Can someone please clarify for me the rule about extra caption changes for placing in the top 3 in your division for required competitions.

Is it for all required comps or only those after July 31?

I only ask because Hella Drummas placed 2nd in Div 3 in Denver (11/07) but I don't think i got an extra caption change.

Apologies in advance if I missed something obvious:)

thanks,
SnareBomb

They were for all required competitions. They slipped my mind as I was just focusing on trying to get all the scores entered as I found time. By the time I remembered them, it was rather late in the season to really make much of a difference and nobody had brought them up so I figured it didn't matter.

If you really want them I can go through the Saturday competitions and add the extra picks to all the fantasy corps, but honestly, I think it's rather late in the season to really matter. They're just a cosmetic way to help keep your score as high as you can before 31 July, after which all bets are off and it really doesn't matter how many captions changes you had prior.

In the off-season I will be thinking about and possibly revamping the caption change system (cutoff dates, amounts, etc.) in an attempt to make things a little more fun and realistic. Suggestions are always welcome; they will always either be considered or privately snickered at.

don't stress! I'm pretty happy with my picks so I'm happy to let it slide:)

thanks for quick response!

SnareBomb

Do you think you could code something up that would 100% accurately predict the winning combination of caption choices, and then provide the answer only to me? Oh and if you could make it so I get the results subliminally, so I still think it was all my idea that would be great. I mean I don't want to cheat, but if I didn't know I was cheating I could still feel good about it.

Also, if you have time could you make the fantasy drum corps homepage provide me with the sheet music for every blue devils show from 1975 to present (oh and ditty too of course)? Thanks!

A score optimizing progam could certainly be written. to calculate every single 140/125/120 point and provide you with the highest possible for that night. It wouldn't be that difficult, but the fun lies in the unknown.

Kevin and I wrote that years ago, actually. I haven't been using it the past couple seasons, though.

I just made one in Excel the other day for kicks. It wasn't super difficult but it wasn't exactly easy. The problem lies in the scores you feed into it. Especially at this point in the season, scores vary widely day to day, and you can't really compare scores between separate shows. So if you want it to be accurate you have to massage the scores to put them all where you think they should be relative to one another, and if you think the score gaps will be different by finals, you have to account for that too, so you're still just guessing. Really the best the program can do is tell you on finals night what the best choices would have been.

While I agree to with this to a point, if you use them wisely you can really give your score a boost. The other thing is that sometimes you can drop one score to raise another. like if I was scoring 15.5 in one, dropped it one point to a like a 15.3, but raised another caption to a 16.5, I've increased my score by 8/10ths- if that's a GE score-that's huge.

I may have even saved a money point or two.

I'm also a believer that they matter more now than early season. everything is every where, and not even all of them are used. Just right now judges are really figuring out who really fits where. ESP. brass/color guard and the other captions that are discarded early on. Usually I give my self the highest score I possibly can on the 31st. then hope for the best. but if you didn't do your job before that it doesn't matter.
bottom line...having more changes means you have more options.

on the other hand after a while you've pretty much exhausted your options for score improvement, and just have 8 leftover changes. In which case the strategy becomes eat the captions so others cant catch you.


I'm not advocating one way or the other right now though. I think I'm doing ok for my self,and if I need to make a switch I can.

I hereby advocate retroactively applying the caption changes.

English?