Hello tournament fans. This week blacky44 officially joins the newsletter ranks, and stahrgazer revives an old column.
As always, if you have any ideas or just want to help out, drop us a line.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Gozar
Newsletter Poll
News Hound
Fun Facts
Currently Taking Signups
Tournament Updates
Coming Soon
The Tournament Roll of Honour
Tournament Limelight
Interview with geigerm
Next Issue
NotesStaff
Here is the result of our latest poll:
What portion of your gameload are tournament games?
All of my games are tournaments 8%
Most of my games are tournaments 21%
Half of my games are tournaments 11%
A few of my games are tournaments 30%
None of my games are tournaments 30%
Total votes : 97
A new poll is now up: Should a medal be given for each and every tournament won?
Please stop by the Suggestion Thread and vote.
blacky44 wrote:Hello CC lovers and welcome to this weeks news hound. stahrgazer and I will both be writing for the news hound this week and hopefully next week and so on. Today I want to talk about medals given to tournament winners. I have pmed 5 people who have all won tournaments and asked their opinion but only 3 replied.WhiteMoose wrote:
I actually don't think medals should be given out to all tournaments you win. Since many tournaments just require you to win 4 games in a row. Which isn't much of an accomplishment. So it would be better according to me if tournament winner medals should be given out in larger tournaments. Not that it would work, but I think I'd be better if it were possible. But don't get me wrong, I welcome tournament winner medals. It will probably increase the already active tournament forum even more. Which is great, since tournaments are a huge part of the CC game/community.game/community. Plus I now don't have to brag about my tournament wins on my signature,
Godd wrote:
Not worried about getting medals or not after all not that many will see the medals for only the ones that may look up at a post of yours if you post a lot. Just being able to win a tourney is great (yes I have won my share of them) and shows it does not matter what rank you are.Blitzaholic wrote
I think it is a good idea because it is very difficult to any win any tournament.
Click this link and scroll down to the community achievements and you can see what is suppose to be the medals for contests and tournament wins http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/medals.php
Whac-y Admins
by stahrgazer
Remember the Valentines weekend special: Love a mod. Hate a mod. Whac-a-mod?
Apparently, the mods won so many of those games that they decided to challenge some of the top ranking members of Conquer Club to a final match on Game 4273102. This is a triples match featuring Triministration (Lieutenant Twill, Corporal lackattackand Private AndyDufresne) opposing the Trey Authority (Field Marshals poo-maker, King_Herpes, and rabbiton) in an all-out battle to conquer World 2.1.
phantomzero wrote: Wow, 73 points each if the Admins win, and 5 points each if the Field Marshals win
The ‘peanut gallery’ of watchers is having a blast, some giving votes of confidence to Admin.
fishydance wrote: Hey good luck all! Lack, how about tossing a few bodies of those you defeat into the ocean ... da fish are hungry tonight
Others root the big ranks.
Dragonah: If i had to throw my hat into the ring and place a bet on the victors, i'd be rooting for the admins, nothing against the field marshals though, they've proved they're strength for sure.
LED ZEPPELINER: stick it to the mods
Despite what seems a majority rooting for Admin, it seems some of Team 1 got a little scared on round 3:
2009-02-20 14:28:55 - AndyDufresne missed a turn
For those who wonder about future Whac-y tournaments, the question has been asked.
2009-02-16 17:21:47 - kinesthe: can we do another whack a mod soon? missed this one
The answer may depend on which team is victorious on this final match, so be sure to come out to the game and cheer on your favorite history-makers.
There’s a new forum! The Training Grounds! Go here for extra help!
Here are the tournaments that are currently taking signups. Just click the title to visit the thread.
Teams Tournaments
Credit Crunch
Organizer: Pedronicus
Major+ 2009 Spring Doubles League
Organizer: AndrewB
Double Dutch Doubles
Organizer: Lindax
Fantasy Fight
Organizer: Blitzaholic
1 versus 1 Tournaments
Psycho B’s NBA
Organizer: psychobkrazy
1v1 Capitalism
Organizer: lhcguy
Foundry Update 9.2
Organizer: Natewolfman
Around All CC’s Maps: Circus Maximus
Organizer: HighlanderAttack
qwert Bracket Tournament V
Organizer: qwert
Around All CC’s Maps: Charleston
Organizer: HighlanderAttack
Complete Control - USA
Organizer: FireStar
A Quick KO: Round 2
Organizer: JoshyBoy
Championship Series: City Mogul
Organizer: barterer2002
Championship Series: Conquer 4
Organizer: barterer2002
General Tournaments
Bounty Hunters Tournament
Organizer: der sniffter
NFL Draft
Organizer: blacky44
Escalating Freestyle King
Organizer: PJDH
Midwest League
Organizer: blacky44
In it to Win It
Organizer: BrotherWolf
American Idol Season 8
Organizer: Tupence
Fivemore’s World 2.1 6 player Tournament
Organizer: fivemore
Feudal War Assassins
Organizer: tsioumiou
American Adventure
Organizer: Premier2k
The Ocean Race – Laser Class
Organizer: saraith
Discworld Terminator
Organizer: DJ Teflon
Little Big World
Organizer: Naxus
Looking for reserves
Here are how some of the currently ongoing tournaments are progressing. Just click the title to visit the thread. Want your tournament listed here? Use the form at the end of this letter!
From Large Games to Small Games
Organiser: geigerm
14 players have been eliminated; Round 2 games are now under way.
MLB 2009 Tournament
Organiser: geigerm
Starting games soon, but still looking for reserves.
A 1v1 tourney following the 2009 Major League Baseball schedule. Players must choose a home map and a rotation of five "pitchers" (groups of settings) that will determine the gameplay throughout the season.
The Legend of Tor Na’Mit
Organizer: Gozar
Round Nine winding down.
Here are some tournaments that noted tournament organisers are planning on running soon.
From PaulusH using a 4x4 windmill setup- Puzzle Mix will need 16 doubles teams
From keiths31:In keeping with the "Musical Chairs" theme there will be:
Musical Chairs: Mini Maps
Musical Chairs: USA Map Pack
Musical Chairs: Island Tour
Tournament ideas from the mind of barterer2002 in the New Year
The Serbian Conquest
Kaplowitz's Unrelated Tournament
God of Godds
Night Sticks and Stones
Down and Dirty V
Brothers in Arms
Here are some recent tournament winners.
"Olympics Part 2: Altius" -CandaVespin and bamage
"Reincarnation" -ronc8649
"8 Thoughts Tour" -dustin800
"Championship Series: Centerscape" -Lucifer4o
"Qwert Bracket Tournament IV" -Natewolfman
"Poker Night at the Club" -lhcguy
"The Grand Oasis Tournament" -IronWood
"City Trip" -inos
"You've Been Hired to Kill that King" -slickstick
"Championship Series Charleston" -BaldAdonis
"Championship Series: Archipelago" -Gilligan
"Map Blaster IV the Pantheon Jihad" -Lisbon101
"The Champions League Tournament" -dustin800
"Ultimate 1v1" -sailorseal
"Super Quick Tourney Season 4" -JOHNNYROCKET24
"Halloween Doubles Tournament" -Lokisgal and Agonzos
"Master of the Second Age" -acores2005
"Conquerman Triangle" -Tisha, Mattastrophe, Sdin15
"Conqueror Crusoe, Ruler of the Islands" -dustin800 and sam02
"Last Man Standing Classic" -odratsab
"Band or Die 3" -Goggles Paisano, Vexx, PaulG, Easy n Dirty
"JRs 1v1 Challenge IV" -killmanic
"Conquer the New World" -Phr34ky
"Quick and Painless Tournament" -banana_hammocks
"Alliance of Feudal" -enterprise74 and WoWaholic
"Fight Together, Die Alone" -rudolphirvinpoir and jdenvil
"Championship Series: Caribbean Islands" -HighlanderAttack
"Championship Series: Canada" -jpcloet
"Melee" -Jackofalltrades
"King of Luxembourg" -Jess-95
"Around All CC's Maps: Battle for Actium" -White Moose
"Fuzzy's Freshman Fiasco" -AgEcon
"Fog of Feudal War" -psilotum
"The Land of Luck" -seamusvibe
"Don't Take Too Long - 2v2 Edition" -oldbenjamin & ctgottapee
"City Mogul Series Fast Track" -banana_hammocks
"North American Wars II" -Bad Speler
"Extreme Global War(ming)" -Gilligan
by stahrgazer
Back by popular demand and, as regularly as we can make them, your Tournament Newsletter staff puts the week’s focus on the Super Quick Tournament(s).
According to organizer kratos644 the setup is, “As quick as I can make it go. So doodle earth with 4 players escalating cards and unlimited forts for the first 2 rounds then the finals are played on a slightly larger map but still a small one. Aka Duck and Cover... Although, with the addition of the Luxembourg map that may very well change.”
Super Quick Tourney (Season 4)
viewtopic.php?f=92&t=75182&start=0#p1847509
Creativity 3 stars
Enjoyment 4 stars
Organization 5 stars
Timeliness of games 4 stars
Updates of Status 4 stars
Overall 4 stars
Rated by 50% of the participants
Understandably, creativity for a ‘series’ of tournaments is rated average rather than high. The answer to that may be in franchising.
“Have you heard of the 'tournament franchise' that's being offered soon? If so, what do you think of it?”
“Yes I have and I like the idea. This tournament will be franchised soon.”
An overwhelming majority of the participants would play it again. The series has had fifteen repeat players so far, and has a waiting list for the next season. If you happen to be interested in a series of well-organized, quick, fun tournaments using small maps, escalating spoils in a nearly free-for-all style, you might want to put your name in for the upcoming seasons of kratos644’s Super Quick Tourney.
“Season 5 will be starting soon. I'll be starting a large team tournament in about a month or so, and my 2nd season of my anime tourney will be starting somewhere around the same time frame so keep an eye out.”
This week we had the chance to talk with geigerm. All the questions in the interview are based off input from newsletter readers. Next week's interview is with stahrgazer, one of our new staff members. You can get your questions in by posting in this thread.
Now, on with the Interview!
Q: Hello, geigerm.
A: Howdy--thanks for asking me to do this interview.
Q:How did you find this website?
A: A poster on a Big Ten message board I visit regularly posted a thread about playing here. I gave it a try and was hooked almost instantly.
Q: Why did you join CC?
A: I really enjoy strategy games, including that board game to which CC has many similarities, which I will not mention for copyright infringement reasons.
Q:Why did you start to play tournaments?
A: I think there was a mass message sent out about the CCC Masters tournaments and the idea of possibly winning a premium membership appealed to me. That one got me hooked. In general, I like the idea of playing for a goal larger than just winning a game.
Q:What made you want to start running tournaments?
A: I've played in a ton of tourneys and thought I might have something to contribute. Also, I tend to be kind of fanatical about stat-keeping in larger tournaments I play--I always want to have the most up-to-date scores to help make decisions about who to target. (Obsessive-compulsive, I know.) Once I started keeping spreadsheets for my own scores, I figured it wasn't that big of a leap to do that for tourneys.
Q: How long have you been organizing tournaments?
A: Just started a few weeks ago--posted my first tournament thread on January 9.
Q:What tournament did you first run?
A: From Large Games to Small Games
Q: Where did you come up with your tournament ideas?
A: Mostly, I've thought about the type of games/tourneys I've enjoyed as well as how my interests outside this site might fit a tournament.
For my first tourney, I recognized that I really enjoy playing both really large (6-8 player) and really small (1v1) games, and thought it would be fun to have a tourney where people played all game sizes.
For my second tourney (MLB 2009 Tournament), I just thought it would be cool to have a tournament based on the Major League Baseball season.
Q: Who do you look to for inspiration when organizing your tournaments?
A: Geez ... pretty much anyone who's run a successful tourney that I've played in. With apologies to people I'm leaving out, I'll highlight a few:
- flexmaster33 runs some awesome sports-themed tournaments.
- I've always enjoyed Sir. Ricco's tournies and think it's a shame he's no longer on CC.
- brandoncfi's Map Blaster series was the first tourney that showed me the benefit of tourney strategy, not just concentrating on winning games.
- And I feel like almost everyone who's played a tournament on this site must have played one by Natewolfman, Gilligan, barterer2002, Optimus Prime, and/or amazzony, and therefore been influenced by them in some way.
Q: Describe the experience of your first tournament ran, and first played in.
A: The first one I've run is still going on--we just entered the second round of games. Took a while to fill, but I've only needed 2 reserves so far. I'm really enjoying running it. And since I was the first player knocked out, I don't need to concentrate on playing in it any more!
I barely remember the first one I played in--it was the CCC Masters, as I said before, and a quick check with the Game Finder shows I was knocked out in the first round. But I did lose to the eventual champ of my division. So that's some consolation.
Q: How many tournaments have you run already, and do you have a goal in mind for how many you want to run in total before you "retire"? How many are you running right now?
A: I'm running my first 2 right now. I have no plans for retirement, but my kids may have something to say about that at some point.
Q:What tournaments have you organized?
A: From Large Games to Small Games, MLB 2009 Tournament
Q:What is your favourite tournament you have run?
A: Isn't that like asking me to choose which kid is my favorite? Seriously, I haven't gotten far enough into either to pick one--one's in the second round, the other's just about to start. I really like the ideas for both of them and I'm just happy they filled.
Q: What is your favorite tournament you’ve played in? Why?
A: Can't pick just one. The Map Blaster series is awesome because I love large escalating games, as well as getting to play (almost) every map on the site. Bring it On! is more of a league than a tourney, but it's still an awesome concept and I'm going to stay involved in that for as long as it runs. And I really loved the idea of the Dojo Yaburi tournament and would love to see a follow-up tournament run.
Those are my top 3 at the moment, but I might give a different answer on a different day.
Q:Do you prefer to run or enter tournaments?
A: Enter--I really enjoy organizing, but I still prefer to keep trying to win these things!
Q: Is there a specific type of format that you tend to gravitate towards? Why? Is there a format that is your favourite? What about other peoples' tournaments?
A: Nope, no specific format--since I enjoy a wide variety of games, my tournies are going to reflect that range of interests. I will say that as a player, I'm a sucker for a simple (or not-so-simple) bracket. Just seed everyone, line 'em up, and let 'em play. But until I have a theme that fits a bracket, I won't run a bracket tourney.
Q: Do you find it easier to choose tournament settings yourself, or to let the players customize them?
A: Choose them myself. Letting players choose may make for a more interesting tourney (that's certainly how I feel as a player), but it's clearly more work for the organizer.
Q: Overall, are you playing a lot in tournaments? If not, then why and where do you find your games to play?
A: Right now, 100% of my games are tourney games, and I've got about 35 active games across 5-10 tournies (don't know the exact number). I occasionally get the urge to start a game to work on a particular map, or a game will pop up within one of my usergroups, but I'm almost exclusively a tourney player at this point.
Q: How excited were you with your first CC win?
A: I honestly don't remember it. I was probably pretty happy.
Q:Have you ever won a tournament?
A: Yup, Map Blaster III, with graulenst as my teammate.
Q: What is your most disappointing tournament loss to date?
A: The 2008 Sprint Cup Series. I really had to work to make the final round, went into that round in 4th place (if I remember correctly), and with one game still in progress, I had taken the lead. All I had to do was finish ahead of aspalm. I thought I had the tourney locked up, was planning my next move ... and the next thing I know, that last game is showing up in my "Eliminated" list, and aspalm's the one who knocked me out. That's what I get for assuming I was going to win.
Q: In your mind, what makes a successful tournament?
A: A great idea, a dedicated organizer, and--last but probably most important--active, interested players.
Q: What do you consider to be the most successful tournaments you've seen run?
A: Waaaay too many to list, once again. All the ones I mentioned earlier, certainly. All of the EIOT tournaments just because the whole idea was so cool (although I think one or two of them got derailed a bit). And I'm always impressed by successful tournies where the organizer has a ton of stuff to keep track of, like dittoeevee8888's Jeopardy tourney, or Army of Achilles' Ultimate All Maps 1x1 Tournament. I know I'm missing a bunch, especially newer ones.
Q: What is the best Tournament that you think has been underestimated?
A: I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone who knows how to answer this question in this interview. I honestly don't know how tourneys would be rated, so how could they be underestimated? Maybe we should have a tourney rating system so this question's a little easier to answer!
Q:Have you ever been disappointed in a tournament you have run? What about one you entered?
A: So far, no disappointments in the two I'm running. I've seen a couple I entered fall apart and get canceled/abandoned for various reasons, and that's always disappointing.
Q: What makes a successful organizer?
A: Good ideas, good presentation/communication skills, dedication, and a willingness to spend far too much time on CC making tournaments run smoothly.
Q: How do you attract players to your tournament, and what aspect (besides a reward of a premium prize or something like that) of a tournament do you think appeals to a lot of players and why?
A: Well, I had some trouble filling my first tourney, so I "attracted" players by sending a private message to a group of players I had seen as relatively frequent opponents in other tournaments.
I try to make my first post as clear, detailed, and interesting as possible, but I have no idea if that attracts people. I fear that sometimes I may give a little too much detail (kind of like I'm doing in this interview!).
I wish I knew exactly what appealed to a lot of players. I think most players go for simplicity--games or tourneys that are easy to join, easy to follow, but competitive and interesting. Otherwise ... come back and ask me again after I've organized a few more of these things.
Q: Is there anything in particular that you dislike about tournament organizing?
A: Waiting for my tournaments to fill. Once I've come up with the idea and posted the thread, I really just want to get the tourney started as soon as possible.
Q: For you, what is the best part of being a tournament organizer?
A: Being able to contribute to a section of this site that's brought me so much enjoyment.
Q: What mistakes do you see tournament organizers make the most?
A: Hard to tell--I'm not sure I even notice their mistakes. I do hate waiting for a long time between games without any updates if, for example, other games in the round are still going on. So I guess the one "mistake" I see is keeping players in the dark during a long delay.
Q: With experience comes the wisdom of knowing what mistakes you've made in the past so you can avoid them in the future. What mistakes have you made in your tournaments that you are sure to avoid in future tournaments?
A: I've been lucky so far--nothing too bad. But I did make a bunch of games with the wrong settings in the 2nd round of my first tourney. I will now always double-check the settings before sending out the games!
Q:What is your opinion on organizer neutrality? Should organizers be allowed to place themselves against their own clanmates in tournaments? Should organizers be allowed to join their own tournaments at all?
A: I'm all for letting organizers play in their own tournies--if you put in the effort to make a good tourney, you should get to enjoy it. I've only seen one case where I thought an organizer was going out of his way to make the tourney easier for himself, so most organizers are very good at staying neutral. And I wouldn't exclude clanmates, either.
Q: Do you use a "schedule" for updating your tournaments, or do you just wait until they need an update?
A: My first tourney hasn't needed a formal schedule--I've been just checking games periodically and posting updates when interesting things happen. With the MLB tourney, I think I'm going to need a schedule, since it's going to be such a big tournament.
Q:Should “question marks” be allowed to join tournaments?
A: I truly have no opinion on this one.
Q:Do you feel it is better to give a bye to players whose opponents deadbeats the tournament, or to use a reserve?
A: I tend to lean toward using reserves, as I wouldn't want people to move on in a tourney without earning it.
Q: If you could change one thing about Conquer Club in general, what would it be?
A: My winning percentage and overall score?
That really has nothing to do with the site in general. I can't think of anything I'd change about the site.Q: If there was something that the Conquer Club administrators could implement into the game to make tournaments easier to manage, what would it be? Similarly, is there anything you would like to see taken away from Conquer Club to make running tournaments easier?
A: Maybe adding the ability to make multiple games with the same settings at once would make things easier. What would be really sweet, but incredibly hard to code, is some sort of auto-scoring system for tournies. Let the organizer set the parameters, whether the scoring is just based on wins, points for lasting longer in games, etc., and then game results would be automatically logged.
Can't think of anything to take away.
Q: If you are thinking purely on balance of tournament games is there anything you would want changing?
A: Nope.
Q: Is there anything that you would recommend to encourage new tournament organizers?
A: If you've got an idea you'd like to see in a tourney, go for it. You can't be any worse at this than I am.
In all seriousness, I've seen a bunch of new organizers making cool tournies lately, so I don't think anyone needs any encouragement from me.
Q: List your top 5 biggest tournament headaches to this point
A:Hmmm ... well ...
- Trying to figure out all the details of the MLB tournament, which is going to be a handful.
- Having my first tourney take almost 3 weeks to fill and not knowing if I'd actually get a tournament off the ground. (Those are the organizer-related headaches, but I was asked for a top 5, so ... )
- Deadbeating my way out of tournaments I really wanted to finish because my kids got sick and I truly didn't have time to find a sitter.
- Trying to figure out what the clues in Natewolfman's darn CC Scavengers tournament mean.
- Fighting my uncontrollable urge to check the "Create/Join a Tournament" forum 1 million times a day.
Q:How much time does CC take from your day?
A: Far more than it should.
Q:Are you a member of any clans or usergroups?
A: The 1v1 Gladiators usergroup, and The Grey Company, a clan which is, sadly, mostly dead.
Q:Who are you?
A: I am Batman.
No, seriously, I'm a proud father of 2 and a dedicated husband (when I'm not on here) who works as a professor of computer engineering and computer science.
Q: Why did you pick the name geigerm?
A: A very boring reason--it was my username in grad school, and I've been using it on sites like this one and the message boards on which I post just so I can keep everything straight.
Q:Where are you from?
A: Originally from southeastern Connecticut, but I now live in Massachusetts.
Q:Favourite play colour?
A: Anything but pink. I'm a terrible pink player, for some reason.
Q:Favourite and least favourite map?
A: Battle of Actium is my favorite, as I think it plays well for both large and small games (at least for me).
Least favorite is probably a tie between Circus Maximus and British Isles. The British Isles hate is particularly irrational--it's not a bad map; I just can't seem to win on it.
Q:Favourite settings?
A: No spoils / chained / fog for 1v1 games; escalating / chained / no fog for everything else.
Q:Freestyle or sequential?
A: Sequential, absolutely. I'm a terrible freestyle player, I know it, and I'm not really interested in taking the time to get better at it any time soon.
Q: Any tournaments planned for the future? What are they?
A: Assuming From Large Games to Small Games continues to run smoothly, I'll probably run a "From Small Games to Large Games" tourney. I really did like Dojo Yaburi, so I'll think about maybe running a follow-up myself. And I've got a few other ideas I'm kicking around, but you'll hear about them if and when I actually have the time to run them.
Q: Any parting shots?
A: I could think of something witty to say here, but haven't I said enough already?
Q: Thank you for your time.
A: Thanks again for having me.
Interviews Interview with stahrgazer
Notes
If you want your tournament included in a future issue, please PM Gozar using this form:
----------------FORM-------------------
Tournament Name: (with link)
Organiser Name:
Status:
Brief description or update:
Rough estimate of percent complete/signed up:
---------------FORM---------------------
You can also write articles to submit for publishing, I can't keep this running by myself, I need YOUR help!
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Staff
Editor in chief- Gozar
Recruiting Editor/Fun Facts- Gilligan
Graphics- Sir. Ricco/samuelc812
News Hound- stahrgazer and blacky44
Reviews- stahrgazer
Contributors- People like you!
