CFB Risk Day 19 – YO, LISTEN UP HERE’S A STORY ABOUT A LITTLE GUY WHO LIVES IN A BLUE WORLD

Pre-Recap Announcements:

• Team leaders are *still* asking players to join the Michigan Discord group (https://discord.gg/DRQyjp56kP).  Currently less than 50% of our team is coordinating their actions together while everyone else is just doing their own thing (a.k.a. going “rogue”).  We can do so much more damage when working together.
• For any players that *do* want to go rogue (or are having problems getting access to orders through the Discord site), feel free to hit any of these territories to help the cause! :

            o   Tulsa (Oklahoma)

            o   Texarkana (Arkansas)

            o   Sinaloa (Mexico)

            o   Toledo (Ohio)

            o   Alaska

 

“I am Groot.” – some tree

Wisconsin has been that brash and verbally abusive bar patron that somehow we all encounter while out for a nice evening with our significant other at the local drinking establishment (which is just another way of saying Canada)… so we decided to kindly show them the door (and maybe rough them up a bit on the way out).  After that unpleasantness was settled, we find ourselves with a nice little space to relax, sit back and take stock of the situation – and now with a region bonus for holding all of central Canada!

Although Wisconsin has now been pushed south across the border, they are still threatening from the northern US plains and osu has increased their incursion against Michigan in the North Atlantic.  While these three large teams battled over control of the north, Texas A&M managed to make a landing in Alaska even though work on the AGGIE DEATH STAR in the south may have hit a snag or two (more on that later).

Also keep in mind that the final “winner” for this game is the team holding the most number of territories when the clock strikes zero on Day 45.  From very early on we were leading in this category as well… until last night.  The standings are shown near the bottom of the post, but we are no longer in 1st place – having dropped to 3rd behind Texas A&M and *blech* osu.  Do not despair, Maize and Blue faithful, we aren’t even at the midway point yet… and we are known as a second half team.

Fortunately Michigan is *still* the most powerful team in the game in terms of participation and raw power and has done a reasonable job of increasing that position, albeit marginally, as you can see in these convenient plots:

That is a lot of players… and a lot of stars.  We can do even better.

We need to continue our growth to stay ahead in this game so if you haven't already - get involved!  If you already have, the get *someone else* involved!  Recruiting. Matters.

Here is the boilerplate information on regions again:

A quick explanation of “regions”, since we will be discussing them more and more going forward:

The game is moving into phases where teams will be competing to control entire “regions”, which are groupings of adjacent territories.  The map is divided into twenty regions, as shown below.  Just like in the classic Risk game, there are incentives to control whole regions – but in this game it is a mathematical bonus to *all* attack/defend odds in favor of teams holding regions (those bonuses are not limited to actions taken within held regions – they apply everywhere).

Controlling regions is good.  Preventing opponents from controlling regions is also good.

Got it?  Good.  Here is why it matters:

Those region bonus multipliers can make all the difference in this game; the right side of the chart shows what the adjusted stars are (with bonus effects included) – these are the stars that are actually going into battle today.  We need MOAR.

 

This would be a good time to have a high level view of the war: some way to visualize how things are progressing... like a map (now with added region boundaries and sea-routes, for your viewing pleasure).

The game runners decided to alter some of the team colors yesterday to avoid confusion (and probably also to just mess with some people), so we are now a beautiful deep blue color rather than bright maize on the maps.  Da ba dee da ba di.

 

Abbreviated front summaries:

• All of Canada: ours except for some osu hooligans in the east. Love that hockey recruiting territory (big series this weekend, btw.)
• Pacific NW:  A&M in Alaska could be a problem. 
• US East coast: slowly becoming more infested with osu partisans (guard your coolers), but we have some holds in the north still.  Georgia Tech mostly fighting with osu to get/keep a region, but they are trying to push north as well.
• Greater Midwest: osu retook Ohio and most of the lower peninsula (but we retook Ann Arbor!) and is trying to push farther west – meeting resistance from Tennessee and A&M.  Wisconsin holds upper Midwest… for now. A&M continuing to creep northwards in the Plains.
• US Southeast: osu pushing on Tennessee while Georgia Tech and A&M starting to consume Bama from both sides.  Florida still in a state of “not dead yet”.
• US Rockies & West coast: The herd of small teams clustered out west continues to thin, with Hawaii killed by both wisc and A&M last night.  Texas starting to assert itself a bit.
• US Southwest & Mexico:  AGGIE DEATH STAR behind schedule on construction (lousy contractors always say “two weeks” but never deliver on time).  A&M still holds two regions, one of which is safe from attacks.
• Caribbean: A&M getting squeezed out by osu and… Oklahoma?  They’re still alive?  Ok.

A final reminder: it is strongly recommended to join the Michigan Discord server and coordinate with our friendly team leaders for assignments/orders (see link below). This is how to *most effectively* use your attack & defend moves to get us closer to actually winning the game.  However… fighting for your school, your team and your home is always a good thing, even if you have your own ideas about how to do that.  In the end, it’s still a game and the purpose is to have fun.

CFB Risk Top 25 Team Standings

We are now down to 14 surviving teams in the game from the original 130, with some not likely to last much longer.  Final rankings are beginning to take shape.  Here is where they stand thus far (teams are ranked by # of territories first, followed by a mix of metrics examining how efficiently they used their players & stars:

1.    Texas A&M (50 territories)

2.    (an) Ohio State (42 territories)

3.    Michigan (32 territories)

4.    Georgia Tech (11 territories)

5.    Texas (9 territories)

6.    Tennessee (8 territories)

7.    Wisconsin (6 territories)

8.    Alabama (5 territories)

9.    Oregon (4 territories)

10.  Oklahoma (4 territories)

11.  Nebraska (3 territories)

12.  LSU (2 territories)

13.  Florida (2 territories)

14.  Iowa State (1 territories)

15.  Hawaii (killed Day 18)

16.  Stanford (killed Day 16)

17.  USC (killed Day 14)

18.  Washington (killed Day 13)

19.  Georgia (killed Day 12)

20.  Notre Dame (killed Day 11)

21.  Virginia Tech (killed Day 11)

22.  UCF (killed Day 11)

23.  Minnesota (killed Day 10)

24.  Baylor (killed Day 10)

25.  South Carolina (killed Day 10)

 

So remember to drink your Ovaltine, submit your move before 10:30pm tonight and have fun storming the castle!

 

Steps To Play Every Day

(1) Sign up for a reddit.com account if you don’t have one already

(2) Visit collegefootballrisk.com – Click Sign in with Reddit – Select Michigan as your team

(3) Join the Michigan Risk discord by going to https://discord.gg/DRQyjp56kP (this is now a permanent link, so there should not be problems accessing it)

(4) Go to the "vetting" channel and type in your MGoBlog username and Reddit username.

(5) Once vetted, get your orders from the "orders" channel.

(6) Return to collegefootballrisk.com – Click on the blinking "target" icon at the bottom of the page (3rd button from the right), and then click on the territory you're attacking or defending.

(7) Talk trash with your fellow Wolverines as we prepare for tonight's roll.

How Does the Game Work?

It is up to each team to recruit players and coordinate moves. You can choose to defend any territory that your team currently holds or attack any adjacent territory. A "roll" happens each evening to calculate which teams have won which territories that turn based on the moves that were made by individual players. The ultimate goal is to conquer as much of the map as possible for your team. There are a number of different ways to do this, such as through recruiting players in sheer numbers or forming alliances with other teams.

 

Previous Recaps

Day 0 intro: College Football Risk is BACK - Season 3 is now LIVE!

Day 1 recap: College Risk Again!!! Sign up.... 1st in the books!

Day2 recap: No update

Day 3 recap: No update

Day 4 recap: CFB Risk Day 4: IT BEGINS

Day 5 recap: CFB Risk Day 5 - And THIS is Why They Nerfed Us

Day 6 recap: CFB Risk Day 6 - This Feels a Lot Like Real Life (Sparty Gon' Die)

Day 7 recap: CFB Risk Day 7 - F*cking Sparty (They Still Gon' Die)

Day 8 recap: CFB Risk Day 8 - WE NEED YOU TO AVENGE THE ORANGE BOWL (also, sparty's dead)

Day 9 recap: CFB Risk Day 9 - We Kicked Georgia Out of the North -- Now We Go South

Day 10 recap: CFB Risk Day 10 – The King in the North! (also, sorry about that Penn State)

Day 11 recap: CFB Risk Day 11 – ANN ARBOR HAS BEEN TAKEN!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!

Day 12 recap: CFB Risk Day 12 – It’s Groundhog Day…again (also, Notre Dame is finally dead)

Day 13 recap: CFB Risk Day 13 – NOW I HAVE A MACHINE GUN HO-HO-HO

Day 14 recap: CFB Risk Day 14 – EPISODE XIV: THE AGGIE MENACE

Day 15 recap: CFB Risk Day 15 – You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss

Week 2 recap: CFB Risk Week 2 Recap - I'm Back....and I'm Annoyed

Day 16 recap: CFB Risk Day 16 – WELCOME TO THUNDERDOME, WISCONSIN

Day 17 recap: CFB Risk Day 17 – WISCONSIN ON THE RUN

Day 18 recap: CFB Risk Day 18 - No One Likes Us, We Don't Care