The Legendary Level League offers an additional opportunity besides the traditional 1v1 tournament series to participate in exciting 1v1 games.
Reply until October 2 (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 
NEW: Please also refer to the two setting polls in the first reply to this thread if you wish to influence them.
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 itās 100% strategy and game theory. Itās turn-based with only two players, so games can move along quickly - but if you need some more time sometimes, thereās also a very generous turn deadline (48 hours).
(some testimonials)
So whatās the gist of the 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 youāre 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 itās 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 itās 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 donāt have time for NP2 some days though.
*** Hall of Fame ***
(Legendary 1v1 Players)
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 āLegendary 1v1 Playerā 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 -
ā¦ if previous ones choose not to, no problem: they wonāt 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. Iām thinking of one round happening every two months, giving ample time for games to fully play out without a hurry. If a match hasnāt 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 itās 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.
The settings are the same as the KO tournamentsā ones (except starting cash). For detailed reasoning check @HULKās tournament thread.
Hereās 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: $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.
Iām very afraid of long time jumps because Iām still mostly used to playing real time games and having to plan more than one tick ahead was scary in my previous game. Changed starting distance is also scary, but it might be worth experimenting with.