How do you play the early game?

For large social games such as Survivor where the primary mechanic is social interaction.
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Post Post #50 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 4:13 pm

Post by Skelda »

In post 41, Cephrir wrote:It's refreshing to finally find someone to talk to about
cannibalism
/evolutionary psychology/etc."
Wow I feel called out
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Post Post #51 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 4:47 pm

Post by NotAJumbleOfNumbers »

In post 41, Cephrir wrote:(Or, if you're like me, you deliberately wait 10 minutes so as to not seem overeager, as though that is going to make any difference either).
I have literally never thought that someone was overeager?
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Post Post #52 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 4:54 pm

Post by D3f3nd3r »

In post 51, NotAJumbleOfNumbers wrote:
In post 41, Cephrir wrote:(Or, if you're like me, you deliberately wait 10 minutes so as to not seem overeager, as though that is going to make any difference either).
I have literally never thought that someone was overeager?
I’m under the impression that all the alliances form in the first 10 minutes so I usually just feel left out if I accidentally wait ten minutes! But in reality the 10 minutes artificially creates itself from me reading the forums and making a confessional “hello” post.
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Post Post #53 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 6:31 pm

Post by Skelda »

"Oh no! I'm so annoyed that this person just messaged me quickly! They must be a huge threat!" -thought no one ever
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Post Post #54 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 7:34 pm

Post by DeasVail »

:shifty:
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Post Post #55 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 8:14 pm

Post by VashtaNeurotic »

In post 53, Skelda wrote:"Oh no! I'm so annoyed that this person just messaged me quickly! They must be a huge threat!" -thought no one ever
Jigglypuff from SSB would like a word with you.
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Post Post #56 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 9:22 pm

Post by Ythan »

Ego.
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Post Post #57 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 9:28 pm

Post by xRECKONERx »

you play the early game by pretending like you don't want to PM people but then overPMing people and then feeling bad for PMing people while lamenting in your confessional how you need to stop PMing people and meanwhile the people you're PMing are like "wow this guy is so talkative i like them i think" and you overreact by arbitrarily deciding who needs to die and who doesn't
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Post Post #58 (ISO) » Fri Jan 01, 2021 9:48 pm

Post by Cephrir »

In post 50, Skelda wrote:
In post 41, Cephrir wrote:It's refreshing to finally find someone to talk to about
cannibalism
/evolutionary psychology/etc."
Wow I feel called out
if it helps, the other subject listed is calling myself out
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Post Post #59 (ISO) » Sat Jan 02, 2021 8:55 am

Post by CaptainMeme »

In post 53, Skelda wrote:"Oh no! I'm so annoyed that this person just messaged me quickly! They must be a huge threat!" -thought no one ever
If they don't message in the first 10 minutes it means they were busy finding the idol
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Post Post #60 (ISO) » Sat Jan 02, 2021 11:03 am

Post by Skelda »

My legit advice for early game is to clear your schedule for the whole day of game start and do nothing but PM as quickly as you can. You can put your foot off the gas a bit later but just being a presence in the beginning is all you should need to do for the most padt. Also maybe make sure you are having enough gametalk but not too much, and usually that starts by just asking the other person what they think of the tribe after you've had some back and forth on whatever else.

If you find a bestie early on, great, but for the most part just being like "hey, I contribute, if you swap with me I will pull my weight" should be enough on tribe one. I always think of tribe one as people I have as options later on if I need them but probably not my true closest allies in the game, though that depends on circumstances. It's really just about keeping those doors open on tribe one. Tribes two and three are about locking down your super tight merge allies, and then merge returns to how tribe one was where the people you meet can and should be options if you need them, but probably won't be your besties.
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Post Post #61 (ISO) » Sat Jan 02, 2021 5:17 pm

Post by Awoo »

The main problem with having a bestie from tribe 1 is that everyone knows that you have a bestie from tribe 1.
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Post Post #62 (ISO) » Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:58 am

Post by kdowns »

In post 61, Awoo wrote:The main problem with having a bestie from tribe 1 is that everyone knows that you have a bestie from tribe 1.
This happened to me in Flash Mob with Carmine.


Also I would probably devote the first day and a half to messaging if possible, I've been burned way too many times by PMing Day 1 and thinking I could take a little easy on Day 2 and have been burned otherwise.
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Post Post #63 (ISO) » Sun Jan 03, 2021 9:17 am

Post by xofelf »

Yeah, the first 48 are crucial. You need to find a friend, and you need to make sure that you haven't disappeared long enough that the goodwill you may have gained at the start is forgotten about by the shiny new friend they found while you were away. Since there are people in other timezones who make late appearances, you can't be sure that you're charming enough to make up for a good showing by them. But also, if you are capable of doing it, being up late and the only person that is around for when people in other timezones can first show up and being willing to share your impressions of the tribe they haven't gotten to meet yet can only help you out on the making friends front.
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Post Post #64 (ISO) » Sun Jan 03, 2021 10:16 am

Post by Skelda »

In post 61, Awoo wrote:The main problem with having a bestie from tribe 1 is that everyone knows that you have a bestie from tribe 1.
Exactly, so it's better for it to be something that's in your back pocket if you need it rather than your whole plan. Also even if someone is your bestie on tribe one, if you swap apart you will make new friends and there's no guarantee that you'll be able to get back on the same page when you meet again. That's why it's better to find your real bestie later in the premerge because there's less chance of being separated for a significant amount of time and drifting apart.
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Post Post #65 (ISO) » Sun Jan 03, 2021 10:18 am

Post by Skelda »

In post 62, kdowns wrote:
In post 61, Awoo wrote:The main problem with having a bestie from tribe 1 is that everyone knows that you have a bestie from tribe 1.
This happened to me in Flash Mob with Carmine.


Also I would probably devote the first day and a half to messaging if possible, I've been burned way too many times by PMing Day 1 and thinking I could take a little easy on Day 2 and have been burned otherwise.
I think you should be as active as you can up until the results of the first challenge, and then if you lose, there will be gametalk which you can't miss, but if you win, that tends to be when people relax a bit. You don't want to be complacent obviously but as long as you are still active, you usually can get away with being a bit slower on the PMing front once everyone knows there isn't going to be an immediate tribal and the urgency is gone.
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Post Post #66 (ISO) » Sun Jan 03, 2021 3:53 pm

Post by Iprobablysuck »

In post 41, Cephrir wrote:It's Day 1. You're excited for the game to begin, practically brimming with anticipation. Finally, the much-awaited PM arrives! You open it and see that you got your first character choice. Awesome! Exciting! You are so ready to RP the shit outta this character for about 48 hours and then never do it again. You frantically click the link and fill in your login info as though that few seconds from logging in faster is going to make the slightest bit of difference. (Or, if you're like me, you deliberately wait 10 minutes so as to not seem overeager, as though that is going to make any difference either). You login and start PMing your new tribemates like crazy. You're optimistic about these new friends you're about to make and think of each one of them as a treasure already. Let's see who's filling up your PM box!

The person you'll ally with day 1 but ultimately fall off with and probably stab later: "Hey! Here's a strong conversation hook, let's discuss a weird subject that you'd probably never talk about in real life for the next 3-4 hours!"
The first boot: [PM not found]
The second boot who you probably won't be able to save even though they're kind of cute: "Hi, what's up? I'm so nervous! I hope this PM is good! Anyway, gonna go spend my time posting in general discussion instead of messaging my tribemates, peace!"
The one person who seems to get along great with everyone else but you find uninteresting: "Hey! What's your opinion about something boring, like rocks? Hope you're as excited as I am to be each other's windmills to tilt at in confessional on this tribe while pretending to everyone else that we like each other!"
Person you won't get at first but will slowly come to appreciate more over time until they probably become your #1: "Hey dude. It's nice chatting with you. I gotta run pretty soon but you seem chill. It's refreshing to finally find someone to talk to about cannibalism/evolutionary psychology/etc."
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Well, this is going to be a hell of a month or so, and it might get rough or stressful, but damn it, you're gonna have a good time, and even if you can't see it right now, a year from now you'll look back on this and realize you were right at first; every one of these people *is* a treasure.
damn this basically describes my starting tribe in flash mob to a T

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Post Post #67 (ISO) » Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:05 pm

Post by AcRv »

Let's not forget the "seems like a reasonable person for half the game before spontaneously combusting without warning"
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Post Post #68 (ISO) » Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:24 am

Post by Klick »

To be fair AcRv, the one person who immediately came to mind when I read this was Banette ;)
In post 49, Cephrir wrote:If your tribe is big enough, you also get the own-gravedigger: "Hi, person I'm meeting right now for the first time! Here's some gossip I've taken out of context. What if we voted out all the characters of opposite gender to ours? Just kidding! Unless..."
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Post Post #69 (ISO) » Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:26 pm

Post by AcRv »

I completely forgot about that. Though there were only six of us on that tribe! Sometimes the gravedigger is strong.
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Post Post #70 (ISO) » Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:11 am

Post by Silverclaw »

In post 67, AcRv wrote:Let's not forget the "seems like a reasonable person for half the game before spontaneously combusting without warning"
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Post Post #71 (ISO) » Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:54 pm

Post by D3f3nd3r »

In post 70, Silverclaw wrote:
In post 67, AcRv wrote:Let's not forget the "seems like a reasonable person for half the game before spontaneously combusting without warning"
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I did this once and I will never be able to forget about it :/
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Post Post #72 (ISO) » Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:03 pm

Post by Silverclaw »

Oh no, this is me constantly.
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Post Post #73 (ISO) » Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:33 pm

Post by DeathNote »

Every game varies so heavily depending on design. If there is a fair amount of swapping, then you don't really need to worry about your first tribe so just focus on getting through it and making a decent impression. Don't be on top but don't be that easy first boot either. Second swap on is when you really need to jam who your best friend is because most likely, your first tribe best friend will be dead or have someone else they already are close with.

Don't be friends with the person everyone likes. You are just asking for trouble. All you want from that person is to make sure they like you too as they have huge sway in the first couple votes.
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Post Post #74 (ISO) » Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:10 pm

Post by Skelda »

In post 73, DeathNote wrote:Every game varies so heavily depending on design. If there is a fair amount of swapping, then you don't really need to worry about your first tribe so just focus on getting through it and making a decent impression.
Don't be on top
but don't be that easy first boot either. Second swap on is when you really need to jam who your best friend is because most likely, your first tribe best friend will be dead or have someone else they already are close with.

Don't be friends with the person everyone likes.
You are just asking for trouble. All you want from that person is to make sure they like you too as they have huge sway in the first couple votes.
I disagree with the bolded advice. I get what you mean, and you should probably be cognizant of the fact that if you immediately love someone, there is a decent chance that everyone feels a similar way. But you usually should be making friends with that person, or at least making them think you are friends, but more often legit making friends. That's an incredibly useful ally for later in the game and getting in their good graces can be the difference between staying and going down the line. Should you be staking your entire game on them choosing you over someone else? No. But you should be in good with them, and the best way to make them feel comfortable is to be genuine in your desire to both continue forward in the game.

I also just flat-out disagree with your advice about not being on top. If you're a new player capable of being on top and running your tribe, I say go for it. At the very least it will be a learning experience. I get the argument about wanting to play in the middle if possible, but you can't really give generalized advice in that regard because every player is different. I'm biased because I like to play from the top and always have, but it depends on the player and what they can make work. But also I don't think people see control premerge as threatening necessarily? Probably situational but some players can away with it. So if there's any time it's okay to control things and be on top, it's early in the game, since by the time merge rolls around, circumstances will be different and no one will care who dictated boots rounds and rounds ago.

A lot of this comes down to personal taste and preference, and I get that some people like to be a bit more UTR, but that isn't and shouldn't be everyone's game.
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