well i've been an active member of the zone for a year or so constantly playing michi (grooks) and some scenario bloods(kinda good at these)...until one day the pcs at the net cafe i frequent had a problem with the zone and decided to spend some of my time checkin the aoc community see how active it is....i can say i was surprised in two ways: 1)i had never thought how much thought can sb give to a game or game strategy to evolve as a player and 2)how awfully lame i felt thinkin that playing a year of aoc had rendered me a somewhat capable player...I was not feeling very good knowin that i actually sucked in my favourite game!(trust me its NOT good) i downloaded ever since about 30 rec games of what appeared to be *good* players (clan members, the sheriff-btw he rocks-,etc) all that in about 1 week's time.still i SUCK...i am just learnin to boom, about 50% of the games i play (vs ai) i barely make it to castle under 20mins and cant seem to repel the weakest of flushes, drushes and knight rushes and other forms of quick attacks (i hope i am usin the correct abbreviations).I dont expect to become a ladder leader in a month or sth but at the very least i want to become a respectable player or at least a wanna-be (my english suck i think).Anu body can help?i will accept any advice but plz no offences ok?thx for openin my eyes aok heaven!