1: There may have been some bad blood between HV (us) and APEX (them). We were, in the end, absolutely obsessed with taking them out. After getting zeroed, we threw hands over twelve hours and earned a net total of 400 tickets. During all this, when the rare "why are we doing this?" was put before the team, the reply was usually insane lightning-themed memes and a distilled (my own) simple summary: "because fuck those guys. Everybody hates those guys."
2: We don't like APEX, but man we really *respect* APEX. You guys earned this win by being the toughest bastards on the field. We know you earned this, because you earned it over our broken bodies.
3: I'm not gonna really talk about how Gold Dust is getting absolutely rinsed right now, but I do want to say that the above screenshot stars my faction brother LuckyLucci running the GD push calls. He turns 50 days old tomorrow, so give him some love ok?
And yes, we know what we got; no you can't have him. PopZ for life.
This was my first, so let's all not pretend I have much in the way of expertise here.
That said, I think we the Peasants are about to get eliminated and everybody has an opinion as to why. And, as I love a good read as much as the next guy, feel free to add your own.
But that's not why I made this post. I think there is an understated reason why the Village Idiots got wrecked first, and why we will be following along. It's the tie-breaker rules. Village Idiots had the fewest attack wins as a team, and the Peasants had the second-fewest. Sure, tickets are an important way to keep your head above water but the Village Idiots had 2300 tickets at the start of the life clock, and within 40 minutes were in the dumpster along with us Peasants. It was a knife-fight in a phone booth from that point on.
And yes they would win a round or two, but they always got burned by the tie-breaker. When we surged together in an act of pure carnage, frequently we would both be bereft of tickets at the end. And then the Village Idiots would lose a life. That tie-breaker killed the Idiots.
Now it's our turn. So lessons to learn?
1) Embrace your new players. Get them to stack and get them to go ham in the first 24 hours. If you want to win Eliminations, you need that tie-breaker in your favor. And new players are the most likely to bail early on. Get their kills before they leave.
2) Getting that body count high will also net you some tickets. Village Idiots could not hang onto theirs, but their body count was so low I think they would be a target with 8,000 tickets in hand. But if the body-count is in your favor, tickets are currency for the alliance.
3) When you are in the dumpster, that tie-breaker is everything. So target the teams that are lower than you. Use every advantage you have.
If I am right, and I think I am, we should know right away. So I wish the Metalheads the very best of luck, and maybe (with some effort and campaigning) they can wrest the tie-breaker from Pink Power while it still matters.
So, I have more time on my hands than I have good sense. Here goes nothing:
Imagine a Summer Annual event.
To start: all territories are dropped into an “uncontrolled” state. Nobody owns nothing.
The event begins with the lowest RW factions getting access to the territories. If they have capacity, they can control any unoccupied territory still available. With each passing tick of time (hours? days?), more factions are granted access to the map.
As more factions spill in, available space will disappear. Now the real event begins. Any territory may be contested, and most will be occupied by weaker factions. These Territory Wars can be the standard model, or they can be abbreviated versions with lower “sporting” requirements. Winner keeps the territory.
The event ends after a certain number of ticks after the final “big boy” factions take the field. Territory Wars resume to normal rules (if adjusted), and awards are given out for Territory Held and other considerations (time under control, # of fights, etc.)
Factions earn Respect and other territory-related bonuses based on their RW tier.
There is so much design space for an event like this, but it doesn’t have to happen on Year One. One can iterate on this idea.
Benefits: Territory Chaos! That part of the game is frozen in time, and no one wants to risk anything. This event could energize a part of the game that sounds like fun, but most of us never get a chance to see. Imagine if EVERYONE had a chance to claim their own tiny corner of TORN, even if it were just for a day.
And really, the big dogs will run the junkyard at the end. But it will take time and effort for them too, which is the fun part.
So I was just Rank and File HV Grunt, but to answer your question:
Of course we did. Apex wasn't the slightest bit interested. Why would they be? They had won the competition at that point. They had us in a sleeper hold, and they were well aware of the 1v1 matchup to follow.
We fought hard to save RS, and even harder to oust SnS. Both times we had the help of a very capable Reptilian squad doubling our efforts. But when it came down to the final three GD was the deciding factor, and Apex already had them. Apex had no reason to dissolve their guaranteed ascension, just so they could team up with us to eat a cupcake.
1: There may have been some bad blood between HV (us) and APEX (them). We were, in the end, absolutely obsessed with taking them out. After getting zeroed, we threw hands over twelve hours and earned a net total of 400 tickets. During all this, when the rare "why are we doing this?" was put before the team, the reply was usually insane lightning-themed memes and a distilled (my own) simple summary: "because fuck those guys. Everybody hates those guys."
2: We don't like APEX, but man we really *respect* APEX. You guys earned this win by being the toughest bastards on the field. We know you earned this, because you earned it over our broken bodies.
3: I'm not gonna really talk about how Gold Dust is getting absolutely rinsed right now, but I do want to say that the above screenshot stars my faction brother LuckyLucci running the GD push calls. He turns 50 days old tomorrow, so give him some love ok?
And yes, we know what we got; no you can't have him. PopZ for life.
OOOHH yes! Random re-seating after every elimination! Or, just f’rinstance, you could reseat based on ticket count: highest ticket team picks first, eyc.
So, this season's Eliminations are sometimes very exciting, and sometimes quite dull. There is a moment of high-anxiety when a team is on their last legs, and we all wonder who is next? Then the scapegoat is revealed, and we all spend the next 12 hours maintaining the pecking order and staying balanced on tickets.
This is optimal play for the event. This is what all future Eliminations will look like.
I think we can do better.
MY IDEA, SUCH AS IT IS: This is actually a pretty common mechanic in other games, and I think it would add some fascinating politicking and random trash to the inexorable push to find the Winners.
Imagine the twelve teams in a big circle. Everybody has a neighbor on either side. What if tickets were only exchanged between neighbors? I can attack any team at all, but I only gather tickets by attacking my nearest neighbors.
No more 8v2 fights. No more scapegoats. Everybody has a vested interest in a focused assault on the teams closest to them, and your biggest ally becomes your biggest threat once the intervening team is eliminated.
The scoreboard becomes unpredictable. The updates become an intense experience. Ticket hoarding becomes fantastically difficult.
And, best of all, there is no obvious optimal play at the start. You have to negotiate with your neighbors, and your neighbors' neighbor.
I think there are problems with the idea as well, but i think we all agree that this year has been a bit...mild. We want more chaos!
This is rather a dull take, from someone who should have a better grasp of the matters at hand. YES, much of Eliminations is decided in the cattle trading that occurs at the highest levels of Leadership. However: your ability to gel as a team, construct a safe and secure method of communications, organize your push leaders, gather resources to support those who have less, and cull your team of disinterested participants is entirely up to the team to figure out on their own.
The cut and thrust of Ranked Wars is somewhat dampened by the simple fact that the vast majority are termed well before the first shot is fired. If you feel Eliminations does not hold your interest, that may be a you problem.
Looking back, it happened to me a second time the night previous:
22:38:37 - 14/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Meltdown race! The upgrade Front Mounted Intercooler was lost. [View]
22:38:36 - 14/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Meltdown race! The upgrades Front Diffuser, Ultra-Light Flywheel and Polyurethane Bushings Rear were lost. [View]
That was a different car (I have several of this model, as do many others) and I just thought I had overloaded the standard alert text field with all of my broken parts. Do you want details on this crash as well?
16:00:15 - 16/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Commerce race! The upgrades Adjustable Rear Control arms and Racing Steering Wheel were lost. [View]
16:02:52 - 16/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Commerce race! The upgrades 4 Pin Differential, Lower Front Strut Brace and Bored Out Engine + Forged Pistons were lost. [View]
16:04:02 - 16/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Commerce race! The upgrades Race Overalls FIA Approved and Track Tires were lost. [View]
16:08:17 - 16/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Commerce race! The upgrades Competition Racing Camshaft and Rear Diffuser were lost. [View]
16:09:46 - 16/02/26 You have crashed your Edomondo NSX on the Commerce race! The upgrades Full Exhaust System and Air Forced Engine Cooling were lost. [View]
FIVE crashes, and spread over ten minutes.
A) Def a bug, def affecting your racing population.
B) I can't afford to repair all this; will there be any rollback possible? C) Can I see the crash footage? Ten minutes of rolling and shedding parts must have been spectacular!
This armor, combined with a bloodlust weapon, would lead to a broken and derivative strategy (potentially - testing required). This effect would have to be massaged to compensate for potential effects like this.
Leadership chooses the path, then builds governance to provide guidance. Leadership provides messaging, which gives clarity to the rank and file. Everyone knows their part in the machine that marches to the goal.
In our case, we learned all of that on the fly and way too late to catch up from our early incoherence. By the end, we were a team but it came far too late to change the outcome.
But I learned a lot. And we have nine more losers to consider before things wrap up so keep your microphone handy, yeah?
See? This is exactly what I was thinking! The tie-breaker is a killer for the early game. You don't need to be in first, but you really want to avoid being last.
An anonymous Idiot tells me of widespread disorganization on their team. I think, then, that teams should focus on coherent messaging and encouraging participation from all levels to gain that advantage at the start.
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