DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 12/14/2013 Duedate: 12/27/2013
NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA
DM-93 TURN-392
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
MAT TUKHOLT
MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
(93-9438) [5-4-0,51]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
POSITION IS EMPTY MAT TUKHOLT
MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
(93-9438) [5-4-0,51]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
MAT TUKHOLT MAT TUKHOLT
MISFITS OF DOOM (1624) MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
(93-9438) [5-4-0,51] (93-9438) [5-4-0,51]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
GHOSTWALKERS (1630)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. BASH BROS WASTE (1640) 35
2. MISFITS OF DOOM (1624) 29 ONLY HUMANS (147)
3. OLD EL PASO (1641) 24 Unchartered Team
4. HIGH WAY 2 (1637) 12
5. GHOSTWALKERS (1630) -11 (-1)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 0*OLD EL PASO (1641) 3 2 0 60.0 1/ 0*GHOSTWALKERS (1630) 6 5 3
2/ 0*BASH BROS WASTE (1640) 3 2 0 60.0 2/ 0*HIGH WAY 2 (1637) 6 9 0
3/ 0*HIGH WAY 2 (1637) 20 20 1 50.0 3/ 0*OLD EL PASO (1641) 3 2 0
4/ 0*GHOSTWALKERS (1630) 11 14 3 44.0 4/ 0*MISFITS OF DOOM (1624) 3 2 0
5/ 0*MISFITS OF DOOM (1624) 10 32 0 23.8 5/ 0*BASH BROS WASTE (1640) 3 2 0
'*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn
(###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank
TEAM SPOTLIGHT
WARRIOR/TEAM DESIGN
HOW A DM/D2 VETERAN DOES IT
There is a purpose for writing this spotlight. It was developed to provide
newer/inexperienced D2 managers with warrior and team design concepts and to assist
newbies in observing the details of a real-time team who will be competing against
them in their Noblish Island arena. I will discuss the following:
1. An experienced manager's general design principles
2. Some thoughts on team balance
3. The real five-warrior design (original team roll-up) starting to compete on
Noblish Island
4. Summary and comments relevant to those designs
First you might ask, "Who is writing this? And I answer that I am Ponce de
Leon, manager of Old El Paso, a member of The Consortium, and a long, long time (25+
years) competitor in Duelmasters/D2. I will be overseeing this new team and will be
offering you advice each round on Noblish Island. Feel free to ask me (or Jorja, or
Assur) questions in the personal ads. You will get answers; most probably you will
get several answers.
There is no one-and-only perfect design for any warrior. You will often find
that when asking for experienced design advice, varying opinions and concepts are
offered. However, there are some guidelines that each manager uses. The Consortium
general design principles are:
1. Design to strengths/excesses, making high roll numbers higher
2. WT is the first factor examined, followed by WL, which determines the design and
style direction.
3. Offensive oriented warriors need higher WT to last. Design to 15, 17, 21 for
skill breaks
4. All warriors except AB must have normal damage and really need good. Make
certain that ST/SZ allow that and have high enough WL to bump stats if not.
5. 9 WL is the acceptable low for offensives. Some warriors can do well with 7 or 8
but not lower.
6. Do not add to CN for pure offensives.
7. Defensive style warriors need solid WL and CN.
8. Physicals never hurt any warrior. Warriors can win early with lesser skill, but
good physicals.
9. If all else fails, make the design a TP. They can win under almost any
circumstance. However, they need a higher combination (total) of CN, WL, and ST.
(especially WL)
10. If the warrior is to be long-term (meaning a godling or really, really nice
roll), do not design a burner. (A burner is one where the manager intends to
raise stats and physicals as a major strategy to enhanced winning.)
11. However, there is not a thing wrong with making a burner.
12. Have variation in styles in arenas. This allows for better challenging and
matchups. (With fun and learning through variety.)
13. PRIMARY PRINCIPAL: Design each warrior with the idea of winning 60%+ of its
fights. Period.
Pretty simple, it would seem. Well, we will see how I applied these principals to
the Old El Paso Team. But first some comments on team design.
A variety of styles is important. Why? (a) The more differing styles you
experiment with, the more you learn. (b) It is more fun to run differing types. (c)
Certain styles are susceptible to other styles and having a variety allows you to
take advantage of (or avoid) those susceptibilities. (d) Testing multiple styles
allows you to quicker find the style/s that you enjoy most or are best with.
I believe a manager, especially a new manager, should have at least these two
warriors on his team - an especially fast/quick, decent damage offensive (striker,
basher, or maybe slasher) and a scummy warrior with lots of physicals and who wins by
wearing down foes while parrying or sucking up hit points. (Total parry or maybe
wall-of-steel or parry strike.) It is important to learn how to win with both types,
and the ST (striker) and TP (total parry) are excellent designs to do both--teach and
win. This combination is invaluable because each tends to challenge and avoid
different styles, and most importantly, they are both easy to work with. The other
warriors on the team can/should be different, but I least recommend these more
difficult styles for rookie managers. AB - aimed blow, PR--parry riposte, PS--parry
strike, PL--parry lunge, and WS--wall of steel.
Now on to a real life example. Below are listed the starting statistics (from
the roll-up sheet) and the design statistics (filled out and sent in by Ponce de
Leon) of his team just started on Noblish Island.
16-11-13-12-5-4-9 to 17-11-13-17-9-6-11 ST (striker) Design to strengths
(concept #1), which is either ST or WT. Seldom are 21 ST warriors worth the value,
so I selected to add to WT to the 17 break point. This design will clearly be
offensive, due to low WL, so I bump the WL to the min 9. (And nice break point with
a decise skill) I need to take the skills and value of 17 ST, so I add one there,
leaving 4. I take the DF to 11, which is normally where I like to have all designs,
except AB. The last two are placed on SP, since he is definitely looking like a
striker. I am expecting the rollup to come back with great damage and normal
endurance - these being the two best physical representations of a warrior.
7-13-11-12-10-6-11 to 11-17-11-12-16-6-11 TP (total parry) I know that I want a
TP on this team, and a brief glance at the roll up sheet led me to this choice.
Using the first Consortium principle above, I know I want to maximize CN, which works
well for a TP Scum. Before I do that, I know that a good TP or scum needs as much WL
as possible, both for physicals, and for making stat increases as easy as possible.
Hence, I add 6 to WL first. The other 8 points seem best distributable between ST
and CN for a total parry. I want to be able to wear APA/F without over encumbering
my warrior, and I cannot do that without 11+ ST. Therefore, I add 4 to ST and 4 to
CN. The interesting thing about this rollup is that it could have been made into
almost anything because of the reasonably high WT. But, it became the TP I
wanted/needed.
14-13-11-11-7-8-6 to 15-17-11-17-9-8-7 BA (basher) This could be an interesting
design and a fun warrior to manage. Consortium rule one would have me optimizing ST
and CN, almost as though this will be a scummy warrior. But the low WL precludes
making it a true physical-type warrior. The relatively high WT led me to believe I
should optimize it to 17, and still sort of optimizing ST and CN. So I then bumped
WL 2 to the minimum 9, put 1 on DF to get lots of skills and to assure some
reasonable weapons (there are very, very few that allow DF below 7) and placed the
last 5 points on ST and CN, making a basher that could be either (or both) offensive
and scummy. The real choice was 15ST/17CN or 17ST/15CN, and I chose the latter as I
plan to take advantage of the scumminess of this warrior. Realize, though, this
warrior can be run very similar to the 1st warrior (the ST) and work out to be a pure
offensive, with lots of hit points. We old timers call this type of design a tank
basher.
15-7-11-4-9-8-16 to 15-7-11-7-15-8-21 AB (aimed blow) First principle = optimize
the strengths, and in this case, that is DF. When DF can be 21, most managers are
thinking aimed blow. Not that it has to be AB, as in the Consortium there are
definitely 21 DFs in other styles, but think aimer first. .If I hadn't already had a
ST and BA on the team, I might have considered making this roll into one of those
styles. Most like high WT and some CN on their aimers, but I cannot have both here.
Let's first WL to 15, allowing be a better chance at improving stats later. The 3
left went to WT, giving the aimer some sort of decent weapons to work with--LS, DA,
SS, and there is always the fist.
6-10-13-10-11-11-9 to 9-10-13-16-16-11-9 LU (lunger) I optimized WT and WL and
placed the last 3 points on ST. This looks more like a LU to me than a SL,
especially since I can use SS with the LU, but do not really have a good weapon for a
SL. When I see designs with both 16 WT and 16WL, in all likelihood, this is going to
be a "burner". Burner means stat training as opposed to skill training. My
"ending" lunger will probably be 9-11-13-17-17-12-11 or 11-11-13-17-17-12-11.
Good luck competing against my Old El Paso warriors. I suspect this team will
meet the 60% objective and each warrior will do its part. They will be a competitive
team and they will both challenge and avoid.
Now let's take a look at the overall design tendencies for this team in this
situation. We had 70 points to add to the designs. Totaled, they look like this:
ST = 9 (More than usual, probably, but starting STs of 6 & 7 make this
appropriate; it is difficult to win with very low strength)
CN = 8 (SP and CN are usually the least added stats; the one TP and the tank
basher caused the whole eight; usually this stat tendency is near zero; it is hard to
win with scum without high CN)
SZ = 0 (Cannot add to size.)
WT = 20 (One of two most valuable stats. Many points added here makes sense.)
WL = 23 (One of two most valuable stats. It is difficult to win without WT AND
WL.)
SP = 2 (SP and CN are usually the least added stats; looks good)
DF = 8 (DF additions are often quite variable and this amount looks typical.)
The tendencies look reasonable to me, as WT and WL are prime stats, ST and DF are
probably next, and CN/SP are usually least added. (Well, except for SZ!)
So there you have it: a new team; insight to warrior and team design; useful
tidbits from an ancient veteran. May your stay in D2 be long and prosperous, and,
most of all, fun. (Mine has been.)
Ponce de Leon
Consortium affiliated
* }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ * }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ * }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ *
Introducing Assur's Bash Bros Waste
Fighters of the Wall of Steel style are often called Wastes (using the first two
letters of Wall and the first three letters of Steel). It is a cute abbreviation,
but they are one of the stronger styles in the game. Along with lungers, they have
the most starting skills of any style. But similar to lungers, they have a high
endurance burn. Most commonly they are run as either defensive warriors or hybrid
warriors. However, the most recent Champion TC was fast enough that in many fights
came out as an offensive warrior. A flexible style, that typically does very well on
the sands.
My first recruit came as 12-8-15-9-16-3-7. After adding the obvious points (2
to wit, 5 to will, and 4 to deftness), I have 3 points left. It is recommended to
add these to Str, Con, or Wit. Because my WOS is big, strength isn't going to help
as much as the other two stats. So, I chose to split the points and have a 12-9-15-
13-21-3-11 WOS. A WOS that most managers would be pleased with, though just short of
tourney quality.
The other recruit with sexy numbers came back 12-5-9-11-13-10-10. Most managers
will quickly add points to get a very solid 17-17-x-11 warrior. Many managers love
these types and more than a few have seen success in tourneys. With the low con,
he'd make a better offensive (especially adding the remaining points to strength -
the type of warrior that most managers WILL add to their tourney roster), but Assur
is running a WOS themed team and so the last 3 points are added to make another
hybrid WOS, 12-8-9-17-17-10-11 WOS.
Next up comes another big guy, 16-5-15-10-12-4-8. Traditional warrior design
will give another offensive (17-5-15-15-17-4-11), but this offensive is really slow
and while sometimes will succeed, other times will fail. Assur also says if you
can't get to 17 wit, consider stopping at 11 (or 13 if you are a lunger to have
access to the LO). Using this approach, we add the rest of the points to con and
have another very similar design to the first two: 17-9-15-11-17-4-11 WOS.
Problem child #1 arrived as 19-5-10-6-10-10-10. Low con suggests offensive but
low wit suggests otherwise. I've already decided to make 5 WOS's, so hybrid it is.
We're definitely adding to physicals on this guy and 11 deftness is highly
recommended always. There are three designs I like for this guy. #1: 21-10-10-7-15-
10-11 - hits skill breakpoints and adds a lot to physicals. #2: 20-8-10-10-16-10-10
- A nice burner that gets 11 wit/17 will in addition to the other breakpoints. #3:
20-11-10-6-16-10-11. This is a burner that maximizes hit points at the expense of
wit. Definitely not a long term design, but 7 wit gives the BA well suited and I
feel the hit points will give this guy more wins than the advantages of the other
designs. (I chose design #3)
Problem child #2 came with one of the worst combinations available, 5-12-14-9-
10-15-5. There are worse combinations of two 5s, but this is not a good one. This
is the type of warrior that most managers would be better off sending to the Dark
Arena. Certainly if you're going to run it, Choose one of the high skill styles or a
scum. Luckily WOSs are one of the high skill styles. I choose another burner that
will have the BS after trains: 10-13-14-10-16-15-6. I have not had great success
with low parry scum warriors, which is another option on this guy. I fully expect
poor results with this guy.
You'll notice a pattern in my WOS designs. All have very high will (16-21).
The lowest Strength is 10. 9 is bare minimum, but 11+ is recommended for most WOSs.
Wit is not as high a priority, but always desired. Speed is unnecessary (0 points
added to speed). 11 Deftness is perfect, more is great, less not so much. Con is
the most interesting stat on a WOS. Most managers prefer medium-high con. It is
traditional that WOSs have con. That said, there are numerous examples of low con
WOSs that have been very successful (including TCs). I chose to make all hybrid
types with more moderate con, but a couple of these I could have gone with a more
defensive version.
>)]H[(< + -----:----- + >)] Getting the Jump [(< + -----:----- + >)]H[(<
One of the most common questions that new players ask is what they can do to
defeat a certain warrior from another team who always attacks first and beats their
own warrior before he can get an attack in. Attacking first in a fight is called
"jumping" your opponent, and it decides the victor in a majority of fights between
two offensive warriors. By offensive, I mean Strikers, Bashers, Lungers, Slashers,
and Aimed Blows, although any style can be run offensively.
In this article, I will teach some of the more common things you can do to make
your warrior get the jump.
Part 1, the setup: To design a fast warrior, you must take into account Decisiveness
skills. Decise is gained from only three statistics: Wit, Will, and Speed. Of these
three, Speed is the only stat that has a large number of Decise skills in it. So if
you design a rollup with a high Speed stat and/or a high Wit and Will, it will be
fast.
Styles are also an important consideration. Strikers, Bashers, and Aimed Blows
start with more Decise skills than any other style. Slashers and Lungers have
slightly less, followed by Parry-Strike, Parry-Lunge, and Wall of Steel. Total
Parries and Parry-Ripostes have very low starting Decise scores.
Each style also learns Decise skills at different speeds. Strikers learn Decise
the fastest. Parry-Strikes also learn it quickly, and Bashers learn it reasonably
well. The other styles fall into the "don't count on learning it unless it's your
favorite learn" category.
Part 2, the strategy: What you put on your strategy sheet drastically affects your
chances of getting the jump.
Offensive effort: As high as possible (10). The more your warrior tries to
attack, the more likely he is to take the first opportunity offered him.
Activity level: As high as possible (10). The more your warrior moves around,
the more chances he will see to attack.
Note that running at these levels will tire your warrior out very quickly, and
your warrior may not fight at his best. Most styles prefer a much lower activity
level as their "favorite". But this article is about getting the jump, not fighting
efficiently. :)
Kill Desire: Kill desire is one of the most intangible factors in Duelmasters,
but one of the common theories is that each number of KD corresponds to a certain
skill, maximizing that skill. Seven is supposed to be the magic number for
Decisiveness. Try it and see if it works for you.
Tactics: Obviously, the Decisiveness (D) tactic increases your Decise. Other
tactics may increase your Decise, like the Bash tactic, but they don't increase it as
much as Decisiveness does.
Armor: None. Nada. Zilch. Armor weighs you down. Even if you have the
ability to carry a large load, you will still be faster running naked. Of course,
you will take much more damage if you get hit, so you'd better make sure you can put
your opponent down before he hits you back. With this strategy, you either win big
or you die.
Faster weapons: Lighter weapons are faster than heavier ones, but there are
certain weapons that are considered to be "faster" in general. Warhammer and Hatchet
are some of the best. Dagger and Bare Fist (FI) are probably the fastest, but
fighting bare-handed is dangerous.
So you've designed your warrior, probably a Striker or Basher with a good speed, wit,
and will. You're running him 10-10-7 Decise with no armor and a Warhammer. And that
same enemy warrior *still* outjumps you. If that's the case, he's probably running a
similar strategy and just has more Decise skills than you. So you have one more
trick up your sleeve: the Responsiveness tactic ('S' in the defensive tactics
section). If your opponent is using Decise and you use Response, you will probably
win. If your opponent is not using Decise, you will probably lose. It's like a
rock-scissors-paper relationship:
Decise beats no tactic; no tactic beats Response; Response beats Decise.
There are some other minor factors in getting the jump that are beyond the scope of
this article. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of how the warrior who
attacks first in a fight gets chosen.
Captain K., manager of Men of the Sea in DM 12 and assorted others
+>]H[<+-----+>]H[<+ Question of the Week #2 +>]H[<+-----+>]H[<+
For those of you who came in after I started posting this series of questions
And answers, they are being taken from the newsletter for Aruak City, DM 11. The
questions were being posed by Hanibal, a relatively new player and Noblish alumnus,
and the answers were offered by any members of that arena who cared to respond.
Question, turn 400:
All -- I think I have a basic grasp on most aspects of this game, but one Thing I
have no clue about is how to maximize skill learning. I had an 18 wit TP challenge
up to a warrior who had 21 more fights than me and I only learned 2 skills. The next
fight I was matched up against a less experienced warrior And I learned 5 skills.
This is not an isolated incident. Any tips on skill learning? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W.
Answers, turn 401:
ADIE'S ANSWER -- Theoretically I think, learning has so many variables affecting it,
that sometimes the number of learns appears random. Some suggested variables include
fight experience differences between combatants, total skill differences,
intelligence level of one or both combatants, what each's favorite learn may be, what
styles the two warriors are.... There are so many, it's difficult to say. Sometimes
you can see the effect of one variable more than another. Other times, one has
absolutely no clue. -- Adie
Hanibal -- In your example of warrior learns, did you lose the fight against the more
experienced opponent, but win the fight against the less experienced opponent? The
outcome of a fight may affect learning, with the winner being bonused and the loser
being penalized. I believe that the best way to make a warrior learn well is to give
them a 21 wit. That's why wit is my favorite stat to have a 21 in! (Not to mention
all the base skills it gives.) -- Generalissimo Puerco
Hannibal -- Skill learning is mainly a derivative of the warrior's wit--obviously the
higher the better. But luck (die roll) plays a big part, as do what the other
warrior can teach, how many skills yet to learn and a few lesser factors. --
Kennelworth
Hanibal, re the question of the week -- The main thing is to TRAIN skills. Okay,
everybody stop laughing. You people (Hanibal, too) already realize this, but there
may be a new manager reading this reply who doesn't. Seriously, I once had a manager
whose team had just chartered (i.e., he'd been playing for ten turns) diplo me and
ask why one of his warriors hadn't learned any skills. He sent me the warrior's
numbers, and a little simple math revealed that this warrior had eight stat increases
in those ten fights! He hadn't been TRAINING skills. Lesson there, never overlook
the obvious.
As to a more useful answer, I don't have one, but I do have some secondary
questions.
For instance, I was once told that a warrior learns better with an odd-numbered
WT. Since I have never personally run a warrior with an even-number WT that I can
recall, I don't know. It sounds unlikely, but then, who knows how a computer thinks?
Challenging up increases the ODDS of learning but is not guarantee. Does
anybody have any information as to whether a lower-ranked warrior who teaches well is
one with lots of skills? My own information would tend to contradict that, as I have
some excellent teachers in other arenas who have yet to receive their first rating.
I have heard that there is an increased chance of learning when the fight is a
long one. Anybody know whether this is true or just wishful thinking on the part of
those matched against scum?
Is the caliber of a warrior's teaching on a given fight reflected in his point
gain in the rankings? I have been given to understand that points gained in excess
of the basic minimum reflect how well above the average the warrior performed. In
theory, a good performance means better demonstration and thus better teaching, but
does it work out that way?
Do warriors of a given style tend to teach a specific skill or group of skills
better than other skills, as for instance, do total parries teach parry and defense?
I've heard it said that when facing an opponent who has only one skill left to
learn, a warrior teaches best that skill he learns best. Does this hold true in
other circumstances? -- Leeta
Question, turn 402:
All -- I understand that Deftness is the ability to better protect and attack your
chosen location. I could care less if I hit my attack location as long as I hit.
Does Deftness have any effect on connecting? I believe it is your attack skills vs.
your opponents def/parry skills that determines this. -- Hanibal's Q.O.W.
Answers, turn 403:
Hanibal -- Deftness contributes a lot of attack skills to a warrior's base skills.
This will increase your warriors' chances of hitting. Shot placement accuracy is
said to be based on coordination (DF+SP), but I think having a good attack rating can
lead to better shot placement as well. Kill desire may well influence shot placement
also. It has been suggested that a warrior's chosen location to protect is the
source of the "luck parry" comment that often results in broken weapons. While I
personally fancy this theory, I think it would be difficult to prove or disprove. It
sounds like a good project for some LP aimers to tackle. -- Generalissimo Puerco
Hanibal -- Re the QOW, probably. At least, I notice that those of my warriors with
very low DF (and I've got some doozies here and there) spend a lot of time flailing
wildly and missing. -- Leeta
* }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ * }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ * }%|[-----+O+-----]|%{ *
---===FREE BLADES REGIONAL NEWS===---
Duelmasters
-----------
DM 9 ZUKAL (turn 737): ODDLY ELEGANT of DEVIATION (Marma Duke, mgr.)
DM 12 RIZTAB (turn 739): MARTYR of TORTURED (Iron Maiden, mgr.)
DM 13 DULLENS (turn 708): FRANKIE of SERPENTS HOLD 929 (Khisanth, mgr.)
DM 15 MALCORN (turn 733): NO RAIN of BLIND MELON (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 16 WILLAF (turn 735): EVERBRINGER of SHADOWMONGERS (Shadow, mgr.)
DM 17 ALJAFIR (turn 726): PING of G.O.L.G. (?, mgr.)
DM 19 ZUWAYZA (turn 727): NEWT ROCKNE of MAN OR BEAST? (The Dark One, mgr.)
DM 28 MORYA (turn 366): FREDDY FENDER of OTTO'S MECHANICS (Crip, mgr.)
DM 29 LAPUR (turn 724): ZARGAS of THE GUILD (Guido, mgr.)
DM 31 CHIMLEVTAL (turn 364): NABUCA of WHAMMO & THUDDA 4U! (La Guillotine, mgr.)
DM 32 ARVAT (turn 721): DROGON of DEATH BY DESIGN (Bubba Ganoosh, mgr.)
DM 33 NIATOLI ISLAND (turn 718): LADY KALDRA of LUROCIANS II (The Greek Guy, mgr.)
DM 35 MURSKA (turn 710): VAMPIRE SQUID of SEA DOGS (One Armed Bandit, mgr.)
DM 43 VEASTIAN (turn 668): HALFTIME of EPIC RAP (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 45 STORMCROWE (turn 341): LAPUR BISQUE of SHEWISH BUFFET (One Armed Bandit, mgr)
DM 47 NORTH FORK (turn 335): DING DONG of LAND OF OZ (Oz, mgr.)
DM 50 SNOWBOUND (turn 322): THE BEATLES of OPEN SESAME (Crip, mgr.)
DM 56 ROCANIS (turn 600): SFC1 of MEDAL OF HONOR A11 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
DM 60 ARADI (turn 585): DAISY DAWG of RED DOG GANG (Spot, mgr.)
DM 61 JURINE (turn 567): FIFINE GILLY of MIDDLE WAY 16 (Jorja, mgr.)
DM 65 DAL SHANG (turn 561): NOCALLLISTEXEMPTION of BASH BROS EVANGELIST
(Assurnasirbanipal, mgr.)
DM 73 ERINIKA (turn 571): EDMONDS of GASHOUSE GANG (Crip, mgr.)
DM 74 DAYLA KIV (turn 522): HOGSHEAD of COUNTRY PIE (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 75 JADE MOUNTAIN (turn 517): DEADLY FORCE of CRITICALS (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 78 LIN TIRIAN (turn 508): SERGEANT 4 of MEDAL OF HONOR Z2 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
ADM 103 FREE BLADES (turn 625): MARTIN BLANK of BLOOD TITANS (The Greek Guy, mgr.)
Top Teams
---------
DM 9 ZUKAL (turn 737): QUEEN (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 12 RIZTAB (turn 739): THE UNDEAD (Death Jester, mgr.)
DM 13 DULLENS (turn 708): CARDOW HUNTERS (Jorja, mgr.)
DM 15 MALCORN (turn 733): BLIND MELON (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 16 WILLAF (turn 735): BLOOD ON THE TRACKS (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 17 ALJAFIR (turn 726): A UNIT (Padre, mgr.)
DM 19 ZUWAYZA (turn 727): MAN OR BEAST? (The Dark One, mgr.)
DM 28 MORYA (turn 366): LORD OF DISCIPLINE (Longshot, mgr.)
DM 29 LAPUR (turn 724): SHADOWMIST (Tolbin, mgr.)
DM 31 CHIMLEVTAL (turn 364): BASH BROS OCEAN (Assurnasirbanipal, mgr.)
DM 32 ARVAT (turn 773): DEVIL ADVOCATES (The Dark One, mgr.)
DM 33 NIATOLI ISLAND (turn 718): CLASSIC CHARACTERS (The Producer, mgr.)
DM 35 MURSKA (turn 710): CHILDREN OF LLYR (Jorja, mgr.)
DM 43 VEASTIAN (turn 668): TOLBIN'S X-MEN (Tolbin, mgr.)
DM 45 STORMCROWE (turn 341): AVID FANS (Crip, mgr.)
DM 47 NORTH FORK (turn 335): BAAL'S MINIONS (Var, mgr.)
DM 50 SNOWBOUND (turn 322): LIFE IMPACTS (Smitty, mgr.)
DM 56 ROCANIS (turn 600): MEDAL OF HONOR A11 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
DM 60 ARADI (turn 585): MEDAL OF HONOR B11 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
DM 61 JURINE (turn 567): MIDDLE WAY 16 (Jorja, mgr.)
DM 65 DAL SHANG (turn 561): MEDAL OF HONOR C11 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
DM 73 ERINIKA (turn 271): GASHOUSE GANG (Crip, mgr.)
DM 74 DAYLA KIV (turn 522): TOLBINS LADIES (Tolbin, mgr.)
DM 75 JADE MOUNTAIN (turn 517): SAND DANCERS (Jorja, mgr.)
DM 78 LIN TIRIAN (turn 508): MEDAL OF HONOR Z2 (The Anarchist, mgr.)
ADM 103 FREE BLADES (turn 625): DIRT DEVILS et al (The Dark One, mgr.)
Recent Graduates
-----------------
DM 9 ZUKAL (turn 736): WATSON of SERPENTS HOLD 3 (Khisanth, mgr.)
DM 12 RIZTAB (turn 738): GHOST of THE UNDEAD (Death Jester, mgr.)
KANE TOAD of KAOS FROGS (Grimm, mgr.)
SKELETON of THE UNDEAD (Death Jester, mgr.)
GUILLOTINE of BLADES OF TERROR (The Dark One, mgr.)
DM 15 MALCORN (turn 733): STOLEYOURSPOT of BASH BROS PARKING (Assurnasirbanipal)
DM 29 LAPUR (turn 723): SPIN MCDUECAN of CLAN CROW (Owsly, mgr.)
DM 31 CHIMLEVTAL (turn 363): GROM HELLSCREAM of THE STORM REAVERS (?, mgr.)
DM 32 ARVAT (turn 720): PIMP IN A BOX of DEATH BY DESIGN (Bubba Ganoosh, mgr.)
DM 45 STORMCROWE (turn 340): THE JANITOR of AVID FANS (Crip, mgr.)
A TALENT SCOUT of AVID FANS (Crip, mgr.)
DM 47 NORTH FORK (turn 334): PAUL of CHEERS (Otis, mgr.)
DM 56 ROCANIS (turn 599): MEECHAM of MEN OF STEEL (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DM 65 DAL SHANG (turn 561): NOCALLLISTEXEMPTION of BASH BROS EVANGELIST
(Assurnasirbanipal, mgr.)
DM 73 ERINIKA (turn 270): CARPENTER of GASHOUSE GANG (Crip, mgr.)
DM 75 JADE MOUNTAIN (turn 517): DEADLY FORCE of CRITICALS (Howlin' Wolf, mgr.)
DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.
Alas, I lost to a Convicted Assassin. Perfection demolished on a bad day by me.
Oh well, I survived. Assur says I don't get to be released yet. He may have plans
for me one day to earn me immortality.
Farewell and good luck,
Horrible Learning
SPY REPORT
It's me, The Unknown Spymaster, back to give you this week's Spy Report. Sit
back in your seats and we'll have more fun than a barrel of Zontanis. We now have a
new top team for all of you guys to dogpile on. GHOSTWALKERS now holds the crown and
they are betting they can keep it. Hey everybody, watch out for SPECIAL DISPOSAL,
who flew up 21 points in the rankings after mashing STARFIRE like a melon. Keep your
eye on this guy. And falling like a basher in the top ten was STARFIRE, who dropped
14 points after a disappointing (to say the least) bout with SPECIAL DISPOSAL. In
front of all the crowds, MAT TUKHOLT took the Duelmaster's crown for its own. I give
the bum two weeks. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but an onion a day keeps
T.P.s at bay.
Let's dig a little deeper into what's happening in the NOBLISH ISLAND arena.
And who is this MILTON ONLY you ask, with 20 points and a 2-6-0 record. Ooh, the
tales I could tell!
Being a spy is great--other people die and you spend the rest of the day
drinking to their memory. Better tanked than dead! Ask not the elves for counsel,
for they will say both yes and no. Silly buggers, eh?
Well, that wasn't too bad; Alarond told me that the people in NOBLISH ISLAND
have no sense of humor. Or maybe that they were senseless. Well, there goes another
Spy Report. Good luck in next week's fights. Its been fun, and I'm sure you enjoyed
it (boos). Now that I've got you worked up for Snide Clemens, I'll be leaving-- The
Unknown Spymaster
DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
MAT TUKHOLT 9438 5 4 0 51 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
SMYTHE TODD 9510 4 4 0 31 HIGH WAY 2 (1637)
THUMPER 9471 4 2 0 28 GHOSTWALKERS (1630)
CAMI DEAORDAN 9500 3 0 0 26 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
MEOSHA PALMER 9508 6 2 1 25 HIGH WAY 2 (1637)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
QUINCY ROSS 9509 4 4 0 22 HIGH WAY 2 (1637)
SPECIAL DISPOSAL 9527 1 0 0 21 BASH BROS WASTE (1640)
MILTON ONLY 9507 2 6 0 20 HIGH WAY 2 (1637)
KEOSAQUA LANE 9506 4 4 0 17 HIGH WAY 2 (1637)
STRIKER 9469 4 2 1 15 GHOSTWALKERS (1630)
SHMEGAL 9499 2 1 0 15 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
RIO GRANDE 9533 1 0 0 10 OLD EL PASO (1641)
STARFIRE 9472 2 2 1 9 GHOSTWALKERS (1630)
CIUDAD JUAREZ 9529 1 0 0 9 OLD EL PASO (1641)
SWIFTY 9470 1 4 1 8 GHOSTWALKERS (1630)
LOSING TO AIMERS 9525 1 0 0 6 BASH BROS WASTE (1640)
STINKS 9526 1 0 0 6 BASH BROS WASTE (1640)
PASO DEL NORTE 9532 1 0 0 3 OLD EL PASO (1641)
CONQUISTADOR 9530 0 1 0 1 OLD EL PASO (1641)
CHIHUAHUAN DESERT 9531 0 1 0 1 OLD EL PASO (1641)
FITZ 9522 0 1 0 1 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
ENDURANCE BURN 9528 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS WASTE (1640)
MODE SKILLS 9524 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS WASTE (1640)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
YAR'KEN TILLBIN 9523 0 1 0 1 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
PERSONAL ADS
First things first. Did you see that stunner! Assur's 9-0 Duelmaster Horrible
Learning loses to Convicted Assassin?! I don't know, Jorja, perhaps you SHOULD HAVE
given some advice to Assur? Tsk. Tsk. -- Abba Cuss
Assur -- You shoulda not avoided me and taken basher Thirty-Love's challenge to
Horrible Learning. Why, I would have thrown it to assure you a 10-0. It woulda been
the only way you coulda gotten a 10-0 piker. (wink) -- Abba Cuss
Assur -- I believe that was 2-0-1 for Count On Me? But, look, I got you a nice
rollup on the way out! I take care of you. -- Abba Cuss
We Count On Mes just want to say we were proud to finish on a 5-0-1 and we are here
no more. -- Indy 500, 100 Yard Dash, First Down, Thirty-Love, & 3 Point Shot
With that in mind, I hereby yield the reigns of Consortium activity in Noblish to
that grande, but old, Conquistador: Ponce De Leon. -- Abba Cuss (aka Count Number)
Consortium affiliated
Geetings, all. Please welcome my Old El Paso team. You will hear a lot about us in
spotlights and personals. Ask me any questions and I will respond. I am really here
more to teach/coach/mentor than to fight battles. But I do intend to fight, and my
warriors will not be at their best. -- Ponce De Leon (Consortium affiliates
Spectre and Starfire -- Sure you can ask questions in personals. You will likely get
2 or 3 answers--from Jorja, Assur, and me. And as to the armor on the fisted aimer
question... my thinking is that you could go with the old adage that if you are
trying to hit first and get it over quickly, go naked or near naked; while if you
plan to dodge/parry/counter, you may wish to max armor that you can wear without over
encumbering. However, I will advise that aimers seem to die easily, and most of us
like solid armor on them. Consortiumite aimers most often wear ASM and it doesn't
matter if the aimer is using a weapon or fist. -- Ponce De Leon
First real thoughts from Ponce De Leon...
1. I predict the first DM of my attendance will be Meosha Palmer, TP
2. I do not look forward to matching against Assur's 5 rookie wastes!
-- Ponce De Leon
Success! The Pikers finished above .500! That was my goal; achieved! -- Assur
First Down -- We gave you the yards, no need to get nasty like that, legal hit or
not. -- Assur
Thirty-love -- The other Todds would have fits if I dropped my family name. -- Smythe
Todd
Starfire -- Just my opinion, but if you're going to fight unarmed, wear a LOT of
armor. For two reasons, well, sort of two: unarmed fighters are always getting
"struck (and wounded) on the arm by the parry" when they defend themselves. And
generally speaking, what aimed blows fighting in Basic do most easily is, they die.
Armor might help. -- Quincy Ross
Oh, for the cat's sake! We went one-four! How embarrassing. My win over that
classic wimp, the Osksi Noble was the only one. -- Quincy Ross
We salute Mat Tukholt, tourney participant. It ain't easy, but at least you tried.
-- Jorja and those out on the High Way
Any -- Must I limit my stable to five warriors? If not, how do I get more? -- Spectre
Spectre -- Each team in DM can only have five warriors. But you may have more
than one team in different arenas--you can generally only have one team in an
arena. I will send you a team rollup if you want to start a team in a new
arena. Does anyone have any suggestions for another arena for Spectre? -- Green
Eyes
Slow (four week turn-around): Morya (dm 28) and Xochithlan (dm 39) leap first to
mind. Fast (two-week turn-around, like Noblish Island): Tobir (dm 14), Malcorn
(dm 15), Solven (dm 22), Lapur (dm 29). For a one-week turn-around, there's
only one: Dullens (dm 13). All of these arenas are on the smallish side but not
(generally) minute, and not overwhelmingly bloodthirsty.
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
SWIFTY was devastated by MILTON ONLY in a 1 minute mismatched Challenge fight.
MEOSHA PALMER was vanquished by MAT TUKHOLT in a 3 minute uneven Title battle.
KEOSAQUA LANE lost to THUMPER in a 1 minute brawl.
STRIKER was devastated by SMYTHE TODD in a 2 minute brutal one-sided fight.
QUINCY ROSS devastated CONVICTED THIEF in a 1 minute uneven brawl.
SHMEGAL savagely defeated MODE SKILLS in a 2 minute bloody novice's struggle.
CAMI DEAORDAN handily defeated ENDURANCE BURN in a 2 minute gruesome uneven fight.
STARFIRE was viciously subdued by SPECIAL DISPOSAL in a 4 minute beginner's duel.
FITZ was vanquished by RIO GRANDE in a 1 minute one-sided fight.
YAR'KEN TILLBIN was luckily beaten by PASO DEL NORTE in a 12 minute novice's melee.
LOSING TO AIMERS savagely defeated CONQUISTADOR in a 3 minute amateur's competition.
STINKS savagely defeated CHIHUAHUAN DESERT in a 2 minute gory amateur's match.
CIUDAD JUAREZ overcame MORDANT DESERTER in a 2 minute novice's conflict.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|WALL OF STEEL 7 TOTAL PARRY 18 - 9 - 1 67 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 3 AIMED BLOW 6 - 4 - 1 60 |
|AIMED BLOW 3 STRIKING ATTACK 20 - 16 - 1 56 |
|BASHING ATTACK 3 PARRY-STRIKE 29 - 24 - 1 55 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 WALL OF STEEL 13 - 11 - 0 54 |
|TOTAL PARRY 2 PARRY-RIPOSTE 4 - 4 - 1 50 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 2 BASHING ATTACK 11 - 11 - 0 50 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 1 LUNGING ATTACK 1 - 2 - 0 33 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 1 SLASHING ATTACK 2 - 6 - 0 25 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 - 0 0 |
Turn 392 was great if you Not so great if you used The fighting styles of the
used the fighting styles: the fighting styles: top eleven warriors are:
SLASHING ATTACK 1 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 1 - 2 3 WALL OF STEEL
STRIKING ATTACK 3 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 2 STRIKING ATTACK
AIMED BLOW 2 - 1 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 2 1 AIMED BLOW
WALL OF STEEL 4 - 3 LUNGING ATTACK 0 - 1 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE
PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 - 1 1 TOTAL PARRY
TOTAL PARRY 1 - 1 1 BASHING ATTACK
1 SLASHING ATTACK
1 PARRY-STRIKE
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
AIMED BLOW MAT TUKHOLT 9438 5 4 0 51 MISFITS OF DOOM (1624)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is MAT TUKHOLT 9438. The most popular warrior this
turn was MAT TUKHOLT 9438. The ten other most popular fighters were SPECIAL DISPOSAL
9527, SHMEGAL 9499, SMYTHE TODD 9510, LOSING TO AIMERS 9525, CONQUISTADOR 9530,
STINKS 9526, CIUDAD JUAREZ 9529, CAMI DEAORDAN 9500, MILTON ONLY 9507, and THUMPER
9471.
The least popular fighter this week was PASO DEL NORTE 9532. The other ten least
popular fighters were YAR'KEN TILLBIN 9523, ENDURANCE BURN 9528, MODE SKILLS 9524,
STRIKER 9469, MEOSHA PALMER 9508, SWIFTY 9470, FITZ 9522, STARFIRE 9472, QUINCY ROSS
9509, and KEOSAQUA LANE 9506.
A DM TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
12 political points a'pumpin'
11 TVs a'workin'
10 free duels of credit
9 ABs to challenge
8 criticals a'connectin'
7 scums a'dyin'
6 skills a'maxin'
5 A.D. invites
4 lucky warriors
3 size on replacement
2 proxied TCs
And a quarterstaff from a pear tree.
May your days be merry,
And your wins be often.
The Consortium
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Here are a few tricks of the trade I've found out.
15, 17, and 21. Those are the magic numbers for stats; any fighter who starts
with a stat (except Con and Size) at any of those numbers will have more beginning
skills than normal.
Stats: The stats in order of importance with regard to skills, most to least,
are wit, will, deftness, speed, and strength, with con giving you no skills, just hit
points and endurance. The higher you can start any of these, especially the first
three, the more skilled your fighter will be. Logically, therefore, what you really
want is a fighter who has wit, will, and deftness at 21. This will be a GOD! And
probably go out and get killed immediately due to low con...
Raising stats: Care must be taken in doing this. All fighters start out with
the ability to learn 20 skills in the categories of Defense, Parry, Riposte, Attack,
Decisiveness, and Inititive. When you learn all 120 skills, you've maxed out. You
can get skills though normal learns, or by raising stats; however, if you raise stats
BEFORE you max out (except for Con), anything gained will count as one of the 20.
This is called "burning" skills. If, on the other hand, you wait until you've maxed
out, then raising stats will add those skills to the ones you've learned, enabling you
to exceed your limits. But raising stats will give an immediate boost to your
abilities. It's a question of short term vs. long term gain, you see.
And aiming at vital areas - head, chest, and abdomen - will increase your chances
of getting kills. And being bloodfeuded, and maybe getting your fighter killed in
return. Keep in mind that what you send forth will come back to you. Sometimes
redoubled.
Roku
Warrior Handedness, is he a Righty, Lefty or Ambi?
Greetings, Joy and Happiness to everyone!!!! I hope everyone that reads this
article is doing well and remembering not to drink and duel. This article discusses
things about the handedness of a warrior. Most managers only worry about things like
skill, weapons and trains. Handedness is not a major factor in playing the game but
it's nice to know some things about it.
Most warriors will be right handed, with a small percentage left handed. Even
more scarce is the ambidextrous warrior. I believe that the defensive styles have a
higher percentage chance to be a lefty or an AMBI than offensive styles do. It's just
an observation that I made in the 513 warriors surveyed. Another note on that, I
notice that out of 211 parry-ripostes that I was using for a PR article, about 43% of
them were AMBIs. The highest percent of AMBIs out of all the styles polled.
When a manager puts weapons into his warriors hands and also when he tells his
warrior where to strike, handedness plays a key role in the manager's decision making.
I had a team with 4 AMBIs on it, and I started to do some experiments with them to see
how the AMBI thing worked. I noticed that in general the AMBI favors using the left
hand more than the right hand. But, there are a small percentage of AMBI warriors
that are reversed, where the right hand is used more than the left.
There also seems to be some confusion amongst managers that get the USE of a hand
mixed up with which hand the weapons go in (IE which is primary and which is off-
hand). Right handed warriors USE the RIGHT hand the most and the primary weapon is
the RIGHT hand, off hand is the left hand. For left-handed warriors, it is the
opposite of right-handed warriors, of course. The confusion comes with the AMBI
handed warriors. AMBIs USE the left hand more BUT the RIGHT hand holds the primary
weapon, and the left hand holds the off hand weapon. Every so often you will get an
AMBI that this is reversed, where the RIGHT hand is USED more and the PRIMARY weapon
is held in the LEFT hand. But this kind of ambi is extremely rare.
Well, that's it for now. Have fun, and watch out for that right hook... 'cause
it might be a left hook!!!!!
For more DM info, or just to chat you can DIPLO me at ADM 103, THE JOKER'S WILD.
You can also email me at 103260.3347@compuserve.com or visit my DM web site at the
following address: http://ourworld.compuserve.com./homepages/jessiejest/homepage.htm
Ta-Ta,
Sir Jessie Jest
Top 10 Things to Do to Have a Better FTF!
10. Have at least one meal that doesn't involve either McDonalds or Domino's Pizza.
Bonus points if that meal includes the use of utensils. (Double bonus points if you
already knew how to use utensils)
9. Recycle all those cover sheets and unwanted roll-ups into ammunition for the next
great paper ball fight! (And don't assume that because you don't have any ammo,
you're not in the game. When these things break out, ANYONE is a potential target!
Don't assume that I'm going to throw AROUND you to get to my target, if you're sitting
there in the middle of things trying to read your fights as the paper balls fly in all
direction, you're not only likely to get hit by a misfired projectile, but I will be
aiming for you!)
8. Showering at least once a day is not an option. REPEAT: Showering at least once
a day, is NOT AN OPTION!!!
7. Much like a watched pot never boils, asking if your overviews or reprints are
there yet every three minutes will only make the person sitting behind the desk
irritable (or even more so than usual). They'll be there when they get there.
6. Yes, the printer will break down, the hard drive will crash, and RSI will undergo
some sort of catastrophe. This is normal. Be prepared for long delays. Some people
like to play Magic while waiting, some of us prefer heavy drinking.
5. For you first timers, it is customary to do a triumphant little war dance each
and every time you win a fight, complete with whoop-whoops. That's what the raised
platform is for, so the rest of us can see you. If you don't do the dance, RSI will
take away your TVs and you will forever get 3 WT roll-ups. Would I lie to you?
4. Converse with your fellow managers. Take the time to chat, and introduce
yourself to at least one complete stranger. "Have you seen this warrior?" is not a
good way to introduce yourself. "Hi, my name is _______ and I run _______; nice to
meet you!" is a much better way to introduce yourself.
3. When the run off fights are being read, I want to hear a lot of noise! Cheer
every time a brilliant parry is made, shudder at the impact of a horrific blow, laugh
derisively when a warrior falls down. Cheer those who read a good fight, and heckle
those who can't. Get crazy. MAKE SOME NOISE GOLDURNIT!!!
2. Conversely, if you insist on reading your fights out loud and you don't have an
audience, go back to your room until the urge passes.
1. Buy your good ol' buddy Forge a beer!
As always, your own tips and comments are appreciated. *LOL!* Hope to see you all
there!
-- Forge
The Arcane Slasher
I love the Slashing Style! Slashers are finesse artists, but they're much more
aggressive than your aimed-blow. Well-designed slashers are formidable opponents;
they are as ready to defend as to attack, though they prefer the latter. Fate has
been to kind to this style, perhaps too kind. Even a badly-designed slasher may do
well in basic, prompting many well-intentioned managers to promote questionable set-
ups as "the slasher ideal." After reading another `Eureka!' article, I am compelled
to add my 2 cents. I've learned how to design great slashers, and I'd like to pass on
my ideas to the rest of Alastari. I can't tell you how to keep them alive (in four
years I've only gotten one to ADM) but I can outline guidelines for creating a spooky
character that will win for you--until they die or get to ADM. Just remember that
decent opportunities to make a slasher aren't very common!
WT, WL, & DF--15 pts each at least. Period. If you don't have it, you don't
have a great slasher. Believe me, you can't afford to skimp anything here!
ST--Anything from 7-11 is fine. The smaller the character the higher the number,
but anything with a +9 size can get by with a 7 ST. For light armor use an epee, for
anything heavier use a pair of hatchets, a scimitar, or a broadsword, depending on ST.
CN & SP--Ideally, both are single-digit; if your con is high you're probably
looking at a WASTE. Whatever else you do, don't add them.
SZ--Since this is something we can't change anyway, don't worry about it. The
bigger they are the less points to spread around to other areas, though.
My slashers come up with the best overviews when I follow these guidelines. Most
earn at least four wit statements; about 50% either start out with an Expert or two,
or they pick them up within a couple of skills. One of my very best died in a
tourney: 6-3-11-15-51-11-17. He started out doing good damage; picked up Experts in
att, init, def, and rip. in two skills or less. This is an extreme example, but it
seems to me that the well-designed slasher gets more than their fair share of luck on
their overview. I've run one a lot worse that did fairly well--a winning record,
until he was killed by a veteran lunger: 11-7-14-15-15-7-15, good bases in attack and
init, four wit statements, great damage.
Running them?
Start out with an offensive effort of 10, and never let the OE drop below 7. How
quick you taper down depends on the endurance rating. Slashers burn endurance very
quickly; if you don't have good endurance drop right away from 10 to 7 and leave it
there unless desperate, then go back to 10. Otherwise try 10, then 9, then 7.
Remember, these are aggressive beasts; keep 'em on the offensive!
Keep the activity level fairly low except in the very beginning, when you should
be running 10. Then drop to 5 or 6, then 3 or 4m then 1. Go back up to 7 or 10 in
desperation.
Match your kill desire to your offensive effort, always.
Summary: 10-10-10, 9-5-9*, 7-3-7, 7-1-7 across. Desperation: 10-10-10 or 10-7-
10.
Avoid armor unless you MUST, but no higher than ARM and H.
Don't use tactics--they seem to inhibit the slasher's ability to riposte and
respond well to their opponent. Exception: to take out scum pick the heaviest weapon
your character can lift and use the slash tactic--go for the legs or the arms: 7-1-7.
Slash all the way!
These `rules' have worked for me. The biggest problem I've had is that my
slashers rise too high too quickly. Within five or six fights they're fighting
warriors with 15 fights' experience. So be forewarned; give them sometime off every
few turns so that they won't get clobbered by some old-timer looking for an easy win!
Good Luck!
The Arcane Kid, of Astral Kin, Osksi DM-3
*Remember, with `good' endurance only!
"The Basher"
My friends would laugh if they knew I was writing this, but who cares what they
think? The basher is not a bad style in my opinion. It starts with the same base
decisiveness as the striker, but has 4-5 more skills in initiative, and 3-4 more
skills in att. That's what makes this style so good. I mean, you have the ability to
get the jump on your opponent, you have the ability to hit your opponent, and who
cares about their high riposte with your high att rating combined with your exp+ in
initiative, they won't know what train hit them, much less think about the counter
attack.
O.K. I only make two types 1st the WL Basher:
#1 #2
12 13
10 11
10 9
21 16
15 15
9 13
7 7
Example #1--Currently 8-3-1 in Firehold (68) has Master+1 att, Master +1 init., and
Adv.Exp. dec., and is already sitting pretty with 80 recognition points.
Example #2--Currently 8-3-0 in Jhans (36) has Exp.+3 att, Adv.Exp. init., and Exp+3
dec. with 87 recognition points.
O.K., the other kind I like to call it the "High damage, low will, needs to end
the fight before he passes out with exhaustion" Basher. This type of basher relies on
his high damage capabilities to make up for his low WL. I've not had the best of luck
with these types of bashers, but I do know they can win (Warbeast has proved that to
me). The key is to get at least great damage on the roll-up. O.K. some examples:
#1 #2 #3
11 13 17
11 9 12
16 17 10
17 17 17
7 10 11
11 11 10
11 7 7
Example #1--I DA'ed, he didn't win
Example #2--Killed in round 1 of the winter FTF, went 4-3 in the Oct. Tournament,
learned 6 skills 5 being Att.
Example #3-1-0 in Jhans(36)
I run both styles ALE +L, WH light armor, mace medium armor, and WH heavy armor.
Go 10-10-7 dec 1st minute, and after min 1, go 8-8-5. WL basher, and the other kind
drop down drastically. Always aim for the head (it gets you an att bonus and could
score you a kill every now and then) unless you know you're gonna be up against a TP
or waste, then aim for a leg. Well that's gonna be it. Somebody write me and tell me
what you think.
Uncle Charlie Mgr.
Genocide (68)
Helter Skelter (36, 100)
'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE TOURNEY...
'Twas the night before Tourney, And all through the place
Many managers were drinking, Getting smashed at the Face;
The staff were all busy, The computers were humming,
Rollups were bought, for the deadline was coming;
Soon managers were nestled, all smug at their tables,
With visions of TC's coming from their stables;
And NAIMT doing massages, while A-Sop caused trouble,
An hour before deadline, the workload just doubled,
When by the computers, there arose such a clatter,
All eyes turned to them, to see what was the matter.
Sue glaring at the screen, Lee's fingers just flew,
Oh, the computer was down, so what else was new?
The lights in the room were too bright, someone said,
Nah, it's just the reflection from off Hoffa's head,
Then, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But Soultaker and Sentinel, once again here this year,
Yes, we heard "No more Faces!", We hear this each time,
But we know it's a farce, like this parody's rhyme.
More rollups are bought, more warriors are made,
Names are thought up, and carefully weighed;
"How 'bout FREE WILLY? Or RODMAN? Or PUSSY? Or KNOCKERS?
Or SHEIK T'WEEZEL? Or BALLSY? Or TAKE OFF THEM DOCKERS!?
Not a chance say the censors! Nice try, bub, but no!
Now it's HAPPY, and BARNEY, and WE LOVE YOU SO!
The managers groan, but undaunted keep trying,
The censors all laugh, and just are not buying,
The RUGS altars are burning, offerings are gifted,
With hopes that the rollup curses soon will be lifted.
And then, in a twinkling, we hear down the hall,
A Lunat!k roar and Fusion chased with a maul.
You see, he'd heard about Fusion's campaign for the Prez,
Now it's "Off with his Head!", so Lunat!k says.
At the Dark Circle table, 6'7" down in height,
With their arrogant statures, their great show of might.
Yet amidst all the notebooks, are nerf toys and giraffe,
Such silliness there, NAIMT can't help but laugh.
At Aradi's table -- how they giggle, at the cartoons and stories
Of the FONZ done by Nuln, in his infinite glories!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a ring,
And Barb drew his beard as straggly as string;
The new guys at Duelmasters, some call them a rookie,
Making names for themselves like Jessie and Bookie;
The regulars are here, The Boss, PUG, and TUM
Carapace, Sensei, and lots more to come
Doc Steele and his legends, even now in the making,
If there weren't many witnesses, I'd think he was faking.
The paperball fight, and the chaos ensues,
Clean it up, says Lee, or your heads you will lose!
The independents and alliances, speaking more than a word,
NAIMT's resounding giggles can also be heard;
But the hour before deadline is soon at a close,
And giving a nod, on a chair Sandy rose;
Okay guys, she says, no more inputs to be made,
And away goes some managers for a Bourbon Street raid.
But ere I end this bad poem, I just want to say,
"GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD DAY!"
****Hey, what do you expect for a quickie?... <grin>
The Anti-Thesis Slasher
Greetings all. No, this is definitely not another "Perfect" article. In fact,
it actually is just the opposite--finding success with a warrior whose stats were just
average. I am not an expert at this game and do not have near the experience that
some managers have. What I do have is some now solid experience with Slashers thanks
to this guy. So what I will do with this article is show you how my first attempt at
building a Slasher went, what it taught me, and maybe I can show a new or old manager
something about the style that can help their game.
This Slasher was my first attempt at the style. His starting stats were average
at 13-11-12-10-16-11-11. Definitely no Primus-quality warrior. By most people's
standards, he wouldn't have even been thought of as an ADM warrior because of his low
wit and will combo. Today, I don't know if I would even keep this guy, but at the
time I didn't know any better and kept him. I'm glad I did because he turned out to
be a good warrior, not great, but good and a fun one to watch.
He had three statements to start: "...learned how to be decisive and quick",
"...conserve his endurance past what might normally be expected", and "does great
damage". The last statement I think helped him a lot in many of his fights.
Weapons and Armor
Weapons-wise, all I knew about the Slashing style at the time was that a scimitar
was good, so I gave him one. He did well with it, so I kept using it. I didn't use
any off-hand weapon because I knew that an offensive-styled warrior could make quicker
attacks with a weapon using two hands. I gave him one back-up scimitar, knowing that
scimitars break though not that often.
Early on, I may have given him light armor and a helm, but later I discovered
that if he didn't get the first hit, he almost had no hope of winning. After all, the
credo of an offensive warrior is to "hit first, hit hard" and hope it ends the fight
quickly. I also started to realize he would never be a "great" warrior. My
philosophy changed and I could only hope to get him to ADM. So, I decided to use no
armor or helm, which slows warriors down.
Strategy:
Ah, the most important part of this warrior's winning ways. Looking back at his
early strategy, I wonder how he did so well. I started him going 10-10-10, attack and
protect the head with no tactics. My desperation strategy was usually 10-10-5, which
did nothing to help him. I used the decisiveness tactic since his overview said he
was decisive.
Through observing his fights and looking at what he preferred, I ironed out a
general strategy which I think is good for a lot of Slashers:
min. 1 2 3 4 5 6+ desp
OE 10 8 6 4 4 4 5
AL 10 4 2 2 2 2 8
KD 6 8 6 4 4 4 5
AL RA HE ----------------------->
PL AM BD -------------------> HE
Against more parry-type warriors like WOS and TP's, I've used a 10-6-6 min. One
strategy that he seems to like.
Design and Trains:
I started him off training skills only. But I soon learned that his average
stats meant that he wasn't going to learn very well. I decided late to train skills,
then stats, every other turn. The training of his will to 17 really helped his
endurance out. He finally went to ADM at 15-11-12-12-17-12-11. If I had recognized
earlier that he would not be a great warrior, and accepted that, then I might have
been about to train everything twice like in the "old" days and he would have gone at
15-13-12-12-18-13-13.
Record:
He started out great at 4-0-0, then was 8-4-1. He hit a rut and was soon 9-7-1.
He was mediocre in his middle fights but was above .500% at 14-12-2. He was under
.500% once at 14-15-2. Near the end of his regular DM career, with some careful
challenges and strategy changes, he went 5-0-0 and ended up 21-16-2. He was
Duelmaster for three turns in Cliffhome.
Final Notes:
So, what's the purpose of all this? It's to show that anyone can take a mediocre
warrior and through careful strategy and design build them into a formidable warrior.
I recognized long ago that this Slasher would never be great and accepted it. That's
what turned him into the warrior he is today. I was willing to take the risks
necessary to make him win. His name is E.G.B.D.F. (Every Good Boy Does Fine) and in
this case his name is true. I couldn't have asked more from him in his
accomplishments. He can be found fighting occasionally in Darkholm. He's taught me
an incredible amount about this style and has contributed to my 65% overall win-loss
record with them.
I'm open to feedback, positive or negative, and hope in some way that I've helped
someone learn more about this style.
So, good luck to all and may your swords ring true!
Brought to you by Talon, mgr. of
Eagles Claw (38,104), Farfignewtons (32)
where I'm known as Volksie, and other teams
throughout Alastari.
NEW GRADUATES--FROM ALL ARENAS (INCLUDING CLOSED ARENAS)
For those of you who keep track of such things, several additional warriors
graduated from regular DM arenas (including closed arenas) since the last tournament.
CHUPACABRA (10-3827) TERRAPIN STATION (189)
DECEON RAIN (50-883) KAOS (127)
PIONEER (82-47958) TRIPPIN' OUT (8064)
GRAPE APE (82-34889) BRAIN FOOD 9 (5739)
DUELMASTERS.COM (82-16536) SUPERIOR FORCES 720 (2509)
FROZBOZ (82-14622) FIRES OF HEAVEN 4 (2181)
RAGE (82-36450) EMOTIONS (6013)
HUNGRY HIPPO (82-49609) SUPERIOR FORCES 5411 (8331)
BABEL (82-46069) SACS DE SABLE 1 (7725)
Congrats to the grads. -- Green Eyes