ARCHIVES: THURSDAY 23RD MAY 1997 -THURSDAY 5TH JUNE 1997
| Thursday 5th June 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
AARGH...
One day I will get the date right...
QUAKE IN NEWS SCOOP! (II)
We're back in the news, as SPG-Trog reveals...
"In case you didn't know, I just thought I'd point out that there is a small article on the UKCL in the July issue of Computer Shopper (pg 934). It even has John's telephone number, so we can abuse him in AR as well now.
Ohhh, nearly forgot the most important bit, it also has a picture of SPG's home page. Ahh, that well deserved fame has reached us at last."
Yes, they've finally managed a mention on NFTF...
UKOOL ROUNDUP: THE STORY SO FAR...
Yes, I'm finally going to attempt it: the complete roundup of the United Kingdom One on One League. Hang onto your hats...
In Division 1, to no-one's surprise, Sujoy is leading, but Ettu is also unbeaten so far, and their match is scheduled to take place today, in what is likely to be one of the most important games in the entire UKOOL (results, hopefully, either later tonight or tomorrow) . Bitbuster has lost only one of his four games, and is third, whilst two other "forigners", Gismo and Nerdkiller, are fourth and fifth respectively: I don't know much about them, save that they must be skilled to be both in Division 1 and the Swedish team. Last is Nightwing, proving the DC assertion that he vastly prefers deathmatch to one on one play.
Fragga and Ichiban have withdrawn from Division 1.
In division 2 those annoying Swedes are riding high in the rankings again, with Okkun having played 4 games and lost none. Our very own Quicksilver is also unbeaten on 3 games, as is Coerj, proving like Fragga that truly skilled modemers can beat the best LPBs. The winner of the UKSPC, Jibsta, has lost only one game of his three, and is currently fourth: it says a lot about the standard of play here that such a superb player is not winning even in the second division. Bringing up the rear is LordStorm, leader of the Quake Lords, and JoeDalton, another Swedish international. Fuckall and Pyro have withdrawn.
In Division 3 yet another international, DC-Dranath, is top of the leaderboard. I'm not sure what that says about UK Quake, except that DC showed their excellent taste yet again in hiring him. Just behind him are Carnage and Dibbler, having managed the first draw in the top three divisions to be tied on 2 1/2 games apiece. Below them the Division gets even closer, with two Quake Lords (DragonTung and Cenobite) and two Demonic Core (Zoser and Danold) tied on 1 win apiece. Currently on frags the order is DragonTung(-8), Zoser, Cenobite and Danold (-25). Lastly, "Sgt" has no wins so far.
So, what can we expect from the top divisions in the future? Well, it's really too early to predict results in any but the top Division, where Sujoy and Ettu look to be duking it out at the top for the concievable future, barring new blood when the divisions change ( at 8 games all). Nightwing's not flunking completely, but it seems a fair bet that Okkun might replace him in Division 1 when the divisions alter. However, Okkun has already lost one game, whilst both Quicksilver and Coerj are unbeaten. It might be fitting for Fragga's partner to replace him in the first division...
Division 4a is looking like it's separating out, with Shmern (of TFS) at the top of the table on three victories and no losses. Dazza is second, but with only two games played, it's hard to tell where he will go from here. In third is Loki, formerly of Vengeance, now DC (it's notable how many DC and QL names pop up in the top leagues), with only one loss out of three games. A rush of clan Corpus fill three of the remaining four slots, with Scanman on two wins and two losses, Angel on one win and two losses, and RawMeat keeping Sheol company on no wins out of three games (Sheol has no wins out of two games). Again, it looks like RawMeat is another who is more happy in the frag-fest of a Deathmatch than the calculation of a one on one game. Check out his demos in the Archive and make your own mind up.
Lastly, 4b sees DC.DD at the top of the list with three wins only, closely flanked by the ex-CP Arathranath on two wins only. Orlith is also unbeaten here, but having played only one game! Further down, CrystalTips (UK International player and DC member) is one for one, above Agorn and PTH, on the same game count, in frags. Lastly comes ChoadSmoker, one of the leaders of Clan Pendragon, a placing I find difficult to understand given his playing ability (see the Demo Archive, again), with two games and two losses, and Zebul, with four losses.
Division Four again is hard to read thanks to the differences in number of games played, and the fact that I don't yet know who played who. Shmern's well-known as a brilliant player, and as (I believe) an LPB and given his current frag totals (79 for, 4 against), we will very likely see him rise to Division 3: the remaining players in 4a are good, but not good enough to scare him, possibly excepting Dazza, who I know very little about.
I'd say RawMeat is a certainty for descent into 4b, but it's less sure who will replace him. Orlith is something of an unknown 1-1 quantity, and Arathranar's well-known ability and -let's face it- ping might just let him scoop first place over DD. However, time will tell.
Divisions 5-7? Perhaps tomorrow.
| Wednesday 4th June 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
I'M BACK...
Yes, I'm back from my day's holiday. Basically, NFTF is all I do with my computer thanks to RSI, so from now on to avoid burnout I'm going to be taking a day's holiday a week. The day may vary, but in future I'll try and warn you in advance.
In case you didn't notice in my day off, there are a lot of new demos in the Demo Archive, including a demo from Jibsta, winner of the UK Single Player Championship, and Reaper versus Rawmeat, our International Correspondant, plus BoyWonder and Groffy's UKOOLDM* series.
WRITERS WANTED
No, for once this isn't for me. Two high-profile UK Quake pages are looking for articles: Boywonder's Fragbook and The Grail, run by Uther Pendragon.
BoyWonder writes:
"My Fragbook is intented to be a scrapbook for the memories of our entire community - and at the moment it isn't.
So I need contributions.You can write about pretty much anything, from fun games you've had, reviews of new maps or unusual server patches, reports on Clan or International matches or anything else you want to write about that you feel that we'd all want to read about. "
BW would like submissions in plain text with URLs in brackets after titles and unedited PCX files in 320x200 or 320x240. Please email submissions to Nick.
Uther, on the other hand, says the following:
"The Grail is now up and running, but needs articles badly. I've uploaded the Prototype to www.the-grail.com , but I really need articles from the Quake Community. I'll be adding an article by Wraith tonight, along with interviews with UK figures such as The Nomad and Sujoy, but I really need articles.
The Grail will be written by you, for you. I, as the editor, will publish any article about any facet of Quake life, as long as it is: non-anonymous and non-libelious. Aside from those two stipulations, anything goes."
The Grail is a really impressive site that I'd like to get off the ground: I'm writing a column for it, as is RawMeat, but it is intended to be a central repository for articles on anything the Quake Community would like to talk about. In particular, Uther would like slightly "higher brow" articles (I'm preparing an article on Sun Tzu's treatise "The Art Of War" and its relevance to Quake), but as he says, anything goes.
Please submit all articles to grail-submission@uther.demon.co.uk.
MCW NEWS
Following the withdrawl of the Hellbringers from the Modem Clan War (having merged with the Fallen Angels), a new Clan has taken their place in the MCW, the Dark Preachers. As a completely unknown Clan to me, I'd welcome any information: as it is they are a wildcard. Nice site, though.
Some people have also complained that the MCW site has not been updated. According to Spirit, the reason for this is that Keeper.CP.KoD is the site maintainer, and he is taking exams at the moment. Spirit has put a temporary league table up on Spiritualnet.
UKOOL LEAGUE TABLES UP!
Yes, the UK One on One League finally has up to date league tables. Its Chief Administrator, Onyx, says:
"The tables are up. There are still some bugs (like it says "Division 1" for every table), but huge thanks to Happy Cat for putting in a lot of work getting this up and running.
The tables are not fully integrated into the page yet. You can't use the 'league' button. Instead click on the link in "News".
And yes, Sujoy is winning...
CLANMEET COVERAGE
Yes, our humble sport has been making the papers again. Uther emails me to tell me that PC Zone gave the ClanMeets, which of course he runs (CMII, 5th July, be there), a brief mention in their news pages, together with mentions of his site and RawMeat's writeup.
All I can say is "cool". Paper press, though- it happened three months ago...
THE DESPERADOS LESS DESPERATE
Well, well. Looks like the Quake Lords have been a little overconfident, and they nearly suffered for it, playing The Desperados last week.
The Desperados played the Quake Lords in the Modem Clan War last week, and lost by only 24 frags, 164-188, fielding only their original squad. Full details can be found on the Desperados' homepage.
In fact, The Desperados have realised the extent to which they are regarded as immature and inept, and are working very hard to change that, as their result versus QL testifies. TD.Mr Mauve says:
" I'm a relatively new clan member, but it didn't take me long to work out exactly what sort of reputation we have among the other clans. Well, speaking as someone who hasn't forgotten how to have a laugh, I reckon it's time we tried to help everyone forget all that. We've had a huge influx of quality players, we've won 10 out of our last 13 competitive matches (the Frag Kings match you'll remember, we won 9 straight after losing to QL and DC, no shame there...), and we've got a lineup of talented players both new and old.
We realise that in the past we have indeed been jerks. However, people can change, and The Desperados are going to change into a major force in UK Quake. You can count on that. "
"SUJOY IS A LLAMA"?
Yes, BoyWonder has been posting his demented rantings again. I won't say any more. Just go and look at the Fragbook...
| Monday 2nd June 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
TOP MARKS TO NFTF
I worried about whether to include this, as it sounds like bragging, but I thought that you might like to know...
The following email comes in from Joost Schuur, of Slipgate Central, after I asked for a reevaluation:
" You sure have gained in the content sector. Keep up the good work!"
We have been awarded 3 for design, and 4.5 for content and newsworthiness, the highest in the Clan News section, and a higher rating for content than PlanetQuake (!) I think Joost likes NFTF!
I've stopped preening now...
AT LAST: A UK QUAKE NEWSGROUP
The following email comes in from Anthony Ashton:
"Please read the RFD for the group in UK.net.news.config and post your support there now so we can discuss whatever in the group soonest."
I've been waiting for this for a while (I'm too busy to submit an RFD myself). Get the support in there!
FALLEN HELLBRINGERS
Andromeda, former leader of the Hellbringers, announced today that the Hellbringers and the Fallen Angels will be merging. More details:
"The HellBringers and the Fallen Angels have now MERGED as ONE. This merger had been in the back of my mind for a couple days this week, as I felt HB didnt quite have the edge. I felt a merge with our allies FA was a good idea and would create a NEW fresh approach, bringing together a great group of players harnessing our power as one.
I approached NUT of FA with the propostion and we had a long meeting about it on Friday. We met again Saturday and both clans discussed many topics , one of which was the name: we unanimously decided on keeping FALLEN ANGELS as the name. Some people will wonder why the FA name stuck or think that HB have just given up and joined FA. This is not the case: both clans agreed on a merger with POSITIVE outcomes from the meeting. The FA name stuck because the HB name wasnt original enough, and quite a lot of effort had gone into the FA logo.
Today the NEW FA clan met to practice on the FA server and all members have seen some good skills from each other , confirming the merger will be a success.
FA also would like to say that our new clan may cause some hiccups in the MCW, and we are ready for any challenge."
Neither the Hellbringers and the Angels were weak Clans, with 3 and 2 wins in the MCW so far, and this hybrid could indeed cause an upset in the MCW. I'll be watching it closely.
| Sunday 1st June 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
PHEW
It's amazing how much the Quake scene varies week to week. Last weekend was hell- busier than a fleet of bees on steroids. This week I'm actually managing to catch up to date...
UKCL WEEKEND WEEK 13 - OVERVIEW
Week 13 of the UK Clan League Weekend section was almost incredibly quiet, almost like a calm after the storm of Week 12. With 100 point differences in the results of every match, it must have been restful for all the Clans left in the UKCL, and very boring for the administrators. All matches were on UKCLDM2, which seems to have been well recieved.
Probabally the closest game was QPD versus the Frag Kings ( who disbanded the following week). FK are a formidable side, and were all LPB save for the inimitable Fuckall, but the QPD side ( including Danman, Coerj, Fragga, Ving and Adze) outclassed them and destroyed them 249-96, which could be considered a respectable result considering QPD's strength.
Other games were even less balanced. The next most balanced game was CIX vs Minos Academy, with the feared team players CIX destroying MA 315-109. The Quake Lords, Clan Corpus, Clan Pendragon, and The Desperados met with even less difficulty destroying their opponents Vengance, Clan Nasty, The Mandalore Warriors and The X, with none of those unfortunate Clans managing to reach a fifth of their opponents' frag count. Lastly, The Weedkillers won by default against Quake United Tiger Attack, and TFS beat BOG by an unknown amount.
Week 14 was a little more interesting, with QL playing CIX and DC playing CC, and I'll review that as soon as I get the scores.
4X LEAGUE: THE STORY SO FAR
At the end of Week 2 of the UKCL 4x League, the divisions seem to be shaping up.
Divison 1 is pobabally the most evenly spread Division, although on the surface it appears that the Quake Lords are winning easily with a score of 925 frags to the second placed Demonic Core's 623. However, given that QL have played 3 games and DC only two, those two top Clans are in fact neck and neck in what promises to be a very exciting contest.
Further down the first division, QPD and Clan Corpus are also at each other's throats, with only 3 frags separating their scores of 497 and 494 respectively. Under normal circumstances, one would expect the competition for third place to be fierce, but the diplomatic nature of 4x means that they could equally decide to team up and try to unseat DC or QL, although it would be a difficult job. We'll have to wait and see.
Trailing a little behind are Nick's Clan SPG, with 370 frags, and Clan Pendragon's A team are last with only 239 frags so far. They'd better watch their backs, or CIX, the top Division Two player, coud be replacing them in the first division soon.
CIX are way ahead in Division Two, with their score of 538 with only two games played suggesting that they, not CPA, should be in Division 1. It looks unlikely already that any other Division 2 Clan can stand against them. Although Vengeance are proving that they are not totally washed up, with a current second place, with only 409 and three games played they are reality in third behind CPB, who have 369 frags off only two games and look to be the only Clan even vaguely capable of taking CIX on.
In fourth, fifth and sixth TFS, The X and Clan Nasty are nicely spread out on three games and 293, 229 and 172 frags respectively apiece. Whilst this situation looks stable at the moment it's perhaps the most volatile series of positions in the league, with TFS and The X both having a reputation for erratic excellence.
In Division Three, The Desperados are even more clearly than CIX in the lead, with 554 frags and two games under their belts. The Jedi Knights, with 472 frags from three games, might possibly have caught them, but their recent split into JK and ACME weakens their position.
The Mere Mortals are currently only just managing to stay clear of the Riders Of Telgar Weir, on 174 frags to 126, but I'm not sure what to make of MM yet, and they've surprised both me and their opponents in the Modem Clan War. Particularly weakened, I'd advise JK to keep a close eye on their tail feathers.
Another potential surprise is BOG, sitting on 126 frags in fifth place, but having played only one game. Were they lucky, or do they have the talent to come up from nowhere and upset the division? With the totally untried ACME sitting in the wings, Division Three is perhaps the most interesting of the three divisions, and I'd hate to make any predictions for its future.
The 4x is a new idea, and relatively untried yet. I'll be watching its future closely.
| Saturday 31st May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
AHEM
No, NFTF hasn't fixed that charming "dates" problem yet...
SKINNIER
Everyone, I'm sure, knows about my illustrious fellow Perfectionist Rorshach's King Of Skins page by now. However, Rorshach isn't the only skin artist out there, and I've just come across another superb skins site that you really ought to take a look at.
Ceegee's Skins are primarily for his home Clan, Minos, but even so they're certainly worth a look. In particular, the Stormtrooper skin is cool (the best one I've seen so far), and his experimental Fallen Angels skin should scare the hell out of anyone playing against it.
Ceegee claims he's "23rd in line for the King Of Skins". I think he should be a fair bit higher than that. Check his skins out and decide for yourself.
MCW WEEK 5- ROUNDUP
Week 5 of the Modem Clan War saw less close or worldshaking games than Weeks 4 or 3, providing a time for most Clans to consolidate past victories and prepare for the tough games of Week 6. However, not all Clans shared the chance to relax.
The closest and perhaps most surprising game of the week was Minos Academy's narrow loss to the lesser known Clan Dogz. Neither Clan had won more than one match in the past four weeks, but where Minos had lost to CIX and The Dominion, the Dogz had lost to the Desperados and the Mere Mortals, and so it would have been fair to expect the old timers MA to win this match fairly comfortably.
Instead, they found themselves almost exactly matched in ability, eventually losing the the Dogz 86-81. Whether this was because of a weak Minos side or a sudden spurt in ability from the Dogz I'm not sure, but this win means that Minos may be looking at a lower position in the league than the 10-12 placing I expected, whilst the Dogz have shown that the newer Clans are never to be underestimated.
Indeed, it seems to have been the week for the underdogs. The Fallen Angels, whose only win so far has been a narrow one against the less than awesome BOG, were placed against The X, an old Clan who have already handily beaten Vengeance and the Quake United Tiger Attack. The result, one might have thought, was a foregone conclusion.
Instead, The X were not only beaten but battered into the ground in a shocking 159-48 result, a score one would more normally associate with Demonic Core or the Quake Lords. What happened? I don't know, and haven't been able to get any details. As soon as I have some, I'll post them.
The "Big Game" of the week was between CIX and Clan Corpus, two Clans known for their superb teamplay and dedication to tactics and practise. I'm sure the game was superb, with CIX narrowly winning the day 114- 96, a result which reinforces CIX's favourite status and more or less condemns CC to a top 8 position without a hope of the trophy, now having two losses from their five games.
CIX seem unbeatable at the moment, winning against the Quake Lords despite mouse and connection problems, and taking CC down this week. The question remains, will they be able to beat the other headlining Clans, Demonic Core and QPD?
Other games were less dramatic. Vengeance put on a better fight than of late against the Dominion, but still lost 269-142. Demonic Core slaughtered Clan Pendragon 189-77, whilst the Quake Police department achieved similar success against the Hellbringers, 202-62. The Mere Mortals met the Quake Lords, and ended their winning streak in a devestating 202-31 loss. And the Legion Of The Insane showed their strained relationship with Quake once again, scoring exactly 1 frag against the formidable Jedi Knights. Lastly, BOG met the Desperados with somewhat predictable results, 147-22.
Of course, we already know the result of the DC-QPD game this week (6). But what of the other games? As soon as I find out, I'll let you know.
| Friday 30th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
UKCL ENTRY FORM UP
John Burton emails me the following:
"There is now a working UKCL application form on the UKCL site: could clans wishing to join the UKCL please use this?"
DEMO ARCHIVE FIXED
Yes, the Demo Archive has been updated- all demos should now be available, and I've added new ones by Lord Storm, RawMeat, and Storm Junior...
DC VS QPD- RESULTS AND PREILIMINARY REPORT
Yes, the results are in on the big MCW match yesterday- favourites Demonic Core (fielding Zoser, Maddog, Jibsta, and DD) played the equally formidable Quake Police Department ( Coerj, Dazza, Ving, Danman), and won 119-66. This result could be partially attributed to QPD's connection and hardware problems throughout the match, but according to report, DC definitely won this one by skill.
A report will be coming soon, as soon as all the details are in. In the meantime, congratulations to DC on their clear win.
| Thursday 29th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
ETTU SCARES ID
Yes, Ettu has single-handedly convinced John Cash to remove Sujoy's beloved respawn squences...
"I observed a game with a guy from the UK who plays as Ettu the other night. That guy was evil. Don't know how he is in a FFA, but he was damn good in a 1v1 and a 2v2. Those sequenced respawn points have *got* to go. Disruptor, Tokay, and I came up with a few ideas we'll probably test out on Underworld."
Congratulations to Ettu- being called "evil" by the guys who wrote Quake has to be something of an accolade.
By the way, have people seen the M3 demos yet? What do you think of them?
HOORAH!
A little while ago, I was talking about writing a Quake Newbie's Guide. Well, PlanetQuake have beaten me to it.
I don't know how good it it, but kudos to them for writing it. Cool stuff.
THE ROUND TABLE EXPANDS...
Following their highly successful merger with Clan HTS, Clan Pendragon have "absorbed" another Clan, this time one with whom you might be familiar.
CP have merged with the Buckshot Brigade, taking Nitric.BB, Smebo.BB, Blokey.BB, Spud.BB, Tine.BB, and Sven.BB into their ranks for a new Clan total of 24, only 6 short of Corpus' 30. CP are apparently quite excited about their merger, which incorporates some very well-known players into their ranks.
AND CONTRACTS...
Arathranar.CP.KoD has temporarily resigned from Clan Pendragon due to exam pressure.
Good luck to all those unfortunate people taking exams at the moment. People say they don't pay for their connections- they do. At Finals time.
SHUT UP!!!
This is an update from the heart. I've had 107 emails today, most of them from the UK Quake Mailing list. now I like the list, and many of the mails have been interesting. However, Paul Pry has just set up a WWW message board, Quake discussions for the use of, at
http://alchemy.noc.u-net.net/ukquake/wwwboard/wwwboard.html
Please use it, not the list, for that purpose. Otherwise I'm told Danman will break important parts of your body.
Not that that would make much difference to me at the moment.
UKCL SEASON 2 STRUCTURE FIXED
John Burton has revealed that after the Question and Answer session on Tuesday he has decided on the new structure for Season 2 of the UK Clan League Weekend League, expected to include over 40 Clans.
"The UKCL will be split into 4 divisions of 10 clans. Clans will be randomly placed in these divisions at the beginning of each season, to prevent divisions becoming stagnant and give all clans a variety of opponents. As with season 1 every clan within each division will play each other.
At the end of each season there will be a divisional champion in each division. At the end of the season, the top 4 clans in each division will begin the playoffs for the "BLOOD BOWL" (homage to Games Workshop there...)
There will be 8 playoff matches (comprising of the 16 clans, matches drawn randomly) and the winner of each match will go through to the quarter final. The winners of the 4 quarter final matches will go through to the semi final and then the 2 winners of the semi finals will play in the BLOOD BOWL final...
As I said, your opinions would be appreciated. Also, I would like suggestions for names for each of the divisions, as I don't want to call them Division 1, 2, 3 & 4. I don't want to imply any one division is superior to the others."
Whilst there has been some controversy over this decision, it seems the best alternative to many people, including the UKCL admin team. As for the division names, my vote is for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, for sure.
QPD VS DC MCW MATCH
Yes, the big game is tonight. I'm nto going to be able to be there, so could someone write me a report?
As the CIX Clan have been vigorous in pointing out, of course this game will not determine the MCW. However, it is indisputably one of the most important games for the War.
IS SUPERMAN A MODEM PLAYER?
Well, Cenobite thinks so, and he's willing to prove it:
". Somoene suggested in IRC about getting a Super modem team together to play the best LPBs to see what would happen, so I have decided to try and organise it with help of Coerj. I don't know how we are going to decide a team: I guess that trials would be a god idea.If i get enough interest I can go ahead with it: we would have a pool of 7 or 8 [players for a 5 man team.
This event is just for a laugh, and to see if HPBs can truly comptee with LPBs through skill and teamwork. Iif anyone wants more info, mail me.
IS THERE A DOCTOR ON THE LEVEL?
Well, yes, there is. Kalgari, to be precise...
"Hello, I am working with GamesMania, whom you probably know better as PlanetQuake and QuakeMania, I don't know. They have granted me a site under the name of Quake Doctor where me and my team of "doctors" will go to clan's home servers etc. Dealing with both individual players and clans to help them improve their game.
The service has been arranged so that players and clans can come to our homeserver and be coached by our doctors, removing glitches in their play as both a team and individuals
Our service is free, but there may be a queue for an appointment. If you want to get the help from Quake Doctor contact kalgari@emarkt.com.
Can anyone addressing mail to any of the people involved with quake doctor which is related to quake doctor put "QD :" on the front of the mail? Also please make the subjects relevant. I am suffering from over 200 emails today and many of them come from here. Obviously I can't change the way people write subjects for all their email, but if it's being sent to me it needs to have some similarity to the contents of the mail."
| Wednesday 28th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
ASK JOHNNIE B- PART 2...
The UKCL question and answer session yesterday seems to have been very successful. Most of the session was spent discussing the question of LPB dominance in the UKCL and how it could be minimised, with John Burton deciding in the end that the rule from now until the end of Season 1 will be that only 3 LPBs will be allowed to play for a Clan in any one game. John B has promised that this modification to the existing rules will be monitored and re-evaluated at the end of the season.
John also asked that there be a gentlemen's agreement amongst the major Clans of the UKCL not to recruit any more LPBs for two months, and that the larger Clans make an effort to help the smaller, modem-only Clans recruit LPBs so that they can compete on a equal footing, an idea that met with some approval.
The question of the UKCL's structure for the next season, when they expect to have over 40 Clans competing in the Weekend League, was also discussed, although no firm conclusions were reached. Whilst it is still possible that the UKCL will split into divisions in a manner similar to the UKOOL, very few people liked this idea, feeling that it would prevent "lesser" Clans having the chance to play the top-ranked champions, and that the UKCL would polarise into an LPB division and a modem division.
One worry was that if the UKCL split into divisions, the action in the lesser division would be ignored in NFTF. I've got no intention of that happening- as you can see from the last few UKCL and MCW reports, I quite often find that the clashes of weaker Clans are as or more interesting than the top games, and I will certainly follow the struggles of BOG and LI with as much interest as DC and QPD.
If you want to read the full debate, the log of #UKCL is available.
Oh, one last thing. Ceno's only worth a 15'' monitor.
SMELLING ERRRORS
If you didn't spot it, don't worry. If you did, it was a typo, and you are a pedant...
IN, OUT, SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT...
Following the UKCL ruling that no-one in the UKCL can play for more than one Clan, Okkun and Honk have left Clan Corpus.
Thanks to RawMeat for that info.
SKINNY...
BoyWonder emails me with the following announcement:
"I would like to draw yours (and the communities) attention to the release of the first Quake Perfect European Skins Pack - I feel this is an important download for all European Quake players as it contains many European clan (and national team) skins which are not available elsewhere"
| Tuesday 27th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
WELCOME BACK...
And welcome back to the new, improved News From The Front, now hosted at Quake Perfect (yes, a shorter URL at last) and redesigned by BoyWonder. If you have any comments on the new layout, by the way, I'd like to hear them.
QUAKE PERFECT GOES LIVE
Quake Perfect, the edifice of wich NFTF is now a part, has finally gone live today. Boasting as its members such luminaries as Impulse 1, the UKCL, Groffy and BW's Fragbooks (now unified as BoyWonder's Fragbook) Rorshach's King Of Skins pages and of course NFTF, QP is intended by its founder BoyWonder to be a centre for the Quake community in the UK as a whole.
Although originated by BoyWonder, Quake Perfect will be run by all those who contribute to it. With more sites lined up to be moved to QP soon, the future's looking exciting for the Perfectionists (sorry...) and UK Quake as a whole.
THE KINGS ARE DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KINGS
FK-Fuckall emailed the following announcement to the UK Quake Mailing List yesterday:
"Well this is just to say that FK is going to disband, as of today, as I'm having to leave the UK for another country for work, and the others have other duties to prevent them from carrying it on. We just want to say it's been a great time gibbing with you lot: we had our share of moments and we had our dissagreements but it's all in the past now.
Hopefully most of the old FKers could find a new home in DC, if not they might be up for grabs. I wish them luck.
Bye all, we'll miss you."
Speaking as one who owes Fuckall a lot for his help in the early days of NFTF, we'll miss both him and the Kings too. Good luck.
FEEL THE POWER OF THE ACME SIDE
The Jedi Knights have felt the power of the Dark Side! Ped emails me the following announcement:
" Just to let you all know that we have formed a new UK clan out of part of the old Jedi Knights. The clan will be called ACME and is willing to play friendlies if anyone is interested. We will also be taking over the WK spot in the MCW hopefully. The clan page is still under construction but will likely be at http://www.schizoid.u-net.com/acme/"
Members who have succumbed to the lure include Xena, Rockburn and HKP. So, now there's ACME Quake available...
ASK JOHNNIE B...
The UKCL are hosting a Question And Answer session tonight at 21:00 on #ukcl, on uk.gamesnet.net (129.215.140.38), to clear the air about the mass of questions and problems that have arisen in response to various issues within the UK Clan League structure, whether it be the LPB limit, the question of playing foreign players or players playing within more than one Clan, issues with the mod or scheduling or anything else.
Nick says: "All our welcome to discuss ideas whether it be about teamplay, levels time, or whatever. You name we aim to talk about it and listen to your suggestions! This will then all be documented (logged) and the final decisions will be made in due course."
OW...
Why is it that news always breaks when my hands are knackered? The rest of the Bank Holiday news in brief:
| Sunday 25th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
FINLAND-UK INTERNATIONAL OFF
The UK vs Finland international scheduled for today was in fact called off prior to the match due to a misunderstanding on the deathmatch settings. The Finns wanted to play Deathmatch 3, which allows weapons to stay in it's respawn point, and not allowing you to pick up those weapons once you have run out of ammunition. Since the Finns had practiced DM3 settings prior to this game, whilst the UK side had practiced Deathmatch 1, the game was called off.
"Its a culture clash" according to Sujoy, who says "We're representing the country - there's no way we're gonning to dive headfirst into a game we're not prepared for. It would be foolish to play a serious game without preparation: the reason we prepare for the matches is so that the game is a true representation of the countries' abilities."
Perhaps next time misunderstandings will be avoided.
CC-Rawmeat, NFTF Internartional Correspondent
WHY, HELLO THERE...
I'd like to welcome CC-Rawmeat on board at NFTF as our International Correspondent. 'Meat has been very halpful to NFTF for a long while now, and I'm very pleased to be able to welcome him as our first regular reporter.
If you have any news relating to the UK team or international games in general, please email the info to both him and me, so I can keep track of things, but he'll be covering all UK international news from now on.
I'm particularly pleased to have him on board in view of his excellent coverage of the Finland-UK debacle!
CLAN RINGS AGAIN
Yes, the UK Quake Clanring has undergone another reconstruction. Check out their new look, which also includes alterations to the Ladder rules.
Talking of the Ladder, how about a bit more action on it? Come on, get challenging.
STITCH THAT! THE PRE-GATHERING GATHERING
Refux emails me with a report on the Scottish Quake Gathering's, er, "pre-gathering":
"Well us lads in Scotland just finished a pre-gathering meet in preperation for the big meet on June 28th. It was held at Reality-X in Edinburgh.
Attending were:
Mongoman, Clawz, Banger, RefuX, Skinhead, MANIX, Gib, CeNoBiTe, HKP, Happy Cat, GAS, Killer, Prog99, and Razza. (plus more).
Of course, Ceno snuck into Reality-X without anyone noticing until a storm of 'were fragged by CeNoBiTe' messages started appearing across screens! After lots of looking about, we worked out it must be the quiet one by the door. Isn't it always!
The most ridiculous part of the meet was playing HeadHunters on DM4 with 16players; it was a complete HeadFest! I actually won it by camping around the altar and picking up all the bouncing heads!
Mongoman amazed all, by showing that he's actually not at all bad, keeping near the top of all the DM and CTF games we played! CeNoBiTe, as expected, played a storming game, a small crowd often gathering about his computer - luckily we were able to get Ceno onto a P75 so he lagged a little bit (call it a handicap). Razza the Reality-X homeboy could only keep on asking who was this CeNoBiTe guy!
The weirdest moment was taking a rest, sitting in the completely quiet room, as 16people were busy fragging each other. Me thinks these guys were not used to having their enemies within earshot (obviously no Rawmeat there, then!- Nomad)!
Amazingly, HKP and Happy Cat came all the way down from Aberdeen, although arriving in Reality-X after an afternoon of drinking, Happy Cat had to sit down for a while and try to sober up. As the evening progressed their playing improved, scores getting up to Ceno's and Mongomans. The BOG boys GAS, Killer, and Prog99 all turned up. To my amazement, Gas and Killer were both keyboard players, most onlookers cringing as the keyboard players slowly turned about on the levels... ick!
Gib definitely won the keenest player award! After playing a solid 2hours DM, everyone finally standing up and having a stretch. Gib noticing the new level is DM2 and exclaiming 'this is my favourite level!' jumped right back onto the computer.
SkinHead and his mate Manix also played some very good Quake, and are both runners up for non-stop Quake playing.
The best moment for me must have been finding that the chippy down the road makes great pizza! Mmmmmmmmmm.
All in all, a
great evening going from 6pm till 12. We played general
DM, 2 team DM, 4 team DM, HeadHunters and CTF. Of course, I
enjoyed CTF the most, although HeadHunters came pretty close.
For the BIG June 28th meet, we are thinking about getting some more computers in to Reality-X! I think we can probably squeeze in 25 computers: the more the better. Hopefully we can also get some prizes and stuff. Well so far we have 40 people turning up on the 28th, if you are interested in attending. Please email me.
Thanks to everyone turning up, etc!"
DC VS CLAN CORPUS: REPORT
RawMeat emails me with details of yesterday's DC vs CC UKCL match, which ended in a win for DC, 234-85.
"Demonic Core, having the record they have, were always going to be tough opposition. However, following the CC v QPD result Sujoy said "We're going to have to field our best team now!", a worrying proposition for most clans.
UKCLDM3 was the level. The time was 17:00 With one upset in UKCL caused already by CC, a top Corpus team was being prepared and readied, but disaster struck, with two of our key players (Quicksilver and Pyro) away on real life duties. So five LPBs, all in the same college, all Demonic Core, versus a weakened CC. A scary thought indeed.
Tactics worked out so that CC were holding the Quad and rocket launcher, and DC assumed the position of praying for their salvation in and above the Church..... NightWing and Moose held the Church well, despite numerous attempts by CC to take it singly. Safety was in numbers, CC seizing the Church a few times by overwhelming DC, UKCLDM3 being a rather constricted level near the Church, with no potential escape when accurately shot at by DC players after the teleporter. A new player was also causing havoc for CC, being in the form of the rather unoriginally named DC.Mark. All these silly people using their real names...
Star performances again from the DC side, and better tactical judgement on this one you might say, and excellent play from CC-Dibbler for CC, and the rest of the the CC team too. Superior tactics won the day, and all clans would be advised to practice this level well, and hold the church.
A quote from Sujoy "CC can still play well, even with 2 key players missing." DC showed their style again, and now both CC's and DC's hardest matches are over, with only a few clans left who can possibly throw a spanner in the works. CC have yet to play Frag Kings, tough opposition, and TD, who beat FK. "
Sounds like an interesting game. CIX vs QL report coming soon...
HTMLLOG 2.0 OUT
Oh, boy, huge update today. CC-Pyro emails me to talk about the new version of his cool log-stat program, HTMLLOG 2.0.
"fter mailing you only a couple of days ago about version 1.4a, I now have a much improved version (so much so it's gone all the way to 2.0!) Whats more is that I've also recompiled it for Dos as well as Linux... for all you people holding your computers back!
Both dos and Linux versions are available from my home page, and I'm going to upload them to ftp.cdrom.com
Improvements:
- It uses hardly any memory compared to 1.4a, which was very badly organised internally.
-It now prints results for team games, see http://diana.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~mst95r/uk_vs_swe/html/index.html
-You can make it create one stats page for all the maps having the same name in a log file, so instead of getting 5 'Place of Two Deaths', you can have one, with all the players in it.
-And a few other minor bits and pieces..."
FARE THEE WELL
It's a sad day for UK Quake. Fragga has quit Quake, presumably due to telephone bill hassles. As he says, "As we develop into the finest warriors known, some of us have to go. "
Since he became a "name" on the UK scene, Fragga has developed a reputation as not only a superb player, one of the finest in the world, but also as a sportsman who is modest in victory and gracious in defeat (for evidence, look at his commentary on his matches against Sujoy). Although I haven't had many dealings with him myself, I know that he is widely respected, and will be missed.
For more details, check his Farewell To Quake.
THE NEWS IN BRIEF
The Quake Lords successfully defended their UKCL top place successfully, beating CIX 220-102 on UKCLDM3. Demonic Core beat Clan Corpus handily, again on UKCLDM3, 234-85. In both cases, there were complaints about the map design, leading to John Burton putting a hold on the use of UKCLDM4 next week pending more playtesting.
The NFTF Demo Archive is back up. Thanks to Nick for providing the space for that! Some demos may not be available yet- sorting it.
| Saturday 24th May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
OOPS...
OK, DC now have the right names attached in the Who's Who.
I'm not sure what's happened to the Demo Archive- more news as I get it.
| Friday 23rd May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
THAT ARTHURIAN CONNECTION
Yes, Uther Pendragon is back, back, and back. He emails me about an exciting new development in the UK Quake scene:
"As part of my 'Real World' job, I have developed a purely Web-Based NewsCast facility, intended to combat PointCast (which requires a dedicated Server). This facility, known as TALON, is to be used in an Intranet that I have designed for a client. I've decided to use my technology to put together a definitive Quake Articles site, though that does'nt really cover what the aims of 'Grail' are.
'Grail' is coming soon. If I am to get the site/technology to work, I will need articles. Effectively 'Grail' will be an online, contributor-based Quake and related Issues Magazine. I'll be looking for articles from anyone about anything, and volunteers to be correspondents. The 'Grail' is not designed to be a 'News' site (i.e. it won't compete with NFTF ), but is designed to be an online repository for everyone to use.
For example - I'll be dividing the 'Grail' into a number of 'Supplements'. There will be 'Rants', 'History', 'Bios', 'Interviews', 'Conjecture', 'Fiction', 'Humour', 'Editing', 'Forthcoming', along with supplements created on the fly for new games (i.e. Hexen, XvT, Quake2, Unreal ).
I'm hoping to try and get some scoop interviews - I'll be pestering most of the big names of the UK scene to contribute, and will be pushing hard to get some states coverage as well. All in all, if I can get it running, it should be a stonking read - what we are missing is a Quake Site that you can spend hours on reading Articles written by the Quake Community for the Quake Community.
In terms of releasing the site, I may put 'Grail' online before I get what I think of as the minimum number of articles, to allow people to see and comment on the style/usage of the site. So, if people wish to contribute articles (and please, feel free to contribute whatever you want, about whatever topic), could they send them to grail_submission@uther.demon.co.uk. All articles used in Grail will be credited to their Author, and the email address of the contributor will be added to the article.
If people wish to become correspondents, could they send a mail to me at grail_correspond@uther.demon.co.uk., stating what they wish to be the correspondent of (i.e. Technical, Gossip, Sports (results), UK.Clans, UKCL, MCW etc etc)."
I'm most likely going to be meeting with Uther soon (yes, in Real Life) to talk about Grail, but it sounds very cool. Currently, the UK Quake scene is really starting to move, and that's cool. Let's keep it going.
BUSY WEEKEND...
Well, I've possibly got a LAN party on over the weekend, so expect news to be a little thin for a few days. NFTF will be covering the UK/Finland International, though. How? Aha.
In the meantime, console yourselves with a couple of new demos in the Archive and the Who's Who in UK Quake. Yes, I finally decided to post it.
Have a good Bank Holiday.
| Thursday 22nd May 1997 | THE UK QUAKE NEWS PAGE |
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED...
Boohoo. We lost in the rematch with Sweden, losing the game on the Swedish server 491-643 and winning at home 603-505, thus losing overall by only 54 frags. It's obvious that the Swedish team are tough and capable players, and I'm sure that the UK Quake community would like to congratulate them on their win.
However, once again problems marred the game. In this case it was an idiot calling himself "Cyba", who used the hole in Windows 95's TCP/IP security to "nuke" CC-Angel ( the UK observer), CC-RawMeat and QL-Flyingribs. Although he was using a Swedish account, the Swedish team have no connection to this moron, who says that "I know it was a big match, just thought it was kewl to nuke em off". He's just a random imbecile about the same level as kids who steal hubcaps and smash up telephone booths.
RawMeat has issued a statement about this incident:
"The UK team acknowedge that "Cyba", who's email address is cyba@geocities.com (though we can't work out any more than that) is nothing to do with the Swedish team, and we do not hold the Swedish team responsible, and that it is coincidence that Cyba is from Sweden."
If you're worried about this bug, which allows anyone using a Windows 95 TCP/IP connection to the internet to be "nuked" by any random idiot who happens to feel like it, Ql-Prophet has tracked down a helpful fix. If you want more information on the match, you might want to check the UK Team's Page for the results, the Swedish National Team's page for their view of the game, or BoyWonder's Fragbook for a log of the conversation in IRC on the evening of the game.
UKOOL ON THE RUN AGAIN...
Yes, the UKOOL Levelab has moved again, although it still has cool music. In addition to the four UKOOL levels now available, there are now reviews up of UKOOLDM2 and UKOOLDM4, so check it out.
News From The Front and all written material therin is copyright 1997 The Nomad
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