[Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Discussion of past, present, and future water war events.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by DX » Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:04 pm

Normally, that ^ would work, but Friday traffic in the summer = hours of waiting on the north side of the city, even in the morning. The westbound George is pretty much not an option because of that, and the Tap would involve driving all the way up and around. The best option would be to meet at Newark-Penn Station on the Jersey side. The best way to get there from the city is via PATH, it's cheap. If you pick it up at WTC, you can go to Newark without a transfer, picking it up between 9th and 33rd St requires a line transfer.

*For Brandon* - To get to Newark Penn, we drive the normal way - Merritt to 287 across the Tap to the Parkway, then to 21, to Raymond or Market St, the train station is in between them. After pickup, we continue south and get right on I-78, which gives us all the route options to DC.

This would be the fastest way to meetup and get out of the city unscathed. I remember horrible traffic nightmares in the Bronx in the summer where I got to sit on the X Bronx for 2 hours, then another hour on the George. 21 also helps us avoid the Parkway beach traffic, since nobody knows it exists, and then we pickup 78 immediately, so we dodge a bunch of crap even trying to.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Drenchenator » Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:58 am

I just wanted to come out of hiding and say that I should be able to come. Mark me down.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Cochise » Tue Jun 16, 2015 7:46 pm

Man you guys really have me feeling guilty about not going. So many community members. But, I will need to save up my money so I can make it to Pandemonium, which I can go all out for.

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by DavidTheDankEngine » Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:00 pm

Duxburian wrote:Normally, that ^ would work, but Friday traffic in the summer = hours of waiting on the north side of the city, even in the morning. The westbound George is pretty much not an option because of that, and the Tap would involve driving all the way up and around. The best option would be to meet at Newark-Penn Station on the Jersey side. The best way to get there from the city is via PATH, it's cheap. If you pick it up at WTC, you can go to Newark without a transfer, picking it up between 9th and 33rd St requires a line transfer.

*For Brandon* - To get to Newark Penn, we drive the normal way - Merritt to 287 across the Tap to the Parkway, then to 21, to Raymond or Market St, the train station is in between them. After pickup, we continue south and get right on I-78, which gives us all the route options to DC.

This would be the fastest way to meetup and get out of the city unscathed. I remember horrible traffic nightmares in the Bronx in the summer where I got to sit on the X Bronx for 2 hours, then another hour on the George. 21 also helps us avoid the Parkway beach traffic, since nobody knows it exists, and then we pickup 78 immediately, so we dodge a bunch of crap even trying to.
Do you know around what time you'd be able to get to Penn station? Also, is there a certain area in the station where we will meet?

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by marauder » Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:50 pm

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it. I have to use my gas money to drive to Mississippi to pay for our last month's rent and then close out our old apartment. I had an interview for a job yesterday. Landing one of these will help immensely in going to wars. I was offered a job back in April, but then they said they no longer needed me before it started. Pretty lame.

Please take lots of pictures.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by DX » Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:40 am

I don't know exactly when Brandon is getting here, so my best guess would be around noon. PM me your phone number and we can figure out time and location in the morning.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by scottthewaterwarrior » Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:20 pm

We plan to leave for Westmoreland park at 11:00am tomorrow but we may go to the island later, so any late arrivals will need to call me to ask where we are.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by HBWW » Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:21 pm

Saturday's Game Plan: We will be at Westmoreland Park (Bethesda, MD; Google it), and will move to Sycamore Island (again, in Bethesda, MD). We'll keep this thread updated on when we move to Sycamore Island, if we do.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by CDMT » Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:26 pm

I plan to attend on Sunday. I would prefer Saturday but unfortunately won't be able to make it on Saturday. I will be bringing an Outlaw and Colossus 2.

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Drenchenator » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:34 am

Ben and I are at Westmoreland Park. Has anyone else left, or are we at the wrong park?
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by SEAL » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:50 am

We're still at Scott's house. I think it will be a while. We were fighting until almost 3:00 last night.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Drenchenator » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:58 am

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately Ben and I want to avoid any bad weather and traffic, so we'll have to leave now. We'll try to come back tomorrow, though.

Have fun!
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by scottthewaterwarrior » Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:50 pm

Sunday is off, most people have to leave then and it is going to be in the 90's anyway. It was mid 80's today and we only got in 3 rounds, so even if people weren't leaving it would just be too hot. We did some 2v2 at the island yesterday, and it was quite fun, but the rope swing broke while I was on it and I sliced up my hand. Later we went to Radnor School and had some awesome night battles, I finished the free for all round with a 14-1 K/D ratio! We are going back to the school tonight in about an hour.

Again, Sunday is being called off, so don't show up, we wont be there!
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Van: "What happened?" SEAL: "Scott Happened"
Alex: "But the stream is cold." Me: "It's fine, my feet really hurt, now they're numb!"

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Cochise » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:41 am

Sounds like some serious fun with the night battling, but also sounds like seriously unplanned with some communication issues... if I would have driven the entire way I would have wanted to fight more than that and link up with everyone (CDMT, Ben, & Drenchenator.) Kind of glad I didn't go now. I hope Pandemonium is a little more organized. If I get my parents off my back I don't want to drive 6 hours or however far just for 3 rounds of fighting. Not to be a debbie downer...

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by Snoop Doggy Doge » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:55 am

I think we were all tired from the nightwars, we fought a lot at night but the day just got too hot and humid. Either way it was really fun, 10/10 would rate again,

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by marauder » Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:58 pm

I'm not in a position to comment on the quality of the war (sounds like a lot of fun) cuz I couldn't make it, but I have 2 thoughts.

First, the host has the right to cancel whenever due to reasons they deem important, 'cuz after all, it's their war. However, this doesn't mean other people can't get together on their own, which would be a good idea if other people want to still fight.

Second, it is best to try to include as many people as possible and to have things run as smoothly as possible. This is obvious on the surface, but the nuances of carrying this out are often complex. For example, I completely failed at MOAB in not setting left and right limits of the battlefield and I didn't tell my dad exactly where we were going to be so Andrew could find us. I should have had us dropped off a little closer to hwy 70 and away from the houses and then told everyone not to go near the yards, told dad to drop anyone off closer to the hwy and left a little sign on where to meet us, and then I should have confirmed with Andrew when and where to meet up.

It sounds like there was some miscommunication with people about when and where to meet up. That happens a lot in water wars, but the more you have the less it should happen. I hope Ben and Andrew and everyone else got to meet up with everyone at the war. If not, perhaps they aren't that upset. I know that I would be. I understand that everyone fought late, but I think you also have a responsibility to your guests and friends to include as many people as possible and not leave people out. Yeah, you may have had a 10/10 time, but if 3 people had a 0/0 time then is everyone left happy? Please don't think I'm critisizing. I actually want to take a much more positive tone than Cochise, and I think it sounds like it was awesome, but I will say that if I had been coming on Saturday only and I missed everyone and missed the fighting I would have been pissed.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by DavidTheDankEngine » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:51 pm

Hey Scott. Thank you so much for hosting this war. It was an awesome experience, and I'm glad that the first big community war I've been to was so much fun! It was great meeting you and the rest of the water war community. Also, thank you Brandon and Rob for driving me there, I would not have been able to partake in this epic war without you guys.

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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by DX » Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:19 am

It sounds like there was some miscommunication with people about when and where to meet up
There wasn't really any communication until it was way too late. To be blunt, the Trettels tend to just show up with little advance notice, or they text us for the first time when they are already at a park. Scott didn't have their numbers, I had both, but I thought the date and time they were coming was settled. The night rounds ended up going very late, around 3 AM, and we went to bed around 5 AM, so the morning start was very delayed. I wasn't even awake when Andrew texted me (took over 2 hours to wake up from extreme low calorie intake), and they'd already left by the time I responded. This is the kind of change in plans that makes texting just-in-time not the greatest idea. We had to make a lot of changes to the war as time went on - the late night rounds, the high heat/humidity, late night rounds again, everyone leaving Sunday, etc.

I tried to connect with Nick, but he was still at work and we didn't take either of the Baltimore routes. Going up and back on Sat might have worked, but with his other plans, the traffic, and the thunderstorms, who knows if that would have been feasible.

We need to do a better job collectively exchanging contact info before a war and making sure everyone is on the same page well before they arrive. CDMT Pmed me his contact info, but I didn't get the wifi working until Saturday, my phone was left charging Fri night, and so I never even saw it. I generally help organize things at community wars whether hosting or not, but due to the circumstances from last week, I was barely functional this whole war. I mean like I lost 8 lbs in 9 days, just weighed in at 115 / critical. There was just no way of helping coordinate and move things along when I could barely move myself along.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by marauder » Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:00 am

Those night battles must have been some of the best ever. Was it that you had an awesome battlefield or what made it so engaging? I think that's something to look at in depth for some of the next wars. I've considered hosting a war next year, but I'm wondering if urban battlefields aren't better for night fighting than forest types. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.

It sounds like having more veterans there from square one would have helped, and exchanging phone numbers before hand is a must. By more veterans, I mean more people who have cars and know other people on the forum who could go pick them up. I had an interview last week, and I have another interview tomorrow at 4, so please pray that I can get a good job. Then I can make it to the next war haha.
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Re: [Bethesda, MD] Soakemore 2015 - June 19-22

Post by SEAL » Mon Jun 22, 2015 4:14 pm

I would have been annoyed too if I showed up only to miss everyone. Though if I were Drenchenator I would have just driven over to Scott's house. That's what I assumed he would do after I posted that. I knew ahead of time that this war would be way more focused on night fighting, but I don't think that was made very clear in this topic. A lot of people on this board (and elsewhere too) seem to do things way last-minute, which is not a good trait to have if you're organizing or attending an event. I don't know what else to say other than...well try not to do that. Attendees should give the host their contact info, as well as when they plan to get there. This should be done at least several days in advance.

Nick told me that he has a car now, so there would have been no need to pick him up.

But the night battles were probably the best casual rounds I have ever played in my life. There were more ambushes there than in like every other war combined. I think places like this are the only places where we should do casual fighting. When I say "casual", I mean shorter, close-range battles that focus more on fighting than tactics and strategy. Fighting like this in most forests isn't much fun, unless maybe there's a lot of underbrush and places to hide. I almost don't want to fight in the woods anymore unless it's a multiple hour long-distance war.

So on Friday night/Saturday morning we did 4v3 1HS, 2v2v2 1HS, FFA 1HS, and two Soak 'n' Destroy rounds where one team had to defend these three bottles from being knocked over. The last two were pretty interesting; like a slightly easier version of single-sided CTF. Attacking was fun, but I think overall I liked the 1HS rounds better. FFA was actually quite fun, as I predicted it would be. It wasn't much different from the team 1HS rounds, 'cause people would end up separated anyway. I found a great ambush spot and hit like five people from it. I never did much straight-up fighting there; sneaking around is so much more fun.

The only daytime fighting I did was Saturday afternoon; chaos 1HS and two 3-life HTL games, both at Westmoreland park. I didn't like chaos very much 'cause the fighting all pretty much happened on the trail. I got a Python 2, which I suddenly believe to be overrated. The stream is slow and weak, and once it runs low it starts misting out. It does have range, but I'd take a separate PC any day of the week. The Equalizer/Outlaw is the same way, but at least it's more powerful, if not as ergonomic. The first HTL game where I was on offense was my favorite daytime round. We attacked a hill that was covered in underbrush. I snuck through it and ambushed people. I took three shots that round, all of which were killing shots, haha. I don't think I've ever done that before, except maybe in a 1HK duel or something. Defending was alright until my 2000 started pump shooting (FML). Though I actually did manage to make one or two hits by using it as a piston gun when the attackers rushed.

We fought more on Saturday night/Sunday morning: 3v4 1HS, two VIP Escort rounds, vets vs. noobs+Scott 1HS, and 1-CTF. VIP was interesting in that the VIP had to follow a specific route, making sure to flip over these water cooler bottles on the way, like checkpoints. The escorts could go wherever, but naturally they all stayed with the VIP, who was Duxburian both times. I had the perfect plan for ambushing the VIP, which involved hiding under the boardwalk near a checkpoint, but then at the last minute Scott ran over and said we couldn't do that. Dammit! Haha. So in the last few minutes before the battle started, I managed to hatch another plan where I'd hide in the darkness outside the complex and rush in for the kill while my team distracted. It worked flawlessly, and was probably my personal favorite moment from the war. It was over very fast.

When my team escorted, it took longer and we got slightly farther, though we flipped the same amount of checkpoints. We never got ambushed, but Scott called a hit on me that I wasn't sure of (only felt a couple drops), which I took anyway, leaving the rear open to attack. Maybe I should have gone with the "when in doubt, don't call it" ideal. On that topic, the vets vs. noobs+Scott (where all the vets including Scott got light weapons) round saw a lot of disputed kills. Water warfare is the greatest and all, but that does get annoying. I really hate stopping the action just for a minute of arguing. I don't really know what to do about it either. But overall the battle was still fun, and fairly even. The 1-flag game was probably the least fun though; there was a lot of shooting, but I pretty much stayed in the same place the whole time on defense. It took so long that we didn't bother switching sides or anything.

On the topic of offense/defense games, why is it always "see which team can hold out the longest"? In my original HTL rules, either the offense won or the defense won. That was it. Side switching would've been more so that each team gets a chance to play each role. What I'm getting at is, these battles need time limits. It's totally okay if the defense wins, as long as the fighting is good.

Overall I definitely had a good time and would like to thank Scott for hosting another year. But right now I'm wondering if there isn't a better way to do wars. Lots of time is wasted in the mornings and often throughout the day. I don't really mind so much for this war, because I knew it was going to be mostly about the night fighting (which we did do a good amount of), but for other wars, I feel like we should change something. My personal opinion is that we should just do one day of fighting, but make the whole day one or two long rounds. This not only gives more fighting time during the day, but people are fresh for it. Whenever we do a weekend-long event, by the end of the first day, people are usually dead, and don't wake up until halfway into the next day. And me, though I can get up and go whenever, I always feel terrible every war from the time I wake up Saturday morning to the end. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I'm usually quite animated and talkative the first night, then the rest of the time I tend to sit around like a zombie, staring into space. This is because I never get enough sleep at wars. This time I did sleep well...but that was because I stayed up until like 4, so I ended up getting the same amount of sleep anyway. I never have any energy, and that probably doesn't help my combat performance either.

So having wars on one day solves this problem, and having one or two long rounds would give us about the same amount of playing time as like ten short rounds spread out over the weekend. I guess what I'm getting at is that I'd like to see Ridgewood-type wars, where we have rival teams and each war is just one battle. I definitely like the type of fighting we did this weekend, but it'd be great if we could have more serious wars as well. Mostly we've been kinda compromising. Don't know how feasible single-round wars are, but I think they would definitely keep me into the sport.

But that's enough of that. Here are a couple pictures I took:

Staging area at the portable labyrinth.
Image

Group photo that somehow got screwed up, but still undeniably has an artistic quality to it.
Image

Setting up boxes for the chaos round.
Image

Most of the stuff is on video. I imagine we have more than enough footage to make the best promotional video ever.
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