Yea, I agree @plug that the “problem” with a smaller map is one mistake can easily decide the game. In fact, one of the stated goals of the larger map is you (ideally) have a chance to recover from a boo-boo.
I’m just wondering if some adjustment might reduce some of the “slog” that occurs in games such as ours when two equally matched players go at it.
I don’t have any great ideas/solutions - just thinking out loud.
Im not entirely sure what the options are in terms of star distribution, but I think something that allows for more variety and opportunity is star distribution along the border. The closer and denser the border stars are the more advantageous various attacks become. Which makes defense more difficult, requiring more guesswork.
Personally, i think the larger maps allow for more diverse strategies than smaller ones. The common denominator i have noticed in stalemate games is a large border gap which becomes an insurmountable barrier in tandum with the defenders bonus.
I TOTALLY agree with you on that @panblanco … and it’s actually a bit of work to generate “good” 1v1 maps because quite a few have those border gaps. I have suggested to Jay that it would be great if the map generation code had some sort of “weighting” factor that resulted in tighter star distribution.
And yea, larger maps (that take a while to play) do allow different strategies to develop … so maybe I’m just whining a bit because a 500 tick battle against someone as good as @plug is just going to take a lot of effort.
Have we ever tried it with weapons 4 instead of 3? It would lessen the defender’s advantage slightly, allowing for more successful attacks. Probably would have other ramifications too though that I’m not thinking of this late at night…
I really love the feel early game when you are running and gunning and having to make decisions like “should I press my attack/advantage or wait a turn and reinforce my position.” Things are wild and exciting. But once everything gets settled and enough ships get produced, lines become formed and it becomes more of a guessing game with more ships to lose on a bad decision. I’d love to find a way to keep the early game feel longer into the game. Once one or both players decide to sit on their laurels and defend for a turn or two, the game bogs down and you get a long one. Seems like encouraging attacking is the answer. Keeps the game flowing and exciting.
What about a ship tax? Not sure how you would implement something like that, but “spending” your ships attacking has a beneficial outcome. Just a weird thought. 
My game with @DarkDragonwing has been taking a little while to play out, and while I have had a star deficit, I captured a star to make the count even… just as it seems Dragon has gone AFK. I think Dragon has now missed two turns, but is still 1k ships ahead, so Dragon could still easily play this if they come back.
Just thinking about that message from you @Solfyre, and keeping the excitement of the early game going. How about capping Scanning at level 1 with no research possible? That would mean lots of blind leaps and double-guessing.
Just a thought.
Sorry for being away a couple of turns… life is keeping me busy. Unfortunately, I won‘t have the time to play the game the next few weeks.
Therefore, I just conceded my game against @BelSon. It won‘t be fair if I delay the game more and more. Guess it‘s the best time to take a break.
@BelSon played very well and took an early lead in infrastructure and ships, where I was taking a slightly lead in stars and managed to equalize his stats and ship count later the game. Unfortunately, the map was more of a stalemate, which made it hard to launch some artacks succesfully. We both tried but failed in the end the most of time… well, doesn‘t matter now I guess.
@DarkDragonwing fought well and hard, and I’m sorry we weren’t able to finish the game. While I do agree that the map could be easily stalemated, I think Dragon fought far too conservatively, but that is probably due to their time constraints. As Dragon said, I quickly lead in infrastructure and ships, but some excellent plays from @DarkDragonwing and some foolish plays from me lead to an equal star count but with Dragon having a significant lead on ships.
I look forward to a rematch in the future!
@spymort and I agree that we have entered into a stalemate. We’ve had some good phases of aggressive attacks, but for a while now it has been hard to break through and the lines have really settled.
@Trucriot may we ask for a new map to try again? I realize we are approaching the two month mark here where you may want to move onto the next round of LLL. If so, we can play this game out and apply a tie-breaker or otherwise resolve it between ourselves.
Quite unfortunate that there’s been so many stalemates this round, sorry.
@Macomber and @spymort: I’m currently traveling so can’t generate a good new map but a draw seems unavoidable on the current one, wouldn’t want you guys to continue wasting your time. How about I keep your positions on the ladder stable and depending on the sign-ups you may play each other again next round on a better map?
This actually sounds like it could work! Maybe something to try out in the next LLL round. Could also lead to more defensive gameplay though (not seeing good opportunities).
1
If you need some maps, there are five maps available here :
These maps have the same custom settings as in this tournament, except some of these maps may have different game names which would be seen from your browser tab.
2
Jay also gave me super powers to create maps, if you need my help.
I am just not yet sure how the game links are added to @Dysp 's tournament tracker tool.
Thanks for your responses @Trucriot and @xjhdexter. I think I’m responsible for turning it into a stalemate as I started playing defensively at a certain point to survive and the situation snowballed.
@spymort and I have decided to go out with a bang on our current map by turning it into a shootout to see who wins. We are currently talking about making a ship limit per star to shake up our lines and force some decisive action.
When will the next LLL round commence?
Looks like starting sign-ups next week could work, I’ll try to set aside some time.
Good that you’re introducing some stalemate breaking self-rules. I’d still count it as a draw for the rankings and use the result for ladder determination only if, or would you guys prefer it differently?
Put me on that list please
Hey, we both agree that you can count it as a draw in the standings. Thanks for all your efforts running the league, looking forward to the next round.
Yup, draw, and we’d rather a matchup between us next round if possible
Can’t guarantee an immediate re-match as it depends on which (and how many) players will sign up - I’ll keep you guys’ positions on the LLL ladder steady and let’s see what match-ups will be calculated 
Final results of LLL 06/2021
- @Solfyre d. @panblanco
- @HULK d. @plug
- @FinrodFelagund d. @Cryptious
- @Karmadrome d. @Lex
- @BelSon d. @DarkDragonwing
- @Tanktress d. @ignaloidas
- @spymort / @Macomber (draw)
- @Dr_Gaming d. @iippabella
- @suedenim d. @RhysOnasi
- @Sneferu d. @Red_5
- @kinghuang d. @gaz123
Sign up in the linked thread for the next round! (Sign-ups for the concluded round will not carry over to the next one automatically to make sure only active players are considered in the match-ups.)