The purpose of this spotlight is to give newcomers to D2 a sense or feeling or information about tournaments, in this case a Face-To-Face tournament, held in Tempe near the RSI offices. Hence, our friend and Consortium associate warrior Billiken of College Mascots and his manager Cheerleader were selected as the guinea-pigs. Rah, rah, Billiken!
So, a tournament. Four times a year RSI holds tournaments. Winter and summer are Face-To-Face Tournaments where managers from all arenas compete on-site against each other face-to-face and can change strategies each and every fight if they wish.(Note: One does not actually have to appear face-to-face, as warriors can be mailed in to fight also.) But, there is such fun and excitement looking your fellow manager in the eye when you fight. And, it is a wonderful way to meet the many great managers in the game, along with the very helpful RSI personnel. The winter Face Site has always been in Tempe, AZ, (The RSI Home Site) while the summer event in held in varying cities east of the Mississippi. (Recent ones were in New Orleans, LA, and in Kansas City, MO, and Cincinnatti, OH, etc.) The Mail-In Tournaments are done completely via mail and managers submit predetermined strategies for their entered warriors. (Each warrior is allowed a primary strategy and also a secondary strategy which will be employed against selected styles.) Both events cost $7.00 per warrior and are great fun.
Warriors compete in classes, thereby allowing similarly experienced warriors from all arenas to be fairly matched with each other. In tournaments, a warrior's chance to learn skills or earn stat increases is half that in normal arenas. Supposedly, the chances of dying are also halved.
Why might I, or any new manager, want to do this? I had four real reasons. (1) Tournaments are fun; a real rush, as the warrior and manager gets lots of fights in a very short period. -- minimum three fights (2) Seeing one's warrior compete against warriors from many other arenas is fun and a good judge of the skill and status of one's own warrior. (3) The warrior acquires fights plus skills and/or stat raises that are "hidden", meaning that those fights and resultant learnings cannot be seen in the arena status listing of the warrior. For example, Billiken was 3-0-1 on the Noblish Island newsletter prior to the tournament, and despite fighting several fights in the tournament, will be listed at 3-0-1 after the tournament. (4) The chance to meet other managers, especially experienced managers, and possibly to learn from them, is priceless.
Cheerleader entered Billiken from Noblish Island in the 2017 Winter FTF. Prior to fighting him in The FTF, she wanted to give him the best possibility to succeed. She prepared to fight him in the Apprentices class. Classes are segregated by FE -- Fight Equivalents. What is a fight equivalent? Each arena fight counts as one fight and any tournament fights count as a half fight. The Apprentices Class is for warriors with 1-4 FE. Having no tournament fights prior, Cheerleader wanted to try to "max" Billiken for Apprentices. By "max" she wanted him to fight with the maximum FE possible (4 for apprentice) in that class. By doing so, she would optimize his chances to succeed. Alas, Cheerleader was unable to do so, only getting Billiken three fights prior to the Face; hence, he was one fight "light", but that wasn't too bad.
Pre-Tournament, Billiken looked like this:
11-13-5-15-21-8-11, a Lunger who was right-handed, intelligent, incredibly quick and elusive, did normal damage, had good endurance, and had an expert in attack on the roll. He earned expert defense after one learn in the arena, so I also knew he was +2 to 4 attack skills and +4 defense. Nice, but not a godling.
Billiken did o.k. in the tournament, finishing 3-3 (1 a grudge match) against the best Apprentices in the land, even though he was only 75% maxed. He also learned/trained well, earning 1 stat (CN, moving endurance to great) and 7 skills. (Mostly initiative) Perhaps a general fight-by-fight summary would prove of value? First, let me list for you the one strategy Cheerleader chose:
8 - 9 - 9 - 7 - 7 - 4 - 4 ASM/S 10 - 9 - 6 - 3 - 3 - 1 -10 0-13 = SS + N 6 - 6 - 6 - 7 - 7 -10 - 4 14+ = LO + N N - L - N - N - N - L - N b/u = DA D - N - N - N - N - N - DStrategies, armor, weapons, backups, tactics, training, etc, etc. are all variable, and explaining Cheerleader choices or normal Consortium choices would require a much, much longer spotlight. Perhaps another day.
As to Billikens's tournament action:
Fight one against a sz13 scum TP -- Billiken swung 26 times with the LO, 1 crit, but with his only normal damage could not take the scum down and lost in six rounds, earning an init and attack skill.
Fight two, a sz8 aimer (ale/l sc/-) with a lot of dodging and back and forthing, the aimer was a winner; Blliken was 0/10/0 with the SS earning a riposte and init skill.
Fight three, which Billiken has to win or he is out! (3 losses and done) another aimer, also sz8, who was ale/l and using fist. The fight was nearly identical to the previous fight except Billiken won, going 0/9/0 with the SS and earning one init skill.
Fight four, a striker at sz11, naked, and with a scimitar. Billiken dodged his advances in the first round, traded strokes with him in the second, finally getting his best crit of the tourney, knocking him down, and finishing the win in three rounds. He was 1/10/0 with the SS. (one init skill)
Fight five, another scum, sz8, and Billiken did not know he was fighting a scum. (APM/F SH/ME) Had he known, in the FTF, he could and would have changed his strategy to slow down and hopefully take out the scum. But instead, although Billiken performed well with the LO, going 4/20/0, he lost in 4 rounds. He finished at 2-3, earning another init. BUT.....
A final special grudge match is allowed at FTFs, so Billiken brokered a match up with a basher. A sz 11, naked, HL wielding basher. Scary! For the grudge Billiken wanted to test a different strategy. Since he was pretty defensive skilled and not so much of a damaging hitter, 6-6-2 dodge, with ale/l sh/- (low armor, and LO high armor). He learned the basher was going 10-10-7 decise in the first round. Amazingly, Billiken dodged the first two swings of the massive halbard, then jabbed him twice for the win and a decent 3-3 record. He was training for a CON stat and got it, not only adding to hit points, but giving him great endurance.
Billiken says he was glad to get out of the FTF alive! Such is Billiken's Face-To-Face tournament saga. He was an OK 3-3. He earned 7 skills, and a stat increase which enhanced his hit points and endurance.
Key things you learned from this article:
- 4 RSI tournaments held plus their type and timing
- FE = Fight Equivalents
- Tournament Prep
- Some basic Consortium lunger strategies
- The value of tournaments to your warriors (and you)
- Stat raising and burning skills
-- Initially written by: Cheerleader of College Mascots, Consortium affiliated Edited by: Agent Smith of Everly Brothers, Consortium affiliated. (June 2022)