What I remember from earlier faction wars, is it took few days before anything started to happen. This time though, first announcements about who goes where came on same day with the faction war announcement. Even first time guests joined our clan before that day was over. I think the boss wanted to make sure that this time there would be enough time to move players between factions. Nothing to do with me, just idly wondering if I would stay on Smurf War Patrol or move.
Sure enough, I didn’t stay there. Soon came an invite from a total stranger to a clan I had never heard of. Hidden Smurfs. Well, the name has smurf in it, so there I went. Not many players there yet, but still plenty of days left to improve things. All good. At least got my trusty 420 ton specialist again.
More and more players showed up. It started to seem that I would be middle strength player this time. Kinda of a long time for last experience of that spot. And the clan page started to give us warning about too many small player among us.The leader was way too small. But no worries, the bosses will fix that soon, when we get enough members.
- Hi, what you think, could you be leader after I get this faction ready? There would not be much to do after that, just lock clan and after fights done need start raid and manage limits few times.
- What? Me?
- Yep. You. As you would not do raid anyway, I think you would be fair enough… and managing raid is not that hard- Just set limit 1x when it start and set it free last day. Depending how many actually do raid, you could rise limit middle of raid, just not too much that most get enough time to get their share. Or let it stay 1x until last day, I trust there will be enough active ones to end the raid on the last day anyway.
- You sure that there would not be any need to find extra players? I’m really not that good with people…
- I’m sure. Won’t set you as leader until all is done, and if you lock clan after that, nobody has time to escape… just keep it locked until the war starts, all should go well then.
- ...Not really sure about this, but I can try… But would not mind if you find another leader…
- Sure thing. Thanks.
Leader? Did not expect that. Been happy as regular player, without worries about anything but myself. Well, maybe I can do this, it can’t be that bad…
- You on? Faction is ready, transferring leader to you if you there…
- I’m here.
- You are leader. Lock it up and good luck.
So, I did not escape this experience after all. But it wasn't that bad so far, I just needed set few specialists and wait until the final lock. And trust that others know what they are about to do.
First round: Today and tomorrow [IPG]
Our players were hungry for points. They started fast, took clear lead and kept that growing. At that moment i forfeited any hope to get top 15 group… Not that i couldn’t, but how expensive it would be. A Megazome would be good add-on, but not that good.
So I kept my usual role of defender and last minute hitter on desperate situations. Not that there was anything like that on sight since our opponent was so badly outclassed. Still, I did my usual checks every few hours, including the last hour, but there really was nothing to do. Didn’t even bother to find out if all had hit already, score was so overwhelming. Others had done all that was needed already.
End result was that we lost 61 attacks, they lost 55, so our aggression was showing but not that badly. Final score was: Today and Tomorrow [IPG] 424, Hidden Smurfs 755.
Second round: Battle Group BlackStar
This went almost like first round. Except for that little detail that we were ones who got beaten. Badly. Counted theoretical points, trying to figure how this would end. Did not look good, but it did feel like there could be a chance if we fight smart and have little luck… okay, lots of luck, but it could be done.
Anyway, I emptied the fight bar, taking every sure target away. Not my usual tactic that early in the round, but I wanted more points on score table. That done, I stepped back to normal bystander role, waiting how events would proceed.
Not good. Not good at all. Soon the score was as overwhelming as first round, just in the opposite direction. Little complaining on clan page, as expected, but there wasn't much anybody could do other than just wait for the round to end.
End results were surprisingly similar than on first round. We lost 62 attacks, they lost 47. Taking the situation into account, we did really good. Final score was: Battle Group BlackStar 687, Hidden Smurfs 432.
Third round:The messed up name clan
(sorry about name, no clue how to make those symbols). I think our clan was more than little pissed about last round. They started round even more efficiently than first round. Message was loud and clear. “Lost gold, but silver is ours to take. So, be nice, roll over and die”.
Not sure how excited they were, but die they did. Fast. Soon we were so far ahead on points, that there really was no need to participate any more… unless there was miraculous recovery from the opponent near the end. Strangers things has happened, so I did a regular check, even if did not believe that it was actually necessary.
The end result was better than previous rounds. We lost only 27 attacks, they lost 50. Final score was: Them 27, Hidden Smurfs 700.
Raid:
The raid button emerged faster than expected. The difficulty was I felt a little excitement when I used the button (first time I got to do that). And more than little panic when raid did not start. Nothing on main page. Nothing on clan page. Last hope was battles and there bosses tab, and felt enormous relief when the raid was there at last. I opened it to check numbers. 31896 kills, 1x for mechs 724 but actual 1x 750 kills. Setting cap to 750 and started waiting for kills to happen. I also checked the clan and main pages again, finally the raid was showing there to.
As the day went by, some killed more than others. Many did not kill nearly as much as I was hoping. This is the biggest reason why I avoid the leader's seat almost more than xp. How long can I make others wait before it’s safe to increase limit, and how much can I increase it. Maybe a hundred or two at first, it should be safe enough…
The first suggestions to go to x2 (and higher) came soon after that. From active ones, they wanted more kills, not wanting to wait if slow ones would actually start making kills. And I understand their point of view, the worst thing that could happen would be that the raid would fail if we run out of time when end monsters show up. But I really wanted give more time for all to catch up, two days should be enough to end this. I hope.
Mechs left count is steadily shrinking. I felt less and less sure if I should set it free, instead x2 started to feel to be the more suitable option. There were so many who hit limit as soon as it increased, so with x2 there should be more players with increased odds for mechs. Even if I know that some would be disappointed, as with free kills they would get even more chances for themselves.
So to compromise, I set the limit to x2 for now, planning make raid free around the twenty hour mark, figuring that if the little kill group haven’t continued by then, there wouldn’t be enough time for them to catch up anyway. Time to wait again.
Timer was close for 22 hours left, and there were hard walls, but also multiple players hitting, so I was kinda relieved. The raid would be done soon, and multiple players would have hit x2 limit. Sure enough, before two hours were gone, it was done. From 32 players who participated raid, 11 got x2 and 11 just x1. 6 were way over x1, but not enough for x2. Sadly 4 killed just a few, but in the end, not a bad allotment of shares. I don’t know what everybody got, if anything, but I hope that at least some are happy for their loot.