You might have read about my first two defeats in the Kartuga Office Battle. Both times, my stubbornness has tricked me and I simply did not cooperate well enough with my teammates.  Kartuga’s answer appeared on my screen: “Fabio has killed you” – fair enough. Luckily not all of my mates messed it up like me. Despite my noob mistakes, we’re still on track. It is 915:876 for team red, but a Kartuga match goes up to 1,500 points and team orange surely has not thrown in the towel yet.

Hells Bells are ringing

One thing is for sure: something has to be changed, because I don’t want to be deep-sixed again. This would cause sneer and mocks from my colleagues, and I am not that fond of this. So, what should I do? First, I change my music. „Hells Bells“ by AC/DC bangs out of my speakers. I try to look determined and self-assured, but my colleague Fabio just bursts into laughter. Nevermind, I will also change my tactics. Instead of just focusing on our opponents and the control points, I now want to have a closer look on where my own team mates are: Who’s under fire, who can I support? And even more important, who could help me in case I get into trouble?

That is the moment when I realize where the strength of our team is that two of our ships are Engineers. As soon as I am hit by a broadside, they can heal me quite quickly and I am able to set sail for the next battle with full power again. And then we have Sven. His protector can take a whole lot of damage. With a special skill, he is even able to attract damage from my ship to his ship. You can probably imagine how grateful I was when he did that, while Fabio was kicking my ass with his Hunting Gun once again.

But with my teammates on my side, it is now payback time. Sven works as our shield in the first line. I shoot port side and bow side of him, use the chain shot skill to crush Philipp. Afterwards we manage to conquer another control point. They are essential to gain battle points. As we currently control two out of three points, we are overtaken by team red and they lead with 1350:1326 points. I start to whistle Hells Bells again. Fabio looks bugged. I whistle louder.

The Finale

Team red and team orange are heading for a photo finish in the last minutes of the battle. As long as we secure the second control point, nothing can happen to us. But obviously, our opponents are attacking with full power and Kathleen’s as well as Florian’s protectors are in the first line now. They ignore Sven and focus on our Engineers and Destroyers – which means that I am under fire. Philipp is also back in best shape and attacks me together with Kathleen from both sides. I also focus my shots on Philipp, as Kathleen’s Protector cannot hurt me that much. Malte stays close to me and can heal me from time to time. Things are going well for us as we are teaming up well now. We are hunting them around an island. I use my hunting gun, with which I can shoot straight in front. Afterwards, I move hard to bow side and am able to land a broadside on Philipp’s destroyer. Sven joins us from the north driving and hunting Fabio. It’s crunch time now. Angel and devil are sitting on each of my shoulders, whispering in my ears. The angel tells me to crush Kathleen and Philipp together with Malte as things are going well there. But devil tells me to take bloody revenge on Fabio: “Send him to Neptune!”

Well, what can I say? I am just a victim of my genes, and they are very competitive. So I follow the devil. Fabio is supposed to be an easy piece of booty. Hunting Gun, Chain Shot, my fingers are rushing over the keyboard. Fabio’s plans burst again and I already send my best regards for him to Neptune. “Eat this”, I scream and fire again. But what’s this? Instead of him, it is me who loses health points. I fire again and again – and am always losing health points again. I am confused and in this the moment, Philipp attacks me from behind. It’s all over again.

“What the heck was that? Still such big bugs in the game!” I am yelling at Philipp. But he just bursts into laughter again. “You’ve been driving into the Ticking Bomb Fabio places for you.” Damn it, he had already hurt me once with that skill. The Ticking Bomb reverses the damage for some seconds. The more you fire at someone, the more damaged your ship suffers. Some seconds later, it is game over. Team red secured the disputed control point and won the battle in the last seconds with 1500:1482. I probably do not need to explain the way Sven, Malte and Florian are looking at me, right….?!