Board 8 > Mercenaries, Draft Edition: The Sign-Up Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Sorry the only gifs I have would grant ffd more power (like slater.gif)

I could stock him up with Ron Paul pics just in case this burns down though
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in if boko is in
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Heads up guys, only a little bit more than 24 hours left remain for signups! Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll announce the groups and start setting up the drafts. If anybody wants to play, this is the time to throw your hat into the ring!
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For the record I am the CM Punk of this project while he was on commentary. I am commentator CM Punk.

FFD will understand this.
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I'll try to vote in most of the matches. Worst week for this to start for me and as the draft itself'll probably be the most exciting part from a conceptual standpoint, better to kick back and wait for someone to get mad and try to make their team a gimmick for a few weeks before dying a slow death.

@KanzarisKelshen

since this is going to be a decent-length project, I highly recommend bouncing ideas off of the players/etc about draft format, game structure, and other things!!

I feel like you have a grand vision but a lot of it wasn't included in this topic about the specifics.

Love,
Boko
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MajinZidane posted...

@KanzarisKelshen

since this is going to be a decent-length project, I highly recommend bouncing ideas off of the players/etc about draft format, game structure, and other things!!

I feel like you have a grand vision but a lot of it wasn't included in this topic about the specifics.

Love,
Boko

That's because the post was going super long already, honestly - there's a point where an introduction becomes a gigantic wall of text and that's where you gotta trim some fat.

Also, I don't really have any grand vision for this. It's just a snake draft for 12 picks, then two match cycles + one wildcard match, then a few Bo3s to determine a winner. That's all. >_>
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Dantezoid posted...

Sorry the only gifs I have would grant ffd more power (like slater.gif)

DoomTheGyarados posted...

FFD will understand this.

(You can even wear my blazer)
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Bump for hype,


I think draft mercs is gonna be fun
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Well I also think we could flat ban week 41 mercs because even the ppl who made them don't like them.

I like multiple drafts.

I also like RNG determining mercs available for game 1 or game 2 to reduce overall power level. With only 8 teams all players are gonna have power teams in every tier, so it'd make interesting decisions with tier scarcity idk
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So admins are me and Kanz so far?
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I made Freddy Fazbear and Zero and I love them
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I meant released and by people I meant Lopen
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Zero needed to be fixed so his numbers game could actually catch people without just throwing in any random group of mercs that happened to add up to 9 (from what I recall this was actually the intention and something was lost in translation, because lol week 41)

I remember my opponent being confused like "Wait what's the point of splitting the groups?" "There is none. There probably should have been, I think that's how it was *meant* to go, but whoops." "Oh."
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You might be right

@DeathChicken

Any thoughts on draft format?
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I don't think ALL Week 41 mercs need banning. There's just a few of them that were never meant to be released because they hadn't gone through game balance i.e. Nilin, Slime; or they were old builds that hadn't been modernised i.e. Tank, Ramlethal

For what amounts to a side-project I don't think rebalancing for other mercs is really necessary. If they aren't up to scratch because they need investment - draft someone else. There's plenty to pick from! Maybe it'll mean the usual suspects aren't obvious priority drafts. Raiden looks a lot less tempting with his 95 EXP upgrades!
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Every team gets Geese Howard

Its still super strange to me that Tank was purchased at all.
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Who was the more over-tiered character: Tank or O&S?

I'm trying not to rebalance unless strictly necessary because as an admin, I want to get data on what changes the format needs, and stable mercs make this more possible. If I was doing more changes than what is required to fix outright gamebreaking mercs, I'd probably weaken Alucard for ex, but that's not really what this draft is for. What was lost in Zero's nonary game? If it's a minor tweak I can maybe fix it, but the merc is still good even as is so I want to not touch what ain't broken.
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Ganon made it, he would know
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Tank
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My original Zero merc had a completely different 999 ability. I think this is the original one I made:

Zero (Zero Escape Series)
Villainous Genderless Human (Pure Support)
Upkeep: 3/week

The Nonary Game. It is a game... where you will put your life on the line. (Pre-Battle) Every four weeks, Zero can be instructed to take four randomly selected enemy mercs hostage. The merc with the lowest upkeep (chosen randomly if a tie) will be separated from the rest. The others will be placed in a room and a separate topic will be made to see if they can solve the game. In this game, the three mercs are instructed that the the 4th one is in an incinerator. That merc will die unless someone from the main group scarifies themselves for them. They have ten minutes to either kill themselves or kill another in the room. For this topic, the ideal teammates clause is not applied. There is a 999-esque puzzle in the room that they are not told about, but if they can solve it within the ten minutes all 4 go free. Whichever option of “they solve the puzzle” or which merc dies receives 5 votes, or whichever option has the most votes after 5 hours wins and if a merc “wins” the vote they are KO'd and can receive no exp this week.

The NONARY GAAAAAAME! AMBIDEX EDITIOOOOON! (Pre-Battle) Every four weeks, Zero III can be instructed to take two randomly selected enemy mercs hostage. They will each be instructed to select ALLY or BETRAY. Heroic mercs have a 75% chance to pick ALLY and a 25% chance to pick BETRAY. Villainous have the opposite chances, and Neutral mercs are an even 50/50. If both Choose ALLY, they both go free. If one chooses BRETRAY and one chooses ALLY, the one who chose ALLY is KO'd. If both chose BETRAY, the merc with the higher upkeep will kill and KO the merc with the lower one. They will be free, but their team will know what they did and the ideal teammate clause will be nullified for the kill that week.

Time to play the Decision Game... pleasant dreams. (Start of Battle) Every four weeks, Zero II can be instructed to take three randomly selected enemy mercs hostage. They will be shortly let go, but not before having an odd device strapped onto their wrist. During battle, every 3 minutes the devices will inject the enemy mercs, and they will forget everything that happened since the match started. This will keep going for the entire match, and the devices cannot be removed by any means (though this may not stopped the mercs from trying).

Upgrades

(New Ability, 10 EXP)

My Motives Are... Complex (Pre-Battle) Once every three weeks, Zero II can make their linked merc's mind as complex as their motives are. That linked merc will be immune to all mind control, mind reading and any abilities (both in wartime and in battle) that rely on altering the mind.
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I'd like to remind people that we're still trying to go through builds over here: https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75031827

Skyridge87 posted...

Who was the more over-tiered character: Tank or O&S?

>_>

<_<
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Yeah the suggestion I remember about Zero wasn't even that drastic of a change, it was more like "Split the groups up into three groups of 9 upkeep and then you can only field one of them", ala the game. Or something like that
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Alright, finally got home from work! Signups are officially CLOSED. Leaders have been split as follows:

Group 1:

Eddv
DC
Luis
Lopen
Miz
IGCD
Mewtwo
Tiro

Group 2:

Johnbobb
Eaed
Scare
Tom
Boko
Gravy
Corrik
Redrocket

First Option Replacements:
Skyridge
Kamek

Many thanks to everyone who applied! Let's all work together to make sure these are great games. :)

Now, to business. Ideally, I would like to begin the drafts ASAP. Players, you have 24 hours to send in a number via PM to me or to Trdl. Remember that the lowest unique numbers will win the right to pick their spot in the draft first! Additionally, I'd like to discuss publically which time works best for everyone involved in each group. Ideally, I'd like to have the drafts take place during the late afternoon/early evening, so I can oversee them, with each selection lasting 5 minutes (and then being thrown to the back of the queue automatically). When will everyone be available?
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Aside from late Mondays I'm usually around in the early evening

Well, not free Tuesdays or Wednesdays either until around 4:00 PM, but yeah
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Are we doing one draft definitely or multiple smaller ones?
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MajinZidane posted...

Are we doing one draft definitely or multiple smaller ones?

One draft for this game. I might consider multiple drafts in the future, but I want to see how people build an entire gameplan to start off.
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All nights this week, I have to leave for work at 10 Central. I have class Monday and Wednesday until 7:15ish and class on Thursday until 8, so Tuesday probably works best for me if we're doing early evening?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

Next week I have:
Monday late afternoon/evening
maybe friday late afternoon/evening
Sunday late afternoon/evening
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my wife is sad now so please make this iteration worth it
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Ok if it's one big draft I think doing all of it in one night is kind of ambitious.

I have some suggestions instead of a long draft single day.

Mercs 4 had like a 5 day long initial buy phase. We are not in a rush! What if we draft over the course of a week, with each round of the draft starting at a certain time (and the last few rounds could double up on days or even go just 11 full days who cares) with X minutes/hours long selection periods or possibly no limit at all. That way, people can send in up to 8 mercs they want and definitely get one. I advise one or two rounds per day because your next selection is heavily based on the precious merc you get, even though a specific 5 or 3 much be "better" in a vacuum.

Bolo thinks why have any time limit period at all. Maybe we all get together and start the draft, but when people have to leave we just let the draft flow as it does until it's done.

Any other ideas? Or does everyone want to set aside 3 to 5 hours and just knock it out quickly in one night? I'd prefer to spread it out, personally!
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I mean 8 dudes times 11 picks times 5 minutes is over seven hours

that is a lot yo
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Considering the 8-hour time difference between myself and Lopen, having both of us around at the same time for a full draft on a weeknight sounds ambitious.
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I don't think we're in any particular hurry with this kind of draft format either
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I agree that there is no need to rush the draft.
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Kanz, we need a scumch-- I mean, an admin board thing.
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https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/1320-gamefaqs-mercenaries

does still exist, if completely barren
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Tom Bombadil posted...

I mean 8 dudes times 11 picks times 5 minutes is over seven hours

that is a lot yo

That's if everybody takes the full time to draft. But yes, I don't mind setting a cutoff point for picks each day so people can go sleep at a reasonable time if that's what it takes. I think demanding a few hours is fine but asking for everyone to go sleep at 4 AM is too much.
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Also, if anybody's curious, the reason I'm trying to stick to just one or two evenings where everyone's present is because I've done drafts that weren't time-limited before. Some dragged out to three weeks while players with analysis paralysis or a major penchant for trying to get into opponents' head dragged out their selections. Nobody wants that shit, I want everything to move at a brisk pace so there are no delays. I don't mind accomodating for people who need to leave for work or to sleep (hi luis), that's fine. What I don't want is for someone to hold the draft hostage either on purpose or by accident and murder people's interest before the game's even begun. That's what the clock's for, mostly (and to a much lesser extent, to also reward adaptable players who are on the ball and start planning their picks while everyone else is choosing instead of waiting until the last minute. But mostly it's about retaining interest).
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trdl23 posted...

Kanz, we need a scumch-- I mean, an admin board thing.

Workin on it, gimme a bit.
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

Also, if anybody's curious, the reason I'm trying to stick to just one or two evenings where everyone's present is because I've done drafts that weren't time-limited before. Some dragged out to three weeks while players with analysis paralysis or a major penchant for trying to get into opponents' head dragged out their selections. Nobody wants that shit, I want everything to move at a brisk pace so there are no delays. I don't mind accomodating for people who need to leave for work or to sleep (hi luis), that's fine. What I don't want is for someone to hold the draft hostage either on purpose or by accident and murder people's interest before the game's even begun. That's what the clock's for, mostly (and to a much lesser extent, to also reward adaptable players who are on the ball and start planning their picks while everyone else is choosing instead of waiting until the last minute. But mostly it's about retaining interest).

Yeah, I've done a non-live Fantasy Football draft once. It was fucking terrible.

I'd like to think we're all a little better than that though
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Wouldn't it just make sense to PM a list of picks that you can edit on the fly if you're present
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Lopen posted...

Wouldn't it just make sense to PM a list of picks that you can edit on the fly if you're present

Mmm.

On one hand, this means players can AFK out of the selection phase and diminishes the value of being there.

On the other hand, this certainly does make the draft go faster, and it beats having to assign players random mercs or handpicked ones that are like, 'good but not TOO good' (who even decides if a merc is too good?), and it's unlikely you'll just get your dream team anyway. Let me discuss it with my co-admin to see what we decide.
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Well personally how I'd do it is 5 sets of 2 drafts, taking place over 5 days. Make the PS round take one more day or tack it on to the 5th.

Then you just like, give 5 minutes per draft pick, with timeout defaulting to the sent in list pick or blank (if nothing was sent or all list picks were picked) if no one's there. Then the people who blank can just post their picks whenever.

So basically it'd take an hour twenty minutes 5 days in a row. Segmenting the draft into 2s means no one has to be too thorough with lists and also makes it viable to be there live for the whole thing each day
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Tuesday after 10pm eastern, wendesday after 6 pm eastern and friday after 6 are my availavle days next week
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Lopen posted...

Well personally how I'd do it is 5 sets of 2 drafts, taking place over 5 days. Make the PS round take one more day or tack it on to the 5th.

Then you just like, give 5 minutes per draft pick, with timeout defaulting to the sent in list pick or blank (if nothing was sent or all list picks were picked) if no one's there. Then the people who blank can just post their picks whenever.

So basically it'd take an hour twenty minutes 5 days in a row. Segmenting the draft into 2s means no one has to be too thorough with lists and also makes it viable to be there live for the whole thing each day

This sounds pretty good.
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Hey guys, remember when Corrik was leaving the board? Which of the 17 times was YOUR favorite?