Tian-Xian: I don't think it's any use to play anything other than espionage variants in the SL if that's what you mean, Tian-Xian. As individuals we could try to get our opponents in other games interested in espionage though. I don't know if I agree with Nothingness. Isn't Small Fast is the easiest variant to start with, because it's fast and the games are short? It's the least demanding game. Or is that just me speaking? ;)

 

We could try to set up a beginner's tournament, we once did that at IYT. That turned out quite well. Who won that tournament again? I think he turned out to be a great player. We could ask the beginners what variant they like to play.

I vote for Small Fast 48 hr + weekend.

 

Small Fast #1 is almost finished, while the second round of Open Fast #1 has just started, with a third waiting after that. Two Open Fast tournaments at the same time is quite a lot, at least for me.

1 New tournament. Do we want a new tournament to start in the next few months? In that case we have to solve issues like: what variant, how to set up the tournament, etc. If we postpone it we can leave the discussion till later and the pawns might be free to enter a tournament in the BK frame. Maybe there could be an unofficial fast tournament for members who can't wait. My question: who wants a new tournament soon?

2 The 'Italian disguise'. Do we want to leave it like it is and ask Fencer to state it clearly in the rules, or do we want to have it changed? Fencer doesn't see it as a bug, but evenso we can ask for a change in the rule.

3 The League. Since we're playing espionage at BK now, do we stick to the name Sabotage League or do we change it so BK members understand what we are talking about? Also, as a moderator I can change the discussionboard subheader 'Discuss about Espionage games or find new opponents.' into something else, redfrog suggested me to do this. For example we could change it into 'Home of the Sabotage League (or whatever we'll decide to call it), all Espionage fans welcome.'. Do come with comments and suggestions! I can even make a subsubheader. I can't change the title.

Dark Prince: I'm puzzled. Why did you and Thom agree to a draw? The game doesn't look finished at to me all.

Those who'll go to round 2 of Open Fast #1 are known (indeed you and Thom are both in) and only 1 game to finish. I'm curious who'll be my opponents in the second round.

happy hermit: 'It could be a hybrid tournament. I.e., set up single section tournaments on BK for those that have a free tournament slot (all non-pawns, pawns not in any other tournaments) and group the other pawns in section(s) outside the brainking framework.'
This is still a lot of work, because the organisor of the tournament will have to check on the single section tournaments and all the individual pawn games. If  we grow bigger there will be several rounds afterwards. All individual games will have to be checked in those.

Plus it will be strange to have the pawns always playing against pawns in the first round. This will likely give uneven sections in numbers and skills.

SL-Bosse: "I think it is to early to start up an "official" Sabotage Leauge-tournament. I think we should wait until January/February. Or at least the "Small Fast #1" should be finished. Or what do You think?"

 

You mean to say Small fast #1 and Open Fast #1 are not official ?  Just when I made it to the second round after sleepless nights with questionmarks haunting me...

 

Ok, now serious, I agree the pawns should be able to enter every tournament. it's just soooo much trouble to get a tournament going outside the framework. The BrainKing framework is perfect. I've organised several tournament when we were still at IYT and it really is a lot of work. It's more than administration. Players have to be seeded, there has to be checked whether the games have started, whether games have ended, what the outcome is etc etc. Players even forget a game is a tournament game.

SL-Mark: We could still make a request for a change. If we do this as a group we have more chance of succeeding I guess.

There are a few differences. The volcano variants don't have fixed places for the volcanoes. They appear random in the middle in a symmetrical way.

Another difference is that at IYT you can 'shuffle' two unseen pieces around so your opponent doesn't know which of the two pieces is the unseen piece who just caught his 4. You understand what I mean? Here at BrainKing on the right side of the gameboard there is a notation of every move, so you can tell exactly which piece moved where.

The tournaments work very different as well. The good thing is we can design them ourselves and the results are automatically registered and neatly listed:

happy hermit: Did you and jonaron ever play against eachother? I'd love to see such a match! :)

The one thing about looking at a match between 2 others is that you don't know what they can see unless you go through a lot of trouble noting it down. Which is hard enough when you're playing a game yourself.

SL-Mark: Thank you! Indeed I saw how you managed to bundle quite some compliments in one sentence in that post and I felt very honoured .

Trying to be a friendly person in daily life, it feels good to be as ferocious as I can on the battelfield . The thing I like best about espionage is that you can agressively attack with weak pieces, as long as you are capable to keep them unidentified.

SL-Mark: In espionage I can also completely mess up I'm afraid, completely surprising myself by not seeing obvious things. I hope you'll all help me when I overlook things as moderator!

 

As a moderator I can also ban myself (quite tempting to try this out), so if I mess up just say so, and I'll do the right thing ;)

happy hermit: As I see it the only way to abuse language is by using it to hurt someone intentionally. Everyone has a different personal style and uses the words and expressions belonging to you.

 

People will not only recognise me as Dutch by the flag but also by the flaws in my English. That's only natural. Jonaron doesn't say much so I don't know about his English. The amount of speech is a big difference between jonaron and quiet man ;)

 

I'm sure they're not the same because I don't see either of them misleading us by joining a tournament twice. Also the playing style seems different to me. Jonaron plays more careful I think. He plays with more caution. Quiet man starts to play careful when it matters.

 

Well, Eric, you or Jonaron are the only ones who can answer this question for us.

SL-Mark: I agree with you. Especially when a lot of pieces haven't been revealed yet one is bound to take more time to play. When you're in a losing position there's the consideration of playing at high risk. You'll want to look track the game back to see how it developed. Takes time and concetration. You don't always have that while you're online.

 

Still I agree with Jim it can be quite annoying when people wait till the very last to move.

Celticjim: no, the pictures have not been saved... The League was fading at the time and I wasn't sure if people wanted me to keep pictures if the group didn't exist anymore.

 

I do remember that at IYT the messageboards were closed because of the awful namecalling getting out of hand. In the mean time the sabotageboard was peacefully used by enthousiast Leaguers for setting up tournaments, analysing strategies and 'heavy' discussions like what our rankingsystem should look like. We had a lot of voting on various issues in those days. We did have a short period were politics somehow sneaked it's way in for some strange reason, creating a lot of uproar with violent words spoken. Luckily it was over fast without leaving any hard feelings.

ca119: Earlier Abigaill expressed my feelings about the Fisher's clock very well: IMO, such a move pace is totally out of place in BK - unless players play at the same times, it's very likely to give one player a huge advantage clock wise. (Say you always play between 12AM and 9PM, dedicating 9 hours a day playing BK. I only play 10 minutes a day, from 10PM till 10:10PM (time adjusted to your timezone). You will then have a serious risk of losing our game on time, while I will not. Simply because there will be 14 hours between my move and your first opportunity to move, and only 10 hours between your move and my move. I will gain 4 hours/move on the clock - even if you are a much more dedicated player than I am).

 

We shouldn't have people lose tournament games because of timezones or situations as described above!!!