potatoskunk
Master Corporal
Proposal: Add live PVP tournaments with Swiss-style pairing
Have you Checked the Ideas section for the same idea posted by someone else? Is this idea similar to one that has been previously suggested?
Yes, I did. No, while there are a few ideas relating to live PVP, none of them are similar to this, so I thought it was sufficiently different to post here.
Reason:
PVP against the same predictable computer can get a bit old, and we don't have a chance to match our tactics against a human player. It would be nice to have live PVP tournaments.
Details:
1. Perhaps initially this would need to be a one-off special event, but in the long run, depending on popularity, it could be a monthly or weekly thing. Maybe even daily if there's enough interest. You might want two events at different times to fit different time zones.
2. You would want a separate tournament for each age. These tournaments could all be run at exactly the same time (in which case you can only enter one), or they could run at different times so that people could enter more than one (that might also help with the time zone issue).
3. Depending on the popularity of the events, there could be a separate tournament for each world, or there could be a single combined tournament for all worlds (as with the current Guild Expedition). Maybe a weekly event for each world, and once a month a global event for all worlds with a larger number of rounds?
Here's a description of how Swiss pairings work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss-system_tournament
It would work as follows:
1. Each round, you would use a Swiss-style pairing system (such as is commonly used in chess tournaments) to match each player with an opponent. If you have an odd number of players, the lowest player who has not yet received a bye should get a 1-point bye. In a Swiss-style system, you play against people who have a similar score to you. So if you win your first two battles, you'll get paired against someone else who has also won their first two battles.
2. You should be able to withdraw from the tournament. If you disconnect, or if you lose on time after having run out a full minute of the clock on your last turn, you should be auto-withdrawn.
3. Any units damaged or lost in a battle will be damaged or lost, just as in any other battle. Thus, to win, you will need enough units ready to hand to win several battles. This means that in early battles, you will need to choose between a costly victory or a surrender that preserves your army intact for later rounds in the hopes of having a come-back win. On the other hand, if you've got lots of spare units, it may be worth fighting on in a losing cause in order to damage your opponents army as much as possible to hurt his chances in the later rounds.
4. Since this is a Swiss-style event rather than a knockout tournament, losing an early battle doesn't mean you're done. You still have a chance at one of the top spots, and if someone topples the guy who beat you, you might still manage to win.
5. If we assume a typical battle rarely lasts longer than 50 turns (25 each), given the clock times I suggested below (3 minutes each plus 10 seconds per turn), we should have a theoretical maximum of about 15 minutes per round. My guess is that a battle will rarely last that long; most should be done within 2-3 minutes, I would think. If a typical round lasts five minutes, a 10-round event can be done in under an hour.
Visual Aids:
Not exactly a visual aid, but imagine the following example of a four-round 8-man tournament, involving players A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.
Round 1:
A beats E, B beats F, C beats G, D beats H
Round 2:
Everyone on one point gets paired together, everyone on no points gets paired together.
A beats C, B beats D, E beats G, F beats H
Round 3:
A and B have two points, C, D, E, and F have one, and G and H have none.
A beats B, C beats E, D beats F, G beats H
Round 4:
A has three points, B, C, and D have two, E, F, and G have one, and H has none
Since only one person has three, A is paired with the nearest player he hasn't played yet (D). Similarly at the other end where only H has lost everything.
D beats A, B beats C, F beats G, E beats H
Results:
A, B, and D have three points, C, E, and F have two, G has one, and H has none. Therefore, A, B, and D split the top three prizes, C, E, and F split the 4th through 6th prizes.
Normally you would want more than four rounds. But a ten-round event is enough that even with over a hundred participants, you'll still usually have 1-2 clear winners, with a larger number of ties as you move down the table.
Balance:
The prize for the winners would probably consist of medals, plus the winners would have their names posted somewhere. Of course, later ages would have a larger prize.
Abuse Prevention:
1. To avoid someone entering with two accounts and giving themselves a free win, members from the same IP address should not be paired together. That avoids penalising legitimate family members.
2. If this event covers all worlds, you would only be able to enter each tournament from one world. Of course, if the tournaments for different ages do not run simultaneously, there's no reason you couldn't enter the iron age tournament from one world and the colonial age event from another world.
3. To stop people avoiding combat and holding up the tournament, a battle should be considered lost for both players after a certain number of turns. This number should be sufficiently large to allow reasonable manoeuvring.
4. To avoid people holding up the tournament by just sitting, there should be a clock running. You should start with, say, three minutes, with ten seconds added for every turn. If your time runs out, you lose.
5. To penalise someone for simply letting the clock run out instead of surrendering, if you run a full minute off the clock in your final turn before losing on time, you should be auto-withdrawn from the tournament. There should be no further penalties in case the timing out was due to connectivity issues or real-life interruptions.
Summary:
Add live PVP tournaments using Swiss-style pairings, perhaps initially as a special one-off event, but eventually moving to a regular schedule (monthly, weekly, or even daily based on how popular they are).
Have you Checked the Ideas section for the same idea posted by someone else? Is this idea similar to one that has been previously suggested?
Yes, I did. No, while there are a few ideas relating to live PVP, none of them are similar to this, so I thought it was sufficiently different to post here.
Reason:
PVP against the same predictable computer can get a bit old, and we don't have a chance to match our tactics against a human player. It would be nice to have live PVP tournaments.
Details:
1. Perhaps initially this would need to be a one-off special event, but in the long run, depending on popularity, it could be a monthly or weekly thing. Maybe even daily if there's enough interest. You might want two events at different times to fit different time zones.
2. You would want a separate tournament for each age. These tournaments could all be run at exactly the same time (in which case you can only enter one), or they could run at different times so that people could enter more than one (that might also help with the time zone issue).
3. Depending on the popularity of the events, there could be a separate tournament for each world, or there could be a single combined tournament for all worlds (as with the current Guild Expedition). Maybe a weekly event for each world, and once a month a global event for all worlds with a larger number of rounds?
Here's a description of how Swiss pairings work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss-system_tournament
It would work as follows:
1. Each round, you would use a Swiss-style pairing system (such as is commonly used in chess tournaments) to match each player with an opponent. If you have an odd number of players, the lowest player who has not yet received a bye should get a 1-point bye. In a Swiss-style system, you play against people who have a similar score to you. So if you win your first two battles, you'll get paired against someone else who has also won their first two battles.
2. You should be able to withdraw from the tournament. If you disconnect, or if you lose on time after having run out a full minute of the clock on your last turn, you should be auto-withdrawn.
3. Any units damaged or lost in a battle will be damaged or lost, just as in any other battle. Thus, to win, you will need enough units ready to hand to win several battles. This means that in early battles, you will need to choose between a costly victory or a surrender that preserves your army intact for later rounds in the hopes of having a come-back win. On the other hand, if you've got lots of spare units, it may be worth fighting on in a losing cause in order to damage your opponents army as much as possible to hurt his chances in the later rounds.
4. Since this is a Swiss-style event rather than a knockout tournament, losing an early battle doesn't mean you're done. You still have a chance at one of the top spots, and if someone topples the guy who beat you, you might still manage to win.
5. If we assume a typical battle rarely lasts longer than 50 turns (25 each), given the clock times I suggested below (3 minutes each plus 10 seconds per turn), we should have a theoretical maximum of about 15 minutes per round. My guess is that a battle will rarely last that long; most should be done within 2-3 minutes, I would think. If a typical round lasts five minutes, a 10-round event can be done in under an hour.
Visual Aids:
Not exactly a visual aid, but imagine the following example of a four-round 8-man tournament, involving players A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.
Round 1:
A beats E, B beats F, C beats G, D beats H
Round 2:
Everyone on one point gets paired together, everyone on no points gets paired together.
A beats C, B beats D, E beats G, F beats H
Round 3:
A and B have two points, C, D, E, and F have one, and G and H have none.
A beats B, C beats E, D beats F, G beats H
Round 4:
A has three points, B, C, and D have two, E, F, and G have one, and H has none
Since only one person has three, A is paired with the nearest player he hasn't played yet (D). Similarly at the other end where only H has lost everything.
D beats A, B beats C, F beats G, E beats H
Results:
A, B, and D have three points, C, E, and F have two, G has one, and H has none. Therefore, A, B, and D split the top three prizes, C, E, and F split the 4th through 6th prizes.
Normally you would want more than four rounds. But a ten-round event is enough that even with over a hundred participants, you'll still usually have 1-2 clear winners, with a larger number of ties as you move down the table.
Balance:
The prize for the winners would probably consist of medals, plus the winners would have their names posted somewhere. Of course, later ages would have a larger prize.
Abuse Prevention:
1. To avoid someone entering with two accounts and giving themselves a free win, members from the same IP address should not be paired together. That avoids penalising legitimate family members.
2. If this event covers all worlds, you would only be able to enter each tournament from one world. Of course, if the tournaments for different ages do not run simultaneously, there's no reason you couldn't enter the iron age tournament from one world and the colonial age event from another world.
3. To stop people avoiding combat and holding up the tournament, a battle should be considered lost for both players after a certain number of turns. This number should be sufficiently large to allow reasonable manoeuvring.
4. To avoid people holding up the tournament by just sitting, there should be a clock running. You should start with, say, three minutes, with ten seconds added for every turn. If your time runs out, you lose.
5. To penalise someone for simply letting the clock run out instead of surrendering, if you run a full minute off the clock in your final turn before losing on time, you should be auto-withdrawn from the tournament. There should be no further penalties in case the timing out was due to connectivity issues or real-life interruptions.
Summary:
Add live PVP tournaments using Swiss-style pairings, perhaps initially as a special one-off event, but eventually moving to a regular schedule (monthly, weekly, or even daily based on how popular they are).
