Epicmafia

Scumhunting for bad players

deletedover 7 years

There's no definitive way to better your game. Everyone views mafia differently, the only way to get better is to play more and more

expose

over 7 years

You say "have better reads" but you don't really explain how a player can do that.

It's like saying "vote better" or "play better" or "fos better".

Players already know they need better reads in order to improve their game. The problem is that they don't know *how* to get better reads or what methods to implement in order to improve their reads.

I think breaking down the game into scumhunting vs townhunting, and focusing the majority of your play on townhunting and sheeping your townreads can greatly improve your voting patterns.

deletedover 7 years

expose says

A non-genuine towntell is something that is not alignment indicative.

One of the most common mistakes I see players make is clearing a player who claims to not know who the clear is on the basis that "mafia would know who the clear is". This is not a genuine towntell. Calling this kind of reaction a "townslip" will not produce consistently accurate reads.

When you put it this way, then yes, that's obvious. But those things are essentially, like you said, non-alignment indicative. There's really no point in trying to determine the genuinity of those unless you suspect otherwise due to some event. By using your example there's really no reason to believe that mafia will always know who the clear is as opposed to the town.

...which brings me back to my point. Having better reads will help you determine behavior of town. If the person you pushing on isn't doing town behavior, then you mark them as mafia.

expose

over 7 years

A non-genuine towntell is something that is not alignment indicative.

One of the most common mistakes I see players make is clearing a player who claims to not know who the clear is on the basis that "mafia would know who the clear is". This is not a genuine towntell. Calling this kind of reaction a "townslip" will not produce consistently accurate reads.

deletedover 7 years

expose says

Miguel says

Townhunting is the same as scumhunting though. If you single out a person and determine what they say is genuine, then you mark them town. If you determine that what they said isn't genuine then they're mafia

I disagree. Townhunting and scumhunting implement two very different filters.

Also, if someone genuinely towntells they are town. But if someone does not genuinely towntell, they can also be town.

If you're basing your scumhunting on "people who do not genuinely towntell" then you're going to get a lot of incorrect fosses since you may be fossing town who do not towntell.

Elaborate on this "non-genuine towntells" from town that you speak of. Town literally has nothing to hide so they're basically always saying the truth while mafia is always lying in some way

expose

over 7 years

Miguel says

Townhunting is the same as scumhunting though. If you single out a person and determine what they say is genuine, then you mark them town. If you determine that what they said isn't genuine then they're mafia

I disagree. Townhunting and scumhunting implement two very different filters.

Also, if someone genuinely towntells they are town. But if someone does not genuinely towntell, they can also be town.

If you're basing your scumhunting on "people who do not genuinely towntell" then you're going to get a lot of incorrect fosses since you may be fossing town who do not towntell.

deletedover 7 years

So it really boils down to just having better reads, as in, determining if its genuine or whatever

deletedover 7 years

Townhunting is the same as scumhunting though. If you single out a person and determine what they say is genuine, then you mark them town. If you determine that what they said isn't genuine then they're mafia

pranay7744

over 7 years

Expose is a mentor. Listen to him.

expose

over 7 years

Miguel says

How about you pinpoint it to the actual problem, which is bad reads, not just scumhunting or townhunting

You can't teach someone to not have bad reads since people analyze lines of text differently but can arrive at the same conclusion.

Even pro players have incorrect fosses and mishammer sometimes.

However, one can improve their fosses and voting patterns by increasing the consistency of their townreads. If you're consistently townreading 1-2 players correctly in all of your games, then you're on the right track. But if you are consistently townreading the mafia, then you need to re-evaluate your approach to townhunting.

expose

over 7 years

Miguel says

This strategy falls short when bad players townread forced towntells lol

A forced "towntell" isn't a towntell by nature. The person who claims it to be a towntell doesn't know what they're doing or they're mafia.

An easy way to spot the mafia is when they claim xyz towntold, but the quote isn't a genuine towntell at all.

deletedover 7 years

How about you pinpoint it to the actual problem, which is bad reads, not just scumhunting or townhunting

deletedover 7 years

This strategy falls short when bad players townread forced towntells lol

expose

over 7 years

Escurai says

I get the part about sheeping dead town but idk what is easier about forming a townread than a scumread

Okay forget everything that you know about "towntelling" and "towntells".

Basically when you're mafia you have to imitate town (stating the obvious).

There are certain reactions in various situations that a townsperson says naturally which mafia simply cannot force or fake. These are genuine towntells and what you want to look for.

I can't give you a specific example because then it wouldn't be a genuine towntell since mafia can replicate specific examples and force them.

But maybe I can read a few game and point out ways in which someone is obvious town.

Another good way to find a townread is through someone's tone. This technique isn't completely fool proof and it will take you some guess and check before you're able to recognize different tones and assign alignments to them based on the player. This method is heavily based on meta so you'll need a few rounds of practice before you become consistent.

Escurai

over 7 years

I get the part about sheeping dead town but idk what is easier about forming a townread than a scumread

expose

over 7 years

Miguel says

Are you salty or something

No. It's a legitimate strategy to help improve a player's gameplay.

It's easier to find 1-2 townreads and then POE the mafia from there based on their reads, instead of trying to yolo the scum one by one based on your reads alone.

For example in Jan2.0, if you scumread cop claim #1, but two of your townreads scumread cop claim #2, it is more likely that your fos is wrong and you should flip your vote.

Of course this depends heavily on one's ability to determine a townread accurately.

deletedover 7 years

Are you salty or something