Fellow and Future Vassal X-Wing Players!

I bring a reminder of a currently active system created for players to play semi-competitive matches on Vassal. That is, the Vassal ELO Ranking system, powered by challengeboards.net. I post this reminder, because I much prefer games that have some competitive meaning to them, especially when I'm running squads to gauge their competitiveness, and I have had a tough time finding anyone else willing to play a game and post the result to the ELO system. I am not able to attend World's this year, so I'd like to keep up some slightly competitive X-Wing in the off season.

Just follow the link to this Team Covenant article for more information on how to sign up and some simple etiquette things:

http://teamcovenant.com/stmack/2015/01/10/x-wing-vassal-elo-rankings-are-live/

Or go directly to the challenge board here and sign up:

http://www.challengeboards.net/boards/standings/2167

Heck, as I write this, I am waiting to find someone to play a game with me! So sign up if you're like me and enjoy having a more competitive feeling to a match, or get back to playing the games, you people who forgot you signed up!

Fly Competitive (Stay Casual).

-Phildo-

Good post Phildo and it has reminded me to do my part and get some more ELO games in!

An added bonus for those interested is the top 2 ranked ELO players who are not already in the Team Covenant Aces League are given a shot at sudden death elimanation for the next season!

Already this has earned Matt Shadowlord and Blair Bunke admission with Blair the current ladder leader and Matt in 4th place. It's a great way to play some of the world's best and improve your level of play.

Team Covenant Aces info:
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/185612-team-covenant-aces-league-season-two-round-one/?hl=%2Bteam+%2Bcovenant+%2Baces

I remain hopeful that Ricky changes his mind about using the ELO ladder for Aces advancement. It's been two months since the last game was reported, it's currently difficult to find ELO games and how well you did in Jan and Feb (when the majority of ELO games were played) doesn't really say much about how good you are in the current meta.

I totally forgot I signed up for that!

I know there was talk on reddit recently about another invite only competitive league similar to TC Aces... If we used the last couple reddit tournaments/TC Open as a barometer I think there are some really solid players. Off the top of my head: Anitgrapist, Phildo, Chilligan, ElCarlos (1_73), Danath or anyone who has made the top 4 in any of those tourneys...

There would need to be someone like Ricky who takes it on like a project (I'll be happy to make video commentary : )

Is that something people would be interested in? The ELO system I think would be better and more accurate if everyone played a certain number of games and it was consistent...

Thoughts?

@Tender FIddles the problem with running multiple invite only leagues with such a small online playerbase, the "eliteness" of playing in an invite only league is drastically reduced the more "exclusive" leagues there are.

The purpose for this is not to be elitist (maybe keep "aces" out of the name ; ) rather, to have something that is very competitive (and if everyone can register, that may not be the case). Vassal definitely has more then 12 players who fit that description.

If we used the the past 3 reddit/TC open tourney's top 4:

http://challonge.com/2015_TC_Spring_Open

http://challonge.com/r_cup_2

http://challonge.com/jq7qidig

It would include: Phildo, Murre, Danath, jointjoint/PaulD/Tender Fiddles, Blairbunke (who may not want to be apart of 2 leagues), Chilligan, Antigrapist, 1_73/ElCarlos

And the league could have several other people.

I'm like Phildo, I like competitive games...casual games just aren't as fun for me. So if there is interest please let me know.

Now that things have finally calmed down for me I think I'll have to start doing some ELO games. I guess it's time to update my Vassal

Or maybe we could turn ELO into a sort of league? How it stands now obviously isn't working (if there hasn't been a game reported for months). I just would like more consistent competitive games is all.

I've been meaning to join for quite awhile. Maybe I finally should since I play on vassal practically every night. Often more than one game a night.

I'm always interested in an ELO game but it seems that this summer brought a lot of new players who may not know about the rankings.

I'm interested in joining the ELO rankings. Will love to test myself against the best out there in preparation for next season I'm getting my fill now with the Galactic Cup, perhaps afterwards!

I'm sort of neutral on ELO; I only use Vassal "by appointment" these days, and usually it's to test or practice a specific squad, so the competitiveness of it is rather lost on me.

I'm chiming in, though, because I think invitation-only/"elite" leagues and tournaments are a missed opportunity for the community and for the game. One of X-wing's major strengths is that it's accessible, and one of the things I'm really proud of on behalf of the player base is that we're typically very welcoming of new players. Running an "elite" set of games works in the opposite direction: it tells someone who's just found X-wing (or in this case, just found Vassal) that there are the Important People, and then there's everyone else.

There's a fine line between exclusive and exclusionary , is what I'm saying.

Totally hear you Vorpal and agree. I don't care about it being "elite", or invitation only, rather I just want it to be competitive and where every game means something. And not having to worry if people will drop out as soon as they are in the bottom.

Maybe a league based on time zones could be a good solution...

I'm only pushing for this because ELO doesn't quite fit with what I'm looking for.

Ok I'm in!

Can I count the game against Muon that I just won?? Ha ha, I kid I kid.

The whole ELO league to date has been using the old tournament rules. Will the league be using the new rules for half-points on large ships that are below half of their shield+hull value from here on out?

I really want to do this. New baby has kept me home from the FLGS, but I don't even get very much VASSAL time either.

I'm in the ELO ratings but have only played one or two games with it. Making "all" vassal games more competetive isn't necessarily a good thing.

Would I like to compete for a TC Aces spot? Hell yes!

Am I good enough? I believe so as every time I play people on it the games are close, just ask MorganR.

Still, I'd rather see that tournament games such as the Galactic Cup games also were ELO games as they are already competetive.

I know it's not even likely possible, but it would be nice if on vassal there were 2 separate rooms, one marked competitive and another marked casual, and the game results for games played in the competitive room would automatically be record and create rankings based on results. Probably just a pipe dream, but it sure would be nice.

Another thought- could we figure out some way to get ELO and Ladyluck to work in unison? Because while I hardly see anyone willing to take the time to put in ELO games (myself included), almost every game I play one of us post the log into LadyLuck. Perhaps games which both players put into ladyluck are reported to/on ELO? This is probably much harder to implement then how simple I make it sound I'm sure...

Where else can we/new players watch games being played by people like Paul Heaver, Doug Kinney and Dallas Parker on a regular basis and learn from what they do?

And Morgan Reid. I watch all the TC aces games and like your playstyle and listbuilding.

I basically stopped with the elo rating system after a player I played awhile back didn't mention anything about a elo game and after we played few days later I saw my email which showed he put in his win and my loss.

Wasn't cool at all, and was bad taste

Now that things have finally calmed down for me I think I'll have to start doing some ELO games. I guess it's time to update my Vassal

I'm sort of neutral on ELO; I only use Vassal "by appointment" these days, and usually it's to test or practice a specific squad, so the competitiveness of it is rather lost on me.

I'm chiming in, though, because I think invitation-only/"elite" leagues and tournaments are a missed opportunity for the community and for the game. One of X-wing's major strengths is that it's accessible, and one of the things I'm really proud of on behalf of the player base is that we're typically very welcoming of new players. Running an "elite" set of games works in the opposite direction: it tells someone who's just found X-wing (or in this case, just found Vassal) that there are the Important People, and then there's everyone else.

There's a fine line between exclusive and exclusionary , is what I'm saying.

You hope you don't put the TCA league on the wrong side of that line! Ricky and I work pretty hard on making what happens in that league available to everyone , and Outer Rim Smugglers and PaulD do awesome video replays of the games, and the players do a great job of bringing creative lists, making it an effective crucible for the evolving X-Wing meta. I think the name puts people off ("Aces" is a little to self-aggradizing), I'll start working with my Dread Pirate Lord Kelvan Tiberius on branding :-)

In the past we've talked about creating a whole chain of linked leagues on Vassal, similar to the european football setup, with relegation and promotion rules and everything, as a way of bringing more players into the fold of fun league play ("Vassal League Play"), but the concept kept slipping due to real life obligations / time commitment of organizing a big league.

if the community rallied around this, and organizers stepped up for each league, then I think Ricky and I would be open to doing that project.

I was mentioned in a thread! Uuuu!

To also chime in, I agree with Vorpal that having elitist leagues would not incentivize the growth of the community or accomplish much in general.

Currently, with a lot of Vassal tournaments (Reddit tournaments, Galactic Cup), I am getting 1-2 Vassal games per week, with people across the globe, and I am very happy that that's possible!

I haven't played an ELO game in ages though, and it was particularly difficult to find an ELO game at all. Basically I tried to get in as many ELO games as possible, so I put in games even while testing squads for the first time, only because there was someone with ELO in the lobby.

So I propose the following: let's keep at least one Vassal tournament active at all times across the community (be it here, on Reddit, or on TC), and let's include all games from those tournaments in the ELO system!

Pros:

• We get a lot of games in the ELO standings
• Tournaments are inclusive of everyone, but also provide a top cut for the more competitive players, ensuring stiff competition to get to the top
• ELO ratings better reflect skill because players get a random opponent, while better players also have to compete directly against other good players. This is in contrast with the current opportunistic system (oh only that player is online, I have to play him if I want an ELO game).
• Everybody gets scheduled games in, instead of showing up and waiting to get an ELO game in.
• Matches are more likely to be balanced in skill, due to the swiss system or to being in a top cut.

Cons:

• Someone has to verify a lot more games to guarantee correctness.
• Everyone who registers to a tournament also has to be registered on the ELO board.

I'm sort of neutral on ELO; I only use Vassal "by appointment" these days, and usually it's to test or practice a specific squad, so the competitiveness of it is rather lost on me.

I'm chiming in, though, because I think invitation-only/"elite" leagues and tournaments are a missed opportunity for the community and for the game. One of X-wing's major strengths is that it's accessible, and one of the things I'm really proud of on behalf of the player base is that we're typically very welcoming of new players. Running an "elite" set of games works in the opposite direction: it tells someone who's just found X-wing (or in this case, just found Vassal) that there are the Important People, and then there's everyone else.

There's a fine line between exclusive and exclusionary , is what I'm saying.

You hope you don't put the TCA league on the wrong side of that line! Ricky and I work pretty hard on making what happens in that league available to everyone , and Outer Rim Smugglers and PaulD do awesome video replays of the games, and the players do a great job of bringing creative lists, making it an effective crucible for the evolving X-Wing meta. I think the name puts people off ("Aces" is a little to self-aggradizing), I'll start working with my Dread Pirate Lord Kelvan Tiberius on branding :-)

In the past we've talked about creating a whole chain of linked leagues on Vassal, similar to the european football setup, with relegation and promotion rules and everything, as a way of bringing more players into the fold of fun league play ("Vassal League Play"), but the concept kept slipping due to real life obligations / time commitment of organizing a big league.

if the community rallied around this, and organizers stepped up for each league, then I think Ricky and I would be open to doing that project.

I was responding more to Tender Fiddles, who was musing about starting up another invitation-only league. I'm aware of how much TCA does to make the games public and accessible showcases, and it's that kind of effort that makes it work--but it is a lot of effort and dedication, from multiple people, and another new league might not be able to manage the same.