Highlighting the August 3332 Point Mech Panic
Another event was coming up, and it seemed slightly out of season, wasn't Point Mech supposed to be after battle day 3?
Well, the craftsmen hold the tournament and decide the formats. All one can do is decide whether to join up or not.
My track record in Point Mech was on decline, From Gold in October `29, via Bronze in July `30 to unplaced in August `31.
This was the time to try and reverse that trend.
As usual, there were obstacles to overcome. Paulzilla wanted the fitness reports of my pilots (in addition to some other cubic meters of paperwork) done last week. There were so many meetings and conferences I had to attend to that I was unsure if I could be there at the scramble.
And of course, the other pilots would be clamoring for the Gold as well.
I went over to K3 to register, and left one of my pilots to hold and take notes.
On my inspection trips he was usually found on the plains, complaining about super strong opponents, and their freezes or Crit-Kills. I tested them on my returns to the top , and had to agree this was going to be a tough fight.
At t-5 minutes I had begged and whined and had a six pack of supers and about 2/3 of my HG filled up. The field was the biggest in the event, more contestants than the four least filled up mountains put together.
When I looked at the opposition, there were only a handful who held a higher piloting licence than me, and there were only one who had a heavier Mech than my Fext (AI One), but I wondered if that Guardian was ready yet.
It was mostly Fexts and Boreases. Some had brought a Regis, Notos or Pike. A few other models were also there. The lightest Mechs was an Inferno, a Nakshi and a Dreadnought.
The top were held by Jonathan Schattke, and it took me some tries to get within striking distance and dethrone him. That was done a few seconds before the scramble started.
Then it was pandemonium.
The trouble in a sudden death, especially a fluid one, is you don't know when it is going to end. There are two schools of thought here.
1) Stay on the top, counterattack often and hope it ends before your energy runs out.
2) Wait and let the others exhaust themselves, then move in and take the top.
The problem with approach 2 is it might end before you make your move, and in this case, not attacking meant being attacked and being pushed down to the plains.
The problem of approach 1 is you might find yourself exhausted and watch some Johnny-come-lately grab the top without being able to counterattack.
I went for attack early, and often. My supers started disappearing at an appealing speed. The first after 2 minutes, the second after six, the last three after ten, fourteen and seventeen minutes. After that it was pouring in regular and large.
I have to admit I lost track of who I was fighting. Waddington, Schattke, Marzalek and Skywise are those I remember, but I am sure there were more.
As we moved into the 24th minute I emptied my last hatorades and took the top again. I had energy for three more attacks, and was pretty sure it wasn't enough.
Then KiloToneRecoil made his move. Rising unstoppable through the ranks he got into the top slope. Seemed he had chosen approach 2 and were about to claim the Gold.
But he stopped there, probably to grab a super and fill up before he blew me off the top. I steeled myself for a couple desperate and probably futile counterattacks, but before he could claim the top the light flashed and it was over.
Those who managed to claim the tops and clung to them when the light flashed this time were:
- Div 1 195+ (42 Commanders): Fabio Favaro, Warlock (3s)(Pike)
- Div 2 -194 (16 Commanders): Eric Bell, Omegas Legacy (31m,48s)(Boreas)
- Div 3 -146 (56 Commanders): Sten Hugo Hiller, Star League (1m,56m)(Fext)
- Div 4 -106 (31 Commanders): Willie Walton, T.B. BlackWatch (5h,10m)(Notos)
- Div 5 -87 (38 Commanders): Sebastien Roussel-Konan, K.o.C. (4m,48s)(Fext)
- Div 6 -71 (32 Commanders): MamaMorgie, UNDERWORLD (57s)(Dilophos)
- Div 7 -57 (39 Commanders): Patrick T Kennon, M&L R.A. (1m,11s)(Frigis)
- Div 8 -40 (17 Commanders): Estella Eifort, M.P.A. "Elite" (30m,46s)(Dilophos)
- Div 9 -29 (18 Commanders): Sandie Elgie, clown clan (1m,35s)(X-mas Tree)
- Div 10 -21 (26 Commanders): saskpendragon, BhMH (1m,1s)(Buccaneer)
- Div 11 -13 (4 Commanders): Van Rudolph, BhMH (7m,28s)(Buccaneer)
- Div 12 -12 (21 Commanders): Rick Herlock (8m,1s)(Buccaneer)
Total Contestants: 340, Total medals claimed: 169 (of 180 possible)
Compared to the Cruiserweight this was a great success. An additional influx of 91 Commanders made this into the most popular event in recent memory.
The one thing that somehow marred the event was the extremely narrow requirement for entering K11. Only those who had piloting licence of 13 or special invitations were allowed onto that mountain.
The one Silver and ten Bronzes that were sent for resmelting all came from K11.
I have said it before, and I stand by it. The Point Mech contest is the most fluid of all events. Almost everyone should be capable of outfitting one good Mech using top gear and weapons. When there is only one Mech on each side, the RNG Gods tend to influence the result much more than in any other event.
Here eight Golds changed hands during the last half-hour, two of them the last minute. Only one Gold were held for more than two hours.
The fighting for the rest of the medals varied from frantic, to seemingly very low. The number of lesser medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event was:
.............Silvers......Bronzes
Div 1 ....0 of 4.........2 of 10
Div 2 ....2 of 4.........7 of 10
Div 3 ....0 of 4.........0 of 10
Div 4 ....0 of 4.........7 of 10
Div 5 ....0 of 4.........2 of 10
Div 6 ....1 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 7 ....3 of 4.........6 of 10
Div 8 ....2 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 9 ....0 of 4.........6 of 10
Div 10 ..2 of 4.........1 of 10
Div 11 ..2 of 4............N/A
Div 12 ..3 of 4.........8 of 10
The hardest fighting was on K3. Only two medals were held for more than one minute, and none for more than 129 seconds.
The most winning Mech this time was the Buccaneer. Its Pilots claimed Gold on K10 K11 and K12. Two other Mechs got two Golds; Fext on K3 and K5 + Dilophos on K6 and K8. No crystal Mechs claimed Gold.
The only clan to claim multiple Golds this time was ButthurtMonkeyHunters. They took home the Gold medals from both K10 and K11.
Rick Herlock was the sole unaligned winner this time. His Gold on K12 should warrant a closer look by clan leaders on the eve of the Clan War.
Sebastien Roussel-Konan was the only Cruiserweight winner who managed to repeat his Gold performance
Upcoming event: Cannonballs
This is in most ways an unlimited event. You can bring whatever Mechs you have in whatever numbers, only limited by the size of your base.
The one difference from a normal unlimited event is that Your projectile weapons deals an additional 80% damage. Bringing out your Cannon formation, or changing the main formation to reflect this when it comes to weapons, Mechs and equipment is highly recommended.
Otherwise, weapons and equipment work as normal.
Event ends February 22 between 1800 and 1830 New York Time
(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)
