Rules of The MetaGame

[namelochil]

Trailblazer, that means you're on GMT, right?

Let's everyone keep posting their time zone, like th-child suggested.

 

[masterjskye]

As well as posting your timezone, it would be even more helpful if you could post the times (in GMT) you would generally be available at. I get home from work generally about 17.45 so I could make 18.00 probably at the earliest. Then I could submit any time after that. I don't tend to go to bed very early on weekends. Ideally though, about 19.00 is just right for me. It gives me time to do some editing to show the first valid moves, etc.

Also, if there are certain days that are good or not good for you, then say.

 

[airwick]

I'm in GMT +1 and on most Friday's available all day except nighttime (0.00 - 8.00)

 

[th-child]

Are you guys familiar with doodle.com?

I made a poll there, if you want you can vote on the times.
I guess we can assume that on general Saturday is the best day for these deadlines, so please indicate which times are the best for you (in GMT time!) on Saturdays (if masterj agrees) .
You can choose Yes, No, and (Yes). "(Yes)" means "if need be".

http://doodle.com/vhskehsab8nkikqk#table

 

[th-child]

Note: this thing tries to adjust according your location -- pls double-check the time zone in the upper right corner.

 

[Cardinalsrule]

shouldn't the point total be 860, master? It was 760 last round, and there's 10 teams left.....

 

[masterjskye]

Yeah there may be some variation, I changed something because I felt it wouldn't be fair with the new changes to the doggy card.

The way it was - your team would get charged the 10 points when the doggy card was automatically redeemed. A sort of stealth tax, if you will. But now I am going to ask teams if they wish to use their doggy card on the next round, and if they do not they will not have to pay in next round obviously. I just balanced it up a little bit in that regard, by reducing the amount some of the already eliminated teams owed. I uploaded my list to the front page so you can check my maths if you like

 

[Cardinalsrule]

no, no problem. I trust your math. Just noticed that it didn't go up by 100 points. Carry on!

 

[masterjskye]

That's a cool site, TH. Everyone please put your times in there.

I was thinking of a way to move the meta away from this way of "posting first get advantage". It's been a recurring problem, and while teams with a few territories may feel that the problem is mostly fixed, when you get down to 1 territory and it gets taken a second before you could post that definitely doesn't feel great. I do quite like being able to be reactionary, as in having these 24 hours to revise plans or whatever, but maybe there is an alternative.

We could get some kind outside volunteer to be the guy we all send our move orders to. Once a phase opens, all moves for that round are submitted in one go directly to that person via the mail system. So move submission becomes a secret thing, behind closed doors. When it ends, the helper posts everyone's lists of moves on the forum.

The moves will then be processed by me, getting slotted into their respective loops. Since all their moves were submitted as one long list or cypher, a team that gets picked for the first loop has a pretty damn high chance of being first in the subsequent loops, till such time as they run out of moves or get stopped somehow in-game. So, it really gives an advantage to being first (obviously). Wondering how it will be determined which loop they get in to? Here is the bit i particularly like.

I propose that the win percentage scoreboard I have made be put to a practical use in the metagame. Right now it serves as a way to gauge a teams performance and to show off. What we could use it for is to determine what loop your initial move (and any valid moves after that) gets slotted into.

The way it would work is that the team who is in last place on the win percentage scoreboard would actually get their list of moves put in first. Second last would get theirs implemented next, and so on. This is good because it gives the struggling teams a bit of a leg-up and really makes it easier to avoid getting pinned down in microseconds. It balances out, too because the teams that are doing better are generally going to be earning more move orders (you would expect), so they can probably afford to submit many more moves than the other teams, which essentially means there are many later loops where they will get free reign to do what they like unopposed.

A lot of what we're doing here is laying the groundwork for the next season, and trying to find both the fairest and most fun way. A few teams have suffered because of the current way, and a few have benefited. I would like to take that out of the equation really.

 

[BadElmer]

That's a cool site, TH. Everyone please put your times in there.

I was thinking of a way to move the meta away from this way of "posting first get advantage". It's been a recurring problem, and while teams with a few territories may feel that the problem is mostly fixed, when you get down to 1 territory and it gets taken a second before you could post that definitely doesn't feel great. I do quite like being able to be reactionary, as in having these 24 hours to revise plans or whatever, but maybe there is an alternative.

We could get some kind outside volunteer to be the guy we all send our move orders to. Once a phase opens, all moves for that round are submitted in one go directly to that person via the mail system. So move submission becomes a secret thing, behind closed doors. When it ends, the helper posts everyone's lists of moves on the forum.

The moves will then be processed by me, getting slotted into their respective loops. Since all their moves were submitted as one long list or cypher, a team that gets picked for the first loop has a pretty damn high chance of being first in the subsequent loops, till such time as they run out of moves or get stopped somehow in-game. So, it really gives an advantage to being first (obviously). Wondering how it will be determined which loop they get in to? Here is the bit i particularly like.

I propose that the win percentage scoreboard I have made be put to a practical use in the metagame. Right now it serves as a way to gauge a teams performance and to show off. What we could use it for is to determine what loop your initial move (and any valid moves after that) gets slotted into.

The way it would work is that the team who is in last place on the win percentage scoreboard would actually get their list of moves put in first. Second last would get theirs implemented next, and so on. This is good because it gives the struggling teams a bit of a leg-up and really makes it easier to avoid getting pinned down in microseconds. It balances out, too because the teams that are doing better are generally going to be earning more move orders (you would expect), so they can probably afford to submit many more moves than the other teams, which essentially means there are many later loops where they will get free reign to do what they like unopposed.

A lot of what we're doing here is laying the groundwork for the next season, and trying to find both the fairest and most fun way. A few teams have suffered because of the current way, and a few have benefited. I would like to take that out of the equation really.

These were my thoughts today as well master, including the last in win percentage going first. The only problems I foresee are that in the first round (of future metagames) everybody's win percentage is equal and that ties will still need resolved.

I also like the thought of the helper, but if using one anyway maybe an all-orders-at-once system would be better than the loops, removing all advantage from order altogether?

 

[masterjskye]

How can there be an all at once system? I don't understand how that can be possible with siege, and multiple teams attacking the same target.

 

[Cardinalsrule]

I like that idea for the next game. But, if we know the move order going in, do we need a 'secret' person to send our moves to?

Nice poll, th. I like the idea of trying to find an acceptable time for everyone. Unfortunately, after only 6 of the remaining 20 players have posted, we already have 0 times that are yes or (yes) for everyone, lol

 

[masterjskye]

Actually, I believe I have someone for that already, but I would have to check he's still up for it. Malpot offered me help with the meta if ever I needed it.

 

[namelochil]

I like that idea for the next game. But, if we know the move order going in, do we need a 'secret' person to send our moves to?

Nice poll, th. I like the idea of trying to find an acceptable time for everyone. Unfortunately, after only 6 of the remaining 20 players have posted, we already have 0 times that are yes or (yes) for everyone, lol

Perhaps we'll have better luck finding a time that is convenient for at least one player per team, rather than all players?

 

[BadElmer]

How can there be an all at once system? I don't understand how that can be possible with siege, and multiple teams attacking the same target.

I guess what I was imagining is getting pretty far from where we're at now and, upon second thought, may reduce rather than increase dynamic play altogether. Disregard.

 

[hat7rick]

There should be priority for teams who have less moves available to get at least their first move going.. Right now we only have 1 territory and because sebrim & smi were waiting like hawks over the clock and posted their move first attacking us we didn't get to use any moves. Doesn't sound right to me .

 

[Cardinalsrule]

yeah, no doubt the luck of getting moves in early changes the game. I'm in favor of making the moves reverse order from number of terts or win percentage.

 

[Sebrim]

how about using the amount of move orders? That would not have helped hat7rick this round, but neither would win percentage....

 

[namelochil]

There should be priority for teams who have less moves available to get at least their first move going.. Right now we only have 1 territory and because sebrim & smi were waiting like hawks over the clock and posted their move first attacking us we didn't get to use any moves. Doesn't sound right to me .

You guys could've stormtroopered like marc and ndrm did last round.....

 

[hat7rick]

You guys could've stormtroopered like marc and ndrm did last round.....

?? we were under attack, rules say you can't attack if you are under siege. I thought stormtroopers didn't bypass this rule