SOS-save our chanpionship!

[Sphynx]

Hi, people. I am from Ukraine (one of the former post SU countries). We've got something like GOTM over there - we call it Grand Prix. The problem is that our championship is getting corrupted with reloads.

I heard that you guys have a method how to eliminate the problem under question. Is there any good advice what we can do about it - you know, everybody wants no-reload game but honesty rules are impossible and would collapse like, say, communism.

Any advices, like reload calculators, etc are highly appreciated.

 

[CruddyLeper]

I suggest you PM or e-mail Cracker and ask nicely. So far as I know the reload count is stashed in the .SAV file, so if you can find a thread or forum (not necessarily on CivFans) then you are halfway there.

Good luck with your Grand Prix.

 

[alamo]

Welcome to the forum, Sphynx!

There is some discussion you can look at here. May be useful for a preview of what you will face when enforcing a rule, also.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55571

The idea is to have an analysis to determine the typical distribution and then look for observations consistently out of the norm.

Don't forget to browse around for lots of great stuff. A good place to start is here:

FAQ
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52360

Maybe we could have a 'regional' competition between CFC and Grand Prix sometime.

Do you have a URL for us? I would be interested to browse around, even if I can't read Ukranian.

Forgive my suspicion, but this post is a bit curious post given the events described in the above thread. If you do not have a URL could you offer some other proof that you are from the Ukrane?

 

[col]

Let me congratulate you on your excellent English, Sphynx!

 

[samildanach]

I am from Nigeria. I am farmer and oil has recently been discovered under my land. I Offer to share this bounty with my fellow GoTMers. However I am poor man and I have been told that it will take 10 million US dollars for work to begin on the extraction facility. Can you help me?

 

[Bamspeedy]

This could be the real thing.

But, I would like a link to make sure. I have found some Civ3 sites that are written in Russian, but since I can't read Russian, I can't find if they have any tournaments or anything called 'Grand Prix'.

BTW, some of these sites have articles that were copied straight from CFC, and even include GOTM results from CFC .

 

[samildanach]

Since I would feel like a complete wally if this turned out to be genuine. I have had a look through the Ukranian civ sites aswell. While your right Bamspeedy most of the text is in cyrillic their membernames tend to be in English. There is no Sphynx listed in any of the forums that I have visited-I think this is a hoax. I am assuming that this person is the Ukranian Cracker therefore would be quite visible

 

[Sphynx]

Originally posted by alamo
Welcome to the forum, Sphynx!

There is some discussion you can look at here. May be useful for a preview of what you will face when enforcing a rule, also.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55571

The idea is to have an analysis to determine the typical distribution and then look for observations consistently out of the norm.

Don't forget to browse around for lots of great stuff. A good place to start is here:

FAQ
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52360


Maybe we could have a 'regional' competition between CFC and Grand Prix sometime.

Do you have a URL for us? I would be interested to browse around, even if I can't read Ukranian.

Forgive my suspicion, but this post is a bit curious post given the events described in the above thread. If you do not have a URL could you offer some other proof that you are from the Ukrane?

Thank you for your replies people. Sorry for my late replies as I have i-net only in my office. So, dont call me "the Ukranian Cracker" while you are not quite sure. The RELOAD problem is quite grave and everybody over here actually wants fair competition. Here are the URLs:

http://forum.gameover.ru/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7
(this one is the main page of our forum) Sorry for confusing you guys - although I am from Ukraine - I play in Russian championship, which comprises members from most of post SU countries. Sure most everything is in Russian (cyrillic). You will also find there some very helpful information taken and translated from your forums to develop our civilizators thinking.

Here is the chart with the results from the last Grand Prix already finished in June:
http://frodobaggins.narod.ru/gp3/DGPsummary.htm
(I believe you'll find Sphynx there )

If you check the save files - you'll see what I am talking about (click on CM rating results near each player to get zipped PTW 1.14. saves).

Meanwhile I am checking your links for seeking the truth.

Myself I have the following idea: Do you think it is possible/easy to create a MOD to PTW which will allow to use only autosave files to resume the game, say "saved for tomorrow"? The MOD will not allow normal save/load system (you'll not be able to just save the game but to use only your autosave - this will allow at least elimination of endless reloads when random battles during the turn)? I am actually ZERO in programming - a typical lamer, but some guys over here believe they can do something. It must be sure that this "Championship only MOD" will mark save files created while playng this MOD to distinguish these saves from "normal PTW saves".

Thanks again.

 

[Yndy]

Hi there Sphynx,

You got to give the guys here some time to check the forums there but it’s a good thing for you to post those links.

If you did not PM cracker by now you should do that, as he may have additional things to talk to you.

By the way why aren’t there Russian (or formerly SU) player here if you know the site?

One other thing, we used to have Valeri Kousnetsov (aka VK) and Serg from Russia. Do they play in your Russian championship?

Hope to hear from you soon.

ÐÁÊÁÍ, (is that Bye on Russian?)

Edit: Ooops, no russian characters: The latin for the word there is "Pakan".

 

[Sphynx]

Originally posted by Yndy
Hi there Sphynx,

You got to give the guys here some time to check the forums there but it’s a good thing for you to post those links.

If you did not PM cracker by now you should do that, as he may have additional things to talk to you.

By the way why aren’t there Russian (or formerly SU) player here if you know the site?

One other thing, we used to have Valeri Kousnetsov (aka VK) and Serg from Russia. Do they play in your Russian championship?

Hope to hear from you soon.

ÐÁÊÁÍ, (is that Bye on Russian?)

Edit: Ooops, no russian characters: The latin for the word there is "Pakan".

I think there are some Russian players, playing GOTMs for themselves (nice maps they say) without sending their results to your site. This is rather a language problem - we prefer to discuss the games here in Russian than spend several hours with dictionnaries to translate lot of English posts. I think, I heard about Serg - but Serg is quite common nick - like for example Bob As for Valeri - never heard but I mostly know nicks of the players than their real names, besides I started CIV3 only about 4 months ago. I may check. BTW what is PM cracker, namely what is PM - like AM and PM?

PS: bye in Russian is ÏÎÊÀ in latin is something like POKAH
PPS: still awaiting good advices and decisions to solve the problem

 

[Yndy]

PM means Private Message. It's the option to send a message within the forum from one user to another. I'm sure you know it, but let me check ...

'Lichnoe Soobshenie' is the russian word with latin characters.
I guess you call it LS .

PS: You will get your answer but you'll have to wait and I'm not sure you'll get the answer in this public forum. Rather in a private message or by mail.

Cheers

 

[ControlFreak]

Welcome Sphinx,

Using the link to your Russian forum, I clicked on your member name and a familiar looking interface popped up. Except for the Russian, its setup like CFC's member information page.

The Cyrillic for PM is in the image:

Easy way to PM Cracker is to go to the GOTM forum, find one of the many threads Cracker has started and click on his name. Then click the Send PM - Compose Message

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by ControlFreak
Easy way to PM Cracker is to go to the GOTM forum, find one of the many threads Cracker has started and click on his name. Then click the Send PM - Compose Message

Welcome Sphynx,

I have only just read through this thread, and I think there may have been some confusion earlier. You may have mistakenly thought the references to a Ukranian Cracker implied that you are a computer cracker - someone who works out cracks for computer programs.

I hope the subsequent messages have removed this misunderstanding, but I thought it might be helpful to lay it to rest:

Cracker is actually the nick for the Supreme Being on the GOTM staff, and his efforts are paramount in making the GOTM the great competition it is today. So when samildanach suggested that you may be Cracker's Ukranian counterpart this was the highest praise.

Good luck with your efforts to improve the Grand Prix.

 

[ltcoljt]

..

 

[samildanach]

Welcome Sphynx
I apologise for my earlier insulting remarks (comparing you to Cracker was not actually one of them as AlanH pointed out). Congratulations in winning gold in the Grand Prix .
I have looked at your tournament, am I correct in saying that you provide the competitors with a complete map of the world prior to the game beginning? If so I can understand why you are particularly interested in a reload counter. Cracker may or may not decide to give you the reload counter depending on what he thinks is in the best interests of the GotM.
My personal (probably crap) advice is that you should consider not revealing the map. In my experience bad people do bad things all the time, those who abuse the reload facility will also use map pre-knowledge to give themselves an advantage. In other words the more opportuinity you give them to cheat the easier it will be to identify them and eliminate them from your community.
Cheers and sorry once again
samildanach

 

[Sphynx]

Originally posted by samildanach
Welcome Sphynx
I apologise for my earlier insulting remarks (comparing you to Cracker was not actually one of them as AlanH pointed out). Congratulations in winning gold in the Grand Prix .
I have looked at your tournament, am I correct in saying that you provide the competitors with a complete map of the world prior to the game beginning? If so I can understand why you are particularly interested in a reload counter. Cracker may or may not decide to give you the reload counter depending on what he thinks is in the best interests of the GotM.
My personal (probably crap) advice is that you should consider not revealing the map. In my experience bad people do bad things all the time, those who abuse the reload facility will also use map pre-knowledge to give themselves an advantage. In other words the more opportuinity you give them to cheat the easier it will be to identify them and eliminate them from your community.
Cheers and sorry once again
samildanach

First to say I am not a Cracker even in the second meaning – I am simple “lesser being” or just a forum member and Grand Prix participant. I just speak some English (not so brilliant enough to understand “Cracker” and “PM” – I am so sorry to be little bit angry ). Also I am a neub in i-net forums, messaging,etc. What I want is to help people over here who are much greater than I am and who organized our championship to improve the championship level. After we study and reach some decent level be sure we’ll come here to fight for the GOTM awards (I know some players who are very strong but quit the championship because of the problems, including reloads). Sure there are still a lot of things to improve in our championship other than reloads. Everything is explained by the fact that the championship is too young. The structure of the championship is following (very much similar to Formula 1) – every month we have a Grand Prix (the one you’ve seen is the 3rd one). Winner gets 100 points, second gets 80 points, third - 60 etc. In the end of the year the results will be summarized and the one with more total points will become a Champion. The map of the month (of a single Grand Prix) is represented by one of the GP participants and is shown to everybody. Moreover, the one who created the map has advantage as he starts testing/playing the map, say 2 weeks, before others see its sketch only (that’s what you’ve seen, samildanah). However it’s funny – but none of the GP owners (those who created the maps for THEIR GPs) ever won their GP so far (they knew every resource on the map – the others only saw general sketch)!!! So, good knowledge of the map is not the most important point. Besides, everybody could play the map first to see what is there and then play again to get the result.

One more point under hot discussion in our forum now is the value of different types of victory. So far No. 1 is the one who gets the victory the earliest (by the year of the victory) – no matter how. You may guess what are the victories in the 1st and the 3rd GPs? – right! – Domination and Military. (In the second GP only Diplomatic was allowed). How did you resolve this problem? Some of our players prefer rather to construct than to destroy. But earliest year of the victory as the way to winning GP means only endless rush and destruction – and this causes reloads as destruction requires a lot of random fighting. Higher value of Cultural or say Diplomatic would reduce number of rushes, battles and consequently reloads. What kind of system do you have? Could it be applied to our 100-80-60… scoring system?

Many thanks for your replies - you are really nice people

 

[cracker]

Sphynx,

Contact me by email at gotm@civfanatics.net so we can so what we can to help you address the concerns that you have raised.

There are anumber of things here that may be duplicated effort and if we work together we can probably help to make sure that you and your fellow Grand Prix players will be successful in your game play objectives.

 

[alamo]

Originally posted by samildanach
I am from Nigeria... it will take 10 million US dollars for work to begin on the extraction facility. Can you help me?

That was pretty funny, samildanach. I didn't quite get it at first, but now get the reference (that common nigerian con scheme). I don't think anyone was insulted.

I was pretty convinced that it was bogus after thinking about it - doh!

Check out Sphynx's avatar - deadly!

 

[samildanach]

Yes it's a very cool avatar. It suggests that he has been playing on diety alot recently:suicide:. Also judging by the number of cat lovers in the photo thread he ain't going to be to popular if he uses it around here.

 

[Sphynx]

Originally posted by cracker
Sphynx,

Contact me by email at gotm@civfanatics.net so we can so what we can to help you address the concerns that you have raised.

There are anumber of things here that may be duplicated effort and if we work together we can probably help to make sure that you and your fellow Grand Prix players will be successful in your game play objectives.

'Kay I'll do so ASAP. Just need some time to write our guys' and my ideas in English. I think it would be interesting for your too.

BTW Why shouldn't I try to play one of your GOTMs? What I need to know is the rules, like what should I do to get good result, what is allowed and what is forbidden, where and when should I take initial save and where should I send the final save. I have only PTW 1.14f - do you still play this version? Sorry to ask all this but your forums are much bigger than ours and I would prefer playing instead of hanging around for many hours to find one or two right posts. I am far from being the best player in our championship but if get at least average result the best could come and you may get several stong competitors in your championship

P.S. What is QSC?