DKs CSFR series 08 -- Praha [Final Results]

[bdb]

Karlsteinjn Castle

Because a castle is appropriate for CC

from http://www.joutrip.com/

[Charle]

Charles University

[CatchersMitt14]

"Charles Bridge is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Lesser Town (Malá Strana)."

From: http://farazjaka.com/prague-2/

[Peteee]

Flanesford Priory was an Augustinian priory in Herefordshire, England.

Sir Richard Talbot, then owner of nearby Goodrich Castle, founded the priory in 1346 as a house of the Canons Regular of St Augustine. The priory church was dedicated to St John the Baptist and Sir Richard Talbot was buried there on his death. Wikipedia

This priory is now holiday apartments and we spent a family weekend there to celebrate my mothers 70th birthday.

[Captn B]

Within the grounds of Prague Castle, the Roman Catholic St. Vitus Cathedral (Katedrala St. Vita) is the Czech Republic's largest and most important Christian church. Seat of the Archbishop of Prague, it's also home to the tombs of numerous saints and three Bohemian kings. Founded on the site of a Romanesque rotunda built in 925 AD, the cathedral was started in 1344 and took more than 525 years to complete, resulting in a mix of modern Neo-Gothic and 14th-century Gothic styles, along with Baroque and Renaissance influences.


Picture and commentary cited from: http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attra ... z-pr-p.htm

[morleyjoe]

I assume we are still waiting on a few games?

[Dukasaur]

I assume we are still waiting on a few games?

Yeah, there are still a few active games.

That being said, I would have put out the next round last weekend without waiting for them, but I just ran out of time. Got 7 of my 10 active tournaments updated, plus one new one written, and next thing you know the weekend was over.

[morleyjoe]

I assume we are still waiting on a few games?

Yeah, there are still a few active games.

That being said, I would have put out the next round last weekend without waiting for them, but I just ran out of time. Got 7 of my 10 active tournaments updated, plus one new one written, and next thing you know the weekend was over.

Thanks - keep up all the good work. I've only got one event going and I know how hard it is to keep on top of.

[Dukasaur]

There is one remaining active game:
Game 16291237


All other games have been scored and spreadsheet updated.

[Dukasaur]

My top pic for the creative component was this stunningly-beautiful view of Charles Bridge, presented by CatchersMitt14:

"Charles Bridge is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Lesser Town (Malá Strana)."

From: http://farazjaka.com/prague-2/

My second choice, was this great pic of Karlstejn Castle. One of the first castles I ever visited in my childhood, and still one of my favourites.

Karlsteinjn Castle

Because a castle is appropriate for CC

from http://www.joutrip.com/

The updated Creative Component scores:
Subject: DKs CSFR series 08 -- Praha [1st Interlude]

Creative Component Participants:

• Wencenslaus
  1. Peteee 5
  2. mackadoo 3
  3. aspalm 3
  4. Zbynja 1
  5. molespe 1
• Jaromir
  1. MyTurnToWin 5
  2. Captn B 3
  3. morleyjoe 3
  4. Peteee 1
  5. aspalm 1
  6. waauw 1
  7. CatchersMitt14 1
• Charles IV
  1. CatchersMitt14 5
  2. bdb 3
  3. Silly Knig-it 1
  4. aspalm 1
  5. morleyjoe 1
  6. Charle 1
  7. Peteee 1
  8. Captn B 1

after 3 rounds:
Creative Component Leaderboard:

1. Peteee 7
2. CatchersMitt14 6
3. MyTurnToWin 5
4. aspalm 5
5. Captn B 4
6. morleyjoe 4
7. mackadoo 3
8. bdb 3
9. Zbynja 1
10. molespe 1
11. waauw 1
12. Silly Knig-it 1
13. Charle 1

[Dukasaur]

The winner of Phase 1 was was molespe. (rec'd prize Jan 24th)
The winner of Phase 2 was morleyjoe. (rec'd prize March 13th)
The winner of Phase 3 (thus far) is Peteee. Peteee was one of the people who helped choose the settings for the First Interlude (Phase 3) as a result of being the Creative Component winner in Phase 1. It seems that my plan is working, and doing well in the Creative Component does help confer an advantage in the Games Component.

[Dukasaur]

3rd Assassination 1st Defenestration 1419
With the accession of John of Luxembourg the dynastic wars had ended, but soon a new evil was to stalk the land. During the reign of Charles IV, freethinking was encouraged. By the 1370s a reformist movement had begun in Prague, with new, university-educated priests calling for reforms in the Church that would be considered minor by today's standards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Reformation#Origins

Bit by bit, the reformist movement became more radical. By 1412, Jan Hus openly rejected the authority of the Pope and was soon excommunicated. The Reformation was under way (despite the later pretenses of Germans to date the Reformation as beginning with Luther, whose career began almost 100 years after Hus'.)

On July 30th 1419 a Hussite mob led by Jan Želivský marched through the streets, demanding that Hussites jailed for heresy and other crimes be released forthwith. When the Town Council refuse, the Hussites stormed City Hall and hurled the Councillors out the window. (Defenestration, literally, means the act of throwing someone out the window.) This mass murder became known as the First Defenestration of Prague and touched off 230 years of religious violence, extremism, and civil wars.

What a pretty City Hall! Who would have thought what crimes of hate could take place at such a beautiful venue!

"Prague Praha 2014 Holmstad - Det nye rådhuset - Novomestska Radnice - The New Town Hall - Nove Mesto - First defenestration" by Øyvind Holmstad - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ration.JPG

While the Bohemia was rolling towards civil war, the Middle Ages were ending. The old patterns of town versus country and clergy versus nobility were ending, and a new European order was emerging, divided more by religion and language than occupation and class.

Games: To mark this transition, the extra games will be Middle Ages. You will play 5 6-player Assassin games in this Phase, 2 on the CSFR map and 3 on the Middle Ages map. All will be Foggy, Flat Rate, Parachute, No Trench.

Creative Component: Say something about the damage that religious intolerance has caused. Use as few words as you wish, but creativity counts. Post your thoughts NO SOONER than the day I send the first invite in this phase, and no more than 7 days after that.

Phase 4 (3rd Assassination) games have been created and invitations sent. Scoreboard is up-to-date except for one single game still ongoing in Phase 3. (Game 16291237)

[Dukasaur]

Muti has missed the first round of invites. Re-sent.

[Silly Knig-it]

With our worldwide focus on the Middle East and what it has become, we forget or in many cases never knew that once it was the center of learning for the Western World. And no, I am not referring to Roman times. In the 13th Century, and for the years around then, anyone who wanted to be seriously educated or to share their knowledge amongst peers went to major cities in what is now Syria, Iran, Iraq to learn and to share.

Just one example of what came out of that time. If you use numbers that look like 1234567890, then you are using something invented then. So how did a place that could make such fundamental inventions and contributions go to become a place we never think of when it comes to learning. Religious intolerance and the rise of fundamentalism. Free thought and idea exchange can not exist in places where intolerance thrives. And this is only one example. I can find an example for every religion. I wish I could not.

[Peteee]

Orks don't muck go in for religious intolerance... We will basically fight anyone.

However, in our more reflective moments - between fights- we believe there are 2 gods. Mork and Gork. Now one is brutal but sneaky the other is sneaky but brutal. We can never agree which is which and pour scorn or whatever molten liquid we have to hand on our opponent.

This intolerance of the opposing view leads to a thinning of our numbers but eventually means only the fittest survive. Something, of a viewpoint held by those pesky humans we keep stumbling across. And don't get us started on their God Emporer.

[morleyjoe]

Intolerance....where does one begin? It is around us in so many forms, not just in religion. It is found in race, class, gender, education, employment, and age. Even the simplest forms of intolerance cause damage. Just thinking negatively about someone because of who they are, what they believe, how they look, or where they are from, all of it is intolerance. These may sound simple, but they can manifest in those that allow it, and even worse in those that act upon it. And sadly, those that act upon it based on religion feel they are empowered by their own religious beliefs. The damage is there for the whole world to see, yet sadly this intolerance is so strongly entrenched, that those acting upon it do not see it as such. They see it as strength, as proof that it is not intolerance, but as a justified behavior or reaction. The damage has been done, and will continue for a long as these beliefs exist.

[Dukasaur]

Intolerance....where does one begin? It is around us in so many forms, not just in religion. It is found in race, class, gender, education, employment, and age. Even the simplest forms of intolerance cause damage. Just thinking negatively about someone because of who they are, what they believe, how they look, or where they are from, all of it is intolerance. These may sound simple, but they can manifest in those that allow it, and even worse in those that act upon it. And sadly, those that act upon it based on religion feel they are empowered by their own religious beliefs. The damage is there for the whole world to see, yet sadly this intolerance is so strongly entrenched, that those acting upon it do not see it as such. They see it as strength, as proof that it is not intolerance, but as a justified behavior or reaction. The damage has been done, and will continue for a long as these beliefs exist.

By far the best written of the three submissions, this one would definitely qualify for five points except that it was a bit late. Going to penalize it a couple points, and award three points for this.

With our worldwide focus on the Middle East and what it has become, we forget or in many cases never knew that once it was the center of learning for the Western World. And no, I am not referring to Roman times. In the 13th Century, and for the years around then, anyone who wanted to be seriously educated or to share their knowledge amongst peers went to major cities in what is now Syria, Iran, Iraq to learn and to share.

Just one example of what came out of that time. If you use numbers that look like 1234567890, then you are using something invented then. So how did a place that could make such fundamental inventions and contributions go to become a place we never think of when it comes to learning. Religious intolerance and the rise of fundamentalism. Free thought and idea exchange can not exist in places where intolerance thrives. And this is only one example. I can find an example for every religion. I wish I could not.

This would have been the second-place entry if not for the deadline issue. Going to score this three points, but going to also call you the overall winner of this round on the technicality.

Orks don't muck go in for religious intolerance... We will basically fight anyone.

However, in our more reflective moments - between fights- we believe there are 2 gods. Mork and Gork. Now one is brutal but sneaky the other is sneaky but brutal. We can never agree which is which and pour scorn or whatever molten liquid we have to hand on our opponent.

This intolerance of the opposing view leads to a thinning of our numbers but eventually means only the fittest survive. Something, of a viewpoint held by those pesky humans we keep stumbling across. And don't get us started on their God Emporer.

Third-place entry. One point.

[Dukasaur]

Update April 7th.

The first four phases are now complete.

The scoreboard has been completely updated:
Click here for the scoreboard

With the update, Peteee is now officially the winner of the third phase (First Interlude -- the Golden Age of Charles IV). We pretty much knew that Peteee won that phase a while back, but I waited until all games in the phase were finished.

Waauw is the winner of the fourth phase (Third Assassination -- First Defenestration). Waauw also takes over as overall points leader.

Peteee and Waauw have both received their three-month premium prizes. Congrats Peteee and waauw!



List of games and single-phase prize winners is here: https://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=215515#p4744156

Now, turning our attention to the Creative Component. Morleyjoe had the best submission in the creative component for this phase. However, it was a bit late and I had to penalize him a couple of points. Silly knig-it also had a good submission, which would have been second except that it was on time, and on the technicality I have decided to give the win to Silly and put Morleyjoe 2nd for this phase. Morleyjoe also moved up to 2nd in the overall Creative Component Standings. Peteee came in third this time, but it was enough for him to cling to a narrow lead overall.

Click here for the Creative Component scoreboard

Participation in the Creative Component remains low. I would hope some more people would try their hand at this form of participation. This is the kind of thing that makes a tournament an experience and not just a bunch of games.

As winners of the Creative Component for the third and fourth phase, CatchersMitt14 and Silly Knig-it will be helping to pick the settings for phase five. Once they get back to me, the next round will be going out. Maybe Sunday, maybe Monday, depending on how busy I am at work.


Game scoreboard is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sqMgZ48N7dHCqhl0yGp_aORwhkWKOgAHaJD4PsKceWU/edit?usp=sharing

[Dukasaur]

Re-posting bdb's image of Karlstejn.

Just because it's beautiful...

[Dukasaur]

As winners of the Creative Component for the third and fourth phase, CatchersMitt14 and Silly Knig-it will be helping to pick the settings for phase five.

Settings for the 2nd interlude, as agreed to by CM14 and Silly:

• CSFR (1): 5, Standard, Seq, Esq, chained, fog, trench
• CSFR (2): 5, Standard, Seq, Esq, para, fog, trench
• Solar System: 6, Standard, Manual, Seq, Esq, unlimited, fog, trench
• 8 Thoughts: 6, Standard, Seq, Flat, adjacent, sunny
• Tribal Israel: 6, Standard, Seq, Esq, para, fog

[Dukasaur]

At long last, the 2nd interlude games have been sent. Thank you for your patience, everyone!

[Dukasaur]

2nd Interlude Age of Rudolph II, Rabbi Leow and The Golem, Tycho Brahe and Kepler]Our second Interlude features a "Little Golden Age" in the reign of Rudolf II Habsburg.

Rudolf's legacy has traditionally been viewed in three ways:[1] an ineffectual ruler whose mistakes led directly to the Thirty Years' War; a great and influential patron of Northern Mannerist art; and a devotee of occult arts and learning which helped seed the scientific revolution.

Rudolf was a true Renaissance man. His hunger for knowledge was wide ranging. Critics have pointed out that he was duped by occultist con men like Edward Kelly and John Dee, but he also supported many legitimate scientists like the botanist Charles de l'Ecluse. A balanced view is that in that time it was impossible to have one without the other. There was no easy way to separate hoaxers from legitimate scientists, and a seeker of knowledge would have to deal with both. In fact many scientists were both, such as alchemists who nonetheless were laying the foundations for modern chemistry. Tycho Brahe was the official court astrologer, but he was also a legitimate astronomer whose careful observations paved the way for Johanne Kepler's discoveries, and in fact Brahe made important discoveries in his own right.

Rudolf also surrounded himself with musicians, poets, and painters.

A discussion of this magical time would not be complete without the story of the Golem. Prague had a large and thriving Jewish community, which for most of its history was on good terms with Christian communities. During the time of religious strife, however, they began to suffer serious assaults. Protestant and Catholic fanatics alike, when they took time out from fighting each other, often harassed and sometimes killed Jews. In 1588 Rabbi Loew, a noted Rabbinic scholar, arrived in Prague. Loew was a moderate and an intellectual. He decried not only religious intolerance by Christians but also religious intolerance by the Jews themselves.

Rabbi Loew actually only stayed four years. In 1592 he accepted a position as Chief Rabbi of Poland. However, his four years in Prague were productive and earned him substantial fame. There is a story that Loew created a Golem to serve and defend the Jewish quarter of Prague. Most of the Golem's activities were benign: carrying water from the river, splitting firewood for orphans and widows, and so on. In some legends, however, the Golem becomes violent, and murders Christians who have persecuted Jews.

Modern scholars believe the Golem legend was not even a 16th century story. It is believed to have originated in the 18th century and been recast in the 16th to take advantage of Loew's fame. Nonetheless, it is now an entrenched part of the folklore.

Games: In this Phase you will play 5 games of any type other than Assassin. The first two will be on the CSFR map, the third will be on 8 Thoughts (to honour the many scholars both sane and insane that surrounded Rudolf) the fourth will be on Solar System (in honour of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler) and the last will be on Tribal Wars: Ancient Israel to honour Rabbi Loew. The players who won the creative component in Phase 3 and Phase 4 will choose the game types and settings (and I will intervene only if necessary to break an impasse.)

Creative Component: Who is your favourite member of Rudolf's court? One of the alchemists? The poets? The astronomers? Tell a story about the life of your favourite. Post your thoughts NO SOONER than the day I send the first invite in this phase, and no more than 7 days after that.

[aspalm]

Creative Component:

Come on- is there any question that the definitive answer to everyone's favorite member of Rudolf's court was the most famous: Tycho Brahe was an insanely interesting genius, whose eccentricites enhance his legendary status. Here's just a couple awesome facts (or supposed facts) to consider:
1) Perhaps the most well-know trait about Tycho is that he wore a prosthetic nose. He lost his real nose in a duel. A duel with another mathematician over a mathematical formula. Because what better way to settle a debate over a math problem than to chop off someone's nose.
2) Tycho lived in a castle because he was crazy-wealthy. This was thanks in part to the fact that his father received much favor for once saving the King of Denmark from drowning. Anyway, in Tycho's castle he kept a little person that lived under the dinner table. I'll let your mind wanter on that one. Oh, and he also had a pet elk that wandered the halls. Unfortunately the elk died by getting drunk and falling down the stairs of the castle. Happens in my castle all the time.
3) Tycho died under mysterious circumstances, and his body was exhumed later to confirm he was probably poisoned. Turns out there's a good chance the King had him killed because rumor had it....Tycho may have been his father. This circumstance sound strangely familiar? Well, maybe because there's a theory that the Tycho Brahe story was the motivation for Shakespeare to write a little known story entitled.....Hamlet.
The other theory as to his death was that it was his pupil, Kepler, who did him in to gain access to Brahe's star charts. From which Kepler took the science of astrophysics into the modern age.

No one is sure, however, who is responsible for overserving the elk.

[Dukasaur]

Four players have missed their first round of invites this phase -- Nucker, Zbynja, adam666, and muti.

Nucker, Zbynja, and adam666 seem to be still active on the site, so their invites have been re-sent. Muti seems to be offline since April 6th, so he is removed from the tournament and our one remaining reserve, therhino3, is called up to active duty.

[Dukasaur]

Nucker missed again. Re-sent one more time. We have no reserves, so may as well give an extra opportunity.