1v1 Legendary Level League [LLL 03/2022]

The Legendary Level League offers an opportunity to participate in an exciting 1v1 game for players at all skill levels - from newcomers to veterans.

Reply by March 20 (Sunday) 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 :wink:

For the uninitiated: 1v1s are a fun challenge for all NP2 players. 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 itā€™s 100% strategy and game theory. Itā€™s turn-based with only two players, so games can move along quickly - but if you need some more time sometimes, thereā€™s also a very generous turn deadline (48 hours).

So whatā€™s the gist of the format? You only ever 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 youā€™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!

Although the game is turn-based with a 48h deadline, please make sure you can start your game within one week after itā€™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 itā€™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 donā€™t have time for NP2 some days though. If star counts stay the same for both players over a period of 96 ticks, both have the option to call for a draw in this thread.

*** Hall of Fame ***
(Legendary 1v1 Players)

@Solfyre (4x, defending champion)
@Trucriot (2x)
@plug (2x)

fine-print on how the concept started and works
  1. Players sign up and get placed on a level according to their latest world ranking (link) - new 1v1 players get the starting rating of 1000 and likely play each other first.
  2. They get paired up through the (active) ladder, 1 vs 2 (legendary level), 3 vs 4 etc., thus will play others on a likely comparable skill level.
  3. Winner of the top level match is the ā€œLegendary 1v1 Playerā€ until next round.
  4. 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 -
    ā€¦ if previous ones choose not to, no problem: they wonā€™t be considered in pairings, but lose their position on the ladder (to encourage staying active even high up or as leader) - for come-back players the new-joiner rule will apply.
    ā€¦ 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. Iā€™m thinking of one round happening every two months, giving ample time for games to fully play out without a hurry. If a match hasnā€™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) to determine the placement on the next-round-ladder. The game can continue on afterwards until itā€™s settled though.

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 similarly experienced ones instead.

Hereā€™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
  • Random Gates: Rare Gates
  • Starting Stars: 1
  • Starting Credits: $3000
  • Starting Ships Per Star: 100 Ships
  • Starting Economy: 20
  • Starting Industry: 20
  • Starting Science: 4
  • Cost Science: Cheap
  • Cost Scanning: Normal
  • Cost Experimentation: None
  • Cost Manufacturing: Expensive
  • Cost Banking: Cheap
  • Cost Weapons: None
  • Starting Experimentation: Level0
  • Starting Weapons: Level4

Settings are subject to change based on poll results below.

Which one-time setting deviation/s (randomly generated and potentially crazy) would you like to see in this round? (Only the most voted option is picked.)

  • Starting Tech: level 9 Scanning
  • Build Warpgates: Disabled
  • Production Ticks: 30 Ticks
  • Starting Tech: level 13 Weapons
  • Turn Jumps: 24 Ticks
  • These changes are all too crazy for me
0 voters

The poll will close when sign-ups close. You can also propose ideas for permanent setting changes in the thread below.

Please also consider posting or sending me your preferred flag/country for the World Rankings if you havenā€™t already - thanks!

Best
Trucriot

Ok, count me in please!

In!

Sign me up!

Iā€™ve decided this is not really my cup of tea. I withdraw. Good luck to all!

That sounded quite different a month ago, I smell a lost friendly 1v1 :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Hope youā€™ll reconsider sometime.

Anyways, the LLL tournament rounds are opt-in and a one-game-at-a-time commitment, no need for anyone to withdraw.

Iā€™m down for this round of the LLL!

Count me in for this round as well.

@Trucriot - without being pernickety I think I have two victories for the Hall of Fame - the October and November 2021 rounds of the LLL.

I defeated @spymort in 10/2021 and @FinrodFelagund in 11/2021.

Iā€™m keen to play in LLL 03/2022 please - thanks

Whoops, forgot about your win in overtime this year. Corrected!

Iā€™d be in, although maybe not depending on which ā€œcrazyā€ option sticks. Some of these would ruin the 1v1 experience for me. Weapons 13 would stalemate the game with mines and minimize the ability to attack. Scanning 9 would give away all my secrets! 24 tick jumps would just be a giant headache, trying to figure out how to block all those attack options. Just my humble opinions.

Could you elaborate on Weapons 13 stalemating a game? The defenderā€™s advantage would be miniscule (except at low ship counts right at the start) and should enable very aggressive gameplay.

Scan 9 giving away your trade secrets is a fair point at the level youā€™re operating on.

24 tick jumps would indeed be crazy, but both sides would have to deal with that. More elaborate attack plays and strategies would be possible. Game theory application obviously turned up a notch (or two).

Iā€™m in.

Just an idea: weapons 13 (or 16) should be combined with low resources and expensive industry.

Im thinking stalemating the early game, as you suggest. Attacking a star with 1 ship will cost 14 ships. It just would take a lot of the early back and forth out. Sure, late game might be better for attacking, but not so much so for shutting down early game fun. Again, just my humble opinions. :wink:

Count me in.

Too bad there isnā€™t a way to make weapons = current cycle level or something like that

True, if @JayKyburz adds it to the code I will definitely use that setting for the tournaments.

lol yeah maybe. It was a balanced game, I was 10 ahead in stars but he did a better job at investing. I got lazy and forgot about a gate I had put behind my lines by accident. Mal loves lazy!! He would have skewered me had I not conceded

But before that happened (tick 400 i forget) I could feel the game stalemating. He had a shipct lead. He had a convex front line across from my concave line, so he could better concentrate his defense. I was starting a process of hunkering down so could rebuild my shipct and preserve my star lead, and make him resume attacks and spend his ship lead. I really wanted no part of one of those super long games of two balanced players.

I guess at the end of the day I play NP for the diplomacy. You canā€™t talk your way out of stupid in this format. I tend to do a lot of talking lol.

Good luck to all!

1 Like

:smiling_imp: Heheheee. I never expected to see that warp gate stay lit, so I didnā€™t even try to attack it at first sight, but when it remained active I took a chance and made the devastating jump.

All in all, that was an accurate recap of our game. It was a tight dogfight all the way, but I gained a bit of an advantage through early investment strategy and instead of being obsessed with falling behind in star count I switched to taking a strong defensive position that forced @wfmcgillicuddy to spread his ships thin in order to defend more stars. That gave me better opportunity to attack, so when I saw him starting to catch back up to me in ship count I made some bold moves that paid off.