@Macomber and I ended up pretty stagnant for a lot of rapid fire turns. We’re now at turn 342, very even in stars, he has a slight edge in ship count but I have a slight edge in production.
Me : Mac
Econ- 513 : 379
Ind- 196 : 175
Sci- 148 : 105
Scan- 4:4
Range- 5:4
Terra- 13:11
Bank- 4:4
Manu- 7:8
I have an edge, it remains to be seen if I can turn it into something. Weps locked at 3 is a prettty tough defensive edge.
Better luck next time @gaz123 and congrats on the win @Kaine.
I’ve updated the first post with the results and those who are in the second round should go ahead and join your games - the links are up for @panblanco - @Dysp - @Trucriot - @Solfyre - @Dr_Gaming - @Karmadrome
Crazy game @GluteusMaximusII and @Macomber - who is going to pull out a can of whoop-ass!?!?
The fight’s definitely on now and it’s getting interesting. Several turns of both of us trying to slip fleets in with some desperate defending by both. Our ship counts are within a hair of each other, he’s kept an edge on manu and me on most everything else, none of it decisive. My big lead in economy might be starting to show though.
Joined my game… got my first moves made and everything 
Looks like it could be an interesting map… looks can be deceiving though.
Befitting his name, looks like @GluteusMaximusII pulled out a can of whoop-ass on @Macomber
Two more turns and I should have my stars (EDIT TO ADD: And it’s now done). It was interesting in how it played out, and we may have inadvertently exposed a potential weakness in the settings for the tourney in terms of how dynamic a game it produces.
Basically we played very close to symmetrically off the start, and we established near parity on a border very quickly. Other than a couple small probes there was minimal military activity til quite late in the game. This was the result of both of us running so close to each other that the 33% defense advantage at locked Weps 3 was almost insurmountable; there was minimal room for good tactics (versus economic strategy) to tip the scale. The defense advantage was very forgiving of error- either one of us could afford to be a bit sloppy, but a relatively modest number of ships moved quickly to defend would make up for it.
What ultimately tipped it is I was able to get ahead on science and terra, and hold that edge. Slowly - VERY slowly - but inevitably in light of military stalemate, that gave me a tiny incremental edge… But it took over 400 ticks for me to be able to take a chance to turn it into something. Basically the game was a competition between two compound interest equations, and I had an extra couple tenths of a percent rate of return. That meant that when I finally DID pull a clear lead economically, it was insurmountable- and that almost inevitably becomes a military lead as soon as I could shift any additional growth to industry.
The ‘so what?’ is that, IMO, weps 4 or 5 might be conducive to more dynamic game play as it lessens the risk of attack and increases the risk of trying to build and sit behind a Maginot Line. The 6 hour advantage of turn based plan should reward bold moves. I’d also suggest that the defense advantage makes it harder to recover from a mistake because anything once taken is much more easily held. That said this is based off a single game sample that happened to start extremely evenly.
I do want to say that Mac played exceptionally well and was pretty savage in playing an active defense once I started moving- I loved his raiding game and would enjoy playing alongside him in a good alliance fight where things are flowing more. Not so sure I’d want to be facing off with him in said fight, though it would be fun as hell. It was the math that beat him, not my ability to be tactically superior.
Thank you to Gluteus for the great game, it was a fun first experience with this 1v1 format. I’ll definitely join the next tournament. Thank you to @HULK for organizing it.
Haha, I love playing a savage raiding game, thank you @GluteusMaximusII for those kind words. My opponent played like a master strategist and logistician and would’ve made the Romans proud - he created an unstoppable space empire that bore down on my poor Potato Boat barbarians with economic heft and mighty fleets. I invested early in manufacturing and industry, and maintained a lead in ships for a lot of the game, but I made the fatal error of falling too far behind in terraforming and economy.
I would say that I enjoyed the new challenge of having no weapons advantage, and it required me to think more tactically about how I could try to overcome my opponent’s defences. There were some great warp gate sling shot moves that generally didn’t pan out but were very dramatic. However, past a certain point, it also made it so that I couldn’t realistically see a way to overcome him. But then again, it was really his economic might that made me feel that way, and so, even with weapons research, it may well have played out the same way.
Still, with all that said, I would’ve enjoyed the extra element in my toolbox of having weapons research (maybe start on weps 3 with ‘Crazy Expensive’ research to make it hard to get until later game?). I agree that the game conditions made for a stalemate (claps for Maginot Line reference) while we jockeyed for an advantage…but once the floodgates opened, it was epic.
One more point: I really enjoyed the 6h turn-based mode, especially during active firefights. It made NP almost feel like a new game with more potential for surprise attacks and nearly-instant gratification.
@GluteusMaximusII you clearly haven’t played @HULK before. He laughs in the face of defensive bonuses 
But seriously these 1v1 tourneys have been running for a long time and they work pretty well including with weaps 3.
I’m sure @HULK would be interested in any feedback, but I would think that only minor tweaks should be considered for such a well established format (IMO of course)
Glad you both had a fun game
Sounds good, I wasn’t aware that that was a long-standing practice. No worries.
Congrats both @GluteusMaximusII and @Macomber on a GREAT game - delighted to hear it was a fun battle - I’ll respond shortly to your constructive comments - always appreciated.
Per the first post, @GluteusMaximusII advances to round #2 against @Kaine - the link is already there … so the sooner you guys join, the sooner the carnage can begin!
Similarly, 2nd round game links are ready for @panblanco - @Dysp - @Trucriot - @Solfyre - @Dr_Gaming - @Karmadrome … so if you guys are welcome to join your games so they are ready to go when your respective opponent emerges from round #1 - several games should end soon. As always, please do check the game parameters and overall layout to make sure all looks good.
WRT Weapons: We’ve tried “Crazy Expensive” … but even that doesn’t work because whoever gets it first (and yes, you are “crazy” not to research some of the other techs early on) gets a HUGE advantage as they will time their “ALL-IN” strike based on it. I had a game where I literally got it ONE tick later … and that made all the difference in the world - it’s just too big of a “step” function. LOL a solution to that would be W3.1, W3.2, etc.
If it was possible do something like “at tick #400, upgrade BOTH players to W4, tick #500 W5, etc.” that would be a way to try to break stalemates … but there is no capability to do that.
Having said all that, I believe we have only had ONE stalemated game in 1v1. I try to pick maps with multiple “border crossings” on the Maginot Line … so yea, making some bold/risky moves can break open the floodgates … or vice-versa for the “Turtles” who are biding their time.
I’ll be curious to see/hear how the game of @GluteusMaximusII vs. @Kaine goes …
I have joined, but it will be a little while before I submit my turn. I feel obliged to say that I intend to kick some @GluteusMaximusII 
(I could not resist)
I dont think the settings need changed, if there a plenty of stars in tight clusters near the border. That’s why looking at the maps prior to game start is so important.
Your threats don’t mean squat.
I’m in now and getting my first turn figured out. No rush.
It was a very close contest - could have gone either way. But in the end I just managed to sneak home. Thanks for the game @rubensan!
Thanks for the updates everyone - first post updated with results.
Better luck in the next tournament to some of you and congrats to those that won plus good job signing up for your 2nd round games.
There is a maintenance going on with my service provider and NP2STATS and the tournament tracker will be temporarely down. Services should return to normal at latest within 20 hours. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I’m also currently upgrading the NP2STATS to new look and feel, so sorry if something is broken now and then.
It was less threat and more “Kaine can’t resist an opportunity to pun”
