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)
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 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.
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.
I’m just waiting for him to click ‘submit’ and we’re off to the races.
Separately- is it just me or is the NP2STATS link for this tournament borked? I had gotten it to load before, it won’t load anymore on either Chrome or Edge.
(I could not resist)