Welcome Comrades to the 81st edition of the Dispatch
Well, it's lonely here. Everyone is out having fun or doing exams or both. Just me and Duke to hold the fort. Nevermind! The Foundry and Tourney divisions are brimming with articles so there's plenty to keep you occupied. And I've popped in a few teasers in the other divisions as well. At least they can all yell at me when they get back. Speaking of which, isn't it time that
YOU got on board and helped us out? Would be great to hear from you!
thehippo8 Foundry Executive If you would like to apply to join the news team, please visit the thread below for more details!
Click here for Recruitment Details... Hello all to the mess hall. And boy is it messy today! There was a party and no-one has cleaned up. Leehar is off and Saf is having an extra helping of exams! So I've waded in and tried to clean up some of this mess. Underneath a shop mannequin I found
The Scum Insider but it had gotten wet and I've had to rewrite it from scratch. Goodness only knows what they've done with the
Interview so we'll just have to do without that for this issue!
thehippo8 Foundry Executive The Scum Insider by thehippo8 show
The Scum Insider Newbie Help Mafia Information , Mafia and You , and Rules and Terms of Mafia .What is "Mafia"? Mafia News Mafia Callouts Sign-ups: Seeking Replacements: Replacement Thread to see what games are in need of reserves/replacements. But as of writing this we have:Mini Mafia (Hosted by vodean ) - needs 1 player.Batman: Arkham City Mafia (Hosted by lord voldemort ) - needs 1 player.Golden Pantheon Mafia Angels and Demons (Hosted by edocsil ) needs 1 player.Dexter Mafia (Hosted by strike wolf ) needs 2-3 players.viewforum.php?f=213 Advanced Roles and Strategy by thehippo8 This week: Tree Stump
We've had a total fire in this wing of the newsletter and there's only one small parchment that I could save.
Three by thehippo8 show
A sage player once said "don't attack if you have less than three troops ". Good advice!
Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments!
Thehippo8 not only is the Publisher of the Dispatch this time around, but he has given us an excellent article about his impressions of the recently-completed Chatters Tournament. Thank you hippo!
Unstoppable workhorse DaveH weighs in with his two series. The different strands of his work have now come completely together, as his rescue of the TPA series provides new material for his Tournament Tips, and vice versa.
Dukasaur Tournament Executive SMAC by thehippo8 show
This was an initiative of the Chatters Team. Until I was invited to be an Honorary Chatter (thanks Trinicardinal ) I really had little to do with chatting in the Social area. To me that was just a manner of communicating in real time with others in a more user friendly way. But I must say I enjoyed my time as an Honorary Chatter and the people I met there were fun and lively bunch!!plurple wrote: OK the final scores are in (well all except 4 games that can't effect any standings)
player scores wrote: players - mods played - wins - bonus - total
mod points wrote: mod points
so just to confirm then:
1)cooldeals with 26
2)cryinlion with 22
3)swifte with 17
4)eddie2 with 17
and myself getting the honorary mention of having most games played without winning anything. having played 40 games and only three other players in the tourney managed to play more games than me 2 of which were mods bruceswar with 43 and thehippo8 with 45 and the winner cooldeals with 44. so i believe these scores to be accurate if there not take it up with trini not me as he asked me too find this information out.
A Quick Look At the Completed Forum by Dukasaur show
Completed tournaments used to be kept in a single forum, but about a year ago, the Tournament Directors decided to separate them according to year. Here's a link. 14 121 471 1048 1512 1868 1493 289.26% 122.71% 44.27% 23.54%
Tournament Tips by DaveH show: TPA2 Scoring Spreadsheet.
Tournament Players Association Year 2 (TPA2) is a series of tournaments that goes on over a year. The first year there was one tournament released every week, this year I am helping to maintain the scoring for the 46 tournaments either completed or in progress and have used the spreadsheet that I will be describing in this article. Click image to enlarge. Code: Select all Sub AddTourney() 'name of this routineCode: Select all Call FindNumber(irow, icol, iplayers) 'find number of playersCode: Select all Sub FindNumber(irow, icol, iplayers)Code: Select all 'Add a sheetCode: Select all i = 0Code: Select all Sheets("Summary").SelectCode: Select all Select Case atypeCode: Select all Sheets(asheet).Activate 'back to individual sheetCode: Select all If addsheet = False ThenCode: Select all Call FindNumber(irow, icol, iplayers) 'find number of playersCode: Select all For k = 1 To iplayers - 1Code: Select all Call FindNumber(irow, icol, iplayers) 'find number of playersCode: Select all Call FindNumber(irow, icol, iplayers) 'find number of playersCode: Select all Sub AddTourney()
TPA Wrap by DaveH show
TPA 1: State of Play 7-Up , which was rescued by peanutman, has finished with 7OFU ahead of Agents of Chaos, Seventh heaven and Foed.HA's 4 Opportunities results have been added to the results spreadsheet.The 1st Open Centum has now reached Round 74 and will be the last tournament of TPA! Can the results influence the final positions, which are sonicsteve (played 55, 84.79 points), mudpuppy (played 52, 82.65 points) and bones2484 (played 51, 72.63 points)? TPA 1 Standings TPA Season 2: State of Play TPA 2 Standings TPA Season 3 Super Smash Bros. Quadruples League Premier Mastermind - still recruitingRandom Doubles on Random Map - still recruitingPeanut's 3X Double-Elimination Singles Tournament Lufsen's Terminator series: Alexanders Empire . This standard tournament recruited quickly and is up and running! We have also juggled the dates of the Majors to get them in with plenty of time to allow then to finish during the year.http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=175675 http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=177868
There is such a thing as a blue moon. According to Bridie Smith, as quoted in Wikipedia:
The term blue moon is the name for the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, instead of the usual three. A blue moon occurs only every two or three years, and the term blue moon is used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase "once in a blue moon".
Well, depending on how you calculate that, we have had two, possibly three, blue moons pass us by in the time that
cairnswk has prepared for us 30
(YES THIRTY) full maps that have passed through the Foundry, through the Beta processes and into CC proper. What a fantastic achievement!! And to commemorate this momentous occasion,
koontz1973 brings us two articles featuring
cairnswk . The first covers those 30 maps and the second covers maps that are out of Beta, where cairns features again. We all owe an incredible debt of gratitude to
cairnswk so let's be upstanding and sing his favourite song ...
Done that? Good! Onto the rest of the issue then.
Qyu brings us a fascinating look at that favourite map of yours
Arms Race! while I take a look at a new map being developed and some interesting issues it throws up
Ring of Fire .
koontz1973 gives an in-depth insight into the working of the Foundry and how that may change for the better. We are looking forward to your input (good CC community) to this article. And finally,
koontz1973 tickles your dendrites with this issue's comp, a crossword puzzle. Who will be the winner for this issue? And on that note, I leave you with a Turkish proverb:
He who sleeps with a blind man will wake up cross-eyed.
thehippo8 -- Foundry Executive30 Maps koontz1973 show
30 ....................................................................... cairnswk ...................................................................... AndyDufresne cairnswk his first medal back in 2008 on Sun Aug 17 at 7:17 pm for the Bamboo Jack map. What followed was a staggering 16 medals awarded in a space of 50 minutes. LOL Poor Andy must of been cursing cairnswk by the time he finished with him. Bamboo Jack Map, Battle of Actium Map, Cairns Coral Coast Map, Madness Map, Pearl Harbor Map, Prohibition Chicago Map, Rail Europe Map, Rail USA Map, Egypt: Valley of the Kings Map, Waterloo Map, WWII Australia Map, WWII Gazala Map, Egypt: Lower Map, Egypt: Upper Map, Syndey Metro Map, Treasures of Galapagos Map, Egypt: Nubia Map, Holloween Hollows Map, Forbidden City Map, Rail Australia Map, WWI Ottoman Empire Map, Cairns Metro Map, Poison Rome Map, Rail Africa Map, Jamaica Map, Das Schloß Map, WWII Stalingrad Map, Silly Mid On Map, Trafalgar Map, Salem's Switch Map widowmakers who no longer makes maps for the site. But to put this into perspective, out of the current crop of map makers, the one with the most made is thenobodies80 and he only has 6 medals.What's Next. cairnswk , this is not the end of the road. We are already playing his 31st map, Rail Asia , his 32nd Classic City: Sydney , 33rd New Zealand and also his 34th Classic City: Pot Mosbi are all about to hit beta play. Spanish Armada and WW1 Gallipoli and in the main part of the foundry. All I want to know is does this guy ever sleep?What to do next. thenobodies80 wrote: First of all congratulations for your 30th map achievement!
I think I've already mentioned to you the medal issue, but since you all ask for being totally open. I'm officially asking for a solution to have all your other maps noted somewhere, if possible on the profile. As you know we can award just 30 medals to a user. But I can't live with the idea that a mapmaker (you or everyone else who successfully develop a map) can't have a medal or the map noted somewhere because there's a limit that can be changed via phpBB. I did some test and I proposed to admins 3 solutions. I'm waiting for an answer
cairnswk in the amount of time given to Conquer Club. Given that each map requires a level of dedication, I think it would be fair to give this guy some sort of special award. Some honour only given to the best of us. Something so rare that in another 6 years we may still only have one of them. cairnswk , I believe that I speak for all members of the site when I say....................................................................... Thank You.
Quenched Maps koontz1973 show
cairnswk (look at the 30 map article for more on this), lostalimbo who has finally got his very first map medal with Portland and thenobodies80 for Africa 2.Salem's Switch. Click image to enlarge. Why Salem? - Sister map for Halloween Hollows, Always been fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, and of course target US marketAny strategic tips for your maps? - Yeh! Kill 'em quick.Did you enjoy making the map? - very much so - new gameplay like neural networks but adapted elegantly for the idea of using buggys to traverse the regions.Click image to enlarge. Why Portland? - I've lived in Portland, OR for the past 7 years and still find it an endlessly intriguing place. The popular slogan: "Keep Portland Weird" - is an edict most Portlanders uphold with pride and also what gives it such great character. Restoration is favoured over destruction, creativity is prevalent and there's a genuine appreciation for both green spaces (Forest Park - the largest urban forest reserve in the US and so many other parks) and green thinking (hence the MAX light-rail transit system and extensive bike lanes).Any strategic tips for your map? - I like the NW bonus as a starting base. I also go after a MAX bonus when I can - its tougher to defend, but the bonus nearly doubles with 2 more territories. Roses or micro brews can be a sneaky play - they catch me off guard in fog and just one round of +7 can be a game changer. So always remember - stop and smell the roses, then have a beer. Ha ha!Did you enjoy making the map? - I started the Portland map back in late 2008 - a couple years before Portlandia became a hit show. It was tough to garner support for the map at first, due in large part to my inexperience in map making. There was definitely some frustration at times and periods of lost interest, but by and large, it was a good experience, I learned a lot and I enjoyed being able to translate so much about this city into a playable map. It was very satisfying when I finally got to play it in Beta.Click image to enlarge. thenobodies80 AndyDurfence IanCanton Victor Sullivan Never had to ask myself questions before.
Arms Race by Qyu show
In France (I guess maybe also elsewhere), children have a small nice game called "Le Jeu de la Barbichette". Two players grab each other's chin, and sing this song : Je te tiens, tu me tiens, par la barbichette ;
VIDEO Mibi , the graphic from WidowMaker , starting in december 2007, with this first draft :Click image to enlarge. Mibi said, the map was thought for 1vs1, but it also works for more playersMibi wrote: 1v1:
Click image to enlarge. Widowmaker released an animated version :Click image to enlarge. Incandenza wrote: I think one of the reasons that this map has received 10x more graphic comments than gameplay ones is that it's really difficult (at least for me anyway) to envision just how this map is going to play ... and if we've learned anything from AoR, it's that complex maps rarely play exactly to form ...
Lackattack offered to the Foundry the new tag 'killer neutral ', certainly a gift from heaven.Mibi decided to erase the issue altogether by allowing the missiles to bombard each other. Certainly the easiest solution, for the rules, the graphic and the comprehension.Click image to enlarge. Duck & Cover. Next week Reagan will probably announce that American scientists have discovered that the entire U.S. agricultural surplus can be compacted into a giant tomato one thousand miles across, which will be suspended above the Kremlin from a cluster of U.S. satellites flying in geosynchronous orbit. At the first sign of trouble the satellites will drop the tomato on the Kremlin, drowning the fractious Muscovites in ketchup.
Ring of Fire – doing the undoable by thehippo8 show
What an amazing community CC is. There are people at either extreme interested in the Foundry. I take myself as the classic wannabe who ogles and dreams of having even a modicum of understanding let alone control over a piece of graphic software who’s circles look like squares, who’s borders look like blotches and who’s idea of detail is pixilation. And at the other extreme are the likes of vaughn03 who, in his own words:I'm a Studio Retoucher using Photoshop so this is all pretty easy for me and I try to set up my files to be as editable as possible.
the Ring of Fire - Battle for the Spice Islands : Click image to enlarge. Mississippi Magnolia . Certainly no lack of talent on the graphics side of things!! But as we all know, it takes more to make a playable map than good graphics. Some say that bad graphics can be a real turn-off over time, but we certainly won’t have problems with that with vaughn03 !! Anyway, the premise of the map was described as:The map is based roughly on Wallace's Map of 1869. If possible I would like to introduce some elements that I have not seen in other conquer club maps. (I've been told that everything has been done, but I have not seen what I have in mind but I've not played all the cc maps either...) Am also looking for suggestions regarding historical, geographical, design, game play - willing to change anything to improve look and gameplay.
Wish list vaughn03 has a wish list. In his words: Special Features I would like to incorporate if possible.
tkr4lf pointed out: I'm no xml expert, but I'm pretty much 100% sure #'s 1, 2, 3 and 5 cannot be done with the current xml. And koontz1973 added: tkr is right, some of those features are not doable at the moment. ... Some thoughts for you are ... The typhoons can just become killer neutrals and placed strategically around the map to stifle/open game play up. Example - Place one between Borneo and Java so a player can either go the long way around of have a short cut that kills troops.
Workarounds vaughn03 ’s idea would detract from real play as, and I do not think I’m alone here, I like to see the whole board and the interplay of where all the troops are in relation to one another. If the insert changes depending on the island then reliance on memory is required. And not everyone has one of those! Anyways, there are a number of ways in which inserts can be done. Three examples are Bamboo Jack, California and Salem’s Switch:Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. vaughn03 , I look forward to seeing where you take this map.
Open versus Closed koontz1973 show
Steve Jobs wrote: It is worthwhile to remember that open systems don't always win. Open versus closed is a smokescreen. Google likes to characterise Android as open and iOS as closed. We think this is disingenuous.
Open Closed OPEN major points have to be met: Can it be played if it is put into play then? Does it have the community support to continue? Both of these are rather ambiguous points and it really is up to whoever is in charge of the drafting room at the time to say yes or no to any move. The same goes for all other parts of the foundry. Game play, graphics and beta. The only part of the map process that is 100% set in stone is the writing of the xml (the code that makes it all work). CLOSED Whilst the majority of the maps on this site have been made using the open system, a lot have been done in closed sessions. The original maps that the site started with and all of the seasonal maps. Note that many of these maps are not very well loved or even played very often. But they do have a certain appeal about them outside of the foundry map makers. Almost everyone from past and present think the closed maps are bloody awful, cause a lot of problems and make for unbalanced games. OPEN All sound advice must be followed unless a logical rebuttal by the mapmaker or another member of the community is provided. But how can you give a rebuttal to an opinion? And with so many opinions to take into consideration, who is right? If you look in many map threads, you will see one old time map maker say one thing and another something else. So who is correct and whose idea to follow. And this is where the foundry fails. CLOSED thenobodies80 . Africa 2 was a pet project by Andy Durfense . For this map, he brought on Victor Sullivan , thenobodies80 , iancanton and myself. Five people who have lots of experience within the foundry proper. Five people who have made maps, run the foundry, helped in the foundry and basically wanted the project to work. Normal map threads can last around 30 pages, Africa 2 lasted five pages, three of which were my failed attempt. It was such a short thread as everyone worked together on this, ian and Sully worked out the gameplay from nobodies' draft, I helped out with the graphics, spotting mistakes, Andy gave his opinions ... but we all pulled in the same direction. Within one month, the map was made, xml was written and it was ready for the charity drive to go forward. OPEN CLOSED This maybe a reasonable argument for open systems like we have now, but it also goes to show, without the right people, closed systems cannot work. One of the things about the open system is that it allows anyone to have a go at map making. But only a very few can do it. In fact, over the course of 6 years, only 99 people have been able to do it. And not all of them have been able to do it alone. For each of the maps that do get made, around a hundred have been started or suggested. THE FUTURE No one can predict the future. If they could, they would of won the lottery so many times they would not have time to play on the site. But one thing is for sure, times change, the foundry changes. Will the foundry stay as it is remembering that we now have over two hundred maps or will a time come when the foundry will stop being as it is? Can it really produce 20+ maps every year and still keep up the creativeness and quality? Or will we see a slow down of map production and may only get a few every year? No one really knows and that may be the tragedy of it all. With uncertainty, comes a breeding ground for resentment. We all have three choices to make within the foundry:Leave the process as it is. Leave it as it is but make changes to repair any damaged parts. Change to a completely closed system. OPEN CLOSED THE FUTURE Will the foundry get closed down one day? I very much doubt it! Will it change from its current form? In some ways yes! With every foundry foreman, changes have come. Some have made large differences whilst others have made only small ones. For the better or worse, only the map makers can say. What few of them there are that is! No Bob Dylan wrote: You better start swimming or sink like a stone, cause the times they are a-changing.
Foundry Dispatch Competition koontz1973 show
In issue 80, thehippo8 started of what will hopefully be a long line of competitions for the foundry part of the dispatch. Not only has the best part of the dispatch gotten better with new writers, we seem to be giving away medals as well. Congratulations to ckyrias for getting the correct phrase. Thanks for playing with thehippo and koontz and nolefan and Qyu, congrats if you were the first. Click image to enlarge. Across. dread ed map maker. (7)terminator state. (10)Down. Rules.
I'm sorry to say, but the Clan locker was completely cleaned out by thieves. I could have stopped them but it simply isn't my job! So when they had gone I have put what little I could glean from the covers of the books they stole.
thehippo8 Foundry Executive Highlights by thehippo8 show
chemefreak wrote: Congrats to
Nate the Great of The Spanking Monkeys for receiving the 7000th Clan Achievement Medal handed out by the CD Team!
DaveH wrote: Knights Templar (KNT) are a new clan and we have just completed our second war, so we are quite an inexperienced clan so will only want and acce responses from clans of a similar ilk.
proper clan competition? are gagging for a war DTC Has come out with his own ranking system
Stay Tuned for the next issue of the ConquerClub Dispatch for an interrogation of
interviewee . Post any questions you may have for them here -->
Interrogation with Masli Submitting Your Own Articles If you have a story you think the ConquerClub Community would find interesting, you can submit your articles to
Victor Sullivan and you may just see your article published in the Newsletter!
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30 Maps koontz1973
