The first match is over! It's time to open up sign-ups for the next match!
http://awbw.amarriner.com/If you're not familiar, Advance Wars By Web is a browser-based version of the GBA (and DS) games of the same title. It's really simplified-- all the animations are stripped out-- but it emulates the real game nicely.
THE TIME HAS COME ONCE AGAIN FOR EPIC BATTLEThis time, EVERYONE who signs up will play. We will run concurrent preliminary matches, then a big finals match for people who got first or possibly second in the preliminaries (depending on how many people join.)
Please sign up by Satuday, March 19th, 12:00 PM Central Time by posting your interest belowThis game is VERY slow paced. Once we get going, you'll be lucky to have one turn per day, if that. That's another nice thing about it, is you can set aside time to take your turn whenever you have it. (To be fair, I've been known to spend an hour on a single turn... *is a slow general*) The last 8 player match took three months. You'll get an email whenever your turn comes up.
New PlayersIf you never played Advanced Wars before, pick up a ROM and go through the tutorial mode and play a few missions. It's quite a fun game and easy to learn.
There's a fair amount of strategy involved, however, and the effectiveness of individual units varies against every other unit. If this is your first time playing, you will probably get your tail kicked by the more experienced players simply because you're not familiar with the workings and quirks of the game.
IT'S OKAY. IT'S JUST A GAME. RELAX. THERE WILL BE MORE CHANCES.
Your best bet is to go grab a friend or two and play some practice matches before the big game starts. (Or even during-- it's quite slow paced, after all.)
Please be AwareAlliances ARE allowed. Expect factions to team up against you. If the match turns against you four against one, do your best and don't take it personally. All's fair in love and war.
(I will watch and see if trends develop that I don't like and update these guidelines accordingly in the future, if need be.)
"Base gifting" is not allowed. Please do not give away your headquarters to your friend if you get tired of the game. Play to win.
Please DON'T quit the game. Quitting upsets the balance of the match. Players who quit this game prematurely will NOT be allowed in future competition matches like this. ALL PLAYERS SHOULD STOP RIGHT NOW AND THINK TO THEMSELVES WHETHER THEY'RE STILL GOING TO BE INTERESTED IN THIS GAME 3 MONTHS FROM NOW, 6 MONTHS FROM NOW, ETC.
(Special circumstances are exempted, of course. Also this obviously does not apply if the match is down to two survivors.)
As the one dealing out prizes, I will remain "somewhat" neutral. This is to say that I won't enter into an alliance/cease-fire unless you've got me cornered and I need to do it for my own survival, or we realized that the two of us fighting is useless because the much bigger player 3 is going to tear apart the winner, etc.
Game RulesI'll be disabling a few more COs this time around to keep things more balanced. Off the top of my head: Grit, Hachi, Sensei, Javier, Colin, Kanbei, Sturm, Von Bolt, Hawke... I think that's it.
Random weather effects will be turned off for both the preliminaries and finals.
There will be no fog of war for the preliminaries. However, there WILL be fog for the finals. (Ooooo~...
) Sonja will also be disabled for the finals.
The boot interval will be three days. This means you have three days to start your turn before you get ejected. If you move one unit, this counter resets back to three.
The AET timer will be set to four days. This means you have four days from the start of your turn before it is automatically ended (for taking forever, blast it). This is independent of the boot interval and does NOT reset, even if you move one unit.
THERE ARE PRIZESThere will be two rounds: preliminaries and then finals. Players who win first (and possibly second) in the preliminary matches will move on to the finals. I won't know how many matches or how many players there will be in each until next week when signups close. More details then.
For the champion, I will draw a full colored, 1-3 character doodle complete with background. Think
Giant Taur Potion,
Flaming Virmir Punch, or
Three-tailed. Pontos was the champion last time, and he requested
this.
For winners of the preliminary matches (EXCEPT for whoever wins the finals and gets the above pic), I will draw a quick, 1-2 character sketch. Like
this or
this. Medik won second place last match, which was a comparable prize, and he requested
thisIf I win, I will just draw something for myself.
WAR IS BEGINNINGWho is fuzzy enough for the challenge?