DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER Date : 09/02/2016 Duedate: 09/15/2016 NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA DM-93 TURN-460 This Weeks Top Honors THE DUELMASTER IS TROY RIVER RATS (1699) (93-9911) [8-1-1,69] Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader POSITION IS EMPTY TROY RIVER RATS (1699) (93-9911) [8-1-1,69] Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite TELL CITY TELL CITY RIVER RATS (1699) RIVER RATS (1699) (93-9915) [5-4-0,20] (93-9915) [5-4-0,20] THE CURRENT TOP TEAM NUMBER (1705) TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team 1. BB TALK RADIO (1700) 44 2. NUMBER (1705) 36 DYSERAY (312) 3. THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 Unchartered Team 4. ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 0 5. THE MANTICORES (1704) -2 NUMBER (1705) The Top Teams Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K 1/ 2*NUMBER (1705) 11 4 1 73.3 1/ 3*NUMBER (1705) 11 4 1 2/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 31 14 1 68.9 2/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 10 5 1 3/ 3*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 28 17 1 62.2 3/ 4*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 8 7 0 4- 4*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 8 6 1 57.1 4/ 2*COYOTES (1701) 6 5 0 5/ 5*COYOTES (1701) 17 18 1 48.6 5/ 5*THE MANTICORES (1704) 2 3 1 6/ 6*THE MANTICORES (1704) 3 6 2 33.3 6- 7*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 1 0 0 7/ 7*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 14 0 17.6 7/ 6*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 1 11 0 '*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn (###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank TEAM SPOTLIGHT A D2 OVERVIEW D2, the game of Duelmasters, is just plain fun. It is so good that there has even been a published book written about it! It must be great, then! Do you want to have the fun and pleasures that hundreds of other managers before you have experienced? Can't blame you! I have been enjoying Duelmasters-to-D2 for nearly 30 years. Perhaps this article will assist or simplify your introduction to this game and speed up your enjoyment process. It goes something like this: ACQUIRE A D2 ROLL UPS sheet from RSI. (Reality Simulations Inc., P.O. Box 22400, Tempe AZ 85285-2400, 480-967-7979) The first sheet/team is free. Subsequent teams cost $5. Later, after your introductory 10 turns in the Noblish Island (DM93) arena, you can transfer your starting team to another arena, or you may find you even want to start up a new team/s in other arenas, or both. Actually, you can start new teams any time, even while going through your learning process in DM93; but you may want to "learn the ropes" first. FILL OUT THE ROLL UPS and send the sheet to RSI. Other than the normal personal information, the most important things to decide are: Team name, Manager Name, and 5 individual warrior designs. Let's discuss each of those briefly. Team name and manager name can be anything you like that fits you. (RSI will edit inappropriate naming.) They can be gladiator driven, silly ideas, great play on words, or whatever. The warrior names can be closely tied to the team name, or not. My very first team was: "Bulldogs," manager Kennelworth, and names like "Tiger Lily," "Sir Smythe," "Wild Wayne," and "Flash." Etc. A team I admire in the game is "Azure Clouds," manager Slugbait, warrior names like "Black Bile," "Violent Orange," "Blue Note".... We could spend hours and hours on warrior designs (where to place the 14 points on the fixed 70 points and what style to choose?) and there are many articles available examining design, so I will offer only a few basic comments: * Offensive styles are easier to learn for a newbie. (Or anyone, for that matter) * Gender does not matter at all in the fight process. * Generally, fast & quick or brawny & strong rule the day. I said generally. * WT and WL are the most important stats. * There are reasons to design to odd numbers. (Exclude CN from that statement.) * Read newsletters and other RSI info, especially DM93 for design reviews. You have received your 5 warrior profiles. Time to fill out DUEL II STRATEGY FORMS and send them in to RSI. "Goodness!" you say; "I wish I had a lot more information about weapons and strategies and what the warrior profile means, and...." Here are a list of places and methods for getting additional info: * "Phone a friend." Diplo, e-mail, call, write, etc., beg from other players, especially experienced players in the game. * "Put on your newbie outfit." Ask RSI, or better yet, diplo the teachers/coaches in Noblish Island (DM93) the "starter's arena" and ask for information provided there. If you are already in Noblish Island, ask RSI to make sure you get the CIC or "fact sheets." * "Go electronic." The best information in the game is available at reality.com/dm, or terrablood.com, or even try chatzy.com/42003746228981 as DMers chat there from approx 9AM to 2AM EST. and they seem to welcome inexperienced questions. So back to the strategy sheets. One for each warrior you plan to fight. Write legibly! You would be very disappointed to have a code inputted improperly because your scribbles were not so discernible. The basic stuff like warrior name and ID, or game # and account # don't need discussion. But weapon selection, strategy, armor and challenging do. Weapon choice is your chance to select a best weapon against the opponent's probable armor. Bigger weapons are probably needed against heavy armor. Some weapons do especially well against certain armor types. (Hmmm; that information mentioned earlier would help.) The most common weapon arrangements are a single primary weapon and a small backup primary for offensive types, and a primary/secondary (secondary could be a shield) and zero to two backups for defensives/finesse warriors. Strategy is more difficult to decide. Offensives usually start "hot and heavy" and then slow down, as they will wear down/tire due to weight being carried and a high activity level Defensives tend to run moderately, but current arena defensive warriors can be found fighting anywhere from "hot and heavy" to very slow. The desperation strategy is important, because if your warrior is nearing defeat or exhaustion, you may want to do something different in a last-ditch effort to pull out the win. Armor is really a matter of preference, but like every other choice in the game, there are trade-offs. Heavy armor, while providing more protection, can slow down and wear down warriors. Naked or light armor may be less restricting and faster but offers little protection. It is easy to think, "I need lots of armor," but over encumbering a warrior greatly impacts (diminishes) his fighting ability. Training is simple. The most common training is "skills", but stats can be and are trained also. In general the amount of skills learned is based on your WT (the higher the better), but it is also impacted by the knowledge of the warriors you fight. (And other things) Stat training is very highly dependent on WL, as the odds of getting a first stat train of a stat type are 5% times the WL. (Ex: a WL of 15 = 5%x15 or 75% chance.) There can be a luck roll impact also in almost everything that occurs in Duel 2. Attempting to get a 2nd stat raise in a certain stat is halved. (Ex: a WL of 15 = 5%x15x 0.5 = 37.5%) Challenging and avoiding are very strategic components of the game. There are quite a few managers who do not challenge or avoid or both. You can use that to your best advantage. Challenge warriors (the warrior ID number) and avoid teams (the team ID number). Several points about challenging/avoiding): 1. Challenging and avoiding do not work until after the warrior has fought his/her first fight in the arena. 2. Challenge warriors or styles you think you can beat, or who will teach you well, or to attempt to advance in the rankings. 3. Avoid those teams who have warriors that can probably beat you, or who are likely to challenge you. 4. Remember: challenge warrior ID numbers (not names) and avoid team numbers (not names) 5. Some arenas, usually Andorian, frown on down-challenging (usually defined as challenging someone with fewer recognition points that oneself). Beware of the arena environment, history, and politics. You have the option to use an alternate "special strategy" either (or both) when you challenge someone, or when someone challenges you. You can use this alternate to prepare a specific strategy for that challenge you just made, or surprising an opponent who will likely challenge or bloodfeud you. To use these alternatives, "x" the proper box or boxes and fill out the strategy info on the back of the strategy form. This alternative strategy will not be used unless the conditions you selected occur. That was easy, wasn't it!? After sending in your strategy sheets, (in plenty of time for the due date -- or last minute via fax; no internet submittals allowed) the computer utilizes everyone's' inputs and the fights proceed. A few days after the arena run date, the actual fights and arena newsletter will arrive in your mailbox. Before submitting the new warrior strategies for the next round of fights, there is much a manager can/should examine and review. Here are generic things that this old- time manager evaluates: 1. Have I collected/recorded all the information I want from the fight so I can access it quickly? (Ed Sullivan and his Consortium cronies record this for every fight: opponent's name, stable, arena and ID number, size, handedness, record, style, armor, and weapons plus my warrior's train results, armor, weapons, swing info (criticals/swings/extra value hits). W or L, how many minutes, recognition points, and political point status- if any. Also recorded are who, if anyone challenged. This is manually recorded on a sheet with my warrior's name, ID, and size, handedness, plus style. 2. Did each warrior fight as I expected from the strategy? Do I need to adjust or change any strategies? 3. Did any warrior act over encumbered or tire faster than I thought? Do I need to adjust strategies, armor, or weapons? 4. Did each warrior fight well with the weapon? (Did he hit when he swung? Did he have critical hits -- which are strongly stated weapon hit statements compared to the norm?) Do I need to change weapon selections? 5. Did another warrior out jump me when I did not expect it? Do I need to adjust strategies or weapons? 6. Did the warriors learn what I expected and learn well? (Did he earn lots of skills?) If not, what can I do about it? (Switch to learning stats/skills? Challenge a very experienced warrior?) 7. Do I know anything about the arena warriors that I can challenge? (Have I and my friends accumulated style and other information on opponents?) Should I challenge or take the luck of the draw? (Remember: Challenge warrior #'s.) 8. Likewise, is there someone within range I just do not want to fight? (A warrior that has beaten me? A warrior with lots more experience than me? A team that has my number? Should I avoid the team with that warrior? (Remember: Avoid team #'s.) 9. Have I written some personal ads or a spotlight to add to the enjoyment of the arena? Then it is time to turn in those strategy sheets again! Duel 2 is a game of gladiators, comprised of knowledge, strategy, and a little luck. Above all, it is fun. See you on the sands! -- Commodore Perry, Consortium Affiliated ***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------*** Skills, Natural Learning and Favorite Learns Favorite Learns... These can make or break a warrior. For many veteran managers, a warrior's favorite learn can mean he becomes a tourney warrior (or loses his status as a tourney warrior). It can mean retirement or the dark arena or a place on the manager's roster for life. What is a good favorite learn? Unfortunately, the answer "depends." First, you must understand the difference between a warrior's natural learning and favorite learn. Every fighting style has a natural order for learning skills. While the actual result can be dramatically different (learning is random and is affected by other things besides your warrior's fighting style). Here is Assur's best attempt to give the natural learning order for each style. Take this list with a grain of salt. The only list Assur will put any confidence on is the Bashing style. He's run enough and is familiar enough with their patterns to say with some confidence that the order is correct (even with the vast difference that individual warriors learn). Aimed Blows: Attack, Riposte, Parry, Decisiveness/Defense, Initiative Bashers: Attack, Decisiveness, Parry, Initiative, Riposte/Defense Lungers: Initiative, Defense, Riposte, Attack, Decisiveness, Parry Parry Lungers: Parry, Initiative, Defense, Attack, Decisiveness/Riposte Parry Ripostes: Riposte, Parry, Attack/Defense, Desisiveness/Initiative Parry Strikers: Parry, Decise, Initiative, Attack, Riposte, Defense Slashers: Initiative, Attack, Decisiveness, Riposte, Defense/Parry Strikers: Decisiveness, Attack, Initiative, Defense, Riposte/Parry Total Parries: Parry, Defense/Riposte, Attack, Decisiveness/Initiative Wall of Steels: Initiative, Attack, Parry, Defense, Decisiveness, Riposte Another thing to note is that some styles just plain learn poorly while other styles learn very well. In particular, Parry Lungers and Parry Strikers have the worst top two learns (learns that just do not work well together). Meanwhile, Strikers have one of the best patterns for the early game. After that, there is a lot of magic that happens that nobody understands completely which affect how a warrior learns. Some of it is randomness, too. BUT... in addition to all of this, every warrior, when created, gets assigned a favorite learn. It is believed by Assur that this roll is completely random and every favorite learn is equally likely. This roll can make or break your warrior. Some managers even design certain warriors with the hope that they will get a certain roll. Some styles want particular learns almost universally (Parry Ripostes love parry favorite learn, Slashers love decisiveness, etc). But most of the time, you will have an idea of what your favorite learn is early on in your warrior's career. Hopefully it will help your warrior win. Sometimes you can even tailor your warrior's strategy to use this favorite learn. Other times, you should just ignore that learn and still fight the warrior how it was originally designed and intended. Just as I will tell you that ignoring your warrior's favorite weapon and fighting rhythms are an important part of your development as a manager (don't always ignore these things, but feel free TO ignore them), I will also tell you that you can consider how to change your strategy to win based on what and how you are learning, but don't force it. A big, strong basher with favorite learn defense is not going to win many fights by dodging. Keep going hot with that warrior. Good luck and I hope this article about learning is helpful. SPY REPORT Greetings warriors! It is I, Zontani Sharp Eyes, here to bring report of the clash and bustle of the weekly NOBLISH ISLAND games. Former top team RIVER RATS was unseated this week as NUMBER moved up from 3rd ranking to take the top spot with a 4-1-0 record for the round. My praise to BB TALK RADIO for their 5-0-0 week this time out. Indeed, it was a skillfully fought round deserving of notice! ONE caught the eye of many in the gladiatorial commission as he skillfully bested ROME and was awarded 21 points in recognition. In one of the week's more notable duels, ONE put down ROME, causing it to lose 14 points of recognition in the process. The city has turned out in honor of TROY, for with its arena victory it may now lay claim to the highest position in the city! Heed this! A seer has warned that if exactly 6 die in duels this week, the whole city shall perish! Just remember...5 or 7! But come now, let us look deeper into the maze of contention and crossed blades that is city NOBLISH ISLAND. My inside sources tell me that the team to beat in NOBLISH ISLAND these days is BB TALK RADIO. At least, most blades in town are looking to avoid them. Methinks more than a few here could name the guild it was that spent the better part of last week avoiding BB TALK RADIO. Indeed it was RIVER RATS. Loose talk at the arena has reached my ears and it but confirms the knowledge that many fighters are after FIVE. Watch your back! Vendettas. Bloodied blades and broken spears. Indeed the city has seen more than its fair share of red in recent times. Some say a warrior is judged by the way he bears arms. One thing is sure, better a dagger in hand then a sword on the belt! A thought before I go. Each warrior practices one style, but must not the wise manager learn the secrets of them all? Ahh, but I can hear the spires of a far off city calling to me. I must away! Till next we meet remember - the pen is mightier than the sword, but a maul is a different story!-- Zontani Sharp Eyes DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME TROY 9911 8 1 1 69 RIVER RATS (1699) CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME TOBINSPORT 9914 7 2 0 68 RIVER RATS (1699) ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME ONE 9944 3 0 0 48 NUMBER (1705) -COURSER 9937 3 3 0 42 COYOTES (1701) DUMB TOPICS 9918 7 2 0 39 BB TALK RADIO (1700) BORING HOST 9919 6 3 0 39 BB TALK RADIO (1700) ROME 9912 6 3 0 35 RIVER RATS (1699) CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME FIVE 9948 3 0 0 29 NUMBER (1705) CANNELTON 9913 5 4 0 26 RIVER RATS (1699) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME IDIOTS 9917 5 4 0 23 BB TALK RADIO (1700) COMMERCIALS 9920 4 5 0 22 BB TALK RADIO (1700) INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME -DOGMEAT 9924 4 3 0 21 COYOTES (1701) IMMURE 9936 4 3 0 21 COYOTES (1701) -RAZURE 9923 3 3 0 21 COYOTES (1701) TELL CITY 9915 5 4 0 20 RIVER RATS (1699) TWO 9945 2 1 0 20 NUMBER (1705) -CRESHENDO 9922 3 4 1 18 COYOTES (1701) FOUR 9947 2 1 1 18 NUMBER (1705) -M. ALLEN 9855 3 1 0 17 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) BETTER THAN SEX 9955 1 0 0 16 BB TALK RADIO (1700) -LONGSTER 9856 1 1 0 13 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) -AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -MONGOOSE 9940 1 0 0 12 THE MANTICORES (1704) -LOTT R 9852 2 1 1 9 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) THREE 9946 1 2 0 9 NUMBER (1705) -STABLER 9854 2 1 0 8 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) SOCK 9933 2 2 0 8 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) -DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657) -GOBLIN BREATH 9939 1 1 1 6 THE MANTICORES (1704) SAPHIRE 9943 1 1 1 5 THE MANTICORES (1704) -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) KRATH 9932 0 4 0 4 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) TAKKARI 9934 0 4 0 4 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) -LIGHTNING 9941 0 2 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704) OX 9942 0 2 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704) -SYTHINI 9949 0 1 0 1 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) -ALZADER 9894 0 1 0 1 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) '-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn. THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge? REPETITIVE 9916 5 3 1 BB TALK RADIO 1700 TROY 9911 459 NALFFAR 9931 0 1 0 THE GALLOWGLASS 1703 GOBLIN BREATH 9939 457 VENDISS 9935 1 2 0 THE GALLOWGLASS 1703 SAPHIRE 9943 459 PERSONAL ADS New team manager would like to know, what are the pros and cons to having kills? Assur, nothing personal, but Repetitive made a nice "plunk". -- The Commodore P.S. I do hope, however, that you get a nice recruit. Assur, notice how we River Rats handled that Duelmaster Column nuisance? -- Commodore Perry Repetitive, that was NOT my intention, but, really, if you can't take two simple hatchet chops to the arm, you should be outta here. -- Troy Dumb Topic, oh, I know! You were really dumb that fight. I love "w's". -- Rome Creshendo, are you talking about my applause? -- Cannelton Courser, a salute to you, the more decisive one. -- Tell City Khalhum's Dwarf, pfbbbttt! Quit making Assur seem so intelligent! -- Tobinsport Health. Humility. Honor. -- Commodore Perry Dogmeat -- Not the match up you wanted (with Boring Host being a great damage battle axe-wielding hybrid that is more offensive than defensive). Your best matchups are offensives, preferably with lower damage ratings. -- Assur P.S. That assumes you are a tank basher (high hit points and strength -- if not, I'd definitely drop the shield. If you aren't high strength, you also need to drop the armor some. Finally, I highly recommend 7-10 OE. (Impossible to give recommendation on AL without knowing more about the warrior.) Troy -- I recommend you use APA/F, SM/SM with 4 backup LG shields. 1-10-1 is a beautiful strategy (for my purposes, anyways). -- Assur Rome -- See above recommendation. -- Assur Five -- Welcome to the wonderful world of scumming! It's a beautiful art. -- Assur My replacement warrior? 12-8-13-12-9-13-3. Looks an awful lot like many other bashers I design and run. 15-8-13-17-10-14-7 looks 'perfect.' But wait... What is that?!? No, it isn't a better design, but it is a design that makes me smile at its uniqueness. It is that wonderful sextuplet warrior! 13-13-13-13-13-13-3. YES! That is what I will do (not recommended, but for me, it is the most fun design available). -- Assur LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS TELL CITY was bested by FIVE in a crowd pleasing 6 minute Challenge fight. TOBINSPORT viciously subdued THE USEROUS MERCHANT in a 2 minute gruesome battle. TROY demolished AMBITIOUS GUARD in a 1 minute bloody uneven Title fight. ROME was viciously subdued by ONE in a popular 3 minute brutal fight. DUMB TOPICS devastated FOUR in a popular 1 minute uneven brawl. IMMURE was devastated by DANGEROUS CRIMINAL in a 1 minute bloody mismatched match. BORING HOST defeated CANNELTON in a 3 minute gruesome melee. IDIOTS vanquished KRATH in a 1 minute uneven duel. COMMERCIALS savagely defeated OX in a action packed 5 minute gory duel. SOCK was overpowered by TWO in a 1 minute uneven match. TAKKARI was outlasted by THREE in a 7 minute brutal novice's fight. SAPHIRE was devastated by BETTER THAN SEX in a 1 minute mismatched conflict. BATTLE REPORT MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS |FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT| |BASHING ATTACK 5 TOTAL PARRY 5 - 0 - 0 100 | |STRIKING ATTACK 4 BASHING ATTACK 34 - 18 - 0 65 | |LUNGING ATTACK 2 WALL OF STEEL 13 - 8 - 1 62 | |AIMED BLOW 2 STRIKING ATTACK 18 - 15 - 4 55 | |WALL OF STEEL 2 LUNGING ATTACK 10 - 9 - 0 53 | |PARRY-LUNGE 2 AIMED BLOW 12 - 14 - 0 46 | |SLASHING ATTACK 2 SLASHING ATTACK 11 - 13 - 1 46 | |PARRY-STRIKE 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 - 5 - 0 29 | |TOTAL PARRY 1 PARRY-STRIKE 2 - 7 - 0 22 | |PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 PARRY-LUNGE 1 - 7 - 1 13 | Turn 460 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-STRIKE 1 - 0 STRIKING ATTACK 1 - 3 4 BASHING ATTACK LUNGING ATTACK 2 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 2 2 LUNGING ATTACK TOTAL PARRY 1 - 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 0 2 AIMED BLOW BASHING ATTACK 4 - 1 SLASHING ATTACK 0 - 2 1 STRIKING ATTACK AIMED BLOW 1 - 1 1 WALL OF STEEL WALL OF STEEL 1 - 1 1 TOTAL PARRY TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME STRIKING ATTACK TROY 9911 8 1 1 69 RIVER RATS (1699) BASHING ATTACK TOBINSPORT 9914 7 2 0 68 RIVER RATS (1699) LUNGING ATTACK ONE 9944 3 0 0 48 NUMBER (1705) WALL OF STEEL BORING HOST 9919 6 3 0 39 BB TALK RADIO (1700) Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above. The overall popularity leader is TELL CITY 9915. The most popular warrior this turn was TELL CITY 9915. The ten other most popular fighters were ONE 9944, COMMERCIALS 9920, ROME 9912, BORING HOST 9919, THREE 9946, TOBINSPORT 9914, DUMB TOPICS 9918, TWO 9945, BETTER THAN SEX 9955, and TROY 9911. The least popular fighter this week was TAKKARI 9934. The other ten least popular fighters were SAPHIRE 9943, SOCK 9933, OX 9942, KRATH 9932, FIVE 9948, IMMURE 9936, FOUR 9947, IDIOTS 9917, CANNELTON 9913, and TROY 9911. CHALLENGES AND AVOIDS To clarify: You issue Challenges to warriors, but Avoid teams. To Challenge, write that warrior's name and ID# in the space provided. To Avoid, write the team's name and Team ID in that space. Make sure you include the ID! * * * * * MEMO * * * * * From: The Office of Accurate Census Reporting, Gladiatorial Commission To: All Managers In the interest of preserving our natural resources and preventing managerial writer's cramp, the census form has been eliminated, effective immediately. Managers may register their warriors' races and/or favorite sayings by simply writing them on a separate piece of paper and submitting them to the Commission. Each warrior may have up to 15 favorite sayings. Each saying must be categorized Jeer, Gloat, Boredom, Ouch, Victory and may be up to 70 characters long. For any questions, please contact the Gladiatorial Commission. FAXING IN TURNS If you fax in your Duelmasters turns, realize that most fax machines have a border on the right and left side of the paper where no image is transmitted or printed. When you put your strategy sheet in the fax machine, make sure you allow extra room on the right side, especially if you are challenging that turn. When the ID# of the warrior you are challenging is cut off, we are unable to enter the challenges. There are four possible solutions to this problem: 1) Load the strategies farther to the left, so the Duelmasters dude is cut off, rather than your challenges, 2) Write the ID# of the warrior you're challenging in the space for the name, 3) Load the strategies long-wise (but then you have to be careful about overlapping the sheets, which can also cut off the ID#s), or 4) Face the fact that you won't get all of your challenges through. We'd prefer solutions 1-3, but it's your choice. Also, please be careful that your fax machine isn't transmitting too darkly or lightly. If you write your turn in pencil, some fax machines will transmit the pencil so lightly we can't read it when it gets here. If your fax machine can make copies, it's a good idea to try making a copy first to make sure it's readable, adjust the darkness if you need to, and then fax it to us. Be especially wary of the Advanced Duelmasters Strategy Sheets, because if your fax machine sends the grey shading too darkly, we won't be able to read those lines at all. Good luck! -- Green Eyes STRENGTH AND WEAPON DAMAGE by Pagan Weapon damage is equated to Strength + damage class. Damage Class is categorized by Size. So damage seems to be done like this: 1. Armor weight + 12 + any bonus it has vs weapon type is a negative to the damage done. 2. Damage done is strength + damage class variable + weapon variable. 3. Slashing, Bashing, & Lunging increase the damage done. 4. When the damage done equals 1 or less then there is a weapon bounce statement. The minimum damage a blow can do, if it does not bounce, is 1 point of damage. The program knows there's a hit before it knows damage, so it can't reverse a hit, you merely take one point of damage because the weapon bounced off the armor. 5. The lower your strength, the more bounces you will see. The lower your damage class, the more bounces you will see. The lighter weight a weapon is vs the armor it's hitting, the more bounces you will see. 6. In reverse to #5, all of those secondary-damage statements (often referred to as extra-damage statements), such as "it was a devastating blow"... "what a massive blow" -- these merely show that you hit your opponent with enough damage to exceed the computer secondary-damage statement threshold. Your warrior caused enough damage to exceed a programmed set number (whatever that number may be) and the fight is only showing that you exceeded that number. The programmed number for the secondary-damage threshold is a hard number: it is constant within the program and is used for all fights and all warriors. It is not random, simply because it cannot be random and keep any consistency with the Damage-Classes. It has nothing to do with how much damage you did in relation to your opponent's hit-points, either. If you exceed that hard number in damage, you get a printed statement showing that to be the case. There is no such thing as Extra Damage. Pagan TEAM AND CHARACTER MAINTENANCE SERVICE As a service to all managers, we offer team and character maintenance. This option allows you to make sure your team or selected warriors will never miss a turn! Team Maintenance: This will cause all warriors on that team to fight every turn; if it's an AD arena, any new warriors who arrive on that team will fight the turn they arrive. In A.D. or in transfer arenas where you have multiple teams, each team will need to separately be on Team Maintenance. (The only exception is new warriors; they will not fight until they have had their initial strategy input.) Character Maintenance: This will cause only that warrior to fight every turn. If the character graduates or changes arenas, he/she/it will stay on Character Maintenance. In either case, you may submit strategy sheets for your warriors each turn, if you wish. The Team/Character Maintenance will make sure your warriors fight each turn, and they will always use their most recently entered strategy. Remember that challenges, avoids, and challenge/if challenged strategies will not carry through from turn to turn. These sections are only used on the turn they are entered. In order to continually challenge or avoid you will need to submit a strategy sheet each time. One other thing to remember about maintenance: Maintenance is not something that you write on your turnsheet (like in demo tourneys). In order to add or remove maintenance for a team or warrior, you must send a note to Customer Service. If you just write things like this on your strategy sheet, they may or may not get done. Likewise, don't write it on your personal ads. Please, please, plea