NHSD: SoCal Slaughter! 2017

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by hivelord

Saturdays in October are pretty booked for me this year. I'd be a maybe for the 21st and would for sure have to duck out right after the tourney part and the pops would be a no. Pretty sure I'm busy on the 14th during that exact time slot as well but I'll check. FWIW, my Sundays the 8th and 22nd are free and clear.

Awww. I'll be so bummed if you guys can't make it.

But I can hang on either the 14th or the 21st. And I could do any of the Sundays ... although the 8th is probably too soon. Now, I can't say about the rest of my crew—there may be at least one church conflict—but the kids and I at least are fine for pretty much any given Sunday.

[warriorneedsfoodbadly]

Just moved rec room reservation from 10/21 to 10/14.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by warriorneedsfoodbadly

Just moved rec room reservation from 10/21 to 10/14.

Okay! 10/14 is coming up on us fast. We gotta start getting ready. Anyone want to jump in and talk about maps, or anything else? I'll start trying to pin down as many of the crew on my side as I can.

[hivelord]

It's starting to look more like I can skip out on my prior thing and be there. Hopefully I can drag the pops along as well.

If we do go, you know I'm always good for a couple maps.

[warriorneedsfoodbadly]

I can make 2 and I'm not choosy.
Anyone want to look up new maps that have been approved?

[Detrimentalman]

I should hopefully make it. I won’t weigh in on the date as I’m fairly open as long as work doesn’t throw a curve ball.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by warriorneedsfoodbadly

I can make 2 and I'm not choosy.
Anyone want to look up new maps that have been approved?

Sure, I'll hunt down the maps and do my spreadsheet thing again, most likely this weekend. Hopefully by that point I'll know how many I'm bringing, and then we'll have a ballpark on how many people are coming (and therefore how many maps we need).

[S1R_ART0R1US]

Have fun guys, I won't be able to make it-my wedding is that day

[warriorneedsfoodbadly]

Congratulations! Have an awesome honeymoon!
Any chance the both of you will join us next year?

[michaeltaylor]

Definitely yes!

[Xotli]

Okay, so it looks like michaeltaylor is a definite, I think Leo is a definite, hivelord and pop and Dman still a maybe. I was supposed to get at least most of the way towards a final count on my crew tonight, but it didn't happen. So I've updated the top post with all that info.

Based on all that, I think we should count on needing 7 maps, maybe 8 (if we're lucky). I went back and found my map eval from last year, updated it, and added the new maps from the ARV. NOTE! Some ARV maps are not here in the downloads area yet, so I didn't include those. There were still plenty of new choices to consider (marked in the list).

Spoiler Alert!

• Marr Highway – still too long and skinny
• Embattled Fen – still meh
• Turret Rocks – unutterably boring
• Mole Hills – still a bit not-much-there-there
• Arctic Divide – 'sokay, but we used it last year
• Highways and Dieways – I mean, it's okay ... we used to use it a lot, but haven't in a long while
• Ember Canyon Road – I will always hate this map
• The Broken Skyline – other than being a wet dream for anyone with Protectors or AE, I don't see a lot of point to this one
• Ruins of Pine Tree Marsh – still meh
• Hot Heights – not a terrible alternative to If you can't take the heat...
• Swamp Thing – still a pretty good map, but also used last year
• Road Rampage – still meh
• Fire Isles – still not better than Hot Heights
• Ice Blossom – I was sick of it for a long time, but now it's been 3 years since we've used it
• Flash Fire – still feels a bit crowded, but maybe that's not such a bad thing
• Badru Valley – one of those line-up-on-either-side-of-a-big-field maps ... meh
• Ticalla Sunrise – good swamp map, but used the past several years
• If you can't take the heat... – vaguely interesting; we did it two years ago, but it could be time to revisit
• Sidewinder – meh ... we did it 2 years ago, and it was okaaaayy ...
• Invasion – a good swamp map, possibly even better than Swamp Thing, but used last year
• Can't see the jungle... – for a map called "can't see the <wooded area>," it feels a bit light on trees
• Fossil – still not a fan
• Fulcrum – what is up with the line-up-on-either-side-of-a-big-field maps?
• Elswin Plateau – still a bit flat, but at least it provides some variety
• Quasatch Playground – it's not bad, but I'm starting to get a little tired of it
• Blackroot – meh: I got bored with it for a while, and I'm not sure I'm over that yet
• Burial Marsh – I remember this one ... but not fondly
• Bad Moon Rising – used 3 out of the last 4 years (but not last year), so I don't think it's time for it to come back
• Stygian Rift – a pretty cool dungeon/lava map, used last year for the first time
• Sirocco – we've seen this the last 3 years in a row, but it's still not bad
• Draugur – a decent dungeon/shadow map, but perhaps time to give it a rest
• Dance of the Dryads – not too shabby, and only ever used once (last year)
• Ruined Pier – [NEW MAP] BOOOORING!
• Desecrated Mine – [NEW MAP] like a combination of several other familiar maps, but could be interesting
• From the Ashes – [NEW MAP] a weird one: line-up-on-either-side-of-a-big-field + lots of walls + lava field; different, but I'm not yet convinced that's a good thing
• Savage Corridor – [NEW MAP] an intersting take on a swamp map, though a bit flat
• April – [NEW MAP] a really weird swamp + ice map; I think I want to try this one this year for sure

And I've condensed that into my top 10 choices:
For sure:

1. April
2. Desecrated Mine
3. Dance of the Dryads
4. Stygian Rift
5. Sirocco
6. If you can't take the heat ...
7. Flash Fire

Maybe:

1. Savage Corridor
2. Ice Blossom
3. Elswin Plateau

And I've found a spreadsheet configuration that will work for those top 7, but it relies on hivelord being present. If he can't make it, I'll have to rearrange (but that should reduce the map count by 1, so it should theoretically work out). Anyways, I will work on nailing my side down as much as possible, and hopefully @hivelord can confirm one way or the other. Sorry to be a nag, but we've only got 6 days at this point, and I haven't even started to consider armies. So we've got to put a nail in the map coffin tootsweet.

Any feedback guys?

[hivelord]

Pops and I are in. Though we haven't thought about armies at all either.