Highlighting the October 3334 Progressive Pileup
A new event was coming up. A Progressive Pileup this time. While I am always in favor of events that have fewer Mechs, in this case it was not a good thing for me.
I was on K2, and while my regular formation had room for 30 Mechs, the opponents could field up towards 40, or 33% more Mechs than me. But when the shivering was done, I had 20 Mechs left, while they had up to 27, 35% more.
This might not seem a big difference, but added to the fact that their Mechs had thicker armor, more weapon and was in longer lines, my prospects were bleak.
The registration was the usual hassle, red tape on joining have been much worse lately. I remember a time where you barely waved at the entrance guards, not having to refill the forms dozens of times because a letter is not perfectly aligned, or whatever they use as an excuse to not let you in, yet.
But finally I was through the gates. I had planned on getting a position on the foothills, but the hassle had me running late for a meeting. Well, I could return later.
Except I couldn't. That double dammed Bruno had another meeting lined up for me, and the scramble was in the middle of it. Luckily my crew got me some notes and footage. The winners this time were:
- Div 1 247+ (27 Commanders): Bernard Johnson, Warlock (34s)
- Div 2 -246 (17 Commanders): Paul Knight, Spirit of Bunny (1m,25s)
- Div 3 -179 (15 Commanders): James Waddington, Northwind Dragons (1h,52m)
- Div 4 -138 (30 Commanders): John Thorson, Northwind Dragons (7h,46m)
- Div 5 -108 (22 Commanders): Willie Walton, T.B. BlackWatch (7m,7s)
- Div 6 -93 (33 Commanders): David Sifford, Steampunk Dragons (1h,22m)
- Div 7 -72 (32 Commanders): Joshua D. Thatcher, Renegades (20h,44m)
- Div 8 -57 (24 Commanders): Red Atkins, Emerald Dragons (1d,5h)
- Div 9 -42 (13 Commanders): Recoil, JC`s Rowdy Bunch (36m,21s)
- Div 10 -31 (12 Commanders): Glenn E Sowers, clown clan (20h,42m)
- Div 11 -24 (18 Commanders): Lisa Linley, clown clan (9m,34s)
- Div 12 -16 (7 Commanders): Rick Sask, Night Hammers (18h,30m
Total Contestants: 250, Total medals claimed: 167 (of 180 possible)
The influx of 67 new Commanders compared to the Axe Attacks, was a welcome addition. However, the spread was pretty uneven.
K9 + K10 + K12 had fewer contestants than K6 alone, and the 13 unclaimed Bronzes came from those tops.
Four Golds switched hands the last half-hour, one of them the last minute. On the other end of the spectre, four Golds were held for more than two hours, one of them for more than a day. In general, except for the action on Mount Olympus, the fighting was limited, as witnessed by the number of medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event:
.............Silvers......Bronzes
Div 1 ....3 of 4.........4 of 10
Div 2 ....0 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 3 ....4 of 4.........5 of 10
Div 4 ....4 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 5 ....3 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 6 ....2 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 7 ....3 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 8 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 9 ....2 of 4.........7 of 8
Div 10 ..4 of 4.........7 of 7
Div 11 ..2 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 12 ..4 of 4.........2 of 2
13 of 48 Silvers (29%) and 19 of 107 Bronzes (18%) got new holders. Whether this was due to the time of the scramble, or the superiority of the formations, is unknown.
Best clan award this time is split honors. Both Northwind Dragons (K4 + K5) and clown clan (K10 and K11) brought home two Golds each.
There were neither unaligned nor repeat winners in this event.
Upcoming event: Selfsame.
This is the second ever event of this type, the first was in August this year. The Point Mech of the formation (the rightmost Mech in the upper row) determines what model will be used. All other Mechs of different Models will be ignored for the purpose of fighting.
Equipment and weapons work as normal
Event ends May 3 between 2000 and 2030 New York Time.
Any fresh winners can try to get in touch to tell their story, the first to grab hold of me before the report is finished might get a few Niodes for sharing their thoughts.
(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)
