The title may seem dramatic, but I have good cause. I did consider 'WARNING: Danger Of Death', but that seemed over the top. Basically I want to warn you about starting Freestyle Play Order team game. You should seriously reconsider creating team games with the Freestyle Play Order setting, because there are groups of highly organised and ruthless individuals that are looking for such games and will join them enmasse, taking their turn as one.
There's pretty much nothing you can do to counter that tactic, it's celebrated in a somewhat tasteless fashion in the General Discussion Forum topic entitled Farming secret revealed. But don't despair just yet! While it's not a good idea to host or join Freestyle Play Order games, moves are a foot by members of this community to address this issue as detailed in this post in the Sugs & Bugs Forum topic entitled Partial Freestyle. In my humble opinion I think this suggestion is a good idea, if you agree then I encourage you to add your voice to the Yes Vote.
If this depressing warning is not enough reason for you not host/join Freestyle Play Order team games then click the -SHOW: DETAILED EXPLANATION- link below, it will show the more detailed original post that you can read at your leisure.
[spoiler=Detailed Explanation]I'd like to direct your attention to one of my own got-my-arse-kicked games in Game 3629378. You'll notice as you scroll down from the very beginning of the game log that Team 2 activated simultaneously. Three of them going into the reinforcement phase of their turn after a couple of attacks and then continuously reinforced from their territories to their team-mate who was still in the assault phase of his/her turn. This allowed the attacking player to rampage through the map like a mad bull in a china shop. The results as you can see were devastating.
That they went first was also an advantage, they benefited from the troops granted by their starting drop. Further compounding this advantage was the Unlimited Reinforcements setting, allowing the team-mates in reinforcement phase to topup the other members of their team more than once. Although the Freestyle Play Order setting played a significant part in the game winning strategy of Team 2, it was superior teamwork that ultimately won the game. Because they were all online together and well organised and coordinated, they were able to maximise the advantage granted by Freestyle Play Order. Unless you can be equally well organised, co-ordinated and ruthless, you won't stand much of a chance, especially if your team-mates are uncooperative(or worse, deadbeat).
A few questions you might ask:
Q: Is it cheating?
A: NOPE! It's legitimate and within the rules. Vicious? Yes! Cheating? No, though it may seem so.
Q: Is it urine extraction on an epic scale?
A: HELL YES! But then again urine extraction is not expressly forbidden, but after getting kicked around the map like this you may wish it was!
Q: Holy Cow! I don't want to get points farmed, should I give up on team games altogether?
A: HELL NO! I've not put this post together because I want to scare you off playing team games forever!
I simply want you to go into this with your eyes open. Until a solution is found, you'd better stick to Sequential Play Order team games, that way you won't get points farmed and potentially lose interest in playing at CC afterwards.While it does grant the starting team a huge advantage it does not automatically result in their victory, even the best laid plans will go awry from time to time. Getting a team together that can take their turn as one is a tricky business anyway, especially considering the potential differences in timezone and availability of free time. If you don't want to get your arse kicked into the middle of next week, then don't join Freestyle Play Order team games. At least not until you're sure you can handle what might come your way.[/spoiler]
Play safe and choose wisely.
Artimis
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