Soakemore 2016

[marauder]

Thanks for getting the schedule up Scott.

What are our limits on light guns? I have a Gorgon, Blazer, PPB, Gargantua, 600, and a 310. I also have 2 Aquapack Devastators I'm trying to fix.

Also, if there are any medium only rounds I petition to be able to use my MXL since it only shoots 39 feet.... or maybe that could be considered a "light" arm

[SSCBen]

How are you planning on getting here then? I could come get you and you could sleep here if it meant being able to battle with us Friday and Saturday nights. My dad just sold our SAAB a few weeks ago, or else I'd offer to teach you to drive stick too!

And it is fine if you post about this other places, I would do that myself, if I thought any of my places could get decent participants.

My father could drive me. Thanks for the offer to pick me up, though. I might need the extra time for a homemade water gun to be finished, so I think leaving Saturday morning would be best. My McMaster-Carr order should come in today, so hopefully I'll be able to hammer out the gun then.

I'll post this to r/Nerf and see if we get anyone.

[DX]

Sam and I were discussing actually bringing homemades. I think he has an APH, I can whip together a light APH, and we have water cannons or launchers.

For night rounds, we'll want to use guns that hold a lot of water, or don't go through their water supply quickly. I'll probably just use a 1200 for those, as it only *needs* to be half full to get through a round.

I still need to get back on Monday night before 9, but that's better than originally 6. I want to play on Sunday in some way, and on Sun night, but not late into the night.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Marauder:
To reply to your comment about light guns: I don't know what a PPB is, I might be willing to let the Gorgon and Blazer might pass as light guns if only the smaller nozzles are used, but the 600 and 310 are light guns for sure. I'd probably class the Monster XL as a medium too, it is really big, but it isn't that powerful, and if anything its large size would put you at a disadvantage. Maybe we could do a weird blaster round Sunday, not sure we would have enough weird guns, but it would give me an excuse to use my A.R.M. 4000 XL.

Duxburian:
Make sure to bring the missing parts for that Colossus you give me. I haven't had time to work on it yet, but even if I don't get around to it until Friday, it wont take long, and it will mean one more light gun for Saturday. I've got a lot of half dismantled guns that I am going to try and fix in the next few days.

Oh yeah and does anyone know how to get the pump cap and nozzle cover off a CPS 2100? I'm guessing it is the usual "just pry it with a screwdriver," but I figured I'd ask in case there is an easier way. The Colossus, Max-D 6000, and Lightnings are first in line as I know what is wrong and how to fix them, but they are all light guns and having another medium would be great.

I think I am going to add medium gun to the "what to bring" section, as Duxburian is right in that we want guns that will last a while, and CPS 2000/2500 do not fit in that category very well. Though if the weather keeps up and it is raining, we might be able to leave the top off the coolers and get more water that way.

[SSCBen]

Scott, I just posted the thread to Reddit. I also added a link to directions to Sycamore Island in the first post, for your information. Please edit that as you see fit. I added it because others might not be aware of how to get there.

[SEAL]

I definitely recommend learning how to drive a stick shift. That way if you're in an emergency situation, you won't be like "I can't get you to the hospital because I can't drive a manual." Also, once you get the hang of it, it's fun! I don't even like driving automatics anymore.

Back on topic, I guess I'll offer some feedback on the schedule:

Friday night looks good, but what on earth is a "Blob Round"?

Saturday looks pretty good too, although as Scott mentioned, it's supposed to rain then so we should take that into account. If it's pouring, small guns don't work that well. I'm interested in trying the 1HS+CTF thing, but do we have enough flags? Or are points for flags determined at the end, kind of like CTF at Hydropocalypse? Also, an hour and a half isn't what I would call "long" 1HS. :p I kinda doubt that we'll have time to play all these rounds, but it is a good idea to list more just in case something goes wrong and/or one of them turns out to be a flop. We don't have to play them in order either.

For Saturday night, I'm not that keen on noobs vs. vets because the outcome is pretty much always the same. Skill beats weaponry every time. But I'll still do it if everyone else wants to. I'm not interested in destroy the objective rounds either, but I suppose we could do some if we exhaust all the other games. As for zombies, making the zombies have to switch to light guns might be a bit clunky. We could just play where the zombies have the same kinds of weapons as the humans.

For Sunday, it depends on where we're going and when everyone wakes up. I suppose we could do some of the rounds that we missed on Saturday. That said, how many people will be there on Sunday? By the sounds of things, we'll be down quite a few heads. It might be better to do something else during the day, and only fight at night. I do want to fight Sunday night, but only stay there about as long as Friday night because I don't want to be too tired for the drive home. At that point we'd probably just be doing 1HS or 1HK or something if most people will have left by then. We don't necessarily need fancy rounds at the Labyrinth because even standard games never get old there.

For weaponry, PPB is Pool Pumper Blaster. You know, the only blaster in existence with 4 PCs. It's meant to be used in a pool, and doesn't have a reservoir; just a dip tube (although marauder's is backpack modded). I don't know if it would count as a light weapon because I've never seen one. Maybe we need to do a spot check. The Gorgon is definitely medium, but I never considered using only small nozzles, so I guess it could be light as well. We'd have to decide which nozzles are legal. I actually really like the idea of putting the MXL in medium. If anything it'll make those rounds more interesting and not a sea of 1000s/1200s/2100s. And certainly nobody is going to use one in anything goes. I wonder if we should also include the other two Monsters (and the 4100)?

If we're possibly having guests from Nerf forums show up, then we definitely need to make sure we get to the war site exactly when we say we will. Definitely do not want to miss anyone this year, especially potential new players.

[marauder]

What is our rain plan? Do the battlefields have much tree canopy or are they out in the open? If the rain is like MOAB level then I am cool with it. 55 is a lot better than 45. If it's going to downpour ugh, well let's just hope that doesn't happen.

I really want to try out my MXL vs other "medium guns." 2000 for anything goes, and I'll probably use a 600 for light action if I have to use small nozzles on the other guns. That leaves a 310, Blazer, and Gargantua left to loan out; plus maybe the Gorgon and PPB.

[SSCBen]

You're right marauder, the weather forecast is not good. I think the tree cover will make the war acceptable on the island. I don't know about anywhere else.

[DX]

Rain at the Labyrinth doesn't matter since almost every boardwalk is covered. Sycamore Island has lots of large trees (I'm assuming they are sycamore trees?) and we could retreat inside the clubhouse to wait out a downpour.

Rounds at the Labyrinth need to be kept simple, with minimal switching of gear and minimal setup. The more people we have, the harder it is to keep a low profile. I'm not keen on the idea of zombies, for the gun switching, and I'm not keen on freeze tag. It's not a good venue for freeze tag, seeing as how it's already tough to find people. An individual player frozen in the dark in some grassy area in between walkways is unlikely to get unfrozen. Defend the VIP should work, as long as players must respawn at their VIP, so they can't just go off and hide. FFA OHS would also work best at the end of the night, as the final round, and go until everyone is empty. FFA is one of the rounds where you don't need full tanks. I also think that we should move the staging area to the back of the Labyrinth this time, instead of having it in that usual wing, and let's park on the street if possible.

[SEAL]

Last I checked it was going to be about an inch and an eighth of rain. I'm not that good with inches of rain so I don't know if that's considered a lot. Either way, I'm fine as long as it's not thundering and pouring stupidly hard. I'd almost rather have rain than the obnoxious heat/humidity of last year.

I agree that the Labyrinth rounds should be on the simple side. In fact, if it were up to me, I'd just play 1HS non-stop there (maybe we can do that one of the nights). But I could see where others would want to try different things. I think Freeze-Tag would work if teams stuck together, but I know that people do end up separated in there. I wouldn't mind playing it, but I don't care if we skip it either.

The one thing I'll say that I forgot to mention, is that fewer, longer rounds are better than more, shorter rounds in terms of fighting time. We should take that into consideration.

[SSCBen]

Over an inch is a lot.

If anyone wants to reschedule, that'd be okay with me. I'd be disappointed if marauder had to miss it, though. Would changing the main war date to Sunday work for anyone?

[marauder]

We might be able to do Sun instead of Sat if that's better, but wouldn't people have to leave earlier? The weather will be much better sunday, but will we have the playing time?

FWIW Tiffany is coming too and she wants to do Sat. She has to get up for work at 4am on Mon. I get up at 6ish, but i am happy to sacrifice myself for the war.

[DX]

It's looking increasingly likely that I'll need to leave on Sunday with Van, David, and Danny.

[SSCBen]

I'll leave around dinner time either day, most likely. I think from 10 am to 5 pm or so would be a good war.

[SEAL]

Sunday would work for me, but other people aren't going to be able to get up early enough to have much of a war, especially if we go long on Saturday night, which I would like to do. And it also seems that not many people are even able to stay then. That sucks; Saturday has the most people, but Sunday has the best weather. However after checking again, it seems that most of the rain will be in the morning to about noon, so maybe the afternoon will be more favorable for fighting.

I will be bringing Chief, but AMBUSH has work so he's staying behind.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Scott, I just posted the thread to Reddit. I also added a link to direction to Sycamore Island in the first post, for your information. Please edit that as you see fit. I added it because others might not be aware of how to get there.

Don't have a reddit, but the best directions I can give would be to park in the lot across from 7025 Macarthur Blvd NW, Bethesda, MD 20816, and then follow the trail to the right of the lot. Take the bridge across the parkway, keep going down across the canal bridge, and ring the bell for the ferry about 50 feet after you go down the stairs. The overflow lot is on Clara Barton parkway, but given the weather, I doubt there will be a problem with parking.

Friday night looks good, but what on earth is a "Blob Round"?

Saturday looks pretty good too, although as Scott mentioned, it's supposed to rain then so we should take that into account. If it's pouring, small guns don't work that well. I'm interested in trying the 1HS+CTF thing, but do we have enough flags? Or are points for flags determined at the end, kind of like CTF at Hydropocalypse? Also, an hour and a half isn't what I would call "long" 1HS. :p I kinda doubt that we'll have time to play all these rounds, but it is a good idea to list more just in case something goes wrong and/or one of them turns out to be a flop. We don't have to play them in order either.

For Saturday night, I'm not that keen on noobs vs. vets because the outcome is pretty much always the same. Skill beats weaponry every time. But I'll still do it if everyone else wants to. I'm not interested in destroy the objective rounds either, but I suppose we could do some if we exhaust all the other games. As for zombies, making the zombies have to switch to light guns might be a bit clunky. We could just play where the zombies have the same kinds of weapons as the humans.

Blob Round, if I am remembering the name right, is a game type I did in Nerf. It is very similar to the team switching game we've played in the past, except it starts out as a free for all so you often end up with more then two teams.

As for the noobs vs. vets round, I know we will get wrecked, I just want to do it for the lols. My current plan is to have it directly after the noobs and vets round, it will be limited to 10 minutes, or until we surrender. I'm not about to devote set up time to a joke round, so it will be with the same guns as noobs and vets with no refill break in between. If enough people need to refill, we will just skip it.

I rather liked the destroy the objective rounds, though I have moved it closer to the end of the playlist in case we run out of time. I've also added a Blob Round to Saturday night right after FFA OHS, as they work really well back to back. I know there has been a lot of talk about doing very long or even all day OHS, but in my experience long rounds are best when there is lots of maneuver warfare, something the island isn't that great for. I have lengthened the long OHS round to two hours though. After all, we can always cut it short if it stagnates, but adding extra time once the round "ends" often leads to confusion.


I know the weather forecast isn't great, but unfortunately given that I had to reserve the island a month in advance, it would not be possible to reschedule it to Sunday. The island has plenty of trees, and we can retreat to the clubhouse if it gets too bad. Thunderstorms would obviously be a problem, as it would be unsafe to run the ferry, but otherwise, the rain should only be a problem for the naval war. Given the amount of ran we have been getting lately, the river will likely be running too fast to make the naval war viable anyway, not to even talk about how muddy the shoreline probably is.
Even if we did reschedule for Sunday, we would be rather stuck for battlefields. Carderock has gotten pretty boring, and while Blockhouse Point looks like it has potential, with all the rain, I haven't had time to explore it more and now I am trying to get the house cleaned up so people have somewhere to sleep!

Marauder:
So are you and your nephews planning on sleeping here? Can't remember if you brought up your plans in the past, but I'm trying to figure out how much space I need to clear out.

[marauder]

Tiffany and I will be driving up early Sat morning and driving back late Sat night. Danny will be coming with Rob and will need a place to stay. Right now we have 15 confirmed combatants, with up to 17 possible. We need to start thinking of teams for each round. While we could do this on the fly I think it would be good to pencil stuff in right now because things get chaotic with that many people. If we have a clear schedule we can maximize playing time and avoid confusion.

Here's Scott's proposed rounds for Sat, with my team recommendations. I also think that we won't be able to fit all these rounds in and so I've proposed cutting some rounds which we can add in later in the day if we have time.

---Saturday:
*9:00am --- everyone must get up
*10:00am --- Go to Sycamore island

I'd like to start earlier, but I'm being realistic here.

*OHK Island opener 10:30 to 11:15?
A) (7) Marauder, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Danny, James, Gordan vs (8) Duxburian, Scott, Ben, CA99, Van, David, Kit, Mac
or
B) (7) Marauder, Chief, Ben, Tiff, Duxburian, Danny, Van vs (8) Scott, SEAL, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
C) (7) Marauder, Scott, SEAL, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben vs (8) Duxburian, Chief, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
D) (8) Marauder, Scott, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, James vs (7) Duxburian, Chief, SEAL, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
E) (8) Marauder, SEAL, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, David vs (7) Duxburian, Scott, Van, Ben, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
F) (6) Marauder, Duxburian, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Ben vs (9) Scott, CA99, Van, David, Danny, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James

*Unbalanced OHS round 11:30 to Noon?
(7) Duxburian, Marauder, Tiffany, SEAL, Ben, CA99, Chief vs (8) Scott, Chupacabra, Chives, Snoop, James, Gordan, Kit, Marc

*Multi flag OHS, flags worth 4 points, hits worth 1. 12:15 to 12:45?
A) (7) Marauder, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Danny, James, Gordan vs (8) Duxburian, Scott, Ben, CA99, Van, David, Kit, Mac
or
B) (7) Marauder, Chief, Ben, Tiff, Duxburian, Danny, Van vs (8) Scott, SEAL, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
C) (7) Marauder, Scott, SEAL, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben vs (8) Duxburian, Chief, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
D) (8) Marauder, Scott, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, James vs (7) Duxburian, Chief, SEAL, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
E) (8) Marauder, SEAL, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, David vs (7) Duxburian, Scott, Van, Ben, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
F) (6) Marauder, Duxburian, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Ben vs (9) Scott, CA99, Van, David, Danny, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James

---Lunch 12:45 to 1:45

*Long OHS (2 hours) 2 to 4
A) (7) Marauder, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Danny, James, Gordan vs (8) Duxburian, Scott, Ben, CA99, Van, David, Kit, Mac
or
B) (7) Marauder, Chief, Ben, Tiff, Duxburian, Danny, Van vs (8) Scott, SEAL, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
C) (7) Marauder, Scott, SEAL, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben vs (8) Duxburian, Chief, CA99, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James
or
D) (8) Marauder, Scott, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, James vs (7) Duxburian, Chief, SEAL, David, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
E) (8) Marauder, SEAL, CA99, Tiff, Danny, Van, Ben, David vs (7) Duxburian, Scott, Van, Ben, Kit, Mac, Gordan
or
F) (6) Marauder, Duxburian, SEAL, Chief, Tiff, Ben vs (9) Scott, CA99, Van, David, Danny, Kit, Mac, Gordan, James

There is no way we will fit in CTF Beach Landing, Two Team VIP, Second Unabalanced OHS, and 3 team OHK before 5. Assuming a 4:15 kick off for the next round after Long OHS that gives us only 45 minutes to do 4 rounds.

Because of the weather and time to set up I recommend canceling CTF Beach Landing. Since we already played unbalanced OHS I propose canceling that. Which leaves...

VIP round 1 4:15 to 4:40 (25 min round)
VIP Round 2 4:40 to 5:05

*3 team OHK (light guns) 5:15 until one team wins
My team - Marauder, Duxburian, Tiff (because that's really just 2 people)

vs everyone else make your own teams

*Dinner whenever that is over. Sun does not set until 8:25 PM in DC on the 28th.

*8:30pm --- Go to the labyrinth

We may want to make changes here as well, or we should at least set teams; but let's take care of the day rounds first.

[SEAL]

So the forecast got revised; now it only says about half an inch of rain Saturday, which I guess is an improvement. However it now says there's a chance of a thunderstorm Sunday evening. Like what the hell? Where did that come from? Saturday night seems to have a very low chance of rain though, which is good because we'll be doing lots of fighting then.

I actually like the Blob round idea much better than the version where you start with teams. That could be crazy with high numbers. Not a big fan of the name though, I like Brainwash better, haha.

As for the noobs vs. vets round, I know we will get wrecked, I just want to do it for the lols. My current plan is to have it directly after the noobs and vets round

Wait, what? :p Oh, you have two rounds listed. If you think you'll get destroyed, then it'll be an even bigger massacre in the first round when you're with the vets. If we do this at all, I'd just do the Scott and noobs vs. vets thing.

I agree with marauder that we shouldn't run the naval war. Also, if the VIP is two-sided, why are there two separate rounds? It's not like you need to take turns or anything. Instead of two 25-minute rounds, make it one hour-long round. Again, longer rounds, not more rounds.

I'd like to start earlier, but I'm being realistic here.

I don't think you're being realistic enough. :p I can't remember the earliest we've gotten to the island in the past, but I think it was like 11? Are you meeting us there, or at Scott's house? Everyone should post their plans. I'm planning to arrive at Scott's Friday between 4 and 5 depending on traffic.

I don't care about teams that much, but from what you listed, my preferences would be:

1HK:
A

Unbalanced 1HS:
Wait, isn't one team supposed to be way outnumbered? Or are we unbalancing this based on weapons?

1HS + CTF:
D

1HS:
F

3-Team 1HK:
My team will be me (SEAL), Chief, and Scott. Bringing back dat SEALs team glory.

For the night rounds, I'm not even sure who's sticking around for them. Maybe we can figure out teams over dinner.

I'm pretty excited for this. Even if the weather's bad, we'll hopefully have record numbers and epic night wars. Knock on wood that nobody bails out!

[marauder]

Also, if the VIP is two-sided, why are there two separate rounds? It's not like you need to take turns or anything. Instead of two 25-minute rounds, make it one hour-long round. Again, longer rounds, not more rounds.

I guess I misunderstood 2 sided VIP? Does that mean that each team is escorting their VIP to the other team's base or whatever at the same time? If so, then I get what you're saying, we only need one round.

Everyone else get in your thoughts and team recommendations. Check out the ones I put up in the previous post.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

There seams to be some confusion on the noobs and vets round, it is not the same thing as noobs vs vets. Noobs and vets will have two teams each with an equal number of noobs and vets, only the vets will have less good weaponry. Having only noobs on one team and vets on the other would be a slaughter, which is why I am just doing that as a joke to use up what little water we have left in the guns after noobs and vets.

With two sided VIP, the goal is to eliminate the other teams players, only you can't do that until you kill the VIP as the other players can spawn off of him. So you want to kill the enemy VIP, while protecting your own. Might still be a good idea to give the other players limited lives, as otherwise if both teams kept their VIPs way back, the game could go on for quite a while. Hey maybe we could make it a medium only round, except the VIPs who get 2000s, might make for some interesting risk management.

The current schedule is really more of a playlist, with the rounds we most want to play at the top. There are almost certainly more rounds then we have time for, but I no longer like putting exact times as set up between rounds almost always takes longer then expected. We could potentially start the island stuff earlier, but it would mean sacrificing night wars Friday so we could get to bed earlier.

I've just done the calculations for sleeping arrangements, counting myself, we will have at most 11 people for Saturday night. There should be enough physical space for that many, though if anyone has extra space in the car, it might be a good idea to bring some bedding material.

Only one day now!