DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 10/06/2023 Duedate: 10/19/2023
NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA
DM 93 TURN 645
This Week's Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
BIG LUG
UBER ACES (1903)
(93-11146) [3-1-0,30]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
POSITION IS EMPTY BIG LUG
UBER ACES (1903)
(93-11146) [3-1-0,30]
Popularity Leader This Week's Favorite
PROTON TWILIGHT ZONE
UBER ACES (1903) CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
(93-11144) [1-3-0,6] (93-11175) [1-1-0,8]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
BASH BROS SUPERSTARS (1908)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. BASH BROS SUPERSTARS (1908) 40
2. UBER ACES (1903) 17 SUBJUGATORS (617)
3. PLASTIC BOYS (1866) 1 Unchartered Team
4. PINDERTON THUGS (335) 1
5. CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909) -11BASH BROS SUPERSTARS (1908)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 3*BASH BROS SUPERSTA (1908) 8 2 1 80.0 1/ 5*BASH BROS SUPERSTA (1908) 8 2 1
2- 2*THE NORSE (1864) 11 4 0 73.3 2/ 2*CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909) 7 3 1
3/ 1*CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909) 7 3 1 70.0 3- 3*BANGERS & MASH (1901) 5 5 0
4- 4*BANGERS & MASH (1901) 21 19 1 52.5 4/ 4*UBER ACES (1903) 4 6 0
5/ 0*PINDERTON THUGS (335) 4 6 0 40.0 5- 1*THE NORSE (1864) 3 2 0
6- 5*STRANGER DANGER (1905) 2 3 0 40.0 6- 6*RENO'S TROOPS (1906) 3 7 0
7/ 6*UBER ACES (1903) 7 13 0 35.0 7- 7*STRANGER DANGER (1905) 2 3 0
8- 7*RENO'S TROOPS (1906) 3 7 0 30.0 8/ 8*PLASTIC BOYS (1866) 0 2 0
9/ 8*PLASTIC BOYS (1866) 1 4 0 20.0 9/ 0*PINDERTON THUGS (335) 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
A Mail-In Tournament Scenario
or
Tournaments Are Easy, Exciting, & Fun
or
Join in on the next FTF in Tempe (in January)
(in person or proxy)
or
Even easier, enter the upcoming October Mailer
Perhaps you have heard about tournaments, and you thought "I think that might be fun;
I wish I were experienced enough to fight a warrior in a tournament, but I am
uncomfortable doing it since I am but a newbie." Well, you should know that entering
is simple; anyone, even an inexperienced manager can do it; and it is so much fun that
you don't want to miss out. I'm Tank. Let me tell you all about tournaments and give
you a real-life example of a warrior my compatriot entered from Noblish Island.
Key things you will learn in this example:
1. 4 tournaments plus their type and timing
2. FE = Fight Equivalents
3. Tournament Prep
4. Some basic Consortium aimed blow strategies
5. What a true godling aimed-blow looks like.
So, on to the spotlight........................................................
The purpose of this spotlight is to give newcomers to D2 a sense or feeling or
information about tournaments, in this case a Mail-In tournament. Hence, Orange of
Distinct Colors, a previous Noblish Island warrior, 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 each other and can
change strategies each and every fight if they wish. The winter Face Site has always
been in or near Tempe, AZ, (the RSI Home Site) while the summer event is held in
varying cities east of the Mississippi (like Washington, DC; Cincinnati, OH; Tampa,
FL; Chicago, IL; New Orleans, LA; Milwaukee, WI...) They are very easy to enter as
all one needs to do is send in a strategy sheet via mail or fax. Simple! 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.
Orange of Distinct Colors from Noblish Island was entered in The January 2021
Mailer. (Note: During the Pandemic, all tournaments were Mailers.) Prior to fighting
Orange in The Mailer, I wanted to give him the best possibility to succeed. I wanted
to prepare him for 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. From here, let me turn you over to his manager, Whitey.
Howdy, fellow D2ers! As he had no tournament fights prior, I wanted to "max"
Orange for Apprentices. By "max" I wanted him to fight with the maximum FE possible in
that class. By doing so, I would optimize his chances to succeed. (Warriors improve
via experience and skills or stats earned. Most all warriors fighting in tournaments
are "maxed" at the top FE for their class.) In this, I failed. Hence, Orange went into
the Mail-In Tournament Apprentices Class with only 2 arena fights, or 2 FE, instead of
the desired 4.
Pre-Tournament, Orange looked like this:
17-4-6-21-10-5-21 Aimed Blow. Poor Endurance and Good damage. Ambidextrous (which adds
one attack skill to his base). A masters rating in Attack. Most managers would define
this as a "godling" or a very fine warrior design. (Note: new aimed-blows are known to
die easily and quickly, both in the arena and in tournaments -- especially ones with
very little CON.)
Orange did decently in the tournament, finishing 3-3 against the best Apprentices
in the land. He also learned/trained well, earning 7 skills plus he came out alive!
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 Orange. (Note: In no way should these strategies be deemed as common or
starter strategies for aimed-blows as aimers are a special, odd, and differing breed!)
Normal strategy:
7-7-7-6-6-5- 7 ASM/S
10-6-6-5-4-3-10 0-8 = EP & FI
2-2-2-2-2-2- 2 9+ = LO
D------------D bu = none
(dodge in minutes 1 and desp)
Alternate strategy: (against TP)
7-7-7-6-6-5- 7 ALE/L
3-3-2-1-1-1-10 0+ = SC & FI
7-7-7-8-8-8- 2 bu = SC (in primary hand)
S-S-S-S-S-S-Dodge
Training Regiment = all skills
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 Orange's tournament action:
Fight one against a sz7 ambi AB (apl/h lo/-): Orange jumped him and one-swing hit him
for the win. Orange learned two parry skills.
Fight two, a lunger sz6 (ale/s sh/-): Orange swung first and hit, then Orange took a
second swing -- a crtitcal hit -- and finished the fight. Orange earned a riposte
skill.
Fight three, a striker sz6 (apl/f sc/-): The striker jumped Orange and one-hit him
with the scimitar to finish it quickly. Orange learned a decisiveness skill.
Fight four a ripper (parry-riposte) sz 8 (asm/-, sc/-): Finally a longer fight!
Orange swung twice and hit. The ripper riposted and swung wildly. Orange threw a
critical hit and knocked the ripper down. With the opponent on the ground, Orange
threw two more critical hits to finish him off. Orange learned a parry skill. (Hey, 3-
1; maybe Orange is going places!)
Fight five against a sz6 lunger (arm/l, lo/-, with the lunger lacking the WIT for the
LO): Brought Orange's thoughts of glory back to earth! It was all the lunger's fight,
with him swinging four times, and Orange dodging one and parrying one, but the other
two hurt. Orange learned a riposte skill.
Fight six ends Orange's tournament as he opposes a sz3 apl/l fi/- aimed-blow. It was a
great, but sad, fight and it went something like this: bad guy punches, Orange dodges;
bad guy kicks and Orange parries with the epee giving bad guy some damage; Orange
ripostes and swings, but bad guy dodges; Orange throws a critical, but the bad guy
crit dodges; bad guy grabs the initiative and makes a critical punch which connects
with Orange's jaw and the fight is called. Orange learned a defense skill.
I am pleased with the 3-3 and the skills learned. It is not at all a bad result for a
two-fight warrior in the Apprentices class. Presuming, I can keep him alive, Orange
will very likely fight in more future tournaments.
-- Written initially by: Whitey, Distinct Color manager
and amended by Tank, Childhood T.V. manager (both Consortium affiliated)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
What is a tourney warrior?
As you play, you'll hear that there is a difference between tourney warriors and
regular old arena warriors. Recently, I received here in DM 93 what I saw as a tourney
warrior. He came to me as 14-10-6-15-12-10-3. What makes this a tourney warrior!?!
Small size, 21 wit, and physicals. 21 wit is the first thing that should make you
think about tourneys. Though not all 21 wits are 'good' tourney warriors. But if they
have the rest of the numbers in the right place (i.e., enough physicals and sufficient
skills for the style), you should consider training them as tourney warriors. Many 17
wit warriors have done well through Initiates (very occasionally even beyond that, but
those are exceptions) and there are other 'types' of warriors that excel in Rookies
and Apprentices (AB's and warriors with high Strength/Constitution/Will typically).
Back to my warrior. 21 wit is the obvious (to me) first 6 points. Even for non-
tourney warriors, 21 wit is a fantastic thing. But then it gets very, very tricky. 17
strength ensures good damage. 15 or 17 will is a wonderful thing. And you also want
deftness for weapons. I decided to roll the dice on the damage and take some will and
7 deftness for well suited to my weapons. It didn't work out for me, but it was a risk
I was willing to take. 15-10-6-21-15-10-7. With the low deftness, you want to start
with a higher attack style (SL/LU/BA/WS). Because of the potential physical issues
(Normal Endurance and Normal Damage), I chose Slasher, the style that would cope best
with those physicals. Sure enough, he came back norm/norm.
He still ran in the tourney. He went 1-3. I will run him again at 4 FE in
Apprentices and 10 FE in Initiates. (FE is fight equivalent.) You get 1 FE for each
fight in the regular arena and 1 FE for each odd turn of a tourney that you fight in.
So he currently has 2FE (3FE after fighting this turn in DM 93). After Initiates, I
will decide whether to continue running him in tourneys or not. The numbers alone
won't make him a success. Some warriors do well, some do not -- even if they start
with the same stats.
What should you do if you receive a warrior that you think is a potential stud
tourney warrior? (Potential 21 in wit, high str/con and potential 21 in will, or 21
deftness with low con OR low speed, or size 3-4). My recommendation would be to ask
for help the first time. I'll be the first to say 21 wit and 3-4 size aren't magic,
but they are awesome!
I just ran what I thought was a stud in the Champions class (30FE) of the recent
tourney. He was a basher that had learned 19 attack, 16 decise, and 19 initiative with
stats of 13(1)-3-10-21-17-14-7 and had normal endurance and good damage. It doesn't
get much better than that. I knew going in that he'd never done anything in tourneys
before (he didn't have the something special in him -- some people call this something
special 'knack', 'hidden stats', or a built in 'luck stat'). That said, I had high
hopes. What happened? He faced 3 strikers and lost to all 3 of them early. 1-3 and
out! Matchups can make or break warriors! You either need to win some of those bad
matchups or avoid them.
Finally, realize that 21 wit is NOT the end all to tourney warriors. Some 17 wit
guys do very, very well. And there are tourneys where wit is not as important
(Rookies, Apprentices, Challengers and up). But for Inits, Adepts, and Champions, it
is hard to compete without 21 wit (because most of your opponents have it).
SPY REPORT
So why do I have this bag over my head? Because I am The Unknown Spymaster and
I'm going to give you a spy report!. We now have a new top team for all of you guys
to dogpile on. BASH BROS SUPERSTARS now holds the crown and they are betting they
can keep it. It was a tough week for THE NORSE, to drop 4 places in the rankings.
Coming up with a solid 5-0-0 outing, BASH BROS SUPERSTARS has advanced 4 places in
the rankings. Hey everybody, watch out for COSMETIC SURGERY, who flew up 13 points
in the rankings after mashing FLASH GORDON like a melon. Keep your eye on this gal.
And falling like a basher in the top ten was MAVERICK, who dropped 11 points after a
disappointing (to say the least) bout with DAME JEDI. Well, if ya don't shows up at
the laundromat, ya can'ts wash yer clothes. PORKY did not fight this week so his
title was forfeit. It's a proud day for the UBER ACES stable, as their warrior, BIG
LUG, ascended the Duelmaster's throne. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but an
onion a day keeps T.P.s at bay.
But enough of that bunch, let's get on to the wimps who like to avoid battle!
Here's a song for you: Who's afraid of the big, bad THE NORSE? Big bad THE NORSE.
Big bad THE NORSE. NOBLISH ISLAND's afraid of the big bad THE NORSE. Tra la la la
la! And you guys like to boo me? Well, unsling your rasberries, cause CHILDHOOD
T.V. beats feet every time THE NORSE smiles at them. Try farming, eh? Well just
about everybody wants a piece of CONCEITED, who was this week's most challenged
warrior.
Remember that an arena is not always a safe place to be, but it is one of the
most interesting, though! Knowing when to use the right tactics at the proper time
is a very important step on the road to Duelmaster.
Well, that wasn't too bad; Alarond told me that the people in NOBLISH ISLAND
have no sense of humor. Or maybe that they were senseless. C'mon, Leadfoot, let's
make some tracks. 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
BIG LUG 11146 3 1 0 30 UBER ACES (1903)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-PORKY 11134 6 2 0 38 BANGERS & MASH (1901)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-ERIK 10917 3 0 0 26 THE NORSE (1864)
-GIBRALTER 11132 4 4 1 24 BANGERS & MASH (1901)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-WALTER 11131 3 5 0 22 BANGERS & MASH (1901)
HOWDY DOODY 11176 2 0 1 20 CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
-SKARDE 10921 2 1 0 19 THE NORSE (1864)
OVERPAID 11174 2 0 0 18 BASH BROS SUPERSTAR (1908)
CONCEITED 11170 2 0 0 18 BASH BROS SUPERSTAR (1908)
DAME JEDI 11147 2 2 0 17 UBER ACES (1903)
-XENA 11133 3 5 0 16 BANGERS & MASH (1901)
-BJORN 10920 2 1 0 16 THE NORSE (1864)
PERRY MASON 11178 2 0 0 15 CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
-GORM 10919 2 1 0 14 THE NORSE (1864)
COSMETIC SURGERY 11173 1 1 0 14 BASH BROS SUPERSTAR (1908)
ENTITLED 11171 2 0 1 12 BASH BROS SUPERSTAR (1908)
-ELMO EL TICKLER 11159 1 0 0 12 STRANGER DANGER (1905)
NO LOYALTY 11172 1 1 0 10 BASH BROS SUPERSTAR (1908)
TWILIGHT ZONE 11175 1 1 0 8 CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
-ASMUND 10918 2 1 0 7 THE NORSE (1864)
SIGMUND 10929 1 4 0 7 PLASTIC BOYS (1866)
PROTON 11144 1 3 0 6 UBER ACES (1903)
ASSURS HONOR 11145 1 3 0 6 UBER ACES (1903)
MAVERICK 11179 1 1 0 6 CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
NAPALM 1860 1 2 0 5 PINDERTON THUGS (335)
-SIR CHAFESALOT 11155 1 0 0 5 STRANGER DANGER (1905)
-GAWEE GUYGAX 11161 1 1 0 4 RENO'S TROOPS (1906)
-NUNTU BRITE 11160 1 1 0 4 RENO'S TROOPS (1906)
-FAYR SKINN 11163 1 1 0 4 RENO'S TROOPS (1906)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
FLASH GORDON 11177 1 1 0 4 CHILDHOOD T.V. (1909)
ZULUNI 11143 0 4 0 4 UBER ACES (1903)
-THIN LIZZY 11162 0 2 0 2 RENO'S TROOPS (1906)
-FATE 11185 0 1 0 1 BANGERS & MASH (1901)
-JOBLASS 11156 0 1 0 1 STRANGER DANGER (1905)
-OPRAHWINDFURY 11157 0 1 0 1 STRANGER DANGER (1905)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
HAFF WITT 11164 0 2 0 RENO'S TROOPS 1906 HOWDY DOODY 11176 644
KARL 11158 0 1 0 STRANGER DANGER 1905 ENTITLED 11171 644
PERSONAL ADS
Agnar The Red, SALUTE! Great idea! Great work! (The DM93 NL idea.) -- The Consortium
(including Tank)
Assur, our warriors (Entitled and Howdy Doody) certainly didn't treat our new friends
well. Our bad! -- Tank(Thinking -" I blame Assur".)
Assur how come you get all the nice damage rolls? -- Tank (Wondering -- "How did I
luck into 3 ambis?")
Asmund never trust a card shark! -- Maverick
Feyr Skin, I caught you. Hah! -- Perry Mason
Haff Witt and Reno's Troops, I am truly sorry about that. It was really unintentional.
-- Howdy Doody
Joblass, good luck getting one. -- Twilight Zone
A lucky, lucky start for the Childhood T.V. gang. My! -- Tank
Wow! A 5-0-1 on the very first round! Man, that takes a lot of luck. -- Tank and his
T.V. types
Reno, sorry about that. Really. All I wanted was a win. Sheesh. Mea culpa. -- Howdy
Doody (written for him by Buffalo Bob)
Stranger Danger, ain't no jobs in the ..... -- Twilight Zone
Thoughts on the game and what we saw following Childhood T.V., managed by "our good"
friend Tank. Helpful and miscellaneous thoughts:
a. A basher learned 2 skills -- a defense and a riposte; what a waste! Why couldn't
the skills have been useful for him, like maybe attack, decise, or even initiative.
Pah to D2 variables!
b. Lungers (opponent) typically don't do well with superfluous shields. Dodge and
attack are their game, in which shields are near useless.
c. If you expect and are pretty sure that a fight will get over very quickly, do you
need a backup weapon -- especially a big one? Not us.
d. T.V. has two ambidextrous warriors. What does that mean? It means one extra attack
skill to the base, that the primary hand is assumed as left, and that it can handle a
weapon in each hand better than most.
e. T.V.s little striker got a kill in his first fight. He was not "trying". Aiming
body/head and high (8+) KD enhances killing. The warrior was doing neither. LUCK is a
very big factor in killing, but some warriors just have a knack.
f. Running very low Deftness (e.g. 3 or 4) to being a winner takes practice, skill,
and experience. It can be hard. Certain styles can better handle very low DF. Only
skilled managers seem to be able to make them work well. recommendation -- AT LEAST 7.
-- The Consortium
Agnar -- Beautiful site. I'm bookmarking it myself! -- Assur
Duel 2 Websites to bookmark:
RSI's site:
http://www.reality.com/dm/
Terrablood (reference, warrior designer, and style lookup):
http://www.terrablood.com/duel-ii-formerly-known-as-duelmasters/
Assur's Site (reference and misc):
http://duel2.info/
Agnar's Site (Noblish Archive):
http://www.noblishisland.info/
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
TWILIGHT ZONE was unbelievably bested by CONCEITED in a 3 minute Challenge fight.
BIG LUG subdued CULT MEMBER in a 2 minute Title melee.
NAPALM was demolished by OVERPAID in a 1 minute uneven fight.
SIGMUND was devastated by HOWDY DOODY in a 1 minute one-sided contest.
ZULUNI was defeated by PERRY MASON in a 1 minute amateur's match.
PROTON was bested by NO LOYALTY in a 1 minute novice's duel.
ASSURS HONOR was bested by ENTITLED in a 2 minute amateur's match.
DAME JEDI overcame MAVERICK in a 2 minute beginner's fight.
COSMETIC SURGERY won victory over FLASH GORDON in a 1 minute beginner's duel.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK 3 SLASHING ATTACK 19 - 6 - 2 76 |
|AIMED BLOW 2 AIMED BLOW 19 - 9 - 1 68 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 2 TOTAL PARRY 17 - 11 - 0 61 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 2 BASHING ATTACK 21 - 18 - 3 54 |
|WALL OF STEEL 2 WALL OF STEEL 14 - 14 - 0 50 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 2 LUNGING ATTACK 34 - 35 - 2 49 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 2 STRIKING ATTACK 22 - 25 - 1 47 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 1 PARRY-STRIKE 3 - 4 - 0 43 |
|TOTAL PARRY 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 3 - 5 - 0 38 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 PARRY-LUNGE 4 - 9 - 0 31 |
Turn 645 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:
AIMED BLOW 2 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 1 - 2 2 SLASHING ATTACK
PARRY-STRIKE 1 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 2 2 STRIKING ATTACK
SLASHING ATTACK 2 - 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 0 2 LUNGING ATTACK
TOTAL PARRY 1 - 0 LUNGING ATTACK 0 - 2 1 WALL OF STEEL
STRIKING ATTACK 1 - 1 1 AIMED BLOW
WALL OF STEEL 1 - 1 1 BASHING ATTACK
1 PARRY-LUNGE
1 TOTAL PARRY
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 PROTON 11144. The most popular warrior this turn
was TWILIGHT ZONE 11175. The ten other most popular fighters were ASSURS HONOR
11145, COSMETIC SURGERY 11173, BIG LUG 11146, NO LOYALTY 11172, ENTITLED 11171,
OVERPAID 11174, HOWDY DOODY 11176, PERRY MASON 11178, CONCEITED 11170, and ZULUNI
11143.
The least popular fighter this week was FLASH GORDON 11177. The other ten least
popular fighters were PROTON 11144, SIGMUND 10929, NAPALM 1860, MAVERICK 11179, DAME
JEDI 11147, ZULUNI 11143, CONCEITED 11170, PERRY MASON 11178, HOWDY DOODY 11176, and
OVERPAID 11174.