DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 02/17/2017 Duedate: 03/02/2017
NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA
DM-93 TURN-472
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
THUNDER WONDER
DARK CLOUDS (1719)
(93-10029) [2-0-0,25]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
POSITION IS EMPTY THUNDER WONDER
DARK CLOUDS (1719)
(93-10029) [2-0-0,25]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
JINGLE BELL HASAMI
DRIFTY DREAMS (1717) DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
(93-10015) [2-0-0,12] (93-10016) [0-2-0,2]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. FAMOUS PIRATES (1720) 41
2. BASH BROS PEPPER (1721) 25 COLD IRON BLOWS (794)
3. LINKS OF TERROR (1718) 24 Unchartered Team
4. DARK CLOUDS (1719) 18
5. GREYSKULL (1710) 14 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 3*LINKS OF TERROR (1718) 7 3 0 70.0 1/ 4*LINKS OF TERROR (1718) 7 3 0
2/ 2*DARK CLOUDS (1719) 6 4 0 60.0 2/ 5*DARK CLOUDS (1719) 6 4 0
3/ 0*FAMOUS PIRATES (1720) 3 2 1 60.0 3/ 8*GREYSKULL (1710) 4 5 0
4/ 0*BASH BROS PEPPER (1721) 3 2 0 60.0 4- 3*THE EXILED (1716) 4 5 0
5- 6*THE EXILED (1716) 4 5 0 44.4 5/ 0*FAMOUS PIRATES (1720) 3 2 1
6/ 8*GREYSKULL (1710) 10 14 0 41.7 6/ 0*BASH BROS PEPPER (1721) 3 2 0
7/ 7*DRIFTY DREAMS (1717) 3 7 0 30.0 7/ 7*DRIFTY DREAMS (1717) 3 7 0
8/ 5*ODD SQUAD (1712) 2 7 0 22.2 8/ 6*ODD SQUAD (1712) 1 6 0
9- 0*REZ DOGS (1713) 1 5 0 16.7 9- 0*REZ DOGS (1713) 0 3 0
10- 0*HI NO UMI (1715) 0 1 0 0.0 10- 0*HI NO UMI (1715) 0 1 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 & NEW TEAM DESIGN
HOW A DUELMASTER VET DOES IT
The purpose of this spotlight is 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 (over 100,000 warriors
designed)
2. Some thoughts on team balance
3. The real five-warrior design (original team roll-up) just starting to compete
with you 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 Old Pegleg,
manager of FAMOUS PIRATES, a member of The Consortium, who is a long, long time (30+
year) paying competitor in Duelmasters/D2. I will be overseeing this new team and will
be offering you advice each round on Noblish Island too. (Free advice!) Feel free to
ask me questions in the personal ads. You will get answers, often very interesting
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, generally making high roll numbers
higher
2. WT is the first factor examined, followed by WL, which then determines
the design and style direction.
3. Offensive oriented warriors need higher WT to last. Design to 15, 17,
21 for skill breaks
4. 21 WT, 21DF, and 21 WL are coveted. The 21DF makes an aimed-blow
almost inevitable. Most managers automatically think Aimed-Blow when
they can get 21 deftness. Not always, but usually.
5. 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.
6. 9 WL is the acceptable low for offensives. Some warriors can do well
with 7 or 8. Maybe.
7. Do not add to CN for pure offensives.
8. Defensive style warriors need solid WL and CN.
9. Physicals never hurt any warrior. Warriors can win early with lesser
skill, but good physicals.
10. 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)
11. 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 an intended strategy to
enhanced winning. Burners require high WL as stat raises are dependent
on WL.)
12. However, there is not a thing wrong with making a burner.
13. Have variation in styles in arenas. This allows for better
challenging, avoiding, and matchups. (Adding also fun and learning
through variety.)
14. Design to the numbers, then choose style, rather than predetermine
style, then design.
15. 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 FAMOUS PIRATE 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 (or avoid) some of those susceptibilities. (d) Testing multiple styles
allows you to more quickly 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 b 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 b 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 maybe 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 me, Old Pegleg) of
this FAMOUS PIRATES team just started on Noblish Island.
9-10-10-12-9-8-12 to 13-10-10-17-9-8-17 BA (basher) Design to strengths (concept
#1), which means I add five each to WT and DF. The remaining four points, I add to ST
taking it to 13. Note the adherence to concepts 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7. This is clearly an
offensive type warrior, and I make it a BA (basher) mainly because the ST of 13 is a
best minimum ST for a basher.
10-9-7-12-5-13-14 to 11-9-7-17-9-14-17 AB (aimed blow). Looking at the rollup, I
see WT and DF are the highest stats, so if I employ concept #1, maxing them to17 with
five and three points added respectively. Refer also to concepts #2 and #3. The next
highest is SP, but I need to do something about WL. (See concept #6.) I add four to
make the WL 9, and then add the other two, one each to SP and ST. This warrior would
fit most styles, and I chose AB (aimed blow). As I note above, I do not recommend
aimers for new managers, but new I am not! Otherwise, I would probably have made it a
striker. (But I already know I will have other strikers on this team, so AB it is)
4-10-13-12-15-12-4 to 4-10-13-17-21-12-7 ST (striker). Adding (concept #1) to the
highest stats (other than SZ, which cannot be changed) would mean will, and either wit
or speed. So I place lots of points on WT and WL, the probable most important stats.
That only leaves 3 points, all of which I place on DF. A warrior with very low
strength and deftness does not really fit any style very well. I chose ST (striker),
because, well, I think that next to TP scum warriors, strikers of weird design are
easiest to make succeed. (Read principle 15.)
3-9-18-6-6-16-12 to 3-9-18-7-9-21-17 ST (striker) This could be defined as a just
plain ugly recruit. Why? It is overly large and has neither wit nor will. Ugh! But
applying principle #1 gives it the best chance for success. The other four points are
placed on WT and WL in such a way as to add maximum starting skills. It is true that
this warrior will learn little and has a low chance of training stats. But its speed
and high decisiveness, coupled with good damage (due to size), should get it a lot of
early wins.
7-11-11-12-10-9-10 to 9-11-11-17-15-10-11 SL (slasher). It is always positive
when WT is the highest stat, so employing principle #1, we add 5 to make it 17.
Principle #3 tells us that 17 is a good WT stat point for skills. I know this warrior
is also going to be offensive so principle #7 tells me not to add points to CN. WL and
DF are the next highest stat, and principle #2 leads me to adding to WL making it 15.
The remaining points are added where I can attain the most starting skills, moving DF
to 11 and SP to 10, but allowing 2 points to ST so this warrior can use the SC with no
penalties. I make him a slasher since I have none yet on the team.
Good luck competing against FAMOUS PIRATE warriors. I suspect this team will
readily 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 = 7 (Looks OK. Would have liked to add more, as I will have 2 very low ST
warriors on the team.)
CN = 0 (Note how principle was applied as all the warriors are offensive
types.)
SZ = 0 (Cannot add to size.)
WT = 21 (1 of 2 most valuable stats. Adding lots of points here is a good
sign.)
WL = 18 (1 of 2 most important stats.)
SP = 7 (SP and CN are usually least added stats.)
DF = 17 (DF additions are often quite variable and this amount looks good
for this group)
The tendencies look solid 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. (As mine has been.)
-- Old Pegleg, FAMOUS PIRATES
Consortium affiliated
(Note: Much of this spotlight has been interpreted from Piratese language to a
more common language for the better understanding of the reader.)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
Assur's Newest Team: Bash Bros Pepper
Once you get to know me, you'll know that I name most of my teams and warriors in
a certain pattern. Pick a topic for the team and then the warriors are named
appropriately for things that are annoying about that topic. Pepper is something that
I love, so there is little that is truly annoying, but I was able to find the right
set of names for pepper!
First up: 6-10-18-9-9-5-13. What a piece of work! His highest stat is deftness
and I can get it to 17. That plus the low strength suggests to me an Aimed Blow.
Deftness to 17, One of wit or will to 15 (I chose will). If you chose wit, I would
have left will at 9, but since I chose will, I raise wit to 11 (a major breakpoint for
skills and weapons). The balance of the points to strength.
And I have 8-10-18-11-15-5-17 AB. Far from the best specimen. And he gets named
"Nothing," because nothing is truly wrong with pepper!
Next up: 15-9-15-9-9-5-8. Several ways to go here. You can't get to 15 wit, 15
will, and 11 deftness (which make many nice styles), so I'm not piling the points in
wit and will (11 deftness is too valuable to me). Once again, I choose the 11-15 wit-
will combo (but nothing wrong with 15-9). This time I put the balance of the points
into speed to make him faster because I'm going to make him a basher. A setup that
falls a bit short of things I'd like to do with him.
15-9-15-11-15-8-11 BA is something I can run! It may have been interesting to go
to 21 strength, but because he is already very big, adding 6 to strength would have
left him in a bad way trying to get wins. Oh, and I find it annoying when you've "Run
Out" of pepper and forgot to buy more from the store.
And because I use a healthy does of pepper, I often have to "Fill the Shaker."
5-13-11-17-4-8-12. Now this is something to get excited about! I'd recommend every
time: 9-13-11-21-9-8-13 ST. That is a low end tourney caliber striker. However, I
like to play around, so I'm going to take advantage of that high constitution and make
a hybrid with 7 will. Plus the only reason to bring that striker into the newbie
arena is to show you a stud warrior that will likely do nothing but win after a couple
of turns (The 21 wit guys are not ideal out of the gate, but they quickly start
learning skills) I go: 11-13-11-21-7-8-13 TP. (PR or PS would have been good choices
as well, but I feel that TP is the better style).
Then I see another 21 wit capable setup: 10-5-12-16-9-9-9. This one is surely an
offensive style with 5 con. Endurance is on the low side, so the recommendation would
be ST. I choose PS (which I will run the same as any other pure offensive 10-10).
15-5-12-21-10-10-11 looks perfect. I name this one "Not Enough," which is only mildly
annoying, because it is easy to fix.
The last member of the team came in as 12-3-11-10-11-9-14. The 3 con says
offensive. Once again, there are several choices on how to go (Aimed Blow, wit+will,
or strength). I choose strength because I love those bashers.
17-3-11-11-17-10-15 BA. Perhaps the most annoying thing about pepper is "Going
Without".
How did they turn out? Well the Total Parry VERY UNFORTUNATELY rolled normal
damage. With 7 will and 21 wit, I will suffer with the damage roll. (35% chance for a
train vs. an average of two skills per turn makes it clear) The 17 strength basher
rolled expert in attack, which is a pretty big bonus. Nothing else stood out on the
rolls.
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. Say good-bye
to BASH BROS MATCHUPS, as they are pushed from the coveted top team spot by the LINKS
OF TERROR stable. Coming up with a solid 2-1-0 outing, GREYSKULL has advanced 5
places in the rankings. LINKS OF TERROR is no joke as it posted a 4-1-0 week
advancing from 4th place to 1st place. Hey everybody, watch out for ANNE BONNY, who
flew up 21 points in the rankings after mashing EMBEZZLING SCRIBE like a melon. Keep
your eye on this gal. Ya know, some days it doesn't pay to walk out on the sands.
JINXEE was defeated by ZENZA and drops 12 points. It's a proud day for the DARK
CLOUDS stable, as their warrior, THUNDER WONDER, ascended the Duelmaster's throne. 4
out of 5 gladiators surveyed protect the body, so try and avoid aiming at that
location.
Let's dig a little deeper into what's happening in the NOBLISH ISLAND arena.
And hey, kiddies, those of you who didn't avoid LINKS OF TERROR, please raise you
hand. Wow. Does NOBLISH ISLAND really have that many liars? For those of you who
like math, try this one: LINKS OF TERROR + Weapons That go Boom = DRIFTY DREAMS +
Avoid City.
Being a spy is great--other people die and you spend the rest of the day
drinking to their memory. Better tanked than dead! Here's some advice: warriors
with little wit and will may encounter problems on the trail to the Isle.
Well, there's the manager of the NOBLISH ISLAND giving me the 'cut' sign (or is
that 'They're going to strangle you in the alley?). Okay, so I may not be the
world's best comedian, but then you guys aren't the world's best warriors. And
remember, you can pick your friends and you can pick your--(loud boos), oh, you've
heard that one already!-- The Unknown Spymaster
DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
THUNDER WONDER 10029 2 0 0 25 DARK CLOUDS (1719)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
VIOLET 10004 4 0 0 24 GREYSKULL (1710)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
KAR'RYN 9974 2 3 0 23 GREYSKULL (1710)
-AVACYN 10012 2 0 0 22 THE EXILED (1716)
ZENZA 10021 1 1 0 21 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
ANNE BONNY 10030 1 0 0 21 FAMOUS PIRATES (1720)
-AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
JINGLE BELL 10015 2 0 0 12 DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
KIRENN 10020 2 0 0 12 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
ELYTRA 10025 1 1 0 12 DARK CLOUDS (1719)
GOING WITHOUT 10037 1 0 0 10 BASH BROS PEPPER (1721)
BLACKBEARD 10031 1 0 0 10 FAMOUS PIRATES (1720)
FRENAR 10022 2 0 0 9 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
RAIN STORM 10028 2 0 0 8 DARK CLOUDS (1719)
CAPTAIN KIDD 10034 1 0 1 8 FAMOUS PIRATES (1720)
-DOGG 9996 1 2 0 8 REZ DOGS (1713)
JINXEE 9988 2 1 0 7 ODD SQUAD (1712)
-DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
RAN OUT 10035 1 0 0 7 BASH BROS PEPPER (1721)
FILL THE SHAKER 10036 1 0 0 6 BASH BROS PEPPER (1721)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
TONARION 10024 1 1 0 6 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
-SELYSNA 10014 1 1 0 5 THE EXILED (1716)
JOPAR 10023 1 1 0 4 LINKS OF TERROR (1718)
BONGO 10027 1 1 0 4 DARK CLOUDS (1719)
-KRUPHIX 10010 1 1 0 4 THE EXILED (1716)
CLOUDSPICE 10018 1 1 0 4 DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
-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)
HASAMI 10016 0 2 0 2 DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
CANDY CANE 10019 0 2 0 2 DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
-IONA 10011 0 2 0 2 THE EXILED (1716)
ONIHANA 10017 0 2 0 2 DRIFTY DREAMS (1717)
DAKUROZU 10026 0 2 0 2 DARK CLOUDS (1719)
-PEARL 9995 0 2 0 2 REZ DOGS (1713)
HENRY MORGAN 10032 0 1 0 1 FAMOUS PIRATES (1720)
-YOSHI 10007 0 1 0 1 HI NO UMI (1715)
FRANCIS DRAKE 10033 0 1 0 1 FAMOUS PIRATES (1720)
ORTHAR 10042 0 1 0 1 GREYSKULL (1710)
CRISPEN 9987 0 1 0 1 ODD SQUAD (1712)
-TROKAR 10013 0 1 0 1 THE EXILED (1716)
NOT ENOUGH 10038 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS PEPPER (1721)
-MOON FACE 9993 0 1 0 1 REZ DOGS (1713)
NOTHING 10039 0 1 0 1 BASH BROS PEPPER (1721)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
AMERGIN 9990 0 1 0 ODD SQUAD 1712 HIGH ELF 472 NONE
BIXIE 9989 0 3 0 ODD SQUAD 1712 CAPTAIN KIDD 10034 472
JIBO 9986 0 1 0 ODD SQUAD 1712 SHEWISH GIANT 472 NONE
PERSONAL ADS
All, missing or forgotten ads from last round (posted to the wrong arena by
author)..... -- Cheerleader (now moved on and replaced by some kind of pirate or
something)
Assur, my man! Well done! You got me this past time. I will congratulate and praise
you rather than tell you I hate you. -- Cheerleader
P.S. A godling! I do hate you.
Bo and Shihainin, welcome! The best info advice I can offer you both, presuming you
have no internet, is to make sure that RSI gives you a copy of the CIC (ask, if not
received) and read and keep the Noblish Island newsletters. Assur and The Consortium
rep (Cheerleader at the moment -soon to change.) provide you up-to-date strategic info
in each newsletter. -- Cheerleader
P.S. Ask us any questions you want via personal ads and we will respond in kind.
Kar'ryn, kudos for trying to avenge a fallen teammate. -- Billiken
Pizza Toppings and Crip's Striker Army, we DO hate you! Cheerleader may not, but we
surely do. -- Shocker and Rainbow Warrior
What! This is sadly amazing! Two turns in a row, I lose to NPCs! First Kung Fu Master
and now Convicted Assassin! And I am really a pretty nicely designed little slasher.
(17-6-6-15-21-7; great endurance, great damage, bonused parry) Sheesh! I think there
is a conspiracy. -- Wake Forrest
Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. All for Duelmaster Ramblin' Wreck, stand up
and holler! -- Cheerleader
Health. Humility. Honor. -- Cheerleader (Consortium affiliated stating The Consortium
motto.)
We are gone! Done. Finished. The College Mascots (a Consortium affiliate) reached its
ten fight level and have transferred elsewhere. On comes the new Consortium crew
"Famous Pirates" whom, I am sure, will have something of their own to say. It is my
honor to be the first to cheer them on:
Two bits four bits; six bits; a dollar.
All for Pirates, stand up and holler!
-- Cheerleader's last words
Pizza Toppings, Crip's Striker Army Assur, it was a FUN last turn! Bwahahaha. --
Rainbow Warrior and Demon Deacon
Wow! Noblish Isle is becoming quite the place! Welcome all you managers to the best
place to learn the game. My Consortium representative here, along with the great and
knowledgeable Assur, are here to help you learn the game. It is fun. It is
challenging. It is sometimes quite simple, but often intricate and difficult. My first
advice:
1. Devour, read absorb the C.I.C. package from RSI, If you did not get one, ask RSI
for it.
2. Read the information in your newsletter fully. Always valuable info is provided.
3. Ask questions in the newsletter. One or both of us will answer.
4. Fight as many warriors as possible. You will learn from the wins and especially the
defeats.
And with that, I would like to shout out to the new teams. Links Of Terror, Drifty
Dreams, Rez Dogs, Dark Clouds, The Exiled, Hi No Umi. WELCOME!!!!!
Blimey, mates! Ye landlubbers bea let me intro me pirates! Aye. Backbeard; Francis
Drake; Anne Bonny, Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd. Ye be hearin' boatloads 'bout 'em. --
Old Pegleg (Consortium affiliated)
Clarification on one comment I made last turn in the newsletter: "(and the high attack
styles tend to be better with lower deftness (LU, SL, BA, WS, PL)" This means that
WHEN you have low deftness, those styles 'tend' to be the ones you want to look at
first. Not that they prefer lower deftness. 11 deftness is awesome for those styles,
too.
Speaking of that 11 deftness 'magic,' many managers (including this one), typically do
not add to deftness to get past 11 (unless I'm making an AB). 11 is good for all the
best weapons. There are exceptions, but if you look at my designs, you'll see a LOT
of 11 deftness warriors. I will add a point to get it to 13, 15, or 17. And if it
starts between 18-20, I usually bump it up to 21 (and also will often make those into
AB's)
One last note about my Basher designs as well. 15 strength, 11 wit, and 11 deftness
gets you every bashing weapon well suited except for the HL. That said, it gets me
every weapon I want to use: QS (my favorite early on), WH (the other fast weapon that
doesn't do quite as much damage as QS), ML (decently fast and potential for big
damage), and GS (a slower weapon, but very nice in every other area).
See you on the sands! -- Assur
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
AMERGIN was butchered by HIGH ELF in a 1 minute Dark Arena fight.
JIBO was butchered by SHEWISH GIANT in a 1 minute Dark Arena duel.
KAR'RYN demolished JOPAR in a 2 minute one-sided melee.
THUNDER WONDER overpowered CRISPEN in a 1 minute mismatched Title duel.
JINXEE was devastated by ZENZA in a 1 minute one-sided fight.
BIXIE was killed by CAPTAIN KIDD in a 1 minute amateur's competition.
RAIN STORM outwaited CLOUDSPICE in a tiresome 22 minute amateur's fight.
VIOLET bested DAKUROZU in a 1 minute novice's competition.
JINGLE BELL overcame FRANCIS DRAKE in a action packed 1 minute beginner's melee.
HASAMI was unbelievably bested by FRENAR in a action packed 5 minute beginner's fight.
ONIHANA was defeated by FILL THE SHAKER in a 4 minute beginner's match.
CANDY CANE was beaten by RAN OUT in a exciting 1 minute novice's fight.
KIRENN bested NOT ENOUGH in a 1 minute amateur's conflict.
TONARION luckily beat HENRY MORGAN in a popular 2 minute bloody amateur's match.
ELYTRA handily defeated NOTHING in a 1 minute gory uneven fight.
BONGO was viciously subdued by GOING WITHOUT in a 2 minute brutal beginner's duel.
ANNE BONNY devastated EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 1 minute mismatched brawl.
BLACKBEARD overpowered ORTHAR in a 1 minute one-sided bout.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK 7 LUNGING ATTACK 22 - 9 - 1 71 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 6 TOTAL PARRY 18 - 9 - 0 67 |
|TOTAL PARRY 5 PARRY-STRIKE 10 - 5 - 0 67 |
|AIMED BLOW 5 STRIKING ATTACK 21 - 14 - 0 60 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 4 SLASHING ATTACK 13 - 15 - 1 46 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 3 BASHING ATTACK 24 - 30 - 4 44 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 2 AIMED BLOW 15 - 20 - 1 43 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 1 PARRY-LUNGE 3 - 7 - 0 30 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 3 - 15 - 0 17 |
|WALL OF STEEL 0 WALL OF STEEL 0 - 0 - 0 0 |
Turn 472 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:
LUNGING ATTACK 3 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 3 - 4 3 STRIKING ATTACK
TOTAL PARRY 3 - 2 AIMED BLOW 2 - 3 3 LUNGING ATTACK
PARRY-RIPOSTE 2 - 2 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE
STRIKING ATTACK 3 - 3 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 1 1 TOTAL PARRY
SLASHING ATTACK 0 - 2 1 WALL OF STEEL
WALL OF STEEL 0 - 0 1 AIMED BLOW
1 BASHING ATTACK
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is JINGLE BELL 10015. The most popular warrior this
turn was HASAMI 10016. The ten other most popular fighters were HENRY MORGAN 10032,
CAPTAIN KIDD 10034, JINGLE BELL 10015, RAN OUT 10035, ELYTRA 10025, GOING WITHOUT
10037, ANNE BONNY 10030, THUNDER WONDER 10029, ZENZA 10021, and VIOLET 10004.
The least popular fighter this week was CLOUDSPICE 10018. The other ten least
popular fighters were RAIN STORM 10028, ORTHAR 10042, NOTHING 10039, NOT ENOUGH
10038, FRENAR 10022, DAKUROZU 10026, BIXIE 9989, JINXEE 9988, CRISPEN 9987, and JOPAR
10023.
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
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)
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.