I haven't been able to play much.  I try to hop on every few weeks to get a game in, but I have less time to play overall and Entrenchment games, on average, take a lot longer to play through.

When I was on, I also noticed that my friend's list was fairly empty.  I also noticed tons of people who I have never seen before saying "Hi Cykur, long time no see!" -- so I can only guess half of the active community is comprised of smurfs or people who have felt like they "outgrew" their old name.  In a competitive game like Sins, it is only to be expected that the most competitive players will try to secure every possible advantage, including anonymous play so their enemy doesn't have have pre-game knowledge of their threat level.  Also makes it easier to stack teams, or play a game where you want to experiment with new strategies without the pressure of having to perform at highest efficiency.

Again, this is why I always said PuG's were a joke unless everyone uses their main account.  When the biggest proponent of Pick Up Games would rather smurf, you know it's true. 

lol fair point cykur

What if the smurf in question never started using the smurf name for pugs until it had a record indicative of skill?  Joining a pug with a smurf name that has a record of, say, 45 games played, 35 wins seems much, much, much less smurfy than using a name with 2 games played 2 wins.  For the record, I wouldn't join a game with a name that didn't indicate skill in some sort of a way.  Also, I'm sometimes captain and when I'm not captain, I think I'm drafted at about the right spot, sometimes first pick, sometimes second or third pick depending on who's around.

45 games means a lot if you happened to participate in a half dozen of them.  It doesn't mean anything otherwise.  For people who are playing very regularly, it is almost like a meta-game to figure out who is going under what smurf name and how to win the right PuG picks.  For people who play casually, myself included, it sucks. 

I actually don't care so much about fighting an unknown smurf, because I can hold my own.  What sucks is not being able to figure out the teams because every month when I log in everybody has changed their name! 

Anyhow, people can smurf if they want, it is their business, but when people are trying to form teams the smurf with 35 wins out of 45 games is not going to get the same kind of attention as a player with 400 wins out of 600 games.  The 400 win player is going to get picked first, but the smurf might actually be a better player.  If the person doing the choosing picks otherwise, he either knows the smurf identity, or has played with him a couple times and recognized him as being some "Tier 1" player in drag.

I see your point, and it's a good one, but I think I'm being picked in the right place.

I'm still alive.  The extra baby has seriously taken away from my free-time.  I may not even get to play this week

lol how. put it in its cradle and play sins next to it. when it wakes say "shh. daddy is fighting an extragalactic force with nothing but an egg and his wits!'

Lol.  And what do I do with the other 2 kids?  Once I get home from work, I hardly have time to spend with them, plus the baby, plus play sins.

Oh, well congratulations!

Do what the Amish do. Give the kid a hoe or a rake and send it out to work in the field. Hell, I'd dress the kid up, send it out with one of my other 5-6 kids at ages 1-10 and use their cute faces to sell strawberries on the street corner. You think I'm joking? That's what we do! Hell, give that kid a whip to use on the horses. Teach it to work!

Oh, but in all seriousness, congratulations, congratulations, and congratulations. A baby is by far a better thing to invest time in than this game. We'll miss you till then bro.

Once the baby starts crawling, it opens up a world of cleaning possibilities if you put them in a sponge suit and let em loose in the kitchen.  Just remember to use gentle cleaning agents...babies have sensitive skin.

Far more expensive $$$ wise then Sins though...

sorry to hear that how but congrats on the other kid

The Amish have a saying: From 0 to 4, they cost money; from 4 to 14, they break even; and from 14 on they bring in money.

And, for the record, the Amish rock.  We went to Lancaster County for our honeymoon.  Best. Strawberries. Ever.

You just made my day. Best. Reply. Ever.

It also seems that I reproduce as fast as the Amish

lol howthe you are going to make that baby break even before the age of 4 im sure of it

My people are extremely furtile. I've got 6 kids myself....that I know of.....I probably should mention this to my girlfriend, prepare her for Amish indoctrination.

Grats Howie. Now u have 1 more kid them me but im out of this competition. No more.

I think I'm going to enter retirement to for this one.  I don't know if I'm up to driving a bus.

lol how and Amish no dont ell your girlfriend just do it and have fun

where i am i on this list.. come on now... can i get some love

-MS

Sure - how many kids do you have???

Oh - the skill ranking list part... My bad!!!

Yeah, minimum of 3 for entrance.  Well, that and someone needs to write your review.  I haven't played much with you recently to review you properly.

I doubt he'd want my review of him