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Barhah History Month IV
Editor's Note: This issue covers early RRF history, from Post-Caiger to Stanstock
Christmas in Ridleybank after Caiger
- Taken from an account by Papa Petro himself
Upon our return to Ridleybank, we found that every Johnny Wannabe had founded some sort of 'liberate Ridleybank' organization. That this was our home, and the only liberation it needed was from oppressive barricading and the plague of closed doors, did not occur to their infantile minds.
We at once set about the work of evicting the harman infestation from Ridleybank, while beginning post-Caiger war plans making use of our newfound strength in strike teams and the creation of the unit that does not exist, our elite black ops team.
This led to a fundamental shift in the dynamic of the RRF, which reminds me of the old football acronym- everything's easy when you're winning, and nothing works when you're losing. Well, we weren't losing, but we were coming off our first and only loss. Furthermore, the combination of having so many zombies concentrated at Caiger in conjunction with the revive boost was to have a profound effect upon the whole game.
For the first time since the founding, we had lost more members than we were recruiting during the siege. After the siege, many members of the CMS joined us either with their primaries, or sent out an alt, which helped to turn that around, but it was clear that the RRF was going to need more of an organizational framework than Grim and I PMing each other and then sending the group leaders out to bash suburbs. A nascent war council had formed during the end of Caiger, providing the nucleus of what would become the Elders. Added to this were the strike team commanders, who had earned their positions by dint of volunteering to lead and organize for highly efficient coordinated strikes. With this core in place, we were in excellent position to rebuild our numbers and reestablish our dominance as the top group in the game.
However, we faced our greatest challenge yet. While we had piled up at Caiger, nearly every other suburb on the map had been cleansed, as the locals made use of the buffed revive find rate to virtually wipe out the entire feral zombie population of the game. Those of you who visit the wiki (may BARHAH have mercy upon your souls) are undoubtedly familiar with the wiki suburb map. Well, in early December, the entire map had gone green but for two suburbs- Barharhville, and Ridleybank.
Zombie numbers were at their all-time low, as survivors had taken a two to one lead over us. Survivors were doing what they do when the numbers fall off- PKing each other, and in what would become a familiar pattern, deciding to 'liberate Ridleybank' en masse.
So in addition to the early siegers, it seemed like half the organized survivor groups in the game threw in to attack us. We were surrounded on all sides, heavily outnumbered, and being zerged on top of it all.
It would've been damned easy to throw in the towel then. As the only target left in town, we had no obligation to be the punching bags for the trenchcoated masses. But the horde proved what mettle it has. Building by building, we took it back. We crushed the Gingerbreads in the Battle of the Warehouse, signaling the beginning of the end of human occupation of Ridleybank. We drove them from our home, and using the list of headshotters compiled at the Desen board, we began hunting them in the neighboring suburbs. Every day, the strike teams and the unit that shall not be named would head for the border, crossing over to pay back the 'brave heroes' that had swooped in like vultures. We were preparing offensive operations once more, to rebuild the Groups, to go out and hunt once more.
It was what proved once and for all to me that this is the best group in the game. The War Council outdid themselves, keeping morale up, honing the new RRF into a sharp-edged war machine. While we did lose some of the innocent fun we used to have, I think we did a better job of keeping the spirit alive than we had any real call to, if everyone hadn't stepped up.
Still and all, the game was fundamentally broken at that point, as was to be proven with the next update, which led to one of the biggest and most spectacularly weird events in the game.
Formation of the BARHAH Brigade
- Taken from an account by Jorm
The origins of the Barhah Brigade starts at Caiger and the strike teams that were defined. Towards the end of the Caiger seige, things were very grim back in the homeland - the trenchies had moved in en masse and our younglings were getting slaughtered to the man.
I came up with the idea of sending a small group of hand picked people - a solid "strike team" back to the 'bank to help cleanse it and provide some solid aid to the zombies there. But something like this had to be done on the sly: we couldn't announce that we were sending help from Caiger, because it would have the effect of demoralizing those left at the mall while at the same time proving that the "Trench Effect" was working in the 'bank.
So Petro and I talked and set up the basics, and I sent out PMs to a couple singular, trusted people, asking them to join. And then I went to bed.
...And when I woke up, Petro had called the retreat at Caiger.
So this put plans in a different perspective. The idea of the Brigade was a sound one, so we kept with it. I went about handpicking people at first (we later moved into a vote/veto system).
I had intended for some "dry run" missions - crack known safehouses and see how we operated - but we got thrown into the grinder feet first, without a training mission: Crack Nichols mall (which had, by that time, become a fortress) and assassinate some specific individuals (and, uh, Saromu was on the list, but I don't think we got him at the time).
It was bloody brilliant. Our first mission, our first hit-and-fade, and the confusion it threw up on the desensitized boards was a joy to behold. This one mission became the blueprint for many future operations: crack a mall, kill a specific, singular person, and leave without ever being noticed.
Of course, our *big* win during this time was the discovery of the Gingerbread HQ. And not once, but *twice*: the first time we found them inside Ridleybank and crushed them (the second time, we found them in Stanbury after they were regrouping and we decided to leave them be).
A Gift from Kevan: the December, 2006 Update
- Taken from an account by Jack Destruct
THAT update:
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19th December 2005
- It might be a further level of decomposition, it might just be the effects of the colder weather, but zombies seem to be reacting differently to Headshot as the snow begins to fall - they no longer lose experience, but their nervous system becomes frayed and slowed, taking them longer to stand up after a blow to the skull.
- Black military helicopters have been sighted in the grey skies above Malton this week, airdropping occasional supply crates into the empty streets for the coldest days of winter.
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As Petro said, we zombies were but a mere third of Malton's population, and according to the stats page at the time there were actually more Zombie Hunters in the city than zombies. It was a sad state of affairs.
But, we did our best, we took back the homeland and we begun harrassing as many survivors as possible. The game however was quite obviously broken; In a zombie apocalypse the zombie hordes had been turned back.
I don't know if we really expected a zombie buff, but the update that came was an affront to zombies everywhere:
Firstly, whilst headshot was being changed, it still wasn't enough. Too little too late; We were still being punished for simply dying.
And, secondly, crate drops full of goodies for survivors. Literally a Christmas treat for the armies of Trenchcoaters everywhere.
So, we made a stand and once again Petro helped to form a group that was destined to change the face of Malton: "On Strike"
On Strike
- Taken from an account by Papa Petro himself
The strike was something that had been percolating as an idea for a while. Barcoded of the Pwotters had gone so far as to enter a suggestion into the wiki to the effect of 'Just get rid of zombies', both as a protest of how the game was going and for the trenchie-mindset of a lot of voters at the wiki. It had been months since we'd gotten an update, while survivors had gotten various buffs and tweaks, all the while our population numbers declined. The revive search buff at Caiger was the final nail in the coffin, and proved how deceptive our October campaign had been- while we were beating everyone we met in the field, we were facing an enemy with both qualitiative and quantitative superiority, and it was only by virtue of local superiority that we were winning fights.
And then came the update. While we admitted at the time that it was better than XP headshot, it was, at the time, it was the difference between getting kicked in the teeth and getting kicked in the nuts. The fact was that survivors were built with force multipliers designed for fighting against foes that outnumbered them. When they were given the numerical edge, those force multipliers were killers. Toss in the supply crates, and it was the final straw. The IRC essentially mutinied, and the die was cast.
Editor's Note: Continued in the next column
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Editor's Note: Continued from left-column
The concept I had for the strike was two-fold. One, it was not to be in any way an attempt to 'force' Kevan Davis to do anything. His game, his choices. However, it was our feeling at the time that he was not aware of just how unhappy a significant portion of his player base was. (In a zombie 'apocalypse' game, no zombies equals no apocalypse, and that was the state we were heading for.)
Secondly, it was to have as little acrimony as possible, by drawing on as much goodwill as we had earned from our mutual respect garnered at Caiger. The result was a goodly number of survivor players who joined us in calling for some form of enhancements to gameplay.
The strike itself is kind of hazy for me. I was about to go to bed when the news came in, and spent the next thirty-odd hours overseeing the creation of the strike, the various debates about the strike, and finally what I'd hoped was the resolution of the strike, when Kevan answered us directly on the On Strike wiki page. With that, the RRF officially withdrew from striking, though several prominent members (including Grim) stayed with it.
As I took my leave of the strike, I did say that if Kevan didn't follow through with his promise of enhancements for zombie play, we were going to leave the game (something we'd agreed on in the War Council.) The plan from there was to take as many people as would follow us, and rebuild the RRF in some other game. With that in mind, as the strike went on, we began coming up with what might be our final war plan, one last huzzah to wave goodbye to Malton.
What came of that was March to the Sea, as well as operations Field Trip and Dinner out, which were recently paid off on by EXCURSION, while the Group 2 portion of March to the Sea is culminating in our latest strike on Calvert.
Because hey, the RRF always keeps its promises.
Paddy's Memories of the Strike
- Taken from an account by Paddy Fitzgerald
Ah the Strike. I still treasure that one. Ah whole lot of zombies and harmans alike came to Whetcombe Park [53, 50] to show their support and even with so many enemies combined the deathtoll kept to a minimum. As a side effect the Strike also led to an unexpected change in the game.
With hundreds of zombies and humans, standing in one single square and having a lot of xp with nothing to do, deathrattle and speeches ran rampant. At that time every word spoken would be passed on to every single person present and standing. There were songs, jokes, poems, cries of joy and protest. It was too much for the server and the game was slowing down for everyone playing. This wasn't exactly a new thing, but I don't believe it happened that bad before. We actually had to ask people to stop chattering and to spread out over the bordering squares to prevent the server from dying for everyone because we didn't want to ruin the game for those not supporting us in such a way.
On December21th we received a new update, that still affects everyone today.
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21st December 2005
- The unprecedented and conversational gathering in Whetcombe Park has thrown up some serious server load issues we've never met before; this is why the game's been lagging so badly over the past day or so. There are now a couple of restrictions if you're in a block with more than fifty citizens - you won't see all of their names (or be able to interact with them all) without clicking "list names" first, and if you speak, your words will only be audible to the "nearest" fifty players, meaning the fifty most recently active ones.
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Petro's Memories of the Strike
- Taken from an account by Papa Petro himself
One of the things that the Whetcombe strike reinforced was just how quirky and historical events the RRF are involved in tend to be. Seriously, getting over two hundred survivors and four hundred zombies to stand together out in the open in a park singing protest songs- I seriously doubt the game will ever see one like that again.
Oh, and one other tidbit from that period, for those who weren't there- Whetcombe Park is now considered sacred ground by the RRF, and as a policy we do not hunt survivors there.
(Of course, the Pwotters are free to do so, as are the gazillion ferals in the area, but we leave it be.)
Hungerer's Memories of the Strike
- Taken from an account by Hungerer
I joined the RRF with Doog only a short while before the strike. I don't recall what I was doing at the time. When the news of the strike came in, I was immediately challenged. I objected to the reasons for the strike: in my mind the change to headshot was the best thing since sliced brainz for zombies. I think, however, that in spite of the eventual effect on the zombie side, it was the change that broke the zombies' back. Living under the headshot-for-XP period had beaten the zombie player's spirits so badly that the only thing that would have satisfied everyone was headshot's total removal, or an equivalent game mod in favour of the zombies.
With the change, headshot's effect on all zombies was nerfed from crippling to the young and ignorable to the old to inconvenient for everyone. I thought this was a totally fair trade off. But when it came down to it, it was just no where near enough for the community at large.
My objection stemmed from the fact that the change was actually a significant improvement for zombies, with a 'meh' change for humans. The strike seemed disproportionate in response to this. I stated my objection to the strike openly on Desenz, and received a response that is my main reason for my ongoing alignment with the RRF: Petro said it wasn't even an issue; that as it always had been, the RRF was not about making its members do anything, and I could do whatever I thought was right. No pressure in any direction.
That rocked.
I never went on strike. I happily continued to slaughter things willy nilly over the strike period, far from the strike location, but out of respect for the position of the poeple on strike I backed off from posting while the show went on. I was glad to see it resolved so quickly, with Kevan's response.
The other changes that week were meh changes. Where I think Kevan held to his promise of making life better for zombies was in a change that most people at first thought was a minor adjustment, but from the get-go I recognised as the best thing to happen to zombies since Droggog's brain-cookery menu: Feeding Groan. I mark the turn around in the fun quotient of playing a zombie to this change.
I recall that I was running with Group 1 in december/january: and there was the rollicking run to the Sea party... that was a barrel of laughs, and the first time I traveled with a horde.
Nervie's Memories of the Strike
Although I had enjoyed hunting terrorists in Ridleybank, I was feeling pretty damned burnt out on UD by the time of the strike, I had idled out pretty much everyone of my characters and was considering idling out the rest for the last time.
I didn't want to, Christ no. But things were getting to the stage where I could muster little enthusiasm for the game.
To be totally honest, I was initially against the strike.
However, the RRF were the only reason I hadn't stopped playing when I maxed out Anders in late September, so, doubts or no, I felt obliged to show up.
You don't need me to tell you that Stanstock was a bizarrely entertaining experiance, but, hell, I just did. There was singing, joking and more death rattling than I had seen in a long time, but I still had my doubts.
However, when Petro responded to Kevan's own response, by declaring the RRF's withdrawl from the strike, I realised that he understood things better than most, and saw his intentions behind the strike.
Some saw the strike as an attempt to force or threaten Kevan, which, to me would be an excersise in futility. Ontop of this, to remain on strike once Kevan had responded, iwell that would demonstrate nothing but hosility and ill temper.
Of course, I was still worried, we had shot our load, so to speak, and if things were not to improve, and we didn't leave the game, well, we'd be nothing more than a bunch of fucking whiners, an accusation that many a trenchie had been quick to make.
Thankfully, we never needed to leave UD, and we continued on with the battle for Ridleybank, easily crushing the terrorists. (Although, that said, we had quite clearly been winning since we destroyed the Gingerbrains, a story that I feel deserves it's own recounting here)
Ironically, despite my initial doubts, the Strike actually served to assure my confidence in our leadership, and boosted my enthusiasm for the RRF.
However, the latter was helped somewhat by the fact that shortly after these events, I joined the ranks of the Barhah Brigade. (at which point, many of my RRF anecadotes become classified)
Critical Carl's Memories of the Strike
I started playing UD in the middle of December, about two weeks before the headshot change. 'Critical Carl' and 'Roger Savage' started as zombies and I remember looking anxiously up on the wiki wether you get robbed of XP already on level one. As things turned out, I never lost XP to headshot, but gained my first level when Roger Savage killed a headshotter with no zombie skills and over 1k of banked XP. 8)
When headshot was nerfed, I was very happy, and quite surprised when the strike was announced. My two weeks with the bad headshot and the awesome RRF pages empathized me enough to join the strike out of solidarity. It was big fun, and might be the thing that started my fascination with UD in the first place.
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