Comm's back and wonderin' who's alive?

[CommissarGaunt]

Just an old fuddy-duddy wondering who, if at all still plays Crossfire on wc3? For you youngbloods who don't know me. I was the founder and one time leader of ToHS. Now I'm back to have some leisurely fun with an old but enjoyable game. Hit me up on wc3. Names Commissar_Gaunt. Fun sailin' folks.

[kill the floor]

y I remember you, but you probably dont remember me since I was a beginner back than and wasnt so active. But I'm glad you're back. I hope you dont get disencouraged by the long waiting time ;p

[CommissarGaunt]

Oh, I've played a few games. The wait times are a bit obnoxious, but not to bad. I generally go off and do something else whilst the game fills up. Most annoying thing is how much the meta has shifted. It's odd switching gears from a few years old play style to the new one. Not sure if I really like it. The whole idea of rushing 5 and 7k ships makes a lot of the weapons obsolete and rather pointless. Except for combining that is. The gold per second and empire gold encourages people to just sit back and not farm, let the gold get spread equally so everyone pops off 5k ships at roughly the same time. And most people flip their shit if you farm. Not to mention throwing royal fits if you range. So as a whole, I think it's lost a lot. Boring saving straight to 5/7k. No early action combat. Big ships then use abilities to farm waves to get weapons and focus more on picking off those in sun sailors until they in turn get 5/7k. Slow save for weapons, then farm, then combat. It's turned into a very passive aggressive game. Funny enough though, a fair few of my old strats and builds work against this sort of thing. Regardless, in short, not sure I like this new form of playing.

[el-trickser]

well why would you want to farm in battleships when the gold goes to you through empire gold anyway
only reason to farm would have been if you wouldnt get the gold
by farming you just harm the team
i know the waiting is quite boring, but thats how battleships is
it would be nice to have a mode like on battletanks where you start with 10k gold and on lvl 10
to speed things up, and dont have the waiting time

[CommissarGaunt]

Not to mention the attitude of some of the repeat players is utterly atrocious. Then again it's the internet and everyone feels secure in going postal on people. Namely 'cause there will never be any reprisals for such foul conduct. Ah well.

[CommissarGaunt]

So in short. Sit there. Shut up. Collect gold. Wait for the fair and equal share of gold. Don't be aggressive. Twiddle your thumbs. Get a big ship. No weapons. Wait some more. Get weapons. Pussy foot around waiting for someone to make a mistake. Punish the mistake. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Eventually take down the harbors and towers once enough mistakes have been made.

That doesn't promote any kind of competitive game play. If that's your idea of battleships then I have to say it's gotten rather... stupid. Times change sure. But sometimes the change leads to an evolutionary dead end or stagnation. While not dead, it's definitely stagnating. Battleships, and other games of this ilk, are supposed to be based on competition. Item and ship comp, honing play styles and strategies. Not this. Never this. I can see why a lot of the more competitive people from my time left and moved onto other things. Like a real competitive moba.

What your whole idea is no longer competition. No strive for farming, killing, or otherwise being combative. Because it's equal for both sides to just sit back well out of range, get levels, passive gold, there is no incentive to get gritty. To punish the other team for sitting back and passively getting gold. Without the need to farm to get items and ships, there is no conflict. Imagine no empire gold, and a tuned back passive gold gain. It encourages fighting. Push back the enemy so they can't farm. Put them in a deeper hole. Daring plays. Tower Dives. More 1.2k and 3k ship plays. Aggression. Conflict. The reason for games like this. But no. War game turned into a cow clicker for the first 10+ minutes of a game. Exciting. Big ships with one big skill, that drop and run. Entertaining.

Oh no! someone on one team is getting all the farm! Travesty, I'm now broke as all hell and can't do anything. Right, sure thing. Don't break it down into a comp that gives one or two people straight dps, one supportive role, one additional surplus to fill a needed gap. Ship only? Great! Designated Tower breaker? Got ya. Ranged support to harass on the rush in and out? Sure thing! Need a net? Got you covered. Oh no! Invis! Scope. Well shit, the enemy team is using the same freaking ship comp every single freaking game! Try something new. Oh wait, I forgot, it's not the meta. Wah wah wah. You're farming, your a detriment to the team, wah wah wah. -toot toot- Fail boat.

Feel free to criticize and or debate. Cheers.

[OneFamousNamespoofer]

To start off: Heya commissar, nice to see some ToHS people around. Actually I used to be a clan member for a month or so because your clan had some enjoyable people.^^
I leave my humble opionion here: your critic is very true and I really miss the feeling of an actual "earlygame" in crossfire. But I'd rather like to blame the short mode for it. It makes no sense to go for a 3k ship since 3/4 minutes later they come up with 5k or 7k boats and shred you. This results of the very high "passive gold" per sec in short mode for each player + empire.

But when thinking about crossfire gameplay a few years ago I realise that it wasn't that much of a difference: Ofc some used to get a cruiser cannon to punch the enemy a bit in early game. But then everyone waited for gold and got ships. Just as its now. Little note: I remember a clanwar between Clan BsC (europe) and ToHs some years ago. I played on the BsC team against you guys. Your team went for early structure dmg (bowmen I recall) and pushed us hard. We lost 3 towers before coming up with oc and a bunch of 5k ships and won the game in 20 minutes. Afterwards you were a little bit pissed off by that tactic, called us boring and lame, no big deal. And by "you" I dont mean you in person but someone from your team (my memory leaked there though; could have been artemiy or edgecrusher).

I think after a certain time it always came down to a similar tactic. Years ago an oc freeze or schtoepsel was the must have to win a game. Now a different pattern built up. However, lookin forward to see you in a game though (?)^^
Cpt.Herakles

[phantom]

If i recall, the meta you just described is an old one comm. I think it happened when you were taking one of your "breaks". also when is it the best time to find a game of bships?

[CommissarGaunt]

Oh, I don't doubt anyone from tohs would of been pissed and thrown a royal fit. It just doesn't feel like they're is a good flow for things currently. One way your weapon heavy and easy to be picked off by ship skills, other way, you wait around on ships skills and are passive for long times with really short bursts of aggression. Just chewing an old bone here. The meta changes a lot. Flame Freeze combo. Hmav before the nerf. Freaking stacking Naga summons for a chain stun. Full bore silence. Net and freeze. Now I don't ever see a game where someone doesn't get the ship that chucks elemental grenades. And 6/10 games have an advanced viking.

I'd just like to encourage more flexibility in builds and ship comps. Same thing game in and game out is boring. But, winning combinations are the biggest draw for people. And if you know it will win, why change things around? Kind of a killer mindset.

Phantom, honestly it takes forever for a game to fill up. Best time I've seen is the evening-ish hours. And the weekend.

Fair note, if I sound petulant or butt hurt about things, kind of am. Mainly 'cause I see a great game going down a slow stagnate end. Also, and this plagues any competitive arena battle game, the people who do play, need to encourage and help newbs and not blow up on them. I can't count the number of times I've seen regulars belittle people instead of helping them. Won't state any names, or point fingers yet. But, it would go a long way to prevent leavers and encourage people to come back for more.

[CommissarGaunt]

Side note, just about anyone from ToHS (including myself) were/are really belligerent and nasty people at the worst of times. Some of us even like that at the best of times.

[CommissarGaunt]

And yes, I remember you Herakles. Played a few games with you before. And few is a rather subjective term. Probably more like a fair few. Another side note, are any clan channels for bs up and running on USWEST anymore?

[el-trickser]

i dont think there are many active clans left
there is boat and sos
about any other clan is dead