Hi,

As many of you know, rosters are locked around round 9 or so. I haven't heard from Caer exactly why this is so, but I can guess why: we want to make sure that people plan ahead for playoffs, that they're not going to recruit ringers for the big games, etc.

These are good concerns. But I'd like to put forward two reasons for why we should consider pushing back the roster lock dates for the AML division of league (i.e., for squads that will play in the 'AML playoffs' or whatever it is). And I'll briefly respond to the worries after giving the two reasons.

Before giving the two reasons, however, let me stress the modesty of my claim. I am suggesting only that we push back roster lock dates for *AML squads* -- not pro squads, who are typically more established, and to whom the considerations I'm going to give don't apply as much.

The first reason: newer squads need time to recruit.

As we all know, this zone is dying. It's extremely hard for newer squads to recruit when (i) people generally don't play during the week and (ii) don't always play on Sundays either.

Here's a case study. You will not be surprised to hear that it's been hard for Dune to recruit. And we've had a few people who have lately said that they were interested in joining, but who said yes only after the round 9 lock.

Moreover, this is likely to be the norm for new squads. It will be hard for any genuinely new squad to recruit in its first season. If we don't push back roster lock dates, we are all but guaranteeing that (genuinely) new squads will not make it past their first season. This is not good for the long-term health of the league.


The second reason: given how long the league season is, pushing back roster lock dates will allow players to hop on if they subsequently decide they have the time to play

We are all busy people. We may not know how many weekends we can afford to devote to SS, and may not want to jump on a squad at the start because of how long the season is. And sometimes pockets of free time just become available, or we realize we can spare the time after all. Pushing the roster lock dates will allow squads -- typically the less established ones -- to pick up such players who decide to commit at the last minute.


I'm sure there are other important considerations that one could adduce too. These are just the two that come to mind most readily.

It's worth pointing out, too, that the squads that the roster lock dates impact the most are newer, struggling squads. These are not squads that are going to recruit ringers to 'win the league from behind'. These are squads that are just looking to make it fun for their players on Sundays.

We could even add a few refinements, if we wanted to ensure that the ringer thing doesn't happen: e.g., one only gets to recruit a max of 2 - 3 ppl after round 9. You get the idea.

This is too long as it is -- thanks for your patience in reading it.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl1Z3R2q9iJ5u1c0-J0MoQ  View them wankers

3pm:

Outlaws vs. The Dark -- 1307894

4pm:
Llamas vs. Dune -- 1307895
B.I.A. vs. StarFire Elite -- 1307896

And then we loop once more, yay. And then we head into the BYE/pro,pro/BYE/aml,aml playoffs that are all BO3. BIA vs. Dune from round 1 will still be played (probably round 15.) if BIA losing to Dune could change the standings in any meaningful way. Oh, and also only if Dune want to play it anyway. Since we could just schedule it and they forfeit for luls

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl1Z3R2q9iJ5u1c0-J0MoQ view them you tools

3pm:

B.I.A. vs. Llamas -- 1307760
Round 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTiSKIydoo
Was a nice game too. You can find good goodies around 16:20, a minute later at 17:20 (true 90s dodge). Around 18:53 rojo demonstrates how to waste just the right amount of energy to die to a random stream. 23:30 SF and Dagger send a message to the league. We don't even need to hit the double thor trap card The 4v3 KO situation starts at around 34:40, the kill is sadly offscreen and I was too busy typing "got em" to repel rojo's bomb for the double You'd think it gets boring after that but wait there's more! At 35:35ish SF totally and completely drops a bomb. Must've missed on both SF and BK's screens since BK doesn't lose any energy either, except for firing it (duh). After that it's pretty basic, but your view should already count towards grunt's bong fund at this point.

The Dark vs. Dune -- 1307761

4pm:
StarFire Elite vs. Outlaws -- 1307762
Round 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1GnAtXT73w

how about turning ?go battle into the pub arena with the bots it requieres for it to be functional will attract players to play 2v2, random events in there.. not only will this keep Pub (the default arena when you enter the zone) alive and active, players that join will see others players to interact and play with and not think this zone is dead space, usually i see random noob players enter play kill bots for a few mins ask where the players are, grow bored alone and leave.

im sure u can also add the flags, the !bounty !bonuses and stats on from pub over to this one

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl1Z3R2q9iJ5u1c0-J0MoQ

(06-13-2016, 12:29 AM)Gruntster Wrote:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl1Z3R2q9iJ5u1c0-J0MoQ

3pm:

StarFire Elite vs. Dune -- 1307615
Llamas vs. The Dark -- 1307616

4pm:
B.I.A. vs. Outlaws -- 1307617

can we get a 2v2 or 3v3 league on this map? with 4v4 settings

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl1Z3R2q9iJ5u1c0-J0MoQ  Both that I recorded are up now and 1440P. Don't whine about tiny ships, get a new monitor and video card?