Treeburst155 Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 This be the new thread. Once again we will start it with the tourney "manual". HOW IT WORKS Once the 72 players have been assigned to one of the three tourneys (24 in each) as described in the first post to this thread, they will be further divided into four sections of six players. This division into sections will be done in a completely random manner by drawing names out of a hat. Your section is where the "regular season" action is. You will play one game against each of the people in your section. You will also play each scenario one time. This means you will play five games in the "regular season". The sides you play, and your attack/defend duties could very well come out lopsided. You may play the Germans four times, or you may find yourself defending four times. The only guarantee regarding your matches is that you will play each scenario once, and each member of your section once. The scenarios will be provided by the "Boots & Tracks" design team headed up by SuperTed. They will be historical/semi-historical scenarios never before seen by the community. The guys at B & T are working on our scenarios right now. Without them the tourney would not have happened. The scenarios may or may not be balanced. Don't count on a fair fight! The scoring system will determine balance. It is possible to "lose" the battle, and still win if you perform better than the median established for that side of the scenario. I will explain how this works later. You do not need to understand the nitty-gritty of the scoring system, although some may be interested. You need only be aware of the following: 1) Points for contested VL's will be split. This means final game scores will always total to 100. There is a very good reason for this I'll not get into now. If you think "gamey" you can probably figure it out. 2) Voluntary surrender is ALWAYS bad. Your opponent gets too many points for all the people he captures. You should always withdraw your people from a hopeless situation. This way you deprive your opponent of capture points. The game will auto-surrender you once your global morale drops to a certain point. Every unit that you successfully withdraw off the map will lower this global morale. Try to have all your people step off the map together once you are near the auto-surrender point. This prevents capture of units who would have made it off, but didn't due to the auto-surrender. If you score very poorly in relation to the median for a scenario you will suffer a penalty (your score will be made even worse). This is to discourage surrender, and careless play just to get the game over with. If your score is that low compared to the median we assume you surrendered or got purposely stupid. WITHDRAW YOUR TROOPS IF POSSIBLE when faced with a bad situation!! I'm telling you all this because it is quite possible you will find yourself in a very bad situation due to deliberate scenario imbalance. Do not give up!! Withdraw!! The median score for your side of that scenario may only be 20 points. IOW, if you score 32 points you did very well. You can "lose" and still win if you get your people to safety so they can fight again another day. 3) Your goal with each scenario is not so much to beat your opponent (could be impossible), but to get the highest score of the 36 people (three tourneys) who play that side of the particular scenario. "Winning" the game may be virtually impossible due to imbalance. You never know what hand you may be dealt. LAUNCHING THE TOURNEY Each player will receive the schedule for his section only. Where your name is on the LEFT you will play the Allied side for that scenario. Along with the schedule of games you will receive a contact list with all the email addresses of your five opponents. When you receive these the tourney is officially underway. After this, over the course of the next several days, you will receive an email for each of the five scenarios. For games where you are the Allies you will find two briefing files attached, a general briefing and your Allied briefing. This email will also contain your password for that scenario. Your German opponent will start the game. To open the first file from him you will need to use the password I provide you. This will put you in the Allied setup phase. If you are playing the German side you will also receive a secured saved game file in addition to the two briefings and password. By 'secured' I mean that the briefings have been stripped out, the game begun, and the passwords entered. This is the file you will use to start the PBEM game. It will be a .cmb file, not a .txt file. Start the game just as you would any other new PBEM game. The only difference is that you will have to enter the password I provide you. You will find yourself in the Axis setup phase. DEADLINES AND GAME RESULTS REPORTING All games should be completed within 90 days of the date I send out the last scenario files. This means you will need to keep at it. Don't be the one to hold up the show. Don't get lazy. Take your turns. We want to at least get into the playoff stage before CMBB comes out. The tourney cannot be scored until ALL games have been completed. The LOSER reports game results. If you end up being on the weak side of a few unbalanced scenarios you will find yourself having to report most of your games. This is, as they say, tough luck. Game Report email needs to have the subject, "Game Report". The body of the email must contain the following information: Tourney Number (1-3), Scenario Title, Your username on this forum, the side you played, your score, your opponent's username and his score. The body of the email should then look like this if you are Fred: Tourney 1, The Ambush, Fred (Axis) 37, Joe 43 Reporting games in this manner will save me a great deal of time. With 72 people I NEED to have games reported this way. Do not send me final game files. Keep these in a safe place in case of disputes. FOG OF WAR No discussion of scenarios is allowed on the forum until ALL players in all three tourneys have completed a scenario. I will let you know when it is alright to talk about a scenario. It won't happen until near the end of the tourney. No game results are to be revealed on the forum. You won't know who beat who until all is revealed at the end. Think before you post, and remember, no game scores, no blow by blow descriptions of the last movie, no general discussion about the scenarios, etc.. THE NABLA SCORING SYSTEM Your game scores will be recorded on an input file for the Nabla Scoring Program, created by Jarmo Hurri (Nabla). The Nabla program will crunch the scores and spit out your Nabla Score, also called your "Tourney Score", for each scenario. Below is what the program does: 1) Checks for game scores that total less than 100. Adjusts to 100 if necessary (60-30 becomes 65-35) 2) Determines the median score for both sides of every scenario based on all 36 instances of that scenario. 3) Determines the distance, plus or minus, of your score from the median for each scenario. 4) Calculates a Nabla Score based on this distance from the median using a rather complex formula. 5) Averages all five of your Nabla Scores to give your final Tourney Score. By establishing a median for each side of a scenario we determine the balance of the scenario. Your score is then compared to this median. If you score 30 points and the median is only 20 for that side, then you have done very well inspite of your "loss". This is why you don't want to surrender. You never know what the median of a scenario might be. You won't know this until the end. Establishing scenario balance (the median) means we can measure relative performance within your section without the necessity of balanced scenarios. This is a major breakthrough for competitive CM IMO!! With this scoring system we can play virtually any scenario and not worry about unfairness due to the balance issue. AARs Bonus points will be added to your final Tourney Score if you submit AARs. Each full credit AAR will be worth 4% of the highest player's tourney score (before adding his AARs). If you write five full credit AARs you will receive additional tourney points equal to 20% of the highest player's tourney score. AARs will receive either full credit or half credit. You must write more than just a few short paragraphs for full credit. I will let you know if an AAR is too short soon after you send it to me. You don't have to write a book either. Just give us a fairly good description of how the game played out. You are not required to write AARs. You just get a few extra points if you do. This could put you ahead if you're in a tight race in your section. The primary purpose of the AARs is to provide the scenario designers with feedback on their work. If you've ever designed a scenario for the community, you know how rare it is to get this feedback. Writing AARs is one way to express your thanks to the designer. Even negative feedback is welcome as long as it's constructive and not mean spirited. Another thing AARs do is help people learn to improve their tactics. Every scenario is played twelve times in a tourney such as this. There are eleven other people who had to deal with the same tactical situations you did. It can be very instructive to learn how others handled things, especially if you did worse than most. (BTW, all the AARs will be sent to you upon request once you have completed your games.) Lastly, by writing an AAR (feedback) you are doing the community a small favor. This is because the designer can tweak the scenario based on feedback before releasing it to the community. Having a scenario played twelve times by twenty four different people is a great test of a scenario. I think it's safe to say that very few scenarios get that degree of testing before they are put out to the public. They may get played twelve times, but not by twenty four different people, and certainly not under blind conditions. Those of us who enjoy these tournaments need new scenarios (security). In return for these scenarios the designers get the feedback they like. IMPORTANT! Submitting AARs 1)AARs should never be sent in with game results. Send them in a separate email. 2)AARs can be .txt, .doc, or .pdf files. Do not write them in the body of an email. 3)AARs should not be more than 4 MB UNcompressed. Screenshots can cause you to go over this limit easily. I would recommend the .pdf format if you want to include several screenshots. 4)In the subject line of emails containing attached AARs, write your username and the scenario name. For example: Madmatt, The Ambush THE PLAYOFFS Everybody makes it to the playoffs! However, only the four section winners in each tourney are eligible for the prize. The four section winners will play a 3 scenario round robin. The second place finishers in each section will do the same, and so on. If you place last in your section, you will face the other three last place finishers in the playoffs. The playoffs will be scored exactly like the "regular season". Those of you who aren't eligible for the wine (not first in section) are still very important to the tourney. Your scores will determine the accurate median we need for the playoff scenarios. THE PRIZES The winner of the "First Place Playoff" in each tourney will win the prize. The winners of Tourney I and Tourney II will each receive six different bottles of WineCape's fine South African wines, postage paid to their doorstep. The winner of Tourney III will receive three almost new VCR movies. They are, "Stalingrad" (by the people who made "Das Boot"), "Cross Of Iron", and the somewhat obscure "A Midnight Clear". I purchased these a year ago from Amazon.com and watched them all twice. All three are very good war movies IMO, and the tapes are in mint condition. REPORTING MIAs In order to keep all games proceeding at an acceptable pace we need to identify any potential dropouts (MIAs) promptly so I can find out their intentions regarding the tourney, and replace them if necessary. Please email me if you have not heard from an opponent in 3 days unless that opponent has informed you beforehand of his inability to send turns for a specified period of time. This way I know what is going on. The tourney cannot be scored until every last game is completed. By informing me of possible problems (3 days and no turns) I can act promplty so matches don't get way behind. It's up to you guys to keep me informed. That should cover just about everything. Ask questions if you have them. I probably left something out, or explained something in an unclear manner. Treeburst155 out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 Bertram, I sent back a response to the last turn, only to have the thing develop a permanent error because it couldn't find your address. I resent the turn and got a "could not connect with destination domain (home.nl)" message, "destination not responding." I shall now have a chat with my ISP's tech people. Oh joy! Sorry for the delay. Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treeburst155 Posted July 28, 2002 Author Share Posted July 28, 2002 TOURNEY I, Section 3 Replacement for Jazza found. You can expect a new contact list soon. ______________________________________________ TOURNEY III, Section 2 Replacement for GeneralSV found. You can expect a new contact list soon. ______________________________________________ TOURNEY I, Section 4 Saport and von Lucke are alive and well, having successfully beaten back a vicious attack by the infamous Real Life Brigade! JonS, Saport is aware your game is lagging behind. He will be picking up the pace as soon as he finishes a couple games that are in the final stages. ________________________________________________ Fight On!! Treeburst155 out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 Ohhh bugger another chap down... I am on turn 13 of 30 with Jazza "Another Day". I will await info on to who to send it to? Will re-start both games this week after DIY delay. That is of course if I get my office back after the carpet is laid on Monday. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 Have just made third attempt to send turn to Bertram. For some strange reason, all my outbound E-mail seems to fail to recognize the addressee's domain, yielding a permanent error. May this third time be the charm! Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertram Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 As I haven't recieved it I guess this is an other failure.... Receiving other turns ok, so it must be something on your side John. Just to be sure, here is my e-mail adress again: BORedmeijer@home.nl Be sure to use ij instewad of y if you copy it manually... Bertram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visom Posted July 28, 2002 Share Posted July 28, 2002 All five games finished. It's been five very fun end exciting games, hats off to everyone in the section for lightning speed when returning mails. By reading the comments here on the board it seems like I'll end up on the lower half. Now the boring part of this tourney starts, waiting for all those of you who actually has a life... And of course, thanks for the wonderful scenarios and for arranging this great tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Uber General Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 zzzZZZzzzZZZZzzzz Wake me when we're done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White4 Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 1.3 MB of Head for the Hills goodness sent to Cpl Carrot...I sure hope to make him say "Whats up Doc" to the medic a few more times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Bertram, Yes, it bounced yet again. Since all of my outbound E-mails have been similarly plagued, and all incoming E-mail works fine, I believe the problem lies outside my computer, at the junction between my ISP and the addressee's ISP. I'm sorry we lost so much prime gaming time. Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertram Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 I put the time to good use, got most of my men killed by Keith in St Mere. I'll bre back tuesday evening, hope you have solvedyour problems by then. Bertram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Bertram, Since third time wasn't the charm, maybe the fourth will be. Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Carrot Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Thanks for all the files guys. I will endevour to get the files back to you ASAP (which will probably be one a day till I get things under my belt). If you use this rjb109@slingshot.co.nz address you should not have any problems sening me files (has 5mb limit) Cpl Carrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Hi There Cpl, Another NZ'er... I see the baton is being passed around the Island's. I will send the next turn ater this week and hope you are OK with continuing where I left off with your previous incumbent. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Bertram, The fourth attempt failed, but I did hear from tech support. An E-mail test to an address ouside my ISP actually worked, so maybe this fifth attempt will finally reach you. Am supposed to get some info on any problems my ISP had yesterday. Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Uber General Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 ZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rat Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 And so it went on and on and on and... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 Good news! The fifth attempt to get the turn to Bertram didn't bounce. Maybe this means I'll get a turn back from him tomorrow, when he said he'd be available. Here's hoping! Regards, John Kettler P.S. The E-mail problem was apparently the result of repeated wrong domain names by some other user, an action which apparently triggered an antihacker security feature which blocked a whole series of outbound addresses until found and reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 Last turn between Ugbash and I now, and last three (?) turns with Bertram. *pant* nearly there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 The turn to Bertram went through at last, yielding a turn this morning, to which I've already replied. May this positive trend continue! Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 At last my PC is back up and running and I now have carpet underfoot... Two turns sent out and the last two games are rolling out... Sorry for the delay chaps... H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_WARHAMMER Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 Hi Carrott Head! Welcome to the insanity!! Very interesting how these maps differ from our last attempt at CM greatness! This current attempt (for me) will be simular I'm sure! da'Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Carrot Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 Originally posted by WARHAMMER: Hi Carrott Head! Welcome to the insanity!! Very interesting how these maps differ from our last attempt at CM greatness! This current attempt (for me) will be simular I'm sure! da'HammerI am looking forward to turning some of these games around. But it may be an impossibility I shall try to look at Polish Push and Head for the Hills later on today. See how I feel Cpl Carrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treeburst155 Posted July 31, 2002 Author Share Posted July 31, 2002 Yep, Real Life usually doesn't interfere with games one is winning. Give 'em hell, Captain Carrot! Minimize your opponents victories. Maybe you can even pull one out of the fire completely and get a win. Treeburst155 out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Gold Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 I've finished everything but St. Mere Eglise. I haven't herd from Ligur for over a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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