Imperium 41 – All reports and discussions are made here for Imperium 41

[WhiteMage]

Imperium 41 Tournament – designed, generated, play tested, and offered by: WhiteMage
Referee: WhiteMage
Referee Email: arpad.kelemen at gmail.com

Main tournament design principles in decreasing order: 1. Make tournament as competitive as possible. 2. Create rules that are applicable to all situations, nonambiguous, easy to understand, easy to remember, and small in numbers. 3. Create setup and rules, which allow repeated random game generation, each of which are to be won by today's best MOO1 player using best effort by a 50% probability against the AI. 4. Create generic rules that encourage utilization of as many game features as possible.

Tournament opens: now. See date and time of this posting.
Tournament ends: exactly 2 months after this posting date as per Realmsbeyond's displayed time stamp.

Setup:
0. Play Kyrub's 1.40m – You must install and use this version on top of MOO v1.3
1. Random galaxy size from small, medium, large. Actual rolled galaxy size: large
2. Impossible
3. 4 opponents
4. Random race: Klackon
5. Random color: White
6. Scrap all ships in year 2300
7. Players must fill all empty green fields and optionally fill empty yellow fields in Excel (see below) as the game progresses. If you enter a year then always report game year that is/would be displayed in Races => Status immediately before the event. If you forget to fill a field, load an earlier game state after you won/lost the game to find out the missing data items.


This is where the game is saved for participants to start.

Important rules:
1a. No cheat: Using cheat code, hacking save file, maphack, looking at information that the game does not provide, resetting AI personality, discussing game content with anyone other than the referee during tournament, playing the game more than once are examples of, but not a full list of cheating. Using game features including exploits is not a cheat. You can use buttons B and C during game to scrap missile bases and see spying results. Ignore any earlier rules and customs any earlier Imperium required.

1b. No cheat load: You must accept all new situations in the game that emerge. These include but not limited to: had a bad headache and played poorly, got distracted and made a mistake, younger brother made a move while you were away from keyboard, unlucky event in game, losing colony ship to Guardian, got assassinated, slipped mouse, premature next turn push, etc.
If you were forced to go back to an earlier game state than the last one (saved or not), due to event you could not have possibly controlled, then last save must be used and exact same moves must be done in same order. In this case the second outcome can be different and must be accepted (better, same, or worse). In this case, you can continue to play the tournament. If this happens in your game, then you must report it to the referee as part of your final report in Excel.
Every time you must save your game immediately before quitting. Last save may or may not be an autosave and must load last save every time you load.

2. All ship designs must have weapon, but no biological weapon.

3. Never use transport.

No exceptions to any rules above. Ask referee in this thread if you are not sure about a rule, need clarification if an action counts as cheating, or general questions on this Imperium. Do not post a question that is specific to your in-game situation. Email those to the referee. Posting your in-game situation before the end of the tournament here or elsewhere is an automatic disqualification from the tournament.
Violating any of the rules 1-3 is an automatic disqualification from this tournament.


Anti-micromanagement rule (soft rule):

4. Limit reserve infusion to 1 time per planet in each turn.

This will be used as a soft rule in this tournament. If you accidentally miss this, you must report it as part of your final report in Excel. You may continue to play in this tournament. The number of times it happens is irrelevant. Violating rule 4 is only used as a tie-breaker of equal scores from 2 or more players.

Score = year you defeat Guardian + year final war starts + year you win game by eliminating last opponent - 6900. The lower the score, the better. Players must report a value of 10000 for any unachieved objective in Excel.
Tie is broken as follows: player who did not violate rule 4 wins the tiebreak against player who violated rule 4. If still at tie, then player who correctly and completely filled out the standard game report Excel spreadsheet's yellow fields wins the tiebreak. If still at tie, then player who was forced fewer times to go back to an earlier game state than the last one, due to event he/she could not have possibly controlled, wins the tiebreak. If still at tie, then player whose email containing the final results as given by the specifications below is received first by the referee wins the tiebreak.


How to participate in the tournament:

Step 1: Study the rules above. Download and Install MOO v1.40m into a separate folder from any other MOO installations on your computer to make sure that all auto-saves are preserved. Use this installation to play this tournament only. Otherwise if you play another game in parallel, auto-saves will be overwritten. Clean out any old save games from the folder where the tournament's save games will be stored.

Step 2: Download the attached Imperium41.zip file. Extract it into game file and the corresponding official game report Excel file. Open both up and make sure they work. Start filling out the file's empty green fields as appropriate. Sample template is provided in the Excel file's top portion in red. Do not overwrite any existing content. Do not reorganize cell order in any way. Changing cell width is acceptable.

Step 3: Declare your entry into this tournament by posting the following into this thread: "I voluntarily enter the Imperium41 tournament. I have read all instructions, rules, and steps required to play this tournament. I agree to abide by them all at all times for the sake of fair competition in this tournament and for accurate data collection to further improve the tournament."

Step 4: Play the game only once while the tournament is open.

Step 5 (Optional): Fill out the attached Excel spreadsheet's yellow fields as you progress in the game or when you won/lost the game.

Step 6: After you won/lost your game, make sure that all empty green fields are correctly filled. Optionally make sure that all applicable empty yellow fields are filled.

Step 7: Compress this Excel file and all your autosave files (typically >200) from this tournament into a single .zip file, such as YourDisplayedUserIDHereImperium41.zip (I would create: WhiteMageImperium41.zip).

Step 8: Email this zip file to the referee email address given above. In the email subject write "Imperium41 final report from" then add YourDisplayedUserIDHere. Any deviation from these given steps may result in rejected submission and in severe cases, disqualification from the tournament.

Step 9 (Optional): in MS Word write detailed report for others to read. Do not email that content to referee.

Step 10: Do not post your results yet. Do not discuss game yet with anyone, except referee. Wait until the tournament ends.

Step 11: Never post your zip file with your official game report. Those will be posted by the referee for all players.

Step 12 (Optional). Once tournament end date is reached according to Realmsbeyond time stamp, post the content of your optional MS Word report.


Done by referee:

Step 13: Referee reviews all game reports and declares all placements: first, second, third, fourth, etc., disqualifications, reasons for such, and official combined standardized tournament results in Excel. All players who declared entry into the tournament will be acknowledged and rated according to the stated rules above.

Step 14. Referee prepares and posts a summary on conclusions, lessons learned, and future plans for the tournament.


Done by anyone who reads this forum:

Step 15 (optional): look for possible errors and problems in any report or processes in the execution of the tournament and report it to the forum.

[Dp101]

So basically 1B means that players can lose the game due to random chance.

[WhiteMage]

So basically 1B means that players can lose the game due to random chance.

Yes, but state the reason why if it happens. So future change can be made to the tournament if needed. Based on data, not theory alone. MOO1 is a game with an element of chance: lots of chance.

[WhiteMage]

I checked the instructions and the excel sheet and everything makes sense. Here we go:

I voluntarily enter the Imperium41 tournament. I have read all instructions, rules, and steps required to play this tournament. I agree to abide by them all at all times for the sake of fair competition in this tournament and for accurate data collection to further improve the tournament.

It's probably good to create a separate directory/copy of Master of Orion to make sure that all auto-saves are preserved. Otherwise if you play another game in parallel they'll get overwritten.

Also, I checked and the very first turns don't get auto-saved but it's possible to use save slots 2 to 6:
- beginning of 2301 - save 2
- beginning of 2302 - save 3
- beginning of 2303 - save 4
- beginning of 2304 - save 5
- beginning of 2305 - save 6
- beginning of 2306 and onward - gets autosaved starting from save8 and counting (the number on the save is always 2298 less than the number of the year)

Great suggestions. I amended Step 1 to address your first issue.
Your second issue makes perfect sense too, but I choose not to mention because I don't want to impose additional requirements for players. It is too easy to forget or miss. The first few turns will remain a black box for now. But individual players may choose to do as you proposed.

[Zygot]

Please clarify the following rules for me:

1) Is it allowed to use a helper spreadsheet like MOOSE (linked in my sig)? It does not analyze game data or save games, just assists with keeping track of one's own actions and the planning of your strategy.

2) Are bioweapons categorically disallowed, or is it simply that they do not count as a weapon towards the "all ship designs must have weapons" rule?

3) "Never use transport" -- so newly settled colonies must naturally grow themselves from the 2 million colony ship, and I cannot invade enemy colonies with troops?

4) "Limit reserve infusion to 1 time per planet in each turn" -- so on any given turn I can infuse as many of my planets as I wish, but each of them only once that turn?

[WhiteMage]

Please clarify the following rules for me:

1) Is it allowed to use a helper spreadsheet like MOOSE (linked in my sig)? It does not analyze game data or save games, just assists with keeping track of one's own actions and the planning of your strategy.

Thanks for asking this question.
Based on reading the forum here and http://www.expertoforion.com I understand that Moose 0.4.0 is a standalone Excel and LibreOffice file, which does not interface with any other program or data file. It only depends on user manually entering input. Is this all correct?
If so, then its use is allowed and the entire class of tools, which meet these criteria are allowed. Please declare it during the game report though for data collection. There is no scoring penalty associated with its use.

Other tools, which interface with other data files or programs will have to be evaluated deeper.

Also, your tool looks great by reading about it. Please consider joining our development team for Beyond Beyaan. Send me email if interested.

2) Are bioweapons categorically disallowed, or is it simply that they do not count as a weapon towards the "all ship designs must have weapons" rule?

Total ban on bioweapons. You can never design a ship that has any biological weapon.

3) "Never use transport" -- so newly settled colonies must naturally grow themselves from the 2 million colony ship, and I cannot invade enemy colonies with troops?

Correct. Total ban on transport. Not for disease, not for rebelling colony, not for 0 population owned colony, etc. You can never order a transport to leave any colony.

4) "Limit reserve infusion to 1 time per planet in each turn" -- so on any given turn I can infuse as many of my planets as I wish, but each of them only once that turn?

Correct.

[Zygot]

Thanks for asking this question.
Based on reading the forum here and http://www.expertoforion.com I understand that Moose 0.4.0 is a standalone Excel and LibreOffice file, which does not interface with any other program or data file. It only depends on user manually entering input. Is this all correct?

Yes, that is correct.

Thanks for the other clarifications.

"I voluntarily enter the Imperium41 tournament. I have read all instructions, rules, and steps required to play this tournament. I agree to abide by them all at all times for the sake of fair competition in this tournament and for accurate data collection to further improve the tournament."

[WhiteMage]

Thanks thrawn and Zygot for entering the tournament so quickly. I see that there were 5 additional downloads within the first 3 days, which is good. I encourage others too to declare entry into the tournament. Don't just declare it when you are finished playing the game and you like your results. We would like to know about all attempts for better, more accurate data collection and future tournaments.

Don't worry about not being able to meet all 3 objectives. That should not hold you back from participating. If you can meet at least one of them, you will get a score that may be higher than some other player's score. Meeting just one objective is far easier than meeting all 3. Since we have very few people who played in recent tournaments, we currently only have one division to compete in. Let's finish this tournament with maximum possible participation so we will know better which direction to go. Regarding the game report, I expect real data and honest opinions. So I will better learn where we stand.

Thanks and good luck to all participants!

[toddestan]

This sounds interesting. I should be able to give this a go sometime before August 12th.

"I voluntarily enter the Imperium 41 tournament. I have read all instructions, rules, and steps required to play this tournament. I agree to abide by them all at all times for the sake of fair competition in this tournament and for accurate data collection to further improve the tournament."

On a technical note, I don't have MS Excel. I assume that filling out the spreadsheet in OpenOffice should be fine?

[WhiteMage]

On a technical note, I don't have MS Excel. I assume that filling out the spreadsheet in OpenOffice should be fine?

Should be fine. Can you convert it from Excel and send it back to me unchanged so I can verify?