
Re: States of the Nation Scavenger Hunt and hides
It would take a very long post to describe both dragonZone and States of the Nation in one go, so let's deal with the current game first.
DragonZone is completely independent from States of the Nation, and you do not need to join a dZ clan or have any understanding of dragonZone to participate in States of the Nation.
States of the Nation is the current Geocaching Australia is the current Summer game, and participation in it is completely voluntary.
The list of scavenges located here:
http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/gam ... scavenges/ sets out the criteria for what kinds of caches you need to go out and find. If there's an GCA cache near you that fits one of the scavenges on the list, and you haven't yet logged a find on it, simply go out and find the cache and log your find online as normal. You can then go to the claims page:
http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/gam ... on/claims/ and enter the GA code for the cache in the top box, select the claim you wish to use this cache for from the drop down list, type a short justification note in the text box, then click the submit button.
If the cache you have logged matches the scavenge you are claiming, the resulting page will let you know, and automatically update your point score for you. If the cache you have logged does not meet the criteria for the scavenge you are trying to claim, the resulting page will let you know, and you should try a different claim from the drop-down box. Once you have claimed a few scavenges it will hopefully become more self explanatory for you.
As stated above, we can deal with dragonZone explanations in a future post, as it isn't a prerequisite of playing States of the Nation.
You need to have your home state set on your settings page:
http://geocaching.com.au/my/settingsThe aim of the game is for each state to participate as a team, and achieve the highest average points score out of all states. As the different states will have a differing amount of cachers participating, each state will automatically have a State Balancer applied so that a state with only three cachers playing can compete against a state that has say twenty cachers playing.
If you log and claim caches from a state other than your home state, you will receive a 50% point boost for raiding an opponents state. This information is found on the home page for States of the Nation under the heading Points:
http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/gam ... thenation/When you submit claims from the claims page, the software will automatically assign the correct amount of points to you and will automatically update you state's tally on the ladder page:
http://geocaching.com.au/dragonzone/gam ... on/ladder/Hopefully I've covered most of the main aspects of the game here, but if you need more advice, I'm more than happy to go over things with you.
If it's really that bad, then you are free to ignore the game completely and just go about your usual caching as you normally would. The GCA games are just a bit of fun and provide something different to simply just signing log books and logging finds online. Participation is completely voluntary and up to personal choice.