Wyndstar

[quote]Everyone knows what they think such a rule means but a well worded definition needs to be short, needs to cover all the possible options, not leave any loose ends, and needs to not be subject to second guessing. It's actually a very difficult thing to do. As a lawyer I would expect Wyndstar should be able to come up with the best possible wording for a proposal for a new rule to add.[/quote] Wait wait wait. You want something concise and also written by a lawyer?

Accidentally flipping the enemy, especially when he has just one world left is the bane of my score-grinding existence. And the MCC will NOT prevent that last planet from flipping. Here are a few ideas I use: Give all +influence techs to the enemy (or sell them cheap). Build a world with the propoganda center (think that's the one, prevents one planet from flipping) and then give THAT to the enemy so they have one world left. Build a series of influence starbases aro

And if Silverbeacher should really be in charge of this, by all means step in at any time. I'm just one player with a strong opinion... ~ Wyndstar

Well, then, I'd guess I'd ask for input from the rest of the DA MVL players. Seems I've colored the debate a little because I make no secret about my opinion. Still, I've taken an oath to uphold the constitution, and I'm all about free speech. I'm interested in hearing from dissenters now as well. I am fine with adopting Mumble's rule, and in general you should try to keep the quality of your opponents at the right difficulty. No stripping SAs, changing worlds, setting traps, stripp

[quote]I still think my proposed rule does deal with all these issues as long as folks can be honest in their estimation of how the game actually played.[/quote] Mumble, I appreciate your trying to bring sanity to the issue. However - there is still a problem with Suicidal, because there is no higher difficulty level. For people that are used to using ARC races suicidal might "feel" right using these super races. If ARC is allowed at suicidal for some, it should be allowed fo

[quote]This seemed to coincide with Wyndstar's sudden realization of a topic that been discussed for close to two weeks before he noticed it.[/quote] Oh, it almost certainly is my fault. I try and stay up on everything, but I admit to skimming a lot of posts and topics. It obviously changes nothing for this round, but while I'm sorry for re-opening an issue that may have been closed, there seems like there is still plenty of time for discussion before the next round's rules are finali

[quote]Has anyone explicitly objected to my proposal?[/quote] Mumble, your proposal seems fine to me, and even a preferred solution to dealing with "straw.... opponents". There are things you can only do in the xml (set starting worlds) and things that you can only do in-game to not trip the cheat flag (take away all starting tech). Handicapping your opponents in any of these ways is dishonorable, and should go against the honor code. Your rule seems fine to cover this case... <b

Alright, a few things: 1) I see two different uses of ARC, and they need to be distinguished. One is using ARC to set up opponents. The other is using ARC to modify the "player race". 2) Modifying the enemy: This is only slightly different than using in-game custom races. The chief difference is the ability to change every race's starting world to Thala, making the initial rush blitz a breeze no matter how many enemies. This is probably already covered by the "straw ma

Fair enough. I'm not trying to call the fellow MVL players cheaters. This obviously is a widespread practice - and was common this round. It DOES significantly change the difficulty IMO though, and not by setting up straw dogs. Sorry I came to this discussion late, I did not mean to cross pollinate a MVL rules thread into the MVL round 7 thread. I can switch threads for a further discussion. It matters little now. I submitted my game for this round, and I did it befor

I've played around with this some more, and boy... even if I just use ARC to modify my own race, it completely changes the level of the game. It made this last MVL round seem easy. I can't imagine how the AI could ever stop me, honestly. All that careful balancing between the stock races, and its blown away by about a 2 minute hack job on a few xml files. I can't believe this is legal, ~ Wyndstar

Man, with the ARC cheat in things are simple. I just managed a 1 year victory with these settings in about 2 hours, where as my last attempt was a 60 hour struggle. There is, it seems to me, an obvious best-case setup if you are going to use ARC "just to change your own character". Its a combo so gross though, I can't believe its considered fair. ~ Wyndstar

My problem with it is combos. Once you realize how everything interacts, you can give yourself huge advantages. Even evil Altarians. In a game like this, going evil is going to cost you a tidy sum of money as the altarians because there is not enough time to switch your ethic. That little bit of money (and saved treasury) makes a pretty big difference when you are fighting for one or two turns. But "at the level of suicidal" doesn't encompass things you could do. Taking awa

Whoa, wait a minute, so you could set the stock races to all super spy? Or worse take away their super abilities and replace with none and yet keep SAs on? Give yourself Korx starting worlds and everyone else Altarian starting worlds? Set every race to good and then play as Altarian and let Super Organizer do all the defense for you? This seems.... abusable. It also seems weird because it is done in the file and out of the normal game interface. I can't explain exactly wh

Well, gosh, I brought new meaning to the term "grind". BUT, on the bright side, I have my OFFICIAL submission for this round, after 21 tries: [img]http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n104/cjmosbo/GalCiv2/MVL7official.jpg[/img] Believe it or not that ONE game took me over 60 hours. I don't think I'll ever do that again, ug. Go team! ~ Wyndstar

[quote]As for the ARC issue, I am still a bit miffed about it, to be honest.[/quote] What is ARC? Don't think I've heard that term before... ~ Wyndstar

[quote]if the platform of discussion is the PC, there's no excuse for a lack of post-release support.[/quote] Really? Who pays for this post-release support? Do you sell enough extra copies to pay those people's salaries? Publishers aren't in the business of putting out great "polished" products, they are in the business of making money (console or PC). Those support teams and customer service features get expensive. Clearly the business side of the game industry is of two

Well, and to be fair... a clarification on my legality comment. I'm not breaking any sort of honor code, and I'm not breaking any CURRENT rule of the MVL... I combed the rules several times to be sure, but I'm not sure if what I'm doing SHOULD remain legal in the future. The difference between what [I]is[/I] legal and what [I]should[/I] be legal I will let be argued after the round is finished. For the rules as they stand now, I'm playing by them :HOT: ~ Wyndstar

I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of the core myself... I just don't find myself heading that way often. I'm also not taking part in any high level super secret talks about the MVL, so it seems I'm not missing out on anything. After 20 tries (check my Random character) I finally figured out a sure fire way to get a 1 year victory with these settings... its just taking me a Looooooong time for this one game. When this round is over I want to ask people (commissioner types) if my me

[quote]I hope they fix in the next expansion. It would be nice if mixed fleets were the best way to go.[/quote] Mixed fleets may never be the way to go. Attrition is too high for a mixed fleet, and even with the new HP modules I haven't found a super good way to keep smaller ships alive. The best argument for mixed fleets in TA is that because they increased the upkeep for all ships so much, it is not financially feasible to have too many capital ships roaming around. In prac

Yeah, Mega Events have ruined several of my games for this round. I enjoy them, but it does mean that you never really know if you are in control or on the path to doom. Still, that is balanced out somwhat by the ability to turn off surrenders. Oh wait.... :( ~ Wyndstar

[quote]here is an article on ign about the problems with pc gaming. http://pc.ign.com/articles/858/858259p1.html[/quote] Wow, I disagree with the president of Epic. You don't need to find a way to force the market to come to your games, you need to build games that cater to the market. If most machines can't run the games you design properly... its YOUR job as a developer to compensate. If you just make the game anyway and then point fingers at "stupid" customers and hardware man

[quote]are you actually using trade for the income?[/quote] Yes. ~ Wyndstar

I'm slowly getting there, tantalizingly close. My last two games ended on Feb. 8 and then on Feb 1 of the second year. If I can find a way to shave off just four turns I'll be happy. ~ Wyndstar

NONE OF THESE ARE A SUBMISSION! But here is what the MVL has had me doing this weekend in my spare time: [img]http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n104/cjmosbo/GalCiv2/MVL7.jpg[/img] And everyone is garbage. My last game was going well for the first year, then the Jagged Knife showed up and grabbed half of my worlds... Those mega events in something like this just slow you down so much. Money is my big problem, I just can't keep my research up, and my populati

Man I'm having problems with this one. I've already tried it 5 times... I'm clearly doing something wrong. No tech trading just kills. ~ Wyndstar