Without a doubt Coerj was the most tactically aware player I have ever come across. There are undoubtedly players whose aim is better, or who have quicker reactions. Coerj had to make do with very good aim very and good reactions (please bear in mind that this is all relative; but undoubtedly there are players with better aim and quicker reactions – Dark Raven was one), but Coerj coupled this with an innate tactical awareness. Coerj had figured out that Quake was all about controlling resources and pinch points in levels, while the rest of us were still learning where everything was on the maps. He was undoubtedly an inspirational player, and we all learned from playing along side him. This is not to diminish a player like Dark Raven who was a good tactical player, but Coerj was undoubtedly a tactical god. By now the UKCL was formed, and had decided upon quakeworld rather than quake. Initial discussions over LPB vs HPW status had not prevented teams fielding LPBs so at CIX (as an all HPW team) there was a lot of discussion about how we might struggle against teams with lower pings. The clan had been extended and now included Lord Soth, The Storm, Smiley, and Xris; which was good for internal competition as none of these players were slouches by any stretch of the imagination, you had to play well consistently to justify your place in a match game. Although everyone got a turn, the stronger a player you were, the more likely you were to end up playing a match. I can still remember getting the shakes before those first few matches. The adrenaline would be pumping, as you tried to get your modem to connect to your ISP. At that stage PIPEX was the best connection and the London Docklands connection gave you a significant ping and latency advantage. (This was something else that Coerj had discovered and shared with the clan). Generally I would be on an adrenaline rush for the next hour, until the game was over, win or loose, and I could start to calm down. CIX players were out and about on general quakeworld servers by now and some were beginning to build a reputation, and coming up against other players who already had reputations – players such as Lord Storm, Ettu and of course Sujoy. There was one occasion when Coerj managed to finish ahead of 6 LPBs, much to the chagrin of Sujoy. Someone (possibly TraZ) commented with natural pride that this was because Coerj was the best modemer in the world to which Sujoy commented “Yes, I know”. Sujoy had started on a modem and while we had considered him a good player, we certainly did not consider him a god. His new ping of 33 was an enormous advantage and the CIX players conceded that we had a problem. TraZ was the first of us to bite the bullet and get ISDN. But it really would only be a question of time for most of us. Interestingly Dark Raven never moved from a modem connection and remained highly competitive – a tribute to his abilities if ever one was needed. The first week’s UKCL competition was on Sat 25/01/1997 and saw CIX Vs Clan Nasty Clan Pendragon Vs Demonic Core, Dominion Vs GSEH, Mandalore Warriors Vs Mental Carnage, Minos Academy Vs Quake Lords and QPD Vs QUTA. Some of these clans went on to attain near legendary status – most quake players will have heard of the Quake Lords and Demonic Core. But there was also the Quake Police Department or QPD whose members included Cenobite, Ving and Fragga. Fragga was a long time friend of Coerj, and in all likelihood Fragga really was the greatest quake player on a modem connection in the world. CIX started that first week well, the final score was Cix Team 92 Nasties 04 – it sounds cruel but we were dismayed by our teamplay, and recognised afterwards that against any sort of quality opposition we would have been decimated. The second week went well too, but in the third week we had to play Demonic Core (Nightwing, Zoser, Sujoy, Loki, etc), but they postponed as they were unable to play all their LPB’s that weekend – gamesmanship had arrived! In the end CIX got a default win against DC, not a satisfactory ending from anyone’s point of view. The UKCL had started off with rules that balanced LPBs but by the fourth week the rule was abolished, bad news for CIX as TraZ was our only LPB :-) This was influential in the setting up of the MCW or Modem Clan Wars which CIX promptly joined. The league was run mid week (the UKCL ran at weekends), most matches being relatively early in the evening. Our first match, amusing enough, was against an under par DC team who we beat 100 to 22. The next match was against Mandalore Warriors, a team we should have beaten, on DM4, but we didn’t. Coerj had been warning us that we were not taking things seriously enough, and he was right. Things were going well in the MCW but it was the UKCL that we had our eyes on, and in due course our first real test had arrived, in the form of the Quake Police Department. It was a nightmare and after the event, when someone asked me the score I recall responding “Don’t ask mate – just don’t ask, they fielded 4 LPB’s and Fragga.” The score was actually QPDvCIX 181-78 and considering that we had no LPBs you can make some allowance, but Coerj couldn’t. QPD Danman actually had the grace to comment after the game ” Sorry about the ping CIX, if you were a shitter clan, we would have fielded fewer LPB’s”. It wasn’t much comfort to us at the time. The real truth was, and this hurt, our teamplay sucked big time. We needed more practice if we were to compete and win, and Coerj knew it and kept telling us. We went on to win convincingly enough the next week but the opposition (Bog) just did not have players of the same ability. Coerj’s old mate QPD Fragga had taken to joining us for practice sessions during this time, and more and more, Coerj had taken to coaching as a spectator with Fragga, while the rest of us ran around making mistakes ;-). Coerj and Fragga were frequently to be found on public server alaising as Zig and Zag and playing as a pair. On 11 April ’97, only 4months after helping to start the clan Coerj decided that he wanted out, he was joining Fragga in QPD. Perhaps we should not have been too surprised, but we were, and boy did it hurt. We had lost our captain, and the one guy everyone universally looked up to and admired. Coerj was open about his reasons – he wanted to be in a clan that was capable of beating the Quake Lords and he felt that only QPD and DC could achieve this. He commented that the other players in the clan were perceived by some as holding him back, but in his view it was our lack of LPB connections that was the problem. He was probably being kind, although there is no doubt in my mind that players like Dark Raven, Smiley and the Storm were certainly amongst the premiership of modem players at the time. As it was we finished the season 4th overall in the UKCL – not too bad all thing considered. With Coerj gone we needed a new captain, and it needed no real thought – TraZ was the man. Foolish chap he thought it was an honour. It was actually going to be bloody hard work, but all that comes later. In the meantime some of us were building reputations of our own as the attached message from the UK Quake team manager Raw Meat shows: Guys, As you may well know, the Clan UK Team is a team full of llamas !!! :) Anywayz, they have asked me to captain the team for em to practice against. Therefore i want some decent players to be on the opposition team, and if u impress the selectors you never know what might happen!? Ok right so this is the deal. Clan UK is full of llamas, as you know. So we need some decent players to give em a proper trouncing. Here are a list of players that I would like to hear from: ROJ QPD

DC.Loki

TFS.Dusted

TFS.Alamo

CC-InterPhaze

Coerj QPD

Fuckall FK

DC.Jibsta

DC.Dranath

CP.Carnage

DC.Zoser

CIX.Sheol <——– :)

CIX.DarkRaven

CC-Scanman

Dazza Groffy

CP.Spirit

CC-Angel That is a list of ppl that i “especially” want to hear from. Pls note that any Quake Lords who aint in the team (apart from Azrael :) :) :) ) and want play pls contact me. Also if neone who is a) lpb or b) very good that wanna play pls contact me too. RawMeat Fame at last!