PGL WAR I **Official News & Announcements**

[Quo]

Whew. Things are getting ugly around here. I just read this one, hot off the press...



It's on. Lobby War I has begun.

Some of us have been hankerin' for some COD3 action. Well it's here. They've updated the game, so let's get some good play underway.

We've had some problems with getting the scheduling done in our prior tourneys, keeping the teams fair and balanced, etc. So this one's a little different.

General Idea:
The site splits into two teams. COD3 has 9 maps currently. Win a match on a map and you control that map. Control all the maps to win the war. Each side will start with control of 4 of the 9 maps. (See map below)

Teams:
There will be general signups. After the signup period, Generals Keezy and Peench will select their teams in draft fashion. The two teams will be identified as Orange (Keezy, duh) and Blue (Peench).

Format:
Teams start out controlling an equal number of maps. The team holding the map always hosts the match to avoid arguments over hosts. Each battle will consist of a single map, played as:

1. Team Battle
2. Headquarters
3. War
4. Single Flag Capture the Flag
5. Capture the Flag

Best of five wins the match. Each match night, each side will have the opportunity to challenge the other side on one map. The map being challenged on will remain a secret until match time. The attacking army will always play as AXIS. The army defending a territory will play as ALLIES.

Match times:
Since friday night is our regularly established game time, we will have a round of WAR on Friday Night every other week. There are players on the site who don't play on Fridays, so on off weeks we will have a Sunday Night match. All matches will begin at 9 Pacific/12 Eastern so the whole site can do their best to get to play. If enough people play consistently, additional time slots could be created to allow for earlier east coast times.

This is intended to be a low commitment, easy to play format with pre-determined match times. Let's have some fun. Think of this as a very, very simplified game of "Risk". However, for simplicity, geography means nothing. Teams can attack anywhere at anytime.



So sign up! This thread will be locked and will serve as the official Announcement and War Map thread. The official sign up thread is in the Connecting Forum. The intial team draft has taken place, but we are still accepting new recruits. To join up, just sign up, then serve as a "mercenary" for a week. You'll be assigned to an army shortly afterwards!

[Quo]

Let's get this war thing going. Tonight, in conjunction with the normal Friday Night Frag Fest, we'll be playing COD3 as a meet & greet function. It will be a free for all, allowing everyone to get used to playing with PGL'ers and hopefully to get a gauge on skill level so that teams will be selected to be as even and fair as possible.

Signups will continue until Saturday night at midnight PST. If you are not signed up by that time, you will not be officially on a team for the first matches.

People will be allowed to join in after the contest starts... but will have to serve as mercenaries to balance out teams in the first week after joining up. After they've served a week of mercenary duty, they will be selected by either General Keezy or General Peench to join a side. First choice will be determined by who is behind in the game. In fairness, if one side is significantly behind I (Quo) will act as War Commissioner and decide if a team needs additional assistance.

I will post additional rules that really won't affect anyone but Keezy and Peench later. As far as the the players are concerned, your rules are:

1. Show up to play, and
2. Kill the guys on the other side.

Other than that, Keezy, Peench and I will keep it fair and keep you posted.

Invite your friends and any people you've played with that you think may be interested tonight! The more, the merrier.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to it.

[Quo]

PGL War I gets underway Friday Night, January 12th at 9 PST/ 12 AM EST.

Here are your official PGL War I Official Army Rosters!
================================================== ====
Army of the Blue
Motto: ?
Logo: ?
Leadership: General Theodore Killian "TK" Peench


Significant Wars/Battles
Battle for the Middle Aged: Involved in Minor Victory (see below)
Battle of the Sexes: Involved. Well, mostly watching.

Supposedly earned his promotion by:
Eliminating an entire platoon of enemy combatants in the early stages of the Battle for the Middle Aged.

Reality surrounding General Peench's promotion:
At the beginning of the Battle for the Middle Aged, then-Major-Peench stood next to an empty Sherman tank, screaming "HOW DO I GET IN? I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!!" This lasted the vast majority of the battle. When he finally summoned sufficient mental capacity to actually enter the tank, his platoon was nearing victory. However, a discombobulated Peench inadvertently took aim at and completely wiped out his entire remaining platoon. During the carnage, one of the remaining enemy combatants accidently rolled over a live grenade while laughing hysterically and obliterated the remaining enemy force. As Peench was the only survivor, there was no one there to challenge his claim of wiping out the enemy using only a kitchen knife, a paper clip, his now-famous Battle Roll and a tube of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. French leaders, having not won an actual battle in eons, assumed he was a brilliant tactician and promptly promoted Peench to General.

General Peench's Army of the Blue
Aetherhole
Bak2Bak0304
BanKaiBAMF (Leddamang)
Boostedws6
BrewCityUpstart
BronxBomber 25
ClinicallyProven
Dmiller68
Eksir989
Epyon MX
Grife
Hufn8or
LightningStryke
Mooseman
Onoman
Peench
Serren
Swasagon
TGC Swagger
Valent13ne
Wondermonkey2k
Woundup
ZEDYourMama
ZoomZoom71

================================================== ====
Army of the Orange
Motto: ?
Logo: ?
Leadership: General Sylvester "Orange" Keezy


Significant Wars/Battles
Battle of the Network Stars: General Keezy watched it once.
Battle over Windy Gap: Earned Promotion for classified acts of bravery. (see below)

Supposedly earned his promotion by:
Eliminating an enemy threat by during the Invasion of Windy Gap. Colonel Keezy, equipped with only his , took back Windy Gap from an advancing horde of mongrels. Colonel Keezy reportedly survived a napalm blast, which led to his orange coloring. The fealess Keezy was in charge of a sluggish group of new recruits at the time of the invasion and is credited with the battle cry, "No one messes with my Privates!"

Reality surrounding General Keezy's promotion:
Keezy's mom Wendy has a thing for French Military guys. "They look nice," she says, "but don't fight much." Keezy's now a General. Elaboration required?

The battle cry is real, with a slight alteration. He actually cried out, "My Privates are NOT Second Class!" No one knows why he's orange. It's freaky.

General Keezy's Army of the Orange
AZRaiderH8er
B Lars
Crankbait66
DLitch 1991
Dolfan
Elite Andy 22
Elite Ronnie
Grenic
JMan25
Keezy
Lord Geoff
Lord Sam
Manwich3000
moralsuport
NuclearCujo
Propain812
Quo
Schlickabod
Unseen X Shadow
Vidguy
Wood Ghost

================================================== ====

There you have it guys and gals. You've been drafted. Get ready to fight. With any luck, it'll be a knock-down, drag out slugfest.

Generals, prepare your troops in the manner you see fit. For Friday night, each side will need to prepare an attack on an enemy-held territory. Please see the battle map for a list of available territories. For clarification, you can attack any open or enemy-held territory.

[Quo]

Fellas -- just for clarification, I'm gonna keep this thread clean and only do announcements here. I moved a couple of comments/questions to the smack /questions/discussion thread in the Connecting forum.

Thanks!

[Quo]

Just for reassurance, I wanted to post a quick note about team balance.

The teams will never be exactly even. We've played with many of you, but not all of you, and we really aren't that great judges of talent anyway.

The teams were drafted in an attempt to keep things close and competitive. The goal is to have a competition that is balanced and fair. If at any point in the war we determine that one team is truly more skilled than the other, we will make the necessary changes. This will also be the case if more players for one army consistently show up for battle while the opposing force does not.

On any given night, someone may get slaughtered. We have no way of knowing who will show up, who's 360 will be broken or stolen, who's kids scratched the doodie out of their COD3 disc, who just decides to trade COD3 in, etc. We can't promise that every night the matches will be even and will result in a split decision.

What we can promise, and what we do promise, is to keep it fair to the best of our knowledge and ability. Trust me, it's gonna be fun.

[Quo]

A rules clarification. Evidently I didn't include this in the original rules thread. I had described it elsewhere, but not here. Thanks to Keezy for pointing out my oversight. The rules have been amended to address this issue.

How we decide which Army is Axis/Allies
Each week, each army will have the opportunity to attack a territory that is open, or is held by the opposition. Whenever your army is attacking a territory, you play as the Axis. When you defend a territory, you play as Allies.

The Allies supposedly clearly have the superior weapon set, thus it's fair that they will have better weapons for defending.

As far as open maps go, it really doesn't matter. If you attack any map, you're the aggressor. You're Axis. Argentan is currently the only open map, but we will be adding the new map as well.

Which raises another issue-- PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE FREE MAP AS WE WILL BE INCLUDING IT IN FUTURE BATTLES.

Thanks fellas! Looking forward to tonight.

[Quo]

UPDATE FROM THE FRONT...

The Blue Army successfully made a defense of Rouen on Friday night. The battle featured a full field, with each army bringing 11 combatants and 2 mercenaries serving in the field.

War was the first match mode, and the fighting was fierce. Rouen features only three battle flags and is a relatively tight map. The center flag was tightly contested for a considerable time, however, a Blue assualt caught Orange off guard and they were able to take the Orange spawn base in the second half of the match to achieve a victory.

Blue 1, Orange 0

Capture the Flag was the second match mode. After several minutes of back and forth, the Blue Army broke through Orange defenses and captured the Orange flag. The Orange army never solidified and could not mount the necessary offensive to take the Blue in response. A gamble cost them a second flag later in the match, followed by a third.

Blue 2, Orange 0

Headquarters was the third match. Orange pulled themselves together and massed a major offensive here. The Orange Army captured and defended the Headquarters early and often. This match was characterized by complete mayhem around the HQ area. The small rooms of Rouen made for a significant amount of grenade attacks and smoked-filled assualts. When the smoke cleared, Orange had dominated and won the match, with score of 300 to roughly 25 or 30.

Blue 2, Orange 1

Single-Flag CTF was the final match of the night, as the Team Battle mode became unecessary. Again, the tight corridors of Rouen produced an insane level of mayhem around the flag, no matter its position on the map. For the majority of the game, the flag bounced back and forth on the map, with each Army controlling the flag but never able to capitalize on its position. Finally in the second half of the map, the Orange defense broke down and Blue was able to rush through for a score. The battle raged again, but eventually the Orange Army lost track of the flag. What defense remained in the Orange camp were unable to stave off the Blue offensive, and Blue scored again to seal a victory.

Blue 3, Orange 1 -- Blue defends Rouen.

All in all, a solid defense of a tight map and a well-deserved Blue victory. In accordance with the rules, the Blue Army already held Rouen, thus no territories have changed hands. Each army holds 4 territories, with Argentan and the new map being open.

------

Other housekeeping issues:

Lord Sam, Lord Geoff, Bak2Bak0304 and EliteAndy 22 have joined the fray and will be added to armies this week.

Again... PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE FREE MAP AS WE WILL BE INCLUDING IT IN FUTURE BATTLES.

[Quo]

The following five recruits have been assigned to armies:

To ORANGE:

• Elite Andy 22
• Lord Sam
• Lord Geoff

To BLUE:

• Bak2Bak0304
• ZEDYourMama (JohnW)

Welcome guys! I've updated the Army rosters in the initial post of this thread.

---------------------------

In other news, we've made a few adjustments to a few rules to help things out. I asked for opinions in the smacktalk thread about how to handle five different things. After the debate, here's what we've come up with.

1. First of all, turnout was excellent last week! We had 24 show up for the first week, and early indications are that we'll have a similar or larger crowd this week. We will certainly have enough for one battle... we've listened to everyone's suggestions on how to handle the larger crowd, and here's our solution:

• We'll have two rooms. The first room will be the actual war room. We'll draw subs from the second room. We want big battles to decide this war, so we want to keep the first room full or very near full. If, however, we get enough to have two very full rooms (i.e. 10+v10+ in the first room and at least 8v8 in the second room), then the second room will battle it out and we'll have a second front. That's a minimum of 36 people out of 39 registered, which is highly unlikely for now. But it could happen if people conitnue to sign up.

2. Secondly, we'll just do one attack per week. If one goes fast and enough people are still on, we'll play it by ear.

3. Third, we'll try to keep the teams even in the main war room. We're going to try not to play more than one man down. That said, it's up to each army to have their players there. Don't let your brothers-in-arms down! Be there if you can!

4. Fourth, for now we're going to play every friday until we need a break. It won't be constant, but we're having fun with it, so why not?

5. Finally, on the issue of trades, stay tuned. We'll be patient but if one side is smearing the other, we reserve the right to make some changes. For now, we're in a holding pattern.

Looking forward to it guys... see you friday night!

[Quo]

Friday, January 19, 2007, the Blue Army invaded Poisson. An undermanned Orange Army struggled to hold off the onslaught, and Blue prevailed in a dominating 3-0-1 win. General Peench managed his troops well and took advantage of General Keezy's illness. The Orange Army was caught off guard, as several members had taken leave and evidently gone to Paris for 48 hours of debauchery with the local maidens.

Here's a look a the current war map. Please note that the new free map "Champs" has been added. As a result, there are no longer "open" territories. I switched the positions of "Argentan" and "Rouen" because "Argentan" would no longer fit in the space.

The Orange Army will be on the attack this Friday, January 26th at Midnight Eastern. General Keezy, the well known orator, will be delivering an inspiring pre-battle speech that would make Patton's toes curl.

-----
NOTES:

There was some confusion last week over mercs, as well as what constitutes a win in CTF. For future reference:

1. From now on, we'll be splitting into Blue and Orange individual rooms at 11:50 or so to get organized. Generals are repsonsible for getting the rooms organized. Get together with your teams, and try to aid in organization. The Generals (or leaders in the case the generals are absent) will determine when the armies are at even strength, allocate mercs accordingly, and then start the war room with an appropriate host. The match will NOT start immediately on creation of the new room. The generals will determine when everyone is in the room, and ask the host to reset the room at that point (should only take a few minutes). Please remain quiet during this time and allow the generals to organize.
2. In CTF games (both modes), only flag captures count as scores. While the computer will declare one side as the winner in the event of a tie, we're not going for that sissy crap. The win will only be awarded in the event a flag is actually captured or one side has more captures.

We're keeping an eye on fairness, and "even-ness" of the teams. When we have everyone at full strength, we'll make adjustments if they need to be made. While the Blue Army has been dominant to this point, the Orange Army has not been at full strength. If you're called on to switch teams or if one of your teammates ends up switching, please be understanding. The leadership would like this War to be gruesome and meaningful. A one-sided affair is not fun for anyone. Thanks guys! Hope everyone's having fun.

[Serren]

Good job Quo! Thanks for keeping the cats herded!

[Quo]

On Friday, January 26, 2007, the Orange Company reversed a substantial Blue offensive with convincing rout at Argentan, taking the victory with a 3-1-1 record in the skirmish.

With new reserves and support from veteran officers, Orange rallied in the green, tree-lined fields of Argentan. The tide clearly turned in Orange's favor with an early victory in War mode. The victory seemed to give Orange the boost it needed to get over the top. After holding Blue at bay in CTF, Blue pulled even in Single Flag CTF. The last two battles of the evening went overwhelmingly in Orange's favor, with a dominating victory in Headquarters and full-on romp in Team Battle.

The battle was not without controversy, as the Bermuda Triangle effect once again reared its ugly head. Witnesses to the events interviewed gave a wide variety of perspectives:

----
Overheard in the Orange camp:
"Did you heard Keezy's speech??? Not a single verb, but plenty of explicatives. Dude, that was kickarse. I'm ready to fight!"

"Forget the speech, look at him move... it's like he's on LSD."

"Look at Quo move. It's like he's on Valium."

"Cujo killed me again! I think he's just decided to kill everyone."

"Can someone please kill Swagger? She's on the hill, sniping just outside our spawn. I can't get out of the dang tent. Or rather, I can get out of the tent, but since my guy can't get out of the )(*)& trench, I'll just die there."


Overheard in the Blue camp:
"Did you hear Peench's speech? Seemed cool, but I don't speak spanish. I got the feeling he was just making fun of us..."

"Look at Keezy. What a freak, bricking round on that motorcycle. I shot him 86 times and he didn't die. Everyone shoot him! Forget the dang flag, kill Keezy!"

"I can't stay awake... I've been watching Quo... eyes getting hheeeeaaavy... zzzzzzzzzzz....."

"Cujo killed me again! I think he's just decided to kill everyone."

"Look how many people they have! They have like 42 people! We have 6! Everyone, look at your team page! Dangit! Look, they killed me again!"

----

When the smoke cleared and Argentan finally rested, an Orange Army flag flew high over the its open fields. Orange lives to fight another day. In the coming weeks, Blue will surely make every effort to push the see-saw battle back in its favor.

Here's a look a the current war map.

This week there will be a ceasefire to commemorate Wendy's birthday. After that, Blue's back on the offensive, with it's choice of five Orange territories to take a crack at.

-----
NOTES:

Hey guys, after three hard weeks of battle, let's take a week off and come back fresh. I don't want the war to get stale, and with the connection problems many have had, it can be frustrating to say the least. I'd love to say the connection problems are behind us... but they probably aren't. Without a great fix from Treyarch, all we can do is get the best host we can each night and see what happens. Generals will continue to monitor matches to see if they're fair... but it's very, very hard to tell sometimes. Each time I looked personally, the match board was within a few people either way. I can't watch it every second. There was never a point, to my knowledge, when a significantly higher number of Blues were kicked than Oranges. It just seems like, for one reason or another, the Oranges had better luck getting back in to the game. You can generally count on one team or another having better luck, and the other night it was ORange's turn for sure.

Other notes of interest:

1. From now on, between each game mode there will be an "intermission" on a different map that will allow the generals/organizers to discuss what happens... If the interim is being played on a map OTHER THAN the map of the night, you know it's not the real match. However, when the match is re-started on the map of the night, it's for real and it counts. This will avoid confusion.
2. We continue to search for the best hosts. If you're asked, try to step up and be available. Trust me, it's hard to mess it up, it's easy.
3. Lastly, just a word to reiterate. It's not going to be perfectly fair every week for numerous reasons I can't control. If your side gets screwed one week, put a smile on... it'll come back around. Everyone remember that eventually we all wear the crap hat. That said, I think it's been pretty dang fun so far.

As in weeks past, we're keeping an eye on fairness, and "even-ness" of the teams. We had close to maximum turnout last week, and we got a good idea of ability level. I think the teams really are really pretty even at this point -- I hate that Epyon can't play right now We'll keep an eye on things.

Thanks guys! Hope everyone's having fun.

[Quo]

The next battle of the war will take place Friday Night at FNFF. The war will start promptly at midnight eastern/9 PM Pacific.

Blue will be on the offensive this week, attacking their choice of the orange territories. I'm willing to bet they aren't real interested in Argentan.

From the looks of things we will try to have JMAN25 ready to host if he's available. His stats were the best looking if I remember right. Also, remember that we're instituting a new "tweener" game between game types to get everything re-organized. If the battle isn't on the map of the night, then it's perfectly acceptable to goof around. If it's on the right map, though, the battle is underway. Everyone check your NATs and your nads, this one's ready to rock and roll.

[Quo]

Per the Encarta Dictionary:

Rout (noun):

• defeated army's retreat (a swift and disorderly retreat by a defeated army)
• crushing defeat (any severe and humiliating defeat)
• a noisy and disorganized group of people

All three of the definitions of rout applied Friday night, as the Orange Army of Oomplaloompas overran a shell-shocked Blue Army during their grab at the Les Ormes territory.

Rumor has it that the Village People had put on a free concert at Blue Army headquarters the night before the assault in an effort to raise flagging moral after the loss of Argentan a few weeks prior. The plan backfired, however, and several members of Blue "overexerted" themselves during the festivities. When it was all said and done, only a ragtag group of 8 blues or so wandered into Les Ormes. Several of them weren't even carrying ammunition, they just had never gone to bed and thought General Peench was leading them on to another part of the party. When the guns started firing, thing went from bad to worse.

Reportedly, at one point Woundup -- still wearing his now infamous batman suit-- was heard screaming at General Peench, "What the heck, Peench? You said Boy George was in Les Ormes! See if I trust you again! I'm gettin' my cape dirty! Damnit."

This photo, taken by paparazzi following the mad scene, shows the level of debauchery the night before the "assault".

It's easy to see why Les Ormes remains in the hands of the Orange.

-----------------

Note from the Battlefront:

1. No change in the map this week. Blue was on the offensive and failed to take a territiry, thus the map remains even at 5 territories apiece. Orange takes the offensive in next week's battle and will play as Axis.
2. The Blue Army's attendance has flagged over the past two sessions, plus we've had more connection issues unfortunately. If at all possible, try to make the event-- and invite your friends to join in as well. The Blue Army, more than anything right now, needs warm bodies. It's tough to fight when your two or more down to start. let's get some people to the battlefront!