Cracker Retires

[RowAndLive]

Originally posted by carlosMM
i simply didn't like the fog and volcanos and so on.

Personally, I liked the fog, and never saw the effects of a volcano, but I did appreciate all of the added "specials" (units, etc.) that were added to GOTM. Otherwise it would have been just another random map. The effect of selectively placing goodie huts to allow pre-emminent civilizations (ala Atlantis) is a creative one, and allows for more interesting situations. I'm sure that there are more ways to do things that I hadn't hit, but I did enjoy them all.

 

[carlosMM]

the fog made the game so slow on my PC it was unbearable. and I think 800 MHz and 512 RAM should be enough.

 

[Offa]

I want to join in thanking Cracker for all his work. Under his rule we have been treated to some fantastic games. However, I think his best contribution was the excellent QSC, now sadly fading into memory. The analyses of the starts were entertaining awesome and educational. I hope it can be revived.

Cracker started just as a lot of dodgy games were appearing in the upper reaches of gotm, and he and his secret agents have to be thanked for doing whatever it is they do to encourage honesty.

So well done Cracker and good luck Ainwood.

 

[samildanach]

Originally posted by carlosMM
are you a politician?

This was my juvenile homage to cracker a.k.a. impersonating the teacher when he isn't around routine
Its good to know that you are thinking of coming back. But aren't volcanoes included in Civ conquests? - I don't have Conquests so I don't know - if that is in fact the case then Volcanoes may be featuring heavily in your Civ life whether you return or not I don't much care for fog myself - a little bit of it adds variety to the water squares but I'm not keen on big fog banks. I'm a bit of a land-lubber at heart

 

[carlosMM]

yes the volcs are around now. sucks that they erupt in years, not turn, emans that when their impact is worst in % (like, kill 1 settler early has a lot mor eimpact than in 1900) they are most active.


that is a legacy I do not want from cracker but many seem to like them - oh well!

 

[zagnut]

CarlosMM:

If the fog and volcanoes are all you didn't like in cracker's games then I think he did a good job. Keep in mind that whenever you go off into uncharted waters to make changes to a good thing, you might not please everyone. And everything you try to do may not meet with success. But if no one went out on the frontier and tried the new and different we wouldn't be having this discussion. Sid Meier tried something new and different and a lot of it sucked. But he kept improving it and through 3 games (and a hundred necessary patches) he is slowly getting it right. How many years has it taken now? Cut cracker a little slack. He has only been at it for one year.

You may disagree with cracker's style (I do) and you may disagree with the mods he put together (I don't), but in my opinion he did more to advance this game and this site in the last year than anyone else.

 

[ainwood]

Keep this thread on-topic guys.

We are looking for input into the pros and cons of the options for the GOTM going foward. Please provide constructive feedback n this thread, and leave this one to its purpose.

 

[DaLightHorseman]

thanks cracker,
your clever encouragement to the better players to share their wisdom via qsc was a big help for the crappier players such as myself.
most of the criticisms seemed to come from people who have moved on modded games but simply did not like your own additions. i thought they were innovative and entertaining.

i have to admit the best was reading people get "crackered", is there any chance you could release a short ebook of your top 100 replies to "enquires" from the players?

cheers


ps ainwood, does middle earth have cable or do you still use saurons seeing rock thingies?

 

[Aggie]

Thanks Cracker. The numbers show that you were able to give GOTM a boost.

Congrats ainwood You have a difficult task ahead of you!

 

[Pigumon]

Thanks, cracker.

You brought us Mac people to the stage of official GOTM. And we are enjoying the opportunity every month.

 

[Ambiorix]

Thanks Cracker.
Enjoy RL for a while.

 

[OneFastWarrior]

Thanks Cracker. When I 1st found CFC it was to play a gotm. I learned how to be a better player here and really enjoyed all of the additions to the games. I have not submitted in a few months but I continue to enjoy the games for my own pleasure.

Enjoy your gotm retirement and hope to still see ya hanging around and maybe even playing some gotm's in the future.

 

[jeffelammar]

Since I kinda fell off the GOTM several months ago I haven't been paying enough attention to the threads. I figured that I would go ahead and post my thanks. I'm not really adding much to the thread, but one more thanks doesn't hurt

I can't say I'm surprised by this. Cracker put in more work for this than I can imagine. He did this all despite constant flames, stupid questions and a fairly scant amount of praise. Many people took time to thank him as things went along, but not as much as he deserved.

THANKS FOR ALL OF IT CRACKER

I personally didn't like some of the directions that GOTM took, but that is my issue. It worked very well for the community as a whole, and really that is what is important.

Due to Cracker's hard work I was given the tools to be an infinitely more skilled Civ player than I was before. (Lots of thanks to many others, but I don't think I'd have noticed some of the other stuff without Cracker running GOTM).

I also want to shout out a giant THANKS to Ainwood for taking over this massive job.

 

[Green Light]

Great work Cracker. I loved your work, you really improved the level of GotM during your time

Especially the Volcanoes, Fog and differential naval movement were really cool improvements and i hope the new team will not completely abandon these nice things.

I hope you play a GotM sometime in the future and post your analysis in Spoiler thread, that could be some interesting text to read !

Have a peaceful retirement !

 

[drewshark]

I would like to express my gratitude to Cracker for all his dedicated hard work, GOTM would never have been anything near what it was without him. I have personally been away from GOTM for several months, but would like to get back involved due largely to the wonderful community and fantastic games Cracker has been a huge part of over the past year. I wish him the best in whatever he does and I can't say enough how much fun he has made GOTM for me.

 

[Wolp]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Au revoir, Crackir`

 

[DaviddesJ]

I haven't posted here in a while, but I want to join everyone in thanking cracker for all of the work he put into the GOTM. I got a lot of enjoyment out of the several games I played.

 

[deadloss]

I also would like to thank you Cracker for, what appears to have been your tireless efforts in thinking of something 'different' each month for the GOTM, putting it all together in time and all the research that has gone with each of the GOTMs.

I would also like to put it on record that I have appreciated your efforts in keeping the forum 'clean' from transgressions from certain individuals (namely, me) in the past.

I joined around the time of the Spain GOTM (#21, I think) and up to that point, I falsely thought I was quite good at the game. I also played the 'scout the map then reload back to 4000BC' cheat all of the time before joining. Since I have joined and started playing GOTMs, I have been reload-free and cheat-free. It's thanks to you guys on this site that I have become a far better player. I still have some way to go to join the ranks of regular winners but it is due to the interesting, diverse and challenging levels of the GOTMs that have enabled me to improve. If they had been too boring or too easy, I wouldn't have improved and would have turned elsewhere for a challenge. As it is, there's a lot to thank Cracker AND the other members of the team for.

BTW, if there is a 'Book of the Top 100 PM correspondence,' I would hope that I get a mention in it somewhere. I also detected from recent PMs that you were nearing the end of your tether and it was implied that it'll be different from the New Year.

So, despite the fact that the news is hardly shocking to me, I have to confess that I was saddened to read that you've had enough/tired/don't have the time/run off with the milkman/died* (*delete as applicable).

I'm sure ainwood will do a sterling job in trying to maintain the same standards and I wish you both the very best in the future.

Thankyou for your efforts, Cracker!

 

[JonathanValjean]

I'm late seeing this announcement, but I would be remiss not to thank Cracker for all the countless hours he put into making the GOTM a wonderful event for all. Thanks, Cracker, and I wish you the best in all that you do. Ainwood, I commend you for your willingness to become the new chief of the GOTM. Good luck!

 

[Salte]

I've only been around here for a short time, but its been more than enough to recognise that Cracker has made major impacts on the enjoyment and science of CIV III for a lot of players. I've already read a number of his articles, and they're quite something. So thanks a lot, take care, and good luck to Ainwood!