So Iīve found time to post some strat on Triplechain. First have a look at the boards below. You really should familiarize with them. Note the coordinates I have added (A-I and 0-9).
Boards 1-5 are good starting positions that you want to reach after the first 4 racks.
Board 1-3 allow you to create snake charmer. Board 4-5 follow the
Dynasty strategy, which is much more versatile.
The big disadvantage of chasing snake charmer is the low probability of pulling it off. E.g. you depend on rack 9 to provide you with the last green number.
If you do not chase snake charmer, you will end up getting boards 6-8. If you chase snake charmers, you go for boards 11-13.
The red and yellow chains (preferably 5s and 6s) can make 'snaaaaakes', while the green area only touches 3 zones.
Charmer strategy 2 is pretty decent, because you will very easily make a full red snake. It is risky though, because you need the first 4 racks to provide all the needed numbers.
Charmer strategy 3 is really inferior, because you have a lost green number that you will only connect if you get green numbers in
D6 and
E5.
There is one important parameter that you should consider when deciding between a charmer strategy and the Dynasty system.
The number of 2s in the racks 1-4.
If the racks 1-4 are low on 2s (2 or less) a charmer strategy gets more profitable, because it frees up two valuable squares (
C6+
D6) to dump 2s from the racks 5-8.
Dynasty system with 0-2 2s in racks 1-4 can be really awkward, because early 2s will hinder chain development and force you to make tough choices.
It is noted that Dynasty introduced his system with yellow numbers=6, red numbers=5 and green numbers=4. Depending on the first 4 racks you can easily interchange them. Obviously the best is if green=4, because of the lower probability of make a full snake. But yellow and red can easily be 5s and 6s interchanged.
How to play the yellow numbers in Dynasty strategy.
Suppose you have managed starting position 4 or 5.
Where do you place your first yellow number? It may appear that squares
D4 and
F4 are equivalent.
WRONG. The first 6 should be placed in
F4 100%.
From there you have two options. The safe option is
F4-
D4-
D6 (or
C6)-
D7 to try and make your full snake. This is a good strategy in timed, especially if it appears you have chosen a good number as yellow chain.
In the daily challenge, safe is often not best, you have to take risks to get the topscore. It is all or nothing. The risky strategy is
F4-
D6-
D7-
D4/
E5. This optimizes the probability of creating a full snake.
In the safe strategy you need 4 yellow numbers in the racks 5-8 to create a full snake.
In the risky strategy you need 3 yellow numbers in the racks 5-8 and if the 4th one does not come, you have a rebound in rack 9.
If you get one yellow number in rack 5 and two yellow numbers in rack 6 I would ALWAYS go
F4-
D6-
D7, as you only require one more in the last two racks.
If rack 5 is void of yellow numbers, place a green number at
F6. If you do not have a green number either, you can decide to play risky and place a useless number in
D4 (anti-intuitively), maintaining full possibilities for the green chain as well as maintaining the best chance of getting a full yellow snake. The safe road would of course be to place the useless number at
D6, still allowing a yellow 5-chain if you get lucky in the next three racks (placing
F4-
D4-
C6-
D7), but forfeiting the ability of using rack 9.
How to play 1s and 2s in racks 1-4.
See board 16. There are a couple of ways to place your 1s and 2s.
The arguably best way is as demonstrated in the ABC zone. A 2 at the 'bottom' of the zone and a 1 in one of the 'edges'. You can place 2 2s and 2 1s easily and even 3 1s if needed. You can use 2s from rack 5-9. Following the Dynasty strategy, you REALLY should place
B4=1 and
A5=2. Look at the boards 9 and 14. Both leave room for the third 1 in
C6, without interfering with chain strategy. This can be huge when unwelcome 1s start showing up in late racks.
You can oppose two 2s at both edges, as shown in the 123 zone. This is decent. If you decide to do that, you really should place them as indicated (upper zone). The first 2 2s you get in rack 5-8 MUST be placed in the square where you have opposing twos, to maximize the probability to quickly make two pairs (you cannot use 2s from rack 9). The upper zone is not needed early for placing of red/green numbers. Red numbers are typically placed in the order
F7-
G6-
C4-
D3. The advantage of place two opposing 2s is that you keep the square empty of 1s, allowing you to park a 1 from the 9th rack. The risk is that you do not get enough 2s to make two pairs in rack 5-8 and if rack 9 shows 2s you know your bonus will suck.
You can oppose two 1s on the edges, with a 2 at the bottom, as shown in the 7-8-9 zone. This is decent. It prevents the placing of 3 1s in a single zone, though.
Opponing a 1 and 2 as shown in the GHI zone is pretty terrible. There is stress on square I6 which wants to be filled with both a 1 and a 2. Generally a 2 at the edge of the zone is only good if you get opposing 2s. I donīt see any reason to ever place a 1 at the bottom of a zone (E-row or 5-column).
Thatīs it for today. I hope you have picked up something to incorporate in your own strategy. Good luck.
Two Plus Two
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