Tactics & Strategies For Beginners

[Adam Ryland]

I thought a 'beginner's guide' to the match engine would help some of the people who may be new to the series, so here's a few tactics and strategies that may help.

 

Please note that the abbreviations CoH ("Chance of Hit" - the likelihood of performing the move successfully) and CoW ("Chance of Win" - the likelihood of getting a pinfall \ submission \ etc after hitting the move) are used throughout; these are visible on screen whenever choosing a move.

 

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Momentum Is Key

 

Both your own and your opponent's momentum impact your chance of hitting a move, and become especially crucial when trying to hit finisher-level moves that have a low CoH. Ideally you want your momentum as close to full as possible, and the opponent's as close to empty; achieve the former by applying consistent pressure with low-level moves, achieve the latter by using rest holds or landing occasional big shots. Study this well.

 

Finishing A Match

 

Be sure to check the CoW of your moves carefully - some people mistakenly spend ages hitting DDT after DDT and wondering why they never get a win, when in reality a standard DDT (at least in the default database) has NO possibility of scoring a pinfall unless the opponent is in a vulnerable state.

 

Work The Engine / 'Looking Under The Hood'

 

At least to begin with, use the Calculation button as much as you can to see exactly why things are working or failing. This will allow you to get a firm grasp of how the match engine works, and what strategies allow you to 'work it' to your favour.

 

Stack The Deck

 

The average finisher has a CoH of around 200, meaning you're only going to hit one-in-five to begin with, and that's before any penalties. Realistically you therefore need to try and stack the deck in your favour, so try and get as many bonuses on your side as possible and hit the opponent with as many penalties as you can. For example, it pays to have more than one finisher and to make sure that they have different counters - if you only armed yourself with a Super Kick for example, you're going to struggle to hit it on very speedy wrestlers as the counter (Avoid) plays to their strengths and significantly lowers your chance of success, whereas it'd be a great finisher against slow-moving powerhouses as they cannot lower your chance of success by more than a few percent. The more you can nudge the odds in your favour, the easier the task becomes!