Here are the cold hard facts for EVERYONE who complained, whined, flamed, argued, or did anything negative last night.


1. Tie-breaker Issues on Unbroken Sovereignty

As Max stated, there is an upstanding agreement between myself and him, as the highest ranking officials within our factions, that any and all tie breaker rounds will be played with WHATEVER team we decide to put forward, regardless of amount of games previously played. This was mainly to ensure our BEST team, that is, the team we feel as the best chance of winning, is able to play, as in any tie breaker, one wants their best people taking part in said tie breaker.

It was MY understanding that any subordinate officer of myself of Max would uphold this agreement out of respect for both their leaders choice and their opposing leaders understanding. Personally, I would not allow one of my Officers to change my descision on an issue, alas, this is my personal feeling, and if Max has no issues with Fuzzy changing that issue and that Max not being present void's our agreement, so be it. The final descision was made by Mythonian, which I was not happy about as he had clearly stated both during the agreement being made, and at a second point in the night that it would be between myself and LilxDevon, that he would remain out of the issue, which clearly he did not do during the first issue. Regardless of personal feelings, after my little upset moment, we continued on under Mythonian's choice as he is the Forerunner primarily in charge of Battle Logistics.

The idea it took 30 mins to get from game 4 to Game 5 in the Invasion set on Unbroken Sovereignty is crap. These are the records from BUNGIE linked in THE STATBOOK which show you otherwise. They ARE NOT wrong, so once again, get the facts.

Game 4: B.L.U.E. Mix vs Violeny By Design - Game Link
Game Start: 4:27PM EST
Game End: 4:46PM EST
Run Time: 19 Minutes

Game 5: 105th vs R.E.D.D. Mix - Game Link
Game Start: 4:35PM EST
Game End: 4:49
Run Time: 14 Minutes

It tooka grand total of 8 WHOLE MINUTES to get things sorted out and put on track, MUCH shorter than the 20 - 30 Minutes some people have proposed. Once again, get your facts before you run your mouth, complain, and cause problems on the forums.

Whether you agree or not with the agreement Max and I came to, it is how we will continue to do our tie-breakers unless we decide otherwise. The choice is between the leaders of each army for that night it would seem, and I am sure both Max and I will be clearing up with our Officers what is to happen in the future regarding issues like this and how we will go about it should one of us not be here, and I doubt there will be future problems. If you have an issue with said policy, talk to your FM rather than complaining on the forums like children. That being said, don't be children and flame back at them. Both sides need to grow up and stop whining over things THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OF. Complaining/whining is a reason drama starts.


2. VbD Being Over Played

This is not happening. Period. I'll start by quoting Mythonian...

Number of games isn't the important thing to take from that section of the Statbook. In dealing with "who plays most," look at the AvgGames, which weighs it by number of battle nights attended.

Top 10 for AvgGames:
  • REDD Mix: 6.125
  • 21st Degree: 5.750
  • 2nd Assault: 5.200
  • Violent by Design: 4.800
  • Nightmare: 4.667
  • 105th ODSTs: 4.500
  • Foxtrot: 4.400
  • Scarecrow: 4.375
  • Echo: 3.500
  • Ice: 3.000

From those statistics, we see that both REDD and BLUE have 5 of the top 10. Those are the squads that: (1) have more members and/or (2) are more active. This is weighted by the number of battle nights attended, and therefore is a much more accurate representation of the amount they've been used in the wars. Using this scale, we see that VbD is down by less than a single game on average. Seeing this, it is obvious that neither army are over-playing a single, specific squad.

That's statistics for you.
These were the statistics are from the conclusion of the Titan Park battle the previous Battle Night. In terms of tonights play, here are the two squads with the most games...

R.E.D.D. - VbD with 9 Games played
B.L.U.E. - B.L.U.E. Mix with 11 Games played

There is no overplaying of squads, it is a lack of activity by others. As you can see, we have one squad very active playing our games in our rotation consistantly. Due to activity issues tonight, B.L.U.E. was forced to field a mixed unit which took up most of the games for them. Remember, once Invasion finished and Anchor 9 got under way, VbD has 8 members online, that is 2 games they can play at the same time due to their activity, not them being overplayed.

Also keep in mind VbD had one extra game at the END of the Battle Night as PER ROTATION but as B.L.U.E. did not field teams, they were forced to forefeit Cardinal, thus stopping our rotation one game short of it being a one time roation (The last VbD game would have started the second rotation for the R.E.D.D. tonight).

Max and I also have a system we use that rotates the squads EVENLY and FAIRLY. I encourage you all to look into the Statbook at all previous nights, and you will see this very clearly. Obviously, a system needs to be put into place so that it is not just Max and I who have the rotation order, and such, this will be something the WC will look at in the coming week to eliminate the problem for future battle nights.


3. Stacking Vs Skilled Squads

To start, I will quote the accords for you.
Note: I have excluded the Platoon - Battalion portion as they have no relevance here.

2. Army Structure

2.1 Fireteams
•Number of soldiers: 4-6 soldiers.
•Description: A Fireteam is an optional subdivision of a squad.
•Details:
→CO rank: Any Senior Enlisted member
→XO Rank: Any Senior Enlisted member
To note, a fireteam is OPTIONAL and thus is not required to be formed. This is important for the next point.

2.2 Squads
•Number of soldiers: 8-12 soldiers.
•Description: A squad is the primary element of the Army Structure.
•Details:
→CO rank: Chief Warrant Officer
→XO Rank: Warrant Officer
This is where we come to talk about skilled squads. Everyone can see the outline for a squad above, and hopefuly everyone understands is principle purpose and function within an army.

A skilled squad is a group of people who may or may not be friends, who play together CONSISTANTLY under one name and location with minimal changes to the group's numbers and members. Regardless of wording, a squad is one group of people who may or may not use subs when numbers are lower than capacity.

VbD is one of these skilled squads. They have had very little to no changes in members, the exception being new recruits and the few substitutes they may need when not all of their members are online. They practice together, play together, and most are good friends.

Stacking is when a leader puts together a mixed team of people, breaking usual groupings to gain an unfair advantage over an opponent. This can also be aided by last minute recruiting of skilled players, often called Last Minute Generals (Or LMG's) during the Halo 3 wars when the idea of Stacking first came about.

VbD is not this. They are not put together by anyone last minute, they are not mixed up members of the R.E.D.D. who are thrown into matches to easily beat B.L.U.E. They are a skilled squad within our faction who are, like it or not, a skilled team. Mixing up members WITHIN a Squad is NOT STACKING. As stated in Accords, fireteams, who are normally 4 man teams, and OPTIONAL and thus mixing up within a squad is not stacking at all. Bringing in other members from outside their squad to gain an advantage is.

If B.L.U.E. wants an example closer to home, 21st Degree is ALSO a skilled squad, not a stacked team. They play consistantly together, practice together, most are friends, and only sub when they need more numbers. They are not thrown together last minute and thus are not a stacked unit, rather a skilled squad. Learn the difference.

There is a major difference in these two things, and the bullshit about stacking that goes BOTH WAYS needs to stop right the hell now. It's pointless, causes drama, and makes people look and act in stupid ways, becoming people they really are not. Grow up.


4. Video By Carpe

I have never seen a more pointless, horribly distorted, and terribly inaccurate post in my 5 years here. Flat out Carpe, you were horribly wrong in how you took what Trevor said and that is a fact, further proven after Scarekro and I spoke just after you posted that.

Scarekro and I spoke not long after this was posted, both agreeing that what he said was twisted WAY out of context, and neither he nor I are happy about how it was twisted for the purpose in which it was used.

Scarekro has issues outside of FC he is taking care of, as well as not enjoying the fun of this community thanks to things like what has been discussed above, and such, this is why he feels no urge to play Halo at this time. His concern I would be upset with him are based on me holding my Senior Officers to a high standard of being active role models for members of this community, something you would only know IF YOU ACTUALLY WORKED AS AN OFFICER OF MINE which very FEW of you have in B.L.U.E. After Trevor and I spok,e he is aware that if he has a reason for not wanting to participate, he need not worry, and simply talk to me, which we both understand. What happened tonight with him not wanting to play and me throwing him into games was MISCOMMUNICATION and not this twisted idea of me forcing him to play or else. Get your facts straight.

The notion of The Arena is an issue with some R.E.D.D. members being unwilling to contribute and participate in army wide activities and policies. It is an internal matter, and is the business soley of those involved. If you want even more detail, I AM NOT EVEN INVOLVED in said issue, it is between an Officer and his subordinates.

Carpe, I am very dissapointed someone like you, who does so much for this place, would post something like this in such a misinformed fashion with very little details, twisting something so far out of context. I'm giving you some advice you may or may not take, don't do it anymore, it dosn't look good on you, and just causes drama. If you have an actual concern, bring it to either myself, Maxdoggy, or a Forerunner, rather than cause drama, unless that is what you want to do, I honestly don't know.

When you combine that with editing your posts to cover what you said to Andimion, I'm disgusted. As a member with a VERY prestigious and important position such as yourself (Being the Sergeant Major of the B.L.U.E.), when you make a statement, please stand by it. If you spoke wrong, or had a change of heart, say so, do not go and cover up what you've said to someone because you're fearing you may get into trouble. If you're worried what you said is going to get you into said trouble, I suggest you take more time in posting things in the future to be sure you don't get yourself in trouble. As stated, you do good things here, and we need every person who will contribute to the community.

I got no problems with you Carpe, but I'm not impressed by this at all. I feel you are a much more mature person than this, and that you may have been reacting before you had all the info and were caught up in the heat of the moment. I hope I am right on this. Regarding the issues we spoke on tonight via XBL Messages, refer to the next point.


5. Trash Talking & Inflammatory Posts/Flamming

I will be first to say, I have made some Inflammatory posts in the past, primarily directed at Fuzzy and Silko on multiple occasions in Battle Results, Attack Plans, and vBookie topics. I will start by apologising for said comments if they offended you, but 90% of said comments are my opinions on the situation. As Silko and I discussed in a party over XBL I will tone the inflammation of these posts down and be more professional and respectful in how I present said opinions. I have no issues with either one of you, and hopefully we can continue to work together into the future of FC for the better of the community. I'm burrying the hatchet, and hopefully you will be wiling to do so also so we can get back to leading and bettering this community.

That out the way, THE BULLSHIT NEEDS TO STOP. This goes for BOTH R.E.D.D. AND B.L.U.E.

Both on the Forums, before games in lobbies, and MOST IMPORTANTLY after games in lobbies when YOU KNOW that there are no Forerunners or Field Marshal's present to monitor you. Cut it the heck out. This kinda crap causes drama within the community, and that is why we sit here and do this shit, because some people put their egos before the community. You're not six year old kids, grow the fuck up, and act like the young adults and adults you are. Lighthearted banter is fine, but the KEY WORD IS LIGHTHEARTED.

The pissing contest needs to stop. Put your dicks away, no one wants to see them.


6. Drama

The big D. If you want drama to stop, then stop participating in it. If you have issues, go to the right people rather than making a big deal out of it on the forums or online. If you hear rumors, take them as such, and seek out facts for yourself. If you get trolled or flammed, be the bigger man/woman and report it to the right parties OR RESPECTFULLY ask the person to stop. DO NOT FIRE BACK. 90% of people here will have no issue peacefully talking things out if you approach the respectfully.

IF YOU WANT RESPECT ABOVE THE COMMON COURTESY STANDARD EVERYONE GETS, YOU EARN IT BY GIVING IT.

Everyone gets the basic level of respect that is just common decencey and maturity, but if you want more than that, start giving it first. You don't get respect by flamming and freaking on some, and then expecting them to be too fond of you when you talk to them next. That's life, respect is earned, not given, in ALL aspects of life that matter.

If you do this and "Mean nothing by it" cut the shit out. Not everyone is your "buddie" or gets your sense of humor, nor does everyone want you to tease or poke fun at them. Its one thing when you do this to FRIENDS compared to doing it to people who are not. Stop doing it for attention, stop doing it to cause issues, all you are doing is bringing everyone down with you and it needs to stop right now.

If you as a community want drama to stop, and the community feeling to come back ONLY YOU AS A COMMUNITY CAN DO IT. You want fun back? STOP BEING SO DAMN SERIOUS INTO THINGS, ESPECIALLY WITH STUFF THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE YOU.

The community will ONLY change when YOU as a community want it to. The WC can only do so much, and we're extending hands to get things going, but we cannot force feed it to you, nor can we do it alone. We're not babysitters, and you're not babies. 99.9% of people here are mature, smart people who want to have fun. If we can put the egos away, relax a little, then maybe we can start having some good 'ol fun and get things going again.

Who's in?