Crossing the T: A Return to Cutthroats
by NorseGamer, HSM Publisher
Most people do not get up in the morning and think, “Yes, today I would like to be shot at.” It’s a bit like venereal disease: you want all the excitement that goes with being put in a position where it might happen, but you don’t actually want it to happen.
This is what makes the occasional “Sink (INSERT NAME HERE)!” Cutthroats events in PlayStation Home so interesting: the core concept hinges on someone voluntarily choosing to be Home’s equivalent of Reginald Denny. And while it’s all for laughs and having a good time, you can’t help but notice the seething undercurrent running through some of the more eager volunteers who raise their hands to sink the guest of honor. Watch the strained applause smiles on Oscar runners-up when the winner makes his way to the stage and you get what I mean.
Which, of course, makes the most recent Cutthroats event rather interesting — because it was a chance to take on SCEA itself, not just another member of the community. And not just anyone from SCEA, but Tempest_Fire and WolfeRocks. Tempest, of course, is already known to the community; heck, just check out the featured video on HSM’s front page right now. Wolfe, to my knowledge, isn’t really in the public spotlight with the Home community, but I promise you that every single Home developer who interfaces with SCEA knows who he is. I’ve been fortunate enough to hang out with both of these guys in real life more than once, and they’re both great people. Tempest’s mind is continuously on six different tracks at once, and Wolfe does the most awesome People’s Eyebrow you’ve ever seen.
So why on Earth would anyone want to sink them?
Well, in reality, in this instance it’s likely more the idea of pros versus joes than a desire to go after a specific person. And that I could get behind. Best of all, it’s not some ridiculously over-the-top budget-buster of an event; it’s low-cost fun. So I asked if I could join in. Aside from it just being really good fun, it was a great PR opportunity to fly the LOOT flag.
Granted, for me specifically, there was a very real chance of attracting a lot of cannon fire. Only five people have ever successfully made the transition from Home consumer to Home developer: Cubehouse, Terra_Cide, DOD, Boxer_Lady, and me. And I did it while serving double-duty as the publisher of one of the largest Home media sites in the world, which has at times taken some intense flack for being an unabashed pro-Sony/pro-Home/pro-developer publication that regularly defends the business decisions which cumulatively shaped Home into what we see today. Within certain circles, this makes me about as popular as typhus.
All the better.
I say that because, at heart, while my natural instinct is to cooperate and assist, I also love a good challenge. And Cutthroats is a Home game I’m particularly fond of. You know the story by now: that I was one of the original game’s harshest critics, and subsequently had a small hand in helping Sony VASG create the updated version of it. Along with VEEMEE’s No Man’s Land and Lockwood’s brace of Sodium games, I consider Cutthroats to be one of the best gaming experiences Home has to offer. So this event was basically a great opportunity to hang out with friends, have a good time, and pull out a few naval combat tricks on unsuspecting opponents. Because while I’m not the greatest gunner in the game, I’m pretty damned good as a navigator and tactician.
The last time I wrote about Cutthroats, the subject of flanking an enemy ship and staying in its blind spot was a major topic. The catch, though, is that everyone’s more or less caught on to this, leading to battles where ships circle each others’ tails.
This time around, we’re going to discuss crossing the T.
“Crossing the T” is when you place your ship perpendicular to your opponent’s bow. In actual naval warfare, this allows you to conduct enfilade fire (something which the game doesn’t calculate extra damage for, which is a shame). In Home, placing your broadside directly on your opponent’s bow achieves two powerful effects: first, you nullify your opponent’s cannons as he attempts to close the distance (while you pick him apart with your full battery), and second, at point-blank range, most captains — since they generally don’t get to do much else other than drive — become overwhelmingly focused on ramming attacks rather than turning to broadside. It’s a powerful psychological attack, because it effectively causes the opposing captain to selfishly disregard his own crew in favor of delivering what he thinks is a knockout punch (and it would be, if ram attacks were weighted more heavily in the game). You end up dictating the flow and terms of combat, while your opponents rack up massive losses and become demoralized.
Granted, this tactic isn’t as effective against elite crews and skippers who specialize in long-range broadside bombardment, and usually won’t take the bait or present minimal aspect to an opponent. But against the vast majority of Cutthroats players, who think a mostly stationary ship with its broadside exposed to their bow is an accidental blunder, it’s astonishing how consistently successful crossing the T can be (particularly if used in conjunction with the right ammunition types). Like the 49ers using John Ayers to “molly block” Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 NFC championship game, it’s such a blatant strategy that it shouldn’t work — but it does work, because most captains in the game don’t know how to think strategically.
This came in handy because, at one point, I ended up on a boat by myself. Predictably, in short order, I had three other boats swarming me, vying for the bragging rights of taking out a developer. Indeed, it became rather fun to focus almost entirely on small maneuvers and laying down mines that kept causing the pursuing craft to end up blocking each other, jumbling up on each others’ courses. And then shifting over to a cannon and blowing them out of the water with poultry. Not sure what Alfred Thayer Mahan would make of the poultry, but damn, does it do some damage.
I can’t even begin to tell you how enormously satisfying it is to emerge — damaged, but victorious — by yourself, with three fully-crewed ships sinking in your wake. It tickles pleasure centers in the brain normally reserved for unspeakable acts. Particularly when all development activity in your office has ground to a halt because everyone in the room wants to see what all the explosions are about.
This doesn’t mean I never sunk, by the way (Conrad Max, you bastard!) — but it does mean that, up until the final round when we went up against elite players, I could probably count on one hand how many times I’d been sunk and have fingers left over.
There are a couple of memorable highlights:
The first was an extended stretch of gameplay, about forty-five minutes long, where my crew and I set out to systematically crush everyone else in the scene — and we did it, without sinking once. It is an amazing feeling to be the last ship left standing in Black Powder Cove, with no opponents left who are willing to face you. It is then that you most equate with Eric Hoffer’s famous axiom: “Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man’s spirit than when we win his heart.” That may be an odd sentiment to express for a community-building event, but remember that this is a community of gamers — and they’re all shooting at you.
The second was in a separate instance, where I was skipper on a boat with Tempest, Wolfe and THE613Ninja. After successfully crossing the T, we turned for a conventional broadside duel amidships, and everyone was lined up to port with scattershot cannons — at point-blank range. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a time-on-target triple-scattershot barrage of nine cannons going off simultaneously, but it’s the most insane carnage the game has to offer. A full broadside like that can completely trash an undamaged ship in the blink of an eye. And the sound of it is simply insane. Everything on your screen turns into a giant explosion, and when the smoke clears, there’s simply no more opponent ship. You don’t so much sink it as you completely blow it out of the water. Even my PS3 got some girl wood from that.
Where things got interesting, though, was in the last round, when we went up against some elite Cutthroats players. And, to borrow Tempest’s completely perfect description: we got THUMPED. We’re all pretty good players — Ninja’s a great navigator, by the way — but you instantly know when you’re up against superior opponents who live and breathe the game. Going to work? They’re playing the game. Going to bed? They’re playing the game. Eating pizza? They’re playing the game.
And it was fun.
It was fun for a couple of reasons: one, you want to go up against users with that level of engagement. That means it’s a good game. Two, I was so tied up in combat against people I didn’t know that the people I do know who wanted a crack at sinking me…never got a chance. And that, in and of itself, is also an oddly sort of satisfying victory.
Seeing so many friends, developer and consumer alike, all having fun and whooping it up was a great experience. John, now flying the Game Mechanics flag, did a remarkable job of schooling everyone in why it’s unwise to take on the game’s original creator. And it was great to see Boxer_Lady make her public debut as Atom Republic’s new community manager by taking to the high seas; I think we’ll all agree that Tanguy made a good choice.
Many thanks to Tempest and Wolfe for graciously allowing other developers to join in the event; it was a remarkably fun evening which I’ll cherish for quite a while to come. And, of course, it was a blast hanging out and sailing with so many familiar faces. I managed to grab some video footage of the evening’s proceedings, which with luck will make it into the final cut of the next LOOTcast episode.
So now then. Go play some Cutthroats! It’s a damn good Home game.
February 22nd, 2014 by NorseGamer | 3 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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Great article.
I had a lot of fun playing.The experience is always better when your team knows what to do and cooperate with each other.
“Bastard”, huh?
Just poking a bit of fun. I don’t get sunk that often these days.
This is a wonderful article; as usual Norse your articles are witty, descriptive and fun-filled. However, this one was exceptionally so, I felt I was there….oh yeah, I was! I am so embarrassed about how you CRUSHED us by your maneuvers that I forgot. I saw more under the water than above the water in this game. I do not think I even got more than a passing glance at Norse’s’ ship, as I was usually sinking. I bow to you Norse. LOL But it was a lot of fun and I am ready to go back again.
Thank you too for bringing me into the fold so generously and kindly. I feel honored to be in the company of other people from Home that I truly admire. I love Home and I hope that I can do the Home community justice in my new role as Atom Republic’s Community Manager, while doing and amazing job for Tanguy! See you in the high seas!