Welcome Comrades to the 87th edition of the Dispatch
Everyone's back from a well earned break - the rest of you who are still away are away: for our protection; for your protection; because you were forgotten; because you forgot us; because you escaped; because we escaped; because you can; or just because! Regardless, if you are still reading this (away or back), welcome and enjoy!
The return of the interviews
Cairnswk gets roasted. Heaps happening in Clans, Tournaments and Foundry - too much to repeat here. And strategy is getting traction.
Hope you are enjoying the Dispatch. Note that it has had a little bit of a shuffle. We would love your input, ideas, suggestions, article prompts, even a well placed brickbat or two wouldn't hurt. So, sing out!! In the immortal words of Oscar Wilde:
It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes.
Enjoy the fruit of our labouring fingers!
thehippo8 Chief Executive I'm back from the sun and sand of my vacation and ready to get back to writing. cairnswk talks about mapmaking and his drinks of choice (among other things) this issue and we have a new Scum insider for you mafia aficionados.
You Stay Classy, CC.
safariguy5 Freestyle Executive The Scum Insider by safariguy5 show
The Scum Insider Newbie Help Mafia Information , Mafia and You , and Rules and Terms of Mafia .What is "Mafia"? Mafia News here! Mafia Callouts Replacement Thread to see what games are in need of reserves/replacements.viewforum.php?f=213 Advanced Roles and Strategy by safariguy5 The Alarmist What is It? Example How to Play this Role Town . The presence of this role guarantees the presence of a cult. It might be advantageous for the Alarmist to declare the role early to clue town into the fact that cult is present in the game. Besides that, the Alarmist may be able to clear certain people depending on possible timing of recruitment and possible scene flavor.
show: Interrogation of cairnswk
Q. Cairn, which map are you proudest of? Thank-you macbone. All of them! I don't have a proudest favourite. Q. If you could go back and revise one of your maps, which would it be? I don't know that from gameplay any need revising, but perhaps Madness I would re-visit the graphics on. Q. Which of the other maps on CC do you wish you had thought of? None. Other maps have been done by other mapmakers because it is what floats their boat at the time. Same as for me. Q. What are some things you wish you could do with a map but are not possible right now? 1. Appropriate music in the background i.e. 1812 Overture playing if I was to make a map of Battle of Borodino. On CC, wanting to get Cairns represented as a region. Part of my psyche in developing maps is an educational process as well as the creative process. I am a very visual person because of the old adage ... an image tells a thousand words (good or bad). Q. Do you ever find your maps too difficult to play yourself? Never. I don't win much, 'coz there are lots of others better than I, but I still enjoy occasionally re-visiting them, particularly if a player has invited me, or if there is an issue to be sorted. Q. Qwert is teaching an advanced SoC class, an introduction to his maps (which has yet to be conducted, but will once we have some team grads). Would you ever consider teaching the same kind of class through the SoC? No. There is already strategy questions available in Q&A. And I don't really have time and would prefer to be developing new maps. Q. What new map making tools would you like to have at your disposal? Thank-you Gillipig. It is not so much the tools, but the knowledge of how to use the tools. Although, I do wish Adobe would get all its menus and tools for its various software pieces on the same page for "best purpose use" Q. If you could drag one user into the foundry and make him comment on the maps, who would it be? No-one. Q. Are you pissed at all about not being able to get more than 30 map making medals? No. I have it spreadsheeted on my computer how many maps I made, and I can keep track in my signature piece. I have long lost track of my premiums, and given many away. The medal issue is attempting to be resolved as are other medal issues, although i hope there is functionality in the resolution and not just a somewhat superficial solution. Q. What do you want from Santa this year? Oooh! Couple of mill to do what i want with life, but Santa didn't co-operate, so i must've been bad this year -> ":you naughty boy in the Foundry, trying to "rule the place". Q. Apart from the map foundry, do you ever browse the forums? Yes, for topics that are CC related and i feel i can contribute proactively to. Q. Who's mapmaking skills do you covet? Thank-you chapcrap. Q. Do you sometimes wish you could run a medieval dungeon and torture people? Torture people - never! Q. What's your favourite method of execution? Madame Guillotine ... while under the blade, the longer you hold the rope, the looser your grip becomes Q. Who is the more important cultural icon: Puff the Magic Dragon or Squiddly-Diddly? Never been into either, but preferences would tell me Squiddly-Diddly ... Puff's a little on the aged side now. Q. Would you rather cross the Pacific in a kayak or cross Eurasia on a tricycle? Eurasia of course. Q. What's your favourite food? Pork-belly pasta Q. Cat person or dog person? Dog. I am also a Dog in Chinese astrology. Some might say I am a dog-of-a-mapmaker Q. Which changed civilization more: indoor plumbing or the printing press? Printing Press for me ... along with Pestalozzi (father of training manuals) made education more widely available. Q. Who's the most famous person you've ever met? Met as in acknowledged by ... Princess Margaret at the Royal Opera House in 1996 at performance of Carmina BuranaJan Adele at Edna's Table in Sydney in 1984 Q. Whose grammar skills do you covet? Thank-you Ace-Rimmer. Q. How many ideas do you try out (offline) before you find something you want to work and spend time developing more thoroughly? Thanks Andy. Q. How many times has Ace Rimmer bested you? Chapcrap ... irrelevant in terms of grammar. Q. What Australian phrases would you like to see brought into wider use on Conquer Club? Andy, none. CC is a worldwide play utility ... we all have different cultural idiosyncrasies ... perhaps understanding these is best. Q. What motivates you to continue to make maps while others just seem to fizzle out? What would CC do with out your maps? Thanks Nola_Lifer Q. Cairnswk, a number of your maps are recreations of historical battles. What is your single favourite historical period and why? Thank-you FunkyTerrance.Massacre at Paris . Q. What's doing with that bloody butterfly? Greenoaks ... can't say I thank you for calling it a bloody butterfly. Q. Is there any map that you've done that you wish you never made? Gillpig ... No. Q. Describe yourself with three words. Creative, creative, creative. Q. What is your greatest strength? Ability to think outside the box. Q. What is your greatest weakness? Sometimes laziness. Q. Do you look down on mere mortals like everyone else except you and me? No, nor would I want to, because like has reciprocity! Q. Do you think the world would be better off without the Northern Hemisphere? Ah, Dukasaur, thank-you. Q. What advice would you give to novice or would-be mapmakers? Thank-you sempaispellcheck Q. Are there any maps you'd like to make but can't because of copyright issues? Macbone, thank-you, that's an interesting one. Q. How did you first discover Conquer Club? Dukasaur ... searching for online RISK. Q. Out of all of your maps, which one would you say is the most "you?" That is, which one do you feel the closest to in terms of style, gameplay, etc -- or which one do you feel the most connected to and why? Thanks rdsrds2120 Q. What is your process for choosing which maps to make? chapcrap, it is determined by whatever concept I can arrive at mindfully, and then by which I can transfer to the graphic software to make something at least half reasonable that might have a chance of being acceptable. Q. Which is your favorite map? Gillipig ... don't really have a favourite. Q. Which map took the longest to complete? Trafalgar Q. Which map took the shortest to complete? MadnessMaps - Production days Q. If you were to attribute your map making skill to one personality trait, which would it be? Persistence Q. What is your LEAST favorite map? puppydog85, thanks... Q. Why do you use so many different programs when making maps? koontz ... Q. Why so many breaks for your maps? You have so many going through at one time, then for some reason, they all go into the bin for a month or two. Only for you to bring them out and finish them. Yes ... Why do you make so many maps at one time? Do you not feel this effects quality? Lack of feedback from the community! I can only go as fast sometimes as the community provides feedback, although if I have good energy for a map I will push it forward anyway. So this means during holidays, there are many ideas traversing my head and they need to be developed and put down for potential use. Quality? Well, quality is such a subjective thing isn't it? No I don't think it affects quality. I do have some expectations about how much time I will spend on a map however. That limits my qualitativeness, but then some have far higher expectations. Q. Are their any maps that you wish you could make but current restrictions stop you (xml or size)? No. Size wise, I think Spanish Armada will be the largest I've done, and I wouldn't probably want to do anything larger than that. As for XML, I understand the complexities of adding something to an "engine" so I am not surprised this is a slow process to develop and test. But waiting for xml updates is patience testing. Q. I'm assuming you get bored/frustrated with certain maps and this may be the reason you tend to hop around a bit but I was wondering, what was your most difficult map to finally knuckle down and finish? True i do jump around a bit sometimes but it is not from being bored (I do have other interests and hobbies apart from CC) ... it is from waiting for feedback. Trafalgar i think. Instead of getting a brush from some website, each of those rope pieces is individually drawn. But there was also a lot fo toing and froing in it also. Q. Who's your favourite author? Dukasaur, i am not an avid book-reader, as you can prob tell from amount of time spent developing maps. Q. If you were going to be remembered for one and only one map, which map would you like that to be? Andy, as much as it is not necessarily my favourite map, I'd have to say Cairns Coral Coast ... simply because it gave my region an identity on CC. Rail South America will be the last rail map allowed on the site. Anyone wanting Rail N America will have to campaign for it, but you could be happy with Race to Promontory Summit (1v1) instead. Rail Antartica and Rail Mars Q. What is your favorite sandwich? chapcrap ... Barramundi and Salad, which includes pineapple and beetroot. Q. How much Midori do you drink? Any other drink(s) you enjoy(maybe with a sandwich)? Nola_Lifer, these days i don't drink any Midoria ... alcohol is not good for my health. A final word ... if I may.any map production. Yes, we get emotional; yes we have disputes and yes, we sling mud at each other every now and then, and if you're in the firing line, you might cop some mud also the same as we do, and the same as you do in other forums. But what we do is passionate, and I believe important to providing on-going support for the site and a great variety of maps that you guys can conquer. So please visit us to give your feedback (1. preferably while a map is in production and 2. afterwards when the maps are in Beta and you have played them a while).
Here's another round of updates from the wonderful world of Clans
Leehar Clan Executive Cries from the manger show
Amazing December:chemefreak wrote: December saw the 500th completed war with The Fraternal Order of Exceptional Drinkers beating Igni Ferrogue.
CC3 Bracket Predictions have gone in unpredictable ways ... what are the results now? 28 pages and counting and the New Sitting Rules are still causing consternation. At least there has been some clarification:Bones2484 wrote: ViperOverLord wrote: I don't know if any progress has been made in the last 18 pages. Assuming not__ The one hour rule is a freaking terrible rule. I'm not going to sugar coat it. All of the sudden, account sitters need to get up at 3 in the morning if the turn is ending at that time? That's just freaking terrible. That'd be worse than not allowing account sitting at all.
If you are a legit account sitter (meaning someone is away from the site) you can take the turn
at any time . I know you didn't read the last 18 pages, but you could have at least read the first post.
As for the one hour, that is only when you do not have explicit permission from that person to cover turns for the immediate future. One hour is being generous as you really shouldn't ever be on someone's account without permission.
I know it sucks to have missed turns, but thinking back to G1's recent wars it happens to us
maybe once per war? It's a team competition and part of the team dynamic is knowing you can trust people to take their own turns. A missed turn is part of the overall (lack of) strength of the clan. But seriously... is it THAT big of a deal to have a rare missed turn? You guys are arguing over something that should not happen more than in extremely rare circumstances anyways.
Are your clanmates that unreliable that they disappear without asking someone to cover for them on a regular basis? Maybe you shouldn't be placing those individuals in important games.
U* wrote: I plan to have XXX* boycott all official clan competitions as long
as 1 Hour Rule is on the books. I'm trying to include other clans if
possible, if not we'll go it alone. I've contacted 2 clans and gotten
positive responses so far. My goal is to have enough clans sign up
for petition before the CL5 starts, force the change of rule.
I'd prefer to have the rule rescinded altogether, or at least modified
(to 3-4 hours, something like that). the rule is unnecessary and almost
universally disliked. all just because of actions by very few.
can you check with your buddies if YYY* is interested in joining
the fight?
tx
si se puede
S* wrote: I REALLY would like it shifted to 2 hours, cause I'll see a turn at one and a half or something and know that person already missed but can't take it for them and can't wait around (mainly from past circumstances).
The F400 recently got updated (13 January 2013) and has some intriguing results. As expected, the top 4 are all semi-finalists from Conquerors Cup 3. & Indeed the only outlier among the top 8, is recent arrival Fallen. (as opposed to CC3 quarter-finalist One Step Ahead). Indeed, 15 of the top 17 clans made the CC3 round of 16! compete in the Newcomers Cup 3: Finals where TNC take an early 3-2 lead. CL4 Champions over All-comers Cup gains some traction as FOED/MD/PR/RA/TFFS/OSA/TNC & likely 1RFG make it through to the 3rd Round (or what laymen call the Quarterfinals & 1v1 Challenge Finals Foed & ID respectivelyRandom League 3 commences with an even greater cast of 17 clans!An intriguing 4-way Clan war takes place between One Step Ahead/Warriors At Risk/Always Kickin A$$/Dynasty in the 200+ games Clan War 73-69agree on terms face-off in Late January they will take up their challenge. convincing fashion after defeating TNC handilylosing out in a tense match against OSAcloser affair as PR look to have taken the last game of StalingradNewer clans FISO & YNWA duke it out in an exciting introduction to Clan Gaming We could do with a few more reporters in Clans - or else you get more of this!
Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments!
I was reading Dave's
TPA Wrap , and I was thinking, "Okay, he's got the TPA2 update, and he's got the TPA3 update, but where the %&#$ is the TPA1 update?!?!" And then it came to me -- there is no more TPA1 because TPA1 is finished! Of course, we already reported this to you last issue, but somehow I still hadn't got used to the fact.
The Seventh Anniversary celebrations had the traditional day of Battle Royales, and the the Hippo will tell you all about it in our lead article. DaveH has another installment of his
Tournament Tips . James is taking a bit of a break to focus on academic pursuits, so I've done
Join This? Or Not! for this issue. Check it out; there's been a few really neat ideas in the Create/Join forum in the last few days. And finally, I have a little bit of personal bragging to do, which constitutes our fifth article.
Enjoy!
Dukasaur Tournament Executive 7th CC Anniversary Birthday Battle Royales by thehippo8 show
The 7th Anniversary of CC saw two major events take place. rdsrds2120 , who stayed up for the whole thing, along with many others who either popped in or out or did their level best to keep up with it all. TeamCC popped in and out and some stayed around almost as long as rdsrds2120 - most notably Brucewar , Chapcrap and Dukasaur but all TeamCC really put heaps into this. Some of TeamCC, like Metsfanmax , TeeGee and sempaispellcheck , were away and regrettably could not participate. Similarly, many normal starters missed the fun (notably MoB Deadly who is usually there every year and you others know who you are!). And, to be sure, a great time was had by all!! Numerous comments of praise and general back-slapping followed the event. I didn't win a single thing but had a lot of fun regardless.Who played the most games? - Morrigan and [Shino Tenshi] both played a whopping 54 games each (out of the 70 set up); Who won the most games? - Waterman5000 and Gabriel13 both won 8 games each;Who beat the most other unique people? - Gabriel13 smashed 104 different souls;Who won on the most uniqe maps? - Waterman5000 for winning on the 6 maps - Australia, Central America, Doodle Earth, Eurasia Mini, USA West, Indochina;How many maps were played? - 21 maps in all - USA West, Madagascar, Doodle Earth, Haiti, Golfe du St Laurent, Iceland, Mongol Empire, Circus Maximus, Indochina, Classic, Netherlands, WWII Iwo Jima, Portugal, Australia, USA New England, Brazil, Eurasia Mini, Ireland, USA Southwest, Italy, Central America;What was the most popular map? - Doodle Earth on which 27 games were played;Who won the most points in a single game? - Gilligan won a staggering 997 points in Game 12182106 ;Who won/lost the most points overall? - jdw35 went up and incredible +1261 while poor darth emperor plummeted a sickening -300; andHow many mods got involved? - excuse me if I missed any, but jricart, rdsrds2120, Gilligan, sniffie, Leehar, Dukasaur, thenobodies80, ElricTheGreat, thehippo8, RedBaron0, chapcrap all played games The thread was lively throughout the event. Always interesting to see who comes out of the woodwork. From the likes of our beloved Lackattack , ExWebnaster, who said: Happy new year everyone and congrats to CC on our 7th year through to completely new faces likes of Just_essence who rightly observed: Seems that I joined just around the right time. The start was initially slow and then aborted as technical issues were fixed. It actually was quite a thing at the time.rdsrds2120 wrote: UPDATE ON BR ISSUE The fix is on its way as the programmer comes online. I apologize greatly for this inconvenience!!
As for my being late, I apologize for that as well. My car broke down on the expressway, delaying me a couple of hours. Oh boy did fate choose a day to have me late for work!
As soon as it is fixed, we will make the games like never before!
BMO
The larger/medium ones take a while to fill up almost always. For the duration, I've been making some on smaller maps (Doodle, USA West, etc) to pass the time. An extra three hours was added to the end of the event to make up for the lost time. I am biased, but I figured it was the best event ever. Gillipig said: It was a lot of fun! Haven't enjoyed playing games this much for several years. Nosurvivors added: Thanks to all for participating and to all the mods for your hard work making the games! Glad to see so many faces I hadn't before, in the live chat and in the games, and hope to see you next year! Thanks for another excellent day of BR's! Thanks to the mods for a great CC birthday Any idea when the posts are going up for the casual games? Tomorrow/later today sometime =) Okay, thanks! kay.. night chat ? night rds & TG ? Good night, Jane! How many BR's did you play rds? I played in 19 Hmm Let me check! thanks again everyone 54 for me 31! did you sleep at all Shino? 70 games were created. I wonder who joined the most games. Oh I vote for Morrigan for most games joined Morrigan played 54, same as you Gillipig, Morrigan and I slept for around 3-4 hours in the afternoon. I passed out on the floor and she passed out in bed this afternoon You're family? Yeah, partners Ah, better still yup I take it you didn't meet through cc though? Nah, we didn't. We've been around since 2007 though, I think Mostly for BRs and special events only for the last 2-3 years though BR's should be implemented as regular function in the game. Would make me pay up if you did It already is, kind of, with the Battle Royale tab Though from what I understand they only ever have Collesium games there what do you mean with "BR tag"? BR tab... the menu item on the left hand side below "Conquer Cup" in the Game Menu Premiums can play BR games through there. I think there's a limit of one per month and they're always casual games Ah that one. Yes but those aren't speed games And it's speed games that are fun There's going to be an announcement tomorrow about Battle Royales...and maps for them Will speed BR games be available? I think they're going to all be casual games Gillipig After what just finished tonight Assuming it's going to be the same as previous years they only could have one map where speed BR's would be allowed it'd be great! Speed BR's take a lot of organizing =) if you have a look here . The first four maps were World 2.1, Coloseum, Charleston and Brazil. Players got to choose one game out of those four (I snuck into the Charleston map) and the winner gets 3 months premium for each map (12 months being given away). The second bunch of maps were released 12 hours after the first - the maps are Classic, World 2.1, Iberia and Cairns Coral Coast. As at writing this article, Charleston, Brazil and Classic are full but still spaces available in the other maps (although Iberia and Cairns Coral Coast are very close to filling). You were initially only allowed to join in one game in each section but now its been opened up to let you join two more games. Still, its first in first served. Think of all those points, think of the complexity, think of the kudos!!
Tournament Tips by DaveH show: Translating VBE into CC Code via Excel
When you want to do something like inviting players, you use CC Code such as [to]GameNumber Password[/to]when sending a pm to players. If this is to be coded from Excel then you need to use the following code:Game 12044506 (Auto-Join Game )" where the two players have a game, orCode: Select all a = "=IF(I" & (linedest + 2) & "="""",G" & (linedest + 2)
TPA Wrap by DaveH show
TPA Season 2: State of Play TPA 2 Standings TPA Season 3 I suck at this map by greenoaks, as covered in Dukasaur's JTON article. However, with one new tournament each week, you don't have too long to wait for the next one!http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=175675 http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=177868
Join This? Or Not! by Dukasaur show
And now for our regular look at a selection of the tournaments in sign-ups:Greenoaks I Suck At This Map [TPA] It's a nifty concept: instead of coming to the table with your favourite map, come with one that you've never done very well at, and challenge yourself!Silly Knig-it CC Mountain Beta Ski Race (20/22) (33) (44) . It a 1v1 tournament that's all about efficiency: for every turn that you use to put down your opponent, another second ticks away in your imaginary downhill race. If you pride yourself on playing an error free game, this might be something you'll do well at!WorldCup4James A Risktaker's Race: The WC4J Board Game [36/70] . As you travel around his game board, you play 1v1 games which determine your rate of advancement. Even if you don't join, click on the link just to have a look at the game board he has designed -- seriously!HighlanderAttack HA's Don't Blink-Rail Asia(3of16) is in signups, along with the same on Rail Africa and Rail Australia.PereiroSaus Pyro's Party: Baltic Crusades for Quads [5/8] might be just the thing for you. Three spots are still available; you'd best act fast!Create/Join a Tournament or Tournaments Tab and take a look at the many others waiting to be filled. Requests for Immediate Players section of the tournament forum. You can be playing very quickly after signing up as a reserve.
A Personal Milestone by Dukasaur show
I passed a bit of a milestone recently, and I thought I'd share it with you.Slacker Time 2 , I reached an equilibrium point, where I had 20 completed tournaments behind me, and 20 ongoing tournaments. Soon after that, History of Nuclear War II wrapped up, and dropped me down to 19, but in the last two days I was able to launch Dukasaur Plays Baltic 01 and DKs Best of 2011 V - Randomized , bringing me back up to 21 Ongoing tournaments.again Click image to enlarge. Assassination by Fours (a tourney I rescued from MrGlassB ) and the one at the very bottom is my Official tourney Your Favourite Way for the World to End! Pandemonium is my co-organiser on Guojia Anquan Bu and manages the scoreboard for me, WorldCup4James has been my co-organiser on DK's 2nd Annual Christmas Quads with WC4J and quite honestly has done 90% of the work, and DaveH is busy building my spreadsheet to reduce my workload on the End of the World tourney.
Getting back into the swing of things here. So what can we bring you today. Well, firstly, the votes have been allocated and the winner have received their medals. I bring to you the winners from the
map awards 2013. Some surprising winners and some not so much. Next year we will run them later in the year so every map gets in. After a break, the Maps in Development is back. New year brings us a huge issue for this one. We have foundry news on the new layout and Battle Royale maps. Lastly, generalhead brings us another look at his Alamo map and how patience is needed in the foundry.
koontz1973 -- Foundry ExecutiveMap Awards 2013 - Winners by koontz1973 show
if you go here you can see a fuller run down of them and take part in the discussion on why each map won in each.Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Third Place Second Place Ace Rimmer with Cuban Missile Crisis got50.6% Flapcake with Kingdom of Denmark got Dark Continent Kings Court 2 Eurasia here
Maps in Development. koontz1973 show
Drafting Room Where maps start life. But like all new babies, this is where they need the most attention. League Ziggurat The Great War Paris Classic Cities: Cairo Links Easter Island Map Foundry The main block of work is done here. Race to Promontory Summit Ring of Fire Massacre à Paris Miami 4 Star Meats France 2.0 Spanish Amarda USA 2.1 Philadelphia Tribal War Israel Vertex Austrum Research & Conquer Three kingdoms of China Rail South America WWI - Gallipoli Classic Cities: Moscow Fragmentation of CSFR Labyrinth Alamo France 2.1
Foundry News by koontz1973 show
So we have come into a new year. 2013 is already proving an exciting time in the foundry. We have 4 separate things to get though in this issue. New look drafting room beta maps The Atlas Battle Royale Maps rdsrds2120 wrote: Rds here with a quick word on some Battle Royale info -- after all, what time would be better than right after the Anniversary? variety Monthly Battle Royales Nowhere , and this is why, as thenobodies mentioned, I am now stressing that no maps are to be made 'behind the scenes' as they have been done in the past. Battle Royale Maps Battle Royale maps can be developed by everyone. The development must be public. Conquer Club would like to keep the quality of Battle Royale maps high. For this reason all Battle Royale maps must be unique inherently in graphics, gameplay, location or theme. All Battle Royale maps must add something meaningful to the site, they must not be done just for the sake to develop a Battle Royale map. For this reasons ALL Battle Royale Maps Drafts are subject to the Cartographers and Admins approval to receive a stamp. Cartographers and Admins decision are NOT subject of public discussion or review. All Battle Royale map projects must start and finish as BR map. All Battle Royale map must fit at least 21 players, they can have 1 player for each region although 2 regions per player is highly suggested as minimum. There are no big restrictions about gameplay, the most important aspect is that all BR maps must fit Standard and Terminator games only. (we can allow assassin for EXTREMELY limited cases) All Battle Royale maps are subject to the current standard size or supersize map policies. Additional info about the Battle Royale Maps policy can be found in the dedicated topic --rdsrds2120 (BMO)
Abandon at your own peril. thenobodies80 wrote: Abandoning a map project is simply unfair and discourteous to the community member who make the commitment to support the map project and to the CA who has spent time on it. This without consider that the same time could have been used on other projects. As mapmaker, it is your responsibility to see your map succesfully go through the foundry process from beginning to end.
Said that, the Cartographers have come up with a policy to reduce the number of abandoned projects, to better serve the committed Foundry memebers and obviously keeping into account that sometimes unexpected things happen:
Every mapmaker, which is developing a map that has received at least the draft stamp, is the only responsible of his map project. Mapmakers are defined and specified in the first post of each map topic. They must follow and work on the map project from the start to the end (quenched status), obviously on stuff that match with their respective roles. Every mapmaker starts with a clean record. We've set a scale of values, each value determines a disciplinary action. 1st Abandoned Map - Informal Warning and a spanking2nd Abandoned Map - Official Warning3rd Abandoned Map - 6 months of ban from mapmaking 4th Abandoned Map - 6 months of ban from mapmaking5th Abandoned Map - Permanent ban from mapmaking Obviously we want to reward serious and committed mapmakers, so we're looking for possible incentives (e.g. a prize for having successfully completed 5 maps in a row)..more info about them soon! thenobodies80 New xml guide book
Patience, understanding and the foundry by generalhead show
your map a better map. The foundry takes your initial idea and forges your idea into a work of art that can be loved by all.Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Alamo Map
Welcome one and all to another helping of
Strategy .
This is the stuff that's important, so listen up!!
This issue we have another brief update from SoCs, thanks
macbone ! And please welcome back
theSaxlad who brings us an article entitled
The Strategy Forum Spotlight Presents: xiangwang- Colonel in 100 days! . It does what it says on the tin. Prepare for some heavy strategy tips, take notes, listen up - better still print it off and turn it into wallpaper wherever your computer may be!! Put it next to this from Jarod Kintz:
I consider conversations with people to be mind exercises, but I don't want to pull a muscle, so I stretch a lot. That's why I'm constantly either rolling my eyes or yawning.
Also in this issue,
FATHARRY shares his wisdom on
Feudal War and Feudal Epic . Prior to this information I shied away from those maps because I just didn't get them. Now I am scalping points on those maps and they are quickly becoming favourites for me! And remember, for those of you looking for an easy GA medal, please get acquanted with the maps in the
Collected Wisdom series and go ahead and send your entries into the
Official Guides - they need to be done and you get something out of it too. Stay clever!
thehippo8 Temporary Strategy Executive Brief SoCs by thehippo8 and macbone show
Society of Cooks Training Grounds is the place to go to learn strategy. Hopefully from this point on we will keep you up to date with developments, innovations, state of the art and other happenings in SoC insofar as that relates to strategy.macbone wrote: Hey, all. Qwert is teaching an advanced team training course, a master course if you will, for the eight maps he created for Conquer Club. The first two teams have been formed, and they're ready to start their training. (And our very own
dukasaur is one of the first students. (= )
WWII Ardennes Map WWII Eastern Front Map WWII Iwo Jima Map Western Front Map Imperium Romanum Map WWII Europe Map Europe 1914 Map Peloponnesian War Map macbone wrote: Another thing, is that the SoC is always looking for experienced team players to be SoC team training teachers. Applicants should have at least a silver medal in the team setting they apply to teach (doubs, trips, and/or quads) and be willing to play some tryout games with other SoC teachers and students. If you're interested, you can contact me (
macbone ) and
Commander9 .
The Strategy Forum Spotlight Presents: xiangwang- Colonel in 100 days! by TheSaxlad show
The other day I decided that I wanted a fresh look at map strategies. So, I made my way to the strategy forum (the home of the official strategy guides, which are well worth a look) when just by chance I came across a forum post by xiangwang entitled “How to get a colonel in 100 days” . I was intrigued, having never had Colonel and decided to have a look at what I thought could be a great guide and maybe even chat to the man himself, xiangwang .xiangwang about himself, what bought him to CC and what spurred him to write this guide:xiangwang wrote: I joined CC because my friend (username
Kiron ) was my housemate and we play a lot of risk together with housemates. He joked that if he can make it to the top page of CC I can do too. At first I didn't have much motivation and played mostly for fun. I noticed I was still winning so I decided to start concentrating to gain points.
One day I was bored and decided that it would be beneficial for CC to have more people to use chat and use diplomacy. I really disliked games where no one talked and the strong player just picked off the weak players off one by one (I have been on both ends).
xiangwang lays out the main rules of using this strategy,Rule 1 wrote: Know the basic rules of the game.
here! . Now we have the rules settled and under our belt, lets move on to the guides rule number 2,Rule 2 wrote: play freestyle (learn how to use the freestyle system to your advantage and it's just faster than waiting 24 hours for everyone to finish their turn), unlimited fortification and no FOW
Xiangwang who shed some light on this when I asked him saying, xiangwang wrote: One of the things when playing freestyle is taking advantage of opportunity and leverage. I just wrote a thread on leverage and timing. The strong players know how to use it to blackmail and coerce other players into advancing their interests.
xiangwang referenced, which maybe especially interesting to those of you that play 3rd Crusade map can be found here! xiangwang wrote: For example you have 14 territory with just 3s? Doesn't look that threatening right? well once all fortified to one area, that is 13x2+3 = 29 troops on any one of your borders (assuming you don't have certain territories with more than 3). That's enough troops to make a winning bid.
xiangwang about this, he did admit this tactic is close to becoming obsolete as, xiangwang wrote: Well, the shield strategy part of the guide is starting to be obselete with the changes by the display of all the troop count. I don't use the shield strategy as much as
Kiron , but it's optimal performance was before the change with the display of troop count because it deceptively made a player looked weaker, but with troop count displayed, it lost most of it's effect.
Rule 3 wrote: play 8 player standard games (you win more points than you lose)
Rule 4 wrote: Play flatrate or no spoils and automatic deployment
xiangwang shares his knowledge here as well with all of us for this game setup,xiangwang wrote: Reason for non-escalation is escalation games diplomacy is pretty much irrelevant (just set up and go for the sweep). Reason for automatic is forces players have to work with what they have and use diplomacy to get what they want.
Rule 5 wrote: Use the chat box!
natty dread who stated that about truces,natty dread wrote: Well, I still don't think you should make truces in 3-player games. In fact, here's a list of games you shouldn't make truces in:
natty dread shares his wisdom can be found here xiangwang also had this to say about diplomacy, If I had to break the game down assuming the settings are freestyle, standard, and flatrate, I think diplomacy is 50% of the game, strategy 20%, and luck is 30%. I can't count the number of times, I find myself in a shitty spot because my starting luck was abysmal and end up holing up in a corner attempting to collect cards, however...diplomacy has allowed me to survive and slowly move the game in my interest.
xiangwang comments on that can help us towards fame and eternal glory! One is the map choice, as xiangwang explains,Rule 7 wrote: Pick a fairly complex map and specialize in it (i don't care if you lose your first 20 games, you will slowly understand how to play it which will give you an advantage over other players)
tennischamp5 who using this guide beat both Kiron and mc05025 in Game 9149187 , two of the people who helped formulate and first used xiangwangs guide!!!xiangwang 's final piece of advice for making points,Don't get disheartened if you fail, you can only go up!
Collected Wisdom: FATHARRY 's Guide to Feudal War and Feudal Epic by thehippo8 show
thehippo8 wrote: Hey there
FATHARRY ,I am the Chief of the newsletter, and currently I'm in charge of strategy stuff as well.
Recently I've been doing simple one-on-one interviews with experts on different maps. I see that you play Feudal War and Feudal Epic with sufficient regularity to meet that definition (and with a 64% win rate you know what you are doing!).
Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. So, if it's not too much of an imposition, would you mind answering some questions?
FATHARRY wrote: Hey Hip. See my answers inserted below. Cheers, Harry.
Yay, the answer is yes - so here goes:
As in all games - luck plays a part - but I believe that strategy counts for more than luck on Feudal. No particular favourite, but I like my forces to be close to each other. If I had to choose a single drop it would probably be barb and rebel. The worst drops I.M.O. are Feudal and ID or GK and Barb. With trench it is different though. Here the best drop is ROM and Rebel (best access to neutral ground for expansion of income generating teritory). This depends on whether I have the start, on how my opponent plays, on my drop and whether fog/trench settings are on. Thus is a large variety of tactics. Strategically there are a few basic principles.(a) (Most important) Try to be the player with the attack dice when stack meets stack. (b) If you go exploring (e.g. with FOG on) - try whenever possible to lead with your small stack, i.e. try to avoid having your large stack stuck out in the open where it can be hit. (c) As far as possible, have your stacks facing each other - so that if one is hit, the other can counter. (d) Try to keep as many attack paths open as possible (i.e. don't block paths by e.g. taking too many terits around Lake Minstello) (e) Try to achieve the best balance between disposable troops and investment in future income. This is often the most difficult part to achieve, and depends on judgment which comes with experience. In general, trench favours investment, while non-trench favours keeping your troops mobile and deployable. The most common mistakes in feudal are to over-extend (with trench off) and to under-invest (with trench on). (f) The best time to attack is usually immediately after your opponent has made a major expansion into neutral ground. (g)With fog on - learn to use the log and the cards to make educated guesses about where your opponent's forces are. e.g. If your opponent has 14 terits, 2x3 bonus troops for holding kingdom terits and has a village - then it is not possible for the village to be Rhu. Cards often say as much about where your opponet is NOT as about where he is - and this can also be very valuable. The main difference is the greater travelling distances on Epic. Thus - the best time to attack generally comes sooner on FW than it does on FE. I like a variety of settings. Currently my favourite is esc. chained foggy. I think the luck element is higher in multi-player games because you can be disadvantaged by another player's bad strategy. In 1v1 - if your opponent plays badly, it can only benefit you. Yes. The strategy is different with teams, and different again depending on whether there are 2 or more teams in the game. e.g. with several teams in the game, often the best strat is patience. With only 2 teams, one needs to be more aggressive. Enjoy it - this is the best map in cc. Avoid blaming the dice when you lose and try to learn from your opponents (and from your own mistakes.) I play a few maps, but feudal is my favourite. I have tried most maps, and a lot of them I wouldn't bother playing again - simply because they don't offer any real strategic challenge. thehippo8 wrote: Cheers for that
FATHARRY and to prove that your theories work, I played
Feudal War immediately after preparing this.
See the game here. I won against a Colonel!! Sorry,
Phatscotty - but you didn't stand a chance ...
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Cairnswk gets roasted. Heaps happening in Clans, Tournaments and Foundry - too much to repeat here. And strategy is getting traction. 
