Stand the Test of Time ("Overhaul" mod) - Brainstorming

[Atlas627]

As I mentioned, the system I proposed would require balancing, which includes adjusting science/culture/production/gold/faith requirements for building/research in order to keep the game at the target pace.

If you do not boost the person who ranks 1st then there are 2 issues:

1. You are being punished for winning, which is one thing I am trying to avoid, since everyone else will receive a boost.
2. If there is a very close second, even a small boost could potentially put them in first place unless the person in 1st also gets a boost.

The goal of the system I proposed is not to upend the leader board at the end of each era, but to keep those who have fallen behind competitive until the end of the game and prevent snowballing for those in the lead.

If you want your 1st place person to never lose 1st place as a result of these boosts, then they must always be gaining a bigger boost than the people that are behind. That just means that they get even further ahead than the people that are behind, which means the competition is *less* fierce, not more.

If you want to meet all of your goals, then you need to not boost 1st place and boost everyone else by whatever amount brings them close to that bar. That's the same as boosting all of them by an additional X, but without speeding up the game.

 

[mjhousto]

I'm not sure that you fully read my first post on this.

The person is 1st would gain a larger lead (in whatever categories they are rank 1) vs another player that is also 1st in some other category. The person in 1st would have their lead lessened (in all categories) vs players who do not rank 1st in any categories (ie. they will still be in 1st, but the other players will be closer to catching them).

That is to say that, after boosts, a player 1st in science will be closer to a science victory vs a player who is 1st in faith, but the faith player will also get closer to a religious victory vs the science player. Players who are not leading toward any victory condition will gain on all players who are.

 

[Atlas627]

I'm not sure that you fully read my first post on this.

The person is 1st would gain a larger lead (in whatever categories they are rank 1) vs another player that is also 1st in some other category. The person in 1st would have their lead lessened (in all categories) vs players who do not rank 1st in any categories (ie. they will still be in 1st, but the other players will be closer to catching them).

That is to say that, after boosts, a player 1st in science will be closer to a science victory vs a player who is 1st in faith, but the faith player will also get closer to a religious victory vs the science player. Players who are not leading toward any victory condition will gain on all players who are.

I read your post. Clearly I just misunderstand it. We could probably even meet in person to discuss this, since I live in Massachusetts too haha

The part I am not understanding is how you are allowing people behind to catch up without surpassing the leader, *without* making their boosts proportional.

Also, I'm not sure I understand why you want to keep people that are ahead in a category still ahead. You already said you'd be scoring the players at the end of each era, so your reward for getting ahead is to get more points. Then the other players catch up a little bit and you get ahead again by playing better consistently, again gaining more points. Why do you need to assure someone who is ahead stays ahead, even in one category?