Round 2.5 Start-Up

[Russia (Schwerpunkt)]

A few things.

1) We're still in pre-claiming mode. The new guys that post in the claim forum will, depending on their claim, either receive it by default (Abream's Ireland) or be asked to submit additional claims (Flash after requesting South Africa). I understand that this issue has caused a bit of confusion, but it will be addressed.

2) New and old faces this round. Yay!

3) Claims should be formalized tomorrow. I believe we have something like 36 claimed countries at present, 37 once Flash gets sorted. That may be the highest start I've seen.

4) I'm tentatively naming Wednesday (17th) as the start day. This gives us Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as 'extra' days, allowing new players an additional three days for their first quarter (which will be 3Q2011). I wanted to swing a few extra days for the opening of the round due to all the administrative stuff that has to be handled (name changes and claims, mostly) as well as allowing players the necessary time to set up their factbooks and such. A finalized list of claims will be made available prior to my hour-long crusade of name changing. This will allow players that happen to log on while I'm revving the engine to get started on their necessary threads.

5) The following popular claims are still more or less open(ish): Greece, Italy, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Philippines, Koreas, Venezuela, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Sweden. This list is subject to change at any time. In fact, I've probably gotten a PM by now indicating that someone wants to switch from their claim into one on this list.

[Russia (Schwerpunkt)]

Further updates.

1) If your post has less than ten words in it, it's probably spam. These extremely brief posts that add nothing to the topic really need to stop. OOC or not, I expect users to refrain from spam. I've had to delete two blatantly unnecessary posts today, both of which were made by the same user. Let's try to avoid that going forward.

2) This weekend will see an activity check. Those player with outstanding claims that have not posted will be relieved of their claims. Unfortunately, both Dax and I live on the east coast and we may or may not get obliterated by this hurricane; it's not possible to guarantee the turn change will take place on Monday when the Scrambles the Death-Dealer isn't expected to pass Delaware until after Sunday. Don't be surprised if you're getting a turn update Tuesday or Wednesday.

3) The ticker tape will be updated around the same time as the turn. Feel free to continue submitting your suggestions.

[Russia (Schwerpunkt)]

Since my power company decided to send me a letter saying that Irene will probably knock my power out for three days (which is PECO speak for "give us a business week and then some"), I'll be changing the turn this morning. We've already spent extra time in the third quarter and, even adjusting for the extra full day lost, there's been more than the standard 7 days to fiddle with. Besides, it looks like a few people have some plot thingamajigs they're holding off for the next quarter. Note that you may still mark news articles as '3Q2011' until tomorrow. I can't foresee this being a significant problem for anyone, but I do wish to allow that last bit of wiggle room for people who really want to get a news article in for the third quarter.

So let it be written, so let it be done. We are now entering the fourth quarter.

Pursuant to the turn change, the roster has been looked over. The complete fail that was forgetting to change Rieper's name to reflect his claim (Botswana) has been addressed. Due to Historian's inactivity, Stallion has superseded him as Brazil. Additionally, Aummonia (Ethiopia) and Nat (Italy) will be removed for inactivity. I'm further issuing warnings to Bob Edwards (Poland) and Telros (India). If, for whatever reason, your current claims are too much for you to handle (India is a big claim, especially for a new player), request a switch. Alternatively, if you happen to be hung up on something, ask for help. The off-green color serves as a visual indicator of the current claims that are under-performing in terms of activity.

It really doesn't matter how long you've been here or how active you are: if you don't know something, ask. We'll work with you to resolve any given problem or concern. 21c is utterly unlike any other nation RP. It has a learning curve that would make Paradox Interactive green with envy and requires a rather significant commitment for a potential player to move past the introductory level. Everyone here has been there: it's one hell of an adjustment moving from any other RP to 21c.

Moving on: I've updated the map. It'll be uploaded once I sort out a proper ticker tape update.

Also, Hurricane Irene shall be henceforth known as 'Scrambles the Death-Dealer.' I expect any posts by our American or Canadian players to reflect this revised naming convention.