South East Asian Regionals Report.

By Darth Ruin, in X-Wing

Posted at

To be fair, an opponent insisting on spending time on counting damage cards should be guilty of stalling and at least get extra time awarded for the match. Losing because your opponent wasted a bunch of time and you couldn't finish the match is not fun.

Tournament rules permit a player to validate their opponent's Damage deck as part of the prematch procedure.

Yeah, but those same rules clearly state that as being something generally done before the start of the round time. Without going into the rest of what the OP is speaking of, I have to be honest and say it sounds to me like someone was trying to eat up time here. Though it does leave me with some questions, the chief among this being did that same opponent do that to every other player? Did he do it in your first game? Did you have to explain the Ion thing to him in that first game?

No, I didn't have to explain in the first game which is what I found strange even though I ioned his large ship twice. I don't think he was consciously stalling (or was very good at hiding it) but I was pretty annoyed that he wasn't feeling any urgency to set up and get the game going.

What I should have done was mentioned this and asked for more time, but was too upset to do so at the time.

You should had insisted that if he wanted to do that after the clock started, that a judge should be the one counting cards to not lose any time, or give you extra time that it will take. To be honest, sometimes you need to be the one saying no, it doesn't matter if it is not ill intentioned on his part, but what is really fair.

Anyways, congrats on the good results, and i can feel you for that kind of anti climatic ending.

I did ask could he get someone else to do this, because time had started, but he was adamant.

I'm not so upset about losing per-se; If I wanted to WAAC I would have just accepted his offer if so. it's outflying the opponent

and losing due to timing/stalling that I'm upset about.

The OP has not given enough details to determine how much time there was for completing the prematch procedure. If little time was given, then his opponent has the right, at the start of the match, to validate the Damage deck in a timely manner.

The OP was under no obligation to explain how ion tokens worked. It was the Top 8 of Regionals Tournament, played using Premier Rules. His opponent should know the game's rules.

The OP could have called the TO and explained that his opponent's lack of understanding was not helping to progress the game at a reasonable pace.

'Fly Casual' does not apply to teaching your opponent the rules in the Top 8 of a Premier Rules level tournament.

I understand that Premiere Rules tournaments have different codes of conduct, but it's a small community and I knew he was a new player (in fact I gave him a few pointers during the week), If he was experienced or a regular opponent I wouldn't have given any such leeway.

Posted at

To be fair, an opponent insisting on spending time on counting damage cards should be guilty of stalling and at least get extra time awarded for the match. Losing because your opponent wasted a bunch of time and you couldn't finish the match is not fun.

Tournament rules permit a player to validate their opponent's Damage deck as part of the prematch procedure.

Yeah, but those same rules clearly state that as being something generally done before the start of the round time. Without going into the rest of what the OP is speaking of, I have to be honest and say it sounds to me like someone was trying to eat up time here. Though it does leave me with some questions, the chief among this being did that same opponent do that to every other player? Did he do it in your first game? Did you have to explain the Ion thing to him in that first game?

I played against him twice on that day(2nd round of swiss and finals). Both times we had a good match and I didn't notice any shenanigans from him. I was occupied with another game when the OP was flying against the new guy in the quarter finals so I didn't witness what went down between the two of them. Could be some sort of misunderstanding, I don't know.

I don't really have any complaints about his behaviour per-se; I guess I just need to vent.

At the same time, your semi final opponent wanted to sock him in the jaw during his swiss match against him

Really? I can't imagine LK wanting to sock anyone in the jaw!

When time is called at an event you are supposed to finish off the round. It's not hockey "stop time" but more like soccer "it will end when it's suppose to end time."

If you are not sure if you can finish the round, ask your T.O.

I know, but it was the following round which would have won it for me, not the current one. In fact the T.O allowed the other tables another round but by then we had cleared our ships.

At the same time, your semi final opponent wanted to sock him in the jaw during his swiss match against him

I wasn't aware of it. So what did he do exactly?

just being annoying in general. He's insisting on a lot of peculiar game rules and interactions, but does not understand the "whys" behind them. Also, him being a completely new player doesnt help when he is insisting that more experienced players bend over to follow his whims and demands

basically just the way he presents himself i suppose. I was very pissed too when he went "you may move your ship now". I flipped over my Shuttle's dial and snapped back "no I'm not moving", and the way he offered his slot to the OP I felt was carried out in an extremely insulting manner too

He was very particular about nudging ships and stuff but after I let his mistakes slide he became less picky.

I don't feel it was offered in an insulting manner, but I do feel the tournament certainly wasn't won by the best player.

The tournament environment encourages good sportmanship but permits a bit of psychology and meta-gaming.

If a veteran wants to pretend to be a new player and is a little bit of an arse to put his opponents on tilt, that's part and parcel of the experience.

If you have a problem with a player, you should report it to the tournamemt judge.

Edit: The take home lesson is that never assume a 'newb' is a genuine newb, and always play your best game. He's also probably a really nice guy when he's not trying to win.

He wasn't a veteran player. It's a small community and we taught him as he picked up the game two weeks ago. Even during the tournament he was making rookie mistakes. It was maybe because of this I let him do things I wouldn't have let veteran players do, but that was my own decision to make, as was taking the loss.

The issue I have here ultimately is that tournaments are meant to reflect the best in player skill, and the better pilots should have risen to the top.The finals should have been an exciting contest of skill instead a contest of who could roll the most hits and evades (apologies D) and ultimately the tournament wasn't won by skill, but luck and time-out. This was why all the spectators lost interest in the final quickly.

This is mainly the reason why I'm upset; the tournament went to the luckiest player, not the best pilot. Competitive X-wing should be about pilot skill, else we should just line up our ships in a line and roll dice until someone wins.

Posted at

You should have been more competitive. A big part of the skill involved is knowing the rules and not making simple mistakes, and when you let those mistakes slide you're mitigating the skill differential between you and your opponent. I frequently see people say "I want to play my opponent at his best." Well, that's not making your opponent any better, that's you playing his side of the board for him.

I don't want to be mean, but I'd have a hard time not telling you that you deserved what you got. Nice guys may not always finish last, but they certainly don't finish first.

Posted at

@Darth Ruin. You were not playing competitively. As I said, tournament means you always bring your best game. You say 'new player luck' but people were letting him change his dials? Not luck. He won through pyschology by conning everyone.

World cup is on. Imagine if 1 team let the other take back an own goal. Rhen complained that a noob won.

Edited by moppers
Posted at

You should have been more competitive. A big part of the skill involved is knowing the rules and not making simple mistakes, and when you let those mistakes slide you're mitigating the skill differential between you and your opponent. I frequently see people say "I want to play my opponent at his best." Well, that's not making your opponent any better, that's you playing his side of the board for him.

I don't want to be mean, but I'd have a hard time not telling you that you deserved what you got. Nice guys may not always finish last, but they certainly don't finish first.

Well, I'm not sure I deserved it, but I certainly chose not to progress by declining his offer :D

Posted at

This is LK and my 2 cents worth.

If anyone has an game related issue, they should have raised it at the point of contention, including any time wastage. There is a certain consensus that the top 8 games should not be timed, but do note that as the top 8 rounds began we were approaching midnight and the finals were completed just minutes before 2am, it is therefore not unreasonable for the TO to impose the time limit in that sense.

I doubt the eventual winner was exhibiting any ill playing practices and I would also like to clarify that I had no intention to sock him at any point during our game. Although Duraham had correctly pointed out that I was generally annoyed throughout. I had no idea he was new to the game either, until past the semifinals. What had triggered my outburst was the way he had presented himself. Small things like informing me that my ships are colliding and therefore no actions before I complete my move (I know my ships have collided and I will let u know. if I needed your input, I'd ask, thank you very much.) and being pinpoint anal on range measurements (i'll usually come to common consensus with my opponent on range, since a good half of the time, if you can hit me, i can hit back at the same range anyway and if it comes down to a millimeter difference, we'll just let the dice decide. But he had to insist on being right and getting me to move my blocking ship away to prove that millimeter difference to me)

The fact that it was the 6th round and the winner locks their top 8 spot did not ease the tension on the game, coupled by the fact that our die rolls were polar opposites, did little to help me. (2 direct hits on my firespray, really?)

That unfortunately, is my only gripe about him.

Posted at

and being pinpoint anal on range measurements (i'll usually come to common consensus with my opponent on range, since a good half of the time, if you can hit me, i can hit back at the same range anyway and if it comes down to a millimeter difference, we'll just let the dice decide. But he had to insist on being right and getting me to move my blocking ship away to prove that millimeter difference to me)

So your complaint here is that your opponent expected you to follow the rules? I don't see how you're being at all reasonable here.

Posted at

Sure, if we're flying on a grid, where it is clear cut. It is a situation where trying to put the range ruler in, could affect the outcome by merely nudging. Is it not unreasonable to make a die roll call in such a scenario?

Also, at no point i'm calling him on a playing offence. I said I was annoyed and what caused it. He won and that's fine by me, it's a dice game, we have our good days and our bad days. I did not imply I had superior piloting skills and had "deserved" to win the game.