Dark Prince: Always on the middle ranks, but placed after both players set up an army. I think it would be a big improvement to alreadt place volcanoes on the map before setting up an army, as a player can set up accordingly to the different terrain.

joshi tm: The one feature that really prevents a solid unstoppable defense was the implementation of random volcanos. On IYT "ialwayswinsam" and myself had a way of setting up an unstoppable defense. b/c we always knew the volcano set up prior to the match. Now it cant be done, you have to gamble on the setup which isnt tacticly sound and involves luck. We however rarely ever used this tactic unless we needed a must win. I had a record of appx 300 wins and less than 12 loses until i timed out of 33 games at once due to lack of internet access. As for saying something making it true or untrue the same works both ways. (and just b/c majority rules doenst make it a good or prudent choice.) And as for being able to move backwards that would not be good. to much to explain here. The rule i always favored is the original: equal rank attacks remove both pieces. This is why this game has always favored the aggressor. Which i will explain in a new post.

As we all know that in the original stratego when a 2 attacked another 2 both pieces were removed. This rule enabled a person to be aggressive and defensive all at once. Once you spotted the 2 and the 1s were exposed or removed it was a feast on the remaining armies and the 2 could attack without prejudice (granted that he didnt run into any bombs). But unitl that happened you played cautiously and very defensively.
Espionage and Sabotage changed this rule and created an aggresive style that if you attacked 1st you get favored with the win. This created a defensive style on my part and I realized that I have to be more cautious and not attack as much due to the numerous threats and open space.
When we ( the IYT committee [I was not on the open committee]) first decided to implement the open version on IYT we had many long discussions about many different things many of which i do not recall ( how many moves and board setup) probably Chaos would remember. I very much agreed on an open verison and wanted a more aggressive type of game. I really enjoy the open game b/c it challenges my defensive style and is much more difficult to set up a solid unbreakable defense. But i have yet to find a glitch or the perfect setup. But i try to find it all the time even if it means losing a game here and there. Every game has its glitch or achilles heel. eventually open will be exposed, but it will take awhile.

Dark Prince:

"I would be interested to know the other players who agree that long games show the greatest skill. I think they show the least skill."

I don't think the length of the game is too important. I like to see a player create an imbalance (e.g. Recon vs 2 or 2 vs Redon, 4 vs 5 or 5 vs 4, etc.) and then demonstrate they know how to play it advantageously.

Celticjim: no, I haven't asked about the bug. Sorry! Some time ago I was busy trying to see what the consensus for a draw rule was, but didn't succeed. My plan was to combine the request for a draw rule with the request to change the bug. Now we also have the request we want to make for a diagonal version. At the moment I do not have the time to address people personally to get opinions or to formulate different options so players can vote for them. Maybe someone else can step up to take these tasks? You can put my name under the request for any of the diagonal variants, draw rule (50 or more noncapture moves) and the bug.

Chaos: you said earlier when referring to the rule about not moving back where one came from...."One can corner an opponent by limiting their movement abilities using this rule. As has just been done to me..."...so I thought maybe you would take the opportunity to 'check' whether the bug had been fixed,not ask about it as we all know that is pretty much pointless .....good luck getting a corner variant implement if that is the plan--never was a fan of that one

Celticjim: my pieces were still able to move, but only towards the claws of my waiting opponent. So the bug wasn't relevant in this game.

Chaos: ..now I'm confused........the bug makes it possible to in fact not just move forward--that is the bug....it is relevant if you were down to 5 pieces or less surely? Actually now I think about that I'm not sure the piece number relevance is known.Can you link the game in question for us please ...

I'm thinking about running a prize tourney in the next month or so.. I want to know what the best time control is ( i know best is subjective). I dont want to have it be a tourney that takes years to finish. I also do not want to scare away many individuals that just cant committ to a short time frame? I will also be carefully watching who enters and will be eliminating individuals who move slower than molasses in the winter time. I want this tournament to attract as many individuals as possible. I currently am in a tourney when two individuals have not made there first move yet and they are black rooks ( tons of auto vaca) and the tourney started in october. and they are using 30 day time control.
Also what would attract more players for a variant and format? im looking at Open version and either elimination or 1 game each person 4 player sections.
The volcano versions do not get enough love and the open versions seem to be the most played.
As for the time control im looking at: 1 day plus 12 hour bonus with a 3-5 day max with auto vaca disabled? or a 1 day with 8 hour bonus with a max of 5-7 days. I'm trying to encourage fast play without making it too difficult to manage with daily life. I'm a school teacher so I have a fairly forgiving schedule, others may not. I'm open to suggestions.

It 's a shame that the 6x6 tiny variant doesn't exist. ;)

I like Fast Espionage the most (yup, with the volcanoes), or Open Small Espionage.

For time control you should have the vacation on, as the new format only allows 45 vacation days (60 if they would pay another membership) . If those are all gone, that's over for them. It's fair to assume that players visit the site daily, so use a fixed time per turn, say 1,5 days per turn. If you hate the vacation system, do fixed weekends only or even no days off.

Nothingness: you can make it an invitation only tournament, only it will require more of your time.

Nothingness:

I think the Fischer Clock controls are reasonable, The default for that control: 7 days with 1 bonus day added for each move seems reasonable. At the limit case, each player gets 1 day per move + weekends. The two slowest players in a tournament would both have to make 100 moves in a game in a year (200 moves + 80 weekend days + 90 vacation days) = roughly one year. Perhaps it would be more weekend days once the vacation kicked in, but close enough. If you play large sections (7 or 8 players) you should finish in two rounds.

Nothingness:
if vacations are not allowed, I think it will not encourage me and a lot of players, because you can easily have any incovenience that prevents you from connecting to the site (sickness, holiday, work, connection breakdown,....).
It would be better to have a short time per move. Usually players can be very slow because they have hundreds of games running and they simply play the first one in the time list. They are always near the time limit.
The problem is: what is a short time for you?
For me it is 2 days, with vacation on.
Maybe it is too long for many others.

dAGGER: i agree with your assessment on the vacation. the larger sections are difficult but can speed things up.

I'm on a recruiting expedition at IYT. i am playing two strong players. one is very strong. I hope to get them to come over here if their not here already.

I consider myself as a slow player, or, may be, slower one. Fischer's clock force me to play rather quickly and still there is possibility to make decent ammount of time for case of emergency. Because we paly from different timezones, I consider time bonus 1 day per move as minimal. Set initial time somewhere around 5-7 days and allow to accumulate more than initial time for needs like work, illness, vacations or so.

Nothingness, what about your recruiting expedition?
A new Sabotage League tournament can be helpfull to get some good players from IYT to come here...

Styleone: i am still in the middle of playing vs one of the players.. I messaged the one who ironically lives very clsoe to where i do.. about a 30 minute drive. So I might be able to convince him. The other has not spoken at all and im still in tehmmiddle of our 2nd game. The first of which i lost. He is a non member there.. ill try and message him again.

I have always wanted to put together a strategy guide for espionage/sabotage. Perhpas getting together an independant website link of strategies would be a very touch.

Nothingness: If you make a website I can put the link to it on this page.

Chaos: trying to create one now.. wow lots of work very intricate

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2 all

Trying to get in as many moves as possible and pick up the pace in my games till i have to get back to work in January. So ill be moving fast for the next week.

As i get ready to open up my prize tourney. Which should be ready in about a month or so. I will be adding a secondary prize onto the BK membership prize. It is a book a friend of mine wrote a few years ago called "playing to win" by David Sirlin. This a book written by a multiple-time national tournament champion in video games. Part of streetfighter team USA . Representing USA in an annual international game tournament held in Japan. He is a graduate of MIT's Sloan Business School. Its an excellent read.

On a 3rd note I wish we could have double elimination tournaments, like most gaming tournaments. that would be a prefered format for this tourney, I may ask Fencer if this could be a selectable format in the future.

Nothingness: Here is a snippet of the book which is in his blog. http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-part-1.html

Within the next few weeks I will be in the process of moving, the long stress filled year is coming to any end. My wife and I have been looking to buy a new house and we are selling our current one. anyone who understands the current housing market can empathize with the stress it creates and the time it takes to sell a house. Hopefully after all this is done I will be back to my quick playing self... and much better too. Once i get setted i will create the new tourney.

Nothingness: good luck

Nothingness: all the best & good luck in your new home!

i have moved and now i am without internet access. im at the library now and do not knwo the next time i will be on. Sadly i have time out many games on various other sites.

Still no interenet for almost 2 weeks. Trying to get moves in whenever possible.

Nothingness: had no internet for couple weeks in the house last year after a lightning strike killed my modem-not much fun having to trudge to town to use the local pub wi-fi though it did have its' benefits

so did everyone get the message from monnhippie about the open main one tourny on iyt?

Celticjim: moonhippie even

Celticjim: no

he mentions getting all the old players together for one last hurrah-Sandoz you were kinda newish so maybe he forgot but It could be interesting if we got a good 40 or 50 to join the june main open number 1

Celticjim: I didn't hear about it either.... perhaps the message just went to the players that moonhippie can beat?

Sandoz, despite being shiny and new, is number 2 in BK, soon to be put in his place by the current number 4

SL-Mark: Mark you were kinda new too cheeky ;-) moonhip is probably harking back to the old old names -if he's leaving the new breed out I can't see it being much of a show but we'll see---OPEN tourny after all

Celticjim: Sandoz isn't really new, haha. He used to play under the name 'Hageroff' (do I spell that right, Sandoz?) and was my first sabotage opponent at IYT, so if he's new, I'm a real newbee ;) I didn't get a message from Moonhippie either.

Chaos: My first Sabotage opponent at IYT was Chaos . . . so I'm the real rookie here. :)

Chaos: Oh yes, that's right. Nice that you remember my stone old nick. We had quite a good time over there. :-) But, after my sabotage break I used to play as Sandoz a couple of years on iyt as well.
I don't think that I will go back to iyt for moonhippie's tourney, though.

SL-Mark: hahaha. If you've bluffed me with your last move in our current game I'll put you on my red list, man!

Sandoz: Bluff? Moi? Never
Red list? Is that the list that's red with your own blood?

SL-Mark:
soon you will know.

What about moonhippie? Is he playing here as well?

Sandoz: I've offered you the exchange again! And don't think that I will let you test the bluff with your sab in the next move, it comes at a higher price than that. More so if I'm going to be red listed by you, if indeed it turns out to be just that

I don't believe moonhippie plays here, though I believe he might of had an account here at one time.

might have

Sandoz: Moonhippie doesn't play here. At least in the past he couldn't make an account here because of the way he has access to the internet.

Currently I play 12 games in about 5 to 6 different tournaments. What happens if my memberships runs out in a couple of days? Will most of the tournament games be considered as a loss? Due to the fact that as a non-paying menber I'm not allowed to play more than one tournament at a time. Or will I be able to finish those tournament games as a non-paying member? Does anyone know? Thanks for your replies.

Sandoz: They finish like normal. You just can't join a new tournament until you meet the requirements.

rod03801:
Great. Thank you Rod!

oh the fun we're having ,all 41 of us reminiscing about old times and sharing that old sabotage picture album from back in the old days , Hildebrand in his clown getup--what a lark -the wine and beer is flowing-miss you all--Go Ireland!!