Welcome Comrades to the 55th edition of the Dispatch
Interviews seem to be the theme of this issue, we have the standard interrogation of [player]TheForgivenOne[/player] as usual, but [player]Master Fenrir[/player] interviewed [player]josko.ri[/player] for Hardballs, and [player]thehippo8[/player] talked to [player]jcarter1[/player] about XML. Many different opinions, so a great issue for anyone who likes to see some different perspectives.
[player]safariguy5[/player] -
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... Hello again everyone, another Scum Insider for your mafia needs this week with an interview with [player]TheForgivenOne[/player], as he talks about bowling, the color pink, and the origin of his name.
Enjoy,
[player]safariguy5[/player]
Freestyle Executive The Scum Insider by [player]safariguy5[/player], [player]nagerous[/player] and [player]Fircoal[/player] show
The Scum Insider Newbie Help Mafia Information , Mafia and You , and Rules and Terms of Mafia .What is "Mafia"? Mafia News Mafia Callouts viewforum.php?f=213 Advanced Roles and Strategy by [player]safariguy5[/player] Follow the Cop What is it? Example How to Use this Strategy
[spoiler=Interrogation of TheForgivenOne]
Q. Hi TheForgivenOne, May I call you TFO for short? Go ahead, although I will accept Tefoo, ThFoOn and King Dedede Q. Are you multis with theunforgivenone? No, that is my evil twin who lives downstairs. I have to throw fish down to him every once in and a while. Q. Which one is you and which one is Victor Sullivan ? I'm of course the one in pink, Victor is that big stick figure in the background, and Pirlo is the naked guy behind me. Q. Who forgave you? My parents... my Fourth Grade teacher, Mr. George Wilson, and my neighbour who lives down the road. Q. How often do you give amnesties? Never Q. How often do you receive amnesties? Always. Q. Favorite female film character? Evelyn Salt. Q. And of what were you forgiven ? Pics or it didn't happen I reject your pictures and substitute my own Q. What age did you begin bowling? My mom took me when I was 4 years old, and I started with YBC (Youth Bowling Canada) when I was 5. Q. How regularly do you bowl? When is your next tournament? And what are your future plans for bowling? I bowl about 3 times a week in 3 leagues, and I bowl in a tournament once every 4 weeks or so. I am basically near Professional status right now. In the 2009-2010 season, My average was second in all of Alberta, missing out on first by about 0.2 of a point. As of right now, I am ranked 2nd in all of Canada for Youth Bowlers. Q. Why isn't your name an orange color? Because you foed me one too many times Q. Do you really club baby seals and use bear dung for cooking and heat up there in Canada? You got this all backwards! We use baby seals for cooking and we club bear dung as a hobby. Q. Other than having jefjef web site banned what would you most like to have implemented by CC? Oh god. First off, keep the whole website [color=#FF40FF]pink . Add in a few Ponies (My Little Ponies) trotting along the margins... No? Dang, well, i'd like to see 12 player games or 1, 2 1/2, 5 minute speed games. Although seeing AA as an option would be cool as well
[/color]
Q. Do you think #1_stunna would be a great interrogation? Who? Q. Eh? What are you talkin aboot? Q. Opinion on Gaddafi's (you know, the guy who likes to thrust his hands at the air from his luxury car) facial hair? Should he shave it more often? Q. If you admitted to having multiple personalities would you consider changing your username to "TheForgivenFew"? Q. A twink, bear and muscle mary all walk into a bar, who would the barmen serve first? Before or after the barmen had his way with them? Q. How did you convince the goat to have a make over? Well, it all started with a simple massage. One thing led to another, then this happened Q. Who has the coolest avatar on site? Definitely not you. I liked whoever had Fluttershy as their avi (I think it was john9blue). But as of right now? Demonfork, I like his. Q. Who's your favorite person to talk to in chat? I'd say Ace Rimmer, but he creeps me out a bit. I'd have to say rdsrds2120, as he always gives me new music to listen to. Q. What's the funniest suggestion you've seen? Funniest? Not many funny ones come around, although the one where *snowman* suggested to get rid of Masli made me giggle. Q. What's the most amusing thing you've done in the past year? Well, I was at a friend's 18th party, and he had a tall glass of Capt. Morgan's. He had the glass half drank, when he went to the bathroom. I did a double take of looking at his glass then at my two friends. We cracked a White rum, Wyborowa Exquisite Vodka, and Gin and poured then into his glass, then added a Cooler, Pepsi and Root beer until it was totally full. Q. What's the stupidest thing you've done? What's the stupidest thing you've seen someone do? What's the stupidest thing you've convinced someone to do? Decide to take the new slide at West Edmonton Mall called the Cyclone. Going 70km/h on a slide? No thanks, i'd rather not suffer a heart attack. Q. What's your most memorable game on CC? Game 6082902 Probably that game. Red had 80% of the map when he was kicked out. Green asked why someone would ever make a second account and it was stupid. 10 days later, Green was kicked out for the exact same reason. I lol'dQ. If I (Victor Sullivan) was a teen, would I be sexy enough to date you? I am not allowed to disclose this information as it may or may not compromise my agents in the field. Q. Which Super Mario character would you say you are most like? Q. What bothers you most about moderating Suggs? [player]Queen_Herpes[/player]. I kid of course. Probably having people constantly asking me why their suggestion isn't being implemented, or when it is going to be implemented. I simply don't have those answers. Q. What do you enjoy most about moderating Suggs? Forcing JoshyBoy, edwinissweet, then Darwins_Bane, now Metsfanmax to follow "Policies", which include topless photo's of themselves once a week to me. I think that may be the real reason why JB, edwin and DB all quit. Q. What occupation do you most desire to have? Professional Bowler Q. If you had to be involved in a different team of TeamCC (not Suggs or Chatters), which would you choose, and which would you dread? Multi Hunter (That was where I wanted to be for the longest time). Dread? Probably SoC. I am a terrible teacher. Q. Have you ever considered making a map in the Map Foundry? If so, what's your idea? If not, why not? No, because I can't draw to save my life or your life. My 6th grade Art teacher said i should stop drawing altogether. Q. Which of the three admins would you marry and why? king achilles. He has the coolest head, and I think Filipino's are sexy Q. What has kept you on CC for so long? because CC is my love and my drug. Also because I still find the game fun (minus a few hair pulls from the dice, but if you're getting overly pissed about them, well, winning isn't everything). Q. When are you going to be Deputy Suggsmaster? Can "Deputy Suggsmaster" be your official title? I kinda like it. Ask Jeeves. Or Andy, either or. Mmmmmmm No. Q. If you had the power to click on two suggestions and they were automatically implemented immediately, what would they be and why? Random Teams and Account Sitting. Q. Have there been any suggestions that you liked and were surprised that the community didn't get behind? http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=471&t=103692&start=0 Q. Is it true that you loveeee hugs? and do you especially love MY (clapper011) hugs? I sure do Looooooooooooooooove hugs Q. What is your favorite thing about Conquer Club? Most definitely the games. I could easily live without clans or tournaments, but the amount of options in maps/settings is what keeps me here. Q. What would you most like to see changed? Repetitive question is repetitive. Turn everything pink! Although that would probably drive away 99.99% of the customers. Either that, or hire Web Devs, like, yesterday. Q. Thanks for your time TFO. Nonono, thank you! [/spoiler]
Greetings my friends! This will be my first issue as your new Tournament Section Executive. After a very long career in this position, [player]jricart[/player] has stepped down to deal with real life, and passed the torch to me. I hope I prove myself in the coming months to be worthy of his trust.
Ironically enough, I too have been struggling with a new and very demanding job the last couple months, so I'm sorry to say that my first issue will be a very abbreviated Tournaments section. I promise that this is
NOT a sign of things to come: I have some big plans for this section in the near future. Meanwhile, however, for this one time, only [player]sonicsteve[/player] stands out as a beacon of accomplishment and has produced his
Join This? Or Not! column. I hope you enjoy it, and explore some of the fascinating tournaments out there! My
Meet the Tournament Winners feature will be back next issue, along with another
TPA Update and possibly even more. If you are interested in writing for us and would like to join in this renewal process, please drop me a line.
The big breaking news in the CC Tournaments world is the introduction of a
Round Limits option earlier today. Not everybody has even heard of this option yet, but every tournament organiser who has commented has been excited about the possibilities. It will allow tournament organisers much more freedom to create tournaments with No Spoils or Flat Rate games without fear of deadlock, and without the need to artificially impose limits in their tournament rules. I predict that No Spoils and Flat Rate tournaments will become much more popular with this option available.
[player]Dukasaur[/player]Tournament Executive Join This? Or Not! by [player]sonicsteve[/player] show
And now for our regular look at a selection of the tournaments in sign-ups:Lord of the Rings tournament. This mixed tournament is limited to players with a score of 2000 or more on signup, but with a 1 year premium prize on offer as well as a great looking structure it is sure to fill fast.World Cup - Destination Brazil had 73 places available at time of press and follows the qualification process right through to the finals. Just think; only 3 more Christmases between now and the real thing.doubles tournament on the WWII Poland map. [player]ckyrias[/player] is looking for 16 teams to fill ck's 2ble trouble in Poland which will run with a single elimination format, best of 3 games each round.A little bit of everything . The event features a different game type in each round, starting with assassin, running through team games, terminator and ending with a 1v1 final.313's Peloponnesian War Quads does pretty much what it says on the tin. It is a best of 3, single elimination quads tourney organised by [player]merch313[/player]. Either 8 or 16 teams will be accepted depending on demand.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.
Talk about jam-packed! I am very, very proud to present with you with this issue's Cartographic Surveillance. Another Stampage Update from yours truly, Oliver's back with a vengeance, and koontz and hippo have two stunning articles for you all. In other news,
The Beta Bounty is back and the Foundry Foreman is
all ears about the Beta process . And for all of you "Extraordinaires," you may benefit in the near future from reading...
[player]Victor Sullivan[/player]
Foundry Executive Stampage Update by Victor Sullivan show
It's time for an update on all things stamped!Pachisi by [player]Victor Sullivan[/player] and [player]SpikeWarden[/player] - stamped 7 September 2011Morocco by [player]ironsij0287[/player] - stamped 10 September 2011
Classic Review - Age of Realms 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.Classics Age of Realms 1: Might by DiM Realm of Might Classic Ports each port connects to all the other ports Age of Realms: Age of Might viewtopic.php?t=24029
Sequels and Revamps (Part one) koontz1973 show
When I started thinking about this edition, I thought I would bring you all on a journey about maps with sequels and revamps. A nice little article about maps which have a big enough following to warrant the original map maker to do it bigger and better, followed by why maps get a revamp. A lot has happened and I unwittingly unleashed the beast that is Conquer Clubs elder statesmen. B I G sequels , next week, revamps , followed by what can only be described as the mother of all revamps - Classic map .Sequels. Age of Realms Feudals Fractured World World War 2The Age of Realms series. OliverFA has the classic review of part one in this issue.Map maker - DiM Sequels - Age of Realms 2, Age of Realms 3. DiM wrote: Your three Age Of Realms maps, did you always plan on doing 3. If no then how did the others come about and will there ever be a forth.
viewtopic.php?f=241&t=151174 Fractured World series. Map maker - isaiah40 isaiah40 wrote: Currently you have Fractured China in the Beta stage, this being a sequel to your Fractured America map. What made you feel this map warranted a sequel and why China? What next for the Fractured series?
You currently have the massive USA map pack combo in the draft stage. What made you choose this as your next map?
viewtopic.php?f=583&t=152467 Feudals. Map maker - gimil gimil wrote: sequel maps, you have the 2 Feudals. What made you decide on the sequel? What differences do these 2 maps have and is the second one different enough to bring something new?
You started the third Feudal a while back but development seems to of stalled, any hope for the fans of feudal? Yes, this map WILL happen. Matter of 'when' not 'if'. I realised very quickly that this map was to much to do after my long CC haitus. There is alot of photoshop work that goes into making these maps and alot of cognitive thinking how they play. The initial feedback I got for the map was good, had has given me alot to think about. Don't fear though. I have every intention of making the map in the future.
viewtopic.php?f=63&t=147419 World War two series. Map maker - qwert qwert wrote: On map sequels your WW2 maps have to be considered in this way
Maps that need a sequel. WidowMakers wrote: If you had a chance to revamp or make a sequel of any map other than your own, which map would you do and why?
viewtopic.php?f=242&t=46719 viewforum.php?f=10
XML is our Friend by [player]thehippo8[/player] show
Whether you are new to Conquer Club or a seasoned performer, XML may be something of a mystery to you. It certainly has been that way for me, but then I have little computer programming experience. Some of you may delight in ignorance, but many of us really want to understand how it all works. So, like pulling apart a favourite toy, I decided to scratch under the smokes and mirrors and have a look at the workings. Having done so I am left with a handful of springs, wires and unnecessary fixings but feel much the wiser for it. [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
Hello jcarter1. I have invited you today to answer some of our community questions regarding XML. These are questions people usually ask when they think about making their own map for
http://www.conquerclub.com (CC). Maybe you can introduce yourself a little bit so the readers of this interview will have a little better understanding of who you are.
Hello Hippo ... and hello everyone else who is reading this. I grew up in Berlin, Germany and studied Computer Science in Wiesbaden, Germany. Towards the end of my studies I moved to the Washington D.C. area in the United States for an internship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). My contract has since been extended several times and i also wrote my Diploma Thesis (Masters Thesis) from here during the summer of 2010. Lots of my work had to do with XML over the first two years here at NIST. It is fair to say that I have a good knowledge base in that field and everything that comes with it.
I have just recently joined CC and am very excited to be here. In the short time I have been here, I already met some interesting people and had a lot of exciting matches (does anyone of you old-timers still remember the feeling of winning your first 8 man clash? It got me hooked to the site). I joined the Society of Cooks (SoC - an amazing organisation on this webpage that helps new players for free around the game with tips and tricks) and also started posting in the Map Foundry section. That is where I learned that XML is being used for every map in CC. I got a little excited about that fact, because I know what XML is capable of and it just seems to make a lot of sense to me to use it here.
[player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
Well, you need to know how to work the mouse and keyboard of course. In theory there is nothing really that you need to know about computers in order to learn about XML except where the power button is to turn it on XML itself is very easy to learn. There are hundreds of great XML tutorials out there (Google is your friend) and you will have results within a very few minutes upon starting one of these tutorials. To be considered "proficient"... well, that word is kind of relative. I would say: If you really want to get into map making - then you have all the tools needed right here in the forums.
[player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
Oh, I am a fan of XML and am using it for my personal projects as well. In my opinion it has met all the by-line items to a degree not matched by anything similar. If map makers follow the guide on the forums to the word, then they really do not need anything else.
ADDENDUM: Alternatively, there is an immense resource in asking the CC community for help by posting into the foundry or contacting one of the Cartographers. In truth, the usage of the xml on CC has little related to tutorials you can find on the web and a CA can give you more info about xml in 5 minutes than an hour spent reading on the web! Proficiency should not be a matter of months, or even weeks. It really depends on how fast you can learn and pick up new things I suppose, but I would be surprised if anyone here would not be able to write a complete XML for any of the smaller maps within an hour - or at the outside very few days (with lots of breaks in between).
[player]thehippo8[/player]wrote:
There is only one format map makers here are interested in and that is the one being used by CC for its maps. What that means is that all you need to know are the names of the tags that you can use, each tags possible attributes and where to put everything in the file. There is no need to look at anything other than the information on the CC forums.
[player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
CC has a tutorial
(see here) , which is intended to give the basic on XML programming. Is this sufficient for the diligent adherent or should they be aware of anything else?
This tutorial does much more than just giving basics on XML programming. It tells you how to write an XML file for any CC map. As mentioned before: If you follow this line by line then you should get your XML file done without too much trouble. I would maybe add an index to the post, so you can jump to the different sections more easily. Other then that, it seems very good to me!
ADDENDUM: The current guide is going to be updated and improved ... you'll see what we're doing! [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
After diligently coding the XML, CC provides a checking tool at
(see here) . What are your thoughts on this feature?
Perfect! That is exactly what each map maker needs to test his XML. Actually, you will find two tools on this page. The first one will check your XML file for any mistakes like open tags, it will make sure that the names you used for your tags are correct and in the right place and it even checks semantic issues like it would give you a warning when a certain territory in your file does not have a border. Passing this test is a good indicator that you did something right. Those pages are in fact a part of a wider set of tools for mapmakers, which can be seen
here .
ADDENDUM: The XML Checker performs 3 tests on a map XML file. First, it checks that the file contains well-formed XML, searching for mistakes like unclosed tags or improperly nested tags (e.g. <a><b></a></b>). Then it valdates the XML syntax against a Relax NG schema, which is a set of rules that describes which tags are allowed and where. Finally it checks the semantics of the XML, specifically for the following errors and warnings – here’s an example:Warning: No other countries border on X (it cannot be conquered)
Once you passed that test comes the fun part: You get to see your own map in action using the second tool under that link. It is very self-explanatory - just look at the example that is in the XML URL and Map URL and you will get the hang of it. This is a great feature, because it lets you see everything and how it works out as opposed to having to think about it all in your head.
ADDENDUM: It also help you too see if your coordinates are centred, that can't be done in your head in any case! [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
The XML engine is what holds everything together - kind of the backbone of the whole system so to speak. XML engines in general can either write, read, store or simply process XML files in any imaginable way (or any combination thereof). This could be a simple script with a couple lines of code as well as a whole database structure. In CC I assume there is some kind of database in the background. That means, if you want to make changes to the XML - say: adding a certain tag - then you would possibly have to go back and change all previous XML files including the database structure. Of course it does not have to be that drastically. It depends very much on the intended update, what it requires and how well the database was programmed to accommodate possible future changes.
ADDENDUM: All the updates (future changes) must be compatible with the current xml, we don't go with xml changes that are not backward compatible. [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
The manner in which the XML engine is currently programmed creates limitation in gameplay possibility, which bridles the otherwise limitless imagination of CC members, such as in the
Omega Cities ,
Trench Warfare and
Maze Craze games. In your opinion are such limitations able to be overcome by reworking the gameplay or graphics or do you agree that the engine needs reworking?
I read through nearly all the posts in your linked topics (puuuuuh!). Those are some crazy good map ideas in my opinion. The problem is that I do not know anything about our backbone - the engine - that is being used here at CC in order to make a fair assessment whether some of those changes are easy to implement or not. I was also having trouble to pin point exactly what part does not work yet, meaning: what do the map makers want to be implemented into the engine/XML. Seeing the amount of replies in those topics, it is probably fair to say that the current engine cannot be used for those ideas. However, people also have to understand that the engine is a tool that handles every map, not just a single specific one. You cannot force every map maker to use tags that they simply do not need, just because on other map needs them for a special case. However - XML has the possibility of optional elements. Maybe the problems can be solved this way? That’s a question for the CC programmers to answer.
ADDENDUM: The only limitation we have now is the size, the game engine is not able to handle file that are too big in term of size. But [player]lackattack[/player] knows how to make the changes to add new features without having too much problems with the size. [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
By all means: No! It is human-readable (if you have not noticed this by now) and easy to understand. There are no programming features like while, for or whatever loops. There are no weird mathematical operations to do and no abbreviations to learn except the ones you use. I am sure most of you guys know this by now: You can think of XML like a tree. You have a root element which nests all the other elements. Once you start doing online tutorials, you will see how easy it is and understand that there is simply no way of being frightened. But for those who simply wish to avoid it can use an excellent
XML Wizard .
ADDENDUM: Agree, you just have to write a stupid list of tag that the game engine read to "print" the game on the map, just that. It's not programming or the like. The easiest and quickest part of mapmaking is exactly write the xml! [player]thehippo8[/player] wrote:
You are welcome - I am happy to help. I am also available for any questions someone might have regarding XML, just send me a pm on these forums or find another way of communicating with me.
Together with the Foundry we have established the top 3 programming priorities for their department. Two of these are xml updates, and I will point you to [player]thenobodies80[/player] (Foundry Foreman) to describe them in detail.
POSTSCRIPTS in the interview with [player]jcarter1[/player] come from [player]thenobodies80[/player] (thanks!!), And, rather than misquote, here’s what [player]thenobodies80[/player] said:Here below the description of the 2 next xml features I've requested to [player]lackattack[/player] (not so detailed since I don't know exactly how he will code them right now - more behind the scenes discussion is needed to say this. )
1. Conditional Borders: Previously (and frequently) referred to as Dynamic Borders, conditional borders have been mentioned a number of times under various guises. Their addition would open up Conquer Club to a whole new level of strategy. Substantially this features consist in have one or more territories that "connect" with another only if a requirement is satisfied. (e.g. : a 'green key territory' could be used to open attack routes through 'green doors'... hold a ladder/rope to climb/descend... etc. etc.)
The below example is an idea of how it could be implemented - continents have been included for versatility.
Code: Select all
Obviously this is just a quick-stupid example but it's clear that with the addition of this new xml feature we will have the ability to create a real new type of maps to play!
2. Bonus Collections: This is not exactly a new xml features but more a improvement of the current xml, in fact it's clear that with the introduction of the larger maps and since our mapmakers nowdays use more complex bonus, we can have some problems with the file size.
This is an example of a current bonus (13 Colonies):
Code: Select all
You certainly have noticed the presence of a long list of <override> tags.
The override tag is optional and it is used to define a kind of priority among the various bonuses for a particular map; when you have a list of regions (or continents) that is shared you can use overrides to assign to a player just a bonus instead of both them. Certainly this is great, but it could create an endless chain of overrides in the presence of a big amount of bonuses/regions/continents. (e.g. hold the castle and X tower for a Y bonus, where X is a number between 1 and, let me say, 10.) So it is easy to understand how this long chain means bigger files and more possibility of mistakes while you're writing your xml file.
The Collection bonuses features will help us to prevent this. In fact, we will be able to create the chain of bonuses just at once, using something like this:
Code: Select all
In the above example if you hold 2 regions you'll receive 1 additional troop (<required bonus=1>2</required>), but if you hold 3 regions instead you'll receive 2 additional troops (<required bonus=2>3</required>).
This without using overrides.
In this 55th Issue of the Dispatch, we welcome [player]QoH[/player] to the clan team as he discusses what was involved in the clan creation of some of our newest clans, alt spotlights the Legion vs Bofm war, and Hardballs addresses the josko saga
Also happening in clans is the commencement of yet another Clan Tournament, this
one by prominent clan director [player]chemefreak[/player]. And then there's the
Random League awaiting clan sign-ups, so if your clan isn't involved in any events just yet, now is the season to do so!
[player]Leehar[/player] Clan Executive ++LEGION++ Mixes it up with Mermaids alt1978 (PR) show
In the midst of all of the cups and high profile elimination matches, there is an undercurrent of action swelling through the clan world right now in the form of some good old fashion clan challenges. A classic challenge pitting two teams evenly matched and knocking heads for the sheer enjoyment of locking horns in some games, and throwing some friendly smack talk back and forth is wrapping up between #15 ranked (in A400) ++LEGION++ and the #9 ranked Brethren of the Fat Mermaid. http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=441&t=149622 ) and BotFM jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. The LEG however regrouped in tight formation and battled back valiantly to even up the score at 7-7 in the best of 41 challenge. The challenge remained close as the second wave of games progressed, with BotFM holding a 15-12 lead with a bunch of games too close to call. At the end of the day however, the rum emboldened animal lovers were too much for LEG to overcome, as BotFM forced the armor cladden sword wielding LEG troops to walk the plank and sink into the abyss of Davey Jones winning 24-17.The challenge was great. Both clans approached it seriously and it is the classic example of how a war is supposed to work. Good natured, fun, and competitive. We do feel bad for the goat, although we hear that he likes it so I guess it is a no harm, no foul situation. Cheers to BG and the rest of the Mermaids on a well played challenge. We at ++The Legion++ look forward to our next encounter."
Was great to play a clan war that was fun, challenging and not marred by bad sportsmanship or childish antics from either clan. Playing against adults with sense of humour is such a relief. The war could have gone either way right down to the end. We lost most of our quads, which is almost unheard of for BoFM, and picked up the slack in dbs and trips. I believe that ++Legion++ are now having a vote as to which type of animal to adopt for the clan's needs. The short listed candidates are a ferret, alpaca, pot belly pig, chimp, and a armadillo. I think the turning point for us was the two cricket games. Lucky enough to have representatives of all western cricketing nations in our clan. A few lucky drops, some decent dice when called for that is all that separated the two clans. That and BoFM have the best hair on site. Look for [player]Snowgun[/player]s new avatar soon."
Clan Creation by QoH (HH) show
Pop into the "Create/Join a Competitive Clan" subforum, and you're bound to find more than 1 new clan. In fact, there are currently 5 new clans (in Retribution , Manifest Dynasty , Headless Horsemen , Agoge and Les Hussards Du Dragon )! Some might wonder how one goes about creating a clan from scratch, and how said clan might end up competing with the elite such as KORT, THOTA, TSM, EMPIRE etc. (don't mean to offend any by not listing their clan there :p) To help get a bit of a glance into the inner works of a clan being born, I did an interview of [player]ViperOverLord[/player], who created Manifest Dynasty. Apparently, whatever he's doing works so far, since his clan's first war was against Grim Reapers in the ACC, and GR won by only 1 game. Pretty impressive1ViperOverLord wrote: 1a. Why did you decide to start your own clan? I think two aspects finally intrigued me to join or start a clan.
A.
Clan Rankings. There are various rankings but I believe they are a generally new development. I like the idea of hitting number one and/or climbing as high as we can in the rankings. I grew up watching enough college sports to know I'm into that. Of course rankings only mean so much. So perhaps like college football needs a playoff system so do the clans need one as well
I know that's a tangent but it just came to me.
B.
Clan Medals. I believe this is another relatively new development (I could be wrong). I don't think clan medals existed when I was an up and coming player getting recruited by a bunch of clans. Back then you were just playing for pride. I had a big enough game load as it was with all the tournaments that I was in that that just was not a big enough motivating factor for me to add to it (or subtract other games).
1b. Why not join an established one? I came pretty close to joining a clan on a couple of occasions. The first time, [player]jrhcardinal[/player] was recruiting for his newly formed Grim Reapers (he since left). We had a good rapport and I liked a lot of the guys joining. I won't open up any cans of worms, but a player who I felt had disrespected me joined and I decided not to join.
When I firmly committed to be a part of a clan I mentioned it to [player]squishyg[/player] who had previously recruited me to be in the Bullet-Proof Bandits. I looked at their clan and they had four leaders. That seemed like too many chiefs. So I joked 'Is that a clan or a frat' to her and [player]owenshooter[/player].
I told them that I had already recruited a handful of players (Majors and above) and that we would join them if they shrunk their leadership from four to two leaders. They did not see it my way so I started my own clan. I was kind of hoping they'd see it my way though b/c creating a clan was just more work for me. It's funny though b/c in our (Manifest Destiny) clan description, we mention we're 'not a frat.'
2. What were some of your struggles with starting a clan? Successes? Even though the system is simple enough; as an outsider it is complicated. You're jumping from thread to thread to try and figure out what is what. They probably could use a 'Clans For Dummies' thread lol.
Then, once you've created a clan, you're worried that someone is going to get on your ___ for making a mistake in creating a challenge or w/e. Perhaps that's an unfounded worry though.
Our crucial success (for what I wanted to accomplish) came in recruiting. All of the Original Dirty Dozen as I call them, were Majors and Colonels and joining a clan for the first time. The five that since joined, also were Majors and joining a clan for the first time. I think in some peoples minds, we burst on to the scene.
3. How did you go about getting a core group of players together? Amazingly enough, I had played with almost none of the players I recruited. I believe that [player]Robespierre__[/player] and [player]BritishDragon[/player] were the only ones I'd even played with in a game. Of course, I knew that any clan with Rob in it would have a solid foundation so once he agreed I got serious about recruiting.
As for recruiting, I went about it the same way that I created the largest single elimination tournament in CC history (
The Unsurpassed Championship 1 ). I individually recruited one member at a time with messages.
Targeting Colonels and Majors can be an especially tough market b/c in most cases they have already received invitations and declined. So you really have to be willing to talk to a lot of players and see who has slipped through the cracks. [player]Astro Gypsy[/player] was a great find. [player]gas[/player] made brigadier general shortly after I had already recruited him or I'd imagine someone else would have gotten to him haha. [player]Gigi1[/player] initially turned me down. But then I saw he was closing in on brigadier general and I said 'hey I got the teammates for you if you to reach BG' and then he agreed haha.
After it was formed, I added [player]deantursx[/player] and he brought his friend [player]Demen[/player] into the fold. They were nice adds b/c they're familiar with all the maps. I think you can have high ranking players and still be at a disadvantage if they don't know certain maps.
I won't mention everyone, but we have some other good complimentary players as well. I threw together the clan pretty fast with rank/win percent the main two criteria. I found out after that some players are specialists or quite inexperienced in a lot of aspects. But overall I'm happy with the quality of players I brought into the mix and we are learning how to play together now.
4. What were some of the things that went through your head when you found you were facing the Grim Reapers in the ACC? Who's this [player]jigger1986[/player] guy and what happened to [player]jrhcardinal[/player] haha.
Actually, I looked at our rosters. I felt we arguably had better overall players. But I knew they had tons more experience playing together so I felt like it was going to be interesting. I was prepared for anything really. I think at the start their experience paid off. We came back though and came within a hair of winning. To be honest though, I thought we'd win. So its hard for me to consider that some sort of moral victory.
It is sort of funny though. We'd been together about two months and we had not even done any practice games heading into the ACC. So I guess you could fault me for not preparing our guys in advance.
5. What do you say to people who comment on the amount of team games your clan has played? They're on to something. It really doesn't matter how good your individual members are if they're not experienced playing team games. But I think that after a few challenges that's not going to be much of a concern anymore.
6. What are your ambitions for your clan? For now, to beat anybody and everybody. I don't know if we'll ever hit number one or not any time soon. I think that takes a lot of experience and collective ambition. But I do know that there is no clan out there that should look at us and think they have it in the bag.
7. What were the differences going into a second clan war? Were you more prepared etc? We're definitely more 'prepared' in the second clan war. I at least have a better idea of who the players are and what their strengths and weaknesses are. We really went into the first clan war blind. Some of our players that specialized multi-player or 1 v 1 and just a couple maps were suddenly doing team wars against savvy players with teammates they had never played with before. Even in the second challenge, we're still a little green, but definitely closer to being 'prepared.'
8. Anything else (advice etc.) You'd give to players wanting to start a new clan? Consider joining a clan. There are plenty of them out there and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. But if a player and a few buds want the thrill of blazing a new trail then I say go for it. Just be prepared to put in some extra initial effort in figuring out how the clan system works.
HARDBALLS by Master Fenrir (FOED) show
Josko. KoRT and TOFU . I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say that war thread is worth a read or re-read.TLO 2010 tournament. Josko's team looked to sweep my team 10-0 and he inquired as to the possibility of earning a General Achievement medal for the feat. Now, realistically, my team was one of the stronger teams participating, finishing 4th out of 23 teams, so sweeping the 4th placed teams in a set of 10 games probably did deserve a General Achievement medal.FOED was bracketed to face KORT in the 2nd Conqueror's Cup . After our TLO encounter, the thought of having to deal with Josko again made me cringe. I imagined the game chats and war thread peppered with Joskoisms and I damn near retired on the spot.Game 9230784 Game 9326895 Game 9326897 Game 9430919 Game 9430932 Game 7221307 , which was played last August. Fenrir : What do you do in real life?Josko : I am finishing Civil engineering college, MsC degree and will be over this month. besides that, I am self employed, giving additional lessons to students from statics and mechanics courses and will probably continue with that business after graduating.Fenrir : Do you have a boy/girlfriend?Josko : no/yes. no for boyfriend, and my girfriend and me are together more than 3 years and we are planning wedding in upcoming years.Fenrir : Do you have good bedroom strategies?Josko : I am not right person for answering that, my girfriend would know better. I think/believe that my bedroom strategies are excellent, but it is hard to have objective opinion about myself Fenrir : What is your favorite color and why?Josko : Probably light blue, because it looks sexy on women Fenrir : What do you do with your free time besides play Conquer Club?Josko : Various stuffs. the most often I spend days with my girlfriend, or have meetings with my closest friends, where we often make tasteful dinners, play card games, or/and going to pubs. during hot summer days, I often swim or travel in my vacation house near coastline, which is ideal place for rest of my body and soul. during football season, I spend weekends on football stadiums, because I am football referee. I very like dancing and carnival time, which is my favourite part of a year. Fenrir : Does it bother you when people call you Serbian?Josko : Not at all. I know that is expected perception for someone who is not from this region.Fenrir : Is Tony Kukoc a hero of yours?Josko : No. I am not big fun of basketball. among famous Croatian players, Goran Ivanisevic is my the biggest hero. Fenrir : You tend to be a “leader” type on Conquer Club. Is that just on CC, or is that a reflection of your real life personality?Josko : That is reflection of my real life personality. whenever I do something, I try to do it as much as possible perfect, and it annoys me when others from my surroundings are doing their tasks carelessly. sometimes I rather choose to do some task by myself than leave it for someone other who I know will not care about quality of the task done. Fenrir : Are you the Man in the Moo?Josko : I am not. maybe it seems from outside like that, but it is because I am the most often online and have the most free time, due to the fact that I am self employed and can manage my working time by myself. That said, I have more time for analyzing strategies in my games, and more time to make some forum posts than other Moo members. But in the Moo are much bigger Men than me. Fenrir : Several people on CC have admitted to having bad habits such as smoking, drinking, gambling, and having relations with animals. What are your bad habits?[/quote]Josko : I am extremely lazy. if there exist some job that can be done from lying position, I would probably try to master that job. also I am very stubborn person. I almost never give up from doing something that I believe is right. Fenrir : You seem to be a pretty brainy guy. Are there any physical activities that you enjoy, or do you stick to exercise of the mind?Josko : I am football referee since 2002. I very enjoy doing that, and also it is very good for my physical activities because I doubt I would do any of those activities if I am not referee. also, I like to play indoor football with my friends during winter time. I do not officially exercise my mind except with playing risk, backgammon, or some card games like poker, belot , briskula , or treseta . for successfully playing all those games players need to have precise feeling for different values of math probabilities, and that is what I like the most when playing those type of games.Fenrir : Are you superstitious about anything, or do you always try to be logical?Josko : I am trying to be logical, but I am aware there are many irrational things around us that can not be described by logic. for irrational things I believe the most of them are also logical but unable to interpret with nowadays known logic functions, but some of them for sure are coming from other dimension and will never be able to describe by logic.Fenrir : How did you and [player]Moonchild[/player] meet and become friends?Josko : [player]Moonchild[/player]'s ex girfriend was my middle school classmate so she connected us about 7-8 years ago. but we never became the closest friends because our lifestyles and interests are very different. He is good friend of my bother, who has the same lifestyle like Moonchild . In 2009, my brother told him that I was playing risk a lot on facebook zynga, and then he told me to come on the best worldwide risk site, so I accepted his request and joined here.Fenrir : Compared to some people of your stature, you have played relatively few CC games. What made you join a clan so quickly, and why did you choose to join Kort?Josko : I have played my first team games with [player]Moonchild[/player] as he was the only who I had known from real life before joining. He told me about his clan KORT, and recommended that I join. He also told me that there are a lot of friendly players and I can always find top skilled friends who wants to play a team game so it sounded interesting to me. I was almost being refused during test games because I have played less than 10 team games at that time so it was hard decision for them to accept new and inexperienced player. I was so excited to join the clan with so high respected players on CC, it was great honor to be in the same team with former conquerors and players who had regularly kicked my ass and impressed me with their gameplay on the time before joining KORT.Fenrir : Given how heavily the assault cubes influence games, why is it that you don’t like them being mentioned?Josko : Dice comments in chats often sounds like my team played terrible but only great dice caused that we won so mentioning it can cause only negative feelings from opposite team and public minorizing their win. It is especially negative to read dice complaining comments for one round of bad dice, after several rounds of great dice by opponents, which happens sometimes.Fenrir : What is your favorite map and why?Josko : For team playing, Hive is my favourite map because on that map luck factor is the lowest of all available maps, and players' skill factor is the highest. Fenrir : Why is it that you prefer foggy games over sunny?Josko : Because I prefer doggy "games" over funny Fenrir : What gives you the most pleasure in a game? (example: an escalating sweep, a no spoils comeback, a game of complete dominance, etc.)Josko : The most pleasure is when my team lead in a game where opponents' team has more total troops than my team (No Spoils). It can often happen in Hive but can also happen in other maps. That fact mathematically means that my team outplayed opponents because we used our available troops better than they used theirs. I think my team owns record in winning a game with the highest troops deficit at one point of the game (including only no spoils games without deadbeats). We won Game 9327127 after having -67 troops in round 6.Fenrir : What would you say is the best game that you’ve played and why was it the best? (You can give more than one game if it’s a tough decision.)Josko : It is very tough decision, many of them were great on different ways. I will make top 5 for this question:Game 8295297 HiveGame 9326897 Conquerman Game 7592352 Feudal Epic Game 8087574 WWII EuropeGame 7511968 Age of Merchants Fenrir : A lot of your infamy stems from the war between Kort and Tofu in the first Conqueror’s Cup. Do you have any regrets about the way that turned out? Do you think it was worth it?Josko : I regret about everything that happened in that war, I wish that war never happened. But, that doesnt mean that I would change our decision to accept the rule. In real life, if someone calls me moron or cretin, I immediately decide to stop play a game vs him because that shouldnt be part of any game. From the other side, if someone says to me that my skills are poor, that only increases my motivation to beat him on playing field. That is my viewpoint for main factors which caused problems in the war and that is why I did not want to be fair to the ones who insulted us on personal basis multiple times and had never apologized for the insults during the war.Fenrir : You’ve shown a pretty good ability to laugh at yourself. Did you find any of those jabs from Tofu at all funny? I thought [player]trapyoung[/player]’s signature during that time was pretty hilarious.Josko : Honestly, I do not remember jabs from 2010, nor I remember which signatures TOFU members had at that time.Fenrir : Who would you say are the top 10 team players on CC? You can put them in order or not, you’re free to include yourself, and you can give your reasoning if you want.Josko : I will exclude KORT players and myself to not be biased and put top 10 in order.Fenrir : Having played against you in a recent war, I’ve been able to see first-hand what all the fuss is about. You’re very good at this game. What do you think sets you apart from most of the people that play? What is it that you do that makes you so good?Josko : I really do not know for sure what makes me so good. I think it is my ability to interpret and use math and probability laws on unique way, together with my ability to predict opponents' moves and plans according to their initial move(s), and then make counter plan. Also, I use some strategies that I did not see any of my opponents ever used. Those strategies are not huge difference from others, but a little difference can be enough to get position advantage and turn a game in my favor.Fenrir : What do you think about the clan world as it is now? Do you think it will get better or worse in the future?Josko : I think clan world, and CC at all are rapidly going down. I think admins do not lead this site on good way in 2011, and users notice that and massively decide to retire from the site, which causes chained effect that those users for sure wont bring new users to the site. I see there are fresh ideas in CLA with goal to improve clan world, but I think clan gaming will go down by time together with the whole site. I wish it will be different than I think because the site and clan gaming is really an unique project and great idea for having enormous internet gaming fun.Fenrir : What are your feelings on the verdict of the case against you for account sitting abuse?Josko : I think moderators did not consider the case according to presented arguments and decided to punish us because community made pressure in forums. It is especially sad that I was being punished for the reason that I have clearly rebutted:
king achilles wrote: For this case, at some point, josko.ri could/should have simply told the other players to stop relying on him to take turns for them.
So I was being punished for not doing something that I did, which may be checked here:
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... onmoon.jpg Also, the other part of the verdict, which made Moonchild and Rodion guilty is:
king achilles wrote: Account sitting is for a definite period of time and NOT for an indefinite period. You can't assign an account sitter to account sit for you for as long as his blood is running into his veins. Then you can now sleep soundly whenever or do other stuff because you know he is going to save you from missing a turn. If you are capable of taking your turn, then take it. Do not make someone be responsible for your own account or lean too much for his advise.
I would not have problems with this part of the verdict if this was treated equally for everyone who did it. But, 2 months before it was opened the case vs me, there was other report (via e-ticket), vs [player]lord voldemort[/player] for doing the same type of "abuse" (sitter played turns when original player was available at earlier time to play his own turn but he chose not to take it), and he was cleared, and he wrote public statement in game chat:
lord voldemort wrote: 2011-03-23 04:28:41 - lord voldemort: b) i have two of the biggest guys on my side who have already looked at this game and said there was nothing wrong
That game had a lot of public watching because writing in forums about it, so many of clan players followed it and read the statement that there was nothing wrong in doing that. Unfortunately, "big guys" have changed their opinion when accused was normal player, and not former multihunter.
I have opened the C&A case against [player]Chariot of Fire[/player], and have written it the same like it was in the case against me, with providing the same type of evidence. My deep hope was that [player]king achilles[/player] will realize that he made wrong verdict vs us when he see how much doing the same "abuse" is spreaded on CC, but when I saw that 2 of the 5 sitting which CoF was declared guilty for was being done during real vacations of players who needed sitting, I realized that he definitely did not consider the case according to presented arguments.
I will not stop fight for fair verdict, but I will continue my fight out of public forums, with private messages with admins. I am collecting evidence which will prove that the same "abuse" was done by current or ex Head moderators and multihunters so I think that proving that "mighty" names of CC were doing the same type of "abuse" may cause that admins will admit that they made wrong verdict.
I realized that opening public report causes huge flaming and negative feelings towards accused so I decided to not do it public again. Players are not guilty that admins do not want to admit that rules are not written clearly so they do not deserve public tainting of their name for something that is not their fault. For admins it is always the easiest to punish users than to admit that rules were not declared clearly.
Unfortunately, I believe that CC players showed their opinion about the way of ruling on the site with starting to massively retire from CC (sometimes reaching number of more than 100 players down per only one day, which is extremely high), and I think C&A forum decisions are main reasons for that.
Fenrir : Are you still planning on retiring after the 2nd Conqueror’s Cup?Josko : I never planned to retire after CCup2. After the verdict was done against me I decided to retire after I finish all my ongoing challenges, and I believe that HA's 200th tourney and not CCup2 will last the longest of all my ongoing challenges. I will still think about retiring because I met some great persons here and it would be pity to leave them all because of disappointment about the site officials. But if I not retire total, I will for sure just focus on playing my games without contributing in any part of the site which officials organize, like strategy guide forum for example, where I had planned to contribute someday but radically changed my plans after seeing what can be done to honest players on the site.Fenrir : Thanks, Josko.Josko : Pleasure was mine, thanks to you for choosing me for the Hardballs interview
Stay Tuned for the next issue of the ConquerClub Dispatch for an interrogation of [player]The Bison King[/player]. Post any questions you may have for them here -->
Interrogation with The Bison King Also in the works is the tale of Tofu dissolution, and the regular look at tournament prospects
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Subscribe Here! ConquerClub Dispatch Team [player]Dukasaur[/player] - Tournament Executive [player]Angola[/player] - Tournament Reporter [player]sonicsteve[/player] - Tournament Reporter [player]General Brewsie[/player] - Tournament Reporter [player]Night Strike[/player] - Tournament Commentator [player]Victor Sullivan[/player] - Foundry Executive [player]OliverFA[/player] - Foundry Reporter [player]thehippo8[/player] - Foundry Reporter [player]koontz1973[/player] - Foundry Reporter [player]isaiah40[/player] - Foundry Consultant [player]Leehar[/player] - Clan Executive [player]QoH[/player] - Clan Reporter [player]alt1978[/player] - Clan Reporter [player]BoganGod[/player] - Clan Reporter [player]Master Fenrir[/player] - Clan Reporter [player]safariguy5[/player] - Freestyle Executive [player]nagerous[/player] - Freestyle Writer [player]Commander9[/player] - Freestyle Writer [player]Fircoal[/player] - Freestyle Writer [player]rdsrds2120[/player] - Freestyle Writer [player]shieldgenerator7[/player] - Freestyle Writer 
If not that, I really would enjoy an occupation where I used computers.. and math.
