Scribbling Corner: Age of Ultron, Visual Storytelling, and Getting Wood

I was watching Avengers: Age of Ultron recently, and was reminded again of how good the screenwriting was throughout. Virtually all of the menagerie of leads had their own continuing character arcs, though they were often told quite subtly. The secondaries are all put to work effectively, furthering the plot, prodding the leads, and feeling real instead of existing solely to flip a switch in the script. And finally, the overall story arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) felt effectively progressed. Complaints that Age of Ultron felt like just a stepping stone to a greater sequel fall a little flat, given that Ultron's plan to end human life came frighteningly close, which just goes to show how jaded some patrons are: "Cha' whatever bro, so he nearly wiped out all human life, I just never took him seriously as a threat, and Thanos like totally has a glove and marries death and shit... I wish he was my real dad".

What I enjoyed the most were the little examples of purely visual story telling that pervaded the whole film. It is gratifying that in a film filled with such stimulating mass action, the smallest touches are put in place to help tell the story without the need for excessive dialogue. There are the obvious ones, like Ultron's progression from a battered and broken Iron Legionnaire, to a strong shell, to his denied destiny in the beautiful body of The Vision, and of course, the moment when Scarlet Witch rips out his core, symbolizing the death of her own heart (although, both examples are explained with dialogue). A great example of the purer visual story is the scene in which Steve Rogers (Cap) and Tony Stark (Tin Can) argue over Stark's decision to create Ultron without consulting his peers. The dialogue is pretty straight forward, with Rogers shaming Stark's decision, and Stark slugging back with his usual impetuousness and choleric self-importance. Stark is clearly the cause of their problem, though his actions were sparked by the desire to protect his friends, something he cannot trust them to support him in. Rogers, the classic phlegmatic archetype, shames Stark's lack of trust, and unwillingness to confide.

This would make for a great scene if it were dialogue alone, but the director (no introduction required) chose to also build the scene around useful visual metaphors. The pair have their dispute while splitting logs for firewood. This doesn't feel remotely out of place. The scene occurs while the two are unexpected guests on a farmstead, and chipping in with manual work is entirely to be expected. A key failing of writers attempting visual metaphors, or symbolic action frequently occurs when their intended imagery feels forced, unnecessary, or just plain out of place. For example, if this scene had taken place in Stark Tower (Stark's mid-town New York skyscraper), wood-chopping might seem a tad out of place, as indeed would any scene involving manual labour or Rogers "helping out" (In a modern skyscraper full of robots... he could make coffee?). The image is humourous, since the superhuman Rogers is clearly the more practical of the two men, and his pile of split logs towers over Stark's. This image tells us all we need to know about the relationship between the two men. Stark loves to tease Rogers' lack of technical aptitude, and discomfort with the 21st century. Conversely, Stark is brought back to earth in this low tech setting, and is forced to admit Rogers' superiority in practical matters. The two wood piles represent the state of the argument. Rogers towers over Stark at this point, both in his usefulness, and his position in their debate. Rogers is calm, not breaking into anger at Stark. Stark's arguments, though founded in his relative desire to protect, are puny in the face of the overwhelming evidence. He is the lesser man in this situation, in spite of all his good intentions, power, and skills. Of course, Stark is unwilling to back down on the issue, and the scene breaks suddenly when Rogers picks up a log and simply rips it in two with his bare hands. This is a critical moment in not only this film, but also in the larger arc of the MCU. This is the almost literal representation of the moment that Rogers and Stark diverge paths, both in Age of Ultron (representing the team's division), and in the greater scheme, as the two allies break apart on moral grounds. The scene is then capped nicely with a final laugh, and the arrival of Nick Fury, the team's father figure.

This is just one example of the kind of excellent writing and visual story-telling that is present throughout Age of Ultron, and also the rest of the MCU films. It shows how the films are carefully constructed to tell brilliant self-contained stories, but also contribute to a wider story that never feels rushed, or like it is making it up as it goes. The recent attempts by DC and parent company Warner to produce similar quality "shared-universe" films has left a lot to be desired, especially when it comes to being patient and building a worthy universe for film. Fortunately, their TV series', Arrow, and Flash have both made excellent strides toward matching Marvel's patience and willingness to work for its audience's adoration. Take this scene above as a template and try applying it to other scenes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, or any other film you see this week, and see what other stories are being told in the background. Spoiler, if it's a Bay film, the subtext is probably, "dat azzzzzzzzz!"

Geek Crontrol 2 Major Tim: World of Warships, The St Louis Wolverine!

When we last left off, I was telling you how important it was to treasure your time in the early tiers. I still stand by the assertion that new players must not be too hasty to power up the tech trees, and spend a little time earning themselves the skills and experience they'll need to shine later. The American Cruiser line is in this respect, the gift that just keeps on giving. If you followed my advice and stuck with this line, you will not have touched torpedoes (they hook you with the first free taste), and you will not yet have had to worry too much about advanced game mechanics like concealment and advanced teamwork. After graduating from the Chester, you'll have the option to unlock the Samson, the tier 3 American destroyer, or go up to the tier 4 cruiser, the St Louis. Fans of The Mighty Jingles will undoubtedly have already heard of the St Louis, as it is one of his favourite ships to gush over, and with good reason. The St Louis ain't pretty, it ain't elegant, and it ain't sleek like most cruisers. As far as its stats go, the St Louis is slow, and cumbersome, but damn it, it is beefy for a cruiser, and carries the kind of firepower that would make the Expendables blush and back down in shame.

The St Louis is an odd little thing. It was classed historically as an protected cruiser, which were kind of like the per-cursors to battle-cruisers, in that they were meant to maintain the sailing characteristics of cruisers (fast, maneuverable, seaworthiness), but be able to operate independently, and outfight anything same size or smaller. That pretty much sums up the St Louis in a nutshell. In WoWs, the St Louis is a lot like Wolverine: it's smaller than the world beating/cosmic heroes (battleships in this case), but if you are on a similar level, or even slightly higher, you just shouldn't fuck with it. I've been surprised at the number of times I've encountered battleships in this thing, and just forgotten to pack my fucks to give that morning, and mauled the crap out of them. Make no mistake, a well-captained battleship should tear you a new poop deck, but at such low tiers, against inexperienced battleship captains, it's kind of funny how often they will panic at the sight of you not backing down, and bearing your rows of cannons, growling, "come at me, bub!"

Okay, so hopefully all that got you keen. I'm really trying to get you off the idea of grinding sideways from the Chester to the Samson and team killing me with your torpedoes. The continuing theme here is that you can have some of the most fun games in ships that have the least potential for inflicting disaster on your own team, rather than your enemies.

Once you unlock your St Louis, you'll find that the ship really doesn't need most of its major upgrades to perform well, unlike other ships which make you feel like going up a tier is a regression. In even its stock configuration the St Louis will have a broadside of 6 inch guns that will shock your enemies with its rapid fire spam. Fully upgraded you'll find that the ship can utterly splam anything short of a battleship in a gun duel, and it has the maneuverability and dimensions to dodge torpedoes. Destroyer captains beware; a St Louis is the worst nightmare of the DD, simply because it can shift and shimmy between your torpedo salvos, and once its gun batteries start singing, you will die by inches. The St Louis is a high volume of fire kind of ship. If fired in sequence, the first gun will be finished reloading before the last gun fires, meaning that you can chain gun an area, or put accurate salvos into key locations.

If the Chester was your masters' degree in general captaining, I recommend that you make the St Louis the ship where you start your tenure as the professor of the department of gunnery (guest lecturing in ass whipping). Now is the time to make damn sure you've researched a little on how different shell types work, and the basics of how to land critical hits on your enemies. It is truly telling when two St Louis' encounter one another, which one is the experienced captain, and which one is new. My quick tip is to remember that HE shells are your shell of choice against everything except other cruisers. Whenever you encounter BBs, DDs, or carriers (CV), you should probably rely on HE shells, at least until you've mastered their effects. If you encounter another cruiser, especially another St Louis, you should switch to AP shells, and practice scoring penetrating hits. Here you will start to learn the ricocheting, and citadel hitting mechanics in detail. You'll find that at long range your shells will plunge down through the decks of your enemies' ships, causing massive damage when you strike a critical location. You'll then notice that as you approach them, your trajectory will flatten out, and start to hit their side armour. If the enemy has their broadside to you, you'll probably go through, and with careful aim, you'll start to rack up citadel hits (aim under their smoke stacks or gun batteries). If they are coming towards you, or steering away, you'll notice shells bouncing off their hulls, like a stone skipping off a pond at a steep angle. Learn this well. As a St Louis captain, my favourite target is other St Louis's. A n00b captain will turn side on immediately, so as to maximize their broadside, and probably spam HE at you. This will cause minimum damage per hit, and start causing fires. Remain calm, you are the Wolverine, and he is a mutant-hating pussy. If you switch to AP, aim under that smoke stack, and keep your ship angled (just swan back and forth, or start circling), you'll wreck his face in seconds, and take barely a scratch. At that point, light up a stogey from his burning wreck and say something cool, like: "you had guts, bub... too bad they're on the ocean floor now."

As usual, I suggest you spend some extra time in this tier, and enjoy the St Louis for the beast that it is. From here your choices get a little less clear. The American cruiser line never stops being fun and competitive, but you'll now have the option of grinding sideways to the first American battleship, or continuing upward on the cruiser line. I know you think I'll continue my mouth foaming rant about how you must continue with cruisers, but the next ship up is the Phoenix, and that bugger has torpedoes (shakes fist). The Phoenix is a bloody fine ship, and I'll tell you some time how to master it, but right now the option is yours how you'll proceed up. The battleships are not forgiving to new players, and without a little learning, you'll soon become every DD captain's bitch. Next time I might talk a little about the Phoenix, or maybe I'll finally talk a bit about how to go from fearing and despising torpedoes to giving in to the full depths of torpedo addiction.

Good luck, and fair seas

Geek Control 2 Major Tim: World of Warships, Tier 2 Cruiser... Chester... I don't even know 'er!

In continuing with my previous topic, I'd like to suggest that new WoWS players consider the option of going down the 'Murican cruiser line as their first grind. As previously mentioned, I have a strong love for good gameplay, and am constantly driven to mind-bending rage when I see new players captaining complex ships, and fucking up the whole affair, both for themselves, and other friendly players. What I love about the American cruiser line is that the ships are by no means overpowered (well, the St Louis, Cleavland, and Des Moines are, but hush, I don't want them nerfed), they are definitely a lot less confusing for young captains to master, and a lot more forgiving when they make mistakes.

After wallowing around in your Erie at tier one, you'll only be able to progress to the Chester before you can unlock anything else. At that point you will be able to unlock the Samson by going sideways into the destroyer line, but I've already warned you about that :D If the Erie was where you got your degree in warships, then think of the Chester as the place that you earn your masters'. Everything I said about the tier one ships last time applies equally here. The Chester is a fast and maneuverable ship, without having the break-neck formula one performance of DDs (destroyers). They are tough enough to take a few hits and keep kicking, thus being more forgiving to players that expose themselves to a thrashing. They are still low enough tier that they get to sit out most of the more complicated stuff in the game, like air warfare. And all round, the Chester has simple gameplay mechanics that follow on from what you've already learned. Even when you've ground out the full upgrade suit on the Chester, consider keeping it and playing it a few times a day just to make sure you are nailing down those basics of gameplay, and not rushing towards more complicated ships.

The Chester is a little lightly armed in its stock incarnation, which means that it should avoid too much direct combat. Start teaching yourself to use islands and bigger ships to distract the enemy, and only engage once you can avoid return fire. You might also want to experiment with different ammo at this point. You'll mostly find that AP shells are your friend at this point, since they will do the most damage as long as they penetrate. When you find your AP (armour piercing) shells doing little to no damage, it means that they are ricocheting from the enemy's armour. At this point switching to HE (High Explosive) ammo will guarantee you more damage, and start setting fires. In battles where you start to see battleships and destroyers, you should start loading the HE early, since AP usually won't harm a BB, and HE is more effective at disabling and pinning down DDs. When engaging cruisers, however, you should try using your AP, especially at long ranges, and when your enemy exposes their broadside. You may find that you start scoring citadel hits on your opponent, which are kind of like the "headshots" of this game. This is what I mean about using this tier as your masters' degree. Now is the best time to master your maneuvers, gunnery, and learn to work with your team (or at least use them to your advantage, even if they ignore you). As you finish upgrading the Chester, you'll find that it can punish other cruisers, and frankly put a savage beat down on enemy DDs. Encountering higher tier cruisers, such as the fearsome St Louis and Kuma classes, as well as encountering any BB should teach you the importance of holding back, and joining the fray once the enemy is distracted. Even the lowest tier ship can still kick ass if it is given a chance to avoid damage, and unleash with guns.

The final things to practice at this point are how to focus your guns, and how to dodge torpedoes. The Chester, like many low tier ships, mounts some of its main guns in the sides of the ship, rather than in centreline turrets. This means that inevitably the ship cannot bring all guns to bear at once. For many ships this is just a fact of life, but for fast turning, fast shifting ships like the Chester, it means you can turn and fire your portside guns (or starboard), and then quickly shift your ass to expose your opposite battery. This is what I call the slalom shoot. It's far more pronounced on later ships, such as the Phoenix at tier four. The other option is to start sailing in a circle, giving your guns a chance to spin and fire. I call this one the Cantabrian Circle Jerk... because you go around shooting in every direction, or just Cantabrian Circle for those playing with the language filters on. The other thing to round out your captaining skills is torpedo dodging. This is a skill that really does rely first and foremost on situational awareness. You need to learn as soon as possible to pull your view out from the zoomed gunsight view in between shots. Knowing where you are, where your enemy is, and where the likely torpedoes are coming from is the difference between a snarling veteran seadog, and a n00b raging on the forums about the OP torpedoes. As a DD captain that frequently has his torpedoes dodged be even semi-competent players, I can say without a doubt that it is not difficult to ruin a DD captain's game with even the simplest maneuvers. Do your best to keep one eye on the mini map, and zoom out every 3-5 seconds. Track the DDs on the map, or guess at their most likely locations. If you even suspect that one is within 10km of you, start maneuvering. Speed up, slow down, and make rapid rudder shifts to throw off potential torpedo salvos. At this point the DD captain will likely charge you, and reveal himself to your guns.

Hopefully with these skills in mind, and a whole bunch of practice, not rushing the next tier, you will become a vastly superior player in no time, and be worthy of your captaincy. Next we might talk about the St Louis, or maybe a little more on the complicated mechanics that you will need to learn, such as torpedoes and stealth, and maybe then you will have my permission to sail that glorious class of gunboat, the destroyer >:)

Geek Control 2 Major Tim: World of Warships, avoiding n00bitude in the early game

Following up on my previous post, I'd like to talk a little about things you can do as a new player in WoWS to avoid being a bad player. There are certainly a lot of people out there trying to teach new players about some of the do's of the game, so here are a few don't's that might just save you from justified abuse in game, or even a flat out ban.

As previously mentioned, you should not be too hasty to get away from your starting ship. The full explanation for that is in my last post, but the real reason you will want to avoid getting off to too quick of a start in this game is that certain ship classes have complex gameplay mechanics, and worse, can be unforgiving when you make a mistake. Sticking with the tier one starter ship for a while will give you a chance to experiment with the controls and basic gun mechanics while you figure things out, as well as giving you an arena to screw up in that will be pretty forgiving.

If you want to advance, and lets face it, who doesn't, you should probably try out the American cruiser line. The American cruisers aren't inherently easier than other ships, but they capitalize on the things you learned in the first tier ship, such as basic maneuvers, gunnery, and teamwork. What they don't have is torpedo armament (except for the tier 4 and 5 ships), fragile health, and poor maneuverability. These are the three things that get people killed the most, after lack of teamwork.

You should avoid playing destroyers as your first tech tree to grind out, as they are fragile, rely on torpedoes, and also rely on stealth mechanics. Without doing a little reading, or watching some expertly delivered tutorial videos, these ships can be an absolute dead end for new players to captain. Torpedoes, as I have said before, are difficult weapons to master, and can become a bigger habit to your own team than to your enemies if mishandled. The single most common mistake I see new players making in the game is spamming torpedoes at the enemy fleet without knowing their range. Torpedoes typically have a much shorter range than most guns, and have a slow travel time (faster than a ship travels, but slower than a shell). This means that if you fire torpedoes at a ship 10km away, and your torpedoes only have a 5km range, you've wasted your time, and any friendly ships nearby will be in danger. Make no mistake, if a friendly gets killed by your torpedoes, it will be your fault. Friendly players have enough things to pay attention to without worrying about their allies blowing them up from behind, so the line, "you should have been paying more attention" is pretty weak. DD's also rely heavily on sharp maneuvers and stealth to stay alive. The number of DD captains I see ploughing into islands and being obliterated while they are stuck on a beach really does emphasize the point that new players need to spend more time in slower ships, doing their maneuvers far from land. Finally, stealth mechanics are complex, and will not save you until you learn them properly. Most new players will captain their DD, firing blind shots into mountain sides out of sheer lack of attention span, which immediately reveals them at longer ranges. In short, don't play a rogue if you like walking in the sun.

Battleships are also a ship that newbies should take to slowly. While the potential for screwing up is smaller indeed, these ships still have major problems that make them unfriendly to new players. Notably, battleships require very large areas to turn their ships around. They also are slow to shift their rudders from side to side, meaning that all maneuvers require advanced planning in order to pull off effectively. These are not ships that respond well to a captain suddenly changing their mind about direction, or being caught by surprise. A good BB captain must always plan their maneuvers and even their gun rotations, as well as having an excellent all round perception, and feel for the pace of the battle. When circumstances develop, a BB captain must react before things get out of hand, and make no decisions after the moment has passed. In other words, new players need not apply. Also, new players are likely to get overly excited by the prospect of a BB's excellent armour and huge health pool. This leads them to bite off more than they can chew, and get dead at the tip of a torpedo volley. The most common mistake of BB captains? Sitting still and firing from a distance instead of staying mobile. The number of battles I've seen lost because the friendly BB's just sat their and did not react to the battle boils my blood. The other most famous mistake is when BB captains plot a perfectly straight course and switch to gunsight view, never switching back. The Mighty Jingles comments endlessly on this one, joking at how many BB captains sail straight into easily avoidable torpedoes, when even the slightest course correction would save them.

Don't captain a carrier without watching a video first... That is all.

Hopefully this gave new WoWS players some thoughts on how to not suck at the game. Really, I do want to help, and to see the overall quality of the gameplay improve. Next time I'll talk a little about the low tier American cruisers, and give you an idea of what to expect. I won't warn you off the Japanese cruisers, as they are damn good fun to play, but just remember that they always carry torpedoes, and until you learn how to use them, you definitely shouldn't touch such weapons.

Happy sailing.

Geek Control 2 Major Tim: World of Warships for Newbies

World of Warships recently went live, and the game has been flooded with new players, all looking to get themselves hooked on the fast-paced, explosion-laden naval combat. The game is free to play, meaning that there is little to no restriction on who can play, but this also comes with the problem that frequents most F2P games, which is its vulnerability to being swamped with casual players, and botters looking to grind their way up the ladder without actually playing. The quality of play is certainly not as high as it was during the closed beta, and with so many new players looking to joining up, I thought now might be a time to give some tips to new players, starting with an introduction to the most newby friendly ship lines, and a few ideas on how to get good at the game fast.

To begin with, your first ship will be a dinky little cruiser with no real specialty, and no real character. While you may want to get away from it as fast as possible, you should instead consider spending a few hours plugging away in it. The ship has no complicated gameplay mechanics associated with it, except for basic manoeuvring and gunnery. It is a good ship to get used to sailing in, since it has tight turning, fast rudder shift, and won't get you killed every time you make a mistake in plotting out your course. Similarly, the starter ships have no torpedoes, meaning you won't become a hazard to your own team as you figure out how to use the damn things. The guns are simple, and will get you used to the idea of ranging and rotating your guns for maximum effect. I'd also practice your aim at these tiers, figuring out how the AP and HE ammo system works. Go out and read up on it quickly, so as to avoid spamming one round or the other, without ever understanding what you are achieving. The final benefit of these low tier ships is that they won't likely encounter most of the other ship classes in the game. For the most part, your starting ships won't encounter carriers, or particularly powerful destroyers, and the kind of ships that will make you confused and unsure how to respond. You might even discover the value of teamwork at this tier, or at least learn how to exploit your enemies' distractions in order to punish them.

After your first tier, I recommend jumping in to American cruisers as your first ship line to grind. American cruisers mostly don't use torpedoes, and will focus instead on gunnery and manoeuvers to achieve victory. Spending some time grinding out this cruiser line will mould you into a much better player than you would be if you decided to try out destroyers, or battleships, both of which are more complicated to play. Remember that cruisers are support ships, and while they can be dangerous alone, they are even more dangerous when supporting bigger, tougher ships, like battleships. In my next blog, I think I'll explain a little more about early American cruisers, but also give some more reasons why you should hold off before going nuts with torpedoes. For now, I'd just recommend you watch some training videos, and stick with the advice I've listed here.

Happy sailing