>> swifty's hq v2.2 > splat > guide
intro to building decks
There are four categories of tile: coverage, movement, utility, and special.
Coverage tiles are those fuckhuge tiles that cover a lot of area. Not to be confused with the Special tiles (the capital S differentiates them), these do indeed have a single special tile attached. They cost a lot to play with accumulated special points.
Movement tiles are ones that are medium-sized and mostly made to travel the map. They generally cost only a few special or less if you want to place them with points.
Utility tiles are the tiny ones that you use when you run out of space. You always want to redraw your first hand if you only have these.
Special tiles are important in lategame: they don't have a special (lowercase S) attached to them at all, and are based off of the turf war special weapons. They have a LOT of tile coverage, but to make up for the lack of special building potential, they only cost 3 special points to play.
The ratio for these varies from deck to deck. Generally you only want 3-4 per category of coverage/utility cards. You may want 2 or so Special cards. The rest can be movement cards.
combos
Naturally, you want to be able to fit your cards together in ways that will fill the map the most efficiently in addition to being able to rush to mid. They are most optimally played together at the start, but sometimes you'll be unlucky.
There are some cards that fit together fairly intuitively (captain and steelhead, for example, fit together well!). But there are some other less intuitive ones.
I have an ever-growing list here.
For your deck, I suggest finding a combo or two from the link above - or from personal testing - and find complimentary tiles to them that will fit well later. (Testing placement mode is great for figuring this out.)
general play tips
Firstly, there'll be times where you can only play small tiles. Placing tiles is preferable to passing, especially because it means you're keeping up with the opponent's momentum, even if just a little.
That said, if you think your opponent is digging their own card grave, you can feel better about passing in the later game.
Don't feel like you have to hoard your special for a big play. You can break through the opponent's walls with utility pieces for very cheap, and if you're smart about it, you can even 'refund' the cost with opportunistic special-tile alignment!
if you want to test placement BTW there's a cool site that lets you do it online(tm): tableturf.koishi.top
overview of tableturf maps
i hope you like these, i made a whole spreadsheet to generate the table codes for these. sorry for the awful formatting in the code itself but it works and i don't care. (if more maps are added this means i can add them here faster too!)
Main Street
The classic, the standard. No fancy tricks, no nonsense. Just get to the middle and block off ASAP.
Thunder Point
This one is slightly trickier, as the halves of the stage are offset from how they are on Main Street. Your best move would be to block your half from the other half vertically, but riskier (and opponent-dependent) moves to consider would be blocking off the opponent's top right square area.
X Marks the Garden
This one is a little trickier, and not as straightforward to block off. Using an arcing piece may allow you to section off the left or right for yourself.
Square Squared
This is 'Items Off Fox Only Final Destination" part one. (Box seats is part 2.)
This leaves less room for blocking off. Generally you want to try to predict your opponent and try to get around them. There's not a lot to strategize with here.
Lakefront Property
Thank god there's a space in the middle you can anchor off of. Like Square Squared but you can more easily block or be blocked. Clinging to the center may prove advantageous.
Double Gemini
Do you hate your opponent and want to drag them to hell with you? This is the perfect map. No easy corners to build special in, this map has too many footholds.
The center, however, is supremely narrow. This makes blocking a nightmare for either of you.
Without straight edges, this map is best for jagged pieces or ones that go off angles.
River Drift
The key to success is clinging to the front and left-mid walls and blocking off as soon as viable. This is a sneaking mission, Agent 3.
Box Seats
For when Square Squared isn't brutal enough. Choose smart smaller tiles and don't take too many big pieces with you. Specials are great here.