new to fummbl, where to start ?

[JaM]

Title says it all really,...

I'd like to have a shot at this, where do I begin ?
What to do if I actually want to play Chaos Pact, am I S.O.L. ?

I just want a game now and then, is academy vialble/fun ? Or should I try black box ?

I've never used Undead, so I will probably go with that. Might go Chaos though, or something else...
Are there definite no-no's there ?
And how long does a match normally take, give-or-take ?

Thanks all !

JaM

p.s. I am not really looking for a league ro anything, just want to try this out and see if it 'works' for me. So I am looking for 1-5 games I think.

Or there about.

[Don__Vito]

If you're looking for games as and when and want them quick, Blackbox is the best division. There is a scheduled draw every fifteen minutes, and if the sites busy you have a very good chance of getting drawn. Slower times may take an activation or two.

Academy for now is a no go, uses the old client with LRB4 rules and no one uses it.

[dsavillian]

Is the [L]eague a good place to try and get some learning matches in? I was thinking of trying it by just running a team that's not in a league, but trying to get one-off matches to help learn the client.

[Don__Vito]

League is the most relaxed current rules division, with no rules on matchups or repeat games vs the same opponent. If you just want to practice vs some friends that would be the best, if you want competetive games vs new opponents Blackbox is the way to go. Ignore the 'League' title, you don't have to be part of a league to play in it.

[spubbbba]

If you are an experienced coach then lackbox division is fine, but it can be kind of brutal and tends to be dominated by bashy teams, it doesn't take coaching skill into account so you could easily face someone very good. However you don't have to worry about getting picked on as you will be randomly matched against a team that is roughly equal to your own.

[R]anked is a good once you get the hang of the client and want a say in what opposition you face, it can be pretty quiet at certain times and there is a knack to getting games (using something squishy like elves makes it easier and using bashy teams like dwarfs makes it harder).

Both these divisions are "competitive" which means you have to play to win, so it would be against the rules to deliberately play badly to give your opponent a chance if you are training him.

[L]eague division is the best place for training games as you can play the same coach as much as you want (there are restrictions on this in [R] division) and you can play extremely unbalance games if you want, so 11 rookie snotlings with no inducements vs 2500TV tooled up chaos. The main difficulty is finding someone to play you, so it's probably best to ask in the forum or chat and find someone willing to make the time.
Once you're fully hooked then look at joining a league as they are fun and most are far more competitive than either [R] or

[A]cademy is still using the old client and is very quiet so I'd advise against playing in it.

[Darkson]

Is there any league where you can issue challenges to teams above/below/at your TV, like the rules suggest?

[burgun824]

The only issue with BlackBox is that you will likely encounter a number of Super Bash teams that are built solely to destroy you. The dreaded ClawPOMB with min/maxing your team combines in the box for a devestating combo because you have no control over who you're going to be scheduled against.

Overall though BlackBox is a lot of fun. I still prefer leagues myself.

[JaM]

Thanks guys ! Very helpful.

[burgun824]

Is there any league where you can issue challenges to teams above/below your TV, like the rules suggest?

Ranked division. You schedule your own matches there and you are much less likely to find an overabundance of ClawPOMB because people won't play you if you have it. Unfortunately it's not as easy to get a match scheduled in that division because it completely depends on who is on at the time you want to play. Still not bad though.

[JaM]

Made a CPact team in BBox. I'll see how it goes.

[spubbbba]

Is there any league where you can issue challenges to teams above/below your TV, like the rules suggest?

Ranked division. You schedule your own matches there and you are much less likely to find an overabundance of ClawPOMB because people won't play you if you have it. Unfortunately it's not as easy to get a match scheduled in that division because it completely depends on who is on at the time you want to play. Still not bad though.

Not quite true, in [R]anked division you need to be within 15% TV to play.

[L]eague division is the closest to a tabletop style experience where you can play against any other team in the division you wish with no restrictions. You can create a league with an open round robin system or scheduled leagues and cups, i'm not sure if it's possible to have a true open league where you can play the same team more than once though and have the site keep track of points. But you can all join the same group and keep track manually.

[burgun824]

Not quite true, in [R]anked division you need to be within 15% TV to play.

Did not know that. I've only ever played a handful of games in [R]anked so I'm by no means an expert on it's intracacies. Thanks for correcting me.

[dsavillian]

to [L] for me then!

I'll have to see if I can find a match or two this weekend

[JaM]

Also made a Dwarf team, figuring that making mistakes with them are more easily to compensate.
Besides, they all come with a decent set of skills...

Lost 0-3 to a high elf team. Made a fw mistakes but did some weird things with the players. Some moved too far, or not there where I wanted at all. Misclick happens, it seems. But I think I have most of the controls figured out now, though. More or less.
Lost a runner to a -1 AG. Bummer !

If only I knew how to 'chat', and how to see how many rerolls you have left. That would be cool. Just like standing up and moving, 'just'' standing up took me a few turns to 'get'.

So far, so good. Game took me about an hour, so that's okay I guess.

[Hitonagashi]

Also made a Dwarf team, figuring that making mistakes with them are more easily to compensate.
Besides, they all come with a decent set of skills...

Depends...on one hand, you are highly unlikely to lose a team.

On the other hand, dwarves are *really* hard to play well. They require a good positional sense, because you are so slow, the slightest misposition can leave you horribly exposed.

Orcs are a good team to learn the interface with, durable and forgiving of mistakes.