Dust Bowl FOREVER!!!

[kookoo275]

[quote="So Uncivilized";p="106866"]Day Four

PLayed this morning, then Mrs SU and Lil and I went to Ikea.

Man, that's like a day at Disneyland, only it costs more. I was able to read some of the php guide on the intarwebs thanks to Amazon Kindle while we were taking a rest.

Tomorrow I have some tables and stuff to assemble..

Anyway, I got on Dust Bowl this morning, and had a pretty good time. There were a couple of quality rounds.

I found that on round 2, if I jump up as a demo onto the shack there near the enemy gates, I can get a lot of kills just by placing stickies along the opposite rock wall. Mostly pyros will run out the gate and make an immediate right, thinking they have cover back there then, KABLOOIE!!! I got quite a few kills this way.

I'm also enjoying playing some engie again, and stumbling through a couple of respawns as spy so I can maybe back stab a sniper or two.

I had to mute some people for the first time ever today. Usually, if they are extremely annoying, I will leave or of course let an admin know if it's bad behavior. This, though, was just annoyin' behavior. They were two friends who kept working together, which is fine, but they were constantly chattering and it was kind of bothersome. Mute worked wonders.

Anyway, I now am finding that I no longer need to hate Dust Bowl. I can actually play it. I am thinking that after a month, I might hate it again, having come full circle. Fun times.



SU[/quote]


That would be Henry the Horse and Weighted Companion Cube, right?
They're, er... an interesting bunch, eh?

[So Uncivilized]

Nope... someone else Now I will have to wait until I catch this pair as well, I guess!

[Thom Yorke Obliterator]

[quote="So Uncivilized";p="106866"]went to Ikea...
Man, that's like a day at Disneyland[/quote]

Thïs

[mr_s]

[quote="TheCarpe";p="106815"]
I dunno, I don't know what I'd do without my beloved 24/7 Warpath.
[/quote]

Same here

[quote="Nick Mame";p="106965"]
Well I tried dustbowl a bit later in the day. It hasn't changed from my past recollection. There is a community of good regulars. They enjoy playing with each other and end up on the same team. The other team gets repeatedly crushed. Regulars don't notice, they're enjoying themselves. Everyone on the other team ends up leaving and getting replaced (by people who end up leaving).

Dustbowl is the reason why I'm in the habit of joining the losing team. The people from my old dustbowl server rubbed me the wrong way. They'd obliterate the other team, check their rank after each (won) round, and have spout out 'gg' after every third or so victory. That combination irritates me to no end. It's just plain insulting to not play a fair game (stacked is not fair) yet still pretend it was competitive.


Unless I just happened to join at yet another bad moment, still not convinced.
[/quote]

I feel yer brother!

[mr_s]

another post FTW

[quote="kookoo275";p="106979"]

That would be Henry the Horse and Weighted Companion Cube, right?
They're, er... an interesting bunch, eh?
[/quote]

THey BOTH need to be permabaned, especially that henry.

Biggest nuisance ever!

[Captain Jim]

[shimmybot]

[quote="Captain Jim";p="107046"]

[/quote]

i love that picture

[mr_s]

[quote="shimmybot";p="107048"]
[quote="Captain Jim";p="107046"]

[/quote]

i love that picture
[/quote]

[[FACE]Slithe]

[quote="Nick Mame";p="106744"]I'm wary: maps such as dustbowl tend to focus more on teamwork than skill. A part of the challenge is likely because of the design of the map, which has a great number of choke points that require immense cooperation to pass, rather than the individual skill of players. That is not to say that the people who join the server are poor players, however. It's just that the map is very linear and doesn't allow players to show their responsiveness to unexpected ambushes, ability to flank the opposition, and skill at positioning themselves at the ideal location on the map for them to come out on top. It's a good place to prove which team deserves to win rather than which team has the more skilled players. And if by skill you meant willingness to work as a team rather than twitch-factor, I'd agree.


That aside! I've often found that dustbowl matches involve a stacked team. A lot of the times I play there, one team will always be obliterating the other (30-8 being an example: the red team was barely holding together and most of their players gave up and left). If that doesn't happen in the evenings, I'd be willing to give it a try. As it stands, however, I am still unconvinced of dustbowl's merit (as people tend to play it) over the other cp_ maps.[/quote]

I actually like the fact that dustbowl focuses on the teamwork aspect. The team needs to work together, and communicate well to obtain victory. I find that aspect fun, although I'm sure some people find my constant rambling annoying.

Team stacking does happen and is a problem, but a lot of times it's not even deliberate. It just gradually happens because the players on the losing team keep leaving, which further hinders the team and hinders the coordination. I usually try and help the cause by team switching, but it's hard because one player can only do so much. However, when there's even teams it makes for some epic games, with a lot of back and forth action.

[Nick Mame]

I don't think it's ever deliberate. That doesn't make it less frustrating for the losing team, though. Dustbowl is unique in that since it requires a lot of teamwork, stacking makes the experience a whole lot worse. On the other maps, a single player can make a large difference and at least make a good effort to hold the team together. With dustbowl, if you are severely outplayed by the other side, you have almost no chance until one team gets a change of players.

But I do appreciate that you make an effort to change teams. I'm not so much against team stacking as I am against people who are oblivious to it and pretend as if all is well and good. It's very refreshing when I get to see someone else who tries to keep things even.


And as an aside, welcome to the forums!

[DeafOfficeWorker]

[quote="Nick Mame";p="106965"]There is a community of good regulars. They enjoy playing with each other and end up on the same team. The other team gets repeatedly crushed. Regulars don't notice...[/quote]

The admins notice. Be a good sport, like Nick says, and help a team that's getting hammered.

If I see a bunch of folks getting rolled and dropping, I'll scramble the teams every time.

[quote="[FACE]Slithe";p="107083"]
Team stacking does happen and is a problem, but a lot of times it's not even deliberate. [/quote]

I have seen plenty of deliberate stacking. It is against the server rules, and can get a player kicked or banned.

[So Uncivilized]

The hard part about Dust Bowl, as well, is that it's three games in one... I feel like I need to 'stick with it' until that rocket blows up or.. not..

So sometimes it seems like you are rolling the other team forever, but you haven't won what I think of as one rotation of the map, yet.

I have at times wanted to leave, but sinnce I was an engie on defense or whatever, I felt that I had to stay through that final round until the beginning of stage 1 again.

I have started to try and switch even mid 'round' if I think to do it. It seems like, though, that most of the time, the losing team outnumbers the winning one, so switching is difficult...


SU

[Nick Mame]

If you're trying to switch teams on dustbowl, it's best to wait until the round ends. Should one side be horrifically stacked, half the players on the other team will end up leaving and you'll have plenty of open spots to switch to! A team losing isn't something you should worry over, though. Quite a few competent teams can mess up and lose a stage in under a minute. The trouble sign is when one side has obviously newer players since their scores are all below the lowest-scoring member of the winning team. If one team has far lower player scores than another, it's a sign that things have gotten bad and the older members of that team are fed up and quitting.

[So Uncivilized]

Day Six

Had some fun as demo. I find it is the easiest class to have fun on dustbowl. Wow, engineer can be frustrating. Whew.

I was definitely on the down side score wise today, and my team was getting beat regularly, though not always rolled which was nice.

i notice that higher scores tend to get one more medic attention. That, or getting ridiculous kills, like when you get lucky and sticky the point when there are four or five guys on it.

I had a good one where, on the last stage, i laid some stickies just on the defense side of 'the corner', and just then several enemy team members made the leap to reach the opposite doorway.

KA-BLOOOIE!! I believe a tear came to my black , Scottish cyclops eye.

Really, so far so good. I am trying to limit play time anyway for the next month or so, and it's not like I am playing six or eight hours straight of dustbowl (I'm sure I have done so on Badlands), so I am doing OK.

[[FACE]Slithe]

Yeah the demoman is pretty fun on dustbowl, and really good too. Once you learn the spots to rain in the grenades on the enemy, the kills start racking up.

You should play during nights, I'll hook you up with the ubers