Contest Fishin' Skool

Contest Fishing Tips

In the 7Seas Fishing Game, the server determines what you catch on each cast. But a fishing contest involves many casts, and there is a lot you can do to improve your chances of winning. Here are some tips for solo fishing, team fishing, and hosting.

Solo Contests

1. Get to Level 5 as quickly as possible. At level 5 and above, your expected XP is 1.42 per cast, which is the maximum.

2. Make sure you have enough bait for the entire contest. Every ten minutes you cast about 22 times, so figure it out. For example, a 60 minute contest requires about 132 baits. Buy and load bait prior to the contest, preferably in a lag-free sim.

3. Start casting with bait before the contest starts. Ideally, you want a catch right at the moment a contest begins. Many contests are decided by one point so make sure you get in all your casts.

4. Use autocast but monitor what is happening, as sometimes autocasting stops when the server is temporarily unavailable due to lag.

5. Reduce the chance that you will crash. If your computer gets compute bound or if your network connection is flaky, you may become disconnected from Second Life and lose casts. Learn from experience what causes you to crash and don't do those things during a contest.

6. Cut your losses. If you find yourself more than N points behind with N minutes left, you may choose to "unbait" and save your bait for the next contest. For example, if the contest pays the top 5 and your are 11 points behind 5th place with 10 minutes left, you might choose to unbait. Of course, anything can happen in fishing, so you may choose to never give up.

7. For high lag contests with lots of fishers:

a) Arrive early so you rez everything before the contest starts. Set your draw distance as low as possible (64m).

b) Remove all unnecessary scripted items. Do you really need that AO or shoe resize script?

c) Once settled, do not move. Put your camera on one thing, such as the contest board, and leave it there. Do not look around.

d) Expect that the scoreboard does not keep up and may lose some of your catches. This is the same for everyone so it is not unfair.

e) Do not give up because your catches are not being recorded on the scoreboard. Sometimes it just takes a while.

8. Keep Fishing! Although it seems like fishing is "streaky", the fact is... the servers that determine what you catch don't know anything about your fishing history. Regardless of what happened in the last contest, you have the same chance of catching a SUR on the next cast as anyone else. You won't win a contest if you don't fish.... so keep fishing!

Team Contests

In a team contest, you join a team of 3 fishers and your scores are combined. There is a 10 minute team formation period followed by the contest. Because of lag during the team formation period, it is best to use "invite" mode.

1. Organize ahead of time. Become a captain and recruit two other fishers for your team.

2. When the team formation period starts,

a) if you are a captain, click the board, select "Start", put your team in "invite" mode, name your team, and invite your team mates. Use these commands in chat. Prepare ahead of time and then use copy/paste.

/7 mode invite
/7 name YOUR_TEAM_NAME
/7 invite 1ST_TEAM_MATE_NAME
/7 invite 2ND_TEAM_MATE_NAME

b) if you are not a captain, wait for the invite dialog to appear, than accept.

3. Never give up. No matter what happens, keep fishing. If you crash, get back ASAP.



Hosting

A fishing host determines contest policy and they can do what they want. If you don't like the way a contest is run, don't fish there.

The following tips are suggestions for making a contest attractive to the most people.

1. Announce your contest in 7Seas Social Chat at least an hour or more ahead of time. Provide all pertinent information (start time, contest type, duration, starting pot, payout, slurl). Follow Seven's announcement etiquette (http://7seasfishing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=504).

2. Notice when other contests are ending and plan your start time so that people have time to get there.

3. Don't restrict who can attend your contest unless required by your sim policies.

4. Start on time. This means you will finish on time and allow people to get to the next contest.

5. Do not use a buyin or house rake. People are happy to contribute to the pot voluntarily.

6. Do not fish competitively in your own contests.

7. Use a contest pot to accept donations and give out prizes. Manually tracking down winners and adjusting for ties is tedious.

Scorekeeper Bracelet

The (DS) Scorekeeper Bracelet was a custom prize at the 7Seas Fishiversay 2010, April 16-19, 2010, at the Diamond Synthesis/Triple J booth. This four day event had over 40 booths of fishy customs, dance parties, contests, and a concert, all in celebration of two years of 7Seas fishing. A good time was had by all.

During a contest, the bracelet shows the top 5 leaders and the time remaining. Touch to get the menu, then select gold or silver finish, change text color, or turn the display on or off.