Hey There, Hi There, Ho There

Hello yes, this is Arch. I hope you guys had a better week than most of the summit. I know we’ve got a few people in the clan who’ve had to evacuate home due to the recent series of storms across the southern US. I hope everyone is managing to stay safe and warm.

I’ve got a few important things to cover this month, so let’s dive right in.

Gui Sol by the magnificent AngyTatsu

Events and How to Win Them

Those of you who remember my last report know that I intended the house event to be both fun for its own sake and practice for the feud. Let’s take a look at it from both aspects.

The recent house event wrapped up earlier this month. We had pretty good participation across most of the competitions (hey, I thought the dossier was a cool idea) and I’d like to thank the 13 members of the house who participated, as well as Revak and Blade. But let’s take a look at those placements, eh?

Everyone congratulate Tassk, Jafits, and Draxion for their top three finishes! But let’s pick through how they did so well.

I used a bin system for this event. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s really silly to use a bin system for a house event, particularly since we didn’t have multiple battleteams going head to head. The reason you normally do a bin system is to let people get full participation for their unit even if they don’t have time to do every individual competition, or if they don’t think they’re competitive on their own. The reason I did a bin system was to make sure everyone was good and used to how they work before we went feuding. But the bin system makes some strategies more successful than others, so if you want to maximize your chances of winning the event or Odan-Urr’s chances of beating back the darkness, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Lesson 1: More Participation, More Better

Jafits placed in five different comps and got 13 participation points.

Even though placement counted for three times as many points as participation, participation points were a big factor. Our top three winners were the three members who got participation points from all four bins. That’s worth a lot of points for individual placement and I can tell you from hard experience that it’ll probably mean the difference between victory and defeat in our struggle against Plagueis.

There’s also that old saying about missing 100% of the shots you don’t take. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Oh wow, I didn’t think I’d place in that” over the years. Yes, you want to make sure you get your participation points from each bin. But even more than that, you want to submit entries to as many competitions as you can to maximize your chance of earning points and crescents.

Lesson 2: Put Effort Where It Counts

Tassk and Draxion raked in the points from the valuable art and fiction comps.

Not all competitions were created equal. Art and fiction awarded three times as many placement points as the puzzles. The thing is, fewer people did them. So even though art and fiction are “harder,” in reality you had to be really good at puzzles to get any placement points at all from them while just showing up got you somewhere with the high effort comps. Drawing a stick figure was a smarter time investment than banging your head against sudoku.

This is also true for other DB awards: a puzzle just get your competition participation credit, while drawing something—even if you think it sucks—gets you participation credit, clusters of graphite, and advancement in the Shroud Syndicate for more credits and cool possessions. Make sure you get something in for these comps and let the judges worry about whether or not it’s good.

Lesson 3: Don’t Leave Points on the Table

Elyon got 21 points for the dossier comp.

I don’t know how the feud will work, but the way this event worked was that if there were fewer than five people who participated, the leftover participation points were split between the people who did show up. This made the art and fiction comps even more valuable than they already were, but it turned out to really impact the dossier comp. Since Elyon was the only participant, she got 1st place… and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. That was a huge chunk of points.

We’re not likely to have any feud comps that don’t get multiple entries, but you should make sure you pay attention to the rules for the event and each competition. You want to make sure you’re taking advantage of easy points.

Lesson 4: Team Events are King

Odan-Urr learned this the hard way last time we feuded with Plagueis. If you earn 30 placement points for yourself, you earn 30 points for COU. If your team of four earns 30 points each, you earn 120 points for COU. Whenever we have a vendetta, whether it’s the feud or the next Great Jedi War, one of the best things you can do for the clan is team up with your clanmates for team events.

Morgan B. Sorenn, also by AngyTatsu

News and Reviews

Upcoming Evants

Per the Covenant, the Grand Master is limited to three years in a term. That means Mav will be stepping down shortly. You can read all about it here. Mav has, unsurprisingly, nominated his Deputy Grand Master to take over. Evant has issued a statement to the members here. He is taking questions from the Electorate and you can see his responses here.

Now, I’ll be realistic. Your questions probably won’t have a big impact on whether or not Evant gets confirmed; on the other hand, GM Evant will probably still be available and answering questions (@Evant or [Log in to view e-mail addresses]) for the next three years. So you don’t have to participate in the process. That said, Evant’s leadership and philosophy are going to have a huge impact on how the next three years go. If there’s something you’re concerned or curious about, I strongly encourage you to submit a question to Blade.

While I haven’t worked with Evant directly that often, he’s always been kind and level-headed when we’ve spoken. Even if you don’t have a question or concern, I’d encourage you to take a moment in the next few weeks to congratulate him on the new job and wish him success.

Activity and Recognition

We had a few folks join Sunrider in the past several weeks. If you haven’t already, welcome Creon, Lilian, Koraline, Draxion, Lynnyaria, and The Cyclone (Donny) to Sunrider.

The Cyclone will be updating his dossier name eventually.

We’re still getting some more awards and promotions together, so hand tight. However, we do have a few to highlight.

Draxion Durk was promoted up to JM3. I suspect I’ll have a new knighthood to brag out sometime soon. Draxion also earned a Dark Cross for comp activity. Give Draxion a high five over in Discord if you haven’t already.

Lilian Grahanm joined the ranks of the Journeymen with her promotion to JM1. You may know her better as Vickiispasta.

I’d also like to highlight three of our recruiters. Shout out to Jon, Gui, and Creon for their Scrolls of Indoctrination.

Other Assorted Goings On

Here are a few comps to tide you over until the feud gets going. Tython Squadron members should also check out the teams monthly comps.

Fiction

• Droids Need Love Too: Gui’s giving you the unusual opportunity to write from your droid’s point of view. Running through the 26th.

• The power of words: Write a love poem to another member or a Star Wars character between now and March 4.

• Still A Better Love Story Than Twilight: Jon’s given you three different prompts here, each dealing with your character’s misadventures in love. Runs through March 10th.

Art

• I Am Droid has you play dress up with your droid, running through the 26th.

• Heart full of love gives you a chance to depict yourself with a character you love. Runs through March 4th.

Misc

• Femme Fatale (80 pieces) and By the Right of the Council (120 pieces) run through the 27th. If you’re interested in having your art featured in future puzzles, hit me up.

• I Thought This Was Speed Dating, Club-Wide and Sunrider-Only: Our Dear Leader is running Star Wars trivia on Telegram on Sundays. Watch Telegram and Discord for announcements on when the sessions will start and then come at me, scrubs.

To close things off, here’s an excellent new commission of several of your useless title holders.

Len Iode, Takota Okami, V’yr Vorsa, Alethia Archenksova, A’lora Kituri, Aura Ta’var, and Edgar Drachen by Seiun.art

Hugs and kisses,
Arch

Alethia Archenksova
Quaestor, Sunrider