Welcome Comrades to the 52nd edition of the Dispatch
With jricart having trouble with his internet connection I get a chance to again take the glory for publishing the issue this week after jrt did all the hard work in getting it prepared for us.
And in the absence of Victor Sullivan (who's on vacation), his two apprentices do a wonderful job in getting the freestyle and foundry sections out, so big thumbs to the work of Safariguy5 and OliverFA respectively.
For freestyle this issue I bring your attention to the investigative journalism that came to us through top-secret sources as we discover the origins of ConquerClub. In tournaments we're given the latest and greatest news on the recently unveiled
TPA2 , and in the foundry we delve into the wheels of time as we look at Chess through the ages on CC maps. Clans also ends up with an interview of
FarangDemon on the analytical ranking thats been much hailed of late.
So without further ado, here's the freestyle section where we'll see the former Newsletter Executive and current Chatters Head (amongst his host of other contributions), let the Nag speak!
Leehar -
Pinch-hitting Newsletter 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... The Clan section would also specifically be interested in reporters who could take over coverage of CC2, and those interested in covering events in the ACC.
Welcome Welcome, to the 52nd issue's Freestyle Section. Unfortunately, our beloved Sully needs to take a quick vacation due to the incorrigible scamps in the Freestyle Department. That or the severe kneecapping I may or may not know/participated in.
Anyways, we have an interview with everyone's favorite Alcoholics Unanonymous leader and co-founder of the Wild Geese,
nagerous . I'm also contractually obligated to mention that we have a new Scum Insider article on cults written by yours truly.
rdsrds2120 is introducing a new column about some of the smaller forums, but for this week, he brings us some community suggestions for new Special Events. And finally, a special report on a possibly troublesome origin of the the CC website.
If you're interested in writing for the Freestyle Team, we are actively looking for new writers. You can apply
here .
Enjoy!
safariguy5 Temporary Freestyle Executive Community Opinion on Special Events by safariguy5 and rdsrds2120 show
Recently, rdsrds2120 reached out to the community to get some input on what sort of Special Events everyone would like to see. Be it Whac-a-Mod , Speed Map Holidays , or just plain old Premium Giveaways , the volunteers and the entertainment team want to give the community what the community wants as much as possible. Although response was a bit light, rdsrds2120 has decided to expand the idea into an examination of the lesser visited forums (Suggestions, the Academy, etc.), we can still take a quick look at what sort of events the community is interested in and whether we can expect any surprise events further on down the road.OliverFA wrote: I would love to see a huge tournament featuring every CC member. Well, not every CC member, but every member that wanted to join. Also, there is some chat about game 10,000,000 being a Battle Royale
Although HighlanderAttack is already running his very large HA's 200th Tourney , the problem with such a large tournament tends to be the length of it, and the logistical headache any organizer might face. However, there have been recent Official tournaments for the Women's World Cup and it might be a sign that Official tournaments may become more popular. As for the Battle Royale, those tend to occur on "special occasions", and I wouldn't know whether the 10,000,000th game would count as "special" enough. MoB Deadly wrote: I think I have logged onto Live Chat like twice, so that is not something for me, but it would be nice for a speed event or something.
A pity the Live Chat applet seems to be underutilized. While occasionally buggy, the applet is still the preferred place for freemium members to find opponents for Real Time games. Premium members can also challenge each other to Speed games and do some ribbing and trash talking for the enjoyment and merriment of others. You'll also find moderators and forum heavyweights frequent Live Chat on a regular basis, so if you want to get to know the Moderator team, socializing in Live Chat is always a possibility. While Trivia Games have been run in Live Chat before, and small speed games have been attempted with varying degrees of success, the unpredictability and timezone differences probably preclude any serious organized Live Chat based speed tournament. rds will return with a column dedicated to the less traveled corners of the forum, so any further comments or suggestions for special events should be directed to the Entertainment Team.
Current Events by safariguy5 show
North Korea Claims Ownership of the Conquer Club Website In a stunning press release late on the 26th, Glorious leader Kim Jong-Il announced that for approximately the past 5 years, he had been secretly running the popular gaming website. "The purpose of the website was to study Western War Games Strategy and to prove to the world that we North Koreans are just as capable on the internet as the capitalist United States." When asked why the servers were based in Canada, the spokesperson responded by holding up what appeared to be a server shell filled with grain. "We haven't had a working server since the Reagan Administration" admitted the aide. "The Dear Leader has deemed Canadians as the least threatening nation to the continued existence of our Glorious Nation, right above fruit bats and sea sponges. Therefore, we have decided to host all 5 of our national websites in Canada, ensuring that the 17 progressive North Koreans who have internet will be able to stream Party Congressional Meetings and weather reports to their heart's content." The CIA released a statement in response to the declaration. "The Agency has known for several years of the PRK ties that the website held. The simple linear design of the menus, the lack of popups or other advertisements, and the abundant amounts of red in the color scheme were all strong indicators. The strongest evidence however, was the site logo, a perfect replica of the white star on the flag of North Korea." There have also been unconfirmed reports that the user lackattack is really Kim Jong-Il. With a scoreboard ranking of approximately 11,000, this puts his strategic military ability as inferior to almost 40% of the members of the website. One can only speculate if the North Koreans will attempt to recruit some new generals from the data garnered from the scoreboard.
The Scum Insider by safariguy5, nagerous and Fircoal show
The Scum Insider Newbie Help Want to get into the Mafia scene, but don't know how to play or even what it is? Consult these threads: Mafia Information , Mafia and You , and Rules and Terms of Mafia . Too much work? Too lazy to read through everything? No worries, you can always jump right into a game and ask for other players or the game runner to help guide you.What is "Mafia"? Mafia, for those of you that don't know, is a game that generally takes place in a town, where the townspeople have to determine who the mafia (or "scum") is and lynch them via a majority vote during the day and the mafia try to kill everyone at night and bluff their way out of getting killed by the town.Mafia News -------------------Mafia Callouts Calling all players interested! Some mafia games need some filling: Sign-ups: Seeking Replacements: Now get out there and investigate Mafia for yourself: viewforum.php?f=213 Advanced Roles and Strategy by safariguy5 This week, we're talking about cults. And not the religious extremist kind with the poisoned Kool-Aid.The Cult Recruiters and Cult Goons What are they? The Cult recruiter chooses one person every night and attempts to recruit them to the cult. If the recruit is successful, the recruited person usually loses their previous abilities and their alignment changes to that of a cult. A recruitment attempt on a mafia member or serial killer usually ends in the a failed recruitment and the death of the recruiter. Cult goons and the recruiter can PM each other at night. The cult usually wins when they are either the last remaining faction or equal or outnumber town with no mafia or serial killer remaining. Investigations on cult members or the recruiter can turn up guilty or Third Party depending on the mod. Also some mods don't make the cult recruitees lose their powers, so a recruited cop or doctor becomes a cult power role. Example John is a cult recruiter. During the night phase, he successfully recruits Jane. Jane was a doctor. She loses these powers (depending on the mod), and during the subsequent nights, may PM John to discuss who to recruit. John is a cult recruiter. During the night phase, he attempts to recruit Jack. However, Jack is a mafia goon, and John dies. Whatever cult members already exist remain cult, but nobody else can recruit anybody.How to Play these Roles Cult members are always Third Party . They usually start out with one or two members, and slowly build their numbers as the game goes on. Some mods will put cult recruitment flavor in the early night scenes as a tipoff to town, but this is not universal. As a cult goon, the main responsibility is to insulate the recruiter from being lynched. This can include fakeclaiming the recruiter or acting like the recruiter to draw nightkills towards yourself. As a recruiter, the recruitment targets must not be too predictable. The best thing to do is to mix recruitments of active townish people and less active players. This prevents town from being to identify likely cultists too early. However, mafia may try to act active early on to keep suspicion off them, so early recruitments may be trickier to choose. As Town , the cult is one of the threats that rival mafia in seriousness. A cult recruitment of too many town power roles reduces the ability of town to catch mafia. As the game goes on, town may try to steer mafia kills towards known cultists. The reason for this temporary truce is that a cult that gains majority voting power is able to lynch mafia members if the cult has recruited most or all of the town. So for the mafia to completely ignore a growing cult is inadvisable as they must confront cult sooner or later. The key to stopping a cult is to identify the members and try to figure out which one is the recruiter. Failing to identify a recruiter, if a cult goon is lynched instead, it can keep cult from growing too fast. It is ultimately a stall tactic, as cult can trade lynches for new recruits, but it can keep the cult from reaching voting parity too quickly.
show: Interrogation of nagerous
Q. You volunteer here on CC in many different ways and departments. What is/was your favou rite? Being a chat mod, live chat is a fun area to hang out and talk to other CCers, especially all the regulars! Only on occasion do we have to moderate/boot someone and when you do, it can’t be denied that giving someone the boot from the chat room fills you with a sense of satisfaction. Especially banning stunna. Q. What was it like serving as the Co-Director/Interview Director/Freestyle Team Leader/Freestyle Executive for so long? It was an enjoyable experience. The hardest part was the deadlines and constantly trying to contact the reporters. I think people don’t realise how much effort goes into producing the newsletter fortnightly and I believe that our executives and reporters all deserve a round of applause for the hard work that they put in to the job. Q. What was/were your favou rite part(s) of that experience? The best part certainly is directing the interviews; I have conducted interviews with some great characters that CC forums always seem to produce. Pimpdave, saxitoxin, MeDeFe and Snorri were probably the most entertaining interviews I was involved in. Other interviews weren’t as interesting as they could’ve been not mentioning any names but I am happy 2 say it is all in the job. Q. What is your opinion on Buizels? They’re the thing fircoal masturbates to right? Q. What is your favou rite mafia game you've played in? I’ve been involved in some awesome mafia games. 2007 is always referred to as the golden age of mafia and this is truly the case. Re-inquisition mafia and New Jedi Order mafia are certainly two games I won’t forget. The same applies for Wandlore mafia . More recently, I've enjoyed playing in Iliad's Game of Thrones mafia, just a little mad that I died so early in the game!Q. How did you come up with your username? I think I came up with it back in 2002 when I was playing a game called racewarkingdoms. I was nagerous the goblin and I convinced people I was a 21 year old law student when in fact I was merely a little boy. I subsequently used the name on other online games around the same time like shimlar (now known as neflaria) where I had a wedding with a 16 year old girl who thought I was 21 too, looking back that was a very paedophilic relationship but it seemed to work. I also used it on runescape, that classic game but often was the victim of racial abuse by random people who liked to bastardise my name and turn it into a racial slur. It seemed obvious to use it at the time when signing up for conquer club though I feel I’ve outgrown the name since then and would change it if I could. Q. How did you first find Conquer Club? One of my friends from school was playing it during a lunch hour. I had the classic RISK board game so I thought I’d check it out and play some games. Q. Do you miss Flame Wars? Sure I do, that was one hell of an entertaining area of the forum. I think the website is a better place without it however. The problem with that area is it generated a real aura of hate around the website that the administrators have done well to eradicate. Q. Who is the fairest mod on the site? Clapper011, except when she is sporting the whips and chains Q. Who is the sexiest mod on the site? Master Fenrir. So hot right now. Master Fenrir. Q. Who is the creepiest mod on the site? Victor Sullivan obviously.Q. What is your favou rite map? Battle for Iraq! Q. Which map do you think has the most fun gameplay? Battle for Iraq, once again. It has so many different strategies that can be employed and is fun at all settings. I hate maps that in a 1v1 whoever goes first or whoever gets the best drop/dice in the first turn wins. This is not the case at all in Battle for Iraq.Q. Which map is the nicest to look at? Treasures of Galapagos. I'm a sucker for the tortoises. Q. Where is your favou rite place(s) you have travelled to on holiday? Country wise, I think it would have to be a toss up between Australia and the United States with my favourite place that I’ve visited being Cairns. Cairns was amazing and snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef was a once in a lifetime experience. I have been all over America from the West to the East coast and visited many of the major cities. I look forward to doing more travelling in the future. Q. Are you sexier than lord voldemort? That is a subjective question but I have been informed repeatedly by one particular person that I am. Q. Is your accent sexier as well? Another subjective question, I know that American girls are suckers for the British accent though. Shame it doesn’t work that way here on our little island. Q. What medal was the hardest one to earn for you, so far? I’ve never medal hunted so they’ve all come naturally. I imagine if I wanted to medal hunt, gold assassin would be hell to achieve. As would the mapmaking medal seeing as I have zero talent in cartography. Q. When are you coming to L.A.? When I have some money?Q. Are you currently drunk? I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine so no. EDIT: I was more drunk when I answered some of the questions later on a different day, try and guess which ones!Q. Are you currently hungover? Nope!Q. What is your favou rite Social Usergroup? Esoog a si !selttiks. Well, when it was active. Nowadays my favourite usergroup is probably McGill, there is always an entertaining thread to read there every day. Q. Did you find leaving the bandits hard, like a break up? Or were you relieved to be able to start anew, with a clan of your own? It was a tough change at first. A lot of people wanted me to stay and I don’t think everyone realised I was serious about leaving. I was keen to start a new clan of my own however and enter a new phase of my CC life. Q. Who is your favou rite bandit? Fruitcake. He has been a good mentor and has taught me a lot about strategy as well as various other life advice such as decent hangover cures. Q. What is your favou rite Disney princess? Disney princesses aren’t really something I care for in particular. If I had to choose one I guess I’d pick Jasmine, for the reason that I imagine she’d be the hottest in real life. Q. What are your top 3 favou rite movies? My favourite film definitely has to be The Big Lebowski. I have seen it so many times but every time the film makes me laugh. The Coen brothers are geniuses. Two of my other favourite films would be Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter. I’m a real sucker for early De Niro films and these two epic films show him at his best. I wrote my dissertation on the psychological impact the Vietnam War had on veterans and how Hollywood has portrayed it and both of these films portray Vietnam veterans who ultimately go quite psychotic. I even managed to reference The Big Lebowski in my dissertation due to the fact that the great Walter is of course, a Vietnam vet. Q. Is it true that you and InsomniaRed have been having an affair for 8 months? Ahem...well... I'm sure you've read her leaving posts so you can infer what you want from that.Q. Can you tell me more about how the Wild Geese came to be? Me, ga7, fircoal and pmchugh had known each other a long time from mafia games but we were all in separate clans and we wanted to form a clan together. We therefore came up with the proposal to create a brand new clan and gain the core members from ga7’s old clan (formerly run by natewolfman) left4dead. Q. How good is the PACK? They are over-rated and have had a lucky run. They can derelict my balls! OH SNAP! Q. How hot are you right now? HOW HOT IS HOT? Q. Are you capable of reaching into your pants and removing your underwear without causing severe injury? Only with the support of David Bowie and to the sound of Michael Jackson’s Beat It. Q. Were you the fat kid in 7th grade? No I’ve always been ridiculously, ridiculously good looking. Q. Assuming Serbia is in London for the Olympics, where do you plan on taking him to get pissed? Wherever he wants! There are plenty of places to go out in London, it just depends how hardcore he is as to where I take him Q. And if he needs a place to crash for a week, do you have room? Potentially, I can’t make any promises right now though as the property I would be able to potentially offer him isn’t strictly mine. Q. What about the toe? FORGET ABOUT THE FUCKING TOE!Q. What are your thoughts on females? Dumb question, if I was a religious man, I would constantly thank god for females.Q. Why, when you came halfway around the world to lord voldemort's fair country, did you not come to his state? I had a planned itinerary starting in Melbourne, then moving to Alice Springs, then to Cairns, then to Sydney. There was just sadly not enough time to visit everywhere/do everything I wanted. Q. On a scale of 1 to 10 why did you date a certain person on CC? You only live onceQ. Do you find CC more fun drunk or sober? Drunk by a mile, after a heavy bender on the booze though I always wake up thinking ‘oh shit what did I post/say in live chat this time.’ Normally it is just about ok and I manage to contain myself in usergroups, I have woken up a few times to find some craziness in the main forums though.Do you always look so sexy in green? My colour has changed more times in the last few weeks than Michael Jackson’s skin.Q. Why did you choose to have a green colour instead of purple? I render this question obsolete by recent events!Q. How many times have you drunkenly cybered with Pirlo while thinking it was someone else? 37 times. Q. On a scale of 1-10, how nervous are you when squishyg starts a nagerous!!! thread in McGill? On a scale of 1-10 how nervous are you squishy when you see I have posted in the report a message thread in the discussions HQ?Q. How many shots/beers can you down before you black out? Who counts?Q. What's your favou rite hangover cure? A massive fry up, preferably cooked by someone else Q. What's your favou rite brand of beer and spirits? I’ve grown quite partial to whisky recently. Always been a big vodka drinker though, not really into my beers. Q. Why are you secretly in love with Jake (or rdsrds2120, or TheForgivenOne, InsomniaRed can't keep up with your boyfriends)? I’m sure Ace Rimmer would love me to be in love with him. Rdsrds and TFO definitely wish I was in love with them but sorry I’m a ladies man only. Q. What is your honest opinion of InsomniaRed? I feel that people have given her a really bad rap in recent weeks, especially with everyone seemingly convinced that she made it all up and is just some massive liar. I can say with quite certainty that she did not make it all up, she has dealt with a lot of shit from the people in her life and has had a long and rough road in life, dealing with problems the average lucky sonofabitch who visits this site can only fathom. I have seen her on multiple times cry her eyes out because of some of these real world problems. If she does return and I hope she does, I can only hope that people will not continue to troll and belittle her like they have done recently. On the other hand if news of her death due to her health problems does reach the community, I hope those that have mocked her in recent weeks have at least some shreds of humanity and are able to extend their best wishes to her family.Q. If you were on a deserted island, what non-essential items would you want with you? After the seriousness of the previous answer, a sharp change of turn and direction it seems is required. Right…. so non-essential items for a desert island. My instinctive first answer would be to bring some alcohol, but surely that would fall under the category of being essential? Other items I may bring along include perhaps some various camping equipment such as a pen knife or some tarpaulin as though they may not necessarily be essential, they would come in damn useful as my objective would be to survive. Q. Where did you learn to dance? Whitestazn88 can’t dance like me, safariguy5 can’t dance like me, Victor Sullivan can’t dance like me, ManBungalow can’t dance like me, #1_stunna can’t dance like me, AndyDufresne can’t dance like me, thegreekdog can’t dance like me, pimpdave can’t dance like me, Ace Rimmer can’t dance like me, Leehar can’t dance like me, commander9 can’t dance like me, jricart can't dance like me, Michael Jackson can't dance like me. Q. How often do you stay drunk to avoid the hangover? ALL THE TIME!Q. How many times have you drunkenly cybered? NEVER!Q. How many times have you soberly cybered? NEVER!Q. Why does everyone think you cyber all the time? Not a clue, probably because half of the female live chat contingent are in love with me. Q. Why don't you cyber with Fircoal enough? Something to do with his Pikachu fetishQ. Do you listen to the Bear Quartet? NoQ. Why not, you jerk? I’ve never heard of them, should I have? EDIT: I played some of their songs whilst filling out this interview, they are ok… I guess.Q. Did you finally realized that pink was not quite all that manly and changed it to green? Why did you change to green when you know pink is the manliest colou r ever? Well I’ve changed to purple now, so I think that is a step backwards in the man scale. Maybe one day I’ll reach the ultimate man goal of the red that studs such as Twill and Optimus Prime have previously sported.Q. Who is the best mafia player of all time? Me, obviously. Joking aside it is hard to give one name as the best mafia player ever. Some players have had flashes of brilliance but also had flashes of complete insanity (I'm looking at you mandy). It is tough to find one player who has consistently remained on top of their game.Q. What is/was the best moment in CC? When wicked hacked live chat! That was a blast! Nah seriously, probably the January 2008 battle royales, all of us mafia players had a big msn chat trying to guess the passwords and all the games were great fun. Battle royale day is always my favourite day of the year when it comes to CC. Q. How come it's not me when you first met Commander9? Q. What is your favou rite song/band at the moment? I have been listening to a lot of Foster the People recently. They are a sweet indie pop band that are making it big at the moment with some killer tunes. Also been listening to a fair bit of classic prog rock, ranging from The Doors to Camel . I also recommend Crystal Castles Q. What type of questions do you like more, questions about your drunkenness or your cybering habits? Drunkeness of course, cybering isn’t something I am interested in. Q. How do you feel about Pikachus? They’re the thing fircoal masturbates to right? Q. What is your favou rite mafia game you've modded? I’ve highly enjoyed all the mafia games I’ve modded. My two favourites would have to be Super Mario Mafia and Godfather Mafia just by the quality of the activity and posting. People hate on wicked, but all things considered she was a damn good mafia player.Q. What is your favorite Fircoal mafia? The one I've enjoyed the most was probably his Kirby game, I often find his games too haphazard for my taste!Q. If you could pick your perfect Mafia team of 6 who would they be? (Game of 24 players, and you're one of the mafia) Oh blimey, off the top of my head – ga7 (when he is active), commander9, strike wolf, mr squirrel, haggis mcmutton, safariguy5Q. What player is the most pro-town to you? Most pro-scum? Got tonkaed is the pro-town hero and wicked is always scum. Q. Do you like to be town or scum more? Scum for sure! I’ve noticed a disturbing correlation that people always find me more scummy when town than when scum. I think it is because I often try to control the town more when I am town and get frustrated more by inactivity, which people seem to find scummy . Q. Who do you miss the most from Mafia? Aimless – I didn’t know him on a personal level but his games were some of the best that the website has seen. Koesen as well, he was a great guy and a great player, I will never forget our day 1 duel in Mandalorian’s New Jedi Order Mafia where we both had 25 players to pick from to guess our rival and we both guessed correctly first time, but I guessed first so I got to kill him Q. What is your favou rite Mafia role? SK would be my favourite role. I prefer to work alone and manipulate my way to the finish, hopefully kicking some butt on the way. Sadly, however I always tend to be targeted on night one or night two and never survive and claim victory Q. Who are your favou rite Risk partners? I have been playing doubles with ga7 for over four years now and he has proved himself to be a valuable partner and great team mate. We understand each other so well that there is no need for team chat and we just blag our way to victory . I enjoy playing games with all the geese though like fircoal, pmchugh, bonus_mop, kwanton, drew483, johhny rico etc. From my bandit days, playing alongside fruitcake was always enjoyable, as was playing quads with the General Mojo crew. Q. Who is your biggest CC/Mafia rival? My biggest CC rival would probably be scott-land. That guy just hates me with a passion, it is a long story. On the mafia front, my biggest rivals would probably be edocsil and commander9! Q. Who is your favou rite CC-er that starts with Fir and ends with coal? No.Q. What is your favou rite question in this interrogation? Where did you learn to dance?
Hi again amigos and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments.
This time,
Dukasaur is giving us a review of the past editions of his "
Meet the Tournament Winners!" series of interviews.
Angola is back
on the Dispatch team after a
short vacation, and he is bringing us a little review of the new and upcoming TPA 2. And finally but no less important,
Sonicsteve is providing a great compilation of new tournamen
ts currently in the Signup process with his "Join this? Or Not!" Section.
jricart Tournament Executive Meet the Tournament Winners! by Dukasaur show: Interview directory
It's been six months since I started interviewing Tournament Winners for the Dispatch, and I thought some people might be wanting to look back fondly on their old interviews. So, here's a directory of my first six months' production. There are some real gems in there! If you are just starting to follow this column, it might be interesting to look at some of the older ones.Issue 41 Vaicius ubcman64 aalii CAPK81 Issue 42 Dowian2 HighlanderAttack Issue 43 Gypsys Kiss Shai Issue 44 xman5151 Tripitaka Issue 45 sparkyball Issue 46 DJ Teflon Issue 47 jricart Issue 49 azak848 Issue 50 Dibbler Issue 51 DaveH ChrisBeerens
All-inclusive update on the TPA by angola show
TPA Year 2 is upon us. With the new season comes a completely revamped tournament scoring system. Rather than give points for each tournament entered - a competitive tourney player used to be required to enter nearly all 52 tournaments - TPA2 will highlight quality over quantity (not to say that the TPA1 leaders weren't good). Anyway, the big changes are as follows : 1. There will be four Major E vents, one per quarter. All four of these events will count toward your season-long score. 2. There will be 16 Premier Events, four per quarter. Your best eight scores from these will be counted toward your season-long score. 3. There will be 32 Regular Events, eight per quarter. Your best 16 scores will be counted toward your season-long score.The scores in these groupings will be weighted. This will be further explained in the first post of the " TPA Year 2" thread. The first event, a Premier Event hosted by sonicsteve, was scheduled to begin on Monday, Aug. 1.This event is a terminator tourney with freemiums welcome, so hit the signups forum and give it a whirl if it is still open when you read this . Here is the initial tournament schedule:August 1 sonicsteve Premier event Format: Terminator freemiums welcomeAugust 8 stevkov Standard event Format: triplesAugust 15 shaneback Standard event Format: 1v1 premium requiredAugust 22 DJ Teflon Standard event Format: Speed Premium requiredAugust 29 Lindax Major event Format: Team format premium requiredSeptember 5 Bruceswar Standard event Format: terminator premium requiredSeptember 12 phantomzero Standard event Format: Singles freemium welcomeSeptember 19 Kinnison Premier event Format: 1v1 freemium welcomeSeptember 26 merch313 Standard event Format: terminator premium requiredOctober 3 barterer2002 Premier event Format: singlesOctober 10 ckyrias Standard event Format: team freemium welcomeOctober 17 TBA Format: TBAOctober 24 gameplayer Standard event Format: 1v1October 31 MrGlassB Premier event Format: assassin Freemium welcome As for TPA Year 1 , well, we haven't had an update in a while, so lets see what is happening.sonicsteve has added to his lead, which isn't surprising given the talent level we are talking about here. He has 48.23 points, which puts him well ahead of MudPuppy (42.32) and HighlanderAttack (42.08). So far, sonicsteve has racked up 31.64 points in the first 26 matches and 16.59 in the second 26 - though there are plenty of tournaments still going in the second half of the season. Keep checking the Dispatch to see if sonic steve holds on for the victory. And don't forget, all credit for these wonderful year-long events go to barterer2002 , who came up with the idea and ran with it.
Join This? Or Not! by sonicsteve show
Now for our regular look at a selection of the tournaments availale for sign-up at the time of this writing. Before we start though, a quick bit of TPA promotion. The new season of the TPA started last Monday . Please don't forget to visit the Create/Join thread each Monday to check for new events. 32 Doubles teams are needed as Pyrhhus invites you to Win, Lose, Or Draw . Each of the teams can choose their own home map and settings and will play a Home and Away match in each round. Winners progress, l osers drop out, while those tying 1-1 will get another chance against a different team.Manual, Unlimited fans will want to take a look at the more the merrier by killercheez . The organiser is looking for 100 players, but despite the large number of entrants, this should run quickly. The first round will consist of twenty 5-player games from which only the winners will progress to round 2. Maps will be Random throughout. The English football season will be underway soon (probably far too soon for my team, Plymouth Argyle). Moping aside; the lofty heights and glamour of Premiership Football has inspired IR1SH ACE 's BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE 2011-2012 - 20 Quads teams will pick their own home maps and settings, with weekly games to be issued in accordance with the football calendar. This tournament looks very promising with a lot of initial hard work from the organiser, as always make sure you read through the detailed rules before signing up. Moving on from English sports, the start of the sporting season across the Atlantic brings a selection of events which I don't pretend to understand. If you know more about American Sport than I could write on the back of a postage stamp with a broom, please take a look at NHL Season 2011-12 which SNARF17WD is running for the 4th time; College Football FBS 2011 by AmphibiousRodent ; NFL Season 2011-12 2v2 by davedbates or CCFL Fantasy Football by wesleymilo Another neat little tournament by wesleymilo is Chutes and Ladders . (In the UK this game is played as snakes and ladders). This tourney has a really nice twist. You score moves across a chutes and ladders boards according to your finishing place after each game, e.g. win the game and roll a 6, so you'll need one eye on the gameboard when you go for eliminations. I hope you choose to join some of these wonderful tournaments and if you don't like any of these then go to the Create/Join a Tournament or Tournaments Tab and take a look at the other tournaments that are waiting to be filled. For those of you looking for immediate tournament action, check out the Requests for Immediate Players section of the tournament forum. You'll be playing very soon after signing up as a reserve.
Hello Dispatch readers! This issue
Victor Sullivan is not with us because he is enjoying well deserved holidays
In his absence I have compiled the Foundry articles. I hope Sully sends us a postcard from his holiday place! Who knows? Maybe we can even have a map about it!
But even if he is on holiday,
Victor Sullivan has spent some time writing the second part of his Foundry Interview.
MrBenn , the well known Foundry Leader, is the one answering the questions in this half. I recommend you to read the interview, as it's a really interesting one.
thehippo8 is continuing his deep search through the Foundry archives, and this issue he informs us about the chess maps that have been made (or attempted to make) during this time. On my side I continue the tour around the Classic maps. This time we are traveling to an Oasis.
Also, I am happy to announce that Victor has enlisted two new reporters. They will improve the Foundry section of the newsletter with quality articles in the next issues. Please welcome
Gillipig and
koontz1973! OliverFA Temporary Foundry Executive Frustration for Chess Buffs by thehippo8 show
Strategy games attract people of a similar mind. So, it comes as no surprise that on Conquer Club there are a fair swag of budding chess aficionados. And like any sub-set on Conquer Club they yearn for representation by way of a map. In the words of Hopscotcher ... and i'm just really really curious, why is there no chess map on CC? .
In this quick overview, I will look at five examples which were all promising but as at this date still remain undeveloped.cramill's chess map This map is an impressionist view of chess which is evocative of a feeling of looking at the chessboard but retains the Conquer Club classic map concept. It’s appeal is that on the one hand chess players feel at home wistfully looking at a board while non-chess players can get down to brass tacks in conquering land. Click image to enlarge. Over seven pages, the log makes for interesting reading. The map itself started as a crude box and letters concept to the colourful worked version it is now. There was discussion on piece placement to make the static game appear more believable. Clever gamesters worked on gameplay, region bonuses and territory boundaries. There was more than a fair share of nay-sayers and some very committed supporters. But ultimately this map is in limbo because of the mapmakers personal commitments. Final post was Thu Jun 07, 2007 4:39 pm.fumandomuerte's C.C Chess V.2 This cartographer nodded to cramill before suggesting what at first glance was a very different look, feel and idea. Click image to enlarge. Although just three pages, the log was very encouraging. The gameplay was more complex and advanced than cramill ’s idea and that caused a little bit of confusion until fumandomuerte made an amendment to the map. There was some collaborative talk but the steam ran out of the thread and it was placed in the back room. Final comment on Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:43 pm.john9blue's Chess Placing this third is no reflection of its date of inception or its popularity. john9blue's map is acknowledged and even mentioned in fumandomuerte ’s thread and towards the end of that thread there is talk of collaboration. Even camill goes so far as to pledge his support. And deservedly so. Click image to enlarge. At a whopping 21 pages, there was truly an intense interest in this map. And the commitment of john9blue is nothing short of extraordinary. Although, the concepts were developed by remarkably talented thinkers who deserve recognition like Keredrex , turtle32 , oaktown , ZeakCytho and TaCktiX (to name a few). And for all that effort this map achieved these tags ... Yet despite all that the map still remains in limbo. There is some amusing skiting about chess prowess 'over the board' and the thread goes dead multiple times, but steadily there was such great progress. The gameplay continued to harangue throughout and on page 21 of the thread MrBenn again raised whether it was clearly explained. The efforts to get the graphics just right are enough to cause hair-loss alone. Maybe john9blue just ran out of puff. Before the map was finally placed in the recycling bin, FlyingSquirrel brought back the territory idea already considered by cramill and fumandomuerte . But again, this has gone nowhere. Last post was on Sun May 23, 2010 12:48 am.kroovi's Battlechess map And now for something completely different. Click image to enlarge. The log is short and full of angst. Ultimately this is an idea in development – technically brilliant but not yet appealing to the masses. Last post was on Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:27 am.Timur the Lame's Star Trek 3D Chess Ok, so this idea is really at it’s early stages. But any Trekkie would be truly starry-eyed at the prospect of that fantastic game coming to life ... Click image to enlarge. There’s only seven posts on the one page log, but army of nobunaga and 00iCon suggested a merger of chess with the 3D Cube idea – which is sadly also in the recycle bin (despite its enormous 56 page thread). Wouldn’t that be a hoot if that idea was the one to actually take flight!So which one wins? It is not hard to be impressed by all these efforts. Only time and the will of the Conquer Club Community will tell which one wins. It has proven to be a time-consuming and difficult concept to bring about. But it is clear that there is both the interest and an astounding amount of good will behind this map idea. Who knows whether one of these ideas will finally make it to fruition. There are plenty of us who are keenly waiting. Don’t keep us waiting too long! As to who I think the winning concept amongst these five, I personally like john9blue's idea. To me it is a well-worked clever realisation of the chess concept. Thankfully my opinion is shared by others, not least of which include camill and fumandomuerte . But the one that I really want to see developed is the 3D Chess concept. That seems to me a brilliant inter-mesh between the chess strategy game and the awesome cube idea. But then I guess I'm a dreamer.
Hello, Goodbye, and Congrats, Part II by Victor Sullivan show
Hey, folks! Sully here to bring what he promised! MrBenn responds to last issue's questions.Q. MrBenn, you served the Foundry as Foreman for almost two years. What does it feel like to have the burden lifted? What do you suppose you will do from here on out with regard to CC? MrBenn: It's kind of weird not having any official responsibility, and even weirder not having a blue name after so much time in those shoes. One of the reasons that I stepped down was to enable me to spend more time offline and elsewhere, so I'm really scaling back on pretty much everything CC-related. My gameload has shrunk from around 20 to 2 build games - a far cry from the 70ish game maximum I hit while in the peak of my playing days! In terms of game achievements, there are still a few more medals that I have my eyes on, and at some point I would like to regain my swords and maybe even get that hat back again... but that requires more time than I have to spare right now.Q. You have been present in the Foundry for a fair amount of time now. What does the Foundry mean to you? How has your perception of it changed over time, specifically since the recent changes? The foundry is the thing that kept me here when I was a new player. I saw the real power that the community had to impact on the way that the game played... What would CC be without the maps that bring the game to life? It is great to part of something that is central to the gaming experience (even if some people don't think it's very important) - my only wish is that the foundry and its mapmakers were more of a priority and had more respect - not necessarily from the community, but definitely from the powers-that-be. I think there have been two or three significant changes - the first one though, is really a lack of change. I have been frustrated at the slow pace of change from the web-development side of things to the extent that my "wish-list" from 2009 is pretty much still intact and unchanged. The second change is a direct consequence of this, in that the most successful and able mapmakers have become disillusioned with the site and moved on elsewhere. The final change is perhaps consequential again, with a perception that the standards of mapmaking have declined... However, this appears to have been accompanied by much less of an "elitist" atmosphere. Personally, I believe that this is a consequence of the enlarged foundry team: having multiple overseers in each area diminishes the "MrBenn's wish is my command" ethos. Q. What do you enjoy most about the Foundry? Nothing compares to the feeling of having your first map available for Live Play. It's great when people come into the foundry, become critical friends during the developmental stages and can take a sense of ownership and share that euphoria. While not everybody has what it takes to earn the hardest of CC medals, anybody can take part in the process and make a contribution to a map. Q. What do you suppose the Foundry will look like after the recent changes have really set in? What do you think will be some issues and some benefits of the changes? How do you feel about the changes overall? I'm really pleased to see the two foundry workshops consolidated as the Main Foundry - it makes it much easier for people to come into the foundry and find things. I trust too that under the guidance of thenobodies80, that change will continue to be for the best. Q. What would you say to those trying to get involved in the Foundry? To those that have been around awhile? To newcomers I would prescribe bags full of patience and perseverance, with the knowledge that these develop character... Browse through the maps in the Main Foundry, and find a couple that appeal to you... Keep visiting the map and encourage the mapmaker by posting regularly (without spamming). Try and be thoughtful; scrutinise and explain why and how you think improvements can be made. To old timers I would prescribe bags full of patience and perseverance, with the knowledge that these develop character... Try and treat every map you make as if it were your first; step outside your comfort zone and try to develop your own skills and abilities; offer your support and experience to others, without lording it over them. Drop bad attitudes/habits and do not settle for mediocrity. Q. Any further words for the 'masses'? In the words of Arnold Rimmer: "Over the years I have come to regard you as people I met." In the words of Douglas Adams: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
Classic Review – Oasis by Oliver F.A. show
Nowadays, the Foundry is plenty of life. We enjoy a continuous stream of creativity and talent. Thanks to the effort of dedicated mapmakers, new additions are quenched regularly. And many more maps are in the works. But there are also maps that were created long ago. Maps that despite having been with us for long time still feel fresh like the first day. Every day, many games are played on those maps. Those maps are true jewels that have stood the test of time. They are real Classics . They deserve our attention despite the time that has passed since they were created. Or maybe because of that.Oasis by wcaclimbing Hello CCers! Last issues we have been traveling around the world as a whole. We have visited several variations of the beloved Classic map, in all sizes. Now it’s time to visit a smaller place, but a no less interesting one. We will visit a hard place, a place where only true explorers can survive. We are heading to the desert in search of the Oasis . The map shows a mix of fertile an arid land. The bigger part is occupied by a dangerous desert. Surrounding the desert there are fertile grasslands and flourishing villages. The desert is spotted with several oasis that serve as haven from the dangerous sands. In the centre, there is the biggest oasis of them all. The Grand Oasis. The one who survives all the dangers and reaches the oasis, will uncover the treasures hidden within it. One thing that catches our attention soon is the lack of bonus regions. There are no continents, or any other bonus area. Looks like in the desert there are not enough resources for having such places. This means that the main income flow will come from the lesser oasis you own, and from the territory count. Being only one territory big, the lesser oasis may seem easy to defend. But being unconnected between them you have to defend them individually. You can’t build any kind of barrier to defend your key territories. Well, you could build that barrier in desert territories, but they lose one army per turn. So this barrier might be very costly to maintain. As I said, the dessert territories lose one army per turn . With such small income in this map, one army means a lot. You can’t afford the luxury of placing armies in the dessert. At least that’s what common strategy dictates. But some smart general could develop an strategy that involves armies in the dessert. That’s up to you! With that setting, the most likely way in which the game will evolve is a lot of stacking in the fertile smaller oasis, and a lot of skirmish to control the “not so important” areas in the border of the map. Even the desert could be important, as every three desert territories provide one army. But how to conquer and maintain those territories when army count is so low? That’s up to you to strategize. When you feel ready, you can make the push the Grand Oasis in the centre. Then you need to hold it for a full turn. During that turn everybody can attack you. Can your army stand everybody else’s attacks? It has, or you won’t win. Alternatively if you are a conservative CCer you could go the traditional way and kill everybody else. I believe Oasis is a classic on its own because it has a unique gameplay, like most of the maps commented in this section. Many maps feature territory decay, but Oasis makes that decay meaningful. Continents seem to be a must have for every map, yet Oasis manages not to have them and look well. Also, many maps have objectives, but they are so difficult to achieve that they are useful only as a way to make the late game shorter. But here in Oasis the objective really plays an important part, and makes things really interesting. For all those reasons, I believe Oasis qualifies as a Classic You can learn more about it in its Foundry thread viewtopic.php?t=44019
We have an exciting bulletin up this week with another in-depth look at the matches in CC2, a new ladder that makes it's appearance to critical acclaim, predictions for the first round of All Comers Cup action that starts soon (thanks to
reptile for his unknowing contributions to the newsletter), and our intrepid reporter's interview with the creator of the Algorithm of 400 that sees it's first application in the aforementioned ACC.
Also determined is the crowning of the
Clan League Season 3 Champions, Immortal Assassins, who rubber stamped their title with the 10th win on Forbidden City.
While it still had it's share of controversy (this time over timing out to skip spoils), IA are no doubt worthy winners after coming tops in a hard fought Division C (Comprising the aforementioned AoC, CC2 Quarter-finalists Foed, my own Nemesis, the now defunct SoW, and up-and-coming Dynasty), suppressing Mythology comfortably, dealing a Spanking to the Monkeys, and now calming the Chaos.
Leehar Clan Executive Conqueror's Cup 2 - Quarterfinal by Leehar (Nem) show
Welcome to another exciting quarterfinal review of the 2nd Annual Conquerors Cup . It's jam-packed with action as we reach the business stages of the match-ups (with the first half of the semi-final draw already decided) so without further ado, lets get to these gripping challenges. 32 vs. 21 The Horseman of the Apocalypse vs. Agents of Chaos - First up, the perennial favourites in Thota, who've done their seeding justice with an accomplished display against the stalwart AoC who themselves deserve kudos after a brilliant past season in reaching the the last 8 in CC2 and the finals in CL3. AoC will ultimately feel that the doubles games were what let them down in the end, and with a possible end score of 15-5 in those, it was most likely where the tie was won and lost after the trips and quads should end up roughly equal. However, it's still always been Thota's challenge to lose since the first set, and AoC were only able to come up trumps in their second batch at 7-3 with most of the other both home and away sets going Thota's way. 19 vs. 34 Legends of War vs. The Spanking Monkeys - Tsm continue to impress on their comeback trail after almost a years sabbatical from the clan scene, with the scalp of top-flight clan Tofu in the CL3: Quarters and now this important full-length victory over 5th seeds LoW, to set-up an enticing contest versus the clan that made them lick their wounds for so long last year. It's been a truly overwhelming performance by Tsm so far, with them dominating their home games, and not falling below equal in the away, so that they've become quite convincing victors over a clan who've got some impressive credentials to their name with a Clan League Season 2 Victory. LoW have always fought with the big boys since their inception, and even though they've lost to Thota (twice) and now Tsm (twice), they do have victory's over such stalwarts as Empire and IA to their name. However, they were definitely hurt by the breakup that made tofu, and haven't really reached those heights in the early days of the CC clan arena where they took on the best and habitually beat them to eventually peak at #2 in the clan scene. 28 vs. 18 Knights of the Round Table vs. Fraternal Order of Exceptional Drinkers - Foed have put in another accomplished display to scrap tooth and nail in this fight, and have proven to all and sundry that their victory over IA last round was no fluke. However, as defending champions Kort themselves had a point to prove and they've certainly done that as they've stretched their lead to 10 going down the final stretch. With at least another game likely heading their way as well, they conceivably should pull off the last win needed to take the victory, but since Foed have previously taken 13 wins to 3 against top-quality opposition before (at the start of their last tie against IA), Kort can't pop out the celebration hats yet... 24 vs. 9 Empire vs. The Odd Fellows Union -Batch 3 only recently started so there hasn't been too much to speak of late, though Tofu did draw first blood in AoR2 to signal their comeback trail, and also welcome back their leader Chariot of Fire with all the Trips and Quads in the third set. However, most of the waves have come from Empire's Welcoming Committee as they send in TheSpaceCowboy to spy on the Fiery Chariots return: Tofu War Room . With regards to the situation on the field, the prospects still look bleak for Tofu, and with Empire having at least 5 more victories coming for them, it's hard to conceive that they could let go their stranglehold on the challenge. Thats all for this week in Cup Action, but the prospects are good that we could see 2 rematches in the semi-finals, Thota-Tsm already confirmed as a repeat of the mammoth 80 game series almost 18 months ago, and perhaps Kort-Emp after their last 8 meeting in CC1
Clan War Results Database & Leap Ladder show
After extensive calls by FarangDemon (of Algorithm of 400 Clan Ranking fame) for an 'official' database of all clan war results in easily accessible excel format (as opposed to the forum Clan War Results topic) here , here , here , and even here ; we now have a CLAN WAR DATABASE available for public perusal. However, of more interest to me is the new Leap Ladder released that's been in the workings for quite a significant period and while we have no insight on the technical development of it, I've attempted to split it into A/B/C level clans for our insight 1 Knights of the Round Table 2 The Horsemen of the Apocalypse 3 The Spanking Monkeys 4 Legends of War 5 EMPIRE 6 The Fraternal Order of Exceptional Drinkers 7 The Immortal Assassins 8 Nemesis 9 The Odd Fellows Union 10 The Brethren of the Fat Mermaid 11 ++The Legion++ 12 Agents Of Chaos 13 De Veroveraars der Lage Landen 14 Angels of Death 15 A Fistful of Sixes 16 The Bullet-Proof Bandits 17 The Devil's Brigade 18 Mythology 19 Generation One: The Clan 20 The Fantastic Four-Skins 21 The Imperial Dragoons22 Soldiers of War 23 The Dark Knights of Chaos 24 Dynasty 25 Karma Clan 26 The Pack 27 Black Sheep Squadron 28 Grim Reapers 29 The Last Warriors 30 Memento Mori 31 One Step Ahead 32 Legends of The Zone 33 Risk Attackers 34 Death By Comity 35 Kill On Arrival 36 1st Regiment of the Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards 37 Spelunkers of Hell 38 Wild Geese 39 Always Kicking Ass 40 The New Crusade 41 The Pig Renters 42 Welsh Dragons 43 Order 66 44 Igni Ferroque 45 Team Ohio Although it may not strictly be the case, the best way to look upon this list is a representation of 'who beat who', with unofficial or non-qualifying clan wars not being represented (Clan League etc). (Or as Ric Flair says: Click image to enlarge. Therefore for illustrative purposes, examples of these principles is that a much-vaunted clan like The Pack, is so low courtesy of not having defeated any of the 25 clans currently ranked above them in the ladder; while my own clan Nemesis for that matter, have not lost to any of those clans ranked beneath them (in qualifying clan wars). For me personally however? The truth still lies somewhere between this and the other Ladders already previously documented.
All Comers Cup (ACC) Predictions show
Summer saw the introduction of a new Cup Competition on the Clan scene, with the ACC making it's official debut. Looking like a blend of Newcomer and Conqueror Cups initiated earlier, it has done well to acquire more participants(@26 clans ) than both of it's counterparts for the inaugural edition. Without further ado however, here's an outline of the Tournament Format:KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards) Whereby the top 6 clans (Nem, Tofu, AoC, Bofm, Foed and LoW) and the recipient of a bye in MM come in at the Second Round when the Match-ups will be again redrawn. And next we go to the Pundits Corner where avid Clan fans put up their projections on the outcomes for the First Roundreptile wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) - This is my upset pick! This would be crazy if it happened, but RA will bring their A game with their newest recruit billclinton13! However AOD could be in the finals if they make it past this round. AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$)OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) - Don't know who PR is, but OSA could even win this thing from a dark corner TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards) - No clue here, going with the Grenadier's Cause i hate the Buckeyes from Ohio (state)... Go Nebraska!
IcePack wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) - A little biasedMD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) - AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) - No ideaOSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) - TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) - no ideaTO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
Bruceswar wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) -AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) - TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
josko.ri wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death)AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
Sniper08 wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$)OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) - could go either way TO (Team Ohio) vs. GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
General Brock II wrote: MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell)TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs.GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
Commander9 wrote: MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) TO (Team Ohio) vs.GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
TheSaxlad wrote: KOA (Kill On Arrival) vs. DYN (Dynasty) MD (Manifest Destiny) vs. GR (Grim Reapers) RA (Risk Attackers) vs. AOD (Angels of Death) AFOS (A Fistful of Sixes) vs. AKA (Always Kicking A$$) OSA (One Step Ahead) vs. PR (Pig Renters) TNC (The New Crusade) vs. LEG (Legion) LOTZ (Legends of the Zone) vs. SOH (Spelunkers of Hell) TFFS (The Fantastic Four-Skins) vs. BSS (Black Sheep Squadron) - TO (Team Ohio) vs .GG (1st Regiment of Foot Guards: Grenadier Guards)
Interview between a God and a Demon by BoganGod (BoFM) show
Greetings valued fans, followers, loathsome stalkers, trolls, and jefjef. Apologies in advance, rather than my normal drunken rum fueled rant, I’m attempting a serious article on the . Please note that attempt is the operative word. My sincerest apologies to Farangdemon , sadly there was no one else available to interview him, so he was stuck with me.Algorithm of 400 by FarangDemon (IA) BoganGod› Hello sir FarangDemon› Hi Pleasantries went on for some time, I tend to talk/write a lot when I’m nervous. So in the presence of CC greatness and mathematical genius personified, was talking a lot of shit, and repeating myself. Skipping ahead to some of the serious questions. BoganGod> So why a clan ranking system, and why the method you’ve used? BoganGod› I know there have been a lot of different attempts in the past BoganGod› yours is the only one so far that seems to have gained some traction FarangDemon› While there are some things that a formula won't be able to capture, there is a lot of numerical data involved, which is why an objective method makes sense to me. FarangDemon› I would not trust myself to analyze all the results of the 40 clans or so in my head and come up with my own opinion-based ranking. BoganGod› Can you explain in simple terms, that even an idiot like myself or a tea party voter can understand. How does your ranking system work? FarangDemon› 1) Every clan starts at 1000 points. FarangDemon› 2) After every war, a clan gets basis points from that war. BoganGod› little things like decay factor, something which I can grasp. Some folks that I've talked to don't really understand that I’m interrupting with my questions again, nerves and all that. FarangDemon› The way the basis points are used to determine a clans rating is a weighted average. FarangDemon› The decay factor reduces the weight applied to a particular war's basis points for older wars. BoganGod› so if BoFM beat Tofu 2years ago, it wouldn't count as much now, as say a win against aka 1week ago? FarangDemon› For all my charts, I am using a 2 year data window. That means any war 2 years old is not counted. Anything 1 year old gets weighted 50% what it otherwise would be. FarangDemon› Exactly Your reporter starts to get a swollen head, and develop a high opinion of himself FarangDemon› Weight for a challenge = games in the challenge * decay factor (which is between 0 and 100%) BoganGod› would it be fair to say that the ladder is weighted more in favour of active clans that fight frequent wars and win more than 50% of them FarangDemon› Frequency does not impact score. FarangDemon› Let me explain. FarangDemon› If a clan only had old wars, those wars would be weighted less, but just because the weights are less doesn't mean the weighted average is less. FarangDemon› If a clan only has old performance, but it's good performance, then they would have a good rating. If a clan has good old performance and bad current performance, the current performance would be weighted more and their rating would be lower to reflect this. BoganGod› so a clan with only a few current performances and all of them good, can effectively rest on their laurels? BoganGod› How does a clan make its way up the ladder, if the clans above it are to yellow to fight? FarangDemon› Yes. The score itself is not affected by frequency of wars. FarangDemon› What I have done is impose a minimum challenge weight of 150 that a clan must have in order to make my ranking list. BoganGod› Ok once they are on the list.... What is the minimum they must do to stay on there FarangDemon› So if a clan has not played 300 games that were approximately 1 year old, it doesn't make the cutoff to be included in the ranking. FarangDemon› 300 games that are exactly 1 year old = 300 * 50% = 150 weight points BoganGod› Ok so a clan must play 300 challenge games in the past year FarangDemon› not necessarily, could be just 150 if all played yesterday FarangDemon› it is just the sum of weights for all wars they have played BoganGod› Ok FarangDemon› if played 6 months ago, would need 200 games BoganGod› What stops say clan number 3, only playing clans ranked 20 and below, thus kicking their arse convincingly FarangDemon› You can move up by playing peers or even those lower than you. FarangDemon› as long as you win BoganGod› so Clans can "farm" noob clans and move up that way? FarangDemon› if you are playing a much weaker clan, you need to beat them by a larger margin to get the same points as you would from beating a peer BoganGod› Ok that sounds fairer BoganGod› would it be correct to explain it along the lines of points for playing games BoganGod› ie a LT beating a major will get more points, than a major beating a LT? FarangDemon› Theoretically yes it would be possibly to farm your way up. However, I'm also tracking the best clan that each clan has beaten or tied to, so that way it will be apparent which clans have actually beaten their peers. BoganGod› would that be an accurate or fair anology? FarangDemon› Yes BoganGod› am just trying to think of ways, and analogies to sex up the subject some what Yes I know devoted readers, the Bogan deity and thinking in the same sentence….. Doesn’t work does it? FarangDemon› Yeah I know math is not very sexy. BoganGod› hell to some people it is FarangDemon› I thought that we should have a ranking system for clans that is based on the raw performance data alone. BoganGod› was wondering whether someone asked you to? FarangDemon› Because there is so much data. FarangDemon› If there were only 10 clans, it might be easier to just rely on people to formulate their opinions, but there are 40 now. FarangDemon› Nobody asked me. FarangDemon› Then I was reading about the Algorithm of 400 for some reason FarangDemon› Actually I was reading qwert 's thread, his ranking system (Active Clan ELO ranking 2011 ). I was commenting in his thread and then I decided to look up ELO in Wikipedia. BoganGod› ELO? BoganGod› besides the band , what is ELO? (Elo Rating System ) FarangDemon› A rating system developed for Chess by a Hungarian-American physics professor Arpad Elo BoganGod› so is your ratings system a variant on Elo? BoganGod› or derived from Elo? FarangDemon› I think Algorithm of 400 is a type of Elo, it's listed further down in the article. FarangDemon› I just picked up the formula directly from that article. FarangDemon› This is the original formula as stated in the article which I've adapted to use for CC - Performance rating = [(Total of opponents' ratings + 400 * (Wins - Losses)) / Games]. FarangDemon› The major adaptation I've added is that a basis point doesn't get +400 for winning and -400 for losing. The actual amount depends on the margin of victory. FarangDemon› I should state the goal of the system. FarangDemon› The goal is that if Clan A is ranked higher than Clan B, then Clan A actually would beat Clan B. FarangDemon› One other thing about my ranking system - it is calculated by javascript that I coded BoganGod› Do you have a Mathematics, Computing or Engineering background? FarangDemon› Yeah, math was my favorite subject in high school. Then I studied Systems and Information Engineering, which emphasizes applied math, statistics and data mining BoganGod› I have had a fair bit of difficulty getting a clan war for BoFM FarangDemon› Yeah that is too bad. You guys are ranked high enough that even #1 clan would benefit from beating you FarangDemon› The numbers I'm using at this time - a win grants you a basis point of at least 200 points + opponents current rating FarangDemon› TOFU is 200 above you exactly (as of July 1) so if they barely beat you, their score is unaffected. But if they win by a margin of 55% or 60% their rating would increase. Please note the next remarks by Farang are not directed towards TOFU FarangDemon› So really there is no excuse for any clan not to play you. FarangDemon› Unless they are just afraid of playing any clan in general. FarangDemon› Or they think you may be overpowered compared to your rating - they may not be confident enough in their ability to beat you by a 60% margin that it would justify the risk of losing a ton of points in the event that they lose. BoganGod› Well hopefully explaining ranking system will change that BoganGod› How often will you update the rankings? FarangDemon› Jigger1986 is helping me by tabulating results every month. So I plan on updating the results each month. Myself, and the rest of the Clan Team at the CC Newsletter would like to thank Farangdemon, both for his time in submitting to my clumsy questioning, and also for all the time he has put into getting the clan ranking system up and running. I’m pretty excited to see a ranking system that most clan leaders agree on, based on data and results rather than peoples perceptions/biases. Farang’s clan ranking system is already being used for the All Comers Cup
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