On this Table Talk, I got a chance to talk with Scythe content creator FOMOF. If you aren’t familiar with him, he’s a top ranked player on Scythe Digital Edition, and his videos are likely one of the first videos that will pop up in a YouTube search of any particular faction and mat combination.
We talked a great deal about his process for fleshing out strategies as well as his constant progression with his video content, and of course, even got to derail a bit about The Office.
Introduction.
Norman:
During quarantine, I started really paying attention to some of your content. Prior to finding your videos on Twitch and YouTube, I was just looking around BoardGameGeek.com for strategies, which as you’ve probably seen is kind of difficult.
But I’m curious; what got you into starting to post your Scythe gameplay videos?
FOMOF:
Well, after buying Scythe I played it a lot – probably too much – and got pretty good at it. After a while I thought, you know, I have something to contribute here. I’ve been a part of other gaming communities where streaming and making videos and guides was really a big deal.
And although there were some things out there for Scythe, a whole lot of the content was very basic and rudimentary. There is some stuff out there that’s more advanced, but it’s few and far between. So I just thought, you know, I’m playing games anyway, I should start recording them and just kind of talk through strategy and why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Norman:
Right.
FOMOF:
And as I started doing it, it was something I really enjoyed, and it’s been a real blessing. I’ve been getting some great reception from people. I’m up to over 400 subscribers on YouTube right now and I got to do a guest spot recently on The Mill, which is a StoneMaier sponsored channel, so it’s been a big honor and a lot of fun.
Norman:
Yeah, I’ve been paying attention to your videos now for maybe two months, I think the first ever video I watched of yours had a funny title, it was “Smashing Bots,” that’s what it was.
FOMOF:
Ahhhh, that’s when the Scythe servers were down and I was supposed to be streaming. I had some people watching the stream, so I just figured I’d play the Scythe AI.
Norman:
Yep! That’s the one. You were playing bots which might not have seemed all that interesting, but what drew me in were your explanations of why you did what you did with each faction and mat combination.
Three Minute Video Strategies.
Norman:
But yeah, at what point did you decide that you wanted to make a little bit more focused content like your Three Minute Video strategies?
FOMOF:
I was just thinking about ways to make the content a little bit more engaging, and I found the Three Minute videos were a way to accomplish that without saying, “This is how you have to play this faction and mat combo.” Because, frankly, if that was the way this game worked it wouldn’t be as fun for everyone. For me, learning to play well was being shown, sometimes even handed an optimized combination and really dissecting it and looking at it and asking, “What makes this good? And how do I do that over here with this other combination?”
And so that’s what I’m hoping to do with the Three Minute Videos. I’m hoping to give people who don’t have a lot of time to sit down and enjoy a full game, a window or a snapshot into the competitive Scythe world. And if I’m being completely frank, showing the beauty of an optimized strategy. I hope there are people out there who watch the videos and get the same level of enjoyment that I do out of taking a set of moves in a board game and trying to make it better.
Norman:
Right. I definitely agree with the beauty of the game play part. You might have seen my comment, but I think it was yesterday I went through your Saxony Militant in Three Minutes video. I played through that and it was really cool how you left it off after Round 10 basically outlining some options the player can take for the remainder of the game. I really appreciate that kind of thought put into helping the player understand the synergy between the faction and mat, and kind of you know, break away from a textbook strategy every game to make the game more fun but definitely more interesting to play.
FOMOF:
Right. I’m proud of that strategy in part because it’s really counter-intuitive to how Saxony likes to work. But sometimes you may think a combination is terrible, and it turns out to be amazing. I used to really struggle when I started playing this game with Crimea Engineering, because the Move action is over Enlist. At the time, most people were playing it with three workers, and I got to a point where I realized for me it worked much better with eight workers. I worked on that combination a while, and eventually Crimea Engineering became a combination I was getting 14 Round wins with.
As you’re familiar, some of us more frequent players on the Scythe Discord channel put together a Scythe Tier List:
FOMOF:
I don’t think two years ago, people would’ve considered Crimea Engineering to be S-Tier.
Norman:
Right.
FOMOF:
It’s things like that; it’s players challenging preconceived notions and attacking a combination and finding undiscovered potential and that makes Scythe really exciting. So as I go through the Three Minute video series, I expect that I’m going to have to sit down with some combinations I haven’t really developed enough yet to do a video on. And I’m looking forward to, I hope, unlocking potential in those combinations that I didn’t know was there.
Norman:
Maybe you can make something out of Albion Industrial.
FOMOF:
I’m not a miracle maker.
Norman:
LOL.
Favorite Faction.
Norman:
Well, what would you say is your favorite faction overall?
FOMOF:
Going back and forth, I would say Polania.
They’re not the strongest faction, but I just really enjoy playing Polania. I love the rush of wondering what I’m going to get on each Encounter and what I’m going to make out of each game. I think it’s for some of the same reasons that some people love playing Saxony, but I enjoy not knowing where my engine is going to come from. You know, with Rusviet, I might start the game knowing what my first thirteen moves are. With Polania, I probably know what my first six or seven moves are and then after that, it’s just whatever the board gives me. As far as play style, I find it extremely fun.
Staying Focused for Games.
Norman:
So what’s your focus point or strategy for staying in the zone as far as some more competitive games go?
FOMOF:
The adrenaline keeps me focused. I can’t tell you I have some great routine or anything, but I think maybe the secret is caring too much.
Norman:
Isn’t that supposed to be the job interview answer for ‘What’s your greatest weakness?’ – I care too much.
FOMOF:
Right, Michael Scott style.
Norman:
You did not just say that! Oh man, did we just become best friends? I love The Office!
FOMOF:
Lol, It’s a good show. Don’t hate me, but I’m a bit of a Parks and Rec. guy myself.
Norman:
I actually like Parks and Rec. for a lot of different reasons than I like The Office. I would say I prefer The Office, but Parks and Rec. has its own little niche in my heart.
Game Improvement(s).
Norman:
LOL, but back on track, one of the big things I would like to hear about is, if you could change one thing about the game of Scythe, what would it be – well, aside from adding a built in bidding system?
FOMOF:
This may be completely irresponsible, but I’d be really tempted to give the IFA (Invaders from Afar) factions a Speed Mech and see what happens. I think they might be completely broken if you did that because they don’t need Riverwalk to move toward the center of the board and their early spread might just obliterate the game. But if I could change one thing about Scythe for like a day, I’d really want to see what we could do with Albion and Togawa with Speed Mechs.
Norman:
Well then a follow up question to that would be what Mech Ability would you replace for each if Albion and Togawa were to get a Speed Mech?
FOMOF:
So Albion still needs Burrow and Rally. So I would probably take away Sword. I think Shield is a little bit more useful for Albion in the early game, so I’d keep that.
Norman:
Okay, makes sense.
FOMOF:
With Togawa, you have to have Shinobi and Toka. You could say get rid of Ronin, but I think they need that for early game combat relevance. So, I think you have to get rid of Suiton if you give them a Speed Mech,
Norman:
I actually can’t see a reason to disagree with you on that. Seems solid, and it would be fun to give those factions a try with a Speed Mech.
Advice for Competitive Play.
Norman:
Alright, so final question; what’s the best advice you would give to a player who’s considering getting into competitive play?
FOMOF:
Write down your move sequences. You eventually want to be a player who can play well on the fly, but learning what good play looks like and how good play feels means examining the way you’re playing, so you can go back to those move sequences, then try to make them better.
To give an example; with Nordic Mechanical, one of the challenges is the mechs cost three metal. Nordic has a Mountain in its base, but it doesn’t have a Village, so Nordic struggles to get a significant number of workers on metal. One thing a lot of players will do with Nordic Mechanical is build a Mill on the Mountain and then maybe get an additional upgrade.
Well, I wrote down a sequence where I did that, and then I went back and looked at it and I realized something. If I just traded for oil a couple of times, did two upgrades, and put one worker on that mountain, I would have an upgraded move action, an upgraded bolster, and I could actually go for the Power Star.
So writing down my moves and examining them allowed me to make my strategy better and doing that over and over again will make you a better player. And it’s fairly easy, just write down the sequence of those first 6 to 10 moves, and then go back to look at it and see what you missed and what you could have done better.
Norman:
Nice. Well said. Thanks for staying up late to chat with me.
FOMOF:
No, it’s all good. I’ve enjoyed it.
Norman:
Great. Well, I’ll look forward to maybe catching a game with you. Probably after the tournament then since you guys are pretty busy with that right now.
FOMOF:
Sounds good. You have a great night, man.
Check out FOMOF’s regular streams, and keep up with him on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch! Additionally, check out more of our Table Talk interviews and keep posted for more content to come!
Happy gaming!
- Norman