It's that time again!



What a great year for the mighty Cut Throats. We've fully settled into the world of Team Fortress 2 and gained many new and old faces as members of our crew. A quick explanation of what's going on for the new guys; once a year on the first of the new year, one of us puts together a news post going over the year's events and accomplishments. We talk about our triumphs and struggles, and what lies ahead for our determined bunch. In the past it's always been more of a singular voice singing the praises of the year, but this time around I'd like to propose a change in the way the SoTS works. Let's all contribute towards it this year! As you read this, think about what your favorite moments in CT were this year, and what you would like to see happen in the future.

The most notable event for us Cut Throats this year was definitely the launch of Cut Throat Bay, our very own TF2 servers. We had been active in the Egypt community for quite some time, making friends and enemies along the way (true CT fashion,) but eventually it became clear that we needed our own space to plunder the public. It might have had a little bit to do with the whole clan being banned from the [MiT] Egypt server for being too rowdy, but regardless; a Cut Throat server would not only allow us to play the way we like to play, but expand the CT community while doing so. Indeed, this was the exact course of action that would take place. We've made lots of new friends since the induction of Cut Throat Bay, gained trusted new members, and saw a huge revival in team play. We even played some in-house matches and secured a victory over some opponents, our friends the DAS clan in Highlander. Now we're running two public servers with dedicated communities, tracking over 46,000 players since the first Egypt server launched. Quite impressive!

Every year I like to make a few comments on our in-house production since 2009, now titled Avast. This year marked major development on the game. Every aspect of conceptual design is now long since behind us and we are moving forward completing the assets that make up the BFP revival that is Avast. Ben (Vlad Piranha,) has completed every aspect of character related art, a task that is truly a sight to behold. Not only has he completed every character model and 90% of the weapons featured in the game, he is steadily churning out the 3D assets to our revamped designs for classic BFP maps such as Cut Throat Creek and Frylar.



In the past, all Cut Throat developments have been labeled under our in-house 'studio' known as Cut Throats Interactive. This was mainly a title used to put our web layouts, graphic design projects, mod projects, etc. under one banner. While we still plan on keeping CTI around for clan-related projects, a real company is ready to come out of CT. This company is Plundersoft LLC,



This studio is owned by Ben and myself, and will be the studio by which we plan to ship Avast through and grow from there. We've been doing research all year long on the business end of getting this thing off the ground, and I'm glad to say we are now in a position to make it happen. Soon a website for the company and game will launch and we'll start churning out production-quality media, talking to news outlets such as Kotaku.com, IGN, Gamespot and the likes, and beginning to form a fanbase around this new game. We have a couple hires to make here in the next few weeks to get Ben's amazing art animated and running around (goodbye Blockbeard!) Once that is done, we're ready to start producing youtube trailers and getting the game some exposure.

Soon, I will be putting together a testing group to do weekly or bi-weekly tests with the new game. If we nail this, we may see the return of true pirate gaming. Help us nail this! It could be big.

A few more things I'd like to bring up regarding the future. We have a list of things that need to happen with our TF2 servers, most notably reserved slots for admins, replays, and some other minor server additions. The server renews between the 10th and the 13th, so before it is renewed under the same plan, I will have these upgrades put into effect. Everyone has been extremely generous with donations and patient with getting the server upgraded to everyone's liking; thank you so much. It's a busy world for all of us but these things have been in the works for a few months now and it's time they were completed. We are still in the dark in a few areas; especially when it comes to getting the Egypt server exploit-free. Any help on the subject of implementing the map change we have produced would be awesome! If anyone has knowledge to share, please talk to our man with the plan, 1/8th of weed. Again; thanks for your donations! Let's keep the servers rolling like they have been through 2012.

Many of the Cut Throats that have been around since their high school years are starting to graduate from college. We have new younger members finishing up high school or starting school, and we have guys and girls still working on finishing school, long since passed the days of taking classes, or just living the dream. It makes me proud that all these years later, our members are still constantly supporting each other with our projects, failures and achievements. Remember, while we are firmly planted in the world of gaming, the whole point of this is the form and function of a community. CT is the best example of a true community I have ever witnessed as the people within this group are always willing to help each other and better our friends and ourselves through words and actions. There is such a wealth of knowledge on so many subjects within these php-driven walls, always know you will find help in CT if you ask for it.

Happy new year fuckers! Let's hope those Mayans we're wrong and this isn't the last year for us all. If it is, I'm sure the Cut Throats will be happily terrorizing the public on servers abroad in the afterlife. So what are your favorite moments of this year in CT? What would you like to see happen now?

The match as a whole was a great success! We started a bit late because I was having trouble figuring out the control panel commands, now that I know how they work we wont have those problems again. (And even with us starting late, we still had to wait on a couple of people who were having internet issues, so it probably didn't make too much of a difference)

It was a hard fought battle on both sides, but in the end CT won 40-20. CT had 2 complete captures where they made it to the gold, whereas DAS made it to the 3rd level once and beat egypt 1 once but were mysteriously robbed of their opportunity to play offense on egypt 2 and 3 (so we gave them 5 additional points since they could have earned more than that). We ended up using tournament mode which means that there were no random crits or random spread, and that 1 team set the pace on offense and the second team had to beat their time when it was their attempt. In the end it was extremely fun and great times were had by all. I took screenshots of the scoreboard, (albeit late and I didn't get everyone) but those are on my steam cloud and I'm not sure how to get it off.

Recap:

We started off extremely strong, with Draco beating Dekapon in the 1v1 duel so we had the opportunity to start on offense. We then proceeded to win 3 rounds in a row essentially steamrolling them before they got their feet set. On their first offensive try we snuffed them, but they countered by crushing us on our next offensive push. They succeeded in stretching us out for 2 or 3 minutes of our attempt on the 2nd point, and during that time we got nothing organized what so ever. By the time we got a good push going, they only had to hold out for around a minute, which they did successfully. At this point Das stabalizes and we trade back and forth for quite a while. Das wins egypt 1 after barely stopping us the round before, but the server resets with us on offense and them on defense of egypt 1 instead of pushing on to egypt 2. We say fuck it and play on. I don't remember if CT makes their 2nd run right after that happened, or if we traded 1 more pair of stops on egypt 1 first. Regardless, CT makes another run through all 3 of them which is capped off by Draco scout capping the 2nd point on egypt 3, which the Das said was dis-honorable. We replied with fuck honor, we are pirates.

After that run, it started to look like CT is going to be going into halftime with a very comfortable lead. But, Das has an opportunity to respond to our push. They have about 14 minutes to attempt to beat all 3 egypts and thus beat our time. We get a bit complacent and they crush us on Egypt 1, taking the first point in about 2 minutes. They had a huge numbers advantage after they took the first one and so they steamrolled us on the second before we could respawn and stabalize. Egypt 2 went no better, and they crushed our defense on egypt 2 with 9 minutes and change still on their clock to beat our time. We then perform the most heroic defense of Egypt 3 I have ever seen, and successfully hold them off for all 9+ of those minutes stonewalling their comeback attempt.

Holy shit everyone, what a turn of events! Upon opening the TF2 server in June, we have enjoyed a massive influx of forums activity, new members and friends, and a all-around revival of focused gaming in CT. Congrats everyone, we did it. The Cut Throats are back and gaining more power by the day. A shout-out to all our new members who have been very active and friendly: Guilt, Sleeples, Zigga, Badman, Apple, Kirov, Lego, Hirm, all you guys are awesome.

Now the place that made this all happen is our 24/7 Egypt server. While many of us love Egypt, there have been many requests for a little more variety with a CT brand on it. Lo and behold, today we will be opening our second TF2 server. Huge thanks to Vlad Piranha, who is co-financing this second server with me to get it started. We will mainly be using this to play other maps requested by our members, and to host weekly Highlander events, 9v9 single-class battles that are insanely fun. Vlad will detail more about this event in a different news post.

24/7 Halloween Event | Cut Throat Bay @ CTPirates.net
18 slots
72.5.102.23:27015
Now tracking both CT servers on HLStatsX!

Speaking of Mr. Piranha, it should be known that he has been working feverishly on our in-house Avast project, which aims to bring a pirate themed FPS back into our lives. He has completed ALL of the character pertaining art on his own, a task that if contracted out to a 3rd party would cost thousands of dollars. This is no easy task and has taken over a year's time. I encourage all Cut Throats to check the forums (you know where!) and see his work, and commend him for doing such a fine job, going the distance on a project that is so near to our hearts, the rebirth of beloved BFP itself. Do you guys know what this will mean if we pull it off? Just think about it, then consider that Ben is making it all happen.

Times are merry! The public is again horrified, and our enemies are again on the retreat. Great things to come, and there are great things are happening for us right now. The motherfucking Cut Throats ride on. Keep up the good work everyone!