Treeburst155

Hmmmm......interesting problem. It almost sounds like a slowly dying power supply. If it were me I would check all connections inside the case. If those were good I would reinstall the Operating System. If the problem reared it's ugly head again I would replace the power supply. Actually, replacing the power supply would probably be less time consuming than reinstalling the OS. I would try that first if I had an extra one available. You might want to chat with Schrullenhaft in the technical forum a bit. I don't know if he's an iMAC guru but he sure knows lots of PC stuff. Treeburst155 out.

I haven't received any results from this group lately. The Nordic Championship guys have passed up the Wannabees in games completed. We have six games to go here according to my records. They are: SGT Gold vs Cooper Uber General vs SGT Gold fytinghellfish vs Cooper fytinghellfish vs Uber General SGT Gold vs fytinghellfish Uber General vs Cooper If any of these games have been completed I didn't get (or lost) the final score. Please send it my way. Fight On!! Treeburst155 out.

Dragoon19 is still with us. He and Sesam have just completed a game. We only have two games to go! All players are eligible to receive the latest results sheet except Dragoon19, Jarmo, and Tuomas. Email me if you want it. Nabla, The timeframe for completion of the last scenario will work out just fine. No "bad news" there. We may not even be ready by then, depending on how far along the final two games are. I'd like to thank all of you for finishing the tourney, and especially the replacement players who kept the tourney alive through many withdrawals. All of you who finished are on my priority list for future tourneys. You will not be left out, even if I have to start another tourney or add another section to get everybody included who wants to play. If you still want to turn in some AARs you should think about getting busy. Two days after I receive the last game result all AARs will be due. I will let you know when I get the final game result in. Thanks again guys! Treeburst155 out.

Yeah, what happened is I didn't actually plan on any finals back when I was talking to Wild Bill about scenarios for a tourney. In order to accomodate more players and keep the number of games down, I broke things up into three sections. At that point I needed some sort of playoff scenario(s). As the tourney progressed I bounced several different playoff ideas around and finally decided on a three scenario round robin since Nabla came up with a good way to score such a playoff. I had NOT arranged for more researched, historical scenarios like I probably should have, so I had to scramble. I was thrilled to get the historical, and tested, "Ranger Challenge" from Wild Bill on such short notice. The other two I "stole" from the public domain because I had played them, enjoyed them, and they were not well known. Next time I will arrange for some historical scenarios for the playoffs right from the beginning. I'm fairly certain WineCape has already made arrangements with a well-known designer for the CMBB tourney. Whether he wants to do eight scenarios or not is unknown. A tourney like this puts quite a demand on designers. There's lots of time involved in creating eight scenarios, especially if they are historical. For this reason there may be several designers contributing to future tourneys. Also, I suspect that some designers don't really want to have their stuff run through a tourney because they fear the competition aspect could promote more negative feedback from people than they would normally get. The designer has to have a thick skin. In short, getting historical scenarios, never before seen, is not that easy to do, especially on relatively short notice. We really lucked out that Wild Bill had enough free time to crank out seven scenarios for us last fall. This has been a great tourney thanks to the reliable group of players, Wild Bill, Nabla, and of course WineCape for the prize and his time spent on the application process; but there is room for improvement, like better advance planning for the playoffs. Now who dropped the ball on that one? Fight On!! Treeburst155 out. [ March 26, 2002, 05:42 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

That's probably close to the truth. The hilltop is so dangerous that nobody will want anything to do with it until the end. Although the player should probably plan on assaulting the hilltop at the end (lots of points up there), it's really all about destruction of enemy forces IMO. I found it quite interesting. Is it a realistic tactical problem? Probably not, but interesting nonetheless. EDIT: Hehe....thinking about the actual flagrush in this one, I even found that entertaining. It's not a last minute dive so much as it is a multi-turn assault by both sides once the fear of prolonged arty bombardment is gone due to the game ending, and the fact that your opponent will be on the hill too. If your opponent jumps first he may get more than his share of the territory, which you may not have the time or strength to take back. The hilltop will probably be a wild firefight the last few turns... a flag rush in slow motion with everything both sides can muster, not a typical flagrush at all. You see, BOTH sides will probably be rushing the flags, not just the weaker side trying to rob some VL points from his opponent. Treeburst155 out. [ March 26, 2002, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Holien, After rereading your concerns about "Flag Rush Hill": There will be no, "last man standing on the hill wins". It will be a flag rush. Both sides will likely have many people on the hill at the end contesting the flags. Both sides will suffer many casualties throughout the game, before the survivors rush the hill. These casualties will be the real deciding factor. The flag rush point split is pretty much a given. The very nature of a flag rush is that there is no "last man standing", but units from both sides. Treeburst155 out.

The tourney is based on points. Every point counts. You get more points if you withdraw, rather than surrender. The perfect withdrawal would see all troops move to the edge of the map, then step off simultaneously in the next turn. This avoids the morale hit when individual units are exited. I don't think the scoring system promotes keeping your men alive, it justs promotes avoiding capture through surrender when the situation is hopeless. If you're getting killed, but taking the enemy with you at a 1:1 ratio there's no real incentive to withdraw, so the meatgrinder is still in effect. Holien, I don't think you'll find the actual flag rush in "Flag Rush Hill" to be that big of a deal. The game will probably be decided before the actual flag rush. The flag rush will likely see the VLs split and/or contested, so casualties will be the deciding factor. Extremely lopsided scores will probably not occur because a good portion of the points available will be contested, but this no big deal. Both players will need to rush the hilltop, but getting into position to do so and staying alive once in the assault position is not easy. Even the "friendly" slopes become a dangerous place to be as the game progresses. The action will be on the flanks as players try to gain LOS to the enemy side of the hill. I don't think you will see a quiet 23 turn buildup to the flag rush. I also don't think you will see much action actually on the hilltop. It's a no-mans land highly visible from all over the map. Arty will pound anybody who tries to occupy the hilltop. The flanks is where things will happen, until the very end. Treeburst155 out. [ March 25, 2002, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Scoring summarized: 1) Compare scores of all players playing the same side in the scenario and determine the median. 2) Determine each player's distance in points , either plus or minus, from the median. (CM score - median = distance from median) 3) Plug this number into Nabla's formula and out comes your tourney score for that scenario. 4) Determine your average tourney score for all the scenarios. 5) The highest final score in each section win that section and move on to the playoff series. There ya have it. In case you are mathematically inclined here is the formula: (d) represents your distance from the median. (d) can be positive or negative. (sgn) This represents the sign of (d). In place of (sgn) you will put either a "+" or a "-" into the formula. (a) This is the variable that determines the shape of the curve. To use the formula you need to substitute .055 for "a". (e) This is an interesting number equal to approximately 2.718. Like "pi" it has interesting mathematical properties which is the only reason it is used, according to Nabla. Scientific calculators have an "e" key on them. Now the formula: (sgn)(1/a)*(1-e to the power of (-a*|d|)) The main thing to understand is that consistent strong play is what you should strive for without getting caught up in the desire for overwhelming victories. If you see a golden opportunity for a Major victory you might go for it; but don't take big risks to achieve it. The other thing to know is NEVER surrender. Withdraw from the map and let the computer surrender for you. Every point does count and allowing your guys to be captured by surrendering hurts your score a lot. Get 'em off the map! Treeburst155 out.

Hey, you guys are almost finished! There are just a few games left to go. Mostly Dragoon19 games. Thanks for the strong effort the last couple of weeks. It will still be a awhile before we are done since we have to wait for the very last file to be sent. Even so, I would be thinking about getting those AARs in if you are going to write them. This could be over in a couple weeks. Thanks again, Treeburst155 out.

Hehe....the battle rages on!! I like these blow by blow accounts. Too bad we can't do that in the other tourneys. Thanks, John, for writing. Treeburst155 out.

Well,well.....our benefactor has DOUBLED the prize! IIRC, this puts the retail value of the prize in the neighborhood of $400. Thanks, WineCape! If the winner's wife/girlfriend is a wine drinker, the winner may get away with doubling his CM time for the next year or so. Treeburst155 out.

Scenario [ Crisis_At_Kommerscheidt ] medians [ 58.5 41.5 ] Miron 84 [ 13.7094 ] Pixelmaster 16 Jukka 58 [ 2.33574 ] Redeker 36 Moore 60 [ 1.43979 ] Sowden 40 Bertram 37 [ -9.7634 ] Johnson 48 Kingfish 56 [ -2.33574 ] Svensson 44 ******** Tom 65 [ 5.46504 ] vonLucke 35 CapDog 50 [ -4.74603 ] Kettler 44 ********* Holien 81 [ 12.9071 ] Georges_Mick 19 Zalewski 40 [ -9.28742 ] Juha 49 Travisano 54 [ -1.43979 ] Enoch 40 ********** Rohde 26 [ -15.1386 ] Dickens 74 TabPub 62 [ 6.14558 ] Gaspari 30 Leonard Dickens comes out on top for the second time with Kommerscheidt. Notice he has never been out of the top five, where the rest of you shared those honors for the most part. Coming in behind Leonard we have Miron, Holien, Johnson, and Zalewski in that order. Notice John Kettler's significant win over CapitalistDog. John scored only 44 points, but contested a VL too. After the point split John ended up almost 5 tourney points above the median. There you have it, guys. A breakdown of the results in tourney points. Man, I enjoyed that. Now I'm off to do my honey-do projects.

Scenario [ High_Cost ] medians [ 40.25 59.75 ] Sowden 33 [ -3.78982 ] Miron 61 Moore 34 [ 1.208 ] Jukka 51 ******** Redeker 51 [ 8.11573 ] Johnson 49 Pixelmaster 32 [ -6.63197 ] Bertram 68 Kettler 37 [ 0.248289 ] Kingfish 56 ******** CapDog 46 [ 4.92951 ] Tom 54 *********** vonLucke 59 [ 11.6989 ] Georges_Mick 41 Svensson 12 [ -14.3372 ] Holien 88 Zalewski 24 [ -10.7433 ] Dickens 76 Rohde 36 [ 2.55213 ] Travisano 50 ********* Enoch 31 [ -5.28898 ] Gaspari 63 Juha 40 [ -0.248289 ] TabPub 60 We have lots of winning "losers" here due to scenario imbalance. Holien takes the gold in this one, with von Lucke, Dickens, Redeker, and Gaspari lining up behind.

Scenario [ Real_Guts ] medians [ 50 50 ] Jukka 32 [ -6.7897 ] Miron 49 Moore 13 [ -15.1386 ] Johnson 78 Sowden 66 [ 10.6403 ] Pixelmaster 34 Redeker 70 [ 12.1296 ] Bertram 30 Tom 31 [ -11.7874 ] Kingfish 69 CapDog 75 [ 13.5847 ] Georges_Mick 25 Kettler 26 [ -13.3248 ] Svensson 74 vonLucke 61 [ 8.25319 ] Holien 39 Travisano 27 [ -11.4259 ] Zalewski 63 Rohde 37 [ -5.80999 ] Gaspari 51 Dickens 71 [ 12.4535 ] Juha 29 Enoch 57 [ 5.80999 ] TabPub 43 Scot Johnson takes the honors in this one, with CapitalistDog, P. Svensson, L. Dickens, and Greg Redeker lining up behind him in that order. We didn't have any winning "losers" in this scenario.

Scenario [ Resolve_At_Ranville ] medians [ 45 55 ] Miron 53 [ 9.03943 ] Johnson 38 Jukka 85 [ 16.1672 ] Pixelmaster 15 Moore 21 [ -13.3248 ] Redeker 79 Sowden 46 [ 0.972997 ] Bertram 54 ******* Kingfish 65 [ 13.3248 ] Georges_Mick 27 Tom 50 [ 7.39934 ] Svensson 41 CapDog 39 [ -0.972997 ] vonLucke 51 Kettler 42 [ -2.76557 ] Holien 58 Zalewski 37 [ -3.18374 ] Gaspari 54 Travisano 35 [ -4.74603 ] Juha 56 Rohde 18 [ -14.0636 ] Enoch 82 Dickens 84 [ 16.0533 ] TabPub 16 Jukka-Pekka won this one, followed by Leonard Dickens, Enoch, Redeker, and Miron. Again, near the median is a "loser" who won. [ March 23, 2002, 06:49 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Scenario [ Sounds_In_Night ] medians [ 57.25 42.75 ] Redeker 83 [ 13.7705 ] Miron 17 Sowden 52 [ -0.734742 ] Jukka 39 ******** Moore 50 [ -2.11635 ] Bertram 40 ******** Pixelmaster 39 [ -10.1036 ] Johnson 54 vonLucke 53 [ -2.11635 ] Kingfish 43 ******* Kettler 63 [ 6.30994 ] Tom 33 CapDog 37 [ -12.2123 ] Holien 63 Svensson 68 [ 8.65442 ] Georges_Mick 30 Enoch 45 [ -8.91285 ] Zalewski 55 Dickens 87 [ 14.6417 ] Travisano 13 Rohde 58 [ 0.734742 ] TabPub 42 Juha 56 [ 1.66842 ] Gaspari 38 Now Leonard begins to shine. He won this scenario followed by Redeker, Holien, S. Johnson, and T. Zalewski in that order.

Scenario [ Duel_At_Dompaire ] medians [ 46.5 53.5 ] Miron 69 (14.4926) Moore 18 Bertram 28 (-11.4259) Jukka 71 Johnson 37 (-7.39934) Sowden 63 Pixelmaster 44 (-0.493188) Redeker 52 Kingfish 47 (0.493188) CapDog 53 ********* Holien 72 (13.7094) Tom 28 Georges_Mick 46 (3.98636) Kettler 44 Svensson 63 (12.6089) vonLucke 27 Zalewski 45 (0.493188) Rohde 51 ********** TabPub 31 (-9.28742) Travisano 64 Gaspari 29 (-11.2375) Dickens 71 Juha 41 (-4.74603) Enoch 59 In this scenario the winner was Warren Miron, followed by Holien, P. Svensson, Jukka-Pekka, and in 5th place was Leonard Dickens. Note Zalewski's small victory over C. Rohde inspite of his losing score. The same thing happened in Kingfish vs CapitalistDog.

Below is the input to the Nabla program for, "We Can't Wait". I've inserted the Nabla score for the Allied players. The Axis Nabla score is always the opposite. The entries marked with asterisks indicate situations where the winner of the game actually scored below the median for his side. The opposite is true for the "loser" of those games. In effect, the "winner" lost and the loser "won". Very interesting. I will post the other scenarios too. It just takes a little time. Scenario [ We_Cant_Wait ] medians [ 39.5 60.5 ] Bertram 19 (-11.2375) Miron 75 Johnson 45 (4.74603) Jukka 55 ******** Pixelmaster 37 (-2.33574) Moore 63 Redeker 67 (14.284) Sowden 32 Holien 54 (11.0439) Kingfish 41 Georges_Mick 30 (-5.80999) Tom 65 Svensson 37 (-2.33574) CapDog 63 vonLucke 37 (1.89392) Kettler 54 ******* TabPub 35 (-1.89392) Zalewski 60 Gaspari 56 (10.8449) Travisano 44 Juha 40 (4.37142) Rohde 51 ********* Enoch 26 (-9.52868) Dickens 74 Some of the results seem odd because the Nabla score is calculated after adjusting for contested VLs. You are looking at the unadjusted CM scores. I've simply inserted the Nabla score. Notice how Redeker, Holien, Miron, and Gaspari were actually higher above the median than Leonard Dickens in this scenario. Johnson and Juha scored some rather significant victories with their "lost" games. Treeburst155 out. [ March 23, 2002, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Thanks, Kanonier, for Wrecks address. I will get his files off to him within the hour. So you guys want to see the Nabla scores for each game. I can do that. I'm working on it now. BTW, don't post your scores to this thread. It might tip the others off as to balance, and possibly affect their play. Holien, Your slightly lower score than Redeker means that, on the average, Redeker stayed slightly higher above the median than you did. Although the median is determined by all twelve instances of a scenario, Redeker played different people than you did so that is a factor to consider. Treeburst155 out. [ March 23, 2002, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Think positive, John. Don't think third from the bottom, think seventh from the top. You're already in the top ten!! You need three very marginal victories to claim the seventh spot, thereby pushing Fuerte down to second to the last. editted because I'm still learning to edit. Treeburst155 out. [ March 23, 2002, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Why that's very nice of you, Warren, but entirely unnecessary. I enjoy running these tournaments, and I'm fortunate to have more free time than most in order to do it. The winner will not actually receive a "case" of wine. He will receive six different bottles of QUALITY South African wines. Apparently, shipping six at a time is the safest way. WineCape has special packing containers for that quantity that are very good at preventing breakage. Treeburst155 out.

You beat me to it. Treeburst155 out. [ March 23, 2002, 12:11 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

I think this person may have the Mutha Beautiful Force within him. Whaddaya think? "You swine. You vulgar little maggot. You worthless bag of filth. As they say in Texas, I'll bet you couldn't pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel. You are a canker. A sore that won't go away. I would rather kiss a lawyer than be seen with you. You're a putrescent mass, a walking vomit. You are a spineless little worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt. You are a jerk, a cad, a weasel. Your life is a monument to stupidity. You are a stench, a revulsion, a big suck on a sour lemon. You are a bleating foal, a curdled staggering mutant dwarf smeared richly with the effluvia and offal accompanying your alleged birth into this world. An insensate, blinking calf, meaningful to nobody, abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling beasts who sired you and then killed themselves in recognition of what they had done. I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you. You are a monster, an ogre, a malformity. I barf at the very thought of you. You have all the appeal of a paper cut. Lepers avoid you. You are vile, worthless, less than nothing. You are a weed, a fungus, the dregs of this earth. And did I mention you smell? You snail-skulled little rabbit. Would that a hawk pick you up, drive its beak into your brain, and upon finding it rancid set you loose to fly briefly before spattering the ocean rocks with the frothy pink shame of your ignoble blood. May you choke on the queasy, convulsing nausea of your own trite, foolish beliefs. Try to edit your responses of unnecessary material before attempting to impress us with your insight. The evidence that you are a nincompoop will still be available to readers, but they will be able to access it more rapidly. BTW, you smarmy lagerlout git. You bloody woofter sod. Bugger off, pillock. You grotty #### oik artless base-court apple-john. You clouted boggish foot-licking twit. You dankish clack-dish plonker. You gormless crook-pated tosser. You churlish boil-brained clotpole ponce. You cockered bum-bailey poofter. You craven dewberry pisshead cockup pratting naff. You gob-kissing gleeking flap-mouthed coxcomb. You dread-bolted fobbing beef-witted clapper-clawed flirt-gill. Oh, go away!" Geoff "Pegasus" Hodgkinson Treeburst155 out. [ March 22, 2002, 11:57 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

Just a page 3 rescue. Fight On!! Treeburst155 out.

Ah, it's good to see action on the Invitational front. I have finally updated the standings. Shandorf can no longer win the tournament thanks to Jarmo, who is now in second place with all games completed. He scored one more point overall than Shandorf. A strong performance by Ben Galanti in his final game could get him second place. It is even possible he or Jarmo could win, but Ari must have two bad games for that to happen. Texas Toast needs 55 points in his final game against John Kettler to pull ahead of CapitalistDogInChina. John Kettler needs to average 54 points in his three remaining games to pull ahead of Fuerte. Michael Dorosh needs a BIG round of applause for his exemplary sportsmanship. Somebody should teach him how to choose a nice, gamey force for QBs. Treeburst155 out. [ March 22, 2002, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]