Alright, I'll get cracking on it. In the meantime, I'm still up for suggestions on the specifics of it. Already I've changed it a good bit compared with the first draft based on discussions here, and I'm happy with those changes. Would you be fine with me rolling a random map, in order to be able to play it unspoiled myself?
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Imperium 40 Opens Monday!
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January 12th, 2014, 12:12
(This post was last modified: January 12th, 2014, 14:04 by WhiteMage.)
 (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: By your definition, if someone's trackpad glitches or their cat jumps on their keyboard with results that completely wreck their game, if they load to the last save before it happened (which is - at worst - the beginning of the same turn if they're using kyrub's patch anyway) it's a "cheat load. (NO EXCEPTIONS!)"Yes, misclick, cat jumping on keyboard are part of game and not enough reason for a reload. Keep them coming. Power failure is one issue that warrants a load, but does not count as cheat load. It has to be genuine power failure and not intentional. If happens too often, then it needs a resolution for tournament, but on the individual level players can do whatever they want. I play exact same moves and accept new outcomes (better or worse). (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: Also by your definition, relying on the exploitation of things like this bug and/or this one to win the game is not cheating.Correct. These are not cheating. They are part of the game and simply abusing them does not guarantee a win. Using the missiles against the AI is not a cheat in my game. By the way, that is better to be called an AI weakness and an exploit. Not really a bug. When playing with my earlier stated rules if you do not use the missile exploit, you almost certainly lose. Besides, I did not like your explanations about how to not use it based on "Don't fire missiles unless you expect them to hit". We need clear rules, which apply to all cases and do not require extensive computations by the player to determine applicability or up for interpretation. Or as you stated "If you're not sure if the AI will dodge them or not, don't strain yourself worrying about it" hardly qualifies as a rule. I was looking for a short list of clear rules that apply to all cases. As far as I know, the Mrrshan destroyed by Mrrshan message you refer to is only a printing error. GNN shows the message slightly inaccurately. I don't know how to use this "bug" for my advantage. Please explain. (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: a line like "(NO EXCEPTIONS!)" has no place in a ruleset for a friendly game. For me a cheat free game is a friendly game … and a friendly game is a cheat free game. Whether played for my fun alone or part of a tournament online. (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: Neither does accusing anyone of cheating. Apparently you have not played enough competitive games online to have an idea about how extensive problem cheating really is. People have different concepts of cheating and many may not even realize it. Among others, I played Heroes of Might and Magic III, Age of Empires II, and Battle for Wesnoth and got ranked really high on each. Then I had to face the harsh reality that moving further up absolutely required cheating from my part, which I refused to do. That is because several top players cheated on a regular basis and sometimes even bragged about it. That is different from accusing someone for cheating. There were even cash tournaments. And I am not stating that every top ranked player in those games cheat. I simply proposed rules to maximize challenge and therefore fun. By proposing new rules here I don't see how I accused anyone. Apparently you are accusing me for accusing others.  (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: if you don't want to worry about remembering all the exploit rules Yes, but that is not my main point here. The point is that I believe that I found a short list of rules, that expert MOO players can play and will be prompted to use their full knowledge about the game including using exploits and still risk being beaten. If the testing shows that my estimated 50% is way off, say <25% or >75%, then further tuning of the rules will be necessary. So for now, please show me the exploit that is so severe that allows you to win under my rules >75% of the time. I mean it, for the common good of the community. (January 12th, 2014, 01:09)RefSteel Wrote: if an insane philanthropist (GNN: "A wealthy merchant has donated...") decides to start offering cash rewards to Imperium winners ... ... I was going to say I would have to think about tightening up the rules, but actually even in that case, I would propose the cash be used to help fund Zeraan's "Beyond Beyaan" and/or Arantor's new project instead.This is noble and I agree. Too bad that the chance for this is very low. Please someone prove me wrong on this.
Penultimate final draft:
Race: Darloks Map: Large, Impossible, 5 opponents, first randomly rolled map accepted Scoring: Based solely on how fast you capture Orion (everybody should feel free to continue playing afterwards, of course) Variants: 1) Colony ship rule remains in place, adding Battle Scanner as another way to increase your level 2) No espionage! (can't steal techs, sabotage allowed) 3) Tech trading and asking AIs to break alliances or declare war is not allowed 4) Other than colony ships, unarmed ships not allowed (you can make long range fighters right away, should not be a big deal and it's simple to follow) 5) Starting tech list: Still subject to revision, speak up if you have any suggestions. You have a total ground combat bonus of +20%, making early conquest feasible. Early factories will be less cost efficient, so you will probably not want to max out your production before doing anything else. You have a lot of tech for early warships, but most of the specific techs are not that great so you'll want replacements soon.
I do have an idea for softening it up, though. I wanted to limit espionage, as you're simply not going to bother with sabotage missions when espionage is available. I couldn't think of a good way to limit it short of a total ban. However, how about letting the player steal max 2 techs from each enemy race? It's not too difficult to keep track of (can even make it 1 tech), and requires you to make some tough decisions about when to use your free steals.
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