I tried this strategy tonight, and really liked it - thanks again. We were having some problems keeping our baller alive in the center of the room; we shifted his position to the top of the gather area instead. He was still easy for people to throw to, and a relatively quick jump to the engulfment. We also added callouts for "yellow [bar] dead" after the weapon is charged; the baller didn't call out "launch plates" (and head to the charge) until after both of them were down.

When I say we/our that is Kermit, Bluerunner, Disciple, Chris, and Squid.

We start with one person on each upper (launch?) plate putting the highest level folks on the outsides (some of us — mostly me — were pretty under leveled so some of our Strat was designed just to accommodate that.). that leaves 2 floaters in the center who can take cover behind the center ledge that is on the stairs. (I hid here as I am soft and easily squished.). We tried to spread out the folks with tethers to have someone left, right, and center.

The two center are the preferred space-farers, and if neither of them get the superior buff, then they will swap with a plate-person for one cycle. Otherwise, one of the two center pops up out of the toaster and makes the call based on the outer shape of the symbol (circle, triangle, or square).

Wait for the ball to get tossed into play. Then, center drops down to center plate, the left two launch plates go to the left plate, and the right two launch plates go to the right door. Whoever caught the ball throws it to the proper plate for that pair to deal with. Everyone is on the same plates every time.

Once the device is armed that gets announced, everyone falls back to the user areas to take out the majors, clear adds, get ammo, etc. We call that out. (this is where we tended to use the shadows hot supers) Once that's done, the ball gets passed (up until then we basically ignore the ball. Throw it out of bounds or something. It will get tossed back in by the ref when it is needed) to the same person who called out the symbol of that cycle, they pick up the greed buff, and take a return trip to space, and throws the beach ball of death at the ship that was marked for death.

Take a second to look at the pretty explosion, Clear adds, and then do the next cycle anew. (this is when we tended to use roaming supers)

Things I like about this: 1. a minimum of call-outs necessary. 2. People have consistent roles, so they do not need to worry about remembering what they are doing, or covering each other/moving to different locations. they can specialize in that enemy set with that geometry. 3. The shapes are distinct and easy. The words do not sound like each other. (I suspect over time we will just say right left center, but don't have that memorized yet)

Clearly, they are "Shield" "Ring" "Sword". Clearly.

Your "Shield" is our "Sword" - it has a handle! And don't underestimate the amusement of yelling "lollipop!" in the middle of a chaotic raid encounter.

Heh. I called it lollipop right at the get go, and lobbied to keep it as lollipop, but the group settled on "ring" instead.

I think Kermit's terms will win out overall, though. I never spotted last night; I assume the Square/Circle/Triangle borders are in fact visible in space?

Yes.

I think Kermit's terms will win out overall, though. I never spotted last night; I assume the Square/Circle/Triangle borders are in fact visible in space?

Yes.

Clearly, they are "Shield" "Ring" "Sword". Clearly.

Your "Shield" is our "Sword" - it has a handle!

Technically most shields have handles ;)

We do all admit that our terms are probably temporary, but they'll probably stick for our group at least until we beat it.

Clearly, they are "Shield" "Ring" "Sword". Clearly.

Your "Shield" is our "Sword" - it has a handle! And don't underestimate the amusement of yelling "lollipop!" in the middle of a chaotic raid encounter.

I think Kermit's terms will win out overall, though. I never spotted last night; I assume the Square/Circle/Triangle borders are in fact visible in space?

This is really different from what I did last night, and that's awesome. I like this strategy and will try it out (especially considering what comes next), thank you for posting this!

Yeah we didn't even know it would apply so well to the next part. We still haven't gotten *through* the next part, but it seems like it's going to work pretty well with only a little adjustment.

Crappy image I made from memory while at work yesterday:

Circle, square, triangle based on the approximate shapes of the borders of each symbol.

Heh, I had that thought, but we ended up going with "sword", "lollipop" and "ship" based on the symbols themselves. What we were struggling with was the timing and the communication required for the overall sequence coordination.

We have a call out for the cycle start "Clock started" (easy enough)

We assigned 4 people to the outer plates ("launch plates"), and two people for the symbol spotting

We created a priority order for the superior buff, so the primary symbol spotter would say either "got it" or "don't have it". If he has it (50/50 chance), he'd head up and call the symbol. If he doesn't have it, the secondary spotter would call "got it" or "don't have it". And if both didn't have it we'd swap in a 3rd or fourth (only happened once).

After the symbol call out "sword" (left), "lollipop" (center) or "ship" (right), the 4 guys on plates can move to clear adds and stay alive, but they need to remain near the plates to grab the ball wherever it appears.

Then of course a call out for "ball charged". There's still some confusion at this point, because the person with the ball isn't clearing adds or standing on a plate - we probably needed a call out to indicate where the spotter should go to help.

Then a call out for "get on plates" - this was hectic due to the tougher adds in the later cycles. I think more time on add clearing is necessary to do this safely

We were calling out when the yellow bars that spawn after the weapon is charged are down "Left/right yellow down" as an indication to get back to the launch plates

Another call out for "launch plates", and this was also hectic/confusing (mostly due to adds). We had a definite struggle at this point to manage who has the ball, if they do/don't have the superior buff, passing it to someone who does if necessary, and getting someone on each launch plate simultaneously without getting someone who's been stationary on a plate too long killed by adds. This might be easier if we gave it more time, but we were usually seeing red flames at that point.

We beat it, but the communication and coordination needed work. And then there the next encounter <evil laugh>.

We were seconds from (very probably) completing the 2nd encounter at least twice.

Congrats! Working out the 2nd encounter mechanics blind is tough. Next time we're in party, I'd like to compare notes on your call outs for that encounter. I'd like to hear how other fire teams are managing the moving parts.

-Chappy

Circle, square, triangle based on the approximate shapes of the borders of each symbol.

I honestly think the only reason we didn't beat it was (my) fatigue.

I'd like to hear how other fire teams are managing the moving parts.

Lots of shouting and swearing.

We were seconds from (very probably) completing the 2nd encounter at least twice.

Congrats! Working out the 2nd encounter mechanics blind is tough. Next time we're in party, I'd like to compare notes on your call outs for that encounter. I'd like to hear how other fire teams are managing the moving parts.

-Chappy