how not to play like a loser

-musings-

Err...

Some pointers from gimp

I can't be bothered to say what's already been said, so here are a few little notes I haven't seen anywhere else.

Switches

- 1 vs 1 matches: Switches at the start of the game (picked up within the first few lines you make). Most people either hoard these or start stacking a column of pieces really high. The first option isn't -too- bad, but the second option just isn't very useful, since the moment any competent player sees you messing your field up, s/he is going to do the exact same thing - meaning that you have a messed up field too. Unless you were lucky enough to get a g (or n, but it isn't so great since you have to start packing blocks all over again) just drop two pieces straight down and switch. You should get a nice un-messed-up field ready for you to continue dropping blocks and getting specials, while your opponent has to deal with those blocks sticking up in the middle of his/her field (hopefully you didn't drop two squares or something else that doesn't leave any holes). Unless they get lucky (or you play a lot slower than they do), that delay should be enough for you to pick up a load of specials and go stomp on them. Of course, if you're playing against newbies, you might as well just stack high since they're probably too busy figuring out where they should drop their next piece to notice. Or you could just delete your switch, smile benevolently and let them last a -bit- longer.
In FFA (free-for-all) with decent players it's probably better to do something else with your switch. You could stack a high mess, since not everyone will screw their field up - most of the time anyway.

- Stacking high for switches

Most common ways to stack:

1 - This is just useless, unless you have a lot of a's handy (and it still wastes time). It's easy for a player to continue making lines and getting blocks; since tnet reduces the stack height to 16 lines (where the red line is) even if you pile higher than that when you switch, it's not high enough to impede them much unless it's ffa and people are adding lines like crazy. Even so, three and four are better because they're faster.
2 - Just as bad, horribly slow, and doesn't take long to bridge.
3 - The fastest, and terribly evil if lines are being added by everyone. A real pain in the ass to bridge.
4 - Most of the good players you see will use this. It's nearly as fast as 3 and even more obnoxious to fix. I reckon that capping the pipe is not as good as leaving the pipe open to the side. Why? Because tnet reduces the switch height to 16; the cap ends up making a start to the bridge. However, if you leave the pipe open, your victim is going to have to drop a piece over it to start bridging. This will raise the bridge height and delay them. If they decide to wait for sticks to show up ...good luck to them.