Here is the situation: You are playing a 1x1 or 2x2. You have 3 pills that you just acquired, and you see that your enemy (bad guy) has a pill line set up. What do you do? We will assume that it is necessary to engage this pillwar for this example.
I have illustrated 2 generally bad example that I see newbs do, and I have suggested 2 better examples.
In the first bad example in the lighter green, you have planted your pills much too aggressively. Your opponent can take your pills much more easily than you can take theirs. All your pill takes in this example are either much too hard or impossible to pull off successfully without great risk. Your enemy has bases in front of the pills, so the A column and C column takes are hard (not impossible though, but not suggested for newbs) They are hard on their own, but especially hard since there are supporting enemy pills that will shoot you as you set up. The B pill plant is the worst of the worst. You can't make a pill take without being shot at by enemy pills, and if things go bad, you cannot sweep the dead pill without a large risk of dying.
In the second bad example, while not as bad as the first, is still pretty awful. You have no good pilltakes to make except maybe column B to take 3B, but the problem with that is you can't pick up the enemy pill without a large risk of dying. Also, by planting in a horizontal line you have given your opponent an easy opportunity to set up a double take from the right side of row 1. This set up does accomplish the goal of preventing an easy pill line push up that way but it is so ineffective and easy to counter, it is basically shit. Never do it.
On top of all this there is water to the immediate left of the pills. That means the left side pills are even harder to sweep and harder to support. Why put yourself in a corner?
Ok so the good examples:
Both examples are very similar as you can prob notice. The difference is the pale green one is somewhat more aggressive while the moss green one is somewhat less aggressive but slightly wider. The benefit to the pale green is that you are setting yourself up for an easier take (row 2 diagonal along the right to row 3 column C enemy pill) and are applying pressure on your opponent to keep his pill line in check or lose it. The benefit to the moss green one is although the pill take you have set up is harder (the middle one over the base, similar to the previous example) it covers more ground making an enemy flank more difficult. When to use which set up depends greatly on a number of factors, such as enemy proximity, enemy pillwar capabilities, overall pill count, etc, too many to list. With experience you should be able to figure out which is more ideal in the situation you are in.
The 'good' example are not the only good examples, but they are pretty standard and vastly better than the bad examples.
To summarize, here are the key points you should look at when deciding where to plant pills:
1.Can these pills be supported? (ie, can I sweep them back up if things go bad easily, are they within range of others pills that I can heat up? How easy is it to rebuilt this pill without losing my lgm?)
2.Can I make a pill take using these pills to gain an advantage? (how easy is the pill take and am I capable of pulling it off?)
3.Is the pill line accomplishing something that is relevant? Is the territory that I am defending worth it? (Don't defend areas with no resources)
4.Do I have the resources to support it? (trees and bases within range?)
5.Is the terrain of the battlefield favorable to me relative to my opponent? (Should always be yes. Look for rubble and water)
