GOTM and PTW ?

[cycle]

I know, I know, PTW is not out yet, but will there be the equivalent of a GOTM feature in a multiplayer environment.

Did anybody put any thought into this yet ?

There are a lot of players I would love to play with, or should I say against

 

[skaternate]

Shall I take this as a Formal Challenge?

 

[pilferman]

While PTW is mainly a multiplayer add-on to Civ3, there will also be some new additions that will also affect single player games. I'm not sure a PTW GOTM in addition to the regular civ3 GOTM would be doable (because of the processing work and time). On the other hand, it wouldn't be right to discard one, since there will be many players who won't buy PTW. Personally, I would like to see a single player PTW GOTM. I leave it to you guys to decide the future of GOTM (as if I had any authority to begin with).

 

[cracker]

I think you may need to understand what PTW will be as well as what the GOTM formats do.

We have already discussed some of these issues in a seperate thread and the current GOTM format that plays through each of the existing civs is scheduled to run through March 2003.

PTW games that involve head to head human players will not make a good GOTM format because of about 30 different technical, logistical, and just plain logic reasons.

We will probably see a "challenge ladder" that will open up very shortly after PTW has been released. In this ladder, players will be ranked in positions and player at lower positions on the ladder may challenge any other players. If you are more than 20 positions below the other player they will be able to honorably decline your game challenge. If you are near to the other player in the ranking, then they must accept your game challenge and give you a game. When you defeat a player that is ranked higher than you are ranked, then you move up to position ahead of that player in the ladder.

These ladder play methods are very well established from many years of play in chess, darts, and other head-to-head games.

General ladders of this type generally do not accept mod game results because mod game rules are often distorted and much of the requirement for knowledge of the game as well as many required game play skills is severely reduced.

Doing something like this on a GOTM format would border on the insane because the only way you could compare results would be if every player played every other player and if you could devise a way to keep the map knowledge constant between the first games and all subsequent games.

 

[cycle]

cracker :

Good post. I am familiar with ladder system and they do work well.

But what if challenges were done on common map, similar to GOTM. You would only play on a map a single time. But this would allow us to compile performance of challengers on each map.

For example, 20 maps would be generated. When a challenge is done, players engage on a map they never played before. Then the result is compiled.

We would need to track which player played on each map, but I think it would be worth the effort.

I think the statistics we would get would be interesting. For example, this player perform well on standard map with continent. This one well on on this type of map. Etc...

Hey, even if we don't implement common map to be played with, I think the ladder should still track these statistics. You need to know and understand the background of your opponent. This is important for lesser skilled players, like me

If I know that player X has a history of being a warmonger on small and standard maps, I will probably adjust my gameplay...

Just an idea...

 

[cracker]

Cycle,

I would be more up for discussing this with you if I saw some GOTM or CIV3 tournament results submissions from you. Even at low skill levels, there are currently a number of opportunities for you to play and compare/improve your skills.

A lot of work goes into even the most basic tournament proposals.

The PTW discussion is way too premature and all the overhead associated with trying to sort out who played what against who could really be the death of any concept.

For now, we all need to focus on getting our "ducks in a row" with how we play the opening sequences of the games. There is still a lot of challenge and a lot of dimension and excitement left in the current game format.

(That is unless you can already win on Deity in any victory condition with any civ in any possible starting position)

 

[Thunderfall]

GOTM and MP don't mix. This has been the case since Civ2.

Civ3 MP will have an independent system or ladder for player rankings...

 

[Chieftess]

It's even been discussed in the tournament. TF even said that PTW doesn't need it's own thread. Plus, we should see how PTW works. Who knows, maybe we'll find out more in the Firaxis chat.