A little thought experiment on classes (good vibes only)

[Motorhead]

The beauty of this is that this is a multi-faceted sport, with all these things contributing to the sport itself. There are fundamental elements that have a common denominator, but the best common denominator is that IS multifaceted. And if you excel at one element and not at another, you still have the potential to raise your score by focusing on your assets and strengths. And those that can excel in most of those variables strategically, invariably will win.

Underling it all ... Everyone would like to win, find a way to win, find an excuse or reason to have won etc ...

Many loose sight of why they play games at all ? Makes no difference if a Card game, Board game, Investment game, Sporting or our FT game
We try and level the field with our skills in an given game in an attempt to be something more than just a player .. ideally a Winner, which for most would be a safe wager. As with games where SKILL has a strong placing over CHANCE those with the right skills applied at the correct time will near always be at or near the top of such competitions.

So a more rounded question might be ... How do you structure a game where everyone is having fun, challenged enough to stay interested & engaged ... yet, not be such a downer for those trying there hardest, yet constantly falling short of winning ? Golf anyone


Just rambling thoughts ...

 

[BC]

I thought about this, basically making the limited class similar to European HFT. Problem is, I don't think anyone would shoot it. Especially if the course was set up to be competitive for the people shooting open and wftf, which in my mind would be a lot of 40+ yard shots and some elevated shots. I believe Euro HFT doesn't go past 40 or 45 yards. I'm assuming the reason for that is because it's hard to set a scope to be shootable without adjusting parallax from 10 to 55 yards. We could go nuts and make Limited class into Iron Sights class. Shoot whatever you want, however you want, but no glass on the gun. That sounds like type 2 fun, I could see a small number of shooters being very interested in that.

Scotton, real UK HFT shoots 8-45 yards. With a rifle that has a 10-12x scope with the parallax set between 25-30 yards. 2 points for a knockdown, 1 point for a face plate hit and 0 points for a complete miss. By the way their rules say there only needs to be 10mm of steel around the killzone. Try that shot at 45 yards. haha No scope touching once the match starts, which means if you have an illuminated scope and wish to use it because its dark in the woods, it must be kept on all day. Its either on or off. No adjusting the parallax either. Everything is done from scope blur and all shots are taken using hold over and maybe hold under if youre zeroing your gun past 35 yards. Its also shot 80 percent of the time prone off a mat to keep you from getting muddy etc, with the other shots being unsupported standing, unupported kneeling, supported standing and supported kneeling. Supported shots are usually leaning against trees. They have 30 lanes with one target per lane and 2 minutes to take your shots. Timers arent used, but if you lag behind the marshals may put you on the clock. I am writing this from my hotel room in Owthorpe England, after shooting the Worlds HFT comp here, with 300 other people. I can tell you as a FT shooter, that the "H" in UK HFT stands for harder. Its way more exciting knocking down a target in UK HFT, rather than regular WFTF FT. I love it and I wish the USA would give it a go, however I dont think most HFT shooters want to get up and down off a mat on the ground all day. Also with UK HFT, the area from the shooting Peg to the target must be cleared down, which means grass and stuff cant be higher than about 3-4 inches at the peg, cuz your barrel is about that height when shooting.

 

[Franklink]

Scotton, real UK HFT shoots 8-45 yards. With a rifle that has a 10-12x scope with the parallax set between 25-30 yards. 2 points for a knockdown, 1 point for a face plate hit and 0 points for a complete miss. By the way their rules say there only needs to be 10mm of steel around the killzone. Try that shot at 45 yards. haha No scope touching once the match starts, which means if you have an illuminated scope and wish to use it because its dark in the woods, it must be kept on all day. Its either on or off. No adjusting the parallax either. Everything is done from scope blur and all shots are taken using hold over and maybe hold under if youre zeroing your gun past 35 yards. Its also shot 80 percent of the time prone off a mat to keep you from getting muddy etc, with the other shots being unsupported standing, unupported kneeling, supported standing and supported kneeling. Supported shots are usually leaning against trees. They have 30 lanes with one target per lane and 2 minutes to take your shots. Timers arent used, but if you lag behind the marshals may put you on the clock. I am writing this from my hotel room in Owthorpe England, after shooting the Worlds HFT comp here, with 300 other people. I can tell you as a FT shooter, that the "H" in UK HFT stands for harder. Its way more exciting knocking down a target in UK HFT, rather than regular WFTF FT. I love it and I wish the USA would give it a go, however I dont think most HFT shooters want to get up and down off a mat on the ground all day. Also with UK HFT, the area from the shooting Peg to the target must be cleared down, which means grass and stuff cant be higher than about 3-4 inches at the peg, cuz your barrel is about that height when shooting.

Sounds like a blast!!! And more like what Hunter FT in the US was originally supposed to be.

 

[thane]

Formula One Racing regularly changes the format to keep things interesting, this ultimately favors certain competitors, and the churn keeps things interesting.

WFTF is very stagnate, but maintains a high level of competition.

Hunter division is an alternative from WFTF and I for one would like to see annual changes just to try things out, not necessarily making things easier or favoring certain shooter's skills.

Added point factors for shooting off-hand at shooter's discretion, make up some lost points or tank even harder...
Some longer shots for more points, shooter's discretion. Obstructions in lanes, up to shooter's strategy...

Add in some risk with pay out to keep things interesting.

 

[beerthief]

Formula One Racing regularly changes the format to keep things interesting, this ultimately favors certain competitors, and the churn keeps things interesting.

WFTF is very stagnate, but maintains a high level of competition.

Hunter division is an alternative from WFTF and I for one would like to see annual changes just to try things out, not necessarily making things easier or favoring certain shooter's skills.

Added point factors for shooting off-hand at shooter's discretion, make up some lost points or tank even harder...
Some longer shots for more points, shooter's discretion. Obstructions in lanes, up to shooter's strategy...

Add in some risk with pay out to keep things interesting.

very interesting to set up a course where the guy that does not shoot any of the extra point positions can still win . what about a tie ? who wins ?

 

[BC]

Hahaha i knew you'd respond. Nawww, you got one that follows the international rules and another that can do whatever they want. It's simple really. But then you'd get people complaining about it being easier. too easy maybe? or maybe not? Oh, but wait... then there would be complaints of an arms race lol. Is it time to go back in time to Daisy Red Ryders w open sights? See full circle.
LoL

Hey Garrett, its the same everywhere. Here in the UK in the WHFTA they introduced a sticks class for HFT shooters. They shoot the course standing so they dont have to get up and down for whatever reason (old, bad health, whatever). ALL shots are taken standing, even the unsupported standing and kneeling shots, that the regular guys have to do according to the rules. They use long sticks with the trigger V rifle holder, they can be tripod, bipod or monopod, but all I saw were tripod trigger sticks. The other classes thought the STICKS guys were going to have an advantage, but it turned out not to be so. Shooting off a tripod stick is way harder than it appears. And it allows mostly older shooters who cant get down and up off the ground to keep shooting the sport and keep the shooter numbers up. Its a new class only a year old but gaining rapidly in the UK. Maybe USA HFT guys could stand using a tripod stick ? When shooting sticks in HFT, they just have to place their sticks over the shooting peg.

 

[thane]

very interesting to set up a course where the guy that does not shoot any of the extra point positions can still win . what about a tie ? who wins ?

Dance off...