Aldar Aldar

Kingdom of Aldar Thread

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Kingdom of Aldar Thread

from Stardock Forums
...all the other empires have one.

"'Cause, remember, no matter where you go..... there you are."
[Message Edited]
8,171 views 195 replies
Reply #51 from Stardock Forums Top
I'll ignore the Yankee fan :p

Anyway, good to see that your strategies won't be effected by the next changes. For myself, I don't have time to compete anyway so I just play for fun at the level I enjoy which is currently painful but I'm trying out crippling now.

I would say, if you're not enjoying the game then it's pointless to play, no matter the metaverse effect. On the other hand, I do understand the competition involved and also the glory in what you've achieved as a 'one player' empire. For that reason, I think arguments along the lines of 'if you don't like it, don't play maso' are a bit silly as they ignore basic human nature to compete. A game encouraging burnout as it seems to be at the 'top' level should perhaps re-think in my opinion.
Reply #52 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm another one of those people that felt forced to play at Maso. I really want to play at a lower difficulty, but I get Anomalous scores every time I play Crippling now, so that kind of made my decision for me...
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #53 from Stardock Forums Top
Space Napolean - I hear you about time - the house is eating up all my free time. I think crippling is the most fun level for my playing strategy (which can be be summed up as "Hmmmm, I wonder if this will work...") Mistakes at Maso can't be recovered from.

Seems to me that being a fan of the New York Wallets (oh, I mean Yankees) is kind of like cheering for Bill Gates to make money.


Reply #54 from Stardock Forums Top
It was Ray who created such a fuss to get Maso dominant.

Now he seems to be gone, perhaps we can get some sanity back.
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Get your facts right before you make these kind of statements, Rainbird. As much as I would love to, I don't have any influence over the scoring system that Stardock decides upon.

See below for Brad's post on the point system that he wanted way back in June 2003. When he posted this, nobody complained about it at all.

Note that Maso scores were envisaged to have a 5x multiplier over normal scores. In 1.10, Maso scores have about 2-3x multiplier over normal scores, which is still a distance from Brad's goal.

#21 by Avatar Frogboy - 6/6/2003 10:38:43 PM

Well here's where things went very very wrong...

In 1.04, the scoring worked nicely except for a couple minor issues we wanted to tweak:

1) There wasn't quite enough difference between someone playing at say masochistic and someone playing at normal.

2) The difference between a tiny galaxy and a gigantic galaxy was turning out to be only around 2 to 1. We were trying to make it be more like 5 to 1. So we made population count a bit more. The problem is that there was a typo in there.

We did test the scoring system over a couple of days. But the problem really only shows up in long games played on very very large galaxies which we hadn't tested.

The goal was to have something like this:

Win: Gigantic / Masochistic: ~15,000
Win: Tiny / Masochistic: ~4,000
Win: Gigantic / Normal AI: ~3,000
WIn: Tiny / Normal: ~800

The good news is that the scores on the metaverse contain the root data that was used to calculate them. So we can re-adjust them later on.

I was trying to get a new build out tonight that fixes this entirely but there's a bug with the governors. For some reason, the governors aren't working properly and it's too late to get ahold of anyone here to work on it (I didn't work on that part so I don't know how to fix it).

The good news is that this build is really quite nice other than the scoring thing.
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Reply #56 from Stardock Forums Top
Hopefully it won't take another 6 months to double again LOL
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Reply #57 from Stardock Forums Top
Get your facts right before you make these kind of statements, Rainbird
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Ray i do have my facts right.
I did not say you changed it. Only that you pushed very hard to up the scores for Maso.

I can't be bothered arguing with you. I have better things to do. :)
Reply #58 from Stardock Forums Top
Aldar. I appologise for contaminating your thread.
Reply #59 from Stardock Forums Top
Aldar, I promise this would be the last post.

Rainbird, Brad wanted the Metaverse to reward both skill and dedication. Pre-1.10, it rewarded only dedication despite numerous attempts by Brad to correct this in every update. I supported a system that rewarded both skill and dedication but did not as you say, pushed very hard for it, beyond thanking Brad when he implemented it.

I have no wish to argue with you but felt I had to refute such frivolous statements.

~SDC~
Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top
Don't make me separate you two :)
Reply #61 from Stardock Forums Top
Don't make me separate you two
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Absolutely, that's a tough job for a little stick man :)

The final word is, I guess, that it's a controversial subject which always encourages strong opinions on each side :HOT:

Now, can we have our ball back please? ;)
Reply #62 from Stardock Forums Top
My apologies for disrupting your discussions, Aldarians. :)

I would say, if you're not enjoying the game then it's pointless to play, no matter the metaverse effect. On the other hand, I do understand the competition involved and also the glory in what you've achieved as a 'one player' empire. For that reason, I think arguments along the lines of 'if you don't like it, don't play maso' are a bit silly as they ignore basic human nature to compete. A game encouraging burnout as it seems to be at the 'top' level should perhaps re-think in my opinion.
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The fact that we have a ladder and a scoring system that rewards players for playing in a certain way to score the most points discourages us from trying out different ways of playing. Therefore, many have realised that one has to make a choice between playing the game and playing the Metaverse. Those facing burnout are invariably those playing the Metaverse. I don't think that the competitive urges in us are so overwhelming that we have no choice but to play to compete. Quite a few, such as yourself, has decided not to play the Metaverse but the game.

~SDC~
Reply #63 from Stardock Forums Top
Aldarians - I like that.

What we really need are HTML tags for a soapbox


[Message Edited]
Reply #64 from Stardock Forums Top
...and for the record, I tried a game with minimal researching last night and can report that this strategy will get your butt kicked.
Reply #65 from Stardock Forums Top
...and for the record, I tried a game with minimal researching last night and can report that this strategy will get your butt kicked.
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I'm shocked ;)

I also like Aldarians - we could be a new race... although there have only been two recorded sightings in the galaxy, the Aldarians never-the-less represent a threat not to be ignored :D

Some fair ponts made by all, thanks.
Reply #66 from Stardock Forums Top
Perhaps we should change the name to the Aldarian Empire.
Reply #68 from Stardock Forums Top
Too many members for a Kingdom and I'm thinking that the Aldarian Empire better reflects the plans for ultimate Galactic domination.

If you are reading this and are not part of our Empire, time to join before it is too late :)

Reply #69 from Stardock Forums Top
If you are reading this and are not part of our Empire, time to join before it is too late
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Ooooo...now that was really scary...right up to the part where you put the smiley face...

...I think maybe you need some kind of, I don't know, metaverse domination training? ;)
Reply #70 from Stardock Forums Top
That did sound rather Borg-like, didn't it?
Reply #71 from Stardock Forums Top
That did sound rather Borg-like, didn't it?
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Nothing wrong with that - after all, we're the good Borg.

Hope to be able to start one under the new rules soon. Perhaps I'll try crippling.
Reply #72 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm hoping to get a little play time this week. Good luck with the crippling game!
Reply #73 from Stardock Forums Top
Heh, not found the time yet - of course, for me it also means the end of the game will be in three weeks time or so :D
Reply #74 from Stardock Forums Top
:CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT:

Please note that we have changed our form of government to better accommodate our dramatic growth.

This date forward shall forever be celebrated as "Republic Day" and celebrated by wearing disguises and behaving badly.

:CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT: :CONGRAT:
Reply #75 from Stardock Forums Top
Please note that we have changed our form of government to better accommodate our dramatic growth.
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Funny thing. Notice that empires adopting a republic format seem to start rising on the charts? (Refering to ANZAC and Jedi hijinks specifically.) Shrewd move, for an enlightened monarch now in disguise. ;)