Alamaze Classic Game Types

[Ry Vor]

As we have moved all new games to the new platform, we are moving closer to automation.  Still, Alamaze offers a wide variety of game formats:

Alamaze Classic Game Types

Warlords and Titan games run once weekly, on Wednesdays or Saturdays.  The other formats run on a 4-4-6 day schedule, with turns due Monday, Friday, Tuesday, Monday, etc.

Steel Diplomacy (default if not Anonymous) – Steel games can be either 12 or 15 player games.  This game type discloses which players have which kingdoms with Turn 0 results.  Steel games are individual games (no teams or team victories).   Victory type is Rex (4 regions) or Secret Victory Conditions (SVC), if format is not Rex.

Magic – These are 12 player games where there are 4 teams of 3 kingdoms each.  They are “Semi-Anonymous” in that players can communicate with their two teammates, but not with other players.  The roster of personas and kingdoms is not printed.  The 3 Kingdoms not in play are revealed on T0.  The only victory type is team victory (control of 6 regions).

Rex – A game that can only be won by an individual kingdom controlling 4 regions – no team or SVC.

Anonymous – These are 12 player games with 3 inactive kingdoms. These games have no communication among players.  There should be a message on Turn 0 forbidding any kind of communication, and the message orders (#341 - #349) are disabled (they may be disabled for all games, as I believe we discussed).  No player listing should be included in turn 0, instead a message that, “This is an Anonymous game:  no communication is allowed among players including outside the game.  As an Anonymous game, there is no listing of which personas control which kingdoms.”   There is no adjustment to the initial Enemy/Ally chart.  With Turn 0 the three inactive kingdoms should be disclosed in section 1.

Warlords – A four player game where each player controls 3 kingdoms.  The 3 non-active kingdoms are revealed on T0.  The only possible victory is a team victory (controlling 6 regions).  Warlords games run once weekly.

Titan – a two player game where each player controls 6 kingdoms.   The 3 non-active kingdoms are revealed on T0.  The only possible victory is a team victory (controlling 6 regions).   Titan games run once weekly.

Primeval – This is the heading we will use for all our small-sided games, meaning 9 or fewer kingdoms active.  Victory conditions can vary by format, though generally they have been Rex only.  Some Primeval games will have teams of varying sizes and so allow Team Victory.  Some primeval games with team victory may require 7 regions controlled for a team victory, instead of the normal 6.  

[HeadHoncho]

Please consider this as a friendly suggestion, but if and only if you plan to hardwire victory checks with the new platform, you might want to shift Titan to a victory condition of seven regions (or even eight), rather than six. Six regions can still be a dogfight, and it would be a bummer to have the game end just as you're ramping up.

(Warlords totally makes sense at six regions, IMO.)

[Ry Vor]

Please consider this as a friendly suggestion, but if and only if you plan to hardwire victory checks with the new platform, you might want to shift Titan to a victory condition of seven regions (or even eight), rather than six.  Six regions can still be a dogfight, and it would be a bummer to have the game end just as you're ramping up.

(Warlords totally makes sense at six regions, IMO.)

I'm not sure we've ever had a Titan game go to six regions controlled.  They are always conceded before that point.  Maybe the one you are in will be the first.

[HeadHoncho]

LT and I actually got to six regions in Titan game 208, and he was conceptually willing to continue fighting, but he was under a bit of a time crunch if I recall correctly, and so we called it to free up slots.

All I'm saying is that if it's a concession, then six or seven regions won't matter either way. But if it's a hotly contested 6-4 Titan battle, it will really run the risk of leaving a bad taste in people's mouths (a la the old SVC where games could end on T11 or T12) if the computer automatically ends the game.

Just wondering, do you see a down side to making it seven regions?

[Ry Vor]

LT and I actually got to six regions in Titan game 208, and he was conceptually willing to continue fighting, but he was under a bit of a time crunch if I recall correctly, and so we called it to free up slots.

All I'm saying is that if it's a concession, then six or seven regions won't matter either way.  But if it's a hotly contested 6-4 Titan battle, it will really run the risk of leaving a bad taste in people's mouths (a la the old SVC where games could end on T11 or T12) if the computer automatically ends the game.

Just wondering, do you see a down side to making it seven regions?

Other than only 1 in 24 Titans games has had a player control 6 regions?  I know, virtually no Alamaze players care about other PBEM games, and I guess that's great.  But we are dealing in the same space as them, same kind of expense structure, player base, technology, etc.  We also have by far the lowest prices.  Most of these competitors haven't done a thing to improve their game in a decade, or they might have come up with a new scenario once in that time, and they generally still run one turn every two weeks.  It's basically cruise control for them, and they are still charging $10 a turn for a static product, while we have had likely 100 substantial improvements in the last 20 months and now migrating to a new platform that offers automation for known game formats.

In the less than two years we've had Alamaze Resurgent, we have hardly had 4 games in 126 started be in exactly the same format.  Within Steel, it can be Rex or SVC, Diplomacy or Anonymous, 15 player or 12.  Before it was also Exploratory or not, and recently Pagan or not.  So at most that was 2x2x2x2x2 or 32 variants of just the Steel format, or if ignoring now Exploratory as the standard, and Pagan as just an experiment, its still 8 existing variants of Steel.  Then we have Magic, Primeval, Warlord, Titan, with variants as well and as many in Magic as Steel and more in Primeval than any other format. 

We are trying to finally reap the rewards of automation instead of spending 60-70 hours a week processing turns. 

Specifically on Titan, as said, we have had maybe one game go to conclusion, and one game currently in play, so 2 players.  I don't think that's currently the place to put in more time to create variation. 

[HeadHoncho]

Sorry, how is this a design/expense issue? Please help me understand. When the new platform gets programmed, will it not simply be a one-line (or arguably even one-digit) code change that ends the game automatically upon one side controlling either six or seven regions? EDIT: The point being, I don't believe the auto-ending victory check code has even been written yet, thus whether you determine the answer is "6" or "7" for Titan games, I believe the amount of coding work moving forward ought to be the same.

I am all in favor of automation. Every player I know is all in favor of automation. We are all in favor of you cutting expenses and having more time to do what you want to do. We're just trying to offer occasional suggestions that may help with player experience.

Examples:

- Fixing the Enemy/Ally status point issue
- Tweaking the promotion/death ratios for leader advancement
- A suggestion on Titan for those of us who play it

And I don't know that it's only one game in 24 Titan games that has gone to six regions, Rick. All I know is that it's one in three of my own completed Titan games.

These suggestions are offered in good faith by someone who loves the game. Please do not take it personally.

[Ry Vor]

[quote pid='27309' dateline='1425336266']
Examples:

- Fixing the Enemy/Ally status point issue
- Tweaking the promotion/death ratios for leader advancement
- A suggestion on Titan for those of us who play it

And I don't know that it's only one game in 24 Titan games that has gone to six regions, Rick.  All I know is that it's one in three of my own completed Titan games.

These suggestions are offered in good faith by someone who loves the game.  Please do not take it personally.
[/quote]

What's personal?  I am responding to one case of a player saying "why don't we have more variants?"  So I gave the explanation.  We likely have had at least 80 variants of Alamaze Classic, from the 4 we got back from NC in about 20 years up there, which is similar to how far the competition came in those 20 years - zero.  And we presently have one Titan game going, and only one (most likely) of the previous 23 Titan games that ever got to 6 regions.  So I am saying, when we look at what we need to do to continue to advance Alamaze, creating new variants in Titan is at the bottom.  Though we often have players saying "don't tell them that!", we have less than 2 FTE's to do everything that is Alamaze.  So while we often have innocently seeming requests, including the ubiquitous, "Quick question: explain this to me.", that takes maybe 45 minutes to answer although the question is quick.  The other is, "It should be easy." (For the people that aren't doing it.)  We first started the internal development thread of "Remaining 2nd Cycle Changes" more than 18 months ago.  Nothing has been simple.  It is why we can't just go on answering or doing these one-offs.  I have tried to say, when asking support for something, assume a company has to make at least $100 an hour to survive, which is way low for most companies.  So, a "quick question" might cost us $75 to answer, that is, equivalent to giving several months of free game play for answering the player asking the question that involves investigating turn results. 

A major focus, and a breakthrough today, has been migrating to the new platform that is pretty well automated.  That has been the goal.  I believe the Enemy/Ally status points and leader emergence, death, and promotion algorithms may be in the new platform, but if not, we have drawn the line on tweaking Classic at this point, so we can go on to 4th Scenario after the new platform is secure.  So what exists in Classic, will remain Classic, and everyone will know it is fixed (static / in place).  New changes will come in 4th Scenario. 

[HeadHoncho]

All fair enough. But I'm not asking for "another" variant, I'm simply suggesting, as an experienced Titan player, that the Titan victory condition could be set -- for all Titan matches -- slightly differently to avoid a potentially dissatisfying result for the players.

By the way, I'm all in favor of locking down second cycle, too. And if the "nice to have" tweaks don't make it in before you lock it down, so be it.

[Jumbie]

Can someone modify the original post to explain what 'chivalry' games are?

[Ry Vor]

Chivalry is non-podium (no first through third finish) players getting an additional 25k gold to the starting treasury.

Feudal Chivalry is non-podium players also get first choice on kingdom selection in non-anonymous games.

I realize even this explanation is a bit confusing because we have introduced so many variants.