Turf Tales News (issue #11)
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Reflections on Two Years of Turfin
As Christmas 2013 quickly approaches, a large group of turfers are about to cross into the Two Year club. This group, which was defined by Johnny O as the “Great Noob Migration”, downloaded the game in November / December of 2011. It is regarded as the greatest influx of new players in TW history, many of which still play today and some of which are pinnacle players in the game. As the odometer rolled over 2 years for me, I took some time to reflect;
On how I found TW:
I remember clearly how Turfwars came into my life - through a magazine article (I believe it was an older copy of “Wired”). The Article was profiling Iphone games, and contained a nice write up on TW. The Author was describing his entry into the game right around the time that Gasface was going, well, “Gasface” - and tearing through New York. The description of a sandbox game where players fought to defend their hometowns had my interest instantly.
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The Beginning:
After reading the article, I went home and downloaded the game. Like most new to TW, I looked at the screen and said “wtf is this?”. I forgot about the game for a few weeks, but eventually came back and started building turf. I immediately enjoyed the GPS feature and made sure to plant turf when visiting friends and family. My first fight was against a player named fadiko. We were both sub 1k complete noobs. At first I had the advantage because I had started earlier, but soon enough he was starting to win the battle.
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Fadiko’s mob was growing, but mine had stayed the same. After speaking to some locals and reading the forums – I learned the concept of punching codes. At first I outright refused to get an ICM account (yes – I am one of those people that dread yet another internet account). I started punching codes at random. First I punched every profanity I could imagine, then I started with random words and random number and letter combinations. LOL, looking back on this I have to laugh at myself. Hard to believe – but the punching worked, and soon enough I was closing the gap on fadiko. After some friendly discussions, we made peace.
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The Noob Era:
Like many noobs I quickly capped my way over limit which meant I couldn’t plant or hop and was confined to a small geographic area around Toronto. My crappy punching technique had earned me around 5-6k mob. It was around this time that I would experience my first bully. Josun45 was a massive (at the time, to me anyways) 10k player, fully armed with tommies. He had huge coverage through the Toronto area, with over 1k turf. Josun45 was an ass that loved to cap small players, and hit me repeatedly. After trying to reason with him, his only offer was that he would cap me when he wanted, but would try to limit it. How nice of him.
For the next month or so I continued to lose turf to Josun45. But I was now focused. I finally got an ICM account and was punching as hard as I could. I passed 7k, and was rounding 8k when I decided I would also seek the protection and social aspects of an alliance. I posted a “looking for alliance thread” and was surprised with the number of responses I got.
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Sweet Revenge:
I spoke with 3 or 4 different alliances, but I was really interested with one. Fachan, a member of CAPO, had pm’d me and invited me to join the recruit room to talk a bit further. I was obviously blown away to have a mega mob talking to me, and decided to accept his offer (a lesson to other, smaller alliances – always have your largest player do the recruiting,). Although just a recruit, CAPO was only too happy to help me put down a local bully, and in just 2 nights Josun45 was reduced from over 1k turf to less than 100.
CAPO – learning the ropes:
It really isn’t until you join an alliance that Turfwars begins to open up. CAPO was the right spot for me, as it contained many Ontario based players and also had a good mix of laid back (yet serious) players. This was still the era of old school CAPO, with players such as morty, squishedfrog and Canadianbacon. The next several months were relatively quiet as CAPO was not involved in any wars or conflicts on an alliance wide basis.
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eral Fighting Syndicate (FFS):
Boredom was starting to set in and I was looking for something new to do. After seeing a post by Tweek for a new alliance based on teaching and training new players, I decided to check it out. I was the first player to join Tweek’s room, but slowly players began to roll in. Tweek’s RL and fading interest in the game would eventually take him away from FFS. OSU and I took the reins and would build FFS into a small and fun, yet effective group, until she too would be called away to RL priorities. I continued to plod along with FFS, and made some of my best and longest friendships in the group. FFS had a strong system of training - focusing on wargames, mob races, and workshops. Eventually we would test our fighting abilities first against Cris Moltasanti (then larger than any of our members) and then again against the Anarchy group, working with a number of allies including Flybynight and Pocketerr. I will always look back to FFS as some of my best memories in the game.
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Merge of FFS into CAPO. Learning real war:
After being invited to the leadership table in CAPO, I decided running FFS (now renamed North American Fighters United – NAFU) would be too much, and along with other CAPO leaders voted to merge NAFU into CAPO. The merge went relatively easy and allowed me to focus on the next chapter of my TW career.
CAPO was debating involvement in the world wide conflict, mainly war against TWFC. A plan was hatched to attack Glasgow. With Duair leading us onto the field we quietly setup around Glasgow and prepared to strike. Aided by Sabassaul, Glasgow fell and the fight soon shifted to Edinburgh as TWFC rallied against the attack. Edi would teach me more about TW wars than anything I had previously experienced, and allowed me to work with some of the games finest players as allies (stars, massholes) and against TWFC who at the time could field one of the games best mix of experienced fighters. Special mention to Coolio for introducing me to the concept of spamming 🍻.
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More wars, fast forward to today:
After fighting a series of battles in Sydney, Australia and the several locations in the UK such as Carlisle, Blackpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bradford and others I'm sure I'm forgetting, the big battles seemed to lose steam with the disintegration of TWFC. The most satisfying battles for me remain Edinburg and Sydney, which in my opinion were the most heated and even conflicts I participated in.
Approximately 2 months ago I offered an individual truce with members of twfc and FUA. For me the war was over. Both sides had fought hard, but the fights were no longer fair. I started the TTnews shortly after as I wanted to remain active in the game but was worried a lack of fighting would lead to my eventual retirement. However a game shift has occurred and new wars have brought new life to the game. With the new war against The Commission and the responsibilities of coordinating the Turf Tales News, I am perhaps at the peak of my Turf Wars career.
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Thoughts on TW:
I have enjoyed these last few months of the TW immensely. The new wars and the TTnews have been a blast. I think I have a new appreciation for the community and the intricacies of Nick's simple, yet complicated masterpiece.
However, it is with some nostalgia that I remember my early days of TW, with a lively forum and a bustling community. It is unfortunate that so many TW personalities now find themselves forum banned and that the TW community, if nothing else, is fragmented. I remember the days of Pal rooms with hundreds and hundreds of members with conversations at all hours of the day - and now it is a struggle to maintain a room with 200 members. The game may not be dying, but it is certainly changing.
To Nick and my friends within the community - I thank you for two great years of turfin.
-FAL.
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Remembering the Freedom Fighters
This week, we remember the rise and fall of the Freedom Fighters Alliance. I was able to speak with 〓APOPHIS〓 and 🔥Latin⌖King🔥on their memories of FF.
MVW: Tell me a little bit about the beginnings of the FF.
Apophis: "When I first started playing turf wars I ran into a player who called himself Spartacus, who eventually ended up being add trifecta. Well, I capped him and he had an alliance of 3 come after me and cap me. After a month we all came to an agreement and became friends.... Until Magna Carta (trifectas other name) back stabbed us bad. I was tired of the back stabbing and being bullied by larger players so I decided to start an alliance. I included the original three I had an agreement with in the new alliance and soon after I ran into kings anarchy and made him my second in command. Then we just went on a hard recruiting drive. At the peak of the alliance I had 40something members. I still have the old spreadsheets of my members mob counts."
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Latin King: "The Freedom Fighters was founded on a principle of protecting smaller players in the Chicago area. No bullying or capping those that couldn't protect themselves. At the time, CMS was the major alliance in Chicago. They let us be as we were not considered a threat. The major threats to small mobs back then were Sparta and GhostLocust. We chased them around the entire Chicagoland area until we were able to pull in the reins on Sparta. GhostLocust just moved on but never really gave up. This brought us a bit of fame in our area, and little by little, bigger players and alliances started to notice. They came knocking on our doors and we took a few beatings. We had help along the way from Taz and Johnson Mob, who trained us and turned us into a fighting alliance that could protect themselves. Most of us didn't even know how to range a player. (Thx JM)"
MVW: Was FF considered a fighting alliance? Or more of a defensive alliance against bullies?
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Apop: "Oh no we were very much so a defensive alliance, always tried to figure situations out diplomatically first. We mostly fought bullies until we kinda ran out of them, then we ended up in a scuffle with 🅱🅾🅰. After that, things were quiet until the Funky Movement came around."
MVW: How many bullies would you say you fought against? Did they change their gameplay at all after having dealt with FF?
Apop: "Not sure about the number tbh but it was usually against players who were either capping our players or they were way over limit and capping inactives - we were big on that...not capping the inactives. We had a big fight with thatdude and roscoe in Illinois....they don't play anymore heheh".
MVW: What are some of your most memorable battles or times being in FF?
Apop: "I think the most fun we really had was going after the players in the funky movement, especially funky 😈lol."
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LK: "I was grateful for all the support given by Taz and JM that I started helping them in The War against TWFC. At this point I had to drop my spot as second in command as The Freedom Fighters did not agree on the direction I wanted to take the alliance. I guess you can say I was the beginning to the end of the Freedom Fighters as I started issues that could not be corrected in time. Little by little players who were good friends wanted to keep fighting at my side and slowly but surely the process started to merge FF with DBR. Apop realized that the only way to enjoy this game was to fight and that was the end of FF. When we merged with DBR I believe our numbers were actually higher than theirs. I always wondered if FF could have kicked their ass. But after fighting with them for a few months I realized that would never happen. DBR lived and fought by the motto.....
DEATH BEFORE RESET -
Oops, almost forgot. Freedom Fighters had a hand in eliminating CMS from Chicago. In time we started to grow and they started considering us a threat because of the people we chose to be fiends with. Chykin and his crew helped us out during that time. I don't recall their name anymore. Sorry.
Side note... We had our comical moments as well. There was a small mobbed player we visited regularly because he had the name Apophis -like our leader. He never knew who we were but we always attacked players around him an left the message "All Hail Apophis" sometimes we would help the guy out telling him he was our leader and we followed his every command. We got him in trouble and in time it backfired on us because we attacked a few allies of Taz as well. Thats a joke not many would forget!"
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MVW: What led to the eventual fall of the FF?
Apop: "We brought in a group of tight knit players, and they've had history fighting with badmrfrosty in Indiana. They reached peace with him before they joined the FF but eventually the crap hit the fan and frosty targeted all of FF, and so did the rest of cms. I remember big jake put a nice whoopin on my turf in Illinois. The pressure from CMS combined with our own internal issues regarding active and nonactive players led to a merger with dbr. I figured if we're going to enter the war against twfc and cms why not just take our most active fighters and merge with a group of experienced fighters that have been fighting since the beginning of the game. Some of our fighters went to the stars instead of dbr. Then a couple weeks later dbr merged with Borg."
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LK: “In time our numbers grew and we started fighting other alliances which I don't recall names anymore with the exception of BOA. In time we felt the need to have a close relationship with other alliances and created a council of sorts with The Union and Happy Hitmen. These two alliances had a different point of view than the direction Apophis was trying to take us. I was more of a fighter and Apop was more of a passive player, not ready to step into war.”
MVW: Where are the members of FF today?
Apop: Raindog, Pretty Boy and Latin King are in The Commission. Bad News, Pao, Indypacers, Stroudler, Pinesap and Spyndle are in the Stars Alliance. Chain and I are in CAPO. The the rest are either solo or not playing anymore.
A big thank you to 〓APOPHIS〓 and 🔥Latin⌖King🔥 for taking the time to remember the Freedom Fighters.
To all who are celebrating Thanksgiving, the VW's wish you all a happy and safe holiday.
Happy Turfing,
〓MrsVWTech〓 -
Couples that turf: bleez and midicus
On November 26, 2013, I sat down with Midicus and Bleez to discuss their history as a TW couple. Together, we discussed the good and bad of playing as a couple.
Brizz: So how did you two meet?
Bleez: We met online on Evony (a war game). Lol. I got stuck in his alliance basically.
Midicus: I was a leader to a group she was forced to join.
Brizz: And what was it that drew you to each other?
Bleez: A guy was being a douche to me. He told him to back off "his girlfriend" lmao.
Brizz: How long after meeting through the game did y'all meet irl?
Bleez: We were friends online for 2 years before meeting in person.
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Brizz: And how did you two make the leap from evony to turf wars?
Bleez: Evony only lasted about a year. We were friends after I quit playing. Then a friend recommended it. She's still about 1,000 mob.
Midicus: Well lots of games in between but a friend of hers recommended it.
Brizz: And which one of you started playing first?
Midicus: Bleez.
Brizz: How did Midi get sucked in?
Bleez: I told him to play.
Midicus: I felt left out of the fun. Actually she just wanted the extra mob, but I got sucked in, as well.
Brizz: During the course of your individual turf wars careers have you felt more like two people who both played, or two people playing together?
Midicus: We try to stay apart in what we do so people don't assume we are the same. She plays her way I play mine.
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Bleez: It's much easier to play a game if your partner does as well. Then I don't have to feel guilty for getting sucked in lol. We play separately.
Brizz: At the same time you say you play separately, you were both in an alliance together: Happy Hitmen. Did your alliance mates know the two of you are engaged?
Bleez: They didn't at first. They do now of course.
Midicus: She joined about 4 days before I did. I was sent the invite but was too small and she met the requirements so I told her to contact Greedo.
Brizz: And what happened next? Did you grow or did she put in a good word for you?
Midicus: I grew. I was given the opportunity to be the first prospect.
Brizz: Being in the same alliance must put you two in more contact than simply playing the game together. Can you remember a time where you butted heads about an issue involving the game?
Midicus: If anything, nothing due to being involved. If you didn't know us you wouldn't have known without being told.
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Bleez: Not really. I mean I did leave mh for a while. And he was still there. We respect each other no matter alliance, so game talk was kept to a minimum then lol.
Brizz: Now that you have played together in the same alliance, can you envision ever playing separately or do you think you'll always be a package deal?
Midicus: We've talked about going different ways. Not a need to stick together in the same alliance. We don't hold each other back. We do as we want.
Bleez: No not a package deal. I tend to speak my mind and butt heads with people. He has his own opinions like I do. And that applies to every aspect. If he wants to play the game differently from me that's perfectly fine.
Midicus: We each have made our own fates in the game. She's the nice one and I've been wiped out many times for not taking crap.
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Brizz: So you definitely have different playing styles!! In one word, each of you sum up the other players style.
Bleez: Aggressive - Mid, lol.
Midicus: What she said.
Brizz: And Mid, describe her.
Midicus: Lover. She's a lover not a fighter.
Brizz: Haha! A perfect balance. Are you that way in real life, too?
Midicus: Shit no! Lol jk she would rather talk it out then fight in some aspects.
Brizz: Midi, how about you? Are you as aggressive?
Bleez: Heck no. He's a teddy bear!
Midicus: (Typed at the same time as Bleez's comment) Nope, I'm a teddy bear.
Brizz: Lol, fair enough. So what would be your best advice for a TW couple?
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Midicus: Play your own way and be yourself. I think the couples that stand out get more drama due to it.
Bleez: No jealousy. It's just a game. Have fun but don't let it run your life. (Wish I could take my own advice haha).
Brizz: Thank you guys so much for agreeing to sit down with me! You are a truly great TW couple.
~💋ƀཞḭʑʑ💋
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The Rumor Mill
Christmas Mega issue?
Rumors are circulating regarding an end of year mega issue of the TTnews. The issue will feature a "year in review" section as well as interviews with two of the games best players.
Starting this week, the TTnews will begin posting questions to the community in order to assemble the 2013 year in review. All discussions and voting will take place in the [turf tales news room] on palringon. The first category will be "rookie of the year" award. Each category can contain 5-10 nominations. Join the TTNews room to participate!
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Classifieds:
Player name: ∞-№ɵƔӓᏲ-∞
Mob count: 2,893
Current turf count: 30
Stamina: 51
Comments: looking for a fresh start. Seeks mentor to help train and point in right direction.Player name: ☁STRΛTΘSPHΣRΣ⚡
Mob count: 11,631
Current turf count: 398
Stamina: 163
Play style: Flexible. Formerly a fighting ranger. Looking for a new home and open to different options.
Credentials: Former M@dhitmen, former M@dfam, former union.Player name: ☣✠ꀨᙃεϻφꀨ✠☣
Mob count: 11,904
Current turf count: 212
Stamina: 96
Play style: flexible. Will build or fight. Whatever is needed.
Credentials: Former M@dhitmen. -
Total post time: 52 mins
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Damn good read into history ! Thank you Fallacy and happy holidays 👏👏👏
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Awesome read as usual team. Thanks for all your efforts.
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Great Read. 👍
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Awesome job news team. Wish I was punching when that newb flood happened :(
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Nice read!
Great interviews both!
I've noticed that the mods on TW aren't as transparent in their forum bans and etc. When compared to other games I've played, such as posting reasons for deleting topics as it would be good to see the reasons. Also having a forum code of conduct would help.
This would mean that it's clearer, in terms of what is expected on the forums. Other games have temporary and permanent bans, which can be reset after a period of time depending on the reason - this could be a way to bring back some of the good "personalities" to the TW forums.
This is just my personal view in terms of some constructive criticism with a potential solution, and my 2 cents.
I just want the best for the TW community, as it's definitely unique, and there needs to be some ways to address the "changing" nature of TW that was mentioned in this issue, and it is a reoccurring theme. -
Great job news team as always 👍
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