descentchampions.org

yeah, that's a big piece of it. It's not exactly making vendettas in "standard" levels, but setting a standard for expectations about vendettas, so that you're not like "I pick flea" and then the next person is like "I pick this D2 level I just made that only has guided missiles, but you can use one to open a secret to the outside and then once you go outside it's closed off by a forcefield, and there are shakers out there, and the person stuck on the inside can't shoot out but you can shoot in, and by the way when you're outside you get 50,000 shields too!"

It should be like "I pick flea" "I pick Athena"... or "I pick FRP" "I pick mega-NYSA"... or "I pick D2 puck" "I pick this D3 instareap map". The weirdness levels should match.

Also consider that I think Umbriel is between "Serious 1v1 modern era level" and "lolpuck" yet others might put it in the "lolpuck" category. Though maybe after I'm done making my modification of Umbriel it will be considered a bit more legit?

Though now this makes me curious. Would it make sense to compile a list of "If you suggest this for a 1v1 you won't get laughed at for long" levels? Or maybe instead pilots could have a Vendetta list, a public list of levels that they can pull from when they select levels? So when someone asks for a match against you, you can check their list and decided "Any of those levels might be played, yay/nay" Then just give it a limit of like 10 levels or something and include by default the DCL ladder levels.

I'm not sure a standard approach really makes sense between the tiers. Jedi and I will cheerfully agree to play levels that other pilots consider insane. Mark and I, too, though for a completely different definition of insane. And Lotharbot and I. There are a few levels Entropy likes that I think are nuts, but he's got a few opponents who think they're great.

That all's perfectly normal.

We try to maintain an idea of a core game so we all have something in common, but beyond that, I don't think a one size fits all approach makes a lot of sense.

Besides . . . different matchups have differents sorts of stakes, different levels of seriousness and silliness. In one vendetta, I may want to negotiate everything down to the last iota before we begin, to the point where we may as well write a contract. In another, "Eh, pick anything, don't make me too mad" is enough of a rule. In some cases, we may want to do 3 random maps. In some cases, we may want to do 3 blind maps and have another pilot pick them out for us.

I wouldn't overarchitect it. You know best what you like. Beyond "It's 3 matches you play in a row, and the ranks are affected only by the outcome of the series", everything else is a suggestion.

Honestly, Umbriel isn't really a gimmicky map. It's a tunnel ratting map, weapon balance is fair. Even given the unreachable fusion in Retro, it's still okay.

It just happens to be rather hated by everyone who plays it not named Entropy.

Suggestion: Vendetta awards are tier-only. No gold-silver, gold-bronze, or silver-bronze. Thoughts?

Well, actually, it's true for most any pilot I've had a long series with. There's some level we both like that everyone else hates. In Jedi's case, that's historically been Mindtrix x4, Ascend x4, Logic x4, Athena x2 . . . we played those a lot when everyone else thought they were silly. I guess they're catching on, now, so that level might be Junior?

With Lotharbot, that level would be (Untitled) or maybe Power Pro. With Mark, it's probably June Bug. I guess saying everyone else hates those maps is putting it a little strongly, but what I mean is that we all have things we like that are broadly unpopular. So long as we have some core game in common, that's perfectly healthy, and that sort of thing keeps the community exploring new frontiers.

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stay tuned...