DragonZone

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

Gold is Griffin Green is Phoenix Blue is Cerberus Orange is Minotaur Check out the leader boards here http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/

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 dZPoints 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 http://geocaching.com.au/shop/ 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 <a href='http://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/points/other/'>here</a> 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 http://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/ 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. Allocate your additional points http://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/allocate here.

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.

• Visit your http://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/ dragonZone page daily for an additional boost to your dZPoints.