Welcome Comrades to the 85th edition of the Dispatch
Well the season is upon us yet again! Congratulations to all of you who successfully avoided all that 2012 threw at you this year - commiserations to those of you who couldn't. Another action packed issue provides: an interview with [player]El-Jefe[/player]; strategy tips on Forbidden Cities and AoR 3 and a challenge to turn those into Official Guides - who's going to snap up the GCs on those?; a veritable smorgasbord of tips and infor in the Tournament section - too much to mention here; same for Foundry - do those guys never sleep?; and consideration of the new Clan sitting rules. Something for everyone there!
But before you get stuck into that, consider this:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree - [player]El-Jefe[/player] - One site administrator
Two Turtle Doves - [player]rdsrds2120[/player]and [player]king achilles[/player] - Two super mods
Three French Hens - [player]kentington[/player], [player]strike wolf[/player] and [player]MeDeFe[/player] - Three Global mods
Four Calling/Collie Birds - SoC, Strategy Forum, Foundry Notes and Newsletter - The Four Gospels of Strategy
Five Golden Rings - Super Achievements, Game Achievements, Community Achievements, Contributions and Ratings - The bling we wear
Six Geese-a-Laying - Community Interviews, Strategy, Tournaments, Foundry, Clan and Freestyle - the divisions in the Dispatch that bring you back time and again
Seven Swans-a-Swimming - Seven gifts purchased from the gift shop - take your choice!
Eight Maids-a-Milking - I'm sure there are more than eight female players on this site
Nine Ladies Dancing - Ah, some more!
Ten Lords-a-Leaping - Go you galant lads
Eleven Pipers Piping - What are your favourite eleven maps?
Twelve Drummers Drumming -Entertainment Team, Cartographers, Tournament Directors, Clan Directors, Academy Team, Discussions Team, Chatters, Suggestions Team, Multihunters/Cheating/Abuse Team, Tech Team, International and Global Moderators/Administrators - thank you for another year of distraction, diversion, creation and scintillation!
Enjoy the fruits of our labouring fingers!
[player]thehippo8[/player] Chief Executive
If you would like to apply to join the news team, please visit the thread below for more details!
Happy Holidays Freestylers. Apologies for the late issue, [player]El_Jefe[/player] was a bit busy with admin things. But he managed to find the time to talk about the direction he wants CC to go, his interests outside of CC, and his secret plans for world domination. You Stay Classy, CC.
Q. I (smegal69) see you have Che Guevara as your profile pic....... so 1. Was he a revolutionary leader or a terrorist? 2. Are you using CC to recruit members for Jemaah Islamiyah?
I'm not familiar with #2. Che was a damn smart military strategist and rocked a cigar and beret like no one else.
Q. In the light of the recent banning of GLG, are there any others in the target sights for a life ban on CC?
Nope. Everything evaluated on a case by case basis.
Q. What is the single most important thing that needs to be done?
Engage new players better.
Q. When will we get 2 player team games and 12 player games?
Soon I hope. Both are on the list but require quite a bit of technical work so they are a ways down on the list of priorities.
Q. Is there any sort of mobile friendly version of the site in the works?
Yes but it is a big project so it will be a while.
Q. a/s/l?
33, male, Bali.
Q. Are you retired or did you leave another job to do this one?
No other jobs but some other fun projects in the works. Conquer Club is the focus
Q. Do you read any of the public forums for fun, or stick to the admin forums (like bugs and suggs, and the private mod forums)?
I have't spent enough time in public forums but I plan to.
Q. How do you approach challenges that occur in your daily life? What I (AndyDufresne) mean is, are you the type of person who jumps right in and gets their hands dirty while trying to figure everything out? Or perhaps do you first study possible scenarios and outcomes and figure out what is the best approach to the problem at hand? Or some other approach entirely?
Trial and error. Move fast, make mistakes.
Q. Do you think it would be better to allow freemiums access to 1 speed game a day?
Possibly. We are currently looking at the options to get new users more engaged and I think this (or some version of it) could be a key.
Q. Do you also not think cc should have a drunken ranter page where people can let off steam and not have post reported and banned when they go to log on again?
Excellent idea. Perhaps where the content is not permanently linked to their profile.
Q. Whose decision was it for Andy not to continue with CC?
Andy's. I would have loved for him to stay on.
Q. Why RDS for community manager?
He is passionate about the game and the community. He is fair and calm. He isn't on the 'no-fly' list.
Q. Why King Achilles to continue? Was this your decision?
Yes. I think King Achilles does a great job.
Q. If you could create a full time paid position on CC, what is the most pressing area that needs a dedicated staff member?
Developers and designers. Particularly to focus on mobile optimization.
Q. Why piggyback onto an old/defunct account and pretend it's your own? What do you have to hide?
I never expected to be in this position of authority at CC. I didn't want to scan 1000+ old games to see if I had written anything particularly unkind or embarrassing.
Q. Do you have a set of improvements in mind for the site? Which ones do you plan on implementing first?
The list is long. Small tasks involve minor tweaks and improvements. Medium term projects revolve around better engaging new users. Long term projects include a massive upgrade to the tournaments and clans functions.
Q. Boxers or briefs?
Boxers. No contest.
Q. What kind of music do you enjoy?
Eels, The National, Beirut, Bon Iver, The Middle East, Elliott Smith, City & Colour, Jeff Buckley, Glen Hansard. Usually gut wrenching sad songs or epic love songs. And I'm always up for a stellar dance party or any live music.
Q. What kind of sports do you enjoy playing, and which do you enjoy watching?
Tennis, Baseball, Surfing (poorly). I'll watch anything once the play-offs arrive. I generally root for the long shot underdog. Teams I care about: Calgary Flames, Atlanta Braves (and Blue Jays this year - maybe???), NE Pats (and RG3 this year, who doesn't love him?), Celtics, Clippers. Milos Raonic.
Q. Are you bothered by all the questions concerning your past on this site? Do the questions surprise you, or did you expect this?
I didn't expect it or I would have given it much more thought in advance. I wasn't expecting it to be such a public role. I thought I would be mostly focused on improving the game play experience for current players and attracting and engaging more new players. That is the kind of stuff I am good at and I like to measure success by boring metrics (# active players, # premium players, # new players etc). I'm now trying to figure out the appropriate balance of focus on this stuff and public appearances.
Q. What's the coolest thing you've done recently? (besides CC)
Swam with whale sharks off the coast of Java.
Q. When you made your user-name: Were you planning to take over the world or CC or both?
Global domination has always been my goal. I'll be a benevolent dictator. I promise
Q. How did you manage to become CC Admin? Did Lack propose you? Did you propose to Lack? Which past merits and achievements make you suitable for the role?
I pitched the idea to Lack once upon a time. He brought it back up many months later when he was getting busy with other projects.
Q. What's the best way to spend a Saturday afternoon?
At the beach, watching an epic sunset.
Q. What's your favourite beer?
Lions Winter Ale (Granville Island, Vancouver). La Fin du Monde (Quebec). Storm Beer (Bali).
Q. Which is the best episode of Star Wars?
Return of the Jedi. Don't trust anyone that tells you otherwise.
Q. Can I (Dukasaur) get a raise?
How about a 50% increase?
Q. What's your favourite era in history?
I'm pretty thrilled with the times right now. Pirate times look cool in movies but I have a feeling the real thing was disgusting and depressing.
Q. Do you dress to the left or right?
I just mimed putting on pants to try to figure out the answer to this question. Right I think. Ask again in the next interview. I'll figure it out for sure the next time I have my pants off.
Q. As someone who, like myself (perchorin), lives in a less CC populated time zone, surely you can feel the need for a CC time clock! When can we expect this to happen?
CC Time Clock! I need it as well. I thought I was the only one. Let's make this happen.
Q. What will your animal persona be, and why was rds allowed to break rank and be a lame robot when he was supposed to pick a form of animal?
I wasn't aware of this animal tradition. My bad. I just asked a close friend and they suggested a raccoon or a wombat. I'm not comfortable with either of those. I'll settle for lemur.
Q. Do you plan to apply to join the Bullet-Proof Bandits?
I will consider it if they aggressively recruit me. Treat me like you would a totally unbiased IOC official.
Q. Where's the beef?
Alberta.
Q. lackattack mentioned a few more updates from him, anything near completion from either of you two? No pressure.
Updates coming! I promise.
Q. Will we keep up the SOS Africa sponsorship of Kelebogile? If so, then what can we expect this year for a fund-raising drive? If not, why not?
Yes. Will keep it up but not sure what the plans will be just yet. I'd love to see more cool fundraising ideas.
Q. Foundry, what is your opinion on the maps we have now? And do you ever look around the foundry at what is coming out soon? Something constructive about the maps we have now would be appreciated.
Love the maps. Trying my best to discover new ones now and then. Recently found Poker Club and enjoyed that a lot. Also Hive but it takes forever. Generally I stick with the more simple game options and I agree with many suggestions that we need an easy tool to classify maps as simple/medium/complex (or some form of that).
Q. Will you keep playing games now you are the boss?
Absolutely. More than ever.
Q. You mentioned a target in the announcement thread, how hopeful are you on reaching it or even beating it?
Hmmmm... I don't remember the timeline I put on it and I'm afraid to look. Fingers crossed.
Q. What is your stance on aliens?
We are not alone in the universe.
Q. If you had to pick one of these to best describe yourself, which one would it be?
Q. Which one are you most attracted to? Dominatrix School girl Cheerleader The Provocateur Little Miss Innocent All of the above?
Cheerleader
Q. Will there be more or less transparency with you than with the previous regime? Hopefully more but I wasn't paying much attention to that sort of thing previously so you will have to be the judge. Give me a while to get comfortable and then let me know how it looks.
Q. Is this going to be the longest newsletter interview of all time?
You tell me.
Q. Will clans ever get their own tab? Perhaps with a medal counter like tournaments?
Yes. Definitely but not soon enough. It is a high priority item but requires a lot of work.
Q. Is the (current) programmer on CC? Or has he never done CC before?
He is new to CC.
Q. Are you looking to maintain complete integrity on cc or are you likely to give in to the sexual advances from the many "CC groupies"?
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
Q. Would you like to have received more interest from the community or do you prefer having missed the critical public eye?
It seems like there has been plenty. I'd be happy to be very low profile and let site growth and improvements be the measure of my performance.
Q. Now that you're working with mods, how many of them to you recognize/are familiar with when you were a regular user?
None. I was a lurker only. I just loved the game but really had no idea what a big active community there was.
Q. What is going to be the policy for placing maps into BETA going forward? Will there be a massive delay from time maps are OKed for BETA to when they will actually be uploaded for BETA play?
We are trying to dramatically improve the turnaround times for new maps to be tested.
Q. Are there any plans to update chipv's xml wizard for the foundry to make the tool more functional from suggestions?
Yes but it is another big project so will take some time.
Q. Do you intend to try to win back the mapmakers we lost to other sites? Going forward, how do you plan to work with our hardworking, valuable cartographers?
We will make the process easier and faster for them to add maps. We will add more players so maps get user feedback more quickly.
Q. Have you seen this map by Kabanellas? Will you make the necessary updates that will allow it to be made?
Wow. It looks epic. I had not seen it before and will look into what it needs.
Q. Will you allow members to buy smaller amounts of premium. Say 6 months for 15$ and 3 months for 10$?
Yes.
Q. Will you buy Cuba from the proceeds of CC?
I'm already in negotiations with Fidel.
Q. Will you allow supersize maps to be made again?
This is the first I've heard of this. Sounds good to me.
Q. Have you ever played Shogun/Samurai Swords? How about Axis & Allies?
I had a run with Axis & Allies once upon a time. It was fun but a bit too involved for me. I prefer games where someone new can get into and be competitive without excessive explanation.
Q. Besides playing Risk (duh), what other hobbies do you have?
Monopoly. I was in the Canadian Monopoly Championships once. Travel.
Q. What's your favorite drink?
Pimm's Cup.
Q. Can you explain dice randomness?!?
Those damn dice. I've had runs that can't possibly be random. But I've also had runs like that when playing the live game. For some reason it is 1000x more infuriating online because I'm sure there is a conspiracy or flaw in the program. I've seen the stats and had programmers assure me it is random but I'm pretty sure there is a higher power messing with us.
Q. If CC was a bar and they announced last call, would you buy us all a round of drinks?
Absolutely. Though I am usually passed out in a corner before last call.
Q. What are your plans for adding additional acronyms?
I have the power to invent acronyms? ILTSOOT! LMB has been one of my most used acronyms for years - it could work it into regular use on CC.
Q. How did you decide which mod to promote to admin?
Lots of advice from everyone involved (past and present).
Q. If you were given the choice of taking or rejecting a one-way trip to populate a Mars Colony, would you accept and go or would you reject and stay here in on Earth?
Reject. Too much fun still to be had here.
Q. How much do you know about the real life man/woman/boy/girl/monkey behind AndyDufresne?
I've never seen him and Karl Pilkington in a room together. Coincidence? I think not.[/spoiler]
Welcome one and all to another helping of Strategy.
This is the stuff that's important, so listen up!!
This issue [player]Jippd[/player] shares his wisdom on Forbidden Cities - which frankly I was pleased about because it was a map I struggled with. As a one off, we have also received an article by [player]Ahava[/player] on AoR - would be interesting to hear what others think about that. These articles get us close to Official Guides and it would be interesting to see if anyone wanted to piggy-back on these good peoples' work to the extent of preparing guides for the Strategy Forum. First in, first served - get your GC medals now - just in time for Christmas! And for the rest of you, whether you too want to do a one off or you have aptitude to get more involved, sing out cause we need more Strategy content!
Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments!
The TPA3 Cup Design Contest is now over. Congratulations to all the winners! I would announce who they are, but I don't want to take the spotlight off of Dave's TPA Wrap. Scroll down and check it out!
In this issue you will find another one of my little retrospectives, this time featuring the tourneys of 2006. You will find another installment of Dave's Tournament Tips, as well as the longest-running continuing series in the Dispatch, Join This? Or Not! by WC4 James.
But first, turn your attention to an article by [player]generalhead[/player]. This very productive writer is officially a Foundry reporter, but he has twice now produced a wonderful article for us here in War Games, and is working on his third!
[player]Dukasaur[/player] Tournament Executive
The difference: regular games versus tournamentsby general head
Tournament Tipsby DaveH [spoiler=TPA2 Coding to Modify the Results Spreadsheet]In newsletter #80 I detailed the results spreadsheet for TPA2 scores and coding to update it with an individual tournament results. This does not, however cope with the change that was introduced after TPA1 to select the best scores from a number of scores. For instance there are only 8 Premier tournament scores allowed from the 13 actual premier tournaments and only 16 from the 28 Standard tournaments.
The problem with doing this within the main coding system is that the checksums would be compromised, so I have decided to do this using an additional routine that is accessed from a button on the main spreadsheet. The process of working out the coding follow the same sequence that you would do manually; for instance:
Check each player in turn;
Check the number of Premier and Standard tournaments completed against the allowed number;
If the number is exceeded then get all the tournament scores of that particular type;
Sort them into order;
Take away the sum of all the lowest scores above the maximum number allowed from the total.
Done!
In doing the coding it is straight forward until we get to the sorting. For instance (with description within the coding);
Sub CheckNumber() 'set variables iPlayerRow = 7 'First Player Row iListStart = 58 'Row used for lists iPlayerTotal = 0 'Total of Number of Players
'I decided to copy the players names and totals in blank columns after the main spreadsheet, hence the starting position of column 58 'Copy Names and Totals into blank columns - also getting the total number of competitors While Cells(iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal, 2).Value <> "" Cells(iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal, iListStart).Value = Cells(iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal, 2).Value Cells(iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal, iListStart + 1).Value = Cells(iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal, 9).Value iPlayerTotal = iPlayerTotal + 1 Wend
'Select Premier and Standard Columns, icol being th enumber of these column totals For icol = 4 To 5
'Select the Maximum Number of Tournaments and call it iMax iMax = Cells(2, icol).Value
'Scan down the columns to see if the maximum number has been exceeded For irow = iPlayerRow To iPlayerRow + iPlayerTotal
If Cells(irow, icol).Value > iMax Then 'maximum number exceeded
'put this number into the column next to the palyers' names Cells(irow, iListStart + icol - 2).Value = Cells(irow, icol).Value
We are now at the position of getting the scores and putting them into a table or array. I would normally use an array, but sorting is easier in excel, so I decided to use 1 table of 30 rows (higher than the 28 max standard tournaments within the spreadsheet itself). This has the added advantage of being easier to check when testing;
'clear table For i = 1 To 30 Cells(iPlayerRow + i, iListStart + 4).Value = 0 Next i
'Scan across all 47 tournaments For i = 10 To 56
'Check that the tournament type matches either Standard or Premier If (Cells(4, i).Value = "Premier" And icol = 4) Or (Cells(4, i).Value = "Standard" And icol = 5) Then
'Check that there is a score from this tournament If Cells(irow, i).Value > 0 Then
'If so, find next blank position in table and enter the score j = 1 While Cells(iPlayerRow + j, iListStart + 4).Value <> 0 j = j + 1 Wend
'insert the value into the table Cells(iPlayerRow + j, iListStart + 4).Value = Cells(irow, i).Value
End If End If Next i
So far so good!
We can sort using the Excel sorting system. An easy way of getting the coding is to manually create a Macro, select the table and sort. Then look at the coding used by the macro and simply copy it into your programme. After sorting in reducing order we sum the scores above the permitted maximum and subtract them from the total score - this coding was taken from the Internet and I still do not understand the format!
'Sort High to low 'This coding is straight from the macro created by Excel Range(Cells(iPlayerRow + 1, iListStart + 4), Cells(iPlayerRow + 30, iListStart + 4)).Select Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("BJ8"), Order1:=xlDescending, Header:=xlGuess _ , OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _ DataOption1:=xlSortNormal
'Reduce the total by the sum of values below the value that is the iMax number 'Coding taken from the Internet! Range("BJ7").Formula = "=SUM(" & Range(Cells(iPlayerRow + 1 + iMax, iListStart + 4), Cells(iPlayerRow + 30, iListStart + 4)).Address(False, False) & ")"
'Reduce the total and adjust the number of tournaments to iMax Cells(irow, iListStart + 1).Value = Cells(irow, iListStart + 1).Value - BJ7 Cells(irow, iListStart + 2).Value = iMax End If Next irow Next icol End Sub
And that is it. I access this routine from a button on the spreadsheet. To put in a button, see my archive Archive and check out number 10 in my series (Newsletter #66).
(These "tips" are ones that I have tried to make it a bit easier in managing my own tournaments. I am sure there are different and better methods than these, so please let me know. Any queries on the above I'll be glad to respond to! Please note that I use Excel 2003, so there may be variation in the menu instructions if you have other versions of Excel)[/spoiler] TPA Wrapby DaveH
Foundry dispatch is a little light this issue, but with good reason. Everyone is off getting blottoand ready for the holidays. But we have the usual run down of maps in development, anothercompetition for you, generalhead gives us his opinion on the Christmas map and a few stockingfillers. Lastly, and this is a late addition, but with the cairnswk interview coming in the next edition, I bring to you our own one. generalhead wanted to speak to him as he is one of the best.Might give you all some follow on questions for the main one next issue. The competition has got some new rules, so make sure you read them. Lets leave now in a chorus of Santa' favourite song.
But set your alarm clocks for next issue. A massive foundry dispatch section is being prepared with lots of goodies for all the good girls and boys.
Happy gaming everyone, whatever map takes your fancy.
It's been another fortnight of action as we welcome in the festive season with tonights Platoon Report. The highlight of late has been the unveiling of the Clan Sitting Rules by the Clan Directors. Account-sitting has been a contentious issue for a goodly while yet, with Clan members being involved in some significant cases, so the CD's thought it sound to outline the Guidelines for what is and isn't permissible with regards to Sitting when within the purview of Clans. The rules have generated a spate of discussion, with already over 22 pages of replies at the time of going to press, so our itinerant reporter Swifte is here to give us a run-down of the Rules, and the main points from the community reaction.
In other Developments, I present the latest from the 1v1 Challenge, and wax philosophical on Conquerors Cup 3!
If there are any wars or related events that you'd like to bring to the attention of the newsletter, I urge you to send me a snippet of what you'd like covered to spotlight you clan, or indeed compose an article for the Dispatch yourself!
Stay Tuned for the next issue of the ConquerClub Dispatch for an interrogation of [player]interviewee[/player]. Post any questions you may have for them here --> Interrogation with [player]cairnswk[/player]
Submitting Your Own Articles
If you have a story you think the ConquerClub Community would find interesting, you can submit your articles to [player]thehippo8[/player] and you may just see your article published in the Newsletter!
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Wow El-Jefe lives in Bali! How does he get anything done? It is such an idyllic island (just visiting for 12 days at present) I guess he came here on visit and didn't leave.
Q. Do you intend to try to win back the mapmakers we lost to other sites? Going forward, how do you plan to work with our hardworking, valuable cartographers?
We will make the process easier and faster for them to add maps. We will add more players so maps get user feedback more quickly.
This will be interesting to see, what kind of offer he can give to mapmakers who go to other site???
Here are the names for the first 5 who got the correct answers.
Swifte
generalhead
Mudpuppy
anamainiacks
plurple
And using random.org to determine the winner.
The winner is anamainiacks Well done everyone else who took part. Full report on the winners in the next to one issue. 1. Crossed swords in background of lower left legend were removed. 2. Changed title from "Battle at Rorke's Drift" to "Battle for Rorke's Drift" in upper right. 3. British soldier on Chard was replaced with the British soldier image from the legend in the bottom. (no longer pointing a gun) 4. The background colors of Phunga and Ndaba were swapped in the legend. 5. 'koontz' territory renamed 'nobodies'
Only the hyperactives in the foundry could have six articles and still say, "Foundry dispatch is a little light this issue,". Jesus. In my section we have five articles this time, and I consider it obese!
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” ― Voltaire
Dukasaur wrote:Only the hyperactives in the foundry could have six articles and still say, "Foundry dispatch is a little light this issue,". Jesus. In my section we have five articles this time, and I consider it obese!
It was a light issue. Intro was written then the cairnswk interview appeared and we put our one in this week to stop a clash, nobodies goes on a quenching frenzy.
or 
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