Filjar4life

The purpose of this post is to explain the reasons behind my addiction to captains games:

I had never been exposed to captains games until recently when I fell in love. I was used to having teams "randomly" stacked and a team without competitive attitude. During my captains games experiences I have created a list of why captains games are a million times better than normal games.

Pro's:
-Captains games create a more competitive atmosphere that requires more skill, tactics and thought on each player's part, making the player more involved in the game.
-Captains games, given the captains games environment (listed later), allow for more balanced teams and do not allow the same players to be on the same team every game.
-When involved in a captains game, players normally abstain from leaving mid-game or going afk randomly and without notice.
-In a captains game, every player matters.

Feel free to add-on. These Pro's are just off the top of my head.
Con's:
-It takes more time and cooperation to set up, than a normal game does.
-You have to have a certain environment to do a captains game.

Captains game environment:
In order to play a captains game, certain requirements must be fulfilled.
-Must have an admin on the server.
-Player base must be predominantly regulars.
-Patience
-Cooperation
-Two players of somewhat equal skill level to be captains.


After playing so many captains games, I don't really care about normal games. Normal games are now just a way for me to practice fade. I have noticed a similar attitude amongst all the players during regular games.

Please make comments. I wrote this post in 3 minutes, so add-on.

Yoshi MCF

Actually, I don't really see a need to have predominantly regulars. If a captains game is going on, unregistered people tend either to leave immediately or to become registered regulars within a day or two. Also, any two regulars who know most of the people on the server can be captains. Their own skill level doesn't matter.


I may not play NS as much as I used to (my friends and I just started swapping several long RPGs), but I can't even remember the last time I played a captains game. To me, that shows the "balance" command is keeping most people happy (Thanks, Wyz!). However, I'd still like to see the 1 or 2 captains games per night like we used to have.

Tinker

We've been playing a surprising number of captains games lately, not only on saturday nights where it's one after another. We've also had impromptu captains mornings on days I skip school and a few regulars join. I love them myself, especially when we get about 5 question marks on each team, it gets interesting

Irish Pirate

Yes, the captains games that work best are the ones where the captains know the players on the server and are able to make good choices. The balance on the teams depends on how the captains choose teams, and could also play a little into strategy. If you know some people are good at some things you can get a balanced team, or go for people who would be good at an early shotty rush. Find a balance between good marine and good alien players...

Also the better you know your players the more customized orders you can give them, creating a more personal atmosphere. I'm definitely not the best at shooting things as a marine, but I'm usually good about building things and getting places when ordered too. It takes all types.

aeroripper

I like captains games, when teamwork is usually highest and people play their best. Although their not fun to play 100x a day when you just want a normal pub game.

OP8

I noticed that we had a few very long grueling but intensly fun captains games this weekend, and I was glad to be a part of them. I actually even captained one of them which was new for me. Granted sometimes I'm a crap NS player (and sometimes not...) I would say I have a fairly good knowledge of what our regs are good at. The game that I captained was an intersting pair of games. The first one, we rocked as aliens and the second turned into a mother of a stalemate cause neither team could really advance. Of course, I blame that on my choices for players cause since I play aliens more often, I subconsiously picked what I thought to be an elite alien team. We did well as marines, but I made the mistake of not picking any notably strong commanders. The com we had was good, don't get me wrong, but I wouldnt call him a pro comm like wyz or some others.
All in all what I realized late in game 2 was the need for the captains to not only know the gameplay strengths of the players at hand, but to recognize the need for diversity in those players. Ultimately though, Both games were near balanced and fiercly faught.

Bottom line, yes I like the captains games because they add some extra elements to the game and make for a very hardcore experience.
I could say more but at the moment I feel like I talk too much and am over analyzing. heh

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Eternaly_Lost

If you want a normal pub game, i am not sure what that is right now. I think that the most played verson of ns right now is co maps, but i am not sure, would normal not be what most people are playing?



The average captains game on the server has a high level of teamwork then the average round of ns that we play.

This is mainly due to the planing time that we have with each round, and the fact that you have more of a disire to do well, as the next round counts too.

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Current game name : |TG| Lost the Phantom Thief

aeroripper

Meaning not every game I want to have to pick teams. Sometimes during the week I like the normal games where we can just balance the teams and call it good and play a normal game. I like the idea of having them on saturday nights though.

snappy

Your post is as disturbing as your game play and rhetoric of last night. As I feared, you apparently are not motivated to play unless the game is a captains game. Captains games are great, and something truly unique to the server. However, if you're not going to get motivated to play in a regular game, F4 and don't waste our time.

Filjar4life

You would have never known that i was not as motivated to play a regular game had i not said it. My performance as a player was proportionate to the rest of the team. In fact, i believe i was even doing better than some players that joined before me in that game.

I said what I said last night because nobody was trying to be a captain with me, and i was worried that we would play another boring, unbalanced game.

I play NS because it is fun. Do you think I would be playing a computer game late on a weeknight, if I was not having fun? No. I don't think i would either.

Irish Pirate

Captain games require an admin, and at least two people who are willing to be captian and know the group on the server. It also takes the willingness of all the other people on the server.

I would be concerned as seeing regular games as only "fade practice" because you should not just be fading every game, the team needs to reach a concensus on who needs to spend res on what. Regular games demand teamwork all the same, and the presesnce of captain games is not an excuse to slack off in regular games.

Slayer of Hippies

Um, to me "Captain's Game" and "TG Teamwork" kind of go hand-in-hand. I enjoyed the one or two captains games I was in very much.

If you want a "regular" pub game, then you might consider playing co_ with /menu.

Wyzcrak

This is correct.

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Darkilla: In short, NS is pretty much really fast chess. With guns. Apophis: I haven't seen anyone say that SM's are better than non-SMs. Nordbomber: This is THE first server I've seen where either side can comeback from out of seemingly nowhere with the right teamwork. en4rcment: I have NEVER experienced the type of gameplay that I have found here. Nightly I am amazed at the personalities and gaming talent. Root: Welcome to TG. Feel free to punctuate your sentences correctly. Monkerz: Its gonna take all my skills to beat those boys off in the future.

Wyzcrak

I want names. PM them to me. I want to speak privately with the people who make true the above quote.





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The challenge, for those in the know, is educating players in isolation from their failure. If dude just cost his team the game, it will be extraordinary (great if it happens, but not likely to) for him to graciously accept the education.

Often, when such "education" comes immediately after the failure, the "educator"'s tone SUCKS (due to frustration or whatever).

Find players later. PM them. IM them. Educate them out of game. It's not too much to ask.

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Darkilla: In short, NS is pretty much really fast chess. With guns. Apophis: I haven't seen anyone say that SM's are better than non-SMs. Nordbomber: This is THE first server I've seen where either side can comeback from out of seemingly nowhere with the right teamwork. en4rcment: I have NEVER experienced the type of gameplay that I have found here. Nightly I am amazed at the personalities and gaming talent. Root: Welcome to TG. Feel free to punctuate your sentences correctly. Monkerz: Its gonna take all my skills to beat those boys off in the future.

Filjar4life

I understand that you are not singling me out. But I definately have a different attitude when playing a regular game.

What i have noticed is that when the team is into it, i'm into it. "Into it," is defined as working together and trying to develope some kind of teamwork and coordination.

The "fade practice" that i refer to is not present when there is coordination. When people are down with communication before the game starts and organizing jobs, im definately there to do any job that isnt taken because i am not a strong fade or higher life form player.

Bottom line: When there is a team, I am part of the team. When there isn't, I'm not. I've tried before to make a team out of people who are just into doing their own thing, and it just makes the game more frusturating for me. In my opinion, I don't believe I should be having a bad time while playing a game.

This attitude that is present amongst the majority of the players during the regular games is why I love captains games so much, and is also a contributing factor as to why I made this post.

Please don't think that because I am vocalizing my opinion that I am the only one that has it. I am bringing attention to the problem in order to fix it.