SkaForHire

Wow. Just Wow. I think this is my favorite build of yours in this challenge. Just Awesome. I love the corpses from long ago battles.

I would appreciate this greatly. Any volunteers for the other two sides?

Anyone that wants to get the Guerrilla thread up, be my guest. I am currently swamped. I am sorry.

Well, I guess Challenge V depends on what Z has in mind, not sure he is up for the same task that I just put myself through. Although, with help, I could assume the same role again. I just don't know the lore / geography enough of Nocturnus to really be the one putting together the warzone challenges. but I would not mind us turning to Cedrica for a claim on the throne and make it a four way challenge... As for a new GA system, I think I already have in mind what we can do going forward if we do this type of challenge again based on everyone's suggestions.

Yay!

I wish we could at least have some sort of form wizard or something to keep track of the GAs, that is the hardest part for me. I was thinking, perhaps after the peace talks if we continue the challenge, we would set it to each zone needs two, four, or six GA MOCs in order to challenge the defender. That way they are less devastating if a counter is missed, because less zones would be under threat theoretically. Also, as Bregir said, some of these actions are not worthy of taking over a whole zone. One assassination, one hanging, one siege engine won't convince a population to support another faction. The original purpose of GAs were for people who did not like to do war MOCs. I kind of felt that most of these MOCs would fall under the category of intrigue. I have no problem with the content being depicted, but perhaps Bregir was right, more "in game" effort should be made to actually secure a zone that is 20 x 20 miles... Alternative, we could allow GAs to become strings of builder v. Builder, maybe an attack, a counter, a counter attack, a counter counter, a last attack, and a last counter. It would take as long as it took the two builders to go through the sequence, but it would present more a "duel" atmosphere. We could even allow builders to "tag in" an ally if they could only do one of the attacks for their sequence. Just some thoughts.

To be honest, and I think I said this way at the beginning, I never imagined that some people would build their max every week. I sort of felt that there would be a few GAs, mostly always a matching counter, and then high participation in the WZs throughout, with most people tackling 1/3 of these over the three months. I never realized how into the challenge people would get. The difference here is the casual builder versus the hardcore builder. There are ways to balance that, but not really in the framework that we have going. I have set up a kind of guideline, where, depending on build size, where size increases so does build time before the deadline. I hope that helps. I suppose we could cut down the GAs to 1 every 2 weeks, what does everyone think of that?

Oh we have some! Just not as many. We beat them with cunning not overwhelming force (but we will take the latter if offered!)

I replaced the questions... maybe that will allow you to vote now?

Vote for your favorite faction member in the Mini Challenge Voting Thread

Challenge IV FACTION MINI CHALLENGE VOTING THREAD TO VOTE please only vote for your favorite entry for your faction only. For the other two factions, click the button that says “I am not part of X faction” FACTION: Ulandus CHALLENGE: The 13th Legion. If you read Bannihal’s Report, you may have noticed that there is a 13th legion of Ulandus, but it is brand new. Because of this, it has not earned its name or its colors yet. Your challenge is to create this 13th legion, design a few of their uniforms, give it a backstory and show members of this legion performing a heroic feat that would gain them the attention of First Centurion. You also should pick the nickname the legion will be granted. (IE: The First legion wears red and its nickname is The Thousand Suns.). The only restriction is that you must use a color that is not currently used by one of the legions. The largest MOC for this quick challenge is 32x32 studs. But, besides minifigure only pictures / builds, you may have up to two MOCs to show the feat. TITLE YOU CAN WIN: Exalted Centurion of Ulandus KAI NRG Garmadon Goliath Narbilu Elostirion FACTION: Desert King CHALLENGE: Making War. The Desert King is in need of good lieutenants to run his war effort. Show your character (or the character you are using in this challenge) commanding a military action that would get the notice of your faction’s leader. You will probably need a unit under your command, so make sure that they look sharp! The largest MOC for this quick challenge is 32x32 studs. But, besides minifigure only pictures / builds, you may have up to two MOCs to show the feat. TITLE YOU CAN WIN: Warlord of the North (or Northern Kaliphlin if you are not Kaliphlinite already) LordDan JacobNion MKJoshA Umbra-Manis Dr.Cogg FACTION: High Council CHALLENGE: Protecting the Councilors. The High Council is busy in this time of war, and need help guarding their person at important meetings. One member is often designated the Lord Protector of the Council when the council is in session, but since Kyban Wh'Ali of Khar'dek, current Lord Protector, was injured, a new Lord Protector must be found. Task: Depict a scene where your character (or the character you are using in the challenge) and his/her men prevent an attack on the council in a random location (Must not be Petraea). It should be clear that they have either saved the lives of the councilors, or prevented a plot altogether. The largest MOC for this quick challenge is 32x32 studs. But, besides minifigure only pictures / builds, you may have up to two MOCs to show the feat. TITLE YOU CAN WIN: High Lord of Kaliphlin (if you are not already one), Lord Protector of the Council if you are already part of Kaliphlin. Bregir LittleJohn Maxim I

The best sand category has always been on! It says at the bottom to vote in the thread who you think had the best sand. There just is not a button for it in the poll itself.

Right, with three sides it will be a little harder, especially if we have a three way tie.

I am crushed for time, I will get to this, but not sure when. IF anyone else wants to set up the thread, I can post it, if not it is going to have to wait a little longer.

That is only true for the first tag. You were chosen for the second.

The square thing was just a suggestion, and added a bit more strategy. Also, I believe HC would have lost a square one of the first two weeks with that rule, so it would not just be DK Here is the problem with numbers of members. That list represents three challenges. Many on that HC list said they were not participating in category C (same with some on Ulandus). There probably should have been a second list on this thread for people who plan to participate - that would give us a better idea of the numbers.

finally, I took the distraction votes off the topic. It seems many people were interested in continuing, but LordDan is right, we will take a poll later in May to make that decision.

Ok, read the rest. Although DK has a lot of magnificent builders, I am pretty sure both the other sides have some of the best builders in the world on them. Gideon, Gabe, Kayne definitely come to mind. Mike, you are way up the ladder too. That is the thing about GOH, out of the top fantasy/castle builders in the world, we have at least 10 or more of the top 50 here. This is one of the only places we can have newbies and first time MOCers compete, learn, and be tutored by world class talent. Yeah, DK is laying down the shellacking here, but at the same time we are being treated to some spectacular builds that we can already see the lesser skilled people start to emulate and transform. Take LordDan for example (please don't take this the wrong way Dan) At the beginning of this challenge, his skill was much lower than it is now. His last build was very, very good. He has transformed in two months time to a force to be reckoned with! Mike, you can counter any of those builds that have been put out there, but if we think of it in numbers, even if Disco and ME were invincible, if another team were to produce more quality overall, then shouldn't that team get the votes?

I haven't read past Mike S.'s first post, but I wanted to reiterate here the language most of you are using is wrong -- no one is talking about penalizing DK. I just deleted that one about splitting DK in half.... sorry, that was sarcasm and it did not go over well.

I didn't quote Jacob and MassEditor here, but my response is geared towards all three. Nothing suggested is penalizing DK specifically. Finding other ways that the other two factions can at least participate against what is thrown at them is the idea. If we were playing Risk, and one side was dominating, the game would be over in five hours and we would move on to another game. Challenge IV is months long, and if two sides get tired of playing then a lot of the value / fun is lost. Like I said elsewhere, I don't think people mind losing to DK, I think they don't like feeling as if they have no chance. In a long running game, we need to make sure there is some parity (not equality), the sports analogy is flawed because they are paid and it is a job, we are talking about a hobby and keeping a community together. The Yankees don't have to hang out with the Blue Jays after crushing them. Again, I am not talking about handicapping, just giving the smaller amount of builders a chance to react. They don't have to win, but the ability to react should be there. See, I don't see why anybody thinks that the suggestion is to penalize the DK. That is not the solution, nor what I have suggested. Closing membership is not a penalty, allowing more counters is not a penalty, there are not penalties on the Desert King!

I don't think everyone is on the same page with that. I think it is less the fact that DK might win, and more that some people have voiced complaints because it is not very fun being beat every week because one side is way more active than the other. I don't think anyone has said that they would be upset if DK won the challenge, I think people have been upset because they are not having fun. I am concerned with balance because A)they all complain to me and B)I want everyone to have fun! And on another note, if DK gets WAY ahead, it will probably be less fun for the builders there too. On another note, I meant the never again option as a joke!!! hahaha. Well, at least someone is honest.

Who Can Vote: EVERYONE How to Vote: Look at all the MOCs from each side. First, determine which side won this battle. You should base your opinion on a couple different factors: A)Build quality amongst all MOCs B)Number of MOCs of quality [Please remember that Ulandus has a numbers disadvantage here in terms of team members, so even though they only had four builds, that is almost half their builders participating. Similarly, Both Ulandus and High Council have less highly active members ] C) Story of the MOC D) Fit to the Warzone. If you are not familiar with the requirements of the warzone, please at least read the “mini-challenge,” “restrictions,” and “Judging” sections listed below. You can weigh these in any order, or add your own categories. Please consider the three above in your decision though. You may want to clarify or lobby for your favorites in this thread, but you don’t have to write anything if you don’t want to. Next, pick an answer to each question in the poll. In the second three questions it will ask you to pick your favorite MOC from each side. Please judge on quality of MOC and its story. You can add other qualifications to your own judging process if you would like. Finally, submit your vote. Then, post and tell us who won the “Best Sand” Category in your opinion. Voting ends April 12th Warzone 5: Battle of the Deep Sands Location: I 10 Who Can Participate: All Factions Terrain: This battle happens in the heart of the Dune Sea. The Dune Sea is full of large, often changing, crests of sand. There is very little stable ground, and where there is, there is usually some small oasis as the source of water. However, these Oases often disappear for months at a time under the ever-changing sands. A haboob can pick up at any moment and blow mountains of sand, literally, miles from its original point. Even though not the largest desert in Kaliphlin, the absence of landmarks makes it very easy to become trapped in the Dune Sea, often a traveler can be driven mad from his or her surroundings. This madness is known to those in the Kaliphlin as “Dunstyria.” History: The region has few settlements, and has had even fewer rulers. There is very little of importance here but a few oil wells and a swatch of territory to add to a ruler’s map. It is odd that war broke out here, but it does lie in the middle of many important locations in Kaliphlin, it is bordered by the Petraea Road, the Mystic Mountains, the Lone Mountain, the Swamps of Qar-Akhen River, and the more profitable Parched Lands. In some regards, it is a second avenue into many of these locations, and the side who controls it would be sealing off a backdoor to other locations. The troops must watch out for the mythic Sand Ghouls, Sand Worms, Dirtmaids, and Lerik'ai, all of which can bring a swift end to a party, and if not the inhabitants of the Dune Sea, then nature itself may deal a fatal blow. Mini-challenge: Depict the desolation of the region, while securing it for your side. This does not have to be a battle scene, it can be an occupation (you decide of what), taming the region somehow, building a fortification to outlast the Haboobs, etc… Use your imagination. Special judging consideration: The public will be asked to judge who won based on creative use of the desert. IE: we are asking MOCers to really demonstrate life and death in the desert, not just a pile of sand and some figs. Secondary Category: Best Sand. A third question will be asked on the voting thread, which build contained the best sand? Although it has nothing to do with who will win the battle, it does allow that winner to be known throughout Historica as the “Traverser of the Great Sands.” Restrictions: Unlimited. Due Date: April 5th Contenders: High Council BrickCurve LittleJohn Ulandus Garmadon Kai NRG Narbilu Rconn0 Desert King Disco86 TheLegoDwarf Hammerhand Jacob Nion BLufiji LordDan Dr. Cogg MKJoshA Umbra-Manis Emma Captain Braunsfeld Robuko

I believe the compromise was that builders could actually counter more than one MOC a week if the threshold was met.. I am not sure we should designate which ones are within the threshold and which ones are outside of it. But I would say that this means each Ulandian could theoretically counter five builds this week (6 above the counter threshold, although, I believe the two city attacks from last week are in the grey area here with legality -- However, you already won L15 because Umbra did not get enough approvals before the counter week was over.) If you think of this in terms of the story, there is an overwhelming attack happening, and Ulandus is rallying to its very core to try to counter. It is a lot of work, I know, but I am not sure what we can do here other than post a limit of GA against a faction -- which would limit who can participate on the DK side. To MKJoshA, I think that isn't the problem, as you could just continue to make GAs... but the map isn't big enough to leave so many untouchable zones up at a time. One other solution might be that if you have a MOC that is a GA attacking a city and thus has a extended counter time, that you cannot make another GA until your MOC has gone to voting. Of course some MOCs would have to be grandfathered in, but we could go forward with this. It would help make Cities even more risk reward. Also, and I may have missed this before, but actually, GAs that are further than one zone in actually get an extra week as well. Per the rules: "All cities (any place with multiple VP are cities on the map - check smaller Nice Marmot maps for details which city is where) have three weeks of counter time. Any zone deeply in enemy territory (More than two zones deep in all directions, including water) will have two weeks of counter time. Any zone in the "Special victory condition" area of the Desert King would also get two weeks to counter, since these are worth a lot at the end."

To clarify for Marcu, the reason you need 10 threads on all of EB, in order to be able to join a mass message. Not that they don't want you to join ASAP. Signing up for a guild will help you get to that number faster! You can sign up for any guild, and still participate in this Kaliphlin challenge.

Brethren of the Brick Seas Poll This is a quick poll, for those who are interested in the project. We just want to see what the current interest level in each faction is. Briefly, this is what we are working with right now: Eslandola - "Green" Faction - merchant empire, relies heavily on privateers, likes profit over mass territory Corrington - "Red" Faction - Empire based on science, navigation, fast ships Oleon - "Blue" Faction - Empire based on faith, fortresses, and large warships Pirates - Arrrrrggghhhhhhh ----- Some notes: Islanders / Natives are under two different philosophies how they will be included, so if you were specifically going to play an islander character then let us know in the thread.