Euro's to Quakecon CTF 2003 :
aAa*Raoul's interview

Dallas, 2003 : 4 european teams are qualified to compete with yet unchallenged North American teams.

Part three : Raoul's views, from clan aAa.

Ozh: First of all, congratulation about your qualification. Tell us a bit about this : how did the project to go to Dallas get in your mind, and what is your team's feeling now you're amongst the chosen few ?
aAa*Raoul: Well, like most quakers, we all know that quakecons are quite unique events and this combined to the fact that euros can hardly get to qcon because of the plane ticket price (at least 800 euros!) , online qualifications, other expenses, makes me feel really lucky to be going there :)
When we learnt that QCON2K3 would hold a ctf tournament, we were absolutly delighted because going there might be possible thanks to our sponsor ARENE.COM and we were even thinking of a good result since we have some nice CTF potential. The French national team winning the clanbase nationcup ctf tournament reflects a bit this potential :)
Going through the online qualification was quite tough since we had to face a quite impressive 32nd team that had been undefeated during the previous online trainings against most of the euros teams engaged in this qcon US server qualification tournament. It was really fun to watch all those euros practising on US servers and doing quite well imho.

Ozh: About the qualifier itself : wasn't it a bit fun to play with 100 ping, like back to old 56K days ? :) Did you prepare for such game conditions ?
aAa*Raoul: As I said, most serious euro teams did practise on US Speakeasy servers and it was in a way quite fun to play like this with 100/150 ping average :) It made the gameplay really different and the allping whine would ruin the game since everyone was hpb :p
This ping thing brought some new strategies because it s hard for instance to defend as we would so basically we were wondering if we would go for some really solid defense with powerups red armors for the defense or some more usual french all off ffa rush which puts a big pressure on the ennemy base.

Ozh: Being used to 5v5, what do you think about 4v4 american style ? (more or less tactical ? speed ? fun ? ffa ? teamplay ? ...)
aAa*Raoul: The 4v4 CTF thing also brought some more tactical questions. Would we go for some 3 off, 1 def strategy ? 2 off 2 def with a solid def ? 2 off 1 mid and 1 def that looks more like 5v5 gameplay.
With the hpb parameter, we rather went for some solid 2/2 strategy which explains the very tight scores of the match against 32nd.
1 month after begining to play 4v4, I definitelyenjoy the american CTF style. Since there is absolutly less of that all mg respawners recovering the flag at middle thx to good respawn and a too strong mg, flag runs are more spectacular. No need to wait too much for some teamates to clean the middle, no need to run away from 2 or 3 respawners, etc. The runners faces less respawners in the ennemy base as well, making run a lot easier. But since the defensers are usually hugely armored, it makes the fights even better. mg respawners can t prevent caps with 4v4 which is great imho.

Ozh: Do you think euro teams, and in particular your team, will have a handicap from not being used to 4v4 ? Do you think NA teams will have a big tactical advantage ? What are your plans about this ? (lan training, online trainings with US teams .. ?)
aAa*Raoul: We did quite a lot of trainings during the online qualification phase. This gave us some basic tactics. Anyway the real advantage in ctf is the teamplay which hasn t that much to do with 4v4, 5v5 or whatever. It's about being synchro, using good coms, etc. or using perfect ffa skillz ^^

Ozh: Do you know any of the NA teams qualified ? Do you fear some ?
aAa*Raoul: 519 are skilled and practising a lot so they might be the first time I would worry about (US wise). C9 and pm are good teams as well, but I don t know much of the others.

Ozh: What is your opinion about the current trashtalking "na > euro" or "euro pwnz NA" on various community sites ?
aAa*Raoul: France Fromage skillz > UKallping + GermanSwissallWhine@mike > USA easy pummeling \o/
Don t care really about all this trash. I find it funny :)

Ozh: Last one : how is your financial situation regarding this trip ? Did you find any sponsors ? Is money a problem ? What is today the probability for you actually going to Dallas ?
aAa*Raoul: Thx to aAa sponsor : Arene.com, we don t have to pay our flight tickets (3400 euros for 4 people). We still have big expenses (like paying the train to frankfort so that we can lan with mTw a couple of days) but hopefully some french quakers are helping us cos Apple and Thefou can t afford to spend even a euro. Thx to Arma from ZLP for instance and to all the other m8s who helped us and made this challenge possible ie : owning the world with some great fromage skillz.

Ozh: Thank your for your time Ramoule, may the moule be with you :)