HOF Challenge Series III Discussion

[shulec]

One variation I was thinking of was to allow huts on the lower difficulty games. Removing the barb requirement on the higher might be might a good way to balance that.

I like this at least for the space and cultural games. I completely agree with STW about the barbs on deity.

I find that Religious victories seem to be pretty easy considering that most people should be able to win it at high levels.

The ease of Religious victories dramatically level the playing field and will make it easier for lower level players to be competitive. As you say, they are easy, so why not make it the 11th game (with a diplo game as the 10th).

I would like to see feedback from other people too. This is not Shulec's Challenge III.

 

[Denniz]

The challenge is up. Good luck.

 

[kcd_swede]

Interesting... I'm sure there will be plenty of submissions for people who aren't even aware their games enter them into this challenge.

And Permanent Alliances are okie dokey? Hmmm...

 

[playshogi]

With Civ5 released, this is not the time for more games. Six games is fine.

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

Suits me fine. I am not bothering with CIV 5 and so, perhaps I will fare better in the standings.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Why is there no option for Conquest at Immortal and Deity levels?

Can I please get an answer to this question?

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[Denniz]

Can I please get an answer to this question?

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu

There were no submission for those tables. So no adjustment.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

There were no submission for those tables. So no adjustment.

You are right about Deity level, but there seem to be several Immortal entries, though none of those have "No Vassals" selected. Are you requiring a prefect options match and not just a basic parameter match?

http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/adhoc_query.php?show=summ&condition[]=1&difficulty[]=9&difficulty[]=8&speed[]=3&mapSize[]=4&civ=-1&maptype=-1&era=1&exp=0&pubID=115&submit=Go

Does your answer imply that Immortal and Deity will be included at the Emperor level turn handicap for Game 1? Or are Immortal and Deity levels still excluded from Game #1?

Thanks,

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[Denniz]

Does your answer imply that Immortal and Deity will be included at the Emperor level turn handicap for Game 1? Or are Immortal and Deity levels still excluded from Game #1?

Sorry, no change.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Does your answer imply that Immortal and Deity will be included at the Emperor level turn handicap for Game 1? Or are Immortal and Deity levels still excluded from Game #1?

Sorry, no change.

Thanks, I didn't really expect a change for HoF Challenge Series III Game 1. I read something into your answer that I knew really wasn't there, but you probably can't blame me for being (unrealistically) hopeful of a change.

What would be required for Immortal and Deity level to be included in the Conquest Game for Challenge Series IV, assuming multiple level Games continue to be offered in the Challenge Series? Maybe a Deity level Conquest with appropriate parameters could be offered in hopes of gaining the data needed for inclusion in HoF Challenge Series IV?

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[Denniz]

What would be required for Immortal and Deity level to be included in the Conquest Game for Challenge Series IV, assuming multiple level Games continue to be offered in the Challenge Series? Maybe a Deity level Conquest with appropriate parameters could be offered in hopes of gaining the data needed for inclusion in HoF Challenge Series IV?

I though I had pick settings that had games up to Diety only to discover when I went back to do the adjustment that it wasn't. I will try next again next time.

Best way to makr sure to include diety for conquest is to suggest settings that have enough of a sample across all levels when we prepare for Challange IV.

 

[Civahaulic]

In my opinion, Challenge IV should seek to have far fewer games at the settler level. The Lucky huts require you reroll the first 50 turns time after time after time in order to have a competitive score. But the advantages that getting 2 workers and 2 settlers from early huts is too much of an incentive to not take advantage of in most cases.

I would recommend allowing perhaps 1 of the 8-10 parts of the series to be played at Settler level.

And I say this as someone who is doing well in the series.

 

[Sprenk]

In my opinion, Challenge IV should seek to have far fewer games at the settler level. The Lucky huts require you reroll the first 50 turns time after time after time in order to have a competitive score. But the advantages that getting 2 workers and 2 settlers from early huts is too much of an incentive to not take advantage of in most cases.

I would recommend allowing perhaps 1 of the 8-10 parts of the series to be played at Settler level.

And I say this as someone who is doing well in the series.

We only have to play a Settler level in one game, if I remember correctly, but I agree with Civahaulic that choosing Settler when it's available seems to be the optimal strategy in many of these challenges. Perhaps the turn compensation for playing at tougher levels is not quite sufficient to make up for the perks of playing at such an easy level?

For example, I tried the cultural win game (III-06) at Prince level first, but once I noticed that most everyone was scoring much better than I was, I switched to Settler and did much better. And I don't think I've become THAT much better a player--I'm still hopelessly mediocre

 

[colonelmustard]

Hello. I recently decided to give some HOF games a shot, and I do appreciate the range of difficulties offered in Challenge III. I see here that the range was of difficulties was to encourage multiple tries per player on various difficulty levels, but it's really what made participation possible for me. I don't have a lot of single player experience yet and I hope a range of difficulties continues to attract players who may have otherwise been intimidated by some of the tough setups.

While some of the settler level stuff isn't as fun for me personally, I understand that I can (should) submit other difficulties where I can better the end result... I just seem to have better results on them than the harder levels.

Wanted to share my point of view on it. I've been having a good time and am glad to have finally decided to throw in.

 

[Ronald]

In my opinion, Challenge IV should seek to have far fewer games at the settler level. The Lucky huts require you reroll the first 50 turns time after time after time in order to have a competitive score. But the advantages that getting 2 workers and 2 settlers from early huts is too much of an incentive to not take advantage of in most cases.

I would recommend allowing perhaps 1 of the 8-10 parts of the series to be played at Settler level.

And I say this as someone who is doing well in the series.

Settler level is OK for me, but I would remove the huts in this level, they are the reason for rerolls, not the level. I'm trying to get a competitive date for game 8, but it's hard to compete against a game where 6 settlers have been popped.

Overall I like the format of challenge III. Standard map sizes, free choice of civs to play, free choice of map types and a wide variety of difficulties per game - perfect!

 

[Yardi]

I agree huts at settler make it too much of a lucky dip and favour those that are happy to reply a lot of games (ie not me).
I think the format is great and the idea of having a number of levels with a handicap system is good. However I think the spread of levels is too great and the bonus for playing on higher levels not high enough.
I really dont see why there should be any games at settler (or even chieftain for that matter). I understand that you want participation however a blind dog can beat settler. If you had a handy cap system with warlord - prince and Monarch - diety games I think it would work much better. I dont think anyone is being encouraged to play by including settler but not having more Deity games is putting some people off by the sounds of it.

Once again though well done on all your efforts, not a criticism just a few tweaks for making even better.

CS also encourged me to take on the Dety for the first time.... and I won!

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

I agree with what both Ronald and Yardi said above. Well said gentlemen!

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[billybgame]

I'm risking sounding awfully stupid here, but how does this work? I have searched, but not found info on how the Challenge Series works. I've been playing HoF and Gauntlet games for years, but, for whatever reason, never checked this out much.

Is the reason I see no further explanation, that all submitted HoF games go towards this Challenge? That doesn't seem right, as there would be hundreds of competitors.

And, where is the explanation on how it all works, as far as playing each segment of the Challenge? I mean, do you play all listed, or any one of them? How do you submit games, if it's not all HoF games?

I see a lot of discussion here, like this is common knowledge, but without ever doing this, I'm kind of clueless.

Edit: Ok...I see there are some specific settings.....so I guess you just submit your game, like any HoF game, and if it has those settings, it goes towards these Challenges? Still, is their an explanation of this somewhere?

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

And, where is the explanation on how it all works, as far as playing each segment of the Challenge? I mean, do you play all listed, or any one of them? How do you submit games, if it's not all HoF games?

That has been explained numerous times in the thread that initially discussed the possibility of a Challenge Series and in the main threads of each Challenge Series, though I'm not sure it was mentioned in the main thread for Challenge Series III.

You must Win every Game setup to qualify for a Challenge Series placement. So, to Win 1st place in Challenge Series III, you must Win all ten Games and have the highest total Score among those that completed all ten Games. Anyone that failed to Win all ten Games is not eligible, although they may ranked as tough they were.

Edit: Ok...I see there are some specific settings.....so I guess you just submit your game, like any HoF game, and if it has those settings, it goes towards these Challenges? Still, is their an explanation of this somewhere?

Yes, you just HoF Games that match the settings of any of the ten Challenge Series III Games. So, if someone that wasn't even aware of the Challenge Series, happened to submit a HoF Game that matched the settings of one of the Challenge Series Games, their submitted Game would be entered into the Challenge Series. A similar thing happens when a Player submits a HoF Game that coincidentally matched the setting of a current Gauntlet; their submitted Game would automatically be entered into the matching Gauntlet.

Sun Tzu Wu

 

[Sprenk]

I'll just add one detail to Sun Tzu Wu's explanation: it's possible to "accidently" play a challenge-eligible game, but unlikely, since the challenge stipulations always include "No vassals" and sometimes "No tribal villages."