...and then there were two.
That's right, this is another UHC update. I didn't put many up in the last few weeks, so I thought I'd do a bit of a catch-up.
We start off is Pakratt. The general "Brainiac" of the Mindcrack server, Pakratt knows a lot of the mechanics of the game, and went into this season with a very strategic approach: build a mob trap and farm some levels. Building a simple water flow on the surface by a village, he digs down and prepares his base for late-game. However, his time is cut short when a wild DocM discovers his base and kills the unfortunate strategist.
Starting off this fourth season of his with the experience from 4a and 4b, DocM focuses this time on a more nomadic style of gameplay - getting up to iron gear then heading out on the hunt. Unlike others who begin their travels at around the same time, DocM quickly found Pakratt's base and and tracked him down, killing the prepared Pakratt in a cave brawl and assuming the base as his new lair. In his resultant search for gold to recover his low number of hearts, he finds diamonds; failing to notice that he, the predator, had also become the prey...
Let's take a break from this eventful journey of DocM to look at the life of Zisteau: another strategist, and long-term veteran of the Super Hostile maps (by "Long-term" I literally mean that - just have a quick look at his Legendary series and you'll find out why). Zisteau was also planning for the long term, with a three-stage plan that he almost completed: set up a base, set up for combat, set out for victims. In his usual fashion his base looked quite extravagant for the situation - he even put paintings on the walls - but nearing the completion of the second part of his plan, as he was collecting feathers for arrows, he found Guude crafting something in the open. Taking the opportunity to strike, he attacked Guude, but lost in the nearly even-handed fight.
As for Guude... he was learning from Kurt in season 3, and set out on a nomadic quest for supplies. It was actually quite successful at first, failing to take any damage at all as he gathered iron armour, but then he went into a jungle in search of chickens. His search was successful, and he crafted a good number of arrows from his feathers, but just as he finished crafting them... Zisteau struck. The fight was really close - 8 and 10 hearts apiece - but in the end Guude's arrow was what won him the day, with only two hearts to spare. Low on health and without gold, Guude headed underground in a futile search for gold, losing one and a half hearts to a skeleton; this moment forcing him into the Nether to kill ghasts, a dangerous and risky tactic that would allow him to get gold faster. He actually lasted quite a while in the Nether, dodging the fireballs while becoming the unofficial ref of the season, but in the end he was hit by a fireball; a deadly result to anyone with only half a heart.
Kurt? Well, after a close encounter with DocM he decided to take Guude's season 3 approach to the UHC. He settled down in a base and just got himself some gold and armour, losing a couple of hearts in the process, but the gold he found managed to get him back up to full health. Then, as people started dying, he decided to go out and explore, befriending a few wolves to be by his side in the case of an attack. He set out by boat towards the first sighting of DocM, but on the way one of his wolves managed to teleport into his head, killing him instantly from "(accumulated) fall damage". Ouch! A quick death to one of the hopefuls of the season, but one that after debate was considered just.
I feel, to save space, I'm going to join Justdefy and Nebris together in this one, since their paths were pretty similar up until their encounter. The two were quite alike in strategy; both locating villages and taking what they needed from them, and collecting some gold on the way. However, while there were two villages on the server, the two met by one, with arrows exchanged in the encounter. Justdefy was accurate, but never actually hit (because of the cheaty ways of Nebris), while Nebris' spread took away about three or four hearts from Justdefy (again, cheaty Nebris). However, from this point, they both went separate ways: Justdefy slowly getting killed in a cave, and Nebris getting killed later on by the dirt-skinned menace Pause.
Baj was always the one expected to die from natural causes. He had died fairly on in each of the previous seasons, and isn't really an adventurer. As such, anything he does... can be fatal, BUT, he managed to get through this season better than anyone had expected. He took the cave-dwelling approach, deciding to hide away in a jungle cave by an edge of the map until someone came his way, but unfortunately no-one did. Growing bored, he became more reckless, getting hit a few times before being blown up by a creeper.
BdoubleO was also one expected to die early, but instead he did just the opposite: he was one of the last five left. He, like Baj, stayed in a jungle cave, but on the other side of the map and with more successful results. He was one of the first to discover diamonds, and he was the first to make a diamond sword, but even that couldn't stop Dirtman from killing him early on in the sixth episode.
VintageBeef, on the other hand, went well. He got some gold and iron early on, and was well-prepared coming into the fourth and fifth episodes when he went on a journey for other players. However, finding no other people, he decided to settle down and construct a Nether portal. This simple action of settling down was enough for him to become a target: an Etho that, without being forced to "Get on the damn land, man" by DocM, killed the butcher from sea.
Etho was one of the more exciting people of this season. He decided to go out and adventure at around the same time as DocM, and while DocM found Pakratt, Etho found DocM. In killing his fellow technical player, he lost four hearts, but it was well worth the reward of a diamond chestplate, diamond sword and six diamonds. With these six blue shiny rocks, he built himself an enchanting table and went on an enchanting spree; one level on each of his four pieces of armour, five on a sword, and one on a bow. In the opening to "episode 6", which he had placed at the end of episode 5, he killed VintageBeef from range, leaving only himself and Pause left.
Pause I'm still watching through, but his actions have been scattered around the other players enough to find out where he's at. In addition to a diamond sword in his hand and a wolf by his side, he prepares for the final battle.
Well, that should be all of them. I know I'm missing some details, but that's just because I'm working from memory (choked internet and about 15 hours of gameplay total). I can't wait until the final battle between the two members of Team Canada, and you all should be caught up enough to be able to know what's going to happen as the last man stands.
EDIT: Pause killed BdoubleO on the side of a ravine, while they were each on their own travels. Also, just after commenting about how only Team Canada and Nebris were left, he spotted Nebris and engaged in a laggy ranged fight on a tundra.
* * *
Oh, and once my internet becomes unchoked again, I'm going to get started on the King of the Castle arena, which I'm basing off of Neuschwanstein Castle:
In the meantime, I'll just be playing some SSP, with two worlds focusing on a) Collecting one of every obtainable item, and b) Being a sustainable underground nomad.
EDIT: Before I head off to bed, I'd just like to say that I feel that I have successfully completed the challenge of being a sustainable underground nomad. After a day of play, and after being on the surface only three times - first being when I spawned, the second was when I was too impatient to let a reed grow, and the third was when I felt I had completed the cave and I had a quick look at the outside - I had successfully gathered almost 500 iron, 150 gold, 300 lapis, 14 gold, 5 Ender Pearls, and eight cookies. I also went into the Nether, found myself a Nether stronghold, and gathered 64 glowstone and 64 Nether brick while in there. I may upload a pic of my inventory when my internet becomes unchoked, but only if I remember by then.
