Steven Vreeland ID# 355027, Richard Millich ID# 291875, Michael Telladira ID# 637975, and
German Pudilo ID# 685605
Hello and welcome back! In part I of this expose, we covered how camping was developed and why it was incorporated into standard practice amongst the RND clans. Now we're going to get more into the meat and potatoes of the practice.
Alright! Thanks for coming back everyone! Now that we have an idea as to the “why” camping was brought into play as a strategy, what are some of the preferred methods that you have used?
Steven V: One method that was used most effectively is waiting in the single player tournaments until the last hour to make a jump towards the top.
Michael T: The main method is to avoid experience at all costs. The other part of this (which in my opinion is where RND got lazy as a whole [outside of a select few members]) is to gain niodes through interviews, comics, videos, etc. to make up for the free play way that majority of RND used.
This can also be supplemented or replaced with spending. If experience is needed for certain prizes the cost versus outcome must be weighed in. RND had a number of databases/formulas Sean Wadley developed with RND voices. This allowed us to rank and measure all weapons, equipment and mechas which was a great asset to any new comer.
German P: There is not so much to say about "slow leveling" or pure camp. One keeps acquiring the lower XP possible, to keep not leveling so fast without be ready to do it (aka: run short on resources to keep maximizing the upgrade)
- Avoid expensive kotms (by the time when I was in RND, bronzes were the cheaper way to acquire some Niodes through the kotms)
- Avoid circuit competition (You can and must join for the free niodes and crystal, but avoiding hit others earning XP). There are free ways to acquire crystal, as harvesting your friend’s farms.
- Avoid blind fights against others, as you earn big amounts of XP that way... If you needed to make attack wins, there are ways you can figure to do it with low or zero XP earned.
- Avoid, avoid, avoid... Win clan war rounds with the lesser possible attacks, sharing efforts between the whole team, etc.
To me, this is boring, but at that time, this was necessary to help me become competitive when one lacks the cash or other ways to earn Niodes, or when one needs time to arrange the resources he/she is earning.
Richard M: One of the things we tracked back then was the Niode weapon count per player. We didn't consider a player prepared unless they had Mecha appropriate for their level, Niode or not, and their Niode weapon stocks were at least half of their total.
As you can guess, with Fists GEs, T9s and Berthas across the board, we became exceptionally strong, ton for ton, player to player. There were zero weaknesses except for level, and our early foes can attest to that.
In fact, with this system, we had players fighting and defeating players up to ten levels higher or more. That may not seem like a lot to the experienced player, but down in the teens and twenties, beating players in the thirties is a much bigger leap.
Did any of you have preferred techniques that you don’t see listed here?
Michael T: I had two accounts, 1GoML was my 'responsible leveling' account. The other was my Facebook account which is a stone cold camper. Responsible leveling is more fun to me because you get to fight and test a bit more freely while still dominating most opponents. The stone cold camper really only gets defensive wins which was a lot of fun for a short time. However, as of right now my Facebook account is level 16 with no weapon that deals under 70 damage (when I add in crystal weapons) It gets boring when everything is nearly as maxed as it can be.
Plus no one really hits me anymore.
German P: Umm, avoid useless experience, lol
Richard M: Another camping technique we used during KOTMs was the 1-6 rule. Because #6 is the lowest position that you can use to attack #1, those two spots were considered fair game for Chessman to fight Chessman. All other slots were off limits for fighting between Chessmen, regardless of unit. We did enough testing among ourselves between events that the real test was against live opponents, and so we focused on that exclusively. We communicated during these events, noting possible problem players and rooting for clan mates, especially the newer ones, to get at least Bronze every time.
In this way, often, we'd stack the KOTM standings before the event began with 4-6 players straight, creating a psychological and strategic advantage. This was so possible because the longer we camped, the closer together our levels became. This was a huge advantage during both KOTMs and Clan Wars.
We avoided XP like the plague, because we knew, as we know now that upgrade costs aren't linear as level rises, but they are exponential. This is because weapon slots, equipment slots, and Base slots MULTIPLY the income you need to stay current. This is still true today.
In fact, we as a clan family boycotted the very first Faction Wars entirely because of the simple math we did on the likely XP gain versus the prizes put forth. It simply wasn't worth it, especially for an event that was clearly experimental at the time. So we sat out.
The amount of thought and research you folks put into this is outstanding! No wonder the moniker of “The Chessmen” and “RND” have been ingrained into your clan history for so long.
So now that you’ve told us the “whens”, “whys” and “hows”, in your collective minds, how do you feel that camping has evolved to keep pace with the game?
German P: Honestly, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some people have maintained complete immersion in camping, some have allowed themselves to level slowly.
Steven V: It evolved because of higher level players complaining, so we had to use the same ideas but attack in raids and pick and choose when the experience was worth getting.
Michael T: I think responsible leveling wasn't necessarily 'evolved' into. It was more of manipulation by the developers for good intentions at bringing new players in. For instance, KOTM used to be zero experience with rewards. However, now if you want to play the game on a daily basis you have to grab some sort of experience unless you strictly video/interview etc.
(Much less fun!)
Richard M: XP started to be added to everything. This was a tipoff that The Craftsmen wanted more income through providing the paying player more and more advantage, again, exponentially, as level rose, and that XP and resulting level was the engine. By then, some of our players were nearing level 50, the original ceiling of the game and the point where huge Mecha bonuses existed, even today. Some of our people made an intelligent choice. By then, the game and the success we had was worth enough to invest with hard currency instead of in game Crystals and Niodes.
This gave rise to the “super camper”: the player who bought in and camped, maximizing every single slot, as we had before, but with much greater resources.
Players who did this enjoyed such a huge advantage that they flat out refused to level at all. It was a big fish in a small pond mentality, reinforced by what we saw in a Division One that was dominated by the whales who had unlimited resources and time.
After the old RND broke down, we who were left found that we could compete, if not dominate like we used to, by advancing, grudgingly, at a measured pace. This pace was different for every player, and that's the type of leveling we use now.
And finally, is there anything that we haven’t covered that you would like to add?
German P: There is a reason why camping and hybrid camping style methods are developed: The game encourages to it.
If the Developers really wanted to eradicate the camp strategy, then be sure this conversation wouldn’t be happening as they could take the needed measures to grant a positive leveling or to discourage anyone stopping it.
Since I started to play into Mecha Galaxy, I have detected some vicious that should be fixed as to allow or encourage to all the players for a constant leveling.
Level alone is not power: Just brings more room for power, but you need to acquire the higher bases, the better and weightier mechs, the equipment and the weapons, and all that with the same rate as you get the slots to fill or you will be becoming as a hollow force under-performing against those in your same bracket…
A way to fix this may be just attach some additional skill or damage increased without the need to acquire it too, so then pure leveling may be certainly raising your firepower or something.
As long as this game evolves into a better one, I will be glad. But I enjoy the game as it is right now, so I am happy to be playing here, despite the holes it may actually have.
Michael T: Nick please hear my cry and lower the experience a little bit for KOTM's! Outside of that, great work as always! Thanks for taking the time to help the new guys Kenneth!
Richard M: Camping is still viable today, bit, with the advent of XP around every corner to force players into a "buy or die" situation, camping today requires either a lot of patience or an immediate brake on any leveling at all in order to gather the early lead in the lowest divisions that perpetuates success through prizes. That's why we're seeing all sorts of unsportsmanlike conduct surrounding the new player environment now.
Camping is merely a strategy that matches the lowest resource player. Used wisely, the advantages gained by spending a lot of time with low level Mecha gets a player into the mindset of learning it down to the nuts and bolts, because everything becomes important when you have the time. This knowledge becomes superior to everyone else too. Used unwisely, a player can get bored or get locked into a hoarding mentality which isn't good for the clan or themselves.
Success always includes the next challenge, and campers can lose sight of longer term goals because of the time spent in one place.
Camping isn't an evil by itself, but I can tell you that it's still one of the few ways you'll ever win or even compete if you're one of the have-nots. That's the way it is in a game run by money, and (don't kid yourself) that's the way it'll be for a long, long time. As long as you've got players who love the game but can't spend lavishly, believe it, camping is here to stay.
I’d like to take this time to thank our guests, Mr. German Pudilo, Mr. Steven Vreeland, Mr. Michael Telladire, and Mr. Richard Millich. Thank you for coming out to the bunker and giving us this behind the scenes break down of how actual research and development goes into figuring out how to win successfully.
I’d also like to thank the readers of this two part interview. If you have any questions, comments, or want to put in your own two cents, just let us know on our web page thegalaxygathering.com or visit us at our Facebook page as well.
This has been Kenneth Hicks bidding you all a pleasant game.
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