Neilo Neilo

Metaverse League Round 5

Metaverse League Round 5

Hi all and welcome to round 5!!

Congrats to the Domination of Death for a well played victory in round 4!! :CONGRAT:

Everyone please welcome our six new players, Defcon13, Velkyn Kyil, GalenEvil, Almaric Iztok Bitenc and RexDaddy. I have placed you guys into teams. Domination (team D) please welcome GalenEvil and RexDaddy, Eternal Villainy please welcome Velkyn Kyil and Iztok Bitenc, Blade Runners please welcome Defon13and Crusaders please welcome Almaric. Captains, make sure to Pm your new players their core passwords please. (I still can't believe i forgot you Defcon...sorry again mate.)

Good luck to all our new players and i hope your enjoy the League.

Current teams are,


We lost Vilgan, Doombringer and Drengin in round 4. I hope to see these guys playing with us again soon. (Noticulus and Xei Win Toh have abstained from playing till further notice.)

Ok, onto round 5.

We are after an Influence Victory in a Tiny Galaxy with 4 Opponents.

Settings are,
Habitable planets - Abundant
Number of planets - Common
Number of stars - Uncommon
Star Density - Tight Clusters
Anomolies - Common
Asteroids - Uncommon
Tech Rate - Fast
Minors - Random/Enabled in DL

Disable Tech Trading
Blind Exploration (Check the box. No seeing AI sphere's of influence.)
Allow Mega Events
Disable Super Abilities
All Victory's Enabled
Allow Surrenders

Round 5 ends Midnight 13th January 2008.

Two slight rule changes for round 5.
Ties for fastest game will now be broken by score. So there will only be 4 points given out for fastest game, regardless of the number of games with equal time.

Ties for high score will also be limited to the 4 points. These will be broken by game speed. In the event of double ties (equal speed and score) points will be given, regardless of number. (These rules are not yet official and may be omitted from the round. It has had discussion but no closure. If there is no objection than these rules will apply for this round.)

We will use the Round 5 thread for our discussions, plus the submission's. Looking back through one thread is far easier than looking back through many threads and posts.

For any discussions on rules please post in the MVL Rulebook thread.

Also there is a discussion about our inclusion into the AltMeta here, The MVL and the AltMeta. Please watch this thread for more discussion soon.

I am really looking forward to this challenge and to the rounds ahead. Good luck to everyone and a big welcome to our new players, i hope you enjoy the league. As always i hope you enjoy your games and i hope you all have safe and happy holidays.

The Commish.
"The Metaverse League"
Player Sign up & Roster
Round Results & League Ladder
The MVL Rulebook
The MVL and the AltMeta


107,209 views 306 replies
Reply #251 Top
Hi Iztok,

Just take a screenshot of the victory screen and post it in this thread. Other people have had trouble submiting in the past, so this is an acceptable way to submit your game.

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...
Reply #252 Top
Hi!
Just take a screenshot of the victory screen and post it in this thread.
End of quote

Thank you for the speedy answer! This will work for the current round, but I need to solve that problem with serial in order to participate in other games.

Now I need to remember how did I post game pictures...

BR, Iztok
Reply #253 Top
Hi!

Since I'm unable to post the game to metaverse I'm posting printscreens here. Game properties:
Difficulty: suicidal
Ended: 29. Dec. 2227 (The very last turn to end it as 1-year game)
Score: 11200 points
Race: Krynn with +30% econ, +10% PQ, +10% morale, +20% soldiering, Federalists


Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


The link to zipped savegame (270kB):
http://cid-123e3f9c4d270036.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/EndGameSave.zip


BR, Iztok
Reply #254 Top
Iztok, I had the same issue as you did and the same trouble fixing it. Cari helped me, she does have a work around for it but i will let her tell you the details. Email her mate, she got my account all fixed up....Her bloods worth bottling!

And submitting in this fashion is fine mate. Nice game to BTW.
:)
Reply #255 Top
Just going back to Bluntblade's post RE: can't submit this round (reply 219 page 5) and the following reply's (reply 221 & 224 page 5).

Perhaps we should have allowed a backup game to be played so that the averages can by done /5. The situation we have now is technically The A-Team is a 5 man team with 1 non-submital, i know for base score they are fine, but technically they will have a 0 factored into their avg's.

Now since we told DA that no back-up was needed we should allow their avg's to be /4. This was probably a given to many of us anyway, but since we try to stay within the rules and follow precedents we should have looked at this closer. I failed to take the Avg's into account in this situation, rather, i saw that they were in good shape, base score wise and thought nothing else of it.

I doubt that there is time for a backup game to be played, and since it will be a few hours till most of you guys read this, even less time.

So /4 for A-Team avg's please people.

Reply #256 Top
Just a heads up for those who have yet to submit,

CornhuskerMac, Bluntblade, Playjeff, TGE, Butterfly, Velkyn

There is only a little over a day left in the round, so get your games in quick!!

If no submissions are seen in the the thread any captains that need to may select a suitable game from that players profile, if they have one. (Jeff is sorted, i believe TGE has a game that you could put forward DA) If no submission is made by a captain i will randomally pick a game from said person profile if applicable (Cmac?? I don't think blunt, butterfly or velkyn have any)
Reply #257 Top
That sounds both reasonable and fair.

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...
Reply #258 Top
Just another quick note, for submission purposes, did we agree that all captain selected or commissioner selected games would tie for last?

I believe that's what was decided.
Reply #259 Top
thats how I was planning on ranking them; equally last place. please let me know if there is a change.
Reply #260 Top
Just another quick note, for submission purposes, did we agree that all captain selected or commissioner selected games would tie for last?

I believe that's what was decided.
End of quote

Yes.
Reply #261 Top
Ended: 29. Dec. 2227 (The very last turn to end it as 1-year game)
Score: 11200 points
End of quote

BTW Impressive game Iztok.  :CONGRAT: 
Reply #262 Top
Certainly is....Kudos!!
Reply #263 Top

Ended: 29. Dec. 2227 (The very last turn to end it as 1-year game)
Score: 11200 points
End of quote


This one game might make all the difference for team E. I take off my hat to you, sir.
Reply #264 Top
Might??.....hehehe Not a strong enough word.
Reply #265 Top
Fine. Iztok DID make all the difference for Team E.
Dang you, Iztok! :LOL:
Reply #266 Top
:LOL:
Reply #267 Top
Umm... Neilo, Silver and Mumble, have you visited the draft results page yet? Please tell me if there are any errors. Check your Emails for the links.
Reply #268 Top
i have, just trying to get all the final inputs into place. I will be sending out emails later. Finalization can not occur until after Midnight tonight.
Reply #269 Top
Umm... Neilo, Silver and Mumble, have you visited the draft results page yet? Please tell me if there are any errors. Check your Emails for the links.
End of quote

I did and sent you a PM, looks good. I did point out what I think are two minor score discrepancies that made no difference to the outcome. Please verify them as a crosscheck. I also sent my take on the round to Silver as well.

One other point is that on the GC2 site the correct spelling is Berzelius, note that it's incorrect in the OP of this thread as well. To add to the confusion, at the Core the correct spelling is Brezelius. This took me quite a bit to figure out when setting up the character links that I previously posted.

Finalization can not occur until after Midnight tonight.
End of quote

Amen. We could still get another submission that could change everything.
Reply #270 Top
Yep. Still about 12 hours to go.
Reply #271 Top
Mumble and FireBender, please note that the score you have listed for TheGreatEmperor is incorrect; it is '6000' not '6600'

Below are the links to my scoring tables; link 1 is Teams A and B; link 2 Teams C and D, and link 3 is Team E

Please note that this is NOT the official score, but unless we have someone show up last minute it is the most likely result tabulation.

Teams A and B: WWW Link

Teams C and D: WWW Link

Team E: WWW Link
Reply #272 Top
Hi!
BTW Impressive game Iztok.
End of quote

I take off my hat to you, sir.
End of quote

Iztok DID make all the difference for Team E.
End of quote

Thank you gentlemen! I just had to keep up my reputatation. ;)

Frankly this was the THIRD game I tried for that round. First two were DL ones, with Drengin and Yor. I thought +70% growth bonus, +30% econ, drengin's 25% inherited morale bonus and 40% better DLs' economy would be enough to win quickly, and I also haven't played Drengin yet. The second one was with Yor, and was inspired by mumble's AAR. But I just could't get starting conditions I supposed mumble got (me in center, the rest of AIs roughly on one side of the galaxy, some empty planets on the other (not to mention a class-26 planet nearby ;) ).

But I've learned a lot from those two games (all-factories is bad for tech rush I needed to get invasion tech before my neighbours started militarizing). Since Ferrel posted a nice one game (1 year, 9600 points), I had to try something different. Yor was already used, so I've chosen Krynn (good starting tech AND Ion Drive, excellent morale (+60% at start!), and lots of econ bonuses (50% at start) to compensate the 40% smaller income from DA planets. I've kept most planets at 100% approval for most of the game, starting at ~55% tax, ending at 78%, so money wasn't a problem until I've invaded both Terra and New Iconia in the same turn using Information warfare (both had ~15B pop at 50% and 55% approval). But at that time I already had the best economy, and climbed out of that hole in just one turn.

Pitty I missed the morale resource to the north of my HW. When I discovered it, it already had an iconians' SB on it. But I managed to claim the only one econ and research resource in the galaxy, and 1 out of 2 influence ones. I've also been very lucky with cash anomalies: IIRC they gave me 1850 BC!

The game was mixed all-X. ;) At first I've been running my empire at 100% social spending and building some factories on all planets, but after two-three factores I've built two-three labs everywhere, and changed spending to 100% research for a real tech rush. That helped me to get enough tech to switch back to all-factories and built just one type of medium-hull ships for successful attack on both Iconians and Terrans, since they were using mass drivers as their weapon. Korx were neutral to friendly, too strong to subdue quickly, and using beams. I also needed peace in the last three months to finish game with proper victory type.

Alas, the first time I won, it happened at about 5th of Januar 2228. :( I counted weeks properly, but I didn't expect 10 weeks need to pass AFTER the announcement. So the game started count-down two weeks after I've taken the last iconians' planet in 8th of October. I had to reload a game from July 2227 and replay it. :( While waiting for the victory I really didn't had much else to do than grow pop at max rate, build/buy some wonders, and research techs that could give me more scores.

IMO what gave me 1600 more points than the Ferrel's game was my big pop (social score)and high econ (econ score) from high tax rate, both possible by very high "natural" krynn's morale ability. Without it I doubt I could pull out better score. Maybe by building lots of fake defenders, and putting them all under cover of an enhanced military starbase(s), but there just wasn't enough time to research other two basic weapons' techs, and free Starports to actually build them. But I'm just guessing. Until now I never played for scores.

BR, Iztok
Reply #273 Top
Hi!
Ties for fastest game will now be broken by score. So there will only be 4 points given out for fastest game, regardless of the number of games with equal time.
End of quote

BTW I still didn't vote for the way ties are resolved. That's because I don't agree with the scoring system of "the winner takes it all". What I'd like to propose would be more like medals: 3, 2 and 1 points for best three games in each category. If there would be ties, then they should be resolved by the next category: scores by speed, speed by score.

Such a scoring system should give each player a reason to try to give his team a bit more points, despite knowing he can't beat expert players, but knowing he can aim at the second or the third place. So the competition would be more fierce.

Comments?

BR, Iztok
Reply #274 Top
Mumble and FireBender, please note that the score you have listed for TheGreatEmperor is incorrect; it is '6000' not '6600'
End of quote

Yep. It's good to have multiple folks looking at all of this.

Such a scoring system should give each player a reason to try to give his team a bit more points, despite knowing he can't beat expert players, but knowing he can aim at the second or the third place. So the competition would be more fierce.
End of quote

The goal of the bonus point system is to provide some means for the teams to differentiate themselves without the bonuses becoming the predominate scoring method.

The idea is that a simple win of a game with randomly selected setting is an achievement in and of itself. We initally started with a 3, 2, 1 points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place individual bonuses but felt that this gave too many points for the so-called experts. We then changes to 1 individual point for each of the top 3 individuals but then gave 2, 1 points for the team averages. Later with more members we expanded the first 3 to the first four for individual bonus.

The bottom line is that I think pretty much everyone is for any idea that will result in an evening out of competition within the league. One issue with the current system is that the top games both speed and score do in some sense carry more weight. For example, I only got a sinle individual bonus point for my 39K game but basically that was enough to carry my team to the team score bonus for an additional 2 point team bonus. While it's slightly more difficult for a single fast game to singlehandedly gain a team speed bonus, there is a similar effect with speed games as well.

I do think that 1 point individual bonuses are good because that allows 2nd, 3rd and 4th in each category to contribute just as much as 1st. I think leaving individual bonuses fixed at 1 point each is a good thing. If you're talking about changing the team bonuses to top three with 3, 2, 1 points than I think I agree with this.

One goal is to see teams that might not get any individual bonus points at all still be able to get a team bonus because of a collection of good games even with no single "great" game. Actually Team D almost pulled off that feat in this round. Until Iztok submitted his game, Team D was in position to take 2nd place team speed without a single game getting an individual bonus. I'm all for anything we can come up with that rewards this type of performance.

I think perhaps opening up the team bonuses to top three might help this but I'm not so sure about the 3,2,1 scoring. I think it may actually accomplish more along these lines by opening up the team scores to top 3 but going to 1 point team bonus for all places just as for the individual bonuses. This would tend to "flatten" out the differences between teams somewhat.

One final point I want to make and that is that the goals of this league have been stated as "to have fun", "to provide camaraderie" and "to improve the play of all involved" among others. There is no doubt about it having accomplished the first two but there is also no doubt in my mind that it has accomplished the third as well.

It's clear the level of play as exhibited by the scores and the game speeds are gradually increasing throughout the league. If you look at this round this was probably the closest round so far. If we didn't have the team submission bonus we would have had 3 teams tied for 1st.

Actually I do like the idea of taking the team bonuses to 1 point each for the first three teams. That should include submission bonus as well.

I also think we should take a look at the what difference would be made by a time based submission versus rank based. Perhaps I'll chart this up for the current round just to see what kind of difference it would make.
Reply #275 Top
Ties for fastest game will now be broken by score. So there will only be 4 points given out for fastest game, regardless of the number of games with equal time.

BTW I still didn't vote for the way ties are resolved. That's because I don't agree with the scoring system of "the winner takes it all". What I'd like to propose would be more like medals: 3, 2 and 1 points for best three games in each category. If there would be ties, then they should be resolved by the next category: scores by speed, speed by score.
End of quote

I think you misunderstand the criteria. Each of the 4 fastest games and each of the 4 highest scores get a single individual bonus point each. The team speeds and scores are then averaged for a team bonus that gives 2 for 1st and 1 for 2nd.

Initially I had supported all ties getting equal bonus but in round four we ended up with 10 individuals getting a speed bonus because of this. This was why we trying to limit this to 4 total.

I see how it was worded could confuse someone into thinking that only the single fastest game gets 4 points, but that's not it. The four top games are to get a single bonus point each but tiebreaks should be used to limit this to only the top four games.