Congratulations to the new Grand Champions, particularly the one I helped coach.
The tale of two contestants.
So for the December 2013 Invitational, I received two requests for assistance. I helped one person but not the other. The person I helped won that industry and became a new Grand Champion. This person very likely could have won without my help, so I won’t take any credit for the achievement that this person deserves, particularly because it was one of the most competitive industries with the most good teams playing in it.
Why did I help this person and not the other? Because that person responded quickly to my email during the early rounds in the game. The other person waited nearly a week to respond to my email, and by that time the game was hopelessly lost for that person due to many irreversible mistakes in strategy and tactics. This person didn’t even end up in the top 4 of the industry.
So if you ask for my help and I return your email, what’s the point of asking at all if you don’t reply to me? Don’t waste my time or yours. Check your email.
If you aren’t diligent and actively managing your game play, then you have no chance of winning against others who are. You deserve to lose if you ask an expert and then don’t reply for a week. Only serious players win this game. You aren’t playing against stupid computer artificial intelligence competitors. Your competition are people who really want to win, and they’re usually pretty smart people. They have already won one game in order to be invited to the tournament. When I played my first game in the Invitational, I had already won 5 separate games. The competition in the Invitational is usually much more difficult than in the classroom games.
It has been interesting reading up on your articles about the BSG simulation game. I’m currently in the process of gathering and understanding as much as I can before this game starts for our class in a few weeks. If you have the ability to share more insight on this game, please feel free to email me. Thanks!