DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER Date : 05/02/2015 Duedate: 05/15/2015 NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA DM-93 TURN-428 This Weeks Top Honors THE DUELMASTER IS MISTAKES BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) (93-9757) [7-0-0,58] Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader POSITION IS EMPTY MISTAKES BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) (93-9757) [7-0-0,58] Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite MESSY SAJAN BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) PUPPET LORDS (1675) (93-9754) [4-3-0,27] (93-9772) [3-1-0,23] THE CURRENT TOP TEAM FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team 1. BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) 42 2. VALHALLA (1676) 35 THE NEST (286) 3. THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) 34 Unchartered Team 4. PUPPET LORDS (1675) 13 5. THE HEATHENS (1664) 0 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) The Top Teams Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K 1/ 1*FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) 24 10 1 70.6 1/ 1*FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) 11 3 0 2/ 2*BASH BROS PAINTIN (1673) 22 13 0 62.9 2/ 2*BASH BROS PAINTIN (1673) 10 5 0 3- 4*STARBRIGHTS (1583) 3 3 0 50.0 3/ 5*PUPPET LORDS (1675) 5 10 0 4/ 7*PUPPET LORDS (1675) 7 13 0 35.0 4/ 8*THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) 4 9 0 5- 8*THE HEATHENS (1664) 9 19 2 32.1 5- 7*THE HEATHENS (1664) 2 3 1 6/ 9*THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) 4 9 0 30.8 6- 9*STARBRIGHTS (1583) 1 1 0 7/ 0*VALHALLA (1676) 1 4 0 20.0 7/ 0*VALHALLA (1676) 1 4 0 '*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn (###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank TEAM SPOTLIGHT How To Make a Loser Win One of the most common problems new (and even old) managers face is what to do when their young promising warrior keeps losing. Understanding how to turn a warrior around is a skill that once acquired, will be invaluable. One of the first things to understand is that warriors improve their abilities by learning skills and training stats. This means your opponents are improving, too. A warrior with lower wit is at an inherent disadvantage. Once you leave Noblish Island, 21 wit is a lot more common than you'd care to think about. That said, not every warrior has 21 wit, but the way things have progressed, most managers are highly focused on tourney success and in basic, that usually means 21 wit. So if you are a lower wit warrior (say 13 or less), your opponent likely has been learning faster than you have. But wit and skills are not the only thing that you need to win. Plenty of warriors with low wit are very successful. Even offensives can do very well with 11 wit (maybe even lower, but I don't recommend it). Use your challenges and use your avoids. That alone will do much to improve your record. Looking at how you have won and lost will give you clear clues. Especially how you've won. These are the fights you want to replicate and avoid. Your warrior's strengths and weaknesses determine who you want to challenge and avoid. Next, what you've been doing isn't working. Start to change things up. Even some offensives fight better when you start to lower the numbers. And hybrids and defensives can dramatically change their careers by altering the numbers just slightly, especially offensive effort. As to whether you want to increase or decrease numbers, there is no hard and fast rule. I will say that very low activity level is usually the first thing you want to remove on most warriors. Those super low activity levels aren't the best unless you are a scum or are facing a scum (scum being a total parry that tries only to wear you out). I've had numerous warrior magically start to fight better when I run on certain numbers, though. Weapon selection is another key item. Weapons have different attributes. Changing weapons can help your warrior. Almost every weapon has circumstances where I'll use it. The only weapon I'll never use is the MS (but the bashing weapons in general are worse than the slashing and lunging weapons). Learn what weapons are good for what circumstances. The last thing I'll mention in this article is optimizing a warrior. This is key for your losers. I started this article by hinting that all warriors are not equal. This is the only way you can make a truly inferior warrior win. Optimize him for a single way to win. Ignore all other fights and hope he faces someone that he can beat in his way to win. There will always be someone who can beat you, but if you try to make a loser win all his fights, you won't succeed. We publish many articles on what makes a good 'this type of warrior' articles in these newsletters. Choose the type that best matches your warriors strengths and optimize your strategy for that--then look for warriors that can lose to your strategy. And if all else fails, look for other losers to beat up! This article assumes that you actually WANT to try and make your loser win. There is another, perfectly acceptable solution. The Dark Arena is your friend! ***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------*** Mail-In Tournament Scenario -or- John Dillinger Runs The Numbers The purpose of this spotlight is to give newcomers to D2 a sense or feeling about tournaments, in this case a Mail-In tournament. Hence, John Dillinger of Famous Hoosiers was selected as the guinea-pig. So, a tournament. Four times a year RSI holds tournaments. Winter and Summer are Face-To-Face Tournaments where managers compete on-site against and can change strategies each and every fight if they wish. The winter Face Site has always been in Tempe, AZ, (The RSI Home Site) while the summer event in held in varying cities east of the Mississippi. (The last one was in Chicago, IL, and summer of 2015 will be in Newark, NJ.) The Mail-In Tournaments are done completely via mail and managers submit predetermined strategies for their entered warriors. (Each warrior is allowed a primary strategy and also a secondary strategy which will be employed against selected styles.) Both events cost $7.00 per warrior and are great fun. Warriors compete in classes, thereby allowing similarly experienced warriors from all arenas to be fairly matched with each other. In tournaments, a warrior's chance to learn skills or earn stat increases is half that in normal arenas. Supposedly, the chances of dying are also halved. I entered John Dillinger of Famous Hoosiers from Noblish Island in The Spring Mailer. Prior to fighting JD in The Mailer, I wanted to give him the best possibility to succeed. I prepared to fight him in the Apprentices class. Classes are segregated by FE - Fight Equivalents. What is a fight equivalent? Each arena fight counts as one fight and any tournament fights count as a half fight. The Apprentices Class is for warriors with 1-4 FE. Having no tournament fights prior, I wanted to "max" JD for Apprentices. By "max" I wanted him to fight with the maximum FE possible in that class. By doing so, I optimized his chances to succeed. In order to assure that he was maxed at tourney time, I had to sit JD out one fight on Noblish. Had I fought him, he would have acquired 5 FE and would have had to compete as one of the least experienced members of the Initiates Class. (5-10 FE). Pre-Tournament, JD looked like this: 19(+1)-19(+1)-13-3-21(+1)-3-9, a Total Parry who was Very Stupid, Ambidextrous, Clumsy, had Awesome Endurance, could take Tremendous Damage, could carry Tremendous weight in armor and weapons and did Great damage. Many would call this warrior a scum. I hesitated to call John Dillinger that to his face. JD did quite well in the tournament, finishing 5-3 against the best Apprentices in the land. He also learned/trained very well, earning 4 stats and a skill. Perhaps a general fight-by-fight summary would prove of value? First, let me list for you the two strategies I chose and my training regimen I mailed in for JD. Normal strategy: 3-3-3-3-2-3-3 APA/F 3-3-3-3-2-1-3 0+ = LG .... FI 5-5-5-5-7-8-5 bu = DA .... WH P-P-P-P-P-N-P Alternate strategy: (against TP) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 ASM/F 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 0+ = SM .... FI 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 BU = FI .... WH P-P-P-P-P-P-P Training Regiment = DF, DF, DF, WT, WT, WT, skill the rest of the way (e.g. round one through three train DF, round four through six train WT, round seven and on skill.) Strategies, armor, weapons, backups, tactics, alternate strategy against, training, etc., etc. are all variable, and explaining MY choices or normal Consortium choices would require a much, much longer spotlight. Perhaps another day. As to JD's tournament action: Fight one against a sz14 ambi LU: JD parried 19, and absorbed 5 hits to win with no swings in 3 rounds. He earned a DF train. (His DF to 10 which also came with a riposte skill) Fight two, another lunger sz8 who chose a longsword he had neither the ST nor DF to wield. JD parried 18, and absorbed 3 hits, winning in four without swinging. He earned another DF train! Lucky! (The math on that train for 21 WL, 2nd trained DF, tournament halfing ratio = 105% x 50% x 50% = 26.5% chance.) AND, that DF was 11 for him, so it came with 2 attack, 2 parry, and 2 defense skills) Fight three, an aimer, and the bane of all scum. Sz5, scimitar, lacking strength. While JD parried 13 attacks, he was hit by 9 regular and 3 critical swings and lost in three rounds. He missed the DF train, which was only at a 13% probability. Fight four, a plunger at sz5 with ale/l and a scimitar. JD actually dodged one, was hit five times - one a crit, but parried 21, before breaking his SC. Then the opponent swung twice with fists, JD parrying both, one which did damage to the opponent. Finally the opponent pulled a backup scimitar and swung five times all parried. JD won in round 8 without swinging. JD did not get his WT train at approx 50/50. Fight five is a scum similar to JD. The opponent is smaller at sz10 and too low WT for the BS/ME he holds. Both of these are advantages to the scum opponent as points are distributed elsewhere rather than in WT or SZ. Remember: JD is going to use his alternate strategy against TPs. The opponent is as this: ASM/H, BS/ME (lacks WT) with a backup SH and SM. The fight goes 23 minutes and JD wins on endurance. The first swing of the match was in round eight by the opponent. Through 19 rounds the only 2 swings were by the opponent which JD dodged and parried. By round 20, both are tiring and able to hit. The opponent has 2 BS hits and a ME hit which caused JD to drop the shield. JD was able to get in 2 SM hits, 1 WH hit, and 2 FI hits during that time. This time JD does get his WT train and moves from very stupid to just plain stupid. JD is starting to feel good about his 4-1 record and is gloating like a gangster. His downfall is coming. Fight six is a sz9 striker with a scimitar, which JD defeats in six minutes with no swings and 30 parried swings. He was hit five times and had to "suck up" 2 normals, 2 crits, and 1 extra value blow. JD earned the 2nd WT train of his tourney (26.5%) taking him to 5 WT and collecting the five skills at 5WT - Init, Rip, Attack, Defense, and Decise. Now JD is 5-1. He thinks he is Godfather. Round seven is against a sz6 aimer, another bane to all scum. JD was celebrating way too early! The aimed blow came out in ASM/S and a dagger and ripped up JD in six bloody minutes. The aimer's actions were like this: 10/32/2. (crits, swings extra value blows) JD parried 13, amazingly dodged 9, but took too much damage otherwise and lost. Sadly, he did not get any skills in his first ever skill train either. JD's eighth and final fight was a sz7 striker who obviously knew how to fight a TP like JD. The opponent was in ale/l ba/-. The opponent banged away for 4 minutes and finished JD with a devastating blow. JD parried 21, 2 of which were crit parries - one each with LG and WH. But he was hit 8 times, of which 3 were crits and 4 were EHB's. JD did learn a defensive skill. Such is JD's Mail-In tournament saga. He was a solid 5-3. He earned 4 stat increases, which added 12 skills and he learned one additional skill. He now is a meaner (can John Dillinger be any meaner?) 19-19-13-5-21-3-11 TP with a skill level at -20, 5, 15, 65, 5, 10. -- John Wooden, Famous Hoosier Manager (Consortium affiliated.) SPY REPORT Busy, busy, busy, lots of things happening in NOBLISH ISLAND this turn, and let's start with a look at some of the teams. THIRD HIWAY 2 stable has parlayed this turn's 2-3-0 into a 4 space move up the rankings. This brings them up to 4th place. Good work, guys! The BASH BROS PAINTING guild has had a 4-1-0 turn and deserves to be watched in the future. You never know where this kind of thing can lead. And let's see, MISSED A SPOT fought LARRY BIRD and gained 20 points and contributed to BASH BROS PAINTING's 4-1-0. LARRY BIRD has lost to MISSED A SPOT, falling 13 points, while helping make FAMOUS HOOSIERS a 3-2-0 turn. We should ask MISTAKES about the thrill of victory, and what being the new Duelmaster does for a warrior, he's now the one to ask. Tell me, is nothing sacred? I have heard from unimpeachable sources that The Dripping Blade uses trolls in their stew. Talk about gristle! I tell you, a green quarterstaff lasts longer than a seasoned sapling. A basher friend of mine assures me this is true. GREMORY DEVILS has cause to stand tall, as they were NOBLISH ISLAND's most avoided team. A smart manager knows this is a team to beat. And avoiding GREMORY DEVILS more than any other team we find FAMOUS HOOSIERS. NOBLISH ISLAND, are we going to accept, or respect this sort of thing? In a brave attempt, TRAICA from PUPPET LORDS challenged up 22 points to fight JAMES DEAN from the FAMOUS HOOSIERS stable. TRAICA perhaps got hers just desserts, seeing as she was overcame by JAMES DEAN and ended up with 8 recognition points. We only live a short time in this world, so why not take a sharp blade, and shave it close? Is it really true that NOBLISH ISLAND has more dishwashers per capita that fighters? Just thought I'd ask... Thought for the day, a new sword shines bright, but the notched sword sings the sweetest. It's been nice chatting with you, until we meet again, keep your swords sharp and your hammers heavy. Until you see my quill in NOBLISH ISLAND again, farewell-- Alarond the Scribe DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME MISTAKES 9757 7 0 0 58 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -MORTICIOUS 9762 3 0 1 38 THE HEATHENS (1664) JOHN DILLINGER 9751 6 0 0 34 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -WIDOW-MAKER 9688 2 4 1 33 THE HEATHENS (1664) MISSED A SPOT 9758 3 4 0 30 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) JAMES DEAN 9749 5 2 0 29 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) MESSY 9754 4 3 0 27 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME SAJAN 9772 3 1 0 23 PUPPET LORDS (1675) BENNY STREETER 9790 2 1 0 23 THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) CLEAN UP 9756 5 2 0 21 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) -AURORA BOREALIS 9192 2 0 0 20 STARBRIGHTS (1583) ED ALLEY 9793 2 0 0 20 THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) MICK FOLEY 9801 2 0 0 19 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) VALEROS 9770 1 3 0 19 PUPPET LORDS (1675) DAN QUAYLE 9750 4 3 1 16 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) LARRY BIRD 9753 4 3 0 15 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) TIME CONSUMING 9755 3 4 0 13 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) -AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) RINDRA 9769 2 2 0 8 PUPPET LORDS (1675) TRAICA 9773 1 3 0 8 PUPPET LORDS (1675) -DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) GUDBRAND 9778 1 0 0 6 VALHALLA (1676) -DREAD SKEWER 9763 1 2 0 5 THE HEATHENS (1664) -NEBULA 9196 1 0 0 5 STARBRIGHTS (1583) -SEARRUS 9645 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -PERSEPHONE 9642 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -AGRISEL 9646 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) DORA LANE 9792 0 2 0 3 THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) CHARLENE WAYE 9791 0 3 0 3 THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) ANDREA RHODES 9789 0 3 0 3 THIRD HIWAY 2 (1679) -URSA 9195 0 1 0 3 STARBRIGHTS (1583) -ORION 9193 0 2 0 2 STARBRIGHTS (1583) -AXEFACE 9794 0 1 0 1 THE HEATHENS (1664) -BRAINOR 9795 0 1 0 1 THE HEATHENS (1664) '-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn. THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? AMELIA EARHART 9752 3 2 0 FAMOUS HOOSIERS 1672 MORTICIOUS 9762 426 EZREN 9771 0 4 0 PUPPET LORDS 1675 DARK CHAMPION 428 NONE BALDER 9774 0 1 0 VALHALLA 1676 MOUNTAIN TROLL 428 NONE DAG FINN 9775 0 1 0 VALHALLA 1676 SHEWISH GIANT 428 NONE EINAR 9776 0 1 0 VALHALLA 1676 BLACK ORC 428 NONE FRITJOF 9777 0 1 0 VALHALLA 1676 SPYMASTER 428 NONE PERSONAL ADS The surprise leaving of our friend Jorja probably led to the lack of spotlights last turn. (We sent in two.) We hope all is well with her and wish her only the best. -- John Wooden, Famous Hoosiers (and Consortiumites everywhere) Note: Spots resubmitted. Messy, Time Consuming, were those BBs we spanked? Life is sooooo sweet. -- James Dean and Larry Bird, Famous Hoosiers Geir, I saw you lusting for my VP job and I just couldn't let that happen. No way! -- Dan Quayle, Famous Hoosier Famous Hoosiers, take note: Bash Bros Painting 107 -- Famous Hoosiers -- 116 Bash Bros Painting 18-12 -- Famous Hoosiers -- 21-8 Assur 4-5, Wooden 5-4 By George, we may have crossed the line into positive territory! -- John Wooden, Famous Hoosier Dora Lane, I put you down quickly for the three-count, but I must say I was surprised to even see you in the ring. Perhaps the great Jorja is still with us? -- Mick Foley, Famous Hoosier Valeros, I don't think you had a chance - especially when my bullets started to fly! -- John Dillinger, Famous Hoosier Good luck to all. We are so pleased to see you here on Noblish. No matter where you go, in whatever the arena, we Consortium Family wish you well. -- John Wooden, Famous Hoosier, Consortium affiliated Assur -- Thanks you for the advice for Valeros. I was running hot (7-10 oe, 6-10 al), to get the first move. Didn't happen with that backup weapon. I'm open for any othre advice/help from anyone. I'm new to the game and don't know much yet. Some of my warriors are doing good and some are not. -- Puppet Lords Don't have my fights in front of me and heading out of town. Will write more meaningful personals next turn. -- Assur I will leave you with a touch of wisdom, though. Some warriors are better than they look and some warriors are worse than they look. Sometimes you will run across a warrior who wins more fights than he should. Just as in life, some warriors are just plain luckier in life. They lead blessed careers and while design, strategy, and skills all matter, luck is as important or more important than the rest. Just something to think about. -- Assur LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS EZREN was butchered by DARK CHAMPION in a crowd pleasing 1 minute Dark Arena fight. EINAR was murdered by BLACK ORC in a 1 minute brutal Dark Arena melee. BALDER was narrowly killed by MOUNTAIN TROLL in a 2 minute bloody Dark Arena duel. DAG FINN was dealt death by SHEWISH GIANT in a popular 1 minute Dark Arena fight. FRITJOF was butchered by SPYMASTER in a 1 minute Dark Arena brawl. SAJAN lost to JOHN DILLINGER in a crowd pleasing 5 minute Challenge fight. TRAICA was beaten by JAMES DEAN in a 4 minute Challenge brawl. VALEROS handily defeated TIME CONSUMING in a 1 minute uneven Challenge fight. MISTAKES vanquished THE USEROUS MERCHANT in a 1 minute uneven Title duel. LARRY BIRD was overpowered by MISSED A SPOT in a 1 minute uneven duel. CLEAN UP defeated DORA LANE in a 2 minute brutal fight. MESSY overcame DAN QUAYLE in a popular 1 minute bout. RINDRA was demolished by BENNY STREETER in a 2 minute mismatched match. ED ALLEY handily defeated PERSISTANT BEGGAR in a 3 minute one-sided contest. ANDREA RHODES was subdued by GUDBRAND in a 1 minute novice's brawl. CHARLENE WAYE was handily defeated by MICK FOLEY in a 1 minute one-sided conflict. BATTLE REPORT MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS |FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT| |BASHING ATTACK 8 PARRY-LUNGE 9 - 4 - 1 69 | |STRIKING ATTACK 6 TOTAL PARRY 26 - 16 - 0 62 | |LUNGING ATTACK 3 SLASHING ATTACK 11 - 9 - 1 55 | |TOTAL PARRY 2 BASHING ATTACK 33 - 27 - 1 55 | |AIMED BLOW 2 AIMED BLOW 20 - 18 - 0 53 | |PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 LUNGING ATTACK 19 - 20 - 1 49 | |PARRY-LUNGE 1 PARRY-STRIKE 4 - 6 - 0 40 | |SLASHING ATTACK 1 STRIKING ATTACK 27 - 41 - 2 40 | |PARRY-STRIKE 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 5 - 14 - 0 26 | |WALL OF STEEL 0 WALL OF STEEL 0 - 2 - 0 0 | Turn 428 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: PARRY-LUNGE 1 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 3 - 5 3 BASHING ATTACK SLASHING ATTACK 1 - 0 LUNGING ATTACK 1 - 2 2 PARRY-LUNGE TOTAL PARRY 2 - 0 STRIKING ATTACK 2 - 4 2 TOTAL PARRY AIMED BLOW 1 - 1 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 0 2 STRIKING ATTACK PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 2 1 LUNGING ATTACK WALL OF STEEL 0 - 0 1 AIMED BLOW TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME BASHING ATTACK MISTAKES 9757 7 0 0 58 BASH BROS PAINTING (1673) TOTAL PARRY JOHN DILLINGER 9751 6 0 0 34 FAMOUS HOOSIERS (1672) Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above. The overall popularity leader is MESSY 9754. The most popular warrior this turn was SAJAN 9772. The ten other most popular fighters were TRAICA 9773, CLEAN UP 9756, BALDER 9774, DAG FINN 9775, VALEROS 9770, DORA LANE 9792, MESSY 9754, BENNY STREETER 9790, MICK FOLEY 9801, and JOHN DILLINGER 9751. The least popular fighter this week was CHARLENE WAYE 9791. The other ten least popular fighters were ED ALLEY 9793, LARRY BIRD 9753, JAMES DEAN 9749, FRITJOF 9777, EINAR 9776, ANDREA RHODES 9789, DAN QUAYLE 9750, TIME CONSUMING 9755, EZREN 9771, and GUDBRAND 9778. The Defensive Lunger Perfect Minimums Actual Characters ST 13 11 11 13 CN 7 3 3 11 SZ 4 4 10 6 WT 21 17 17 17 WL 17 13 17 19 SP 5 5 9 5 DF 17 13 17 13 The lunger, in my opinion, makes a much better defensive fighter than offensive fighter. Fighting defensively will compensate for the speed at which lungers burn endurance. They will still attack whenever possible but their defensive ability will allow them to dodge most attacks. The most important part is their initiative. When they do dodge, they'll usually steal the initiative and attack. I haven't been fighting lungers defensively for long but my record is 14-5-0. Don't fight defensively against other lungers as they will usually win. The strategy I use is: Min 1 2 3 4 5 6 Desp Off 4 -------------------------> 9 Weapon: Any lunging Act 6 4 --------------------> 9 No armor if low con KD 4 -------------------------> 9 APL/H if average con O.T. ---------------------------> L D.T. --------------------------------> You can attack any location you wish but I suggest protecting the body. The third character listed started with experts in attack, defense and initiative. The last character had an expert in attack. The Wild Boar, manager of Things (5) and many inactive teams. WARRIOR ENDURANCE Greetings, joy and happiness to everyone! I hope you have had pleasant dueling. This article is about endurance and some things to think about when you're designing your warriors. Below is a chart showing the different endurance levels a warrior may have. This chart may be a little off of due to the fact it isn't possible to have all the variables as a manager, but it does give you idea of the amount of endurance a warrior should have. The formula for endurance is: E = (ST+CN)WL With the result of that number use the chart below. 000-180 = Very Poor 181-240 = Poor 235-390 = Normal 391-509 = Good 510-639 = Great 640-699 = Tremendous 770+ = Awesome Here are some examples of warriors with their Endurance ratings: 1) Slasher ST 5 CN 7 WL 15 (5+7)15 = 180 Poor 2) Striker ST 7 CN 13 WL 9 (7+13)9 = 180 Poor 3) Parry-Rip ST 7 CN 10 WL 11 (7+10)11 = 187 Poor 4) Basher ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Very Poor 5) Striker ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Poor 6) Aimed-Blow ST 9 CN 15 WL 9 (9+15)9 = 216 Normal 7) Striker ST 10 CN 5 WL 15 (10+5)15 = 225 Normal 8) Slasher ST 13 CN 10 WL 10 (13+10)10 = 230 Normal 9) Wall/Steel ST 13 CN 12 WL 17 (13+12)17 = 425 Great There are several factors such as warrior style, RSI random factor, and there is some evidence that SIZE has some effect on a warrior's endurance. In any case the RSI LUCK factor can be around 7 to 8% in your favor or 2-3% worse than average. These are just estimates, but are still factors nevertheless. Some styles that are HIGH BURN endurance, like lungers, slashers and walls of steel, are more likely to be UNLUCKY with the endurance rating. Every action your warrior does consumes endurance. Attacking seems to use more endurance than any other action. Once a warrior's endurance is used up, he will make an endurance check against his WILL. If he fails the roll, he will either stop to rest or collapse to the sand, depending on how badly he failed the roll. When a warrior stops to rest, he gets back some endurance. When he gets enough endurance back, he will start attacking again. This is just a theory that I have developed from observations. It maybe completely off, but it gives one something to ponder. That's it for now lords and ladies, I must go entertain elsewhere. If you would like to chat about DM or other things, you can EMAIL me at 103260.3347@compuserve.com or visit my DM website at http://ourworld.compuserve.com./homepages/jessisjest/homepage.htm You can also diplo me at DM 11 "The Lords Of the Abyss (319)" or any of the Joker's Wilds scattered about. Cheerio, Sir Jessie Jest Member of the Ivory League Presenting, by Popular Demand (from 1989)... THE NUMEROLOGY OF DUELMASTERS by The Ghost of Eldrid Character Generation Hello, I am the Ghost of Eldrid, and I have an important message that directly effects how well your team may do in the future. Some managers will not take this important article seriously (some people don't believe in ghosts, either), and their records will suffer for it. I have played Duelmasters for four years and searched through all of my old turns and painstakingly researched every important fact in this article, and I have discussed my conclusions with about ten different managers (named managers such as Phido, Doctor LeGrand, Silk, Russ, and Biff Frothingslosh) who all agree on the validity of my arguments. The results of my research are both startling and magnificent. THERE IS NUMEROLOGY IN DUELMASTERS!!! Whether it was programmed in or it exists on a higher plane, it matters not. IT EXISTS!!! And I plan to share some of its amazing secrets with you, starting with character creation. Remember in the realm of character generation the powers favor odd number stats. NEVER, EVER have an even number on stats, except, of course, for size, which, obviously should be even since everyone can tell what size your character is by his description in the fight. Do you want people thinking your warrior is odd? I should hope not!! But in case you decide to keep your odd warrior, DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER STATS EVEN!! Write a letter to the commission stating that you forgo the rights to the last point and you want it to be sacrificed to the benefit of Alastari. Always start adding points to wit and will first. Either make them 13, 17, or 21. Why? Under 12 wit is worthless, as any good manager will tell you. A 13 understandably gives your opponent bad luck, a 17 has the ever-lucky "7" in it, and 21 is BLACKJACK, and you get twice the number of winnings you would normally get. Why not 15 or 19? Is it not obvious to everyone that 15 is unlucky? The only President of the United States not married was the 15th, James Buchanan (who?). Lincoln was shot on April 15th, and the clincher... my brother was born on the 15th of May. If these "coincidences" don't prove to you that 15 is unlucky, I don't know what will. 19 is an evil number. It tries to deceive you into thinking it is better than 17, but actually, it is an "11" with a small zero placed on the second pole, and we all know that a zero is nothing. So what do we get for our extra eight points? In effect, something smaller than nothing. Next, make every other stat odd. Add the other points to make the style you want. Deftness is the key to character generation. Deftness (min) 5 to make a basher (ST 13+) 7 for a lunger 9 for a striker 11 for a wall of steel (ST 11+, WL 17+) 13 for a parry lunge (ST 11+), slasher (SP 11+), parry-strike, and total parries (these styles depend on the opponent's bad luck. 17 for a parry-riposte (WT 17+) 21 for an aimed blow (this style needs the double winnings) The last thing to remember is that luck is a big factor in this game and I don't know if you noticed, but when warriors have even ID numbers they are luckier than odd ID characters. Look at the best warriors in Primus: Wallbanger, Donatello, Epitaph, Chaos Knight, Villiage Idiot, Silverflash, Khorga Khan, Jake the Snake, Sly, Max, Stormbringer, Teetotaler, Raphael, Selleque, Kiri, Constance, Hangover, Eve, and Sam Spade. All have even-numbered IDs. Now you say, "But Yoda and Necron-99 both have odd IDs, and they are the best aimed blows of the game!" Yes, but they are AIMED BLOWS and they are members of an odd style, so of course they do better with odd numbers. So remember if you want your warriors to be best in all Alastari someday, Dark Arena all your odd-numbered characters, unless of course they are aimed blows. Good luck, and may the numbers fall your way. -- The Ghost of Eldrid, retired PARRY-STRIKE, ANOTHER FUN STYLE There have been several articles about fighting styles, some say theirs is the best, or ultimate, one said theirs is the most fun style. Well, I feel that parry- strikers are just as much fun to play as any other style. First, let's start with the run down of what they say in the "RED BOOK". The book says that parry-strikers are defensive, using small quick movements in their actions (sounds like you could say that about some other styles as well.) The book says that some managers swear that a high wit is critical to the style (only those who have no brains would disagree with that.) Let's get to business. First and foremost this style is deceptively aggressive, making them a very good offensive type of fighter, or deadly type of defensive fighter. Offensively they tend to get the jump on their opponent. I had a parry- striker that was only jumped 3 out of 11 fights, before he died. To prepare and run a parry-striker can be quite confusing, so I will try to help make it as simple as possible. Here are my feelings on roll-ups for the parry-strike style: ST: 11-15, I'll explain later. CN: who cares. SZ: 10-14, don't go over 14. WT: 13-17, 17 is the best. WL: 13-17, to get good endurance. SP: not important. DF: 11-15, I'll explain later. Here are some good roll-ups for a parry-striker: 11,7,10,17,17,7,15; 15,7,11,17,16,7,11; 11,7,14,17,13,7,15; 15,7,14,17,13,7,11. Now, if you have a decent wit, the way you run this fighting style will depend on strength and deftness. For example: if your fighter has a high DF and a low ST it would be to his/her advantage to be defensive, since the speed would benefit the ability to move in reaction to their opponent. If the ST is high, and DF low, it would be better to fight offensively like a striker, trying to get the first, and only blow in. If they don't have a decent wit, you're on your own. I can't help you on that. Remember this style of fighting is the same as a striker except for added knowledge of parrying, as well as bein a little more aggressive. I would not suggest a low ST and DF, it will take away from your WT & WL, and you don't want to do that, but if you do, good luck. You don't need much CN if you have a good WL, which gives you your endurance. SZ; you don't want it to be above 14, it would hurt your fighting style more than your attributes. WT; it is the same as it is with strikers, the higher the WT the faster and deadlier they become. Raise WT to 17 if you don't have it at the start, then don't worry about it again until ADM. WL; this is where you get your endurance. 13 is fine to start out, but I would suggest 15, then bump it up to 17 in basic. SP; it is what you need to riposte, but PSers have this "one strike one kill" attitude. Meaning that there isn't much time to riposte with a killing attitude, so do whatever. DF; what is there to say, it helps, but is not crucial to be a great PSer. Now to running a PSer. If he is an offensive fighter 10-10-10 Dec. all the way through the fight, even in desperation. If Defensive, 1st 10-10-10 Resp., 2nd 10-7-10 Dec., 3rd 10-10-10, 4th 10-10-10 Dec., 5th 10-10-10 Dec., 6th 10-10-10, Desp. 10-10-10 Resp. Remember, first you want to assure your defense, and to do that, you should go defensive the first minute. By the second minute you will be secure enough to go on the offensive, but experiment. 6th minute on, leave blank, for by that time he/she will know what to do (if their WT is high that is.) The best thing you could do for your fighter is watch the fights, if you are getting more defensive skills than offensive, run the def., or change weapons. That is the best advice I can give you about PSers. About armor, I like to use ringmail or nothing, but experiment. I know that there is someone that will disagree with me, but I feel that I have given you some ideas about this fighting style that can be used, even though I am a new manager, playing for just over a year. No matter who writes a style article, it is just advice, not the bible. Just use the articles as a point of reference, not as sworn law. This is a very fun fighting style, try it out. I have written this in answer to Foreign Legion Arena 31, and The Spartans Arena 8. I challenge any Primus Manager to correct my writing of PSers. It is not my favorite style, but it is as fun as any other that I have used, including my favorite one (Which is a STRIKER!!) If there are any comments, please Diplo The Priest, the manager of The Heroes of XIAN DM-10, or The Crucifiers DM-46. THE ARMOR PIERCING PARRY-LUNGE When you think "attack" what style comes to mind? Bashing? Definitely lunging? Of course. Parry-Lunging? Excuse me? Yes, the parry-lunger! Few people realize the fact that parry-lungers are attack gods waiting to be born. All it takes is the right warrior and lots of guts. This warrior is not for the weak of heart. We'll begin with stats. Range Perfect ST 9-11 11 CN 5-9 5 SZ 6-11 8 WT 17or21 21 WL 17or21 17 SP 5-8 5 DF 15-17 17 Why? ST(11): This is your optimum PL strength. It puts your warrior in the normal to good damage range. Also, you have the best PL weapon at your disposal--the LO! CN(5): Yes, his life expectancy is low. What'd I tell you? Guts, right? He gets his endurance from WL. If you want to make trains, make them here. SZ(8): Our most flexible stat. A high SZ (i.e.11) allows you to skimp a bit on Str (9). WT(21): If it's not a 21 you're not going to get the attack this fellow counts on. His learns will be awesome and a 21 WT will make him a better warrior out of the chocks. WL(17): End/Att are dependent on this one being high. Keeps you on your feet when you should drop from exhaustion. SP(5): Not a big requirement. Init and Parry will come from elsewhere (WT/DF). This is not a lunger mimic. DF(17): Combine this DF with a 21 WT and you will have a massive attack. Pinpoint accuracy is the byword. Parry, init, def and riposte will all benefit immeasurably. At 15 you have access to the EP, a fine lunging weapon this style can put to devastating use. Strategy (General, but effective in most cases) 2 9 9 7 6 5 10 6 9 9 7 6 5 10 2 7 7 7 5 5 10 HE ----------------------------> HE BD -----------------------> - - - - - - - P - - - - - - Minute 1: This fellow won't get the jump on offensives, so we'll just go defensive and render their "mad minute" fruitless. This PL's counterattack will be amazing at even 2-6-2 P due to the high AL. Keep the parry tactic until Adv Expert parry is gained. Minutes 2 and 3: These two will end most of his fights. When he starts landing precision blows in his opponent's face it will usually be over quickly. Keep the kill desire relatively low as to avoid sloppy attacking. Minutes 4 through 6: If you haven't won by now you've got to depend on your WL to carry you until you finish the job. He'll probably top out at the five min. mark. But we want to keep the attacks coming so we do so at his endurance's expense. Desp: If your opponent is an offensive he's probably blasted through your min. 1 defense. Your best bet is to go spastic and hope to take him out in one shot or so. If he's some super-defensive (scum) this PL is probably exhausted and you're hoping the super-offense will put him over the edge. After all, it's better to burn out than fade away. Always aim for the head to maximize the impact of your blows. If it tickles your fancy, aim for your opponent's weapon arm and beat him senseless when he's unarmed. Protecting the head in min. 1 is strictly odds playing on my part. My offensives aim head so I assume everyone else's do too. After min. 1, we forget defense. Weapons and armor are simple. APL/H or ARM/H (if you're challenging a real heavy-hitter). I prefer swords for armament. My combos are usually LO/SM, LO/SH, SC/DA etc. Against heavy armor go with LO/SH. Always aim for the head. Philosophy: This guy clings to life by luck, early on, and will never be free of the spectre of death. In his first few fights stay away from lungers and bashers. Both have high attacks and usually do substantial damage. Prey on strikers, PS, PR and slashers. As he progresses, his attack, parry and defense will equip him with the tools to handle most everybody but always remain cautious of those bashers and lungers. A PL of this calibre should begin with around a 90 att, 70 par/init and 60-70 def. Decise and riposte will be slightly lower. Riposte 50 and decise anywhere from 35-50 depending on how lucky you get. Train skills exclusively from fight one and on. Use tourneys if you must raise anything at all (including con). Don't be discouraged if he's around .500 early on. By ten fights he'll be sporting three Adv Experts at least (att, par and init) and will begin to dismantle those scum/finesse styles that managed to beat him. Feel free to write or diplo me with comments/criticisms/or questions. Fight the Good Fight, or: Agath CPL Michael Dockus Lunatic Fringe (23) H Co BLT 2/8 Circle of Five (51) 24 MEU (Det F) Slaves of Power (52) FPO NY NY 09502-8531