descentchampions.org

Week nights don't work for me unless its around 9pm Pacific time. How about a weekend match? --DKH

I'm available after 9pm CST almost every single night of the week. I'm sometimes available before that but that gets tricky with the wife.

P.S. Challenge Accepted.

Shall we schedule a night then? How about 11pm CST (9pm my time) on Monday the 7th? What level? I'd like to agree on a prepare for a decided level prior to the match. Preferably a level we haven't played yet? Maybe: Blackrose, Aglaia, Wyndham, Raziel, IO, Nocturnal, etc?

committing to 11pm is tough. lets try to hook up during the weekend. if playing it by ear fails (which i'm online a lot) then we can try a more formal schedule.

Can you agree on any of the listed maps above that we have not yet had a ladder match on?

Flea, Vamped, Athena, NYSA, Logic are the levels we have played for a match.

I'm thinking going with etc.
aka: Neptune, Junior, or Fuzed?

We chose to push the random level button and it landed on.....NYSA

Hahaha!! You are so lucky!

Bummer that you couldn't agree on a specific level, when one person had offered 6 and the other 3! I'd really like to see more variety in the levels you're willing to play ladder matches in, JediLuke- this was your 20th match in Nysa.

I think this is a fair criticism of your record thus far, and I don't mean this as anything more than that / or to be taken as a harsh comment (text can be hard to interpret). You were challenged and offered 6 interesting levels... and you just end up playing Nysa again!

You haven't played anyone other than Drakona or Lothar in their home level... I think you could learn a bit from Drakona and her "courage" award, and play where you're not as comfortable sometimes. Take a risk and your games, ladder record, and play will be all that much more interesting and impressive!!

Edit: To illustrate what I mean: With 20 of your matches in Nysa, and 15 in Logic, over 43% of your games have been played in just 2 levels! Again, not a harsh comment here, just one that it would be awesome to see you play a greater variety of levels / level types, or even opponent home levels sometimes.

Edit2: As a final comment, I'll point the finger at myself too and say that I haven't played a great variety of levels. I'm close to that same percentage in the top 2 levels I've played. But, I'm trying to remedy this- my next match against Drakona is scheduled to be in her home of Take2, since she played me in a dogfighting level last time. So, hopefully it doesn't sound like the pot calling the kettle black... but just something I felt was worth pointing out, particularly in the context of a challenge where a lot of levels were offered. Heck, if someone challenges me and asks for a single level, I'll likely accept assuming I've played it... I know I'm not obligated to, but it's more fun that way :)

Hold on there. There's no point in criticizing Jediluke for playing Nysa a lot when most of those are matches *I* asked for. Seriously, at one point, I had asked him to play that level so much he got sick of it! Excluding LH and Mega-, I show 16 matches in Nysa for him, 11 of which are against me.

So just so the story's straight . . . that stat isn't showing angling on his part, it's showing courage on mine!

Moreover, of matches that aren't against me, only 5 of 46 have been in Nysa. Two against DKH, three against Mark -- certainly the two most courageous pilots I can think of -- those could easily be pilots seeking the challenge, too. Everyone else? AVOIDING Jeds in Nysa.

Now look, I have a ton of respect for pilots who show courage. I love to see DKH playing everyone everywhere, and putting trophies and title spot on the line in levels or games where he isn't comfortable. It blows my mind that I can play Mark in Take2 and Doghell back to back and get blown out about equally. And Mark playing Lotharbot in Monkey Bars -- I don't care who you are, that's a serious proposition. Courage and breadth . . . awesome, traits I try to incorporate, too. When I'm picking levels, I usually try to pick where I think my opponent is strongest -- the vast majority of my Take2 games have been people doing that back to me. I like to play Bahamut in Blubird, Lotharbot in Monkey Bars, and Mark . . . well, anywhere, but June Bug comes to mind as particularly scary.

But if you want to exhort people to be more like me, when it comes to the Nysa thing? Play Jeds there. Don't tell him to stop taking challenges there, that's totally backwards. He's awesome in that level, and deserves respect for that, and people should seek him out if they want to see how it's played.

As for whether he'd be a better pilot if he expanded what he plays . . . that's up to him, I think. Playing a broad game brings both benefits and drawbacks. It brings tactical insight (shaker pilots have fearsome smart placement, strong dogfighters can use some of those dodging skills in tight places too), but it can bring loss of focus, too, as you build habits appropriate to one game by destroying habits appropriate in another. Anyone who's reached for a burner that isn't there would understand that! Switching easily seems to be a strength for Mark; focusing and dominating seems to be a strength for Jeds. As long as they've got core D1 covered, I say let the mines decide which strategy is better.