

[Yosarian2]

I tend to think that in some situations (for example, a basic newbie game) the doc should protect the cop 100% of the time, because that's really the only relevent move; saving one random townie in a newbie game helps the town very little, and by putting the town onto even numbers can actually hurt the town. So the only really relevent thing the doc can do is keep the cop alive; so long as the cop dosn't die, the doc has done his job, even if he didn't stop a single scum kill in the process.

[Rosso Carne]

always target pooky

[petroleumjelly]

I tend to think that in some situations (for example, a basic newbie game) the doc should protect the cop 100% of the time, because that's really the only relevent move; saving one random townie in a newbie game helps the town very little, and by putting the town onto even numbers can actually hurt the town. So the only really relevent thing the doc can do is keep the cop alive; so long as the cop dosn't die, the doc has done his job, even if he didn't stop a single scum kill in the process.

Silly Yos2. *bites*

If you successfully protect a random townie from death in a Newbie game with a claimed Cop, thereby leaving an even number of players, the correct move is to

No Lynch

so that the Cop gets an

extra investigation

- and in this scenario, you protect the Cop that second night with 100% chance.

[Mert]

Teehee! <3 Mert. You have learned much from our newbie game...

That's because I had the best tutors <3

[Yosarian2]

I tend to think that in some situations (for example, a basic newbie game) the doc should protect the cop 100% of the time, because that's really the only relevent move; saving one random townie in a newbie game helps the town very little, and by putting the town onto even numbers can actually hurt the town. So the only really relevent thing the doc can do is keep the cop alive; so long as the cop dosn't die, the doc has done his job, even if he didn't stop a single scum kill in the process.

Silly Yos2. *bites*

If you successfully protect a random townie from death in a Newbie game with a claimed Cop, thereby leaving an even number of players, the correct move is to

No Lynch

so that the Cop gets an

extra investigation

- and in this scenario, you protect the Cop that second night with 100% chance.

Well, I suppose that's true.

Still, in general, in a situation where there's a cop and no other relvent power roles or confirmed innocents, I tend to think it's usually a good idea for the doc to just focus on keeping the cop alive, rather then try to second-guess the scum. Amoung other things, if a cop dies after claiming, no one will believe you're the doctor if you need to claim later.

[beanbagboy]

Oh, geez, thanks guys! Sorry I didn't post here, I didn't know it was being replied to! You guys are so fast! Thanks!

I like playing with a sylphsavable doc, it makes the game more interesting, IMO. Then again, if you have a sylphish doc (like me, lol) then they never get anything done.

Thanks, that really helps! In most games I play, people don't claim roles, but I would definetly save a claimed, probable cop. Known innocents, too. If there are multiple doctors, and you know who the other one is, as does the town, I would go for the other doc. In essence, save those who are the biggest mafia threats (in order, Doc/Cop (probably doc first but idk) Masons, and then OPI (otherwise proven innocent, via doc save or mafia fighting.))

I love this place, there are so many people your questions are always answered! thanks again!

[Dr. Doom]

Docs can also help in Lylo situations. Example: In a game with with 4 Players left alive (one Scum, three townies), it would normally be considered Lylo. But if there is a Doc and she protects successfully, it will be 2 Town vs 1 Scum next day (if there was a mislynch). Thus, Docs can help in teh Endgame by saving Townies and prlonging the Game (allowing more lynches).

[Dr. Doom]

EBWOP: The Cop is far more valuable to the town than a Doc, in teh most circumstances. In most situiations, sacrificing the Doc for teh Cop is better (thus: if you are a Doc, protect the Cop, if you are a Cop, ask for protection).

[Kelly Chen]

If the scum doesn't know there is a doctor I think I'd protect the obvious target 100% of the time until that changes.

[beanbagboy]

[quote=Dr. Doom]The Cop is far more valuable to the town than a Doc, in teh most circumstances. In most situiations, sacrificing the Doc for teh Cop is better (thus: if you are a Doc, protect the Cop, if you are a Cop, ask for protection).[/quote]
Huh, I would say the doctor is more important. Knowing who the scum is but dying isn't helpful, but not knowing yet staying alive to possibly win still gives you a chance. I don't know.

That's a good idea. I think this will help in future games. Thanks, guys!

PS: What does EBWOP stand for?

[MrDNA]

EBWOP - Edit By Way Of Post.

All the acronyms here confused me at first also. I found the best way to get the definitions was to use the search feature of the wiki.

[beanbagboy]

Thanks. I have almost all of them but that one escaped me.

Ok, next idea: who should you investigate as cop, and how do you convey it to the town without revealing your role? (Is this seperate? Should I start a new topic for it?)

[petroleumjelly]

I would suggest looking through the archives in the Mafia Discussion Forum before creating new topics which may have already been discussed. I am fairly sure that particular question has been asked a good number of times before.

The consensus is usually that many people have different strategies they pursue when investigating and revealing information. After all, if everybody did it the same, I imagine the game would become a great deal more boring.

[beanbagboy]

Ok, sorry bout that. I didn't see the search feature right away. I am thick sometimes. I will, thanks!

[xyzzy]

I think you're saying that you shouldn't save an obvious target. (It's ok, I don't mind, we all have our moments.)

Thanks, that is interesting to know!

No no, you

should

, but only with, say, a 90% certainty... obviously if the scum know you're not going to save the target then they'll kill that person, but if there's a small doubt that you won't then it could cause them to waste a nightkill trying to outguess the doc.

If several powerful innocents are known, go for the second, or third most important one. Indeed, it's good to gamble, but only when you have another option to go to...

[beanbagboy]

Thanks. You sound experienced, but by your title I assume you are new. Do you play a lot in other places?

[xyzzy]

I'm assuming you mean me. Yes, I'm new here, but an old Mafia-genius, from a hundred or so quick offline games and a dozen or so online games.

[pancakemix]

I've been a doc twice. Once I was killed night 1. The other time I messed up every time except the last time, when I protected cop, who claimed and revealed the last mafia.

[beanbagboy]

Actually, I saved mysylph in the first game I was doctor, and I was right.

xyzzy - Same here, except I post a lot so people think I am mucho guilty. >.< not saying anything about my game in progress, though. Online, in general, that is.