What determines move priority?

I get turn blocking, but it all falls apart if you don't know how move priority is determined.

With units on open land (not in a city), turnblocking works exactly as expected. First moves are first priority, second moves are second, etc.

However, as soon as I start attacking cities with units inside my own cities, or using units on open land to attack units inside cities, the priority system mystifies me.

For example, player A has 1 city, called city 1.
If player A's first move is to move a bomber which was not in a city, to a random place not in a city (irrelevant move to waste first priority), then player B should be able to turn block the units in city 1 with 100% chance as long as the units are of sufficient quantity (50% or more of target units)

If player B attacks city 1 (with equal units for simplicity), what actually happens is that no turnblock happens. The only way I can imagine this is possible, is if move priority is screwy. The answer to "what determines move priority" is not "order in which you do stuff", otherwise a turnblock would happen in this scenario. It is more complicated than "the order in which you do stuff", no matter how hard you believe that's all there is to it.

This is a post by Amok (the programmer) one day after the latest turnblocking update. That means this text is relevant, current, and more correct than any of your personal theories, observations, or other crap. I'm not interested in random player gossip, so please, stop acting like you know what is happening behind the scenes. Most people think max chance is 50%, when amok says here it's actually 100%. Again this is current. Again stop wasting everyone's time by spewing outdated information you overheard from your buddies.

Well that's good but is this post outdated too? This was from .12

It was the last word from Amok (most relevant source on the matter) regarding move priority/turnblock chance. If my 5 year old sister came in and said turnblock had a max 30% chance tomorrow, does the shiny new date make it the most current and correct information? No.

Kirjutas deduction, 12.11.2013 at 17:05

It was the last word from Amok (most relevant source on the matter) regarding move priority/turnblock chance. If my 5 year old sister came in and said turnblock had a max 30% chance tomorrow, does the shiny new date make it the most current and correct information? No.

Just asking, seems very likely something was changed since then.

We can't know until admins respond - using hearsay from other players is muddying an already black water.

I think tophats understands the system best:

Kirjutas tophat, 06.07.2013 at 23:40

1) Maximum chance of tb is 50%, 100% chances don't exist.

2) If you're attempting to turnblock 1-4 enemy units, turnblocking with 1 unit as your first movement of the turn will give you a 50% chance of success. If you do so as your second or third movement etc, your chances will decrease if your enemy moved before you. These are called "priorities" (the movement priority) That is if both you and your enemy are attacking each other, (ex: you attacking Serbia from Bulgaria, and your enemy attacking Bulgaria from Serbia) However, if you're attempting to turnblock an enemy's stack that is attempting to move somewhere else, the case is different. If you attempt to turnblock as your first move you will have a maximum 50% chance of success. It doesn't make any difference if whether your enemy moved that stack first, second or last, it will be 50% because you attempted to turnblock as your first movement. But, if you attempt to turnblock as your second movement your chances will decrease, or if you attempt to turnblock as your third movement your chances of success will decrease even more and so on. (I believe it's 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, 3.125% etc.. but i might be wrong, the admins never explained it completely) And remember, this entire explanation for 2) is if you're attempting to turnblock 1-4 units.

3) If you're attempting to turnblock and enemy's stack that is heading somewhere else, there are three possible scenarios.
1 - Your turnblock is successful and thus, you enemy's movement doesn't occur.
2 - Your turnblock fails and your enemy's stack moves to its destination. If your turnblocking units reach your enemy's destination they will have a battle there.
3 - Your turnblock fails and the units don't reach your enemy's destination. Therefore, your units will attack the city your enemy was previously in, or if they weren't in a city your units will remain there.

4) If you're attempting to turnblock a stack of 5+ units, it works in terms of quantities. For instance, in order to have a maximum 50% chance of success you need 50% the amount of your enemy's units. For example, if your enemy has a stack of 30 units, in order to have a 50% chance of turnblocking that stack, you need 15 units to turnblock it as your first movement. Or of course, if your enemy moved it second move, you can turnblock it with 15 units as your second move and also have a 50% chance, since it's an equal priority. However, in most cases, it's not worth wasting 15 units for a simple turnblock. Additionally, the same principals of priority which i described in 2), also apply here. If you attempted to turnblock your enemy with 50% of his units as your second move and he his first, it will be a 25% of success. If you attempted to turnblock your enemy with 50% of his units as your third move and he his first, it will be a 12.5% chance of success, and it goes on. The principal applies to all other priorities. (For instance, 11th movement turnblocking an enemy's 3rd movement. Yes, it is that complex. And this is just one example at random)

5) Remember, if you turnblock 30 units with 15 units as your first movement, it isn't always a 50% chance. Your enemy might have extra reinforcements in that city making it maybe 34 units. Therefore you would require 17 units to have a 50% chance of success. But again, it's not really worth it unless you captured your enemy's capital, and only have one turn left to hold it and win, then it is worth it.

That is absolutely incorrect, through my extensive testing using units on open land, if you use your first and only move using 1 unit to turnblock 1 unit (and target unit's player does lots of random moves, then moves that unit as far away as possible as the last move), according to tophats this should be a maximum 50% chance to turnblock, when it is a 100% chance, it ALWAYS turnblocks. Again, tophats is wrong in his first and second points at the very least. Player (even moderator) speculation is worth nothing to me. We need admins to speak up. However I will say, on open land units turnblocking works as Amok posted (the post I quoted in my first post, second image).

Bumpo.

Kirjutas deduction, 12.11.2013 at 19:45

We can't know until admins respond - using hearsay from other players is muddying an already black water.

+1
agreed

All I can say is - listen to tophats, this guy knows what he's talking about.

Kirjutas deduction, 13.11.2013 at 13:24

That is absolutely incorrect, through my extensive testing using units on open land, if you use your first and only move using 1 unit to turnblock 1 unit (and target unit's player does lots of random moves, then moves that unit as far away as possible as the last move), according to tophats this should be a maximum 50% chance to turnblock, when it is a 100% chance, it ALWAYS turnblocks. Again, tophats is wrong in his first and second points at the very least. Player (even moderator) speculation is worth nothing to me. We need admins to speak up. However I will say, on open land units turnblocking works as Amok posted (the post I quoted in my first post, second image).

If this is right, i would start making priority moves

Kirjutas deduction, 13.11.2013 at 13:24

on open land, if you use your first and only move using 1 unit to turnblock 1 unit (and target unit's player does lots of random moves, then moves that unit as far away as possible as the last move), according to tophats this should be a maximum 50% chance to turnblock, when it is a 100% chance, it ALWAYS turnblocks.

Kirjutas deduction, 13.11.2013 at 13:24

However I will say, on open land units turnblocking works as Amok posted (the post I quoted in my first post, second image).

Did you mean sea for one?
And if so, which one?

I'm pretty sure playing and amassing 1.4million points from this game puts tophats in a better position to understand this then any of your 'extended testing' results. Nothing is more extensive testing then actually playing.

Kirjutas deduction, 13.11.2013 at 13:24

That is absolutely incorrect, through my extensive testing using units on open land, if you use your first and only move using 1 unit to turnblock 1 unit (and target unit's player does lots of random moves, then moves that unit as far away as possible as the last move), according to tophats this should be a maximum 50% chance to turnblock, when it is a 100% chance, it ALWAYS turnblocks. Again, tophats is wrong in his first and second points at the very least. Player (even moderator) speculation is worth nothing to me. We need admins to speak up. However I will say, on open land units turnblocking works as Amok posted (the post I quoted in my first post, second image).

Could you post the results of your extensive testing? I'm asking because I'd be interested in a possible bug that has to do with TB mechanics. Also, I'd like to see actual data confirming TopHats' explanation.

In your example, I think both the 50% and the 100% explanations are wrong. Even TopHats said he wasn't sure:

Kirjutas tophat, 06.07.2013 at 23:40

...if you attempt to turnblock as your second movement your chances will decrease, or if you attempt to turnblock as your third movement your chances of success will decrease even more and so on. (I believe it's 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, 3.125% etc.. but i might be wrong, the admins never explained it completely)

As you suggest, I think that the chance of turnbocking will increase if the target stack is moved with low priority. However, I don't think move#1 TBs opponent's move #2 with 100% chance. Rather, I think it will increase from 50% to something greater than 50%. Perhaps move #1 attempting to TB move #999 would then be close to 100%... I don't know... That's my impression. I'd really like to test it though.

Admins please stop being shady about this .