Downpour 2013 - Official War Planning Thread

[SEAL]

I generally call 1000s/1200s/2100s small CPS blasters. Medium CPS would be like 1500s, 2000s, 2500s, etc. Large CPS is 3000s, 3200s, Monster XLs, etc. Not sure where to put the 2700, because it's not that big, but it holds a lot of water. Not that it really matters, because we don't do large CPS or medium CPS only (because the mediums are all more powerful than the large ones, haha). However the small CPS class is also called "medium primaries", because while they're small for CPS blasters (and by that I mean blasters in the CPS line), they are quite a bit bigger than most other blasters. I just stick to "small CPS" though.

At this point I will probably just go with XP-only and small CPS-only (the former because we've never tried it before, and the latter because those games are fun). Everyone should try to bring spare guns for loaners though, as I am hopeful that I can get several guests for this war. I will update the schedule whenever I get a date so I can find out if we can stay at Dug Hill or not. As for the future... I have no idea. Perhaps we should start a "Future of Community Wars" thread. I'd rather keep all discussion in this thread about the war.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

XP only may be a problem if I end up bringing any guests. I only have 5 or 6 XP guns 3 of which work and only the XP 150 is any good. I will have to see though since there are a bunch of XP guns at my Uncles farm that a plan to bring home next time I'm up there. The problem is that I don't know how many of them actually work or if the ones that do are good.

As far as specailty rounds go I really want to try BBT only again. I was planing on doing it at Soakemore but other then CA99 most people didn't bring any. We don't have to do it at Downpour but next Soakemore I am going to have one.

I usually count the CPS 1000, 1200, 2100s, Vindicator, and Vanquisher as small CPS. Anything smaller (Flash Flood, Hydrocannon) is tiny CPS. Large CPS I usually think of as 2000, 2500, 2700, Monster X. Guns like the Monster XL/CPS 3200 I count as huge CPS or backpack CPS guns. If anything, Medium CPS would be the 1000/2100, but so few CPS guns fall below that I usually just call them small CPS as anything smaller really doesn't deserve to be called CPS.

[HBWW]

If I make Downpour and we do agree on having the XP-only round, I have no choice but to dual 270's against 150s or even 275s unless I borrow from someone. Not ideal IMO; XP's are not that common amongst those who haven't been around that long and/or who favored Max-D's, Hasbro's best of 2004-2008, BBT's, etc. over XP's to fill up the smaller ends of their arsenal. I literally do not have any other XP blasters other than those two 270's.

I think we're better off manually approving a collection of blasters for an official community "light blasters only" round. I will post more details as well as propose example lists in another thread.

[SEAL]

Well I only have four BBT blasters (all of which are small PRs except for my Vanquisher), so I'd be in the same boat with BBT-only rounds as you would be in XP-only rounds (honestly, I wouldn't dual-wield 270s; I think you'd do better with just one). Am I the only one who didn't enjoy doing BBT-only rounds? It seems like everyone else liked doing them, but I didn't think they were that much fun, especially since we did them so much. Maybe it was just the nature of the particular rounds, but then again, I rather dislike using most BBT blasters. The only one so far that I liked using (aside from the Goblins, which are pistols) was the Colossus, and that was too weak.

But like I said in the other thread, I think the specialty rounds this time will be based on power. I just have to figure out which rounds, then I'll update. I also really need to start planning some of these rounds out, but I haven't had a chance to go to Dug Hill for a long time. Ugh... If anyone wants to pitch in ideas, now's the time to do it. I will NOT change plans at the last minute right before the round.

As for dates, at this point it looks like it'll either be on the 19th-21st or the 26th-28th. I just need to get a few more OKs from some people and we should be good to go.

Scott: The Hydro Cannon isn't that small; I would put it in the same category as the 1500/2500. Unless of course, you mean reservoir size...

[marauder]

The XP 270 isn't that bad. It's definitely not that disadvantaged against the 150 since the 150's biggest advantage is its high rate of fire and that's not a weakness of the 270. The great thing about XP only rounds is that there are so many choices that you could use that could all match each other fairly well: XP 310, XP 110, XP 270, XP 150, XP 95, XP 70, and I will even throw in the XP 250 and XXP 275 which have certain advantages over the previous group, but are also difficult to use. Heck, if you kept some extra water you could still do pretty well with a 75, 65, or 55 vs those guns if you had to. That's one thing that's cool about XP or BBT rounds, you have lots of options that are different bet somewhat close to equal each with its own little mini advantages and disadvantages.

[DX]

Alright, I checked and I can't make the 19th-21st. I can make the 26th-28th so far.

And what Seal said is why I have the confusing terms for the CPS 1000/1200/2100. They are small CPS, but I call them medium because they're used in medium primary rounds.

[marauder]

Really, if you wanted to open up the round even more you could include smaller CPS tech guns like the SC 600, SC 500, wwf guns, arctic blast, and maybe even the Vanquisher, Blazer, Orca, and Lightning. There should be no reason that everyone wouldn't have a gun then. I guess you would call that category small or light primaries.

[HBWW]

I too, refer to the 1000/1200/2100 as medium primaries, thus tend to call them "medium CPS".

Marauder, see the other thread: http://www.waterwar.net/site_wwn/board/topic6171.html

The idea is to try to get a listing/rules of accepted blasters for a general "light blasters only" game, a listing of blasters that's as inclusive as possible and avoids being dominated by a few blasters. Currently, our main rounds are CPS-dominated, with the SS 300 making an appearance to take on the CPS's once in a blue moon. Even the smaller CPS line blasters aren't well matched against the 2000, but they still work with some degree of skill disparity. (The 2000 takes more skill to use, but it takes even more skill to outtake it with a 1000/1200/2100.) However, the goal of the light blasters only list is to restrict these blasters to the point that almost any blaster is fair against the other. Max-D 3000's can take on XP 310's (if you consider just performance; capacity and shot time are a bit less important in 1H games than in soakfest), and even on some of the weaker HP's, but not on an Orca or Vindicator.

[SEAL]

Alright, then it looks like the 26th-28th will be the official dates. If necessary, I could change it to the 2nd weekend in August, but I'd rather avoid that date, because chief wouldn't be able to make it and I don't know how well it'd work out for me.

As for medium primary rounds, they just mean that you can't use anything more powerful than a 1000/1200/2100. You could use an Electrostorm if you wanted to. They just get dominated by 1000s/1200s/2100s because they are the power limit. Who wouldn't take the best legal weapons?

And I still would like to do at least one or two XP-only rounds, just because we've never done them before (we don't have to do them again). I'm pretty sure that we have enough XP blasters between all of us to lend out. If not we could just do standard light weapon rounds.

[HBWW]

A lot of great job opportunities have come up today, so I may be able to get one pretty soon. If this is the case, I may be able to make it via air again like I did for MOAB, in which case I will need a ride and a blaster. After some thought about it, I have nothing against using a 270 against a 150 in the XP rounds since the 150 isn't even able to push out more than 2-3x effectively anyway.

Weekend of the 26-28th should be perfect for me since I should have nothing going on. I'm assuming the job I have will be a typical M-F, morning to evening job with some overtime/weekends now and then.

Here is a possible schedule for me:
Friday evening (after I get off work; maybe I could get out early): Fly to wherever I'm supposed to in order to be picked up, have night wars.
Sunday evening/night (ideally not too late): Fly back home, sleep, get back to work Monday.

I'd like to keep it simple; one of you guys pick me up from/send me back to the airport, and I borrow blasters as available. I trust that things will be fair with borrowing like at MOAB, so no complaints here. (As much pride as I had in being able to use my own stuff, having to worry about so much at Soakemore kind of took away from things.) I will pack everything else that I need, including water balloons which I can give to others if needed.

If anyone needs me to bring parts, etc. for repairs, I may also be able to if they're small parts. Just send requests to me here or PM.

Scott, please bring my 32 GB flash drive! Thanks.

Remember though, my attendance is not official until I get that job and know my schedule for sure.

[SEAL]

Sounds good. I think the nearest airport is in Newburgh, but I'm not 100% sure; I'll have to find out. I can come pick you up, though if possible, it would be easier if someone like Scott, Drenchenator, or DX could do it, since Newburgh is on their way (and I'd have to go down there and back). Here's hoping you get a job. Even if you can't come though, the attendance list looks pretty promising so far. We should easily be able to top last year, and possibly the first year as well.

Later today I am going to see about getting the pavilion. If I can, we can stay at the park and should easily be able to cram in a bunch of extra rounds. The only thing is, I'm starting to run out of ideas! I would like to do a tent vs. tent battle at night if we camp there (it wouldn't really work at Wilson).

[marauder]

When my wife flew home from her sister's in Danbury, CT she actually flew out of Newburgh. It was a good bit cheaper than flying out of NYC or Hartford. The day I dropped her off at the airport I met up with SEAL, his bros, and DX. That airport was tiny, but I do remember that it didn't take SEAL very long to get pretty close to the airport to meet up with me. I would be surprised if it is as far away as RDU is from Clayton.

You seriously need to camp out at Dug Hill. That is a must. My goal is to make it next summer and bring my nephews, who should be a good 2 years older than they were last war.

[HBWW]

I see some changes to the schedule. So looks like we have three specialty rounds now: AP only, XP only, and weird/gimmicks only. I'll probably be borrowing for all three anyway to avoid going through that whole deal with the shipments again.

Best rates so far are at LaGaurdia which is where I'll likely be going. However, if the bridge tolls are prohibitive, let me know and I'll see what's around elsewhere. Newburgh is way too expensive though, costing at least $200 more. I will reimburse any tolls incurred (as well as gas) for making the trip to pick me up/send me back.

In addition, I don't have great options for the times for the return flight. I either have to leave in the afternoon on Sunday, or leave at 5 in the morning on Monday. Later flights in the evening are too expensive. This is, assuming, I have a job by then. After some thought from being extremely limited for hosting local wars, I've decided that I gotta go either way regardless of what happens.

I will not book the flight yet in the meantime. Fingers crossed that the rates don't go up by the time I do.

[the oncoming storm]

Off Topic

CA99 how did the Hydro Brawl 2013 opener go ?

[HBWW]

It didn't, since no one showed up. Although that's happened before so I'm less surprised this time. I'll be scaling down local wars in the meantime and only host after discussing and confirming with a small group of friends first. (Or hosting games situationally/impromptu, i.e. group of friends going to beach or up north, ask who wants to play.)

I don't care too much though, since community wars still go on and are better. HBWW never was, nor meant to be, more than a little thing done with friends, and it'll never be more than that anyways. Now with everyone being busy and/or loosing interest, I have to adapt my plans. I don't ever count on being able to get anyone else to be seriously interested in water warfare though, but I'm still trying to improve my wars.

[SEAL]

Actually, that schedule is a little outdated. I'm going to update it in a minute. The only specialty rounds will be light blasters (like we discussed in that other thread), XP-only, and weird guns (which I won't be too strict about, because the round isn't that serious; basically use guns that you wouldn't normally use).

CA99, does this mean you'll be coming? I don't know if I can pick you up at LaGaurdia or not; it's like 2.5 hours away, and it's near the city. Did you consider Albany? That's closer and a lot easier to drive to. Of course, if Scott or DX or whoever is going near NYC, they could pick you up and it would work out better. What time would you be arriving?

[HBWW]

Still too many uncertainties, so I can't book a flight yet. All I know now is that I'd arrive in the evening and leave NY on Sunday late afternoon/evening, or super early Monday morning.

[DX]

It would make more sense for me to pick you up, since the only closer person is Wetmonkey and I'm not sure if he's coming.

I would recommend choosing late evening for departure on Sunday rather than early Monday morning - NYC traffic coming in from the north on a Monday morning is not very fun. The city has very predictable traffic times, and is often clear (unlike DC ulgh), but when it's peak commute, it can be the worst everrrrrrrrrrrr. If you really want a Monday flight, you really want a departure time before 5 AM or after 11 AM.

[HBWW]

Can't go too late Sunday since prices go up from there. And unfortunately, my options are becoming more and more limited; some American flights got booked out or prices went up (same with Delta), so I may fly with Spirit instead.

However, I need a confirmed ride to the airport first, or I'll just pay $30 to keep my car parked there.

I will keep everyone posted on when I book the flight, but looks like it has to be soon.

[wetmonkey442]

Sorry I won't be able to make this war. I've gotten my ass handed to me by work and school recently, and I need a break! Although I was able to soak some of my students yesterday during our Field Day. I used the CPS 1200 that I pulled out of the trash a few months ago, and the kids were shocked. I don't think they had ever seen a water gun like that before.