The Legendary Level League offers an additional opportunity besides the traditional 1v1 tournament series to participate in exciting 1v1 games.
For the uninitiated: 1v1s are a fun challenge for new NP2 players and veterans alike. You will face off on an epic mirrored map with no experimentation so you have the exact same starting position as your opponent. No diplomacy - instead it’s 100% strategy and game theory. It’s turn-based with only two players, so games can move along quickly - but if you need some more time sometimes, there’s also a very generous turn deadline (48 hours).
(some testimonials)
So what’s the gist of the new format? You only ever have to sign up for one game at a time - and that game is likely going to be with a similarly experienced opponent. This makes it a perfect place to build your 1v1 skills in tight matches. The main goal is having fun games, but if you’re looking for a competitive one it will be rising to the Legendary Level over time and defeating the defending Legendary 1v1 Player to claim that title for yourself!
Reply until February 27 (Saturday) if you want to join. Signing up earlier is recommended - because if there is an uneven number of sign-ups, the last one will literally be the odd one out for this round 
Although the game is turn-based with a 48h deadline, please make sure you can start your game soon after it’s set up and generally have enough time to keep the game moving along at a steady pace, i.e. at least two submits a day, preferably more (as it’s 1v1, the game will move forward in absence of your opponent after you submit and you can submit your next turn already). No worries if you don’t have time for NP2 some days though.
*** Hall of Fame ***
(Legendary 1v1 Players)@Trucriot (current)
fine-print on how the concept started and works
- Players sign up and get placed on a level according to their latest ranking (link) - new 1v1 players get the starting rating of 814 and likely play each other first.
- They get paired up through the (active) ladder, 1 vs 2 (legendary level), 3 vs 4 etc., so will play others on a likely comparable skill level.
- Winner of the top level match is the “Legendary 1v1 Player” until next round.
- Ladder gets re-arranged according to results (winners go up slightly (except #1), losers go down slightly (except last)). Players sign up for the next round -
… if previous ones choose not to, no problem: they won’t be considered in pairings, but lose at least one position on the ladder (to encourage staying active even high up or as leader) - a second skip would cause the removal from the ladder for the time-being (for come-back players the new-joiner rule will apply).
… if new ones join, they will be placed on the ladder according to their relative ranking with a slight malus (to encourage joining early)After that, back to step 2 and repeat indefinitely. I’m thinking of one round happening every two months, giving ample time for games to fully play out without a hurry. If a match hasn’t finished when the next LLL round is about to start, the players will be warned and after another week a tiebreaker will be applied (stars, else ships) in case it’s still not finished. Shooting for the full victory is advised as a tie will potentially impact your rating adversely.
If everything works out, it will be an endless casual tournament with players never having to sign up for more than one match, but lots of interesting matches on all skill levels, with the top being particularly competitive and the lower end being a good place to gain experience and raise the level / staying engaged due to not facing impossible opponents, but similar ones instead.
The settings are the same as the KO tournaments’ ones. For detailed reasoning check @HULK’s tournament thread.
Here’s all settings deviating from the default NP2 ones:
- Stars For Victory: 66%
- Turn Based: On
- Tick to Jump Each Turn: 6 Tick Jumps
- Turn Deadline: 48 Hours
- Dark Galaxy: Disabled
- Stars Per Player: 64 Stars, Epic
- Home Star Distance: Far
- Starting Stars: 1
- Starting Credits: $2000
- Starting Ships Per Star: 100 Ships
- Starting Economy: 20
- Starting Industry: 20
- Starting Science: 4
- Cost Science: Cheap
- Cost Experimentation: None
- Cost Manufacturing: Expensive
- Cost Banking: Cheap
- Cost Weapons: None
- Starting Experimentation: Level0
- Starting Weapons: Level3
Everyone can sign up for the second round, whether as previous participant, substitute or new player to the LLL. Matchmaking will be done based on previous LLL results or 1v1 ranking accordingly.