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Scouting Reports

Active Player Profiles:

 

Hoov
Hoov is probably the best "frequent" player these days. He doesn't seem to have any particularly glaring weaknesses and comes across as quite balanced in the various skills. I guess that's why he's so good. Hoov's style doesn't seem to be as aggressive as some, however.

by Soup

I remember hoov as a player a few years ago. He was not as good as he is now, but he still had the traits which make him a great player. Hoov usually beats me in a 1x1 so I have put considerable thought into why he wins. The primary reason in my opinion is that he has uncanny awareness on the battlefield. A few years back hoov was a very mediocre 1x1 player, yet he was known as an awesome partner in 2x2's. This was because he would always be there to help a partner rebuild when his lgm was dead, or to immediately clear a spike. In a 1x1 hoov will always take a quick pill or two and spike one of your quadrants, usually the one you are working in. This holds true for 2x2 as well. Hoov once told me that spiking like this does two things for him 1) It buys him time to work freely and 2) It usually allows him to know where his opponent is (i.e. uses pill view as opponent tries to clear spike). In the time it takes an opponent to adjust to the spike and go about clearing it , Hoov has returned to his quadrant taken another pill or two and suddenly you find yourself operating at a deficit of pills. If you decide to abandon that quadrant and move to your other quadrant, the time lost in this transition equates to another pill or two taken by hoov. Many times hoov follows up a spike with proceeding immediately to your other quadrant and shooting out your free bases. He does this quickly. Half the games I lose to him have been essentially over in the first 5-10 min. On fast maps like DH oil rig this strategy is deadly. The mobility he has on a map like that allows him to cover essentially the entire map quite easily. If you have weathered the initial spike frenzy you may be on more even footing with him. Hoov dislikes pill wars and pill fronts that hamper his mobility. He is an excellent pill war player, although it is definitely not his strength. I think that he loses patience sometimes in these situations. If given an opening, he will spike behind a pill line if it is undefended. On slower maps Hoov's strengths are minimized. Somehow I imagine hoov would have a hard time beating sluggo on one of his island maps. The best advice I could give to anyone playing hoov in a 1x1 or 2x2 is be ready for those initial spikes and try and be the first one to take a pill, if you are a slow starter you have my condolences.

Hoov is my favourite ally, noone else gets close. Even though he has his ups and downs, he remains calm and finishes the game with pride. I would be very surprised if I ever saw Hoov leave a game in pure desperation or anger, as Athena or Smeagol would do... Hoov's greatest asset IMO is his temper and his sense of the whole game. There isn't much to complain about his pillwar or spiking abilities, either... he is a great allround player with a lot of new ideas which make him unpredictable at every point.

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