2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

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ahuyton
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2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by ahuyton »

We are just about all done, with one game to wrap up. That one looks like a victory for Kiwiwarlord over LFDLM and we will arbitrate in the next days unless I hear from Cedric.

I hope that all players enjoyed our little tournament. Thanks to everyone who took part.

The novelty was playing in teams and Kiwiwarlord's band of warriors gave us (LFDLM and co) a sound beating in each round. You can have a look at the results page for more detail if you really want to.

Personally, I enjoyed running the tournament and would be happy to launch another. But before that let us think about:

- What is a good format? Teams? Individuals? If teams, how to balance them better?
- Choice of armies? Or a series of preset matches, as Stockwellpetedoes in the FoG2 digital league?
- A tournament or a more campaign style event?
- How to attract a few more players?
KiwiWarlord
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by KiwiWarlord »

I have not played in any of the FOGII events as they seem rather "full on" competitions.
I prefer more laid back social events without too much time pressure, did enjoy the reverse game part of this event, was a challenge and did prove that there was no 'Super Army' as the player skills proved.
The final Historical Battle was a good idea but the surprise victory condition change during the game was a shock.
I am enjoying the rather "quirky" campaign style event being run by Gavin Dodunski over on the Pike & Shot Forum.
Something similar with a theme such as Ming or Korea instead of two random armies ?
I look forward to other Folks' thoughts
GDod
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by GDod »

The tournament was great Alan. I'm sure I can speak for the players and say we all appreciate the experience and your effort. I know that it is never easy coordinating tournaments.

As to the format - I found teams added a good amount of banter and atmosphere, which juxtaposed against the rigid individualistic format of the digital league. Unfortunately, balancing teams can be difficult without some sort of individualistic rating system, though we are all fairly familiar with the strengths of most players from our merry band.

I particularly, liked the idea of the team choosing their preferred army and the scenario approach in the last rounds. We could enhance this by having a selection of scenarios where the team nominates a particular player to each scenario depending on their perceived strengths. [perhaps a defense, an attack, encounter, flank march, preset scenario, etc...]

As to attracting players, - this depends very much on the popularity of SJ, which unfortunately is comparatively low when compared to FOG2 and P&S due to it's restricted geographical appeal and early development with annoyingly obscure graphics.
KiwiWarlord
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by KiwiWarlord »

GDod wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:32 pm

As to attracting players, - this depends very much on the popularity of SJ, which unfortunately is comparatively low when compared to FOG2 and P&S due to it's restricted geographical appeal and early development with annoyingly obscure graphics.
Was there not a mod which changed the graphics or colours ?
GDod
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by GDod »

KiwiWarlord wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:00 am
GDod wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:32 pm

As to attracting players, - this depends very much on the popularity of SJ, which unfortunately is comparatively low when compared to FOG2 and P&S due to it's restricted geographical appeal and early development with annoyingly obscure graphics.
Was there not a mod which changed the graphics or colours ?
There is Brian, it changes the background to either brown or green based scenery..slight improvement by the units are still indistinguishable a lot of the time without enlarging them all the time,
SnuggleBunnies
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by SnuggleBunnies »

I am happy to play whatever, really. I do generally prefer set ups where all the players use the same set of armies, where we each play one side, as we did in this tournament. As for teams vs individual - while the teams are fun, it is rather hard to balance as we don't have players in divisions as in the FoG2 Digital League. We could use players' League Division to assign a rough balance to teams, perhaps.

I personally am not super into advanced campaign play - I just want to fight the battles. I do love this game enough that I would play anyway, though. I, too, appreciated the laid back approach to time limits. Between work, real life, and time zones, I often can't average more than a turn a day, and not feeling like I "have" to log in to play (!) makes it much more enjoyable when I do find the time.

Finally, while I would enjoy more Sengoku battles, I think a lot of people haven't properly appreciated the mainland content in this game (Tibetans, Wokou, Zheng, etc.) and my preference would be for that. I did enjoy the inclusion of Ikko-Ikki in this tournament, as they certainly have a style very different from the more conventional Samurai armies.

A matchup I have greatly enjoyed in the past is Tibetan civil wars. Hard hitting armored Lancers with 50% bows, skirmishing horse archers, shaky infantry, ans light infantry slingers to act as 'commanded shot' make for very different fights from the infantry slug fests in Japan, and the deluge of missiles in China.
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ahuyton
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by ahuyton »

Thanks for all these interesting and positive comments.

I personally would quite like to keep the teams, if only because it makes the tournament-champion side of things less critical. In turn this makes the games more enjoyable, I think. But we will need to try to balance them better. Having played a lot more P&S and Sj recently, I have a much better idea now than before so it should be possible to improve on the first set of match-ups, which were not ideal.

It would be a good idea to play with the mainland armies, as both SB and KW (forgive my abbreviations) have suggested, now and previously. I am currently playing with Tibetans and they are a lot of fun. If people would like to propose pairings then that would be helpful.

We will see if there are any further comments and then see how best to continue for a new outing for this terrific game.
TheGrayMouser
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by TheGrayMouser »

Hello chiming in, I liked the team format ( takes the pressure off ) but am not married to it. The main land armies are pretty cool and play quite differently.... a lite campaign could be fun, especially if we played the Japanese armies, and each player used his own clan. So, up for anything!
w_michael
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by w_michael »

This was my first time playing SJ and although I lost more games than I won, I had a great time. All in all the format was very good. Balancing the teams is always difficult and subjective. I was going to suggest a pyramid style tournament,but that wouldn't solve the balance proble.
William Michael, Pike & Shot Campaigns and Field of Glory II series enthusiast
KiwiWarlord
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by KiwiWarlord »

The Ming in Crisis looks interesting as a team game with the many different armies. If the Pro Ming Team each had a different pro Ming Army and the Anti Ming Team all had a different Anti Ming army and each player played one game against all the opponents armies. The Japanese options could maybe be excluded leaving just mainland armies.
Comments welcome.
ahuyton
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by ahuyton »

KiwiWarlord wrote: Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:43 am The Ming in Crisis looks interesting as a team game with the many different armies. If the Pro Ming Team each had a different pro Ming Army and the Anti Ming Team all had a different Anti Ming army and each player played one game against all the opponents armies. The Japanese options could maybe be excluded leaving just mainland armies.
Comments welcome.
I think this is a good idea.

Keeping the teams somehow makes things more informal but with a competitive touch.

The Ming option will give us very different games and a new period to explore.
SnuggleBunnies
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by SnuggleBunnies »

Of course, Mandate of Heaven has more armies than Ming in Crisis, but I don't know if everybody has it.
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KiwiWarlord
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by KiwiWarlord »

Take a survey re the Mandate of Heaven DLC ( is DLC the correct terminology for this )

I do.
w_michael
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Re: 2018 tournament ending thoughts about the next

Post by w_michael »

I do not own anything other then the base game.
William Michael, Pike & Shot Campaigns and Field of Glory II series enthusiast
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