Welcome to the 14th issue of the Conquer Club Newsletter!
Well we are back to our original graphics this issue, hope you enjoyed the summer graphics while they were on
We have begun to use spoilers for each article, hopefully this makes it easier to browse each issue and just read what you wish to read
We also have a Guest Editorial from elfish_lad, who gives a new recuits perspective into the World of Conquer Club.
We've also got Tournament and Foundry News and Night Strike answers another question in "Ask a Mod".
We hope you enjoy this issue
samuelc812 - News Director
elfish_lad wrote:Hey. Nice job to you and others on the CC Newsletters. I've read them all in between turns over the last 10 days or so. Very informative for a new participant.
elfish_lad
Ask a Mod
This section helps you the member gain a little more understanding about Team CC and parts of the site that you may be unclear with. Note: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily express the views of the other moderators or administrators.
I believe that the Team is doing a better job of being impartial in their warnings and vacations, but it's not an easy task. And it gets harder when you are dealing with members who frequently go after each other or make frivolous reports. Sometimes the moderator has to take into account who is reporting the post and whether that person has a vendetta or agenda. Moderating is rarely cut and dry, especially on a forum that can be as dramatic as this one.
I will answer more questions next issue. If you would like to submit a question, please post them in the Ask A Mod thread.
~Night Strike
This is quite an interesting question that probably doesn't have a straight answer. I think the rules always have to be applied to specific cases rather than specific users. If a post is a flame or spam, then it's such regardless of who posted it. The disciplinary actions that follow are user based because of the escalating system that's currently in place. The issues that get muddy are the ones where the situation is in the gray rather than the black and white. Those gray issues are the ones where moderators should get a second opinion. I think that sometimes a person's history would have to be looked at in some of these cases. An example would be a post that is considered a flame to some, but just sarcasm to others. I think that there are occasions where the moderator has to look at who made the post: if the person doesn't have a history of flaming, then the post is probably just sarcasm; but a person with a history of flames may just be trying to semi-hide it and action may need taken.Rocketry wrote:Does the CC moderation team aim to take "the rules" and apply them differently to individual people and specific cases.
If yes.. how effective do you feel the team is in doing this?
I believe that the Team is doing a better job of being impartial in their warnings and vacations, but it's not an easy task. And it gets harder when you are dealing with members who frequently go after each other or make frivolous reports. Sometimes the moderator has to take into account who is reporting the post and whether that person has a vendetta or agenda. Moderating is rarely cut and dry, especially on a forum that can be as dramatic as this one.
I will answer more questions next issue. If you would like to submit a question, please post them in the Ask A Mod thread.
~Night Strike
Tournament News
Hello Tournament Followers. I'm taking over the Tournament News section for the time being. This issue we have a few important hits.
Gozar hands over the Tournament Newsletter
Yes, it's sadly true. Gozar took the Tournament Newsletter to previously inconceivable new heights, including spawning the subsequent Foundry and CC Newsletters. He voluntarily put in countless hours to better the site, and was very deserving of the Special Contribution medal he received on April 21, 2009. Gozar is handing off the Tournament Newsletter to sailorseal, so hopefully the rich tradition continues. Many kudos Gozar!
New Tournament Forum Announcement
The Tournament Directors put together a new update for the tournament forums. The signature piece is a new policy for players and organizers to rescue tournaments that are nearing abandonment. This is designed so that players who are doing well in a tournament are still able to continue with the tournament rather than having it just drop out. The other pieces of the update include the 2nd Edition of the Tournament Handbook, some clarifications to the Premium Prize Policy, and a list of Director tasks. You can check out the announcement here.
Starting a New Tournament
If you've been thinking about starting your own tournament but have never gotten around to it, now is as good a time as any to start. There are a few less tournaments currently recruiting in the Create/Join A Tournament forum, so new organizers won't be getting overshadowed by experienced ones. I encourage you to come and try your hand at organizing an enjoyable tournament.
Good luck in all your tournaments.
~Night Strike
Gozar hands over the Tournament Newsletter
Yes, it's sadly true. Gozar took the Tournament Newsletter to previously inconceivable new heights, including spawning the subsequent Foundry and CC Newsletters. He voluntarily put in countless hours to better the site, and was very deserving of the Special Contribution medal he received on April 21, 2009. Gozar is handing off the Tournament Newsletter to sailorseal, so hopefully the rich tradition continues. Many kudos Gozar!
New Tournament Forum Announcement
The Tournament Directors put together a new update for the tournament forums. The signature piece is a new policy for players and organizers to rescue tournaments that are nearing abandonment. This is designed so that players who are doing well in a tournament are still able to continue with the tournament rather than having it just drop out. The other pieces of the update include the 2nd Edition of the Tournament Handbook, some clarifications to the Premium Prize Policy, and a list of Director tasks. You can check out the announcement here.
Starting a New Tournament
If you've been thinking about starting your own tournament but have never gotten around to it, now is as good a time as any to start. There are a few less tournaments currently recruiting in the Create/Join A Tournament forum, so new organizers won't be getting overshadowed by experienced ones. I encourage you to come and try your hand at organizing an enjoyable tournament.
Good luck in all your tournaments.
~Night Strike
Foundry News
Hi all,
More slow times in the Foundry. No new maps for a month now — ugh. In better news, thenobodies80 is now going to be teaming up with me to deliver you what's going on in the Foundry
WidowMakers says goodbye
A bit of sad news in this issue, as we bid a tearful goodbye to the great mapmaker WidowMakers. He's been around since '06 and has pumped out 20 of the greatest maps that CC has seen in its 3-and-a-half-year history.
Mapping Development Summary
The summer is slowly passing in the Foundry and faced with the decision of whether to lie down under a palm tree with a cool drink in hard or melt in front of their computer screens, it seems our dear mapmakers have chosen the former. However, the Foundry continues its incessant work, and multiple new maps have just made their entry into the Foundry Proper.
In the Final Forge, long-awaited Feudal Epic is almost finished and the XML stamp seems to be the last roadblock (though it shouldn't be too hard to come by after the XML guru, yeti_c, completes the code). WWII: Poland, a very nice-looking conquest-style map by our Editor-in-Chief, samuelc812, is also waiting for me (.44) to get off my lazy arse and finish coding the XML! Also, the Germany REVAMP by peperonnibread and Gilgamesh by oaktown seem ready to increase the number of our playable maps in a short amount of time. The road out of Beta seems a bit harder for Peloponnesian War, in which some concerns about the objective of this map have been raised and discussed to no avail — for now. In the same way, Golfe du St. Laurent, whose development, after a good restart in the hands of sailorseal, has slowed to a full stop due to some XML and image concerns.
In any case, it seems there will be a few new maps reaching live play by the next time we publish
More slow times in the Foundry. No new maps for a month now — ugh. In better news, thenobodies80 is now going to be teaming up with me to deliver you what's going on in the Foundry
WidowMakers says goodbye
A bit of sad news in this issue, as we bid a tearful goodbye to the great mapmaker WidowMakers. He's been around since '06 and has pumped out 20 of the greatest maps that CC has seen in its 3-and-a-half-year history.
Mapping Development Summary
The summer is slowly passing in the Foundry and faced with the decision of whether to lie down under a palm tree with a cool drink in hard or melt in front of their computer screens, it seems our dear mapmakers have chosen the former. However, the Foundry continues its incessant work, and multiple new maps have just made their entry into the Foundry Proper.
In the Final Forge, long-awaited Feudal Epic is almost finished and the XML stamp seems to be the last roadblock (though it shouldn't be too hard to come by after the XML guru, yeti_c, completes the code). WWII: Poland, a very nice-looking conquest-style map by our Editor-in-Chief, samuelc812, is also waiting for me (.44) to get off my lazy arse and finish coding the XML! Also, the Germany REVAMP by peperonnibread and Gilgamesh by oaktown seem ready to increase the number of our playable maps in a short amount of time. The road out of Beta seems a bit harder for Peloponnesian War, in which some concerns about the objective of this map have been raised and discussed to no avail — for now. In the same way, Golfe du St. Laurent, whose development, after a good restart in the hands of sailorseal, has slowed to a full stop due to some XML and image concerns.
In any case, it seems there will be a few new maps reaching live play by the next time we publish
Title: “Ten Days In And Not Bleeding To Death... Yet”
By: elfish_lad
Guest Editorial
Hey CC how’s it going? Great that you are on the webs. Glad we are together.If the mods and newsletter editors will let me, this is a “New Recruit’s” (and absolutely Unsolicited) addition to the very informative and valuable CC newsletter.
Here goes...
So, I’m new to the site. Been around about 10 days. Finished two games. Lost them both. May win one out of the last three games I have left. Maybe not. (Most likely not since I went with the “one stack” method of dying slowly and painfully.) Regardless, I think I’ll stick around. Get a premie once I sort out my paypal carp. But I’ve gotta learn the “unlimited reinforcement” angle to things. New to me. Love it. But wasn’t ready for it. In the least. I hope the “chef’s club” will take me on so that I can beat the learning curve a bit faster than I would on my own. Nevertheless, thought I would, as a n00b here, share a couple of thoughts with the two or three of you interested in a new recruit’s take on things.
~shrugs~
If not, carry on and get back to dominating the world why don’t you?!?
The Rating System:
I find it interesting in a sociological way. I’ve had the last seven days off so I’ve been reading player’s ratings. It’s a pretty good system I think. I’ve played at tons of online sites for many types of games and this system is pretty fair and telling overall. Nice job. Better than your old “feedback” system i think. As a new player it has given me a pretty quick read on who is enjoying the game and who has a stick up... I guess you get the point. What I’ve found most interesting (but not very surprising) is that the players who tend to rate opponents low (ones and twos) and use terms like “Slow, Coward, Sore Loser, Poor Strategy” are the ones who... wait for it... one more second... I know you see it coming... have fairly low ratings themselves. Usually below 4.2 or 4.0. Which mathematically is a pretty low rating when the majority seem to have 4.7 or above. Pot and the kettle and being black or the like. When I’ve had the chance to read some of the game chat the chronic “low raters” tend to start off friendly but quickly devolve into “why are you not playing the way that I think you should?!?!?!” type of comments.
Kind of like what I find at work. Those who are most critical and impatient are the ones who call others critical and impatient. My advice? Nope. Got none. This isn’t a pretentious advice column it is an unsolicited reflection by a newt.
Flame Wars:
As a certified Vet of the Wars on Other Boards (that was an official war... check it out on the Wiki if you doubt the Elf) I’ll tell you what, I’m glad I didn’t walk into that here. I know. It sucks for you CC Flame Wars vets. Been there. You’ve got your style. You know who’s gonna have your back. You check for responses more than you follow the games you are in. Check. Understand. But it is pretty intimidating for us drifters. It’s a closed club... with clubs. Pretty tough for us new posters. We walk straight into the bullets and right towards Google to find another similar (although far inferior) site. It’s just too much. Even for me. And I have the scars to prove I’ve been there.
Point? It is refreshing to find a site where the mods have said: “I know some of you will grouse but we are done with the blindfolded-knife-throwing while you turn in a circle threads.” Probably doesn’t work for you. Works for me and (I think anyway) for a community that wants to expand. Nice job.
Maps and Add-ons:
Holy smokes. I’ve never been to a site that offers the quality “expansion kits” and game variants... FOR FREE!!! that this site does. Never. Maybe those sites are out there. Maybe the CC mods are tapping into to my secret Switzerland bank accounts even now and heisting the WWII diamonds I’ve been hording since they were given to me by my dying grandfather in hospital... who knows... but this is top-shelf quality.
To those of you making this stuff, hats off. For those of you offering this stuff for free, the secret phrase to gain access to my secret bank account in Switzerland is “the hot mustard is on the top shelf behind the dill pickles.” Okay. That's not true. I just made that up. My wife is making a sandwich. I'll just buy a premie instead.
Farmers:
I thank those of higher rank and the many games that are circling the pool of interrogatory punctuation marks for easy... erm... marks. I get it now. We need farmers. Where would the world be without them?!?! Dust. We would be dust in the wind and stray dogs would roam the earth in our stead. But there you are each day, steady and resilient. You are silent. You are steadfast. You kick our collective hind ends. But just remember, not every sentence must end in a question mark forever. Someday, some might just end with “Ha! I’ve finally won my first game!!!!”
Well. A guy can hope I guess. Keep up the good work of avoiding your work and conquering the world CC community! I’m glad to be a part of it... so far.
Sincerely,
Elf.
Here goes...
So, I’m new to the site. Been around about 10 days. Finished two games. Lost them both. May win one out of the last three games I have left. Maybe not. (Most likely not since I went with the “one stack” method of dying slowly and painfully.) Regardless, I think I’ll stick around. Get a premie once I sort out my paypal carp. But I’ve gotta learn the “unlimited reinforcement” angle to things. New to me. Love it. But wasn’t ready for it. In the least. I hope the “chef’s club” will take me on so that I can beat the learning curve a bit faster than I would on my own. Nevertheless, thought I would, as a n00b here, share a couple of thoughts with the two or three of you interested in a new recruit’s take on things.
~shrugs~
If not, carry on and get back to dominating the world why don’t you?!?
The Rating System:
I find it interesting in a sociological way. I’ve had the last seven days off so I’ve been reading player’s ratings. It’s a pretty good system I think. I’ve played at tons of online sites for many types of games and this system is pretty fair and telling overall. Nice job. Better than your old “feedback” system i think. As a new player it has given me a pretty quick read on who is enjoying the game and who has a stick up... I guess you get the point. What I’ve found most interesting (but not very surprising) is that the players who tend to rate opponents low (ones and twos) and use terms like “Slow, Coward, Sore Loser, Poor Strategy” are the ones who... wait for it... one more second... I know you see it coming... have fairly low ratings themselves. Usually below 4.2 or 4.0. Which mathematically is a pretty low rating when the majority seem to have 4.7 or above. Pot and the kettle and being black or the like. When I’ve had the chance to read some of the game chat the chronic “low raters” tend to start off friendly but quickly devolve into “why are you not playing the way that I think you should?!?!?!” type of comments.
Kind of like what I find at work. Those who are most critical and impatient are the ones who call others critical and impatient. My advice? Nope. Got none. This isn’t a pretentious advice column it is an unsolicited reflection by a newt.
Flame Wars:
As a certified Vet of the Wars on Other Boards (that was an official war... check it out on the Wiki if you doubt the Elf) I’ll tell you what, I’m glad I didn’t walk into that here. I know. It sucks for you CC Flame Wars vets. Been there. You’ve got your style. You know who’s gonna have your back. You check for responses more than you follow the games you are in. Check. Understand. But it is pretty intimidating for us drifters. It’s a closed club... with clubs. Pretty tough for us new posters. We walk straight into the bullets and right towards Google to find another similar (although far inferior) site. It’s just too much. Even for me. And I have the scars to prove I’ve been there.
Point? It is refreshing to find a site where the mods have said: “I know some of you will grouse but we are done with the blindfolded-knife-throwing while you turn in a circle threads.” Probably doesn’t work for you. Works for me and (I think anyway) for a community that wants to expand. Nice job.
Maps and Add-ons:
Holy smokes. I’ve never been to a site that offers the quality “expansion kits” and game variants... FOR FREE!!! that this site does. Never. Maybe those sites are out there. Maybe the CC mods are tapping into to my secret Switzerland bank accounts even now and heisting the WWII diamonds I’ve been hording since they were given to me by my dying grandfather in hospital... who knows... but this is top-shelf quality.
To those of you making this stuff, hats off. For those of you offering this stuff for free, the secret phrase to gain access to my secret bank account in Switzerland is “the hot mustard is on the top shelf behind the dill pickles.” Okay. That's not true. I just made that up. My wife is making a sandwich. I'll just buy a premie instead.
Farmers:
I thank those of higher rank and the many games that are circling the pool of interrogatory punctuation marks for easy... erm... marks. I get it now. We need farmers. Where would the world be without them?!?! Dust. We would be dust in the wind and stray dogs would roam the earth in our stead. But there you are each day, steady and resilient. You are silent. You are steadfast. You kick our collective hind ends. But just remember, not every sentence must end in a question mark forever. Someday, some might just end with “Ha! I’ve finally won my first game!!!!”
Well. A guy can hope I guess. Keep up the good work of avoiding your work and conquering the world CC community! I’m glad to be a part of it... so far.
Sincerely,
Elf.
Stay Tuned for the next issue of the Conquer Club Newsletter for an interview with Robinette! Post the questions for Robinette's interview in this thread --> Interview with Robinette
Submitting Your Own Articles
If you have a story you think the Conquer Club Community would find interesting, you can submit your articles to samuelc812 or gimil. If the CC News Team enjoy it than you may just see your article published in the Newsletter!
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Conquer Club News Team
samuelc812 - News Director
gimil - Advisor
Night Strike - Tournament Reporter & Ask a Mod Editor
thenobodies80 - Foundry Reporter
the.killing.44 - Foundry Reporter
jpcloet - Clan Reporter
ubersky - Suggs and Bugs Reporter
InsomniaRed - Community Opinion Reporter
elfish_lad - Guest Editorial
