Thanks Ray, the anomalous score happened only once to my very first game played on v1.1. I deleted all my old saves which I usually over write during a game. That or dumb luck fixed my problem.

Guys, I am sorry but ... I am quiting the Metaverse. I am very unhappy with the new scoring system. I like strategy in my games and I find that using cheese to win is not strategy.

I will stay in the Empire and I will play GC, but I do not think I will be posting a score for awhile. I like to play Normal, Tough or maybe even Challenging but nothing harder.

After Challenging I find that the AI advantages reduce my play to cheese tactics just to win. That makes the game not fun anymore.

I enjoyed the Metaverse during v1.05. There seemed to be much more comraderie between vetern and newbie players talking real strategy and of course some cheese.

Now it is only about the MASO score and how to get that score high for submission to the Metaverse.

Arghh... no its not... its about friendsship.. and the forum as well... I've written to frogboy about how to make things better.. (in another thread on the forum.. which should make everyone happy... Please don't leave

You will be missed..

So will all thouse who leave/retire .. Its a change.. the metavers is an intidy place.. always going through changes.. as far as i know the actual scoring system has changed at least 3 times.. I don't think that this will be the last either..

Please talk about your problems.. and also try to come up with suggestions on ways to fix what you think is wrong.. Don't just throw in the towel.. its not the ANZAC way...

I will not leave the ANZACs or the forums. I just won't be posting scores for awhile.

The ladies ... Rainbird and Cotal , several top posters such as yourself, Mr Evil Steve, Ray, Wombat and BAKKA are why I will stay active in the forums.

brad, you should have a looksee at what i do viz scorin'. i ain't interested in maxing me score, simply havin' fun playin'. however, every score counts, so i iz posting dem. but i az never got above 10K. does i care? iz da pope a caflick? does da brisbane bears do it in da woods? h'exhactly.

so if u iz playin', u might az well be submittin'

cripplin' iz me favourite. i az never beaten maso and i don't care.

i must say, day iz givin us da edge

Newfy: it's cool - I'll probably slow down a lot too; just hang on to what you like about the place. I may try maso now and again but am more likely to take Evil Steve's approach. Just want to say it's good to have you around and it'll be good if you STAY around, in whatever capacity you decide is good for you. Now go have some poutine, a few cold beers, and we'll talk soon, OK? Cheers, mate!

Newfy I can appreciate how you feel, I think I might take a break for a while too. Although I'm enjoying playing more difficult levels (?) I'm a bit burnt out and real life (my family is returning from overseas this week) issues will mean I just won't have time pretty soon . . .

Jeff and Rainbird your posts cracked me up completely! Hillarious stuff LOL .

I have to say the last game I played (maso/huge) was the wierdest one ever . . . it was a complete spin out!!!

I had a great start (5 planets in one sector, 3 with a PQ over 20 due to colinization events) plus a further 3 planets in adjacent sectors of average quality . . . wow! But that wasn't the strange thing . . . somehow I managed to build just about all the TG's and Wonders in the game (missed about three but even got the evil ones later on).

This made no sense to me at all because on numerous occasions the AI had ample time and oportunity to build them? As an example Life Force/Dark Side, Artificial Slaves/Advanced Slavery and the Hyper-Distribution Center I built after trading tech for tech with the Altarians long after they got Beyond Human with a bomming economy to boot . . . None of the AIs bothered building Wonders.

I honestly felt like I was playing 'Calk Walk' during most of the game . . . To add to this ridiculous streak of luck my scientist seemed to steal literaly dozens of techs from the AI along the way including some of the long ones at the end . . . what gives? Has this ever happened to anyone else . . . is there a 'COW' Level on Maso Huge . . . very, very strange.

The only thing I did out of the ordinary was chose 'Populists' at the start rather than 'Pacifists' which I usually play . . . :notsure:


Actually on second thought there is something else I did which I never tried befor (suggested by Rainbird), I Started topping up all my deals with influence points! Infact the Minors who were reasonably strong in the first half of the game through my assistance gave me heaps of it . . . I also finally worked out exactly (I think how) influence works.

There seems to be some invisible point value of influence (probably based on the overall influence value everybody emminates) beyond which you are considered 'cool' . . . For example . . . As you know I like to Ally as early as I can . . . the Arceans wouldn't go for it until I had more influence them them in the particular game I mentioned above. I got about 3500 influence after doing the rounds (trading etc) and presto! They fell in love with me and offered an Alliance . . .

On Maso I'm starting to think (as Rainbird eluded to) that influence points are critical as they supposedly reflect your true cultural worth regardless of the alignment of the other AIs . . . ? Just a thought (and perhaps a potencial exploit . . . ?)

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Thanks for all your support. You won't get rid of me.
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I hadn't noticed this, but will look out for it from now on. That does sound like a weird game...

The heavens sing her name

Cotal

Once again on top of the saintly knights of the metaverse.

My many moods . . . LOL (:( :notsure: and who could ever forget :VOMIT:

I finally beat maso gigantic! Yeay! . . . Numf, I kinda figured out a surefire way (I think) to win at maso in the last couple of games involving 'hording influence points' (Rainbird actually gave me the idea . . . she's a genius!) . . . just snuk over 200k too . . . hehe @ 69 games that's a kack! I think I'll take a very long break and watch our empire cruise into 3rd . . . hopefully.

Might try writting some steamy and contravecial naratives . . . like the old times mmm . . .

Congrats Cotal on the gigantic maso win

I just managed the same, though I think it will be the last gigantic game for me as my comp couldn't really handle the size. (pats poor old computer for a job well done)

Oh and Newfy glad your staying mate!

~SDC~

A score of 200001, hey, Cotal?

I suppose you're one of the people who always squeezes one more cent out of petrol pumps when it gets rounded down. lol, j/k. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Congrats!

I fired up a gigantic map once, just to see what I was missing out on. The constant churning on my hard drive told me trying to play it wasn't a good idea.

How do you manage the galactic resources spread out all over the place? I have a hard enough time with that on small maps.


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Thanks Cotal.Us women have always been the un sung heroes, right through evolution. Keeping things going, giving hubby or the boss new ideas...no, not that kind.
(violins kick in ) Slaving away 24/7....wonder if that expression will go into the dictionary?
Sorry, what was I saying?
You should know. I shouldn't have to explain everything. LOL

Damn this time difference.
I miss everyone elses posts. Things I would like to comment on get lost and the moment is gone.

Glad you are staying Newfyscotian.
What you need is a nice hot bath and a ..no evil, not a Bex!

Congratulations Cotal.
That's another thing I can't keep up with, the scores.

Cotal - well played and congrats on 200,000!

I did write Ray a story for his 200,000 - but I've already put you in one...great work kiddo!
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LMAO My vomit smile was edited! Good call actualy I thought better of it but it was too late to change my post . . .

Stydracos WOW! All I can say is well done and I'm glad your on our side!

Thanks for your kind praises all! Getting there by one point with a gigantic was blind luck . . . In pure ANZAC Republican tradition more Arse than Class! LOL . . .

I'm starting to think those sleepy empires we just past over the last couple of days are beguining to wake up . . . hehe.


Wild Wombat -



Setting the map planet population to rare helps alot, nevertheless having to build about a dozen Terror Stars to finish out the game is a pain in the . . .

Stydracos. WOW!
Maso on Gigantic.
You scored more in one game than I have in all mine put together.

It's good to see the ANZAC logo appearing all over page one.

I know some of this has been covered in the "Oh, I guess I have to play maso to score big" thread, but my main objection is that the big scores are being doubly rewarded. They get the obvious high score, but those who play at lower levels get penalized with how the scores are eroded. If Ray scores 60k, I can't "just" play 6 games of 10k to catch up. If I understand the scoring, my 6 games in the most current score block would only net me ~25k. It gets worse if the maso players get on a roll.

That is my main objection - either score linearly across difficulties with the eroding of scores, or give the bonus to maso without eroding the scores.

My $0.02 worth.

I agree with the last poster, I've netted three games over 2 days and scored as much as in the previous month playing on maso, the scoring should be linear to encourage lower level players to compete.

I hate to see people say they are leaving or going to quit posting scores because of all of this stuff. Whether Stardock wants to admit it or not, Galciv is not just the game. When they released the game, a major part of it was the metaverse. Now I have no delusions of ever competing for the number one individual spot, but I LOVE the empire concept - that is what keeps me playing more than anything else. The way the maso bonuses are, if an empire has one or more good maso players, that empire will dominate. Again, the casual, newbie or players who have settled into a comfortable difficulty will feel like "Why bother".

Nothing agains the ANZACS. The fact that you have mounted such an impressive assault on the MWC and the number 3 spot has got our attention and re-energized our empire. That is the fun part.

So, Newfy, Cotal and others, keep playing and let Stardock know how you feel in a way that is respectful and let's see if some changes happen.

Perhaps Maso should be banned as a scoring level.
Just have it as a challenge for those who like exploiting games.
Gradually make it harder to keep these guys happy.

Wooohoo. I am in the top 100.
No extra medal though.