By Espark on Sun 15 Aug, 2021.

Ai-Mo Times

Aug 15^th, 2021

“The only literate tribe deserves the best in information and entertainment.”

Polytopia News:

Tribe duels

On August 11^th, the first round of the 2021 Tribe Duels ended. The eight tribes that will be moving on are: Imperius, Aquarion, Kickoo, Ai-mo, Quetzali, Polaris, Cymanti, and Oumaji.

Many tribes are getting excited for the next round, which is expected to begin on the 18^th. Most players were looking forward to playing more duels, even if it meant playing for a different tribe.

Justeeni Lingueeni (Oumaji) said, “It would be so pog if Oumaji made it to the semifinals.”

Nobelium Uranium (Kickoo) was cautiously optimistic about his tribe’s chances, “Now we just need Kickoo behind Imperius.”

Others were more antagonistic. RickMarinara (vengir), was particularly caustic towards Ai-Mo, “Just beat the tryhard Espark, Ai-mo to be exact, and I'll follow you into battle.She keeps searching for the best players for her team and I disagree with her tryharding practices….I’m surprised [Espark isn’t] paying pro polychamps players to be on [the Ai-Mo] team”

Espark replied, “I have asked Yadakk players to play for Yadakk, Luxidoor players to play for Lux, Zebasi for Zebasi, etc. I have not recruited anyone to Ai-Mo who isn’t already in that tribe. I never proselytize.“

Viera (Imperius) added, “It's fine to try-hard and try to organize your tribe, make a coaching system and stuff. If you are fighting Ai-mo just deal with it and try to organize your tribe as well. But trying to get all the best players in your tribe is a bit too much in my opinion. I see the duels as a form of testing the power of the tribe, the tactics of their members and also the organization of it, but when you try to find the best players for your tribe, then it won't be your tribe fighting.”

Cymanti Six Month Anniversary

It was nearly six months ago, on February 17^th, that the Cymanti tribe was released. Around the time Cymanti was released in February, the server manager reported that the devs and the alpha players felt that Cymanti was balanced. A few months later, it was confirmed that Cymanti would be nerfed.

Some have called the bug tribe a cash cow. Others see Cymanti as an exciting and complex way to play. Others feel bitter that the bug tribe remains OP while other strong tribes, like Luxidoor, were nerfed.

Mystical (Kickoo) said recently, “Only ‘p2w’ would be Cymanti, but they are not impossible to beat.”

Adhesivestiky (Queztali) said, “Cymanti's so OP, it's boring imo.”

Justeeni Lingueeni (Oumaji) said, “Cymanti is banned everywhere for a reason, lol”

Amfi (Quetzali) said, “You could say Cymanti took Main by storm (literally overshadowing Ai-Mo Month if I remember). The tribe is ridiculously op for better or for worse, but the tribe itself is interesting. I'm intrigued to see how the lore evolves but that's all I can say lol.

“Raychis are pretty powerful since you can explode them and it makes algae on top of that. It’s also kinda cheap, considering 5 stars can come pretty easy. When a Centipede grows for a long time it is also pretty bad to take down since each segment is 10 and the head is 20 (and when the head is gone the closest segment become the new head). Hexapods are really cheap and have pretty strong attack, despite their low health. Poison and Boosting from Shaman which makes units do extra damage and gets extra movement.”

From Bokoboy - “Why does cymanti start with a shaman every other tribe starts with the unit of the tech that they have or a warrior if the tech doesn't give a unit, but cymanti just gets to start with a unit they would have to research 3 techs to get for no reason. For example, why not let Ai-Mo start with a mind bender, Aquarion with a tridenton, or Oumaji start with a knight? Those actually make more sense, because cymanti doesn't even start with climbing. Cymanti starting with a shaman is It's like having barder start with a swordsman.

From The Luxidoor Giant, “First things first: Cheap, powerful, but squishy units. They have a very strong economy early and have a good army from t1 to t2. They also have a better version of every unit in the game (besides warriors and swordsmen) and they also have a tendency to gain cities and expand quickly because of Shaman Boosting the creepy-crawlers ; -; Number 2: They can have really cheap units that can fly over mountains and other things without the climbing tech. They also have a get out of jail free card when having a Doomux or a Exida push with poison bois and a map full of Hexapods.”

When the Cymanti nerf will come, Midjiwan only knows.

New Mod Promotions and the Future of PolyMain

-- By Druid

On August 9^th, Polymain promoted three amazing moderators: Rspark, ChexxMixx, and snowgurl. The other server mods had chosen these three as potential moderators months ago and decided now was the time to promote them. Despite some misgivings about the fact that the three had fallen vaguely inactive, the new mods have become active once again. They are showing promise to be some of our most productive mods, with Rspark in particular being very active.

Alongside the promotion of these mods, on August 10^th, PolyMain saw a long time Admin, Mcompany, step down. Mcompany stepped down after becoming busier. He did not want to hold a title he would no longer uphold. Mcompany is not the only staff member to lose interest in the position and step down, but that is natural and why PolyMain promoted who they did when they did.

Regarding the change in staffing, one admin wrote, “We picked the new mods a long time ago … We got sidetracked on a bunch of other things. Here we are, about a month late on promoting them. They were definitely more active when we first picked them, but now that they've been promoted they're mostly becoming active again.

“We picked the new mods because recently a lot have been stepping down (even though they were already mostly inactive) and we felt these [three] people were the best qualified of our applicants.

“Mcompany stepped down just because he's been very busy and only gotten more inactive, it's been a long time coming I think.

“It's definitely a confusing time, not like the progress we were making a couple months ago, but we'll get back on track.”

These three news mods are just the start in a long line of plans that should help the activity of main in the future. While the staff cannot disclose what exactly is going to change, some say they are closer to getting PolyMain more active than the server’s previous moves.

The mods had a large scale VC meeting to discuss these things on August 13^th. While some new plans were concocted including ideas with the international channels and directors, there were plenty of discussions about how we all feel the server is as of now.

If you are interested in becoming PolyMain mod, applications may be still be submitted here:: https://forms.gle/qGKP5u7M7Jrx8xXQ9

Fan Lore

The Colony

By: Daddy Kiwi

Little is known about what the lives of many were like at the time when the Ancients walked the square. Records lost to time, civilizations forgotten or knowledge kept behind price tags keeps many secrets hidden. But, this has not stopped rumors from spreading. It has not stopped legends from being formed. This is one of those legends. This is the Legend of the Bug.

Long ago when Topan and Pol were alive, many expeditions had been sent into lands both close and far. Many kingdoms were formed and towns constructed from these expeditions into neighboring territories. Farther away, however, Colonies were created. These Colonies originally began as expeditions to hunt for new land to expand into for the kingdoms of the empire.

Many of these expeditions resulted in failure, either never returning or coming back due to low supplies. Whatever the reason was, many resulted in wasted life and resources. However, eventually, 1 of these expeditions proved successful. They returned with goods from far away lands with tales of fertile soil.

The expeditions were sent back out to the territories they spoke of in greater numbers with the mission of establishing a forward base for the Empire. This was successful. The Colony was built with little to no effort in the flat plains of the new land. The inhabitants, after setting up their homes, quickly set out to tilling the land and creating farmland for crops within the nutrient rich earth. Rivers sprawled across the landscape of flat fields and rolling hills.

The ground here grew crops at speed never before seen in the Empire's eyes. Within mere days fruits would grow and vegetables would sprout. Trees would grow at tremendous speeds, almost too fast for the inhabitants of the Colony to keep up with.

Over the course of a few years, towns popped up along the new fertile territories. The original Colony became a Kingdom over that same span of time, and became a hub of trade from the towns quickly growing food to the Empire's closer Kingdoms. The lives of all were great, with full stomachs and pockets of stars. The Kingdom came to be known as the "Fertile Squares Kingdom" for the farmlands' distinct square like pattern.

But, as all good things do, things eventually end. At first, the trees began dropping saplings at increased rates, and grew ever faster. The forests spread rapidly across the landscape and soon encompassed a large portion of the territories. The rivers that flowed through the land flooded and created small lakes and wider rivers.

The local plants soon took over the farmers' fields despite their best efforts, and food production was nearly halted entirely. When the goods stopped being delivered, a small band of traders and soldiers adventured out to investigate. They were met with a wall of plant life and watery ground, the dirt turned to mud with moss beginning to spread over it.

The traders returned home empty handed, and reported their findings. At first, rescue missions of sorts began. Lumberjacks were sent in the hundreds to break through the wall of trees. However, this proved futile. After countless lives were lost to the surprisingly deep and murky waters, and the trees growing back almost as fast as lumberjacks could cut them down, the Empire gave up its efforts of rescue.

The Kingdom and its towns were lost to the newfound plantlife. The land on maps was simply called "The Marshes," and was ignored by the Empire for the lives it had taken and the danger it posed. Thus was the end of the Colonies story of grandeur.

However, that was not the case. For life still remained inside the thick treeline. Life had found a way. The survivors of the plants rapid Assault had learned to survive in the new habitat. For years they lived, praying for the Empire's assistance and surviving in the humid conditions. Help never arrived for the poor souls trapped within.

But, eventually, even more dangers erupted. Large bugs began to appear in the forests and hunted down the polytopians within. Small villages were destroyed, and larger forts dismantled. They were almost entirely wiped out. Had it not been for one final stroke of luck, they would have been.

As one of the polytopians lay dying on the ground, a small bug had crawled over to her. She at first fought as it attempted to climb onto her face, but eventually accepted her fate as her strength failed. The Bug gently inserted its thin and sharp legs into her head.

She was surprised when she found herself lying awake. She sat up to see the same gigantic bugs who slaughtered countless of her people sleeping peacefully around her. She heard a voice within her head. For a few moments she sat there in silence. Listening to the voice and eventually going to touch her head and instead feeling the body of a large bug in its place.

The woman smiled, the voice she realized as the bug still speaking to her. She stood and walked into the direction of the nearest group of polytopians she knew of.

Many say the Kingdom had ended when the woods took over. Others claim they could hear survivors scream for help as they chopped down the trees. But no one realized that a new Colony was created inside of the Marshes.

A new Colony, one that would survive the downfall of the Empire once Topan and Pol had died, and survive for generations after. Many avoided the Marshland, now called the Swamp in the present day, due to explorer's never leaving the woods.

Someone did emerge one day, though. Cymanti had been discovered after being hidden away for centuries.

Opinion

Time for a New Map Size - 196 Tiles Small

by QcCOra

Why do we need a new map size?

To make quick matches, also known as Blitz, more fair, fun, and fast.

Let me explain.

In the PolyLive server, we run tournaments where games are played live, on tiny or medium sized maps. The problem is that miniature maps are known to be unlucky due to bad/dead spawns. Medium maps are too long to be played live at once. We are talking about an hour and a half and more for medium map games. This is very hard on time management as much for the players as for the referees, commentators, or anyone else.

The objective of PolyLive is to offer a respectable Polytopia blitz e-sports environnement. We commentate on the live matches and post them on YouTube. Since PolyLive started a few months ago, some of the top players from all around the world have dived in our live blitz experience. But we, as PolyLive organisers, have come to the conclusion that a change in the game map size is needed.

And wouldn’t you know, there's a perfect map size out there that is mathematically beautiful and endorsed by many Polytopia fans.

I give you....

THE 196 TILES SMALL MAP

This map is already in the game. Whenever you play single player against two bots, you'll be playing in that 196 tiles map.

Sure it's cool to play a couple bots in the watery scenario above, but we are inviting the game company, Midjiwan, to implement the 196 tile Small map for Multiplayer too.

Why is the 196 tile Small map mathematically perfect? Let me break it down for you.

In PolyLive, we focus on Tiny (121) and Medium (256) map sizes. We appreciate the randomness of the features within a map; it forces creative thinking and adds diversity to gameplay. Unfortunately, a tiny map does not have enough ingredients to play a variety of games. On a Tiny map, the maximum of cities is 9 and minimum 4, with an average of 6.5 per map without water. That means there may be as few as four possible places on a tiny map for your tribe to spawn. If you add the fact that you meet your opponent before turn 3 in 95% of the games, the predictability of Tiny maps makes it impossible to pretend you are playing something serious or challenging. On the other hand, the Medium map averages better city numbers and opportunities for more varied tribe spawns. However, the amount of time to finish a match on Medium in one sitting is exhausting to Blitz players.

Our vision at PolyLive is to have a balance between fun and quick thinking. We want to highlight real time exciting moments between the players and maintain the attention of our live audience. How to meet these goals to fit with what players and fans want, inside or outside of PolyLive?

The 196 tile Small map is the answer.

196 tiles is 14 x 14. Without water, it has a maximum of 16 cities/spawns and a minimum of 9 including ruins for an average of 12.5 cities/spawns per map. Not only does this size map add variety to spawn layouts, it grants players more access to the Grand Bazaar, the Connection Quest Monument. This map size also permits different game styles and tactics. It opens up a whole new Polytopia world experience. Even for team games, a 196 tiles map is a good option since it offers each and every player their own space to grow and enough time to build a unique strategy.

It's not cool to play 100 games with tons of viewers to see 99 games out of 100 ending the same way - with warrior rushes…

I and the other directors at PolyLive recommend the 196 tiles Small map, either as 1v1 or 2v2, for fun, diverse, and quick games.

On behalf of the Polytopia community, and PolyLive Blitztopians, thank you for your time and I hope to see you at the next PolyLive event!

-- QcCOra, a member of PolyLive’s Board of Directors.

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Credits

Thanks to all our contributors: Espark, Druid, Noru, QcCOra, 1Chill, Daddy Kiwi, and Tntmasta. A big thanks to Artemis for setting up the website for the newspaper. Also, thank you to our faithful readers for encouraging the paper to continue.

If you want to submit a piece to the newspaper—art, news article, opinion piece, puzzle, etc.—let us know in #article-suggestions.

Keep up, Ai-Mo!