Please read the entire post. You can sign up your four-player crew in this thread. We will need a total of 6 crews.
Event begins at 4:00 PM EDT Saturday, September 3, 2016
They said it couldn't be done. They said everybody hates blind pick. I intend to prove them wrong. I want to break the meta.
Oh god, now what are you planning?
I'm looking for captains and their crews to sign up for a series of four 3 vs. 3 matches in a one-off event. After participating in Cronus League and watching the Sunday Community Skirmish, I realized there might be a market for this type of deal. I loved the random combinations of teams during Cronus and I find SCS predictable and slow-paced but I love the competitive spirit (personal opinion; sorry :-\ ). So what is the deal I'm proposing?
First, this is NOT a tournament, but it can (and hopefully will) be competitive! You can wear your try-hard pants here, unlike at the Chaos Skirmish, which is just absurd and casual for the sake of community-building and fun.
How would this work, exactly? I like it when people have a plan.
I've got you covered, then. There would be four 3 vs. 3 matches. The lobby would be private and password protected. The password would be provided by the creator of the lobby (me) to the captains who have signed up with their crews. If some of the crew cannot attend, no problem; the captain can provide the password to another friend who can take the absentee's place. But, please, sign up with a full crew here and have them post here as well so I know there's genuine interest. I don't want to crack this event out only to have captains show up with no crew ???
Once all 24 players are in the lobby and assembled onto their respective ships, Atrusario's Lobby Randomization Utility will shuffle the team captains into their initial positions. Captains will use the swap-ship function to rearrange the teams. Teams are now set for the the first match. At the conclusion of the match, the lobby will not shuffle teams; we'll do that on our own. Here are the team compositions for the sequence of matches...
(http://i.imgur.com/kjbIjgj.png)
For the OCD out there, 10 matches would be required to have each ship fly with all combinations of allies against all combinations of enemies, and I thought that was a bit long. So, instead, the above sequence allows for each ship to fight against all other ships at least once. Four matches sounds a bit more doable, right? But, I mean, if you want to play 10 matches... I've got it all worked out ;D
What makes this so special?
Now here's the twist that makes this really interesting...
Every round, the three captains on each team decide PRIVATELY, through private messages or party chat, which ship each of them will fly. They do not need to proclaim their intended loadouts. Once each team relays to the lobby creator (me) which captains will be taking what ships, the ship composition of each team is announced. No take-backs! Loadouts can then be selected. Any loadout can be taken at any time, but last-minute swaps are discouraged. I'm not going to babysit the loadout screen of each ship, and if you're going to "cheat" in an event that is supposed to be fun and interesting... wow. I guess what I'm saying is: Don't be a dick.
But didn't we alrea--
Concerns? Allow me to allay them.
In 2 vs. 2 matches, blind pick isn't likely to succeed because captains go with two "safe" ships that end up fighting two other safe ships. Plus, the 2 vs. 2 matches that tried this signed up as teams of two ships. Now it's 3 vs. 3 and the teams are random. It is my hope that randomized 3 vs. 3 matches will shake that boring, cautious meta up and allow for some genuinely interesting battles. You wanna play it safe and take a meta Mobula or a Hwachafish? Go for it... but you have no idea what three ships you'll encounter until you're already locked into taking that ship. Perhaps you'll assume the enemy is taking a Mobula and you'll take a counter to that. But maybe they'll assume you're going to counter them and they'll counter your counter. But then you'll counter their counter to your original counter and-- okay, okay, you get the point. And you aren't even considering the other vessels. With three ships on each team, anything might happen. And I certainly hope it does. This might not be a Chaos Skirmish, but it can definitely be chaotic...
When will this shindig take place?
I'll make the lobby at 4:00 PM EDT Saturday, September 3, 2016 (Chaos Skirmish is at 9:30 PM EDT, if you recall, so this is five and a half hours before that; much more Euro friendly!). Captains can sign up their crews here, and remember: you'll be with your crew for the duration of the matches. There are no prizes, no winners, and no limits to the amount of people from certain organizations who can participate. So if there are three ships full of Zealots that want to participate, hey, great! 8) I hope this scratches a particular itch I have and hope it hits the spot for others as well!