Well lets see... I still remember my very first round, all the way back in 2006, got conquered in Antartica and made pure armour because I figured that would be more power. More units = better. I was like 13-14 back then...
Later on in 2008 I did that same thing again - this time on purpose - to scare the heck out of my real life friend. He thought I was boosting my buttocks off.
I think on Old Client the era I enjoyed most, was strangely my last one in 2009. I was in Rederoins team, TURF, where we held the other alliances from South America solely by nuclear power... Fun times. They just kept trying and trying to enter - and that was quite expensive because the food system would go and kill a bunch of your units every time you fail. We had only about 7 members and weren't boosters!
When a round on Old Client would be over - leaders would give a speech. The entire community knew each other, we a very close knit group. From when BD's graphics weren't even complete all the way to the launch of the New Client it all mattered.
Backstab one alliance and five others would come and take revenge, just because they didn't like seeing their friend get screwed over like that. Long discussions and flamewars on the forums, idols like Oms, Somi, Kane, Tabula... It was one hell of an experience. Every era had a weight to it - an importance to it. Every place in the top 15 meant something and had to be fought for with strategy, tactics and diplomacy.
I think it would be safe to say it's not a few specific eras that are my best memories from Old Client, but the whole experience of it.
Was definitely some epicness right there. I'll always cherish those memories. I've had a lot of fun on Battle Dawn, a lot of friends made. I had some of my most fun eras when I was a kid unable to be active or to boost a dime. But the people - the friends I made back then - made it completely worth it.
That said, fun was never limited to the Old Client. I still remember the original NC eras in 2009 when everything was still new and fresh, we all tried to figure out how exactly to play it... I remember that era against Raul and Kent, with NASA (Admin Andrew's alliance) forming towards the end where I could play about 3 hours a day only and spent those trying to juggle things around because of anger that someone had stolen the name of a great alliance and used it to backstab (Neko).
Or a bit later, when Jason recruited what he considered the 24 best players to an alliance which ended up being more famous for its ego then its skill (XXIV). Not too proud admit to have been a part of that, nevertheless it was an era where I met a lot of people. In the end, was it ever the game that really make us come back over and over again? Thinking back, it are the people I remember most. The moments - the laughs - the discussions. I think those are what make Battle Dawn so different from any other game out there.
There are more recent memories of course - the first time of playing on a world without boosting, also known as Kongregate, where I joined 500 ticks in and had a huge amount of fun with Comeon and Donald completely ripping apart alliance after alliance just for the heck of it. The era with some of my best friends, Kenny, Simen, Rederoin, Malek, Rhys, Donald and such where we started out with mass boosters in our podded hive. Was it 2011? We didn't boost back then - Kenny and I would have these huge fights until 1 minute before EOT about the moves to make. Then the whole team was in panick and scrambled to execute them. I don't think Ken would ever want to repeat that - nevertheless I don't think i'll ever forget that. It was so difficult, so frustrating and so rewarding when we finally killed the enemy main.
We would have ended up in a very good position that era, hadn't it been for a tick going 5 minutes early splitting our army in two during an important attack... I still remember half the team raging over it. A lot of people never came back due to that.
A lot of memories, these are a few that come up, but in the end the whole experience is one big, awesome, memory. The people - the eras. I am grateful for what this game gave me. And hopefully will keep giving me in the future. Era's like E2A22 where I got to work with 9 of the most friendly, skilled people in BD to kill a mass of units together beyond any reasonable numbers and era's like the more recent M2 era were we beat all odds and expectations several times in row for the underdog to come out on top.
Got to love this game.
And don't even get me started on the community. People like Simen, Kenny, Numair, Rederoin, Apollo made my time on these forums incredibly memorable. The spam "wars", Pie'nism and melfinism which ranged all the way from 2008 until 2010.
Looking forwards to the next 6 years.
