Thanks to some maxed-out fundraising, I spent the first week of competitions dead-last in DII Drum Corps and Drumline. I'm now 29th in DC (5 spots and 2.5 points out of Semis, assuming 48 corps), and 23rd in Drumline (5 spots out of Semis, assuming 36 groups). I'm mildly surprised by that turnaround, and I'm ready to apply the knowledge gained next season...

People join late in the season, probably why you are at the rank you are at now. Also, you should have campaigned after level 30 and got the director "campaign" skill. I did that, i'm top 12 in DIV II this season for both my drum corps and drumline, and my guard is 2nd in DIV III right now. All have the director skill, so the next season, i'm going to campaign and I will be making TWICE as much as you did this whole season. Strategy my friend ;)

Besides getting more people to show up to shows, what does influence do?

Alex should add more staff writers, people should share this site on marching band pages on facebook. This site could go places and be so much more interesting don't you agree? So share fma on peoples pages! have them do the same.

Being a staff writer is pretty time consuming, so no one wants to do it. I kinda did it for a couple seasons, but I was only interested while I was winning :P

So last night had a show I had only been corps for...a little less than 24 hours and I beat 7 people. Make no mistake I still sucked with a 47.Blah Blah Blah but I was fully expecting to come in absolute dead last. Can't wait for next season watch out Ferocity is coming!

I'm currently able to put up about an article per season. Not as much as I want (and I kind of put myself in a box by calling some of them "weekly" rankings) but it's what I have time for right now. I should fall in to some more time soon after all this student teaching business is taken care of.

aye i'm in music education. anyways id be a writer but im not creative enough like the ones i been reading lol

hey another question do we get money for the place we come in, in a competition

Nope we don't. Only at the end of the season, if you host an event. I'm forced to take next season off so that I can host an event, but I waited until I was level 30 so I can get the "double campaign" skill and make money twice as fast so then I can host an event and make a lot of money.

But if you haven't spent all your money yet, I recommend you host an event next season.

Also just going to throw this out to all our new members it is a good idea to max your campaign at the moment so you can jump right into competition for next season. All the rehearsal points you accumulate this season are lost at the start of the new one.

I got the max amount of asst directors i can for each group then fundraising money for next season so i can host a 15 or 20 group competition.

There's just no way we're not going to have two people with 100.00s. Unless the system is set to automatically lower all but one guy to 99.950 or whatever :P

I have a theory about that too Vinny. I think that might be why my score went from 99.995 to 99.995 and my caption scores changed from semis to finals last season. It might be the case that only one group is allowed to finish with a 100.000.

As much as I respect marimbaman it would be pretty annoying to have to share a perfect score championship after the way last season ended for me.

I would suspect you were supposed to have hit 100 on semis, but I'd guess the system is set for whoever hits 100 first and everyone else who is slower gets a little bit less.

That's what I'm thinking too. Should know at about 8:01 tomorrow evening!

Although the season isn't over, I doubt I would even score a 100 this season under the old way. Just missed way too many submissions this season to be able to keep up with you. It sucks because winning 10 seasons in a row would have been an amazing feat, but I'm happy that I lost to such an amazing competitor! Congrats!

Haha maybe you can still tie? First time for everything!

I think with as close as you are you will tie if it's possible. You're plenty close enough to get there.

And thanks! It looks like either way I'll get a share of the Gold in color guard. It's been fun competing with you for championships for the last five seasons, though you've always come out on top. Would be really cool to see ten in a row but I'll be happy to be the guy to break that streak. :)