Roll Muck

[utopastac]

I'd forgotten how much I love this game, cheers guys for some excellent games, good to see everyone.

When we started I was so out of my depth it was weird, couldn't get a kill on those bomb games. Got back into it though, we had some CLOSE matches at the end there.

Particular highlights: On the coag being the only guy back on defense and getting a tripple kill with the Shotgun and also killing everyone on that last game on Headlong with the bomb before getting oh so close to arming it.

[Yewone]

Particular highlights:.....killing everyone on that last game on Headlong with the bomb before getting oh so close to arming it.

Git!

[Pob]

I'd forgotten how much I love this game, cheers guys for some excellent games, good to see everyone.

When we started I was so out of my depth it was weird, couldn't get a kill on those bomb games. Got back into it though, we had some CLOSE matches at the end there.

Particular highlights: On the coag being the only guy back on defense and getting a tripple kill with the Shotgun and also killing everyone on that last game on Headlong with the bomb before getting oh so close to arming it.

I couldn't believe that! I got smacked down, but I thought, "no worries, my homies will deal with this chump." Then I see

Utopastac beat down Harlen Quinn

Utopastac beat down Syntax Error

Utopastac beat down U-1

[Distinct muttering]

top games guys, I much preferred the last few as well.

Im growing to like Headlong. Its not easy to formulate a tactical approach, but when you do and it works its extra satisfying.

Good to see Uto back in the fold, looked like he had never been away at the end.

Im am slapping a ban on Mr Stock carrying anything more powerful than a SMG in future

Im gonna miss this over crimbo and New Year, but you never know, if I get my packing done extra fast on Thursday I might just make it for one last session

[Distinct muttering]

I couldn't believe that! I got smacked down, but I thought, "no worries, my homies will deal with this chump." Then I see

Utopastac beat down Harlen Quinn

Utopastac beat down Syntax Error

Utopastac beat down U-1

Its the old jump in the air and beat them down on the way down, I was sure I put enough led in him on the way up and down though to escape the dread THWACK!

Good skills though, when these things happen I just need to console myself with the thought you will be doing them against other clans in the future B)

[Pob]

Its the old jump in the air and beat them down on the way down, I was sure I put enough led in him on the way up and down though to escape the dread THWACK!

Good skills though, when these things happen I just need to console myself with the thought you will be doing them against other clans in the future B)

Harlen saved you from some embarassment in the last game, when you were stealthing the bomb into our own base

It's perfectly possible to arm the bomb on your own spot - it would have been worth you doing it just so we could rip the piss forever!

It's good that you 'swap ends' after each round on the non-symmetrical maps. I didn't know that.

[utopastac]

I couldn't believe that! I got smacked down, but I thought, "no worries, my homies will deal with this chump." Then I see

Utopastac beat down Harlen Quinn

Utopastac beat down Syntax Error

Utopastac beat down U-1

I couldn't really believe it at the time, Alan was saying 'we're all dead, hide somewhere' and, as was customary, I ignored him.

To be fair it probably lost us the match, but it was fun.

[Distinct muttering]

Harlen saved you from some embarassment in the last game, when you were stealthing the bomb into our own base

It's perfectly possible to arm the bomb on your own spot - it would have been worth you doing it just so we could rip the piss forever!

It's good that you 'swap ends' after each round on the non-symmetrical maps. I didn't know that.

I didnt know that either, unreal! You sure you can arm it though, it didnt seem to be arming?

I thought I had been all smart going up the air lift and getting in there unoticed as well. Didnt realise the reason it was unoticed was because they were all gaurding the REAL base.

Im such a n00b

[Alan Stock]

Yep good stuff tonight. Some really close games and my connection was alive -hurray. Favourite game was probably that Headlong one, with fewer people it's more about strategy and choosing your routes than just going all out attack which is nice.

Also I am really starting to enjoy that desert level, before I used to think the fort was the only bit you can control well, in fact that's complete bollocks.

Would like to play some team games using the non-standard vehicles like the Elite transport. That would be wicked. I should be on tomorrow night for my final fling before I head off to Scotland on thurdsay (back just after new year).

[Pob]

I didnt know that either, unreal! You sure you can arm it though, it didnt seem to be arming?

Yeah, because last night I grabbed the bomb and ran through our arming spot, and the bar started going up!

Alan, I made a new gametype last night called 'hardcore assault' (sounds a bit dodgy). The rules are:

- one neutral bomb

- no shields

- no radar

- ten second respawn

- ten second arming

- starting weapon: magnum

- human weapons only

- warthogs only

I might put in the Covvie transport at well for some variety. I reckon this would work well on Headlong.

[Petrousgyre]

Would like to play some team games using the non-standard vehicles like the Elite transport.

Would be interesting. Bungie will, i guess, start mixing it up in matchmaking with alternative guns and vehicles.

Just to say thanks for the games last night guys (in particular Crazy King on Zanzibar). First forum game I've had in ages - finishing GTA:SA has kept me away from halo2 until recently.

Also if anyone fancies welcoming me to the warm busom of a clan - I'd be willing to make tea and warm toilet seats etc. I managed to miss all of that.

[utopastac]

- ten second respawn

- ten second arming

The flaws in my attack strategies will become painfully apparant.

[Fondue]

Enjoyed my (limited) time with you guys last night - Alan, you are annoyingly good! I hated it when you sniped me from about 1 metre away within a stairwell!

I'll be on for a couple of nights next week if anyone else fancies a bit of some.

[Distinct muttering]

Would be interesting. Bungie will, i guess, start mixing it up in matchmaking with alternative guns and vehicles.

Just to say thanks for the games last night guys (in particular Crazy King on Zanzibar). First forum game I've had in ages - finishing GTA:SA has kept me away from halo2 until recently.

Also if anyone fancies welcoming me to the warm busom of a clan - I'd be willing to make tea and warm toilet seats etc. I managed to miss all of that.

We are holding off any recruitment just now until the New Year.

However feel free to play with any of the guys over Crimbo and New Year as many fo us will be away anyway. Kick their ass and it can only strenghten your claim

Obviously feel free to join any other clan who is taking people on in the meantime. But as I say, we are having a revaluation of the numbers etc. in Jan before the kick off of the Halo Championships.

[Distinct muttering]

Enjoyed my (limited) time with you guys last night - Alan, you are annoyingly good! I hated it when you sniped me from about 1 metre away within a stairwell!

I'll be on for a couple of nights next week if anyone else fancies a bit of some.

Alan, I am not pleased to see you its a Rocket Launcher and a sword in my pocket, Stock!

To quote the Joker from Batman "Where does he get those wonderful toys?". First person to spot Mr Stock wielding a single SMG gets a secret special clan prize B)

[Pob]

To quote the Joker from Batman "Where does he get those wonderful toys?". First person to spot Mr Stock wielding a single SMG gets a secret special clan prize B)

That cracked me up when you said that last night. So true.

Every time you see Stock, he's tooled up like Arnie in Commando.

[Alan Stock]

Alan, I am not pleased to see you its a Rocket Launcher and a sword in my pocket, Stock!

To quote the Joker from Batman "Where does he get those wonderful toys?". First person to spot Mr Stock wielding a single SMG gets a secret special clan prize B)

Hee hee! That is a great quote. To be honest the main reason you see me with sniper, rockets, swords, shotguns, vehicles and plasma grenades is that I'm absolute bollocks with the "lightweight" weapons and seem to be a bit better with the specialised ones. Except the Ghost and Banshee , which I can use to run people over with but am complete shite at shooting people with.

Fondue, thanks. I seem to finally be getting the hang of using the sniper unscoped, mind you, strafing lots in those situations makes it near impossible to snipe people at close range because the bullet streak is so small.

Back to work for me, see yas tonight.

[Distinct muttering]

Hee hee! That is a great quote. To be honest the main reason you see me with sniper, rockets, swords, shotguns, vehicles and plasma grenades is that I'm absolute bollocks with the "lightweight" weapons and seem to be a bit better with the specialised ones. Except the Ghost and Banshee , which I can use to run people over with but am complete shite at shooting people with.

Fondue, thanks. I seem to finally be getting the hang of using the sniper unscoped, mind you, strafing lots in those situations makes it near impossible to snipe people at close range because the bullet streak is so small.

Back to work for me, see yas tonight.

Learning to use the sniper unscoped with reasonable accuracy is definitely on my to do list.

[Distinct muttering]

Come on guys, wheres the report from last night? Im an addict, I need to at least hear about it if I wasnt playing B)

[Distinct muttering]

Posted in the Om YOm thread by Krypt, could explain why all of a sudden Atarian is having problems hosting Big Team clan matches

What's happening here is that the clan playlists (unlike the normal ranked matches) are restricted entry playlists. In order to play in a clan match your party must have at least one person who has "enough bandwidth" to host the game. This hopefully prevents ending up in a match with 16 people that all have 128k DSL lines and are unable to host a satisfying game.

The reason that you're running into trouble is that Halo 2 has no way of actually knowing how good an individual's network connection is other than experience - if you have hosted a lot of big games in the past then your network connection is reliable. So in other words as you play in big games and are selected to be the host, you will build up a better hosting record. But if nobody in your party has a good hosting record then you are out of luck.

Specifically, in order to be a sufficiently good host to enter the Major Clanmatch playlist you must have 270kbps of known good upstream bandwidth available. And more importantly you must have a correctly configured router so that there are no NAT incompatibility problems with your Internet connection.

This process is meant to be invisible. And it would be, except that last week we deployed an autoupdate over Xbox Live. A side effect of this update (which we did not know about until we deployed it) is that everyone's host record was cleared, so the Major Clanmatch playlist suddenly stopped working for a bunch of people who were having success earlier. But once everyone's host records are built back up again it should be fine.

So the solution to your problem is that the people in your party with good connections (384kbps upstream or better) should do two things - make sure that their routers are configured properly (there is more information on the Xbox website about this), and build up a good hosting record by playing in lots of games, either ranked or arranged games, with lots of players.

If you want to make sure that a specific person builds up their host record, you can take advantage of the way that the networking model works and ensure that they build up a good background. Here's how to do it.

1. Select your host!

2. Make sure they have a good network connection. I personally have 640k SDSL but anything 384k or above should be sufficient. Cable modems are very variable and may be good but may also be sub-par.

3. Make sure they have a correctly configured router. Xbox.com has more information about this.

4. Make sure they have a good record of playing games to completion and not quitting out early.

5. Have them create a party of one and start a custom game. This will ensure that when the game starts they are the only person on the game, therefore they are the host.

6. Get 12-15 of your friends and join in progress to this game. Start playing.

7. Watch the network status indicators (on the scoreboard if you press BACK). They should start out at 1-2 bars and grow over time as the game adjusts the available bandwidth and discovers that your host has enough to handle the game.

8. Once the network indicators show that everyone is at full strength with 6 bars (or if the game has maxed out the available bandwidth and is not growing any further), you can end the game. Make sure the game lasts at least 5 minutes or it will not be recorded as a successful bandwidth measurement.

9. Have everyone leave the party and go back to stage 5.

If you repeat this procedure for 5-10 games, then you should have a lot of good bandwidth measurements for your host. That should let you play in the Major Clanmatch playlist again.

This is all TOTALLY OPTIONAL of course. If you all just play in the Big Team Battle playlist for a few days then the natural processes of the game should re-discover that you have a good host. This post just presents a recipe for how you can accelerate that process. It wouldn't be necessary except for the fact that we lost the bandwidth records. But it should let you work around this temporary problem.

Hope this helps. Please follow up to this topic if you have success.

[Yewone]

Posted in the Om YOm thread by Krypt, could explain why all of a sudden Atarian is having problems hosting Big Team clan matches

So basically we need to get together and play loads of big team battles?

[Distinct muttering]

So basically we need to get together and play loads of big team battles?

Its a tough job, but someones got to do it

[Ian_S]

Posted in the Om YOm thread by Krypt, could explain why all of a sudden Atarian is having problems hosting Big Team clan matches

The problem with the wiped host records was caused by the update at the start of December (the one that unlocked Foundation), so if by 'all of a sudden' you mean in the last few days then that wouldn't be the problem.

[taiAtari]

The problem with the wiped host records was caused by the update at the start of December (the one that unlocked Foundation), so if by 'all of a sudden' you mean in the last few days then that wouldn't be the problem.

Actually the only times when I haven't been able to host major clanmatches is when Syntax is in the party. I think our connections really, really dislike eachother. But I will dutifully play some big team battles (OhMyGawd!)

[Rockboy]

Is anybody going to be on tonight then? I noticed Carrera and Manicman were on for a bit last night, I was busy practising some jumps on Lockout.

[Pochacco]

Go on then - it's been a few days since I last played Halo 2

(I'm not too well btw )

[Distinct muttering]

Actually the only times when I haven't been able to host major clanmatches is when Syntax is in the party. I think our connections really, really dislike eachother. But I will dutifully play some big team battles (OhMyGawd!)

But then we have managed them before?

How can a connection not like each other? Surely coincidence?

Bah.

Anyway, I might be able to sneak on for an hour or so tonight.

However the good news is that it turns out my sister has broadband and my mate is gonna lend me his x box when I am home. So barring any problems in setting the shit up I will be able to get on over crimbo after all B)

[Distinct muttering]

Go on then - it's been a few days since I last played Halo 2

(I'm not too well btw )

Aw bless, whats wrong?

Guys, just in case I dont get a chance to say, as this is my last day at work till the New Year, and I am not getting much browsing time today...

Thanks for making the clan a success! Its made the Halo experience all the better for me, as a result eating up far too much of my time!

So to everyone, have a very good Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Look forward to playing with you all again in the New Year B)

[Yewone]

Guys, just in case I dont get a chance to say, as this is my last day at work till the New Year, and I am not getting much browsing time today...

Thanks for making the clan a success! Its made the Halo experience all the better for me, as a result eating up far too much of my time!

So to everyone, have a very good Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Look forward to playing with you all again in the New Year B)

Same here!

Doubt I`ll be getting much of a chance to get back on until next week. So have a great Xmas and stuff!

[Pochacco]

Have a good one Syntax - and to the rest of the clan

I've been feeling shitty since last Tues. Running a temperature + coughing lots = not good.