Top Five Army Innovations Of All Time

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KLONDIKE, CP Army Headquarters – The way our community battles, interacts and works has changed over time, from initial rouge battles in 2006 to the highly organised and structured conflicts that we now see in 2021. This has been all been made possible by individuals and armies that have innovated and changed the way we operate, and this post looks at the top five innovations of all time.

Before we begin with the list, there are some notable mentions that were considered for the top five but did not quite make the list. Amongst them are the switch from miniclip to wordpress, which we still use today. WordPress acted as a more formal format for our community, and allowed for more organised tournaments and events. Also on the list are Sklooperis’ Top Ten formula, later altered by future CPA Central CEOs, which organised the top ten listings, as well as Iasage’s Legends Cup tournament. The final three notable mentions include Superhero’s CP Army: The Game, Commando launching the first army league and Koloway (and Mopia Army) popularising voice command leadership on discord. However, only five could make the list, which you can read about below.

5. Commando Launches Server Map

The first ever official server map was launched by RPF Legend Commando during the original CP Armies in 2015. It was one of the first times that wars were officially judged, as they were in tournaments, rather than allowing armies to decide the winner on their own – which was obviously highly contested and a flawed system to continue working with. This was highlighted in Commando’s post announcing the release of the map:

The fact that there isn’t any agreed upon server map, and the fact that due to the lack of said server map, Club Penguin Armies are simply a collection of entities both claiming to have won a battle or a war.

This gave armies a whole new target, as they could map out their wars and look at what they wanted to conquer The server map allowed for a new level of organisation not previously seen in CP Armies, and founded the server maps we see in CPPS Armies used by CP Armies, CP Army Hub, CP Army HQ and CP Army Network. They all stem from the initial server map that was set up by Commando.

The Era Evolves » Rebel Penguin Federation

The initial server map project was not as successful as Commando might have hoped, as he was met with accusations of bias towards his own army. The staff that worked on the project largely came from the Rebel Penguin Federation, and when decisions were made in RPF’s failure this ultimately led to multiple armies such as the Water Vikings, Army of CP and Doritos pulling out of the server map. However, it laid down the foundation of more organised wars with judges, as well as the future of server maps in CP Armies for years to come.

4. Twitchy Switches RPF to Discord

The fourth place innovation on our list is the switch from XAT to Discord, which happened in conjunction with the move from OG CP Armies to CPPS Armies. One of the first armies to make the permanent move to discord were the Rebel Penguin Federation, who moved the army to discord in 2017. The move to discord truly revolutionised CP Armies for the better, and made it much easier to organise events and to battle other armies. The move to discord made battles in particular much easier for numerous reasons. The main benefit was that you could now copy and paste text directly from the leaders command, which previously was not possible on XAT. It also led to voice command, which rapidly increased the speed of tactics – going from a slow three second count down for each tactic to a direct and quick command which could be instantly carried out. This move rapidly increased the pace of our battles.

Retirement of Kingfunks4 – Aetas Vergit | Army of Club Penguin

I interact with Lord Pain on XAT in 2012

It did not only mean that battles were more organised, but scheduling became much easier. Instead of people having to read the website, or leaders having to make an XAT scroller, we could not ping everyone in the army with the schedule in advance and when we were about to logon. It made getting people online so much easier, and definitely has been a factor of why CP Armies have done so well post-CP. In addition to this, it added a new element for recruiting, as it was more effective than XAT recruiting. The move from XAT to Discord was truly an important and innovative change that the community needed.

3. Boomer 20 Creates First Top Ten

The Top Ten – it has become the number one way of analysing the success of modern day CP Armies. Whilst some people claim to not be bothered by the top ten, it is the main target that leaders set for themselves to achieve. When the Rebel Penguin Federation began to lose their dominant number one position, it caused concern among the RPF Advisors, whilst when ACP dropped out of the top five in 2012 it caused community wide shock and truly highlighted the concerning position that the army had never seen itself in before. The Top Ten measures an armies size, activity, tactics and consistency and can pick up any dip in performance or showcase success – all of the major armies wanted to aim to be number one.

Time Capsule: How ACP Created The First Top Ten Armies In 2009 | Army of Club Penguin

Boomer made the first top ten in 2009.

The first top ten is far from what we see today. It was made by then Army of CP leader Boomer 20, on the ACP website, and had no calculations, no descriptions and no justification for the rankings. However, it was the first time that someone had looked at army performance and decided to put them in an order. This would then be taken by CPA Central CEO Woton, who would make an independent Top Ten listing, before a formula was then created a couple years later by Sklooperis. This formula was then adjusted by the Bluesockwa Brothers, before I made some final adjustments to create the formula that we now see today. This all stemmed from Boomer’s top ten, which was the first step to what is an important feature of our community.

2. Woton Founds CPA Central

CPA Central was not the first news site, but it was the first to make any considerable impact on our community. CPA Central formed in 2009, and ever since that moment it became the heart of the community until it closed in 2016 with the rest of the original era of CP Armies. CPA Central was never properly challenged, as it had the support and backing of the community. Unlike organisations today, if CPAC made a decision against a particular army no army would rebel (apart from the Light Troops), as everyone knew that CPA Central would not be moved.

Inauguration of Mach as CP Army Central CEO | CPA Central

CPAWM formed midway through CPAC’s existence and encompassed CPAC and SMAC/SMAP

CPA Central was important as it led to a neutral and central place for all of CP Armies to go to. This was particularly important in the XAT-era, as it was harder to interact with people outside of your own army. It provided all of the special reports that highlighted the misdemeanours of some of the more controversial leaders, as well as acting as a hub for all of the famous tournaments we know today such as Christmas Chaos and the Legends Cup. Without CPA Central, there would be no record of what happened in our community, and no place for everyone to come together leaving the community more divided. CPAC was the most successful news site in CP Army history, and was the blueprint for news sites such as CPAH, CPAN, CPAM, CPAHQ and CP Armies. All of these have tried to emulate CPAC’s success, but as of yet have not met this history.

1. Rouge Battles to Organised Battles

The number one ‘innovation’ on our list is the move to organised battles. Before this, there were no scheduled or organised battles that would take place, most notably during the so-called ‘color wars’. The battles and skirmishes would take place whenever people were online and saw eachother. This was how CP Armies started, but it is far from how we operate today. When battles began to be posted on miniclip, and then wordpress, it allowed for some of the more major conflicts such as Oagalthorp’s ACP against Pink Mafia’s UMA. This allowed for troops to be able to turn up at the same time, for one battle that could determine which army was the strongest.

The Color Wars: The History & Todays Battle Information | Army of Club Penguin

The idea of organising our battles and scheduling specific time slots to have them in leads to all of the events and things we consider normal today. It is now essential to how our wars operate, it is easier to now judge an armies performance on a top ten as they became organised and it meant that we could properly battle, rather than see a handful of the other army on Club Penguin and not achieve much for it. Whilst rouge battles served its purpose, the move to organising our armies (which can be particularly attributed to Oagalthorp) was critical in keeping us going as long as we have. Therefore, to me, it is the greatest and most important army innovation of all time.

That concludes the list of the top five army innovations of all time. Ultimately, without organised battles we would not be in the position today where we can schedule battles and wars, analyse army performance and have the community that we all know today. However, it is of course up to you if you agree – would you have put something else on this list? 

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2 Responses

  1. TCP PIC December 26, 2021 (5:44 pm)

    cool

  2. Tymatt December 26, 2021 (7:12 pm)

    Armies haven’t innovated much over 15+ years if you think about it. A subculture that’s been a revolving door for generations of stagnant themes. It’s more of a lifestyle of specialized roleplay in the club penguin fandom. Sure different eras and times but nothing significant arises from our tiny subculture. This will eventually be forgotten and time will pass by. This is far from a game though.

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