Sly from [A-BOM] has done a write up of the current NZ Aftershock RA comp, here it is:

AfterShock RA3 NewZealand Online Comp

For the past month, teams from aus and nz have been battling it out at the Aftershock RA3 comp in New Zealand. With only 4 teams now left in the competition, we are getting down to the business end of the comp. The top 4 who made it through were:
1. D2D (New Zealand clan consisting of the top nz players i believe? Mirage, Sarge, DAB18 ect)
2. XD (Local Aussie clan... who have been playing very well )
3. RD (New Zealand clan)
4. Us. ABOM (Lucky to make it....fate was on our side :D)

The semis kick off this week, with RD vs ABOM in a knockout semi final. D2D and XD take on each other, with the winner going straight into the final, and the loser taking on the winner of the knockout semi. They then play for the remaining spot in the final.

Anyway enough crap on about that....lets have a look at how the comp has been going so far.

Well initially it looked like e|(melbourne clan) were going to take out the comp hands down. They beat D2D in their first match...and pretty much cruised through the comp up until the second last round. Ahh....i hear u say..."WTF? they didnt make the semies!" .....Well.....as happens to many clans, the team disbanded.. Reason? Their clan leader, and number one strike weapon xzi left for the greener pastures of TR land, with gigantor also following. This left e| in tatters, and after losing a few games, they pulled out of the competition.

Now its probably even bets on D2D and XD taking out the comp, but u cant write anyone off in semi finals mode...as we all know.

XD have played consistently through the whole comp, and after starting late in the competition, due to another team dropping out ,the pressure was on them early and they responded. Badkarma and JoanofArc particularly have been playing well for them.

D2D just seem to really know whats going on, and have pretty much cruised though the rounds now..They are a professional outfit, and would have to be favorites.

RD. We have played them twice so far in the comp, and have been raped twice.. Known as the campers to kill all campers, RD stick together in numbers and put their back to the walls....Not sure if they have the skillz to to take out D2D, but who knows.

Us... Well....we are flying by the seat of our pants... were very lucky to make it after e| dropping out, but we have fought hard to make it thus far..Our teamwork has been non existent up to here, so Im hoping we can get things orgainsed and maybe cause an upset :D

Lag for godo?
Probably the most annoying thing about the comp so far has been lag :( With not one dial up player in the whole comp, it was ADSL, and cable heaven....but yet.....even after all the hype of broadband....it still failed to deliver. Pings are quite unstable, for both BPA and Optus, but pings seem to have been improving as the comps wears on. Initially BPA pings were around the 100+ mark for brisbanites, and the sydneyers and melbers doing ok with 70 or so. The thing that was annoying was not the ping tho...Seems there was a constant packet loss every 10-20 seconds or so, and it always seemed to happen just as u ran into an opponent...ARG!I had seen one night when optus pings were 400+ there, but melbourners were getting a nice 50+ ping.. a bit more stable the more south u go. BUT...the semis were delayed for the opening of the Southern Cross Cable, so we are all waiting to see if it improves!....mmm....gimmie some of that bandwith..

New Zealanders however have a great ADSL setup it seems, with 20-50 pings for all nz players.. I dont think i saw one of them go over 60. A small advantage there....but minimal i guess.

Most Memorable game..(Personal PLUG)
Probably against M...a nz clan.. We had lost the first map 5-3, and pretty much had to win the match to stay in the run for the comp...Next map was ra3map3. Well...initially we were in trouble....with the boys goin down within 30 secs of the rounds starting...It was me vs 3 of em...and for 3 rounds straight this happened, and i got em all...I was on fire! for about 10 minutes...then as always...I went back to lame mode. Neway we ended up winning that round 5-0 and went on to win the deciding map 5-3 VERY close game....and VERY enjoyable...

So where to now?
go to http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/comm.dyn/Competitions/1 for all the latest goss.. and start cheering on those aussie boys on ! LETS GIVE IT to those cross tasman LAMAS!

nar has been a fun comp all round, with a minimum of fuss and bulls***....Something that u cant seem to get away from on public servers at the moment....

Anyway...if u read this far.. go do something else....:D
Sly , out.

Kudos to DAB18 and his team for running a great comp, and proving online comps can work.

There have been a few hurdles, not the least daylight savings and Aus/NZ timezones (causing havoc for my clan and eventually a forfeit - again,sincere apologies ABOM). And the pings are always going to be an issue for trans-Tasman, but good to see it hasn't stopped the Aussies getting thru.

WD to all involved but especially ABOM and XD, and good luck with the finals.

(sif an online CTF comp wouldn't rock!)