In the 3rd interview for the Final Stage of The Tribal Wars 2012 Dalv welcomes F_aLc_enSchrei (nC_Skittle), representing the fellows from aLc.
(Note: With language barrier no more an obstacle, this is the first interview from the series to be done live, via IM)
[READMORELINKDOTS]
Dalv: Hey there, I'd be damned, Sch_aLc_ke05 is looking good, don’t tell me it’s the alcohol.
F_aLc_enSchrei: Hey! I guess that's a picture from the carnival 11. But since he's known as Tsu_Nilpferd, he insisted on that photo
Dalv: Next to me there’s a bottle of Karamalz and a bottle of Beck’s. Which should I open first?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Beck's of course! aLc has a very good realationships with Beck's, on the last LAN-party we even had a contest that was called Beck's-periment
Dalv: The best beer is the one you drink right now, true or false?
F_aLc_enSchrei: true!
Dalv: A Prussian, a Bavarian and a Swabian walk into a bar. Into each of their beer a fly falls. The Prussian throws the beer and buys another. The Bavarian takes the fly out of the beer and keeps drinking. The Swabian takes the fly, squeezes it above the glass to recover the beer, and keeps drinking. Where are you from in Germany?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Bavaria, Munich
Dalv: Interesting, I understand you would keep drinking the beer.
F_aLc_enSchrei: Of course, never waste a beer! A fly in it only means you get some additional proteins!
Dalv: “Contrary to popular belief, Germans don’t know everything, they just know everything better”, so tell me, is it true that alcohol helps you ask girls out?
F_aLc_enSchrei: 11 of course alcohol makes people less thinking and more speaking. If you didnt have too much it's never a disadvantage!
Dalv: Should one know German to get girls if he came to Germany?
F_aLc_enSchrei: I guess German isn't that bad, but you can also bring money with you and order several cocktails.
Dalv: I’m really going to open my can of beer now to get down to business. What can you tell us about aLc? Is it the former nC?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Hmm, that's not gonna be easy to understand, I guess 11. But I will try to tell you. In germany there aren't really clans left, the only one is nC beside some beginner-clans like ]DEAD[ and [RED]. And so we founded aLc, nearly every german player has an aLc nick. But it's not really a clan, we don't even have a board 11 schedules we make in German community board (masters) or in nC-board. So I guess we got all german players in our team that are active right know and aren't jordan or sorck 11.
Dalv: Jordan doesn’t like alcohol?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Jordan was in aLc too, he played last year RTS with us as Jord_aLc_i23, and so did sorcK.
Dalv: Germany is a country that needs no further presentation. Lots of highways but I’d still prefer a rural bike trip to Neuschwanstein Castle and the like.
F_aLc_enSchrei: Oh yeah, Germany rox 11. I would tell tourists to see the Alps, really beautiful! and of course the Oktoberfest.
Dalv: Year 2012. There may be players actually younger than AOC itself. Chris was discovering the 22 pop scout flush at the age of 11. How is AOC today compared to the old days?
F_aLc_enSchrei: I guess that today nearly all strats are discovered and there is a truly high skill level even in 16xx games. In good old msn gaming zone (where I had an account with 13xx 11) you could have reached 1700 with only knowing how to arrange the first 25 vills :D
Dalv: First versions of LN are there since the beginnings. Finally the experts are faced with a LN tourney. How do you see the map?
F_aLc_enSchrei: In ~2004 I played this map really often because you got games fast. I like it the one way because you can do many strats and there are not predetermined strats. But on the other hand it's also a luck map :D and 5 games with 6 restarts and stuck vill gbs is really hard...
Dalv: aLc performed beyond expectations in WCL7 and is yet again into the final stages now, at The Tribal Wars 2012. However, the way there was loosened by the disassembly of Malevolent. Have the lack of games from the tourney affected the team in any way?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Puh, I guess it's a general problem in our team because we all don't really have much time. Nilpferd, Arma and Lance are studying and I am working and studying in the evening so there isn't that much time to play games. We are glad to be able to play all tournament games, didn't have any training games 11
Dalv: I see, but you do have a good understanding of the game as well as with each other in the team. I believe you have the skill to still bring some interesting surprises.
F_aLc_enSchrei: We don't have big ambitions, we are glad to reach the finals and our target is to steal some games from other clans, I guess that on the paper we are the hard underdogs in all games :D
Dalv: Is ping more of a problem to teams that aren’t generally used to it than for those with slower connection? We tend to hear “each team played in the same conditions”.
F_aLc_enSchrei: Except LAN, the players in our team play mostly IP games or german zone games with german players, the highest ping there is ~100ms. So we aren't used to play that at all, because you need for example completely different micro. I would say it's an advantage for the players who play in lag more often/always.
Dalv: It seems like TyranT is rampaging into the Final Stage. aLc beat them once, can you suprise their strategy again this time?
F_aLc_enSchrei: xD I would say everything else than a 0-5 would be a big surprise, but of course we will try! Yet we didn't often play with our best team, maybe we can do that against tyrant and with some (much 11) luck maybe we can get one game.
Dalv: TyranT now has Viper and Jordan in place of Grunt and Halen. People may have different opinions. Which line up do you think is stronger?
F_aLc_enSchrei: No offense to Grunt and Halen, I think they were great players but we talked about AoC changing in the last ten years, and they were old school players. I still know how I was waiting for the Grunt recs in WCG 11. But now it's the time of Viper and Jordan, and they brought AOC to a new level I think.
Dalv: Is aLc’s style aggressive? We have seen a drush in premiere in the Final Stage. What did your team mate tell you about that?
F_aLc_enSchrei: 1111 really epic scene, bender x'ed a deer spot and said "enemy deer". Seems like he also said "I will take it", but I didnt hear that 11 and because it was so near to me I decided to drush it and kill the boars.... but that was really fun in TS, all laughed hard 111
I guess our style is quite aggressive, mostly we try to sling because we also have 17xx in our team^^
Dalv: Walls seemed a key point on TTW2012. Those who did it seemed to have had success. Do you think walls should be nerfed like in AOEFE or for some maps like LN it adds suspense for post imp fights?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Hard to say, it also depends on the map. if you are quite open walls aren't op, they cost you much eco. If enemy dont rush you'll probably lose in imp, but if there are tight places, they really seem op. I am looking forward to AoEFE, because it will bring changes to AoC!
Dalv: What do you think about the other results in the Final Stage?
F_aLc_enSchrei: For me, the only surprise until now was RVK losing against NFQ, I didn't expect that. These Chinese guys really do a great job, also their games vs Tyrant were really good and they nearly killed them. All other results were somehow preseeable for me, Tyrant will be Champion for sure.
Dalv: What about the others?
F_aLc_enSchrei: 2. NFQ 3. RVK 4. poZ 5. VNS and we 6. I guess...
Dalv: Who deserves the MVP award so far? Would you use the money for this award differently if you were on charge?
F_aLc_enSchrei: That's hard to say because Tyrant f.e. has 4 perfect players, there is no "most valuable". Also in RVK I cant see a "most valuable". For me atm that player must come from NFQ, paladin or goodboy!
And I thinks it's a good award *g*
Dalv: What would you say in one or two words about the following?
Ming__ (goodboy)
LN Sling
Kkab
high number of AOC experts in a small region
VNS vs NFQ
RVK without RiuT
The Tribal Wars 2012
F_aLc_enSchrei:
Ming__ (Goodboy) = very good player
LN Sling = must be used very clever
Kkab = master of LN and so friendly
high number of AOC experts in a small region = poZ :D
VNS vs NFQ = laggg 11
RVK without RiuT = Huns without CA
The Tribal Wars 2012 = cool tournament!
Dalv: I have rarely seen players upgrading their castle with Hoardings (+1000hp!) and buildings with Masonry/Architecture. Aren’t those important? They could keep buildings up for much longer and the costs are low for post-imp, yet almost none make them. (I have seen only FeAge making them as far as I know)
F_aLc_enSchrei: xD good question. I also never make Hoardings, but I always try to make Masonry/Architecture, especially when I make front castles or bombard towers. But I think they arent that important, because most times in post imp you dont lose castle because of 1000 hp more or less, you lose them because you had lost the game xD
Dalv: How would you advise a 14xx LN player to defend vs a siege/monk/knight rush (from an opponent with similar skill ofc)?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Depends on his civ and if he has some back gold, with a good monk civ (vs an unslinged opponent) he can do monks only to defend from the kts and also convert the mangonels and monks. With bad monk civ I would try to hold him off (repair tc, do mangonel and wall it in vs rams behind tc) unitl help arrives.
Dalv: Which is the weakest civ in LN?
F_aLc_enSchrei: Huns
Dalv: Turk and Byzantine fast imperial (if slinged, even better), attacking with HC and Bombard Canon around 27-29 minute can wipe almost 2 enemies. I haven’t seen such strategy applied in TTW2012. Is it useless among experts?
F_aLc_enSchrei: We tried that against poZ, but it's hard to play because you need to stonewall yourself (which costs much eco, not like arena or bf where you often see that strat). And if enemy pushes you or the slinger, you easily die in castle.
Dalv: Who is the best poster from our community?
F_aLc_enSchrei: I like fallingstar 11 I still believe that's a family of 20 guys :D
Dalv 1v1 or team tourney?
F_aLc_enSchrei: team, I am bad 1v1 player
Dalv: VNS_CooL asked you: "what I hear is German beer is real cheap, is that true? We love German beer, but it’s way too expensive here in Vietnam 11."
F_aLc_enSchrei: If you take cheap beer, you get a beer for ~25 euro-cent in Germany! The good beer costs around 85cent, 0,5 liters.
Dalv: How would you like us to end our conversation?
F_aLc_enSchrei: I would like to send greetings to my nC-friends, especially Eric, Para and Udo, you rox! And I would like to tell Imp_Goten here to stop LoL and comeback to aLc, we really need him 11
Dalv: Alright, thanks for your patience, I wish you best of luck in the remaining games!
F_aLc_enSchrei: Thank you for the interview, you really do an amazing job! Things like these keep AoC alive
Below we have 3 of the fellows from aLc in pictures:
(germany )F_aLc_enSchrei
JohNNie_W_aLc_er
Sch_aLc_ke05