Clan Spotlight: [TYR] 4/14/14

Quemapueblos: This week we take a look at TYR, a clan that has made some of the top dogs turn their heads. TYR made themselves known by setting big goals and then working hard to keep their word. While they have had some great successes on the Clan Wars Map, they are also working hard to create a competitive tournament team.   This is the extended version of the interview, you can view the abridged version on the portal.   RyanGetzlaf – Commander and main Field Commander DrewDoughty – Deputy Commander, focuses on the management side. Recruiting StevenStamkos – Listed as a diplomat but I don’t really do anything but make people laugh by trying to speak French   Why did you choose the name TYR? StevenStamkos – It is the Norse God of War I believe. I started in March of last year and these guys needed some more tier Xs. I was friends with Ryan through another group of people so I’m not too familiar with the deeper history.   RyanGetzlaf – When the Clan first started we had two guys that knew Norse History and they created the Clan. They didn’t want some generic number but something unique.   How and when did TYR get started? DrewDoughty – The core of players that founded TYR came from BD. During fall 2012, BD was divided into two different ideologies, some wanted to push the clan into a more competitive ways and some wanted to have the benefits from being competitive with only the structure and the requirement of a social clan. It came to a point where the only solution was to leave and to start a new clan.   RyanGetzlaf – Afterward, we have been recruiting to try and get all the best French people so we can be as competitive as we want to.   What is your main goal for your Clan? RyanGetzlaf – To be competitive in Clan Wars but we have started doing tournaments and been doing pretty well. It is a different style of play but we love both but our main goal is to be a competitive Clan Wars Clan.   StevenStamkos – We have come a long way in Clan Wars and become a lot more competitive since I have joined last March. I know one of their goals is to be the best French speaking Canadian Clans.   RyanGetzlaf – We didn’t want to be known by our language but by our skills.   How has your Clan changed over time to be more competitive? StevenStamkos – When I first joined, we had one great team and we had a tough time fielding a second and third team if we needed it. Now we have a good shot at competing with any Clan on the map.   How did you develop the second and third teams, internally or through recruitment? StevenStamkos – It is a little bit of both. We have recruited a bunch of good players recently but prior to that we started a smaller social Clan and our second Clan, Dreki, is the one we train our Clan Wars players from. A few of those guys have moved up from Dreki to refill the ranks of TYR. Our lowest Clan, Einherjer , has helped refilled the ranks of Dreki.  Einherjer is basically a social Clan and they don’t really do Clan Wars.   DrewDoughty – Being a French speaking clan mean we only have access to a small player base. Having few potential recruits makes finding good player who want to participate actively in a competitive environment is hard. Prior TYR there was not really any competitive French speaking clan, that’s why we can find many Frenchmen in the established English speaking clans. It is almost easier, but more time consuming, to find new players and teach them how the game work and prepare them to play in a team. It is the main reason we created two second Clans.   StevenStamkos – It definitely seems to work out better to train players that are just getting the hang of what they are doing and just getting into tier Xs. It is a lot harder to recruit really good talent from other Clans because they are already pretty set in their ways. Training people up is a better way to go it seems and for these guys, there are fewer French speaking people out there to recruit from.   What do you find is the biggest deficiency of new players and how do you overcome it? StevenStamkos – We do a fair amount of training between the Clans. Ryan, Drew and Martin do a good job of taking the players from all three Clans and try to spread them out amongst the teams. We fight against each other in training and I feel like that helps a ton because it gives the lesser guys a chance to understand what it takes to play with the big boys. It also teaches them to keep their mouth shut and listen. The biggest thing that people don’t understand until they start playing Clan Wars is focus fire.   DrewDoughty - When you are on a team, you can trust the tank on your side. It’s not like a pub match where you need to survive yourself to do your job. You can trust your partner to take the shot and push together. The guys who are just starting in Clan Wars have a tendency to play like they are in a pub. It is something we try to work on and give them the mentality to work more as a team than as an individual player.   What is the recruiting process for TYR or your secondary Clans? RyanGetzlaf – First we look at stats but if you know the guy doesn’t have the stats to be in Berzerk then you need to get better to be in Berzerk and want to learn. There are so many people in Berserk that are willing to show you how to do it. They can be better if they want to learn and we can teach them that. That is the main thing we are looking for.   StevenStamkos – The first thing you look for is people who want to learn. There are guys out there that aren’t great players that think they are. Then there are guys out there that know they are not and just want to get better. That is the kind of people you want around you.   Describe the environment in your community RyanGetzlaf – We are trying to be a Clan that takes Clan Wars seriously but has fun. At the moment, the Quebec Clans told the people in French that we are taking it too seriously but we are also have fun.  So the main thing to is to have fun first and have a community where there are no problems.   StevenStamkos - Everyone just seems to get along. Everybody has a bad night and something doesn’t go right but we always talk after the battle and try to work things through. Communication is the biggest issue that some Clans have and if you don’t talk about things you are going to have a bad vibe going on. We always have a fun, good vibe going on and we are always cracking jokes. Or at least everyone is laughing at me.   What advice do you have for a Clan that is struggling to find its place on the Clan Wars map? StevenStamkos – I think diplomacy is a big part of it. Once you get land, you have to talk to the people around you. The biggest thing that I have learned is if you say you are going to do something, you have to do it, even if it is wrong. You have to stick by what you say. We have had a pretty good run of doing what we said and we have become friendly with a lot of big Clans. So that has helped us out a bunch, just literally doing what we said we were going to do.   DrewDoughty – A newer Clan needs to focus on working as a team. They can try a landing zone every night and it’s a good way to train yourself. You also need to find a good caller. It’s really important and only a few people are able to do it correctly.   StevenStamkos – I have been in two other clans previous to TYR and the biggest difference I’ve noticed is having a caller. You can take a great caller and a team of relatively good but not great players and compete with some of the best Clans on the map. It’s a feel thing I guess because I am not capable of doing it. I’m good at listening to what I’m supposed to do and doing what I’m supposed to do. It takes a special talent to tell people what to do and where to go.   RyanGetzlaf - Another part that I’m not doing yet, but I should, is communicating well with the officers and putting them in a good place. At the moment, I’m doing diplo and FC because I have the time to do it but if the Commander doesn’t have that time, he has to tell his guys to do it.   How does your Clan conduct Diplomacy? RyanGetzlaf - I’m trying to be friends with everybody. Like Steven said, I keep my word if I say something I’m going to do it. The people who don’t do what they tell me should be on the enemy list. My goal is to keep my word. We kept our word with some big Clans and I think that is why we are in a good place to do diplomacy with the big Clans, like G and OTTER. If you start backstabbing a big Clan, that big Clan has friends. It can be rough doing diplo and no one wants to do diplo with you.   Do you have any allies or enemies at the moment that have not kept their word? RyanGetzlaf - It really happened once at the end of the first campaign when we were supposed to have Detroit from Villain to gain the M60 and refused to give it to us, then we needed to take it by ourselves. Usually the big clans are doing what they tell you.   How should a new Clan approach a more experienced Clan on the map for diplomacy? RyanGetzlaf – The first thing is to show what you can do. You got to beat the best. When we first started TYR, nobody knew us and so we attacked the people that were holding the landing for a big time Clan. We picked SIMP that was holding South Aegean for 82 days. It took us 5 nights total and we finally got them. We broke their landing that they had held for like 3 months. So the first part for us comes from there. After we were going against NUKE, who was holding a landing for 27 days, people started talking about us. “How did you guys lose the landing?!?!?!” “We lost to TYR” and that’s how you make your name. After you land on a big Clan, they are going to say you are good enough to ally with so they aren’t afraid of having new Clans coming off the landing.   StevenStamkos – That is where our tournament team got their name, The Landing Zone Slayers. Some of the other Clans came up with that one and it kind of stuck. We helped out OTTER, Relic and G with the war with SIMP and we got a lot of respect from the big Clans because we got hammered a few nights in a row. There was a good thread on the forums that I think Barroom Mitt_Rommel started, that said “I heard you liked chips” because we took 60 chips from Havok and SIMP in one night and only lost one of the battles.   Can you go into more detail on how TYR gained notoriety with some of the big Clans on the map? DrewDoughty – It is something that happened when the Clan was one month old or a bit more. We were trying to fight some decent Clan on the map. We choose to attack SIMP on South Aegean because they were holding it for so long. This landing was a key province in the Donut War when the Legion wanted to encircle the Black Sea and BD was just kicked off the map. At this time South Aegean was taken by SIMP and some of our officers really wanted to break it to show that we are able to. That was the first time that big clans had really heard of us.   RyanGetzlaf – I have always been calling for TYR so I remember the strats I was using. We only tried three different strats in five matches. We only did three because I always thought that we could have played better and won, but it was not the player that was the problem, it was the strats. Our first strategy for Mines was to go to the hill. The second was the beach and the last one was a surprise. The two first games we tried by the hill and then I tried around the back the next but SIMP has a really good defense against people who run to the hill with mediums. They are just getting there faster. Then when the mediums get there, they are getting slammed by TDs. So that wasn’t good and by the beach we just got slammed again. SIMP is a good clan and knows how to react. They had been holding the landing for 82 days. Our best player from BD just grabbed his E 100 and said “Can we go there with all E-100s?” I said no but finally it was a yes. So we took twelve E 100s with a Maus and we sent two Batchats to the beach. We sent 5 to the beach, 5 to the city and 5 to the middle and that is how we beat SIMP on South Aegean. I think they need more ammo for the mediums. The fact that we got there, beat them and tried some strats that nobody does, got people talking about us.   How does your Clan get ready for a Clan Wars battle? DrewDoughty – We try to call a meeting before the game pops in our garage and we get everyone in the same channel. We choose the players according to tanks we need and send them to another channel. We will always choose a player because he knows how to play a specific tank we want to play. We won’t throw anyone in any tank just because they have it.   RyanGetzlaf - For example, I have an E5 but I don’t want to play it in Clan Wars because I’m not comfortable playing in it. So if the callers are asking for an E5, I will not say I have it but it’s a lot harder with tank locking.   DrewDoughty – In general, we know our players enough to choose them from the list and say “You play the batchat” or “I want you in your E 100.” After we have recruited the team we want, we switch over to MapTactic. I really want to thank T-D, the previous spotlight, because one of their members created it. It’s is much better than ATC, which is what we used before. We explain the strat with MapTactic and in general the last five minutes we wait and try to keep it relax before the battle starts.   What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back to when you started the Clan? RyanGetzlaf – When I look at Relic and G, lozarus and Yankee never gave the Commander up to anybody else and that is what I have doing. My biggest mistake is when I gave the Commander to a good friend, I thought he would better, maybe because I was a little burned out due to all the diplo and calling during the Campaign. He running it as the Clan he would like to have, not the Clan picture that we wanted. I should have kept it because it almost killed the Clan the few times that I did it. If you still play the game, keep your role.   Do you have a favorite line up or map you like to play? RyanGetzlaf – Himmelsdorf. On the tournament team, we are running a lot of IS-3s and maybe one or two 50 100s but we aren’t that good with them yet. We run it a little heavy with tanks that can take some shots. We take a lot of IS-3s because it has the biggest alpha and it’s got good armor on the front also. When people are reloading, we still have constant fire. For Clan Wars, it’s about the same. We run heavy again so people who run mediums might have some trouble penetrating or HP. Why Himmelsdorf? Because there is no artillery but I love the skills it takes to play on the map. It’s a different set of skills compared to an open map. You need a good spotter and good clickers but on Himmels you got to have other skills like taking shots for your friends in the street.   DrewDoughty – City maps are generally smaller and it makes the engagement faster. Everything is much faster than waiting for your team to destroy the enemy. In a city map, you push around a corner and the enemy is there. They are almost in your face when the game starts. It is more dynamic as a fight.   Do you not like to run artillery in your line up? RyanGetzlaf – No, I love to run arty. I play mostly artillery in Clan wars because it is a lot easier to call in arty. If you are playing the Conqueror Gun Carriage with 40 seconds of reload, you have 40 seconds to look at what you can call. I love an artillery map but I prefer the skills it takes on city maps like Ruinbery, Ensk or Himmelsdorf. I would say it is a lot more reactive because you may have to come back by some street that a group is waiting for you and the flanking. I just love calling on Himmelsdorf.   Is there much crossover or conflict between running a tournament team and a Clan Wars team? RyanGetzlaf – We try to prioritize Clan Wars as there are more people in the Clan that are interested in it. As I am the main the caller of the tournament team and also for Clan Wars, I’ll let Duncan, Martin or Corey lead the tournament team depending on how many battles we have. We are all French so it is tough to recruit people and when we have many battles at the same time, we cannot fill all the teams. As an east coast clan, if you chip someone on the map, your battle is at 9:30 and tournament will be at that time as well. It’s a lot of organization.   DrewDoughty – What makes it worse is that all of our officers are on the tournament team and all of our main callers. So we are currently training 4 or 5 new callers. Sometimes we have to drop the tournament to do what is best for the Clan.   What do you think makes a good battle caller and how do get them calling experience? RyanGetzlaf – I would expect good skills in the player because if you want to call, you must be good at tanks. To be a good player you have to look at the mini-map and to be a good caller you have to pay attention to the map while focusing on the tanks you have in front of you. So it’s doing two things at once and that can be rough. When I’m training a caller, I will ask him to do a strat and show it to me. I will figure out where the strategy is bad and I’ll ask them, “If the enemy does this, how will you react?” If he doesn’t know, I’ll show him how to react to the strat. I also play with them and after the battle I take to another channel and explain what to do better or to be clearer about in their call. Be calm and be confident to be a good caller. Even if you are not sure if it is a good call, you have to be clear and be like you think it is good call because if you hesitate in your calling, the people will not follow. So look at the map, call reactive and be good at tanks.   DrewDoughty - In the end, it is really a matter of trust between the player and the caller. It is something that a new caller doesn’t always have because players don’t feel safe playing under someone who doesn’t always know what he is doing. It is a good idea to bring your caller into Tank Companies and force them to react to different strats while building that trust.   What do you consider your Clans greatest achievement and what are your future goals? RyanGetzlaf – The best achievement we have is doing well in the Campaign and the tanks we earned. That is what makes us different from other Quebec Clans. I use the tank to recruit French people by asking if they have a Campaign tank. “No? I got one. Do you want to join us?” Haha. During the first Campaign, we were going for the M60 and we had a deal with Villain. They told we could have Detroit and on the last day they said fight for it. If we lost any of the battles, we didn’t have our M60. If we won, we had it. It was really intense. For me, I was calling the battle and I was shaking. We did win and that is our biggest achievement. So the future goal is get the next Campaign tank. I’m also always asking our allies to start a war but the next big achievement is to fight the biggest Clans and win.   Anything else you would like to add? RyanGetzlaf – Big love to OTTER. We love OTTER. Thank you for the Clan Spotlight.