Guide How to track your opponent in Conquest

This thread is for anyone who is interested in winning Conquest games, either to play for fun or get a deflector or whatever the reason may be. If you are having a hard time or want to improve your game, you will be able to help yourself out immensely just by taking notes. In this thread I'll explain the system I use to keep track of my opponent's command points and available commands, which are otherwise hidden during gameplay. Knowing this information can help you stay a step ahead of your opponent when planning your next move.

Note: It's assumed that you already know how to play Conquest. If you don't, http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Conquest is a good place to start.

This also is not a strategy guide. Strategy info can also be found at the above link, but I won't be getting into any of that in here.

Now let's get down to business.


HOW TO TRACK YOUR OPPONNENT

I did my note taking with a pen and paper. Start by drawing out a chart like this:



The chart is for tracking your opponent's commands. Underneath you will be keeping a running total of your opponent's command points.

Command points are gained:
1. At the beginning of each turn, except for the first turn (25)
2. When your opponent kills one of your units in combat (Bombard doesn't count). The points gained will be equal to the cost of the killed unit.

In this example, I took the first turn so my opponent gains 25 points at the start of their turn. During their next turn, they gain another 25 so you update the total accordingly:



The opponent now has 50 points. During their next turn, they gain 25 more points. Then they use the Charge ability (-75) and kill my archer for 100 points. Now my sheet looks like this:



The total is updated to reflect what happened during the turn, and additionally I used the chart to note that the opponent used the charge ability during this turn. Charge has a 5 turn cooldown, so the next 4 squares are marked to indicate the next 4 turns before Charge is available again.

Finally, I make a mark above the chart when my opponent ends his turn.



So that's how I keep track of what my opponent is doing. Let's skip ahead a little and see how it helps me.



Two more turns have passed. The opponent has killed one of my scouts and halberdiers and used three more abilities. Because I have been taking notes, I now know that (1) the opponent is fairly low on command points, (2) the opponent will be unable to use any abilities for the next two turns, and (3) I know all four of my opponent's commands.

What I do next depends on my own situation. Knowing that my opponent can't use any commands for two turns, I have a great opportunity to do a lot of damage if I'm in a position to do so. Or I might stay back and protect my own units to try to get an advantage later on.

This can be the difference between winning and losing in a close game because you can see what the opponent has and know how to play it. I've lost countless games I could have won before I started taking these notes because I just didn't know what to expect.

As a final note, Winds of Fate can throw a wrench into the whole thing because your opponent will get back a command that would otherwise not be available yet. Additionally, Winds of Fate is rarely used until late in the game, so you will spend most of the game not knowing for sure what the opponent's fourth ability is. It can be a very strong late-game move, but if you're aware of all that, you won't be surprised because you can see it coming well in advance.