There have been many suggestions for a meaningful
scoring system in multiplayer games in Stellar Crisis. Unfortunately,
none have been implemented other than the bridler for 2 player games.
The classic score rewards those whom have played for the longest and
makes no distinction in the win column between a mass ally out and
the sole surviving winner of a hard fought blood game. At this web
page, Gooseberry makes a proposal that solves many of these problems,
but has the one weakness of being difficult to understand. However,
the underlying principals are sound, and with a little tweaking could
make a very good measure of a player based on the quality of opponents
they play, and irregardless of the type of games the participate in.
Using Gooseberry’s proposal as a basis, here is the scoring system
I propose. Every player receives a beginning score of 100 or 1000
or whatever number, it really doesn’t matter since it will work the
same. When a player enters a game, 10% of their current score is entered
into the game as points in the pool to be won. With a minimum of 2
points regardless of how low their score is. The player however does
not lose any points till he/she wins or loses in the game later on.
Half the points are entered into the nuke pool and the other half
of the go into the win pool. Each Nuke is worth the amount in the
nuke pool/ divided by the number of players – 1 Any remainder goes
to the last player to be nuked( Or the Runner-Up ) If not every player
is nuked in the game, those points left over are returned to the last
player nuked thus giving a reason to survive in a gangbang, or be
the last empire nuked in an alliance game. This makes winning using
an alliance more costly.Since this is meant to be a measure of how
well you play, not how good of allies you have chosen. The winner
or winners of the game split the win pool evenly on completion of
the game and forfeit the points they would of gained from nuking each
other.
Lets say that that a player starting gets
100 points. If 2 good players with 250 points join and 2 newbies join
with a 100 points, the 2 better players will contribute 25 points
each while the newbies 10 points each. That adds up to a total of
70 points into the 2 pools of the game. 35 will go into the nuke pool
and 35 will go into the win pool for the game. That makes each nuke
in the game worth 11 points (35/3 ignoring remainders) None of the
players will lose any points they contributed until they exit the
game. Now lets look at some possible scenarios and see what could
happen here.
Scenario 1 – The ally out
Many games end up in an ally out. If all 4 players decide to ally
and end the game – what happens. Well since there was no nukes, There
is no last player nuked, so all the points in the nuke pool are lost.
Then the total in the win pile is distributed evenly amongst the 4
players which would be 8.25 points per player, or 8 disregarding the
fraction. The 2 newbies contribute 10 points each and gain 8 for a
loss of 2 points each, while the 2 better players contribute 25 points
and gain 8 for a loss of 17 points each. As you could see, allying
out is no longer a way of padding your stats if you are a better player.
In the case of tecnical difficulties, perhaps
the draw option could be used. returning all original point vested,
to all the empires - including those that were nuked.
Scenario 2 – Picking on the newbies
The 2 more experienced players ally and nuke out the newbies, each
nuking one empire and sharing the win. Each nuke is worth is worth
11 points since 35/3 = 11 when disregarding fractions. The 13 remaining
nuke points go to the newbie that survived the longest so each of
the winning empires divides the 35 points in the win pile (17) and
11 points for the nuke for a total of 17 + 11 = 28 points. When this
total is subtracted by the original 25 that were invested, the 2 winning
empires only gain 3 points each. Not a lot. The first newbie out drops
their original 10 points and now has 90 total so they only have to
contribute 9 points in the next game. The newbie that held on the
longest loses the original 10 he contributed but is awarded the 13
remaining nuke points for a gain of 3 points!
Scenario 3 – The newbies school the veterans
If good empires try to make a habit of snacking on tons of weak players,
eventually they will get a bad map or come across a good player with
a new name. This time, the new players team up and nuke the 2 vets.
Each Nuke is still worth 11 points each and the combined win is worth
35 split between the 2 empires but since thy only contributed 10 points
and they win 28 (17 for the win 11 for 1 nuke) they profit 18 points
each, or 6 times the amount the vets would of. They now have 118 points
each. The vets lose the 25 points they invested into the game; one
dropping to 225 points, or 2 and ½ time what the newbies would of
lost! The one that is nuked the last gets the 13 remaining nuke points
and cuts their losses to 12 points. So playing new or weak empires
would have little benefiet and enormous risk if the game is lost.
Scenario 4 – The Gangbang This is where
this system really shines!
One vet convinces the 2 newer players to go after the other veteran.
The gangbanged empire manages to allow a newbie to nuke him as opposed
to the veteran. He loses 25 points and gains 24 of the remaining nuke
points for a loss of only 1! The winning veteran splits the 35 points
with winning newbies for 11 points but since he invested 25 in the
game – he loses 14 points. While one of the newbies gains 2 and the
one that nuked gets 13. Ganging up would greatly hamper the points
you could win and if you are a good player and sharing your winnings
with weak and new players could cost you points! Also, the more unfair
the gangbang, the more remaining nuke points the victim is compensated.
Scenario 5 – One winner takes all
The veterans each take a newbie under their wing. Newbie 1 manages
to nuke the other newbie and be the last one out while Veteran 2 manages
to nuke both emps on the other team for the win. Newbie 1 gets 11
points for 1 nuke plus the 2 remaining nuke points in the pot for
13. After his ten is taken into account he wins 3 points. The winner
gets 22 points for 2 nukes plus the whole win pot of 35 to himself,
for a grand total of 57 points! He nets 27 after his original 25 are
taken into account. The losing veteran loses his 25 and the nukeless,
winless newbie loses his original contribution of 10.
Grudge Games
Obviously there will be no Last Out points given in grudge games.
Both players contribute their 10%, the winner gets all, unless the
loser ruins, in which the victor forfeits the nuke points. In the
event of a draw the points are split evenly, which means the better
player will lose points and the lesser player will gain points. Just
like the case in chess, where forcing a draw against a superior opponent
is considered a win.
Blood Games
Merely surviving in a blood game is tough! Therefore, the nuke pot
is split by how many players there are instead of number of players
– 1. This means that the final player out will gain the equivalent
of a nuke plus any remainder for coming in second. The winner will
be generously rewarded with the points of at least one nuke and the
whole win pot. In the case of a draw (which should not even be available
in a blood!) Every player gets the points they contributed back, even
those that were nuked or ruined. The only excuse for drawing a blood
is technical difficulties, it is not a replacement for allying out!
Questions About this System
Wouldn’t this system reward those that played
longer?
Yes, if you beat good players consistently for a long time. However
if you had a losing streak, or lost to a weak player, you would come
tumbling down very fast since you always invest 10 % of your current
score no matter how high it is. If you are the all time winner at
lugdunum with 1000 more wins than losses, losing 10 games in a row
would barely affect your standings. In this scenarios, losing 10 games
could knock you down from # 1 to a negative score
Couldn’t superb players playing empires
with no established record demolish well-established players standings
by watering down the points available?
Well, yes and no. First off, if a great player starts a new empire
and beats a few established players, he would quickly rise in the
standings and no longer drain away the points available in the games.
The beaten empire now would have odds in their favor and could quickly
reestablish themselves by beating quality players. Secondly, one way
to preserve your record if you’re an elite player is to play other
elite players, not to hunt for newbies and poor players so you can
bloat your nuke/win record
Say the alliances are a fair 4 on 4 or 5
on 5 in the beginning and one team fairly beats the other team to
the last man. Is it fair to give the remaining nuke points of the
4 or 5 remaining empires to the last empire out, on the losing team?
Unfortunately, it is impossible for a system to distinguish an unfair
4 on 1 gangbang from the mop up of a fair 4 on 4 battle. An elite
player will in most cases be the last one out on the losing side,
so giving him a reward for fighting to the bitter end to cut his loses,
in most cases is a good idea. Also in a 4 on 4, if all 4 empires on
the winning team are still around when only one of the other team
is left, it’s unlikely that the teams were evenly match in the first
place. If the winning team loses an ally or two in a hard fight, the
survivors will be rewarded accordingly and the last out on the losing
team will not gain as much compensation.
What if the last player out is a ruiner?
There is no extra penalty for ruining point wise. However, all the
remaining nuke points are lost to everyone if the last player out
ruins, or allies out with the remainder. No reward of remaining nuke
points is given to a ruiner. You have to fight if you want to be compensated.
What if the last player out surrenders?
In order to prevent abuse of surrenders, they are treated as nukes.
The player who surrenders, if last out, gets remaining nuke points,
and the first player to colonize his HW gets the nuke points. (Sorry
Gooseberry, it would be too easy to surrender when you are just about
to be nuked)
What if there is a tie of 2 or more players
for last out?
Only one player can receive the last out points. This would discourage
mass surrenders that could deny rightful nukes to the victors. If
there is no rightful last out empire, the nuke remainder goes unclaimed.
Since remainders are truncated and unclaimed
nuke points lost, wouldn’t the total points in the system slowly decay
over time?
Yes it would assuming no new empires joined. However, whenever a new
empire plays, new points are added to the system. Also the system
is meant to be a little cannibalistic in order to make sure that no
one is ever going to get so far ahead, that they can never be caught.
The number 1 player is always only a loss or two away from being in
the middle of the heap! How would it be in sports if a team could
win so many times that they could lose 10-20 or even a 100 games in
a row and still be ranked number #1? This is possible in the current,
total win base stats that SC has now.
Would it be possible to have negative points?
Yes it would! Since 10% of your current score is the price to join
a game, and since those points are not subtracted till you leave the
game by winning or being nuked, all you have to do is join 11 or more
daily games and lose them all. Your score will be negative till you
win some points back but in whatever game you join, you will always
contribute at least 2 points, no mater how bad your score is! Of course
if you continue to lose you will lose 2 points and go further and
further into the hole till you quit and start a new empire, or the
SC Loan Sharks declare you a nuke baby and retire your empire for
good.
What about grudges?
Grudges would be the same. There would be no last out points, but
the nuke points could be lost to the victor if the loser ruins. Bridler
scores could still be used to determine who the best grudge players
are, where this score would be more of an overall score for all SC
games.
How would the rankings work?
Whoever has the most points is number #1. Players need to play so
many games before being ranked. Say 5-10 games to be included in the
rankings.
