[With less than 24 hours to go till Rock2ober 2016, OneManClan sat down with AGRMania for an exclusive chat]
AGRMania: Less than 24 hours to go, until the biggest TF game of the year commences. How do you feel?
OMC: Nervous, excited, anxious, and focused.
AGRMania: We’ve had reports that you’re just about to release the Movie of last years Rock2ober
OMC: That’s true, it’s being uploaded as we speak [EDIT: It’s HERE]
AGRMania: What took so long?
OMC: There are many reasons for the delay, I don’t really want to go into them now, but lets just say I’m glad it’s out, and I hope fans will think the wait was worth it.
AGRMania: I hear the new movie features a special new camera.
OMC: Ok, well by the time this interview comes out, people will have seen the video, so yes, I can confirm that the movie features a new camera, which for the first time ever, can film a player from the front.
AGRMania: Like a selfie cam?
OMC: [laughs] Yes, exactly. Damn, JJ should have called it that in the movie, we couldn’t figure out what to call it.
AGRMania: The sneak preview I saw had extreme closeups of the players face, is the idea to show their emotions?
OMC: Yes, AGR players have expressions, something difficult to spot in the first two AGR Movies. You have to get real close to see them. People unfamiliar to AGR might not even know that players faces show emotion. The other thing is that its quite interesting to watch a game from angles noone has seen before.
AGRMania: And I heard it features Sgt.Thundercok himself
OMC: Yes, the Rock2ober 2015 Movie features special guest star Sgt.Thundercok, the architect of rock2
AGRMania: How did you find him?
OMC: I put up a bunch of posts years ago, and finally, word got to him. It was amazing to have him there, and made the day complete.
AGRMania: So what’s he like as a player?
OMC: You’ll have to watch the movie to see!
AGRMania: Will he be playing this year?
OMC: I don’t know, he’s on the AGR Mailing List so he knows about it.. I might double check, thanks for reminding me.
AGRMania: Will there be new stuff in Rock2ober 2016?
OMC: Well, I was very careful this year to introduce new things to AGR slowly, over the months leading to Rock2ober.
AGRMania: You mean tested at the Weekly AGR Sessions?
OMC: Exactly. So those who play every weekend have seen all the new stuff, those who haven’t played for a while will get some new surprises.
AGRMania: Including the Abomination?
OMC: Yes, including the Abomination
AGRMania: Do you think you’ll get 32 players this year?
OMC: I’m always hopeful. I know we haven’t hit 32/32 for years now, but I’ve tried my best to maintain consistency, to make the Weekly AGR Sessions an institution, to provide a steady stream of info to those on the AGR Mailing List, and every Q1TF player in the world by now should have heard of AGR. The Rock2ober videos have had thousands of views, so everyone who cares, should already know about AGR, and personally, I find it hard to believe that 32 people in the entire world aren’t available to play at the same time.
AGRMania: Is this why you created the AGR Alarm?
OMC: Exactly. Rather than waste time looking for games, you just put yourself on the standby list, and the AGRAlarm lets YOU know when your game is ready. If this idea takes off, it could mean the return of 32 player games.
AGRMania: You really think the AGR Alarm will bring back the days of packed Q1 servers?
OMC: If everyone starts using, it, and word spreads, then yes, yes, yes. It’s a matter of getting the word out, and people getting into the habit of just logging in whenever they are available, even if no one else is at the time.
AGRMania: In 2016, is the audience for AGR the old skool players, or new players?
OMC: Both. The old skool Gurus are the heart and spirit of AGR, but we need new players to replace us. The kids are the future.
AGRMania: Because people die.
OMC: Yes, because people die.
AGRMania: Ok, back to Rock2ober, what class do you think you’ll play?
OMC: I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.
AGRMania: You’ve done this knifing thing every year, why bother with your ping, especially when you already have other skills which might make a bigger difference to the result?
OMC: I don’t know, I spend a lot of time engineering, standing in the same area, and eventually, I need to run around a bit, it’s Rock2ober after all, I want to say hi to everyone.
AGRMania: ..and stab them?
OneManClan: Exactly!
AGRMania: Professor Watts seemed to blame you for Blues loss in Rock2ober 2014 movie part 1.
OMC: I know, he’s a silly old duffer; he might be a genius, and he and JJ might be expert commentators, but they aren’t in the game, and so are in no position to judge.
AGRMania: I didn’t know their comments got to you.
OMC: Well he also made some comment about how I wasn’t coming up with an ‘original position’ for my wardens side D equipment, well if you’re listening to this Professor, Rock2ober is NOT a time for experimentation, its a time to apply proven techniques. Every Saturday and Sundays at the Weekly AGR Sessions, we play AGR (tastyspleen.net:26666), and *that* is the place for experimentation, NOT Rock2ober, the most important game of the year.
AGRMania: Anything else you’d like to add?
OMC: I hope people enjoy the movie, I hope people spread the word about AGR, and the Weekly AGR Sessions, and I look forward to seeing everyone at Rock2ober 2016!
“AGRMania: We’ve had reports that you’re just about to release the Movie of last years Rock2ober
OMC: That’s true, it’s being uploaded as we speak [EDIT: It’s HERE]”
Great work on the movie!
I find that a major imperative on defense is to spread out to expand as much ground as possible. The more chokepoints that reds have to fight their way past, the *longer* the time it takes them to punch through, giving defenders more opportunities to respawn, rebuild, and resummon. More enemies and traps means an exponentionally more difficult defense to overcome.
A close second to having a sprawling defense with lots of builds and summons is to have effective counter-spy and counter-thief options deployed. Hacked motion sensors and players with scanners and a keen sense of awareness are quite important for slowing some of the more destructive strategies.
As blue, look at your fellow defenders and ask yourself this question: If an attacker was disguised and came bunny-hopping through here throwing mirvs, what’s the best way for me to stop them? What is the best defensive setup to minimize losses from a mirv or other grenade spam?
Blue Defense: Spread out, make sure you don’t bunch up. Use grenades, sentries, mines, or summons to expand coverage across every entryway in the base, which delays attackers and gives you time to replace lost defenses (or for lost defenders to respawn).
Red Attackers: Watch out for “Staggered Respawning”, where you and your allies are going in one-by-one and not getting much done, rather than together as a group, where you can address multiple threats while continuing to push into the base. Awareness of your allies’ status is crucial to giving you an advantage. While one-by-one you might each be surprised by an enemy trap, if you are moving in while watching each others’ backs, then the rest of your team can push forward bofore a triggered trap gets reset, rebuilt, or resummoned.
EXCELLENT points, and I agree 100%!!
I joked during one of the games (3?) that all the Blues in the wardens office were basically begging Red to “please spam mirv grenades in here”!!
Those spies, though! Sneaky, dirty dogs! 😀 great work, spies.