Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXVII

[Venger]

Looks like that's a wrap.

I'll HM Keyrock as well.

[Macabaret]

Slight nitpick here:

Darkshot Shadowmover is listed on the table as having a score of 16.9.
But 4.0 + 4.9 + 3.5 + 5.0 = 17.4

[Thurbane]

Slight nitpick here:

Darkshot Shadowmover is listed on the table as having a score of 16.9.
But 4.0 + 4.9 + 3.5 + 5.0 = 17.4

I knew there was a good chance I'd made an error. Updated now, thanks.

[Darrin]

I think this dish is done.

New ingredient?

[Sian]

I'm very reluctant to say so, since i really haven't entered for a while (as cook or judge, I've never been able to wrap my head around judging) and as such can't really be said to have a dog in the race, but over the last handful of contests I've been starting to consider if it wouldn't be for the best of the contest to elect a new chair as the scheduling/deadlines/wrapups have been increasingly drifting off-time

[Darrin]

I'm very reluctant to say so, since i really haven't entered for a while (as cook or judge, I've never been able to wrap my head around judging) and as such can't really be said to have a dog in the race, but over the last handful of contests I've been starting to consider if it wouldn't be for the best of the contest to elect a new chair as the scheduling/deadlines/wrapups have been increasingly drifting off-time

Interest in Iron Chef overall has been declining... actually, the whole 3E board has lost a lot of the more prolific "core" posters, which stands to reason as 3rd edition has been officially below -10 HP for the last 10 years. I'm not quite sure a new chair would fix the scheduling problems. Also, as far as I know, selecting a new chair is on a volunteer-basis rather than an election-basis.

[Sian]

very valid points and another reason I've otherwise been reluctant to mention it, and yeah, I know its volenteer based and not elected, but 'elect' was simply the least inconvenient/wrong word that sprung to mind (being foreign speaker and all that). Another reason is that all the 'easy fruits' is picked and its more and more difficult to find a good (build-able) prestige class that haven't already been touched on, unless you loop around making some sort of rule that any class that is over XY rounds old can get another go, given that there is very few that was around at that time

[Darkcouch]

Interest in Iron Chef overall has been declining... actually, the whole 3E board has lost a lot of the more prolific "core" posters, which stands to reason as 3rd edition has been officially below -10 HP for the last 10 years. I'm not quite sure a new chair would fix the scheduling problems. Also, as far as I know, selecting a new chair is on a volunteer-basis rather than an election-basis.

As someone who has followed ICOC for 5 years, but may not enter or judge as much as I should, I feel that some of the decline in Iron Chef may be directly related to the lack of consistency. Not knowing if the contest is going to last the stated 2 week entry, 2 week judge period or stretch into 3 months makes it difficult. Communication is the key, Amphetryon was very good about letting people know about extensions and the new expected deadlines while he was chair. Now we have to continually scan the thread to see if there has been any new activity and may miss that a new contest has been started. I've seen lots of posts stating something to the effect of "damn, wish I saw this thread last week". If the schedule was consistent or at the very least a link to the new contest was provided in the previous thread I think the interest would continue at a higher level.

[Darrin]

If the schedule was consistent or at the very least a link to the new contest was provided in the previous thread I think the interest would continue at a higher level.

Well, last time I measured it, the contest was averaging about one ingredient a month... I'm not sure what it is now.

I kinda like the deadline slipping on submissions, because I'm really good at procrastination and I usually need the extra time to get my entry in. I believe the delay is a lot longer for judging (particularly if we can't find any judges), but then I tend to be one of the slowest judges. Last year I tried to suggest some changes to the judging process (I wanted to experiment with an instant-runoff system), but the overall response was a lot more negative than I expected.

I would like to consider just launching a new ingredient at the start of every month, regardless of whether the previous contest is finished. The problem there is the judges trying to finish the previous contest might get timecrunched out of competing in the next round. But if the current round is any example... judging is done, disputes are largely resolved, nothing is really stopping the new round except the reveal.

[Thurbane]

The Villainous Competition was in decline when I took over as chair, but thanks mainly to the efforts of the competitors and judges, it had somewhat of a resurgence.

I don't think the nails are in the coffin for Iron Chef just yet.

I personally very much respect respect and admire all of the hard work that Heliomance has put in to Iron Chef.

[The Viscount]

I understand that it can be frustrating with shifting schedules and uncertain deadlines, but in the years that I've been in this competition, that's been pretty much the norm. The reason for the extensions might vary, but it was pretty common to take more than 4 weeks to finish an ingredient. We may be currently having smaller rounds, but there's a natural wax and wane to these things.
I'm happy with how things are, it gives me time to read and appreciate the other entries. In a perfect world things would move faster, yes, but I'm willing to accept these for Heliomance's steady hand at the helm.

[daremetoidareyo]

Viscount has written my opinion out for me.

[Heliomance]

Entry	Chef	Prismcat21 Score	Total Score	Ranking
Aya Shadowlight	Jormengand	17.8	17.8	1st
Darkshot Shadowmover	Macabaret	17.4	17.4	2nd
Natasha, The Overshadowed	Venger	16.5	16.5	3rd/4th
Brokk, the Anvil Soul	The Viscount	16.5	16.5	3rd/4th
Dax Shadowstriker	jdizzlean	16.1	16.1	5th
Keyrock, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer	Darrin	14.8	14.8	6th
Nurgle Helmstone	daremetoidareyo	12.0	12.0	7th

[/QUOTE]

Congratulations to Jormengand, Macabaret, Venger, and The Viscount for medalling! Honourable mention to Darrin's Keyrock by overwhelming consensus! Thank you to all contestants for playing, and to Prismcat21 for judging. New ingredient will be up shortly, and I'll link it here.

I'm very reluctant to say so, since i really haven't entered for a while (as cook or judge, I've never been able to wrap my head around judging) and as such can't really be said to have a dog in the race, but over the last handful of contests I've been starting to consider if it wouldn't be for the best of the contest to elect a new chair as the scheduling/deadlines/wrapups have been increasingly drifting off-time

It's possible. I'm somewhat torn on the matter - on the one hand I still have plenty of ingredients I want to inflict on you, and I'd like to be the one to bring Iron Chef in to the hundredth contest, but I am very aware that my performance as Chair has been slipping. A combination of new hobbies and changing positions at work so I'm now doing something I actually enjoy (and thus don't spend hours staring at the Internet to try to alleviate the tedium) has meant I have less time for things like this. I have been considering stepping down myself, but for now I'd like to continue for a while longer.

[Heliomance]

New thread is up

[Venger]

Congratulations to all the other cooks. Great stuff this round.

Prismcat21, I'm glad you liked Natasha so much. Feel free to include her in your game.