User:Maverick Farrant
maverick (n): a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.
Perhaps not an accurate title for the kind of survivors that Malton needs, but it's the kind of survivors that Malton has a lot of. Survivors who try to survive on their own, and then quickly discover just how difficult that can become. Lucky for Malton, I'm not that kind of survivor.
So Who Is Maverick Farrant?
I learn quickly and readily adapt to changing situations. I also tend to spend a lot of time strategizing. Whether you attribute that to something in my genetic makeup or something acquired from playing lots of strategy games (everything from Risk to StarCraft) is your decision. What this means to my approach to UrbanDead is that I tend to spend a fair amount of time on the Wiki updating what I can and taking full advantage of the information available. It also means that when things change within the suburb I'm operating in, I can quickly respond without needing to check the Wiki constantly.
In part this leads me to what I find one of the short-comings of many groups that I have seen--they restrict themselves. They limit themselves to portions of an entire suburb. Some are brave enough to actually utilize an entire suburb. But what happens when your suburb is overrun? Zombies knock out power to everything, preventing reliable search rates and limiting your radio and mobile phone contact with other survivors. Therein lies the problem, but also the answer. The radio waves are set up such that particular frequencies are set aside for entire 5-suburb districts within Malton.
Who Cares? Districts Are Just Nice Little Organizers for Radio People
These districts, I feel, are in part key to survivors. They allow enough space for smaller groups--as well as individual survivors--to move around incoming hordes (River Tactics) and re-establish themselves in their particular suburbs quickly with minimal effort. They also provide larger groups with plenty of forewarning and the chance to either make a stand (Dam Tactics) or at least provide an early start to prepare fighting for every block of their suburb of choice (Urban Warfare Doctrine). Perhaps most crucially, I think that groups that operate over more than one suburb will find more allies. And if it's one thing that has proven beneficial more often than not, it is that survivors have a critical strength in numbers. Certainly there are exceptions, like the Battle of Blackmore (that's right, I read up on previous sieges), but numbers are one of the key factors in ensuring a survivor victory.
Districts? Seriously?
I am not by any means saying the districts of Malton are hard-and-fast the way to go. I guess what I'm really saying is that individual groups need to be less isolationist and more branching out to find allies willing to fight for the same territory.
Couldn't You Have Just Put This Under Tactics?
I could have, but I feel that it tells you more about myself. I plan, I evaluate, and I will adapt to a zombie menace that isn't going away anytime soon and will continue to evolve.
Order of the Black Rose
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OBR Ally |
| This user or group is allied with the Order of the Black Rose and benefits from an overflowing amount of awesome. |
To promote and demonstrate the effectiveness of my hypothesis (it's not a theory because it has not been tested yet), I am recruiting interested players for the Order of the Black Rose. This group will initially base itself out of Mornington, but will also cover the other four suburbs of district SW-2, and aid allies in surrounding suburbs like North & South Blythville.
Survivors of all flavors, genders, levels, and occupations are welcome, but the OBR does not condone PKing, GKing, or zerging in any aspect. If you enjoy such activities, you will have to forsake them as a member. Interested persons should leave a message on my talk page if you'd like to learn more.
So Who Are You Really?
Oh you mean in the real world; the one without zombies. I am a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a radio jock in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (USA). I also watch a lot of movies and do movie reviews for my radio station, in addition to reading and playing my share of video games (mostly RPGs). Beyond that I'm just your not-so-average, intelligent, 20-something guy playing UrbanDead.
