Official forums for BZFlag.org

How would a chap go about joining one of these leagues I hear so much about? I hear they have much more law & order than public servers.

Well first you need to figure out which you want to participate in. Here are links for 2 major ones. Go to their websites... instructions are there. And have fun, don't give up because the many of the players in league tend to be phenomenally good.

http://gu.bzleague.com/
http://league.bzflag.net/

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:How would a chap go about joining one of these leagues I hear so much about? I hear they have much more law & order than public servers.

Just go to those sites and register with exactly the same name you have here "Cpl Foggy Dewhurst", then contact one of the admins there, for instance using the internal mail system of the leagues, to ask to be added to the league. Before 24h you should be able to join the official servers.

After that you should think of joining a team to fully enjoy what the leagues are all about. Watch matches live so you get a feeling of the rules and customs, league play is very different from public play. Read the rules before walking into troubles

donny_baker wrote: And have fun, don't give up because the many of the players in league tend to be phenomenally good.

There are in fact several teams who welcome new or unexperienced players into their team and help them learn the various aspects of that league. Sure, they aren't was up their in the ranks, but they have fun and enjoy helping others.

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:I hear they have much more law & order than public servers.

Yes, I would say so. (But having more law and order isn't at all automatically a good thing).

Some examples:
Pro CTF:
-On ctf you generally never need to fear about people messing up server settings. (But this doesn't implicit a higher matureness of CTF players. CTF admins generally don't have as much power as ffa admins, so ctf admins can't abuse, that's the simple reason)
-Several FFA server's allow medium-bad language, some even don't really watch about language. However on CTF-league server they do more watch language. (Anyway, most people (even kids) don't have problems with language, so it's not a crucial argument, dependend on point of view it's even a contra argument)
-I would say ctf is more cheater free. (Maybe I'm totally wrong, and ctf cheaters are simply more prudent/thoughtful cheaters who do hardly imperceptible cheating)
Contra:
-The "LAW" of teamstats: As some care too excessive about teamstats it leads into the according behaviour. So for example if you have "bad luck", you won't get equal rights, and your team will prefer your teammates, so you will end up in watching the match instead playing some minutes there.
-much more...

Just try ctf leagues out, and you will find out more differences, and judge yourself whether you prefer it.

Remember, league membership is not limited to just one! If you join all 3 of the major ones (Pillbox, Ducati, and GU), you will probably find that you will get better very quickly once you start playing in fun matches and the like. Once you get the hang of the map, you can join a team and have even more fun.

Here's a quick guide as to what the three leagues contain (all are ctf):

GU: Jumping, rico, 3 shots.
Ducati: Rico, 2 shots
Pillbox: No jumping or rico, 3 shots. (excellent map to learn how to dodge on)

Good luck!

Yes, a chap named Del brought me into a pillbox map, no jumping etc.. it helped me increase my dodging skills. In public servers you tend to get people who switch to the winning side, quit and rejoin if their scores are bad etc.. I'm assuming such behaviour is forbidden in leagues.

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:Yes, a chap named Del brought me into a pillbox map, no jumping etc.. it helped me increase my dodging skills. In public servers you tend to get people who switch to the winning side, quit and rejoin if their scores are bad etc.. I'm assuming such behaviour is forbidden in leagues.

Ah, I don't like that. I'm not in a league myself, but I know what you're talking about. I'm not sure if it's allowed in a league or not, depends on the leagues rules. A lot of new leagues that I have seen lately, actually let you re-join onto the better team. For instance CoAM lets you do that. But CoAM has something I haven't seen many leagues do. For instance, if you are in the league, you get to play on one part of a map, but for non-CoAM members, you are still able to play on the map, but on a different part, and it's less fun. I guess that's their way of saying, "Sure you can play, but if you're in CoAM you can do this!" It's pretty neat.

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:In public servers you tend to get people who switch to the winning side, quit and rejoin if their scores are bad etc.. I'm assuming such behaviour is forbidden in leagues.

In match servers, people usually are playing for their team, so they don't switch to the other team. In the CTF leagues, player score has no effect on the final score that is reported. Only the number of caps is reported, so people don't usually rejoin if their score starts getting really low.

And remember, every league has different rules.

Take a look at the rules for the three major league and I'm sure you'll find some differences

http://gu.bzleague.com/index.php?link=rules
http://league.bzflag.net/index.php?link=rules
http://pillbox.bzleague.com/index.php?link=rules

I like the GU better. I miss the bzsoccer league.

I reccomend that you join the GU league first, it will help you build your skills quite a lot, because it includes everything that's in most normal maps, except superflags.

Do not and try to make your own team! i tried that when i came here first and i was horrible So join a expirenced team.

I'd love to join a team. I'll read those sites, thanks chaps.

I'm not horribly awful. I do get kills in.. I just tend to die double the amount that I kill

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:I'd love to join a team. I'll read those sites, thanks chaps.

I'm not horribly awful. I do get kills in.. I just tend to die double the amount that I kill

Can't be a pro on the first day. Happy hunting mate.

Cpl Foggy Dewhurst wrote:I'd love to join a team. I'll read those sites, thanks chaps.

I'm not horribly awful. I do get kills in.. I just tend to die double the amount that I kill

bah dont worry, we all have been there before. Some tips on your configuration would certainly help you, as well as tips on what to do and not to do during a match. Most players are also willing to walk newcomers through the basics, just ask to be trained.

Don't worry about being bad in the leagues, you'll get better the more you play. Do a couple fun matches to get the hang of it, then just keep playing with your team and you'll be great in no time.

Thanks, I've joined the GU league and asked for permission to be spawned.. now I'll try wriggling my way into a team

Joined 'Death Lords'.. not sure what to do next. PM'd the team leader and asked him to advise.

Ask your teammates for their instant messaging contacts and keep an eye on the following webpages:

http://guc.saturos.de/index.php?site=03
http://bzstats.strayer.de/leagues/gu/online/?lang=de

Or just hang around on the GU-matchservers. That way you know when your teammates and other teams are online and you can arrange matches. Try to get in contact with your team, ask when they are online for example.

Dont be frustrated if you end up with a very low score, thats normal for a newcomer. Try to keep playing and watch matches played by experienced teams. Usually, one improves quickly.

Welcome to the league!

so if i joined one of these would i have to make make it to all the matches (i sometimes have a tight shcedule) anwhat if i cant get one of the IRC to see when a match is going to happen?
is there another way to do it?
thanks a bunch!
i just joined the GU leauge

You can join a team and hang around the league servers and the public ones and your team mates or other players will ask for a match and you can say if you have time or if you can't play. You don't need to hang out 24/7 playing matches, but you can if you want

that answers my first Q but how can i know when a match is going on without having to get that IRC (internet relay chat)????

Another player would ask you to match (or a teammate would ask if you want to join them in a match that they were asked about).

o ok
what time do these matches usually take place
or do they happen at random times whenever 2 teams are on
what are some of the leauge servers?
i am in he GU leauge

The matches take place at random times. You can you the search function in-game to find the gu servers. Just search for gu league. You can also check on the gu site.

In all my time on irc I think I've only seen 1-2 matches organized there.