http://hype.pbguide.com Your source for paintball link resource and latest paintball news Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:59:03 CET en http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/empire-evil-paintballs-named-official-event-paint-of-cpx%E2%80%99s-living-legends-5-1/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:59:03 CET pbguide paintball X3 3 http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/empire-evil-paintballs-named-official-event-paint-of-cpx%E2%80%99s-living-legends-5-1/ http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/examining-the-new-snake-props/ (The issue of how and why this change is being made is a separate issue. Over at PBN AG's U.S. rep has claimed comments made here at VFTD are "allegations and untruths" they will not respond to. When confronted with a Lane Wright quote also on PBN, in a different thread and forum, along with some clarifying questions AG has chosen so far not to respond to those either. Nor has AG commented here at VFTD. Until such time as AG can demonstrate errors of fact VFTD stands by the content of all prior related posts.)
Two shooting zones are highlighted in gold. They are the zones available to the snake side insert T and snake corner. Between them they cover the majority of the snake (as does the MR snake feed.) I have highlighted the T instead of the MR because the corner cannot contest the insert T's shooting zone. the result of this is the insert T has more or less free play to cover the snake. Now if you examine the green and purple lanes between the snake and various crossfield props you can see who the snake can shoot at and who can shoot back at the snake. (The dotted line indicates at least a partially obstructed lane at best.) But that's not why I included those lanes. Where the lanes connect to the snake indicates the approximate position of the snake player in order to shoot into and across the field. Contrary to the idea the snake player will be called on to use the whole snake the lanes make it clear that there are key spots where the snake player will expose himself coming over the top and that the insert T can shoot pretty much all of them.[Keep in mind this is the sample field AG put out to demonstrate their conception of how the new props will play.]Take a close look at the snake 50--and beyond. Can the opponent's side of the snake be played at all if there is any opposition on the snake side of the field? One other characteristic of the new bunkers is to make them nearly unplayable past the 50 with a risk that so vastly outwieghs any reward that it simply won't happen given this layout. The problem isn't limited to this layout either. It's inherent in the bunker conception. (And, FYI, if the MS field layouts continue to be as compact as the recent ones the new snake will be even worse than in a PSP application.)
The bunkers highlighted in pink can't be targeted from the snake--although Home may be dependent on precise placement of Pins & Can. The D-wire feed MT however will end up being played constantly to contest the D-corner and the feed gap to the wire without any concern from across the field. To a large extent the reverse is true of the bunkers in green given they have been specifically blocked from contesting the designed shooting spots out of the snake which will limit their utility. Given their exposure to cross field angles and inability to battle the snake good teams will have little reason to play them. The overall impact of the effort to make the new snake props playable is a failure and creates an utterly predictable pattern of play on the rest of the field--slow play at that unless multiple bodies drop OTB--and this is the sample Sup'Air put out first to show off their new props!
Looking beyond this single design a couple of other things ought to be apparent. The effort to incorporate the new Adrenaline Games snake concept requires the rest of the field layout to be designed around making the snake playable. This in turn will limit design options until such time some of the traditional snake bunkers are incorporated again at which point AG concedes the new bunkers were unnecessary.
And if we backtrack a year we know that the PSP, with the rules changes of 2010, intended to have field layouts be more inclusive (old, fat & slow) but also encourage aggressive play. Last year's layouts were neither. Why not? In part because the league found using Sup'Air to create field layouts was convenient--and, bottom line, apparently nobody involved in the process knew what the consequences of the designs was going to be. But shouldn't Sup'Air at least understand the consequences of their designs? And if they don't are bunker changes just a crapshoot too?
Whatever else happens the PSP should take this opportunity to take control over a key element of the league's product and identity. ]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:59:43 CET pbguide View from The DeadBox 3 http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/examining-the-new-snake-props/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/february-2nd-2012/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:59:17 CET pbguide The Ford Report 3 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/february-2nd-2012/ http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/vanguard-us-no-longer-working-with-vanguard-paintball/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:59:02 CET pbguide paintball X3 3 http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/vanguard-us-no-longer-working-with-vanguard-paintball/ http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/aussie-super-7s-event-1/
This layout is the MS Fuengirola Beach event in 2009. I'm going to focus on the OTB lanes, OTB dead zones and necessity to get guns up and rolling. With the exception of the four corners it is a very compact layout with a very strong snake. That compactness and the likely tendency of teams to want to play and fill the corners will allow for some very aggressive play we'll talk about shortly.Diagram a charts some of the breakout lanes. They lanes have been matched to a relative shooting position. For example position A is shading the wireside of D-side Temple insert. Anyone in position A is either crouching and moving up into the T or still on the move to the wire but momentarily delaying. By reviewing the arrows it's easy to pick out specific lanes. In the example you can see that A is laning the corner and/or D1 gap. A can also lane inside the wire MT. Positions B,E & F are blocked from a Home shooter which allows B to stand up and shoot over the Temple if/when no counter lanes are being shot into that zone. Keeping in mind that any lane that can be shot can also return fire which makes the timing on your OTB delay lanes critical. The place most players get into trouble isn't shooting the delay lanes, it's in staying in that spot too long. Good teams and players will catch on--particularly if you use the same breakout too often--and find ways to counter your laners directly and indirectly. For example, let's say your standard D-side breakout is corner or D1 with a laner at Home that seconds into the T or MT. You are also holding a shooter back in E or F. A strong indirect counter lane could run the D-corner deep and lane the E/F zone before moving up into the corner prop. Positions E & F indicate that the Pins can be played either close or well behind allowing for primaries upfield in the MT, or along the run to the snake or out to the corner. With regards C & D the center M and blocking bunker placements provide a margin of safety that the Home bunker (MC) might not otherwise and allow for two Home shooters. Given the spacing up to the Home prop the best option is to stack your shooters. Each side shooter should come off the board laning while moving up into position but it isn't a prop you will want any of your players to stay in overly long. And your breakouts should account for your Home shooters secondaries. (Be careful of secondaries that require a teammate to move first so that Home fills the vacated spot. It's a common tactic but can get you into trouble on this field with the Pins and limited numbers of insert and feed props.)
There will be some inclination on the part of a lot of teams to want to cross up some of the mid- and backfield props. On its face that isn't necessarily a mistake but can easily turn into one. Crossfield lanes are less effective than closer ones. (D'oh!) And worse, tend to instill a defensive and/or reactive mindset while limiting your offensive options. (Guns committed to the cross can't help push the snake player that extra knuckle.) Use crossfield lanes sparingly at most and primarily as an option for countering your opponent's effectiveness if nothing else is working. Having trouble containing or battling on the D-side go ahead and cross up the midfield MT but make it conditional. Get a D-side kill switch back. Lose the snake corner, switch back. And so on.Diagram b highlights a few props and some shooting lanes. The snake corner is red because it is an essential bunker. It can feed the snake and inhibit your opponent's movement in the snake and as such must be played. However that doesn't mean it must always be an OTB primary. There is no reason you can't mix up your breakouts enough to remain unpredictable. That said, if and/or when snake corner isn't in filled the upfield MT needs to be in order to hold the opponent's snake player in check. The red lanes indicate the opportunities the snake knuckles circled have to eliminate or pressure opponent positions. (A review of D-wire lanes don't offer comparable opportunities.) The red path (running highway) indicates that there are a number of options for running down snake players on this field. (Any time there is no inside/out gun defending a highway run is a doable option.) The orange lanes indicate options for bouncing paint off the Pins into opponents indirectly. The orange props will be played with high frequency despite the fact each has limited utility. The issue with each is while they provide some unique opportunities they also will tend to slow the game play down. The thing to keep in mind is the close spacing on the wires and the mirrored pairs of midfield standing props. The standing props provide interior upfield movement lanes and the close spacing encourages aggressive plays; bunker moves. In order to take full advantage of the aggressive potential it's important that your player spacing allow you to take advantage and control the field when you force trade outs.Guns up OTB. (All 5!) Be patient when you delay--let the other guy run into your gun. Mix up your breakouts. Control the snake. Act, don't react. Nothing to it.  ]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:59:48 CET pbguide View from The DeadBox 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/aussie-super-7s-event-1/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/empire-evil-paintballs-named-official-event-paint-of-cpx%E2%80%99s-living-legends-5-/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:59:54 CET pbguide The Ford Report 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/empire-evil-paintballs-named-official-event-paint-of-cpx%E2%80%99s-living-legends-5-/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/zombie-apocalypse-the-series/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:59:47 CET pbguide The Ford Report 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/zombie-apocalypse-the-series/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/ma-barker%E2%80%99s-shootout/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:59:45 CET pbguide The Ford Report 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/ma-barker%E2%80%99s-shootout/ http://hype.pbguide.com/speedball-world/besoin-de-conseils--jt-vous-aides-/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:59:26 CET pbguide speedball world 3 http://hype.pbguide.com/speedball-world/besoin-de-conseils--jt-vous-aides-/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/valken-to-sponsor-the-rpl-in-south-africa-%E2%80%93-the-sarpl/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:59:20 CET pbguide The Ford Report 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/valken-to-sponsor-the-rpl-in-south-africa-%E2%80%93-the-sarpl/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-km-design-development-sneak-peek/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:59:24 CET pbguide The Ford Report 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-km-design-development-sneak-peek/ http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/the-monday-poll-best-worst/
UPDATE: I didn't include all the off season players moves simply because the list would be too unmanageable if I had. It doesn't mean I didn't think enough of those moves to include them. Same goes for options that appear in both polls. The object is to have a little fun and see what you people think--not what I think about the assorted off season moves. If you're still annoyed at something I did or didn't do--get over it. ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:59:44 CET pbguide View from The DeadBox 4 http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/the-monday-poll-best-worst/ http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/new-pro-team-who-is-houston-heat/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:59:02 CET pbguide paintball X3 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/paintball-x3/new-pro-team-who-is-houston-heat/ http://hype.pbguide.com/speedball-world/mediterrannean-league-website/
GO TO THE : Mediterrannean League

La compétition se déroule à Thessaloniki ! ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:59:20 CET pbguide speedball world 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/speedball-world/mediterrannean-league-website/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/vanguard-2012-and-beyond%E2%80%A6/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:59:20 CET pbguide The Ford Report 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/vanguard-2012-and-beyond%E2%80%A6/ http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/desperate-measures/ Perhaps worse is the change being made. Check out the SOP article for pictures of the new props. For those who don't read French below is the Google Translation:

Here's a preview of the obstacles that will be used this year on the land side snake in Europe and the United States on the PSP system!
You find that the spectator side became boring? You will be served. With these new obstacles to former Lower adorning the grounds of major tournaments, and the new L-shaped design, players will have to be more technical on this side.
The Upgrade Kit will consist of at Supairball 4 "Chips" (Beams in the Angliche) and 4 "L" (for Elbows). They will replace the six fries usually found on the lands of last season.
It'll just test them to tell us what happens.
Attack!

Previous field kits had 6 Giant Beams in Sup'Air speak. The new "upgrade" apparently reduces that number to 4 Chips--which appear to be the same except slightly narrower--and 4 L's. As they are displayed in the article's photographs they are damn near worthless as playable props. There is nothing "technical" about them. They will remove much of the skill of playing a snake effectively while shrinking the size of the snake at the same time. All the new bunkers demonstrate is Adrenaline Games lack of imagination and desperation in trying to force us into buying and using these pointless changes. (It may be possible to find alternate uses for the Ls but that's clearly not what Sup'Air intends.)
And does anybody know what the full field kit will be comprised of this season? Are any other bunkers out besides (apparently) the 6 GBs of the past?
I don't know that anything can be done now but at a minimum Adrenaline needs to pay a price down the road. I bet the kids at Ultimate can make a Giant Beam package available pretty quick to replace the "upgrade." Then nobody would need the upgrade because the league wouldn't be using those new props. I know but I can dream, right? ]]> Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:59:38 CET pbguide View from The DeadBox 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/desperate-measures/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/vanguard-us-to-no-longer-work-with-vanguard-paintball/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:59:17 CET pbguide The Ford Report 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/vanguard-us-to-no-longer-work-with-vanguard-paintball/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-bob-long-g6r-lo-pro-bolt-pin/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:59:20 CET pbguide The Ford Report 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-bob-long-g6r-lo-pro-bolt-pin/ http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-bob-long-g6r-zero-ping-ram/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:59:18 CET pbguide The Ford Report 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/the-ford-report/new-bob-long-g6r-zero-ping-ram/ http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/chips-ahoy/ Instead of attempting to refute assorted misinformation I'm simply going to give you the facts as they stand today. Anything else you may hear will be either wrong, disinformation, conjecture or, at best, outcomes intended to be implemented some time in the future.
The chip can monitor a ROF cap. In this instance the cap is 15 bps. The chip can identify guns exceeding the cap, it does NOT enforce the cap. That remains a matter for the rules and rules enforcement. The chip does NOT identify bouncing, ramping or any other artificial shot adding. It does provide data that with experience and testing may suggest shots are being added but that falls into the category of data interpretation. The interpreter is a person, not the technology.
The chip can monitor ROF because it is recording each discharge from every monitored gun in real time. This has resulted, over the period of time the chip has been in trials--primarily by pro teams in both major leagues--in a substantial amount of raw data. The same kind of data that will accumulate across divisions in the NPPL during events assuming everything goes to plan. All current "information" within the data is a matter of interpretation and statistical analysis built on the firing of the guns in play.
Okay but what about the claims made by the NPPL? (here) (Which mostly fall in line with what Virtue has been promoting.) For example, what about the player stats? Player Effectiveness tracks how many of the opponents were eliminated while a given player remained active. Does that tell you that the active player was responsible for any of the eliminations? It does not. Even with an accumulation of data covering many games does the stat really confirm the effectiveness of a player? I don't think so. It may but at best it's inconclusive. Or how about the Stamina stat? Let's apply it to a lead snake player. Depending on his role he could easily be one of the first players eliminated routinely. Does that mean he isn't doing his job?
One thing the accumulated stats do allow for is comparisons. Alone a stat's value may be uncertain but since stats will exist for every player it should be possible to compare similar players or positions by stats in which case the data may prove valuable. I think the jury remains out on that too but it's a viable possibility.
The same applies to team and game stats. Yes, numbers and notions can be generated from the raw data but the question remains about the real utility of those numbers and notions. Unfortunately the stats don't generate themselves and part of the ongoing process will be in pulling the stats from the raw data.
I am, btw, pro stats. I think having bite size numbers and easy ways of looking at our game helps make it accessible. And some of the stats the chip offers may prove popular and if that's all the "stats" do they could still serve a valuable function. On the cautionary side claims made for the numbers aren't the numbers and the numbers, in my estimation, do not necessarily validate the claims made. All I'm suggesting is to look past the hype. Take the claims with a grain of salt and examine what the numbers are really all about. At worst it's harmless and at best it is a legit tool in rules enforcement and may provide new ways for people to think about the game.
Apart from functionality it seems to me a couple of other issues arise. In traditional 7-man it's relatively simple to keep track of guns & players. In the Race 2 format with the quick turnarounds and changing lines it may be a singular challenge to try and keep track of the gun (chip) / player association. And while chips can be installed in a minute or two it will almost certainly prove nearly impossible in Race 2 format matches to swap out the chips to different guns which means teams will likely need extras. If each specific chip isn't always associated with a specific player it poisons the data and the stats derived become unreliable so it's going to be a rather big deal trying to keep up with which chip is being used by which player in which game or point. ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:59:45 CET pbguide View from The DeadBox 2 http://hype.pbguide.com/view-from-the-deadbox/chips-ahoy/