Have any new anti-spambot tools popped up in the years since closing registration?  It is a shame that new players can't update NH with new content to preserve our current knowledge.  I do find myself coming back here more frequently to look things up, but it's a time capsule, nothing modern is available.

It's sad that NH is so abandoned that last year's Apoc wasn't even posted here, but the event itself is not only still alive, but is actually growing, with over 100 players attending in 2022!

We have something special planned for you guys in 2023 - Apoc is becoming a 2 day event!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAY ONE:

 

APOC: 

Apoc FB Event Link

When: Saturday, August 5, 2023, from 10 AM – 6 PM

Where: Cousins Paintball, 750 Whiting New Egypt Rd, Manchester, NJ
There is a secondary parking lot when the main lot reaches capacity.  After parking, check in at the main office and then walk up the path to find the staging area.  This will be marked and admin will be on hand to help.

FPS Cap: 300 FPS for most games (ignore the 250 cap in the payment link, that was copy-pasted from Cata events).  Some rounds may have different/lower caps for different player classes and blaster types.  This will be clearly explained by admin at the start of those games.  UNO Master Rule Set

Gametypes: Flag Push, Carpe, Domination, King of the Hill, Pistols, and more!
 

Cost: $15.  This is the field fee for the paintball venue and is the best deal ever - you get a whopping 8 hours of gameplay on three massive fields with trenches, a village of wooden buildings, barrels, and even a pair of loser towers!  

Payment Link: APOC Tickets

What's it like? Here is a video from 2021 Apoc - We also have vendors now, so there will be a row of popular vendors offering equipment.  Procrastinated and need to finish your blaster on the day of the war?  No problem!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAY TWO:

BPOC:

When: Sunday, August 6th, 2023, from 10 AM - 4 PM

Where: Sports Domain Academy, 1075 US-46, Suite A, Clifton, NJ

FPS Cap: TBA, will edit this in when confirmed.  I'm not a BPOC admin, just a messenger.

Game Format: Flag Dash

Cost: $35.  This is the field fee for the indoor venue, you get 6 hours of competitive scrimmage gameplay in the Maryland flag dash format, which is extremely fun.  This is a casual scrimmage, so you do not need to have a pre-formed team.  Best part?  It's indoors, so no 90 degree Jersey heat or thunderstorms to worry about!

Payment Link: BPOC Tickets

What's it like? Here is a video from a comp clinic - prominently featuring me wiping out off-break, cause I'll never live that moment down.  It's like this, but with more teams!

NH is very abandoned, yeah.  It's worth noting that Reddit is only one medium of info and you should diversify into Discord servers, FB groups, YT, blogs, Insta, etc.  There are plenty of very active platforms left for finding and exchanging information.  At this point, I don't think NH will stage a comeback tho, the hobby has changed too much.

 

Testing these out at CTNO this weekend (used the water bottle threads method), will have feedback then.  I've actually still been using regular PVC endcaps on my hoppers up until now...

If I am cold, which I expect to be in the morning, there will be a lot of rounds and not a lot of downtime.  There will be plenty of opportunity to use everything.

Connecticut Nerf Out - Sunday, January 29th 2017

This war allows us to stack 2 events on the same weekend (NYCNO is the day before!)  Mix of DIY and Superstock with mobstacles for cover.  We will be nerfing regardless of the weather, so dress warm.

 

 

Play Times: 
10 AM to around 4 PM.

 

Venue: 
West Rocks Middle School
81 West Rocks Rd, Norwalk, CT 06851
Parking: 41.133884, -73.414676




Backup: 
Cranbury Elementary School
10 Knowalot Ln, Norwalk, CT 06851
Parking: 41.156607, -73.402940

Lunch: 
Bring your own.  Due to the forecast for mid 30s, I don't plan on having much downtime.  There will still be rounds to play during lunch.

 

Rules:
Eye protection is mandatory, regardless of age.
Barrel taps ARE allowed (TAG WITH YOUR HAND, not your barrel)
Blaster hits count and hits to anything you are carrying count.
Shields and melee are not allowed.
 

FPS limit: 

For DIY rounds, try to keep your average at or under 300 FPS.
For SS rounds, try to keep your average at or under 150 FPS.
 

Allowed Darts: 

- #6 Slugs
- #8 Slugs
- Suction Cup Slugs (SCS)
- Silicone Domes
- Stock Darts of any variety and any length

Check List:

- Winter jacket
- Gloves
- Hat/scarf/etc.

- Lunch
- Water
- Money
- Blaster for a raffle. (NIB Maximizer, System 2000, 1500 Arrow Shooter, etc)
- Darts.  This one is kind of important.  Bring at least a couple hundred.
- At least 2 primaries.  We will have loaners available.
- Pistol, maybe.  I keep bringing one and we never end up doing pistol rounds.

Game Types:

- 3-15
- 5-0
- VIP

- Uma Thurman if I remember to bring the soda bottles
- 2 Flag CTF
- Speed rounds

Raffle:
If you want to participate, bring a $10-20 blaster to toss in.  We'll assign everyone a number and pick from a random number program.

Confirmed Attendees (8): 
A wild DX
Jaxon
Van James
CA99
Zach
Zack
Joe Med
David

Maybe:
Ron
Ethan

 

 

 

 

 

I have hundreds and hundreds of rounds' worth of chronograph data by video on them.  Most tests were conducted in a 16" .527 alu barrel, with a hoppered 4B at 10 pumps, in Connecticut summer temps and humidity with calm winds < 3 MPH.  Freshly made SCS hit between 279 and 294 FPS.  Worn/battle used SCS hit between 263 and 286 FPS.  The vast majority of shots group within a tight band of 10-15 FPS of variance in each category.  Due to the core of the dart being manufactured, they are very consistent in velocity.  No appreciable difference in velocity was found between 1.25", 1.5", and 1.75" SCS.  Longer SCS tend to fare better as they get worn out, but that's about it.  They work at full length, too.  You can only fit about 4-6 in a standard hopper, but they go just fine.  Full lengths work in superstock blasters, but they are not being given enough power and it shows.  I probably wouldn't try these in flywheels, just use regular USCs.  NIC springers run SCS of any variety very well.  Van's Demon Rainbow runs them even without a felt pad, where my 4B wouldn't.

SCS typically weigh between 0.90 and 1 gram and behave like #6 slugs.  In my target tests, SCS outperformed both #6 and #8 slugs in accuracy and precision, consistently landing on line with the target and in tighter groupings.  My own beige #8 slugs got absolutely crushed by SCS in these tests.  Due to the core of the dart being manufactured, they fly amazingly straight.  Every now and then, one will veer off, but it's like 1 in 20 vs some types of darts that rarely fly straight at all.  I was able to consistently buzz a camera-sized target on a skinny metal pole with the SCS from 50' and then 80' away, while slugs were often way off (noting that 80' is around the max range of the vast majority of NIC war legal primaries with slugs when truly fired flat).

SCS setups definitely need to be optimized.  As noted before, they will not work at all in CPVC, even magic CPVC, or similar tight barrels.  They need brass, aluminum, PETG, polyester, etc.  The condition of the foam also matters a ton - foam in new condition likes a wider barrel, used foam likes a tighter one.  Sch 80 PVC often runs used SCS very well.  .509 alu should run used SCS optimally (.495 is a bit tight, .527 is too loose).  That said, if you run really worn out SCS through .527 alu, it will still hit 250-271 FPS, it's just much less consistent and prone to going wide, it basically acts more slug-like.

I know this sounds like an infomercial, but that's how awesome this dart type is.  Silicone domes should probably outrange SCS a bit, but SCS should totally murder them in accuracy and precision.  That vs the ease and quickness of dartsmithing, no cornstarch or feeding issues, make SCS the best non-metal NIC darts I know of.  Nothing in superstock is more accurate AND precise than USCs, and this mod makes them hopperable NIC darts.  They *should* be the most accurate NIC darts, with one caveat - wind.  They act like #6 slugs in wind, not #8s, as #8s are heavier.  On an open field with strong winds, #8 slugs should still edge out SCS.  For that reason, I still use slugs.  However, I am switching to SCS for all indoor wars.

We have a superstock group in the city, wars are held in Central Park near the Met.  Check the "CPNO" war thread for the most recent one.  There may be another one before the year is over, I dunno.

Hate making slugs but love using them?
Can't get china darts to hop correctly?
An answer we've had for about a year but had been war tested by multiple people over a year to bring you to its current revision, the SCS. Easy to make, and have been made ON FIELD at wars, non metal (for those of you interested) this is a great alternative to the #6 slug that's been the staple of our community.

This guide will teach you how to make revision 3 of the SCS. 
Special note, you need wider bore barrels to hop these. Any barrel that's larger than 0.5 in internally should be able to hop this dart, however more powerful blasters like 4Bs, my rainbow or other airguns could use a smaller ID barrel such as .495 aluminum. CPVC is highly unrecommended unless it's true magic, PETG, .509 or .527 aluminum as barrel material.

 

So what do you need?
-USC dart(s) 
   (check the guide, use the search links for cheapest option)

-Something sharp and precise

   (an X-acto, razor blade, EDC knife it's really sharp)
-Quick sealing adhesive of your choice

   (gel style super glue highly recommended) 

-1/2 in felt pad 

   (Standard slug style felt pads)

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Alright so lets start. I'm using my EDC knife because I keep mine sharp. 

 

Cut the tip off that USC. Make sure it's a clean cut, 

Your cut really needs to be flat. On the left is a good cut, while the one on the right is unacceptable. 
This is why a razor or Xacto is highly recommended for this practice. 

 

Cut it to whatever length you want it to be, however we cut it to the standard 1.25 in long slug length


Now you're done. 
Just kidding this only works in higher power blasters, keep reading.


Apply adhesive of choice on the tip of the USC in the center.
Brass not required, only used to demonstrate this this step.


Apply felt pad adhesive side down onto the tip of the dart, centered.
You can singe felt before application but it's not mandated, as I don't.

Well, now you're done. This is all you need to make the SCS. 
That wasn't hard was it? It only takes 30 seconds per dart if you get good at it.
With an assembly line, it's not hard to pump these out by the hundreds.


Other notes

Edmund is coming?  Awesome, I have over 400 of your darts to return from past wars.

It's great to have NH back, thanks for fixing it.  When NH goes down, modding goes back to 2005...the social media groups and channels are NOT a replacement for NH guides and write-ups...

Welcome to the forum!  Quality war content doesn't get the love it deserves, so it's definitely refreshing to see someone interested in this.  These are the things I would recommend, but take them with a grain of salt.  Everyone has bias, and I operate cameras as part of my job, so I definitely have bias.

GoPros, avoid them.  For one, the community is saturated with GoPros, and two, they suck, relative to the price vs what you get for them.  GoPro put a tiny, $100 quality sensor inside a $300-500 priced camera.  When your input is garbage, your output will be garbage, too.  The tiny sensor just can't handle...life.  Highs are washed out, mids are cripsy, lows are blocky, field is extremely deep, there is the fisheye distortion, no real zoom that I know of, no real manual control that I know of, audio is challenged, and then it records low bitrate/fragile footage that falls apart when you go to edit it.  Pretty much the only good features they have are small size for easy mounting and water+shockproofing.  You are wise to avoid the head mounts - the camera is proven to fly off during especially intense play, or flop down and fold over itself if you are running and come to a sudden stop.

You can hack the Mission App to hold a larger phone than it was designed for.  However, I don't trust Nerf rails to hold expensive smartphones.  Attachments can work their way off the rail - consider the strength of the plastic mechanism vs the weight of a phone as your blaster whips around a corner.  A real camera has an even worse equation - don't mount that on a rail.  Please, don't.  Even if the weight is held, it will rock and creak, creating lots of shaky footage.  Edit:  Also, smartphones aren't a good choice for a primary camera.  They have slow auto-focus and lots of motion stutter.  Take an iPhone and pan very slowly...you should see it almost step across - that's bad.  A camera should only stutter when you are asking it to do something it wasn't designed to handle, like 24 FPS tracking fast action.  Your primary war cam needs to handle smooth panning.

Duct taping a camera to the rail actually works better.  Don't do this with a nice camera, though, for good tape leaves residue.

The safest way to mount a camera is to use a universal 1/4"-20 screw and permanently affix it to the blaster.  The camera screws into that and is held securely.  You can trust a 1/4"-20 to hold cameras that cost as much as a house.

I am going to tell you something you won't want to hear - a balance between low budget and high quality just doesn't exist.  When it comes to video cameras, you get exactly what you paid for.  However, low budget and "acceptable quality" is a thing.  Everyone's idea of "high quality" varies considerably, so I'm not sure what kind of look you are going for.

One thing about quality is that just because it says "FULL HD 1080p!". "TRUE 4K!", etc. does not mean that the footage will look good.  Video quality is directly correlated with the sensor size, the amount of information you are able to handle coming off the sensor, the quality of the lens, how the shot was composed, and how it was encoded.  1080p is not 1080p is not 1080p, you have to look at the specs, the fine print, and visualize what those numbers are trying to tell you.

That said, you want to go for a high frame rate if you want to capture all the action, such as darts coming out of barrels and darts landing on players.  1080p60 is a good offering made by inexpensive, consumer gear.  If a camera only offers 720p60, walk away.  I personally recommend Panasonic V series camcorders for this, they will be in the affordable $300-700 range with broadcast quality 1080p60 and 1080p120 slow motion (interpolate to 240 FPS in-camera).  Much of my best war footage was recorded with a Panasonic v750K.  The bitrate is 2-5 times higher than GoPros with a vastly larger sensor.  There are now versions with 4K, but I have only ever seen 4K30 and below.  You want 60 FPS for fast action.

I don't recommend production cameras even if they were within your budget, as 1080p60 and above is a consumer format that they don't typically offer.  Same goes for DSLRs and mirrorless, but those cameras can give you a professional film look at 1080p24 if you decide you want to tell larger stories with your events.  Depending on your skillset, that direction could set your videos apart from the crowd.  Most footage uploaded to Youtube is borderline unwatchable.  Most cameras encode your footage as a proprietary implementation of H.264 and most people leave it like that.  When they upload, Youtube transcodes it again using its own version of H.264.  This is a lossy codec - it's like re-compressing an MP3, cancer for your eyes and ears.  Thus, you want your master to be the highest quality possible when you go to upload it, preferably not in H.264.

Another thing to note is that you want fast SD cards.  UHS-1 should be good enough.  Using cards that are too slow will do strange things to your footage, as your card struggles to keep up with the sensor.

Also, consider sitting out rounds to film from the center of the field.  My blaster-mounted footage varies from good to unwatchable, but my dedicated footage from sitting out is the best stuff I have.  This strategy allows you to get super close-ups and unusual, forward angles on players from any team.  With 1080p coming off a good sensor, you can also screenshot off the footage and create stills (rather than taking actual photos).  This will give you angles and scenes that aren't possible with still photography unless you have a burst mode.

PLEASE, please, please don't load up your videos with generic effects just for the sake of it.  Only add effects on an as-needed basis, to enhance something in your story.  Always remember that you are telling a story with your footage, the story is the bread and butter of the video, the main purpose of watching.  Raw war footage is boring, but footage loaded with dumb effects is unwatchable.  If you find that no effects are necessary, put in none.  Transitions, on the other hand, are sometimes necessary.  There are times for straight cuts and times for fades/blurs/etc.  A good exercise is to rip video from your favorite movies and mess with the effects and transitions to see how your edits affect the flow and the story.  For a rich, deep sound to your footage, consider adding several audio tracks of nothing but background noise hum, matched seamlessly to the scene.

Hopefully, at least some of this was helpful.  Feel free to PM about anything, no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to filming and editing.

^ Those are FVJs.  There is actually a risk of receiving FVJs from almost any seller of 3rd party China darts.  Always always drop a note during purchase making sure they are sending you the dart type in the picture, unless you know the seller from previous good buys.

In celebration of my 10th Apoc, I want to make a mini documentary about the war this time, and it can be used to help promote future Apocs.  I'll have one of the government access channel's DSLRs with me, come talk about your loadout, your past Apocs, anything.  It would be especially awesome if someone like Phil could come talk about the history of Apoc.  It would also be much appreciated if someone can help find old war footage from mid-2000s and earlier ones, quality of the footage does not matter.

It works the same way you would normally return carbonated soda and beer bottles.  Most grocery stores have a room marked "Bottle Return" or Bottle Deposit" near the entrance doors (outside the store itself).  In 2016, it's all automated with machines for different types of bottles, it will say what each one is for.  Simply insert the bottle, the machine spins it to read the information, and then it is either accepted and crushed or rejected and returned to you.  When you are done, the machine prints a receipt.  Collect the receipts, head into the store, and redeem them at the customer service desk.

Depending on the store, you can get an attendant to accept some of the rejects, as well.  They are more likely to do this if their store sells the brand that was rejected.  If you have brands that aren't sold in New York, they will probably be rejected (out of state bottles cost the store money).

How much has this really been stress tested?  I wouldn't recommend anyone use a 3D printed 4B trigger until they've put it through thousands of shots of testing in cold weather as well as warm.  I honestly don't think these will last a year.

What Team?

Valor!

WHAT TEAM?

VALOR!!!!

What is the correct term for an amount of Southerners? A bushel? A gaggle? A gossip? A humdinger? A hootenanny? A yokel? A shenanigan?

A Regiment of Rebels!  One that is ready to run into and get cut down by nawthorn fiyahpowah.  At this point, we have 7 mobstacles to bring for the superstock rounds/open field in the back.  There are more tarps and pipes available, but not more snap tees and clamps.  If someone has those items to bring, we could make more mobstacles.

I'm looking to buy sch 80 PVC if anyone has it.  I need two 16" segments and three 10" segments.

Confirmed.  Working on a dumb, SNW-worthy contraption.  It can still run full length stock darts.

We are here, setting up mobstacles.

A reminder that this is tomorrow!  The forecast is good, around 81 degrees and sunny.  If the power goes out from tonight's storms, the war is still on.

"1/2" PVC is a *trade name*, not an actual measurement of the diameter.  It's really around 5/8ths.

Why would you want to use voberries in 2016?  There are better options all over.  For indoor usage, koosh is probably going to be your best bet.  Good perfomance at stock and superstock levels, good in flywheels, soft impacts.  See Nerfhaven's stock dart buying guide.

And we keep getting flack from safety-minded air builders for allowing PVC tanks and fittings at all (from a conversation with Doom and torukmakto4 on Reddit the other week). They'd prefer all-metal rated fittings, and I can't fault that. It's just super expensive to do.

As a long-time PVC and air blaster tinkerer, I agree with them, all or mostly metal.  Well, at least for designs intended to be built by the masses.  People are weird and find all manner of ways to screw things up.  They can't be trusted even with a fully step to step guide.  Rated and even some types of unrated PVC are quite safe, but only if the user knows what they are doing and understands things like the impact of temperature upon the material.

The problem in wars to me isn't the technology, it's the user.  You need a mature, experienced air blaster user who understands the relationship between power and pumps.  As you increase the power and approach a certain threshold, you must flatline the number of pumps or decrease them, else, adding more power makes the blaster *less* effective.  Above that threshold, more range and velocity gives you literally no advantage, while the increased pump count saddles you with disadvantages.  It's the kind of situation where you'd trade 30ft of range for 1 less pump in a heartbeat.  This is the kind of master user that I trust with homemade air in a war (the same goes for HPA).  They know what they are doing with their construction methods, the pressure they are running, the band of values it will chrono at, etc.  Ultimately, homemade air is about creativity and durability, not about power.  The discontinued and breakage-prone 4B is not a long term viable platform vs homemades built to last.

I've found that air homemades are unpopular for several reasons, mostly involving blanket bans out of fear, and lack of understanding about how they work.  You'd be surprised at how many people look at air and think magic, yet they are far simpler and easier to construct than springers.

My QEV arrived today, so it's time to start moving on that.  Price is definitely a barrier to entry, but this valve was $22 and American-sourced, NPT, which is pretty decent.  These things are probably not going to feel as nice as a 4B or anything with an injection-molded shell, but there's room to explore.

^ PVC and CPVC do not have precise ID specifications.  Even "magic" varieties vary, the magic label just refers to any fit that is large enough to sheath other materials, but tight enough that no e-tape is needed.  Your barrel might slide through the magic pipe or it might take a hammer to get it in all the way.  It's really a crapshoot, so you'll have to keep visiting stores and testing fits if you want to use PVC sheathing without tape.

Note that at the power levels we usually play at, the actual material does not matter nearly as much as what its inner diameter is.  Shop by fit, not by type.  Don't think in terms of CPVC, brass, PETG, think in terms of .527, 17/32, medium wall, etc.  Note that PVC and CVPC are not manufactured to a specific ID, they will vary.  I have CPVC that is a fall-through fit for Elite darts.  You can use this knowledge to your advantage when it comes to 1/2" PVC - if you find pipe with a wider ID, you can sheath other types of materials inside it and connect that to a 1/2" coupler directly.  PVC sheathing is great for covering up exposed metal and running speedloaders.
 

I strongly recommend buying 3rd party China darts instead of using Elites in your BBB.  It has too much power for Elites, they won't be stable.  Have a look through the NH stock dart guide.  Maybe try ACC, VTN, USC.  They are also substantially cheaper, you can get a thousand darts for $30-40.

In this specific case, the venue has been very carefully picked, using past experience to minimize interactions with police, local property owners, and various passer-bys.  It is a field behind a public school, surrounded by bushes/trees and on a terrace below the level of the school itself and its main sports fields.  Therefore, it is completely out of view of anyone on the rest of the school grounds, and almost completely out of sight from nearby houses.  The field is not visible from the street.  It is not marked for baseball, football, or soccer.  It is extremely unlikely that anyone else will even pass by during the course of the day.

In the very unlikely event that a sports team or local group has reserved the field, we can move to a portion of the upper fields that are also unmarked for sports.  In the unlikely event of a kick out, we have a backup venue about 5 minutes away.  Police in our region have historically been a non-factor in our public parks and on public school grounds outside of school session.  

Additionally, Sam, Van, and I will be making and setting up "mobstacles", cover made out of tarp and PVC.  The big, blue tarps on grassy fields tend to make Nerf look more like a sports game when viewed from far away.  People can't really tell what it is, but it looks like some sport or another, so they think nothing of it.

The activity itself is very safe, other than the risk of hits to the eye, which is why eye protection is mandatory.  That said, no one is to be held liable for any injury or harm that does occur.  You agree to assume all risk when you attend these events.  If you do not agree to that, do not come.  The ability to continue playing on public property is contingent upon players taking responsibility for themselves.

Van, Sam, and I are probably going to build mobstacles earlier in the month, I'll bring them if we do.

Several people may be able to attend, but only for a few hours.  You know what that means, right?

"ROUNDS PER MINUTE!"

We need to step it up so everyone can have fun, no matter how long they are able to stay.  Downtime needs to be kept to a minimum.  This is still a week and a half away, so there's plenty of time to make more darts and tune up primaries.  Bring your A game, lots of darts, lots of friends, and be ready to play hard!

 

Tough to say without more information about what you want out of your finds.  Blasters to mod/use?  Blasters to collect?  Blasters to flip?  Have a look through NH, wikis, blogs, Google, to see the different types of blasters that have been released through time, and decide what your preferences are.  I run a Facebook group called "Nerf Thrifters" where we discuss exactly this sort of thing and post our finds, you may find that of interest.  Good luck!

I am happy to pick people up from whatever LIRR or subway station you can manage to reach on LI.  The earlier the better and the further out the better, though, as my car is already near full with scruffy-looking nerf herders as it is.

Connecticut Nerf Out - Saturday, July 2nd 2016

[Insert awesome sub-optimal image and teaser video here]

This war replaces the NENO that we were unable to do.  Note the new location.  If you live in the city, on LI, in Jersey, in eastern PA, this is a bit closer to you than usual.  We'd love to see you there if you are able to attend!  Check back here for updates, I like to update stuff the same way I vote - early and often.
 

Play Times: 
10 AM to at least 5 PM.  (That's 1 to 5 in Langley time)

 

Venue: 
West Rocks Middle School
81 West Rocks Rd, Norwalk, CT 06851
Parking: 41.133884, -73.414676







Backup: 
Cranbury Elementary School
10 Knowalot Ln, Norwalk, CT 06851
Parking: 41.156607, -73.402940
Playing: TBA

Lunch: 
Bring your own, or bring $$$ for group pizza.  Bring one for DX, too.  Feed the wildlife.

 

Rules:
Eye protection is mandatory, regardless of age.
Barrel taps ARE allowed (with the SIDE of your barrel or by hand tag).
Blaster hits count and hits to anything you are carrying count.
Shields and melee are not allowed.
FPS limit: Try to keep your average at or under 300 FPS.
 

Allowed Darts: 

- #6 Slugs
- #8 Slugs
- Silicone Domes
- Stock Darts of any variety other than FVJs

Check List:
- Lunch, for DX.
- Water.  Sugar water for DX.
- Money, for DX.  Somehow, I am still alive.
- Blaster for a raffle. (NIB Maximizer, System 2000, 1500 Arrow Shooter, etc)
- Darts.  This one is kind of important.  Bring at least a couple hundred.
- At least 2 primaries.  There's no guarantee that we'll have enough loaners for everyone, especially if you're a Yankees fan.
- Pistol, maybe.  I keep bringing one and we never end up doing pistol rounds.
- Sunscreen, if you burn easily.  Google, broadband, and Van James didn't exist the last time I got burned, but hey, not everyone can be this fabulous.

Game Types:

I'll make a rough playlist to avoid wasting time.  Make your requests if you want to play something and it's not listed.

Current Playlist:
- 3-15 Warmup x2
- VIP x2
- Uma Thurman x2
- Lunch / Maybe speed rounds
- 3-15 x2
- Freeze Tag x2
- 5/0 x2
- 3-15 Cooldowns

Raffle:
If you want to participate, bring a $10-20 blaster to toss in.  We'll assign everyone a number and pick from a random number program.  In addition to the raffle, I will be bringing stuff to give away.  It may not be useful...stuff...but it could be interesting and maybe you'll think of a use for it?  Whatever you don't take will be thrown away 100% guaranteed.  Last NENO I ended up throwing away about 8 blasters that were not claimed.

Confirmed Attendees (14): 
A wild DX +1
Van James
Blitz
Aeromech
Jlego
CA99
Zach +1
Edmund
Jonathan +1
Lucy! +1

Maybe:
Langley
Miguel

There are several things to discuss, like the possibility of running this both Saturday and Sunday with a different location, doing superstock rounds instead of pistols, and making a playlist to minimize downtime.

Many changes are being made.  New host, new location, new name, probably Saturday rather than Sunday, basically a new war.  I'm going to make the new thread after work, but it may be fairly late tonight, so please wait until then.

Patience, Van, P - A - T - I - E - N - C - E

If there's really nothing, it sounds like you'll need to take the initiative to start it.  You need to have the hunger to make it happen, another host is unlikely to pop out of the woodwork.  Obviously, check past wars on NH to see how they were organized, what works, what doesn't work, etc.  

NIC/DIY style events may be difficult to support at first, you may find more success starting with superstock and gradually progressing to NIC/DIY.  Superstock is widely popular and draws a lot of participants with minimal barriers to entry.  Get a baseline group of regulars and encourage an arms race.  Don't set an FPS limit, allow slugs, and let people mod up at their own pace.  It's better to have a few NIC/DIY rounds at a primarily superstock event and lots of players than none at all.  Ironically, many primarily NIC/DIY events now run some superstock rounds, and for the same reason - to encourage more people to come play.  If you can build up a large base of players, you can then exploit their varying tastes to support a pure NIC/DIY level event.  Just remember to keep your base happy by catering to all its needs, not just some.  If they want multiple styles of nerf, include multiple events or mixed events.

Suction Clone Slug.  A cut down USC with the cup snipped off and a felt bumper on the head.  I still haven't finished the writeup yet, which is why I briefly explain what it is every time I mention it.

Consistent high performance is the gold standard.  It's not enough to have all the darts fly at high range, but only some of them stay in line with your target, and it's not enough to have 280 FPS one shot and then 230 FPS the next.  Range, velocity, accuracy, and precision should be considered together as a package.  Longer, faster, closer, tighter.  If you only have some of these, or you have all of these some of the time, you're going to suffer inconsistent results on the field.  You've got to be able to stand in during a high stakes exchange and deliver that clutch shot, with confidence that your dart will go where you want it to.  Inconsistency can erode the confidence of even the most skilled players.

As mentioned in some other thread, FVJs have acceptable-enough performance to be used exclusively in an NIC/DIY war.  I had a small (8 person) event called "Private Narfs" last year in the woods behind my house where we used only cut down FVJs out of almost all air blasters.  They hopped, it worked, we lost most of them, but that was why we used FVJs.  That said, consistency was bad.  I had some shots veer off literally sideways.  Some shots missed me by ridiculous distances.  The more you pumped, the worse the accuracy, but the less you pumped, the higher the risk of a misfeed.  

Compare that to using something like SCS, which is a snipped, cut down USC with a felt bumper on the head.  If we'd had SCS, Private Narfs would have gone down exactly like a regular NIC/DIY war with slugs, with one exception - SCS are more precise than slugs.  In an open field with full mobility, this is not a noticeable advantage, but in woods play where people tend to post up and move less, precision is important.  You might not hit them, but if you can keep putting darts in the same location shot after shot, you can keep them pinned down while your teammates flank wide.

Certain varieties of stock darts *can* remain stable at 300 FPS.  They need to have good weight distribution, well-designed and glued heads, and be "heavy enough".  USCs and ACCs are known stable at that velocity, and do not need to be cut down.  Xplorer V2 darts are stable to at least 260 FPS and should be to 300.  FVJs and FVNs/VTNs are somewhat stable, you can have a war with them out of DIY level blasters, just not with the usual accuracy.

As far as I know of, you need around 40-50 PSI to achieve 300 FPS, but I've never attached a gauge and thus don't have a concrete answer.  Note that the dart fit plays a large role in how much velocity you can milk out of a tank.  Bad dart fit will reduce your velocity by as much as 80 FPS or even more.  Also, what you think is a good fit probably isn't - if you don't test all your options, you may be left getting less velocity than the tank is actually capable of producing without ever realizing it.  And, of course, lighter darts will generally achieve higher velocity, but may not be as stable as heavier darts.

TL/DR:  This isn't something you can just calculate.  You need to do real testing.

At the power levels we typically play at in NIC/DIY style nerf, the ID of the barrel matters far more than the material.  Tight CPVC ran my #8 slugs just as well as the .527 aluminum, from a 2nd gen 4B with less power, even though that CPVC was too tight to even twist fit those darts into it.  Loose fits are better at long barrel lengths, but for practical purposes on the field, 18" is the longest barrel I would use for a primary of 4B length.  I still typically run 16" of .527 aluminum.  There's not enough of a difference at 18", so the shorter barrel is better, and weaker air blasters run the 16" better as well.  The length is still rather arbitrary, I never bothered testing 17", or 15".

If you want a barrel with less friction, use brass.  If you want a barrel that shoots thick foam, use .527 aluminum or polyester.  If you want a really lightweight barrel, use PETG.  It ultimately does not matter most of the time, as long as the fit is optimal.