some aspects are already covered in Vermont's FAQ in the Advisorblog. Maybe you could use part of that text for the noob section

OMG KPD UR NEW AV IS SO CUUUUUTE!!!!!

You could explain how silenttrucing works and is different from pga (and why it fails at times).

Observing the board helps getting white medals. Anything above that you need loads of persons that know you. And you have to give up your moral standards and get accustomed to cheating others or, to put it a bit less hard, to get points given to you by those you know that you don't really deserve.

one thing that not even all the Vets realize is that it's not always in your best interest to stack until you are +, or to only attack once, especially if you are cut. this holds true primarily for 1v1 battles. a lot of times people think my fight is over but i'll 8v8 hard with my border and if i can manage to win, say, 2 or 3 out of 5 attacks, i will put myself in a favorable position to win (so long as I defend somewhat well the next round)

i'll try to think of more. it's pretty hard to do. i've been thinking about writing an extensive guide for a while now, but it gets annoying trying to gather my thoughts

don't forget to cover the "how to get around bans" section:

- trolling/being vocal in the forum
- playing on alts and doing the right things not to get that one banned
- pro sucking up/lying to mods
- contacting mods from other sites and playing innocent
- undermining validity of a ban/discrediting mods

(sorry, I am in a troll mood today)

double moral is a key thing if you wanna be successful

you have to be able to sell convincingly the idea that when a certain action is done towards you, it is unfair, immoral and bad etiquette. However when you do the same action against another player it is just, natural and he/she should not have "made" you do it.

getting blue trophies does not require PGAing, not really, if you are able to play the social game.

what you need to be successful on the top tables is usually to earn the respect of the players you play against, how I did it was to pit myself in fights against sam, das or montecarlo. While chatting like hell to keep it a 1v1 fight. After a few games like that, I was "in". It also helps to behave politely, but fun, and talk in the same way as whomever is on the table. The basic diplomatic skill is to make your enemies like you, that way you gain some extra time to build yourself, and make someone else a better target.


There is a difference between these diplomatic skills and PGA. I learned these skills from boardgames like diplomacy, risk and other wargames. To be able to sell your idea about how the situation looks is what will win you more games than any move on the board will.

What are some other common mistakes new players make?

OH AND FFS, do 7v8s...they're like 50% fucking A