#it's technically complete as is; and i don't foresee it changing too much for now beyond tweaks and optional difficulty settings

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

okay! made another game, enjoying playtesting it so far. have gotten much better at keeping clean, streamlined notation anytime i adjust rules, fix flubs in play, etc.

this one seems to work best for me at about 20 in-game days per session (without added narrative) before i need to set it aside for a while, mainly because it's designed to be tightly strategic with a lot of two steps forward one step back and there is a point in each sitting where it starts to get Frustrating instead of just keeping you on your toes lmao

[stateofcharles]

👀Martina Centofanti, Laura Paris and Dana Mogurean are taking a break from training (source)

[in these brackets you find my veeery personal comments]

Firstly, it makes me laugh how in the opening it's said "The group not taking part in the Sofia WC ended up on the first page in the news. (..) We hope that even when they will take part in an important competition there will be a first page for that" as if this is was the main problem right now☠️

The gymnasts' words through their agencies: "After last week's events, we would like to share our point of view regarding the situation that involved the group. Together with President Facci (FGI) and after informing our sports group, Aeronautica Militare, we needed and had the chance to take some days to think it over, to process, to talk with our families and take a break from training, too. We want to highlight that this decision was not driven by taking a stance in what happened, nor by arrogance, but it was a decision supported and shared by the whole group. The news touched us deeply, not only from a sport point of view, but also especially on the human side. This sudden change had a huge impact on the whole group, but especially on us veterans, who worked for years with our trainer, who was a leader and an important point of reference for us. In light of this, we considered it was in our rights to take a moment to reestabilish the balance we need. A balance we hope we can find as soon as possible, though at the moment we can't foresee when nor how."

In the same article, it is also reported that "the Italian staff wanted to precise that the choice of not taking part into the Sofia WC has nothing to do with last week's events - as the media is reporting - but it was taken together on technical reasons. Avoiding the group's exposure to international judges, especially in competitive realms as RG is, is perfectly normal. Same thing happened to team China and Israel [it's a completely different situation to me. China, especially the group, is known for never participating in WC stages. Israel is a whole new group, literally everyone retired in 2024, so it's reasonable for them to skip the first events]. It's part of the game, and it's also why the group performances at the first two Serie A stages were not aired on SportFace. Protecting the gymnasts' preparation has always been a key strategy for any Federation, imagine for the Olympic bronze medallist [☠️eat humble pie pls]. It was also done by Bulgaria, Japan, Israel and Spain at the 2024 Milan WC (...) [yes, but that was before the OG, when you don't wanna risk too much, instead you should use these first competitions to test the new COP]

(...)

The new team members are working hard to continue the legacy of their team members. And what an heritage! [you mean an heritage of defending ab*sers?] Rushing it would've exposed them to wrong considerations, even if on Monday Facci said they would be excused for any mistake. But a competitor such as our gymnasts always want to make a good impression (...)

may I say a thing? I hope the 3 of them retire at this point, or at least step away from the group, so that these poor new entries can work decently in a whole new group and start from scratch