Welcome to official Zen Dynamics recruitment thread.

==== About us =====

Hello.
I'm leader of Zen Dynamics clan. We are currently looking for new players to join our clan. The purpose of this thread is to provide you with useful information about Zen Dynamics clan, members, activity and recruiting politics.

Zen Dynamics is a friendly and active clan with some good players. Our goals are:
1. Teach newer players and help them become strong and improve their game-play.
2. Have a competitive environment in clan, so that all players would have games against similar strength to theirs opponents and would be able to participate in many different tournaments.
3. Help players to find new friends.
4. Have a good advertisement system which would help us to get more players.
5. Have many strong players and dominate in open tournaments.
6. Become a well known and respected clan.

We have total of 20 players in clan from which 16 are active. Some of our players are good, some not, but we all work hard to improve our strength. Stronger players tutor weaker ones to help them become better quicker.
We have many clan games. They're played on different maps and settings. We play all types of games: FFAs, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 2v2v2.We also have got our own clan tournaments and we're actively recruiting.

The main rules in Zen Dynamics are:
1. Stay active and don't get booted.
2. Be friendly and don't insult others.
3. Play fair. Don't cheat/hack, don't multi-account. Don't play low prerequisites games and don't boot other players to win.
4. Be helpful. Always share your knowledge with newer players.
5. Check our forums so that you would always have up to date information about our clan.
6. Actively participate in open tournaments.
7. Never blame luck/opponent/settings for your defeat. You lose your games because of your mistakes and your opponent's good moves.
8. Keep learning new things and improve your game-play. Always try to spot your mistakes and opponents' good moves. Ask your friends/opponents for an advice if you need it.

==== Recruiting ====

Everybody has a chance to join us. No matter how many games you have played or how high is you win rate, you can still attempt to successfully join us. You just have to show some interest in joining us and play some evaluation games versus me or other Zen Dynamics players. You don't have to win them, you just have to show your best performance in them, because it will be very important when you will be evaluated.

In order to start joining process you have to do one of these things:
a) Join Zen Dynamics recruitment game. They mostly appear on open real-times games tab during the weekends. In it you will be contacted by one of our clan members and you'll be asked if you want to join us. You just need to answer positively and joining process will start.
b) Invite me to a 1v1 game and tell me that you want to join my clan.
c) Post on this thread that you want to join us.
d) Visit our forums www.zendynamics.weebly.com and fill in application form.

Once the joining process starts, you can get invited to a tutorial game. It's a simple no fog 1v1 game on Earth map during which I will share all my experience with you. You'll be invited to it if you have either played less than 100 games or have less than 20% 1v1 win rate. You may also get invited to it if you show poor performance during test games.

After tutorial game, your evaluation games will start. It's the most important part, because you'll get points for your performance in them and they'll heavily effect your career in clan. You can get max. 127 points from it and you need at least 33 of them to join Zen Dynamics. Depending on your points you will get to level 1-7 groups (The higher level, the stronger players are in it). In clan you'll be fighting similar level players and if you will keep winning a lot, your level will rise and if you will keep losing one game after another, your level will fall.

Evaluation games consist from 2 parts: Exam games (1-3 games) and free play games (7 games). They all will be multi-day. You will also get some points for your singleplayer achievements.

==== Exam Games ====
Exam is a 1v1 game vs me or any other skilled player of Zen Dynamics on any map with more than 12 bonuses. These challenges are the most important games in evaluation. You can get max. 50 points from this game and you have 3 tries to show your best performance on it. After each exam you'll be told what mistakes you did and what you should improve.

You'll get points depending on Zen-D skill check criteria. There are total of 20 different criteria on which you'll be judged once the exam game ends. To make it easier for you to join Zen Dynamics, I wrote all the criteria here, so that you would know how many points for each of then you'll get.

----- Exam Criteria ----
1. Distribution. Max. 11 points
You should know how to pick well. Your picks affect all the later game greatly, so if your picks are bad, you're more likely to lose the game and score less points.

1.1. Territory picking (2 points for each pick, max. 6 points)
Your picks will affect how fast you'll expand, how high your income will be and how you'll end your game. Good start is half of job, and good picks will help you to win the game.
There are some things to note when choosing picks:
* Amount of turns you'll need to take your chosen bonuses. Avoid big bonuses with 6 or more territories, because they take much more time to take.
* Amount of wastelands in bonus. You should avoid bonuses with big wastelands, because they need additional effort to be taken and Usually any bonus without wasteland is better than bonuses with them. Usual size of wasteland is 10 territories. It's like additional 8 neutrals added to territory which is like bonus 4 territories added to bonus.
* Try to use bonus/total territories ratio to see which bonus is better to be taken. Use formula bonus/(total neutrals/2) to find out it's real value. The higher the value, the better the bonus is.

1.2. Counter picks. (1 point for each good counter-pick, Max. 3 points).
Counter-picks are territories which you get when you don't get your first 3 picks. It happens when your opponent chooses same picks as yours. If you didn't get your pick, it means that your opponent got them. Counter-picks can be:
a) Quick bonuses, from which you could increase your income fast.
b) Bonuses close to your 1st 3 picks, from which you could ambush your opponent easily.

1.3. Cluster picking. Max. 1 point.
You can pick territories which touches with one of your chosen bonuses, so that you could take it faster.

1.4. Safe picks. Max. 1 point.
Safe picks are territories which help you secure your expanding from early ambushes, which can ruin it. Safety picks can be:
a) bonuses from different parts of map which are far away from each other.
b) bonuses which are surrounded by bonuses which are unlikely to be taken, because of their size or wastelands.

2. Expanding. Max. 12 points.
Fast expansion helps you to get high income quickly and high income can help you to fight your opponent more easily.

2.1. Picks taking. Max. 2 points.
Take your starting bonuses before expanding. Try to take bonuses which you can take faster firstly.

2.2. Expansion routes. (1 point for each good expansion route, Max. 3 points)
Try to follow tips on 1.1. criteria then choosing where to expand.

2.3. Efficient use of income. Max. 2 points.
Don't attack neutrals with yo less or to much armies. I recommend you to:
*use 2 armies vs 1 neutral
*use 3 or 4 armies vs 2 neutrals
*use 5 or 6 armies vs 3 neutrals
*use 7 armies vs 4 neutrals
*use analyze tool to find out chances of taking x territory.

2.4. Avoiding wastelands. Max. 1 point.
You can get bonus point for avoiding bonuses with wastelands in them.

2.5. Expanding towards enemy. Max. 2 points.
Try to expand to the bonuses where it's likely that your opponent is, so that you could stall him early.

2.6. Late expansion. Max. 2 points.
Try to continue expanding slowly after meeting your opponent if you can defend and hold your positions successfully. It will help you to get high enough income to defeat your opponent.

3. Fighting. Max. 22 points.
Depending on your fighting skills you can either win or lose the game. If you'll stay wise, you can defeat your enemy easily.

3.1. Offense. Max. 3 points.
Try to guess what's your opponent's income and how he'll defend his territory. It's very likely that he'll try to defend his territory when he'll see you if he has the whole bonus, so it's risky to attack him once you see him, because your opponent may put all his income to defend his territories. So only attack him if you're sure that you'll have more armies than he.
If your opponent doesn't have that bonus, he may:
a) try to by pass your armies by taking nearby neutral territories.
b) put his income to bonuses which are close to that un taken bonus.

3.2. Defense. Max. 3 points.
Try to defend your territories. Letting your opponent to take your bonus is like surrendering or asking for defeat. If you see that you'll be unable to defend your bonus, because your opponent already has too many troops, let him break it, but do your best to stop him from taking all territories in that bonus and breaking others your bonuses. Also try to counter attack him.

3.3. Ambushing. (1 point for each successful ambush, Max. 3 points).
Try to guess what bonuses does your opponent have and ambush him. Ambushing is a very good tactic, because it has high chance to break enemy bonus and make him defend/fight in multiple places of map.

3.4. Intercepting ambushes. Max. 2 points.
When you're ambushed, you're usually are unprepared to stop your opponent from breaking your bonus, because he has enough armies to break it. Don't let him to take your whole bonus! (use tips from 3.2. criteria)

3.5. Breaking bonuses. Max. 2 points.
Try to break your opponent's bonuses when you can do it. Attack one of his territories at full force and other territories with low amounts of troops, because your opponent may:
a) Defend one of his bonus territory at full force.
b) Attempt to defend all his territories and split his income on them.

3.6. Taking enemy bonuses. Max. 2 points.
Try to take previously broken bonuses from your opponent. It's likely that he'll rather try to defend his non-broken bonuses than to defend already broken ones.

3.7 Maneuvering. Max. 2 points.
Maneuvering is good at both defending and attacking. Moving your armies wisely can make it much easier. Try to transfer/attack territories in which your opponent wouldn't expect you to go.

3.8. Chasing. Max. 2 points.
Try to guess where your enemy is going to go and stop him from going to that territory.

3.9. Victory/ Upper hand. Max. 3 points.
You can get bonus points for winning exam game or having upper hand in it:
3 points – You won exam game.
2 points – You had upper hand but still lost.
1 point – You had higher income than your opponent for more than 3 turns.

4. Remaining criteria. Max. 5 points.
Some of criteria doesn't fall to any of first 3 criteria categories.

4.1. Survival skills. Max. 2 points.
Ability to survive long and delay your opponent from taking more bonuses is very useful skill in team-games and can help your teammates to win.

4.2. Scouting. Max. 3 points.
Scouting is then you're searching for your opponent's bonuses/armies with your armies and don't take bonuses in you path. It can help you to find enemy much faster.

==== Free Play games ====
After exam games, you'll be invited to Free Play games, in which you'll have to fight my clan members and other applicants. They'll mostly be 6 FFAs or 3v3 team-games and each game will check different skills. For each game you can get from 0 to 5 points depending on your performance.
------------------------
List of Free Play games, you'll have to play:

1. 6 FFA Multi-Attack mode, random map.
You can get 3 points for maneuvering and 2 points for ambushing skills.

2. 6 FFA Heavy Fog mode, random map.
You can get 2 points for offense, 2 points for defense and 1 point for maneuvering skills.

3. 3v3, cards, random map.
You can get 3 points for team-game skills and 2 points for card use skills.

4. 4 FFA, 1 army/territory mode, random map.
You can get 2 points for expanding, 2 points for maneuvering and 1 point for chasing.

5. 3v3, city distribution, cards, random map.
You can get 3 points for bonus picking and 2 point for team-game skills.

6. 6 FFA, full distribution, cards, random map.
You can get 3 points for territory picking and 2 points for card use skills.

7. 2v2, cards, Complex Europe map.
You can get 3 points for territory picking and 2 points for expanding skills.
---------------------
After all these games end, you'll be invited to a 1v1 game vs me in which I tell you your total points for previous games and will also tell your points for additional criteria:

1. Speed, Max. 1 point.
You'll get bonus point if you'll make your moves quickly and won't make other players to wait for you longer than 24 hours.

2. Statistics. Max. 3 points.
You can get points for your 1v1 or overall win rate depending on which one of them is higher:
60+% - 3 points
45-59% - 2 points
35-44% - 1 point

3. Communications. Max 2 points.
You can get these points for talking a lot in chat room and being friendly.

4. Team-game skills. Max. 4 points.
You'll get these points depending on your overall performance in all team-games.

5. Card-use. Max. 5 points.
You'll get these points depending on your overall performance in all card games.

==== Single-player Campaign ====

In final game I will also tell you how many points you'll get for you single-player campaign achievements. You can get points for completing getting gold star on Single-player levels. On last 3 maps you can get points for completing them without golden star, but for that you would get lesser points.
Points given for Single-player campaign results:
(level name; points for completing – points for completing with golden star)

Level 1 0-1
Level 2 0-2
Level 3 0-3
Europe 4-6
Crazy 5-7
Insane 6-8

=== How does level system work ===
Depending on your total points you will be put to level 1-7 group:

(Level; percentage of Max. Points required; Points required)

Level 7 100-90%; 127-114
Level 6 89-80%; 113-102
Level 5 79-70%; 101-89
Level 4 69-60%; 88-76
Level 3 59-50%; 75-64
Level 2 49-36%; 63-46
Level 1 35-26%; 45-33
Ai Level 3 25%-16%; 32-20
Ai Level 2 15%-6%; 19-8
Ai Level 1 5%-0%; 7-0

Note: Players who will get Ai level, will have to redo exams and /free play games.

You'll mostly have clan games with players of same level or 1 level higher/lower than yours. Same level players will get invited to round robin 1v1 clan tournaments. Highest level players will be able to participate in clan vs clan tournaments.
If you will keep losing a lot, you'll have to repeat exam games with higher level when yours player.
Your amount of points may change over time, because sometimes you'll get invited to Free Play games in which you may score less or more points than in previous games. Your points will also change if you will complete more single-player levels or get more golden stars.

===== Clan Tournaments =====

There are several types of tournaments in clan. Each of them, except level round robin tournaments, will give you tournament points, on which you'll get tournament rating points (short form – TRP).

The Mini 1v1/2v2/3v3 Tournaments.
Type: round robin
Number of rounds: 5
Map: random map for each round.
It's one of the most elite clan tournaments where TOP 6 clan players/teams compete for 1st place In Zen Dynamics.

The TOP 8 players/teams Championship
Type: Single Elimination
Number of rounds: 3
Map: random map for each round.
Being invited to TOP8 players/teams championship is a great honor for any Zen Dynamics player. 4 spots are reserved for TOP 4 players/teams from The Mini Tournament. For the remaining 4 spots, other players have to compete in qualification rounds

Strategic 1v1/2v2
Type: Double elimination
Number of rounds: 3 or 4
Map: Medium Earth
It's a 1v1/2v2 strategic clan tournament.

The (name of the map) Tournament
Type: Double Elimination
Number of Rounds: 4
Map: Random map.
It's a simple tournament in which players play games on randomly chosen map. It's purpose is to make players think more and improve their gameplay.

===== List of Players =====

Currently we have 20 members.
Zen-D]*Justin Gawner* http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=225108302
[Zen-D]Urahara_kisuke8 http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=9611544548
[Zen-D]Mσzɋ http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=9511130435
[Zen-D]xian1 http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=195910683
[Zen-D] DJidAnE http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=413995949
[ZEN-D]LarLar http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=2713551320
[Zen-D]Jimbojim http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=4510625060
[zen-d]jdoc http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=2913643512 (Inactive)
[Zen-D]PKThunda http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=275829558 (Inactive)
[Zen-D] *appiecommander* http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=2411504779
Cesarin10 http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=4613649194
anasta http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=9613625237 (Inactive)
[Zen-D] 23victor9 http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=1513454674
[Zen-D] *NaPoleon* http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=522187149 (Has got Membership)
Urfang http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=495077277
[Zen-D]Doomik http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=219102435
[Zen-D]Ritualist http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=236577921
[Zen-D] Warrior http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=7213625561
[Zen-D] TheJoker http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=5410256312 (Inactive)
(Zen-D)beakasaur http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=6213739765


That's all you have to know about us. If you need help or more information, feel free to ask it in this thread.
This thread is only for people who are interested in joining Zen Dynamics.

wow to much to read :)

I'm putting all this on the Clans wiki, to replace the brief summary that exists at the moment.

Thanks for this.

Am I allowed to take the test just for the fun of it? :)
I'm not interested in joining, but it looks fun.

Or even part of the test, like the 1V1.

Justin, would you be interested in a clan battle?

It would be a mixture of 1v1s, 2v2s, 3v3s, 4v4s, and perhaps one 12v12.

Set up a game with me if you are interested; we can talk about events and so on.

Hi, Im about half way through it, took it because I thought it would be interesting anyhows, though I dislike multiattack games :S

yea, same here. FFA multiattack games tend to work a lot around luck at which players attack you.
1V1 isn't too bad, but i never play it anyway because its too stressful (too easy to turn things around completely in 1 turn)

I'm glad to see the clan is doing well

i want to partake in the tests it looks like alot of thought has been put into this and looks like alot of fun

Denver Ed would like to join. I appreciate that your effort is to help people become better players.

Zen Dynamics are looking for new players to join their forces. Our old applicants have completed most of their games and are about to become our members, so [Zen-D] clan is going to start expanding quickly.

Most of job with previous applicants is done and now we're waiting for new applicants to come. Everyone is welcome to join us. You only need to play warlight daily and don't get booted from your exam/test games. Don't worry if you play bad, our clan tutor is willing to help anyone who needs help.

If you have got any questions, feel free to ask them and they'll be answered quickly.

I would like to join Zen Dynamics, and am very keen on improving my gameplay.

One question: are the evaluation games real-time, or multiday?

Justin - You obviously put a lot of effort in this, and its one of the most interesting evaluation attempts - probably the first "objective" recruitment evaluation system based on something more than win/lose criterium.. impressive.

by the way - why do you focus that much on 6FFAs? is your clan somehow specialized in them?

our specialties are indeed 6 FFA but also 3v3

wow, all those games do put people off from applying. For example, i simply CANNOT BE F*CKED to play 7 clan recruiting games. :/

who are the best at 3v3s in the Zen-d clan? i'll challenge them

funny the players that are only allowed to in clan wars are players of the highest level, yet Zen-d lost 3-0 to warlighters not long ago... :P

Lol, that's what I was thinking :P

how can you be specialized in ffas? :S
that's an individual thing, not clan
1V1s and team games i can understand, but except if you're going to do unfair premade alliances, ffas are completely different

I would like to apply to join Zen-D