DragonZone

The Legend

In the dark past a life form existed that has now passed into the realm of legend. Born of an egg, with serpentine or reptilian traits, the life form existed throughout many ages in time and in the myths of many cultures across the earth. They are the dragons.

Dragons, from the Latin draconem - meaning huge serpent - are supposedly mythological representations of huge firebreathing lizards or snakes. With large batlike wings and hard, armoured hides they live in underground lairs or caves, only emerging to wreak havoc on unsuspecting rival clans.

The legends speak of capturing princesses and destroying villages, of burning forests and consuming those who did not revere them or provide them treasure. The legends tell tales of heroic hunters, dragon hunters, who sought out the dragons and engaged them in epic battle to rid the earth of the foul creatures. The legends say that all dragons are now extinct - if they ever existed at all - other than in tall stories or tales long committed to the fantasy books of old.

The myths of the dragons are further from the truths you have been told, and closer to reality than you could ever suspect.

Dragons are known to exist. They are not legend. They are real. They live in the dragonZone.

Dragons are fiercely territorial, and intensely loyal. They rule over areas of land, making life merry for those clans who control their treasures, and attacking all others who would try to gain control over their treasures. These territories are known as the dragonZones. Clans battle to control the treasures that exist in the dragonZones; for the more treasure that is controlled, the greater their control over the presiding dragon.

There are four rival clans battling for control of the dragonZones: Clan Griffin, Clan Phoenix, Clan Cerberus, and Clan Minotaur. Choose your clan wisely, for should the numbers in each clan become unbalanced, restoration of the balance may be undertaken by divine intervention.

Attacks by rival clans to control the treasure, and therefore the dragons, are frequent. Excursions into opposing clan territory happen every day, from dawn until dusk, and from sunset to sunrise, until a new clan controls enough treasure to control the dragonZone. Treasure can be created in a dragonZone and controlled by a clan, but unless the clan keep a watchful eye on the treasure and continue to control it, rival clans can take control of a single piece of treasure and move the allegiance of the dragon from one clan to another. Certain treasures can be moved from one dragonZone to another, but the cunning clan will only bring in those treasures which they control, as all allegiance to the treasure will be moved along with it. If you bring in a treasure which is controlled by another clan, you might find your dragonZone moving allegiance to a rival clan. Clans will strive to maintain or gain control of treasure that exists in a dragonZone to help sway the dragon to their own clan allegiance.

The more treasures and dragonZones controlled by your clan, the higher your prestige. Not all treasures are considered equal. The dragons are only interested in physical treasure. Virtual treasure is not considered worthy and does not contribute to dragonZone control. The exception to this are all Burke and Wills caches regardless of whether they are a physical treasure or a virtual treasure.

Helping your clan to control a dragonZone is one thing. Helping yourself to a higher rank is another.

The more you battle, the faster your dragonZone points accumulate, but the greater the struggle to achieve new ranks. Finding a treasure automatically allocates dZPoints for your clan to that treasure. The clan with the highest dZPoints allocated to a treasure will control the treasure. The clan with the greatest number of controlled treasures will control the dragonZone. Each treasure can be controlled by multiple clans, and multiple clan control for a dragonZone is also permitted. Do you and your clan want to share the glory or retain it all?

At the time you find a treasure you will also receive personal dZPoints. These can be used to boost the control value for a treasure, but you have limited opportunity to use these additional dZPoints. You are not obligated to assign your additional dZPoints immediately. Instead, you can store your additional dZPoints in your bank. Your bank is infinite and you can store your dZPoints for eternity. If you want to assign additional dZPoints to a treasure, you can only apply them to a treasure you have found within the last seven days. If you find the same treasure multiple times within a seven day period, you can only assign additional dZPoints once. You will be restricted as to the number of additional dzPoints you can assign to a treasure depending on your rank. Make wisely your decision between immediately assigning your dZPoints, or banking them for later use.

Hiding a new treasure pleases the dragon realm and the treasure will be awarded more points initially than a standard find. Your personal dZPoints for hiding a treasure will accumulate at a faster pace for each new rank you achieve. The more treasure you find and hide, the faster you will achieve new ranks. As with treasure finds, not all treasure hides are created equal. Large treasures are worth more than regular treasures, which are worth more than small, micro, or nano treasures. Difficult treasures are worth more than easy treasures. Treasures hidden in tough landscapes will be worth more than treasures you hide on the street.

When you publish some treasure after you have joined the game, each subsequent find will attract some personal dZPoints for you as a form of Karma for contributing back to the game.

Join dragonZone at Geocaching Australia to enjoy the fun of geocaching at a new level.

Clans

dragonZone clan colours

Gold is Griffin

Green is Phoenix

Blue is Cerberus

Orange is Minotaur

Check out the leader boards here http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/

Ranks

There are currently 20 possible ranks to progress through. You will start as Dragon Fodder and end up as Ruler of the Universe. How many points you will need to reach each new rank is not perfectly clear. You will be able to see the number of points you need to reach the next rank on your own dragonZone page. If you haven't joined yet, you will be asked to join when you visit this page.

• Dragon Fodder
• Peasant
• Citizen
• Merchant
• Knight
• Controller
• Lesser Lord
• Lord
• Junior dragonZoner
• Major dragonZoner
• Master dragonZoner
• Duke
• Supreme dragonZoner
• Grand dragonZoner
• Arch Duke dragonZoner
• Majesty
• Emperor
• Ruler of the World
• Ruler of the Galaxy
• Ruler of the Universe

As you increase your rank, you will achieve higher factors which you use to influence the game. You have three factors which are controlled by rank:

1. The factor which determines the maximum number of points you can allocate to a given cache to try and take control of it. The higher your rank, the more points you can allocate.
2. The factor for which you earn points when your find a geocache. The higher your rank, the more points you will receive for a find
3. The factor for which you earn points when you hide a geocache. The higher your rank, the more points you will receive for a hide.

dZPoints

You gain points towards your rank when you hide and find geocaches at Geocaching Australia. Only physical geocaches count, but this does include TrigPoints. Events, webcams, locationless and virtual caches do not count. The higher the difficulty and terrain, the more points you gain. As you gain rank, this is also multiplied by your find factor. When you hide a geocache, the difficulty, terrain and container all contribute to your points. As you gain rank, this is multiplied by your hide factor.

In simple terms, you find a geocache, log the find and you'll receive points based on how difficult it was, what the terrain was like and your own rank. The same applies to any geocache you hide, but the container size is also taken into account.

It is very reasonable to assume that a 1/1 will attract less points than a 5/5 and nano cache will attract less points than a large. However, don't be swayed only by points. Hide the type of cache you want to hide and find the type of cache you want to find.

You can also earn a trivial amount of points each time you visit your My dragonZone page to check up on any new or tips.

Each time a dragonZone cacher finds one of your geocaches, you will also attract some Karma points for being such a nice person as to hide a geocache.

Points are only calculated from when you join the game. They are not applied retrospectively.

Trophies

Our wide selection of trophies will also attract dragonZone points.

Trophies are not automatically awarded. You opt-in to collecting your trophies. Visit your dragonZone Trophies page to update your trophies. Trophies are only awarded based on your statistics on the day of your trophy collection. If you qualified yesterday but didn't collect a trophy and today you don't quality, then you will need re-qualify to gain that trophy.

There are a number of different trophies and levels to collect from Bronze (10 points), Silver (50 points), Gold (100 points), Blaze (1,000 points), Limited (various points) and Mission (various points).

Use your normal geocaching behaviour to collect the numbers to get a trophy by accumulating find and hide counts. Gains access to trophies by geocaching on certain days of historical interest. If you play some of the regular games then there are also limited time trophies on offer that you can only gain during the game period.

You can also earn trophies by completing missions which were added at the end of February 2017. These are a little tougher than accumulating the same geocache type over and over again. By daring to accept the mission you could be a well rounded geocacher (3x3, 4x4 and 5x5), gain the new mission trophies and earn substantial points towards increasing your rank. More missions will be added over time.

The game creators trophies can be seen here or if you are a member of dragonZone you can visit your page from your Geocacher Page, then dragonZone, then trophies.

If you have an idea for a new mission or additional trophy then the dragonZone administrators (Sol de lune and J_&_J) would be more than happy to look at your suggestion for inclusion in the trophy list.

Special Points and Games

From time to time, special periods will be announced on the News and Tips section of your My dragonZone page. These special periods will attract additional points.

In 2014, there were double the points on offer for a weekend celebrating the game creators geobirthday. There was also a random double points week where for the whole week any points you gained were doubled. In the summer of 2015 there was even a triple points fortnight where for the whole two weeks any points you gained were trebled.

In 2015 there was a special game run for June and July called Winter Is Coming where achieving certain requirements met with even more points. That game produced a ladder broken down by rank, clan and overall and saw ?? GCA members participate over the game period.

Look out for additional days, weeks, months and games in the future to help you build up your points.

Tips

• Have you picked up a number of caches that you can't control and your local dragonZone aren't controlled by your clan? Consider dropping them into an Unknown dragonZone. Unknown dragonZones are outside the usual playfield of the game and can be found by turning dragonZone display on on your Google Map and checking for areas that aren't covered. Small river islands and some river shores aren't covered by a dragonZone. Dropping caches you can't control in to an Unknown dragonZone, temporarily renders them inert and can lower opposing clan control of a dragonZone.

• Think tactical as well as strategic. Find a cache and immediately allocate additional points and you may control the cache and a dragonZone... for a short while. Tactical thinkers from a rival clan will be able to allocate additional dZPoints up to 7 days after their find. If they notice your clan controlling a cache and still have time to allocate additional dZPoints, your hard work may not result in you controlling the cache or the dragonZone. Think tactically when allocating additional dZPoints.

• Tease your opposing clans by only just taking control of a dragonZone. Leave a few geocaches or Trig Points unfound in a given dragonZone and when your opposing clan takes control, head out one evening and take it back. There's nothing like poking a opposing clan with a blunt stick to drive them insane.

• Do you like dragonZone? Do you like Geocaching Australia? Do you just want to separate yourself from some of your hard earned dollars? Then help us out by buying something from our shop. Geocaching Australia is a free site run by volunteers and is not affiliated with any other web site. As such we sell a minimal number of products through our shop of which all profits are returned to the website.

• For any caches you hide after you joined the game and which are subsequently found, you will receive additional dZPoints as karma for benefiting the community. You can review your karma dZPoints. Place caches you would like to find. Avoid placing a string of rubbish just to get additional dZPoints.

• Recruit your friends and family to your clan in dragonZone. The more people who play the more fun and entertainment you can have. There are no additional points for recruitment to your clan, just the additional cachers who can help your clan to victory.

• Visit your My dragonZone page frequently for news and additional tips on playing dragonZone. There may be special days which will garner you additional dZPoints against caches and for your personal dZPoints bank.

• Be wary of co-ordinates which are outside of any dragonZones. The cache will fall into an Unknown dragonZone area where the cache won't contribute to controlling a dragonZone. Mystery caches can be especially vulnerable to this scenario if they are placed off-shore. Check your mystery co-ordinates to make sure they are falling into your desired dragonZone.

• Want to gain easy control over neutral dragonZones? Find a location that is very close to the corner of multiple dragonZones. Hide a cache in each corner of the dragonZone and you may be able to take instant control of multiple dragonZones. Remember Geocaching Australia has no proximity rules, but you should be realistic about how far you place the caches so there is no confusion as to which one has been found. Of course if you don't have good control of your caches or the dragonZones, any drive-by opposing clan member may take control of multiple dragonZones by finding your caches.

• When you hide a cache you are allocated additional dZPoints. Nano caches are worth less than micro caches which are worth less than small caches which are worth less than regular caches which are worth less than large caches. Choose your cache size wisely to maximise your clan control, your personal dZPoints and to bring greater fun and enjoyment to the community.

• You get a boost of additional dZPoints each time you hide or find a dragonZone cache. Allocating additional points to a cache doesn't decrease your overall dZPoints score or rank.

• Don't forget you can allocate additional points to any cache you have found in the last 7 days to further boost your control of that cache. Boosting your clan points on a cache wards off any drive-by opposing clan member from taking instant control of the cache.

• Is your contested dragonZone in danger of being overrun by an opposing clan? Find any moveable caches that your clan doesn't control and either take control of them, or move them into a dragonZone already well controlled by that clan. Moving caches that you don't control out of the way boosts your clans chances of retaking control of a dragonZone.

• Do you have full control, with a good buffer of points, on a moveable geocache? Move that cache into an uncontrolled dragonZone for instant control or into a closely contested dragonZone to position your clan for a future takeover.

dZbag

A dZbag is a virtual store of dragonZone related items that can be used to alter the dZ points of a dZ cache. Some items can be traded and some are randomly dropped into your dZbag. The dZbag can only contain a limited number of items.

The currently available items are:

Booster

• A booster is an item you use to allocate additional dZPoints to a geocache that you have found in the last 180 days and you do not own the geocache.
  
• Using a booster is an alternative means of gaining or increasing control of a geocache, versus the normal find and allocation of dZPoints within 7 days of you finding the geocache.
  
• Boosters are tradeable items that you obtain by trading it for some of your excess dZPoints.
  
• There are 5 levels of Booster, each allocating differing levels of dZPoints to your selected geocache.
  
• You can boost a geocache to gain control for you clan, or if your clan is already in control, you can boost the control your clan has, making it that much for difficult for rival clans to gain control.
  
• Rival clans can also use boosters of course, so use them wisely to selectively gain control of strategic geocaches, or run rampant and enter into a booster war with your rival clans.
  
• The clan who has the most dZPoints wins.
  
• Once allocated, you cannot retrieve the booster, even if the geocache is archived.
  
• After the booster has been traded there is no further cost in dZPoints to use a booster.
  
• Once used, the booster will be removed from your dZBag.

You can see how many boosters and available dZPoints you have on your dragonZone page. https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/

• A "10 Point Booster" will allow you to add 10 dZPoints to the selected geocache. The trade cost for a "10 Point Booster" is 100 of your available dZPoints.
• A "20 Point Booster" will allow you to add 20 dZPoints to the selected geocache. The trade cost for a "20 Point Booster" is 180 of your available dZPoints.
• A "50 Point Booster" will allow you to add 50 dZPoints to the selected geocache. The trade cost for a "50 Point Booster" is 400 of your available dZPoints.
• A "100 Point Booster" will allow you to add 100 dZPoints to the selected geocache. The trade cost for a "100 Point Booster" is 600 of your available dZPoints.
• A "200 Point Booster" will allow you to add 200 dZPoints to the selected geocache. The trade cost for a "200 Point Booster" is 1,000 of your available dZPoints.

Controller

• An disruptor is an item that will be dropped into your dZbag every now and then and can currently not be traded.
  
• You use a controller to instantly gain joint-or-better control of any valid dragonZone geocache where your clan is not currently in control of the geocache, and you found the geocache in the last 180 days and you do not own the geocache.
  
• Instant joint-or-better control will be awarded as soon as you allocate the controller to the geocache, regardless of how far your clan is behind the current clan leader for that geocache.
  
• Use a controller on geocaches where you don't have enough boosters to gain control over a geocache where the rival clan is too far ahead in allocated dZPoints.
  
• The higher the booster component of your controller, the more you will gain control over that geocache. 4 of the 5 available controllers also have an additional boost available, but these become rarer as the boost increases.
  
• Once allocated, you cannot retrieve the controller, even if the geocache is archived.
  
• There is no cost in dZPoints to use a controller.
  
• Once used, the controller will be removed from your dZBag.

You can see how many controllers you have on your dragonZone page. https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/

• A "Controller +0% Boost" will put your clan in joint control of the geocache.
• A "Controller +10% Boost" will put your clan in joint control of the geocache and then give you complete control by adding a boost of 10%.
• A "Controller +20% Boost" will put your clan in joint control of the geocache and then give you complete control by adding a boost of 20%.
• A "Controller +50% Boost" will put your clan in joint control of the geocache and then give you complete control by adding a boost of 50%.
• A "Controller +100% Boost" will put your clan in joint control of the geocache and then give you complete control by adding a boost of 100%.

Disruptor

• An disruptor is an item that will be dropped into your dZbag every now and then and can currently not be traded.
  
• Disruptors are used on geocaches that you own, and can be applied at any time to any geocache you own, provided your clan is not in control of the geocache.
  
• You cannot use a disruptor on geocaches that you find unless your also own the geocache.
  
• Depending on the level of disruptor you use your rival clans will have their dZPoints reduced to your current clans dZPoints and maybe below, but never lower than zero.
  
• By disrupting the total number of dZPoints your rival clans have on the geocache, you could then apply a booster, not only gaining control but boosting your control far ahead of your rivals.
  
• Disruptors will only be applied to clans that have dZPoints higher than your own clan.
  
• Disruptors will not change the dZPoints of any clan that is below your clans total dZPoints on the geocache.
  
• If you use a 2 x Top Clan Disruptor on a geocache that has only one clan ahead of your own clan, only one clan will be disrupted.
  
• 2 of the 5 available controllers also have an additional disruption available, but these become rarer as the disruption increases.
  
• Once allocated you cannot retrieve the disruptor, even if the geocache is archived.
  
• There is no cost in dZPoints to use a disruptor.
  
• Once used the disruptor will be removed from your dZBag.

You can see how many disruptors you have on your dragonZone page. https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/

• A "Top 1 Clan Disruptor" will reduce the dZPoints of the highest rival clan to match the dZPoints of your own clan. If there are two or more more clans at the same top level of dZPoints the disruptor will be randomly assigned to one clan.
• A "Top 2 Clan Disruptor" will reduce the dZPoints of the highest two rival clans to match the dZPoints of your own clan. If there are three clans at the same top level of dZPoints the disruptor will be randomly assigned to two clans.
• A "Top 3 Clan Disruptor" will reduce the dZPoints of the all of higher rival clans to match the dZPoints of your own clan.
• A "Top 3 Clan +10% Disruptor" will reduce the dZPoints of the all of higher rival clans to match the dZPoints of your own clan and then reduce them by an additional 10%.
• A "Top 3 Clan +20% Disruptor" will reduce the dZPoints of the all of higher rival clans to match the dZPoints of your own clan and then reduce them by an additional 20%.

Enhancer

• An disruptor is an item that will be dropped into your dZbag every now and then and can currently not be traded.
  
• An enhancer can only be used on geoaches that you have found in the last 14 days, you have allocated your additional dZPoints, and you have not already applied an enhancer against and you do not own the geocache.
  
• An enhancer will enhance the number of dZPoints you originally allocated by a factor ranging between 1 and 10 times.
  
• Using an enhancer means you can allocate potentially hundreds of dZPoints to a geocache, boosting your clan lead on individual geocaches by a significant margin.
  
• Once allocated you cannot retrieve the enhancer, even if the geocache is archived.
  
• There is a cost in your own dZPoints to use a enhancer based on the number of dZPoints you originally allocated.
  
• Once used the enhancer will be removed from your dZBag.

You can see how many disruptors you have on your dragonZone page. https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/

• A "1X Enhancer" will cost you the same number of dZPoints as your originally allocated and the enhanced dZPoints will be applied to the geocache immediately.
• A "2X Enhancer" will cost you the twice the number of dZPoints as your originally allocated and the enhanced dZPoints will be applied to the geocache immediately.
• A "3X Enhancer" will cost you the three times the number of dZPoints as your originally allocated and the enhanced dZPoints will be applied to the geocache immediately.
• A "5X Enhancer" will cost you the five tinmes the number of dZPoints as your originally allocated and the enhanced dZPoints will be applied to the geocache immediately.
• A "10X Enhancer" will cost you the ten times the number of dZPoints as your originally allocated and the enhanced dZPoints will be applied to the geocache immediately.

Research

Every week, 5 tasks are released to you ranging from very easy through to very difficult. They may require you to find geocaches with different attributes such as difficulty/terrain, year hidden, cache type etc. If a task is completed, you will be rewarded with research material.

• To see your research tasks https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/research/task/

Research Material

Research Material comes in 5 levels. A higher tier task will generally reward more research material and may give you higher level material than simpler tasks. This material can be used to buy upgrades to your icon, or stickers which can be applied by you to cache pages.

Icon Facade

You can trade your research material for an upgrade to your Dragonzone icon. Once deployed to your profile, you (and other users of the site) will see the new icon beside your cacher name.

• You can find the Facade Trading Zone at https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/trade/facade
• You can deploy an Icon Facade here. https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/deploy/facade/

Icon Hat

If a facade is just too much, you could try on one of the various hats. These apply to the top of your Dragonzone icon and will be reflected in various places on the site that your caching name appears.

• You can find the Hat Trading Zone at https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/trade/hat
• You can deploy an Icon Hat here https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/deploy/hat

Stickers

Want to add a bit of bling to a cache page, be it your own or someone else’s? Then virtual stickers may be what you seek. These can be traded for research material, then stuck onto a cache page. Choose your sticker, trade your points for it and visit the deserving cache page to ‘Stick a Sticker’. Fabulous.

• To see the Sticker Trading Zone https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/trade/sticker

FAQ

Q. What is this all about?
A. Read the above, it's all for fun.

Q. Why do it?
A. The game is a way of adding to the fun of geocaching by allowing you and your clan to virtually control a geocache, a zone (knows as a local government area or council area) and then a state.

Q. What do I get if my clan controls a cache?
A. Satisfaction and the coloured logo next to the cache name in your clan colours.

Q. A zone?
A. Same deal. Nothing tangible but if you visit the Geocaching Australia maps you can turn on the dragonZone shaders and see which zones your clan control, which ones are held by rivals and which ones are not yet controlled.

Q. State?
A. Nothing at all apart from knowing your clan control the most zones in your state. Surely this is bragging rights in itself.

Q. What do I have to do to join?
A. Go to your My dragonZone page and choose a clan.

Q. How do I leave?
A. You can't at the moment. Once you're in, you're in. But as the game costs nothing and you don't have to do anything, you don't really need to get out.

Q. What do I have to do when finding or hiding a cache?
A. Nothing additional if you don't want to. Let the game give and allocate points on your behalf and watch your clan take control of caches, zones and states.

Q. Do I have to allocate any additional points to as cache?
A. Not if you don't want to. Make it as strategic or as simple as you like.

Q. How do I get trophies?
A. Go to your profile page [[1]] click on the My dragonZone Trophies link.

Q. I should have more trophies?
A. Trophies are only awarded for dragonZone geocaches you find after you joined the game. So even if your found 100 TrigPoints before you joined the game they don't count.

Q. Something isn't working right.
A. That's a statement, this is a Q&A.

Q. What do I do if something isn't working right?
A. Visit the forums and report the issue. One of the Faeries will be along sooner or later to help you out.