The Question of the Week is posed in Aruak City (DM 11) by Hanibal, a manager who is himself an alumnus of Noblish Island. The answers are provided by other managers in that arena. Any manager here in Noblish who wishes to pose a question to the more experienced managers of Aruak City, feel free to do so, either by sending in a personal directed to DM 11 and identifying yourself as a manager from Noblish seeking enlightenment, or by posting the question here, in which case I will be glad to see that it reaches Aruak.
Also, Hanibal sends you greetings and asks that we remind you that all arenas do not have the same attitude and local conventions. Aruak City is an Andorian arena and subscribes to the doctrine of Honorable Play, meaning, no down-challenging except from the throne or in bloodfeus, no deliberate attempts to kill the warriors of other managers, and a general attitude of friendly respect toward the other members of the arena. It is, in fact, a fine arena, and one where you would all be welcome (though there are plenty of others--just ask, and I'll be glad to tell you about my favorites). -- Jorja
Question, turn 405:
All -- If I had a warrior blessed +4 in all areas, maxed out with all 25's would I have a chance to beat the top warriors in Primus or Gateway? RSI says you get better as you gain FE. Some of those warriors have 10 years of FE. How could one ever compete? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W.
Answers, turn 406:
Q.O.W. -- A warrior as you have described would definitely be a viable contender at the top of Gateway! Maybe even the best. Experience, though helpful, is vastly outweighed by raw skill. Plus, a great set of favorites make's such a warrior much better. If worked properly, a warrior +4 in everything could possibly TC a couple of times and use those prizes to make them better. Young warriors are continually making gains into being competitive with the top of Primus and Gateway. It just takes a lot of time. Donatello and some older warriors used to be the very best, but younger ones have upset the balance. Nothing is set in stone. -- Adie P.S. Not that I've had much luck chipping at that stone. It's very difficult when you're a small manager.
Hanibal -- If that hypothetical warrior you speak of had one of the fighting styles that were suited to high end competition, then it would be very competitive. Let's say you went whole-hog and made it a lunger. Being bonused by four in every category would make it one of the very best. But it just doesn't happen! Ask the Consortium how many +24 warriors they've had.
Total FEs have a slight, even marginal effect, on the outcome of fights. Having good favorites is more important, and the amount of tourney prizes used on a warrior cannot be discounted either. If you're trying to choose which tourney class to try and TC, I would advise something lower than Primus or Gateway! -- Generalissimo Puerco
Hannibal -- Regarding your question of the week: Does their long experience make the top warriors in Gateway unbeatable? I have no personal experience with Gateway and don't care to get any at this point, but a manager who IS in Gateway says, No, the top warriors in Gateway are not unbeatable. But the critical factors include not only the warrior's abilities but those of the manager. -- Leeta
Not a question of the week, but something else you might find interesting. Thank of it as an alternative to all the "How to make a perfect whatever" articles.
Jorja -- In dm 12 Riztab you asked me what I'd do with a certain roll-up wich wasn't too good: 12-16-12-3-9-12-6.
IF I wanted to actually play this monstrosity of brilliance, then I would do so only for a limited time it depends upon what I can challenge in the arena but let's say there are a lot of poor endurance weaklings, and/or a lot of Scum TP's. Then I would run this guy until I didn't have a descent chance to get my challenges through.
There seems to me only one option for this guy: 17-16-12-3-13-12-11 Basher. He has a 50-50 chance to get tremendous damage capability. If he only gets Great Damage then DA him. If he gets his Tremendous damage then what you do is challenge EVERY scum TP you possibly can, and since they are scum TPs they are prime targets for down-challenging. Its not like you are picking on them; they are scum. This guy has a 100% chance to get Good endurance. I would ONLY run a 10 Kill-desire and try to kill things, but perhaps multiple wins over the same warriors is better than being bloodfeuded by a warrior that can beat you. I would ONLY run with the MAce. You could go ahead and use a HL or a ML for those TP's but at tremendous damage and a MAce you shouldn't get any bounces, and plenty of massive damage statements. Only use a MODERATE OE with a 1 AL starting in minute 3. USE BASH. Minute 1 and 2 go with a scum TP strategy but use response. No armor of course. Now for all other match-ups you go out like the scum you are: APA+F MA+LG (well-suited to the weapons selected), and run a triple-10 trying to get the jump, desperation should mimick your minute 1 strat. Minute 2 onward just drop the AL to LOW and then to VERY LOW.
Physicals for this guy are: Good endurance, can sustain a Tremendous amount of damage, can carry a Tremendous amount of weight, can do a Tremendous amount of damage. This kind of warrior is much more fun than a Scum TP. He should beat any TP as long as you follow my guidelines. During random match-ups you will have some definate good chances to kill those weaklings that can't do enough damage to get through the plate and the hit-points. If you don't want to kill then I advise not droping your KD below a 6. The problem is that although you can take a lot of hits like a TP you can't parry any of them. If you can't start swinging sometime in Minute 2 then your chances to win are slim against the TP you can't parry any of them. If you can't start swinging sometime in Minute 2 then your chances to win are slim against those random offensive matchups. -- Pagan
Question, turn 406:
All -- Does having a lot of initiative skills help to steal initiative or is it all riposte skills? Is there a difference between "seeking the counterstrike" and "tries to steal the initiative" or is it the same thing, but a different statement. -- Q.O.W.
Answers, turn 407:
Hanibal -- QoW: If two warriors are fighting and one has a great deal more init. skills than the other, it is possible for the initiative in the fight to get taken without a riposte. It doesn't happen an awful lot, but it isn't shocking to see it happen. Ex: A friend had a basher that started AE init on the rollup. His first fight he matches against an aimed blow. The aimed blow wins decise, hits him once in the head, and without going desperate or anything, he just starts swinging and beats the poor aimer just like that. You probably know that aimers usually tend to lack init skills, so in that case the difference in total init allowed the basher to just steal it. Even when ripostes are involved, init still plays a role. If you've seen a warrior repeatedly make riposte attempts, only to get attacked again, then its because the defending warrior's init was insufficient to allow him to attack after the riposte. Alternatively, styles like plungers and wastes make fewer attempts to riposte, but their attempts are usually successful because their init is so good. Of course, the strategy a particular warrior is using (as well as the strategy of his opponent) is important in taking and maintaining the initiative too. -- Generalissimo Puerco
Q.O.W. -- Those fancy terms that come after a parry or dodge are successful attempts to potentially riposte. Then, once you succeed at getting that fancy line (your riposte vs. their init), you make another check (I think your init vs. your opponent's init) to actually take the initiative from them. This is usually the easiest way to take the initiative from a warrior. Each riposte line is a chance to take it away. An example is how some rippers with low init may attempt to riposte off of every single attack, but they may only steal it after several tries.
Sometimes, however, a warrior may actually just straight out steal the initiative. This occurs usually when the one doing the stealing has a very high rating in init and the opponent's rating is low. A good example includes when a lunger gets hit by say an aimed blow, but the very next line is the lunger swinging back. No riposte what-so-ever! This is much rarer. This can also be a function of what offensive effort and activity a warrior is running. Warriors running more slowly can often lose the initiative this way as they just give it up. -- Adie
Question, turn 407:
All -- Is there a difference in between an Expert and (AE). It appears to me that your (17, 18, 19th) skills don't seem to make a difference until you get that next rating @ 20? -- Q.O.W.
Answer next turn, don't have the time to dig it out today! -- Jorja