Cold War Holiday Tournament!!!

[Grey_Fox]

1 hour ago, MeatEtr said:

But I, like many others, got over this like a dozen years ago.

I don't think we should be settling for something that's let's face it is less than mediocre. At least if it were mediocre they would be providing a message or something.

[BFCElvis]

5 hours ago, MeatEtr said:

I believe this is the same with all the CM2 games, there's no difference. In PBEM double clicking the Ok button or Enter key when saving produces the same result. I do agree there should be a saving progress bar or something. But I, like many others, got over this like a dozen years ago.

Yeah, when I finish a turn and am saving the game, whether it's for a PBEM++/Tournament turn or just regular saving of turn, it doesn't seem to be faster or slower than CM2 games have always been. If others are seeing a difference it would be worth checking out.

 

I have been doing testing tournament on 2 computers over the past week. The transfer of files is near instant, once the save window goes away. There isn't a 3-5 minute delay. 

Which leads me to the post that I have been dreading making.......

[BFCElvis]

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle. Play until there there is 1 turn (or as far as you can go) left in each battle. If everyone were to play their battles to completion all scores would match the end game AAR CM score. But, until then the higher scores will remain. Anyone looking to "game" the system would only need to stop playing to have a higher score than players who complete each battle. That's why we (and Matrix/Slitherine) have decided to post this advise. Matrix/Slitherine will be making a similar announcement on their forum and the Discord channel. For good or ill, only half of each pairing needs to be reached as long as 1 player stops playing toward the end. 

There is a tiny chance that a hot fix will be created before Round 1 is finished but I wouldn't count on it.

We understand (and share) anyone's unhappiness about this.  No one is happy about this. No one. 

[rocketman]

1 hour ago, BFCElvis said:

Yeah, when I finish a turn and am saving the game, whether it's for a PBEM++/Tournament turn or just regular saving of turn, it doesn't seem to be faster or slower than CM2 games have always been. If others are seeing a difference it would be worth checking out.

 

I have been doing testing tournament on 2 computers over the past week. The transfer of files is near instant, once the save window goes away. There isn't a 3-5 minute delay. 

Which leads me to the post that I have been dreading making.......

Indeed worth checking out. For the about total of 15 turns I have played I'd say on average 5-10 times longer upload time compared to Dropbox using CM Helper. Downloading a trun is also much, much slower.

[MeatEtr]

17 hours ago, BFCElvis said:

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle. Play until there there is 1 turn (or as far as you can go) left in each battle. If everyone were to play their battles to completion all scores would match the end game AAR CM score. But, until then the higher scores will remain. Anyone looking to "game" the system would only need to stop playing to have a higher score than players who complete each battle. That's why we (and Matrix/Slitherine) have decided to post this advise. Matrix/Slitherine will be making a similar announcement on their forum and the Discord channel. For good or ill, only half of each pairing needs to be reached as long as 1 player stops playing toward the end. 

There is a tiny chance that a hot fix will be created before Round 1 is finished but I wouldn't count on it.

We understand (and share) anyone's unhappiness about this.  No one is happy about this. No one. 

Guess my memory has failed me as I thought the scores get auto calculated back to the scenario designed scoring/objectives. Hope this does get fixed!

[Probus]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:51 AM, BFCElvis said:

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle. Play until there there is 1 turn (or as far as you can go) left in each battle. If everyone were to play their battles to completion all scores would match the end game AAR CM score. But, until then the higher scores will remain. Anyone looking to "game" the system would only need to stop playing to have a higher score than players who complete each battle. That's why we (and Matrix/Slitherine) have decided to post this advise. Matrix/Slitherine will be making a similar announcement on their forum and the Discord channel. For good or ill, only half of each pairing needs to be reached as long as 1 player stops playing toward the end. 

There is a tiny chance that a hot fix will be created before Round 1 is finished but I wouldn't count on it.

We understand (and share) anyone's unhappiness about this.  No one is happy about this. No one. 

Ah darn. Just as I claw my way up the charts, you tell me the charts are faulty. Oh well

BTW @BFCElvis, the system doesn’t seem to want to let me upload a turn from a different system than the one I initially started on (for instance, my desktop works but my laptop doesn’t). Is that by design?

[BFCElvis]

14 minutes ago, Probus said:

Ah darn. Just as I claw my way up the charts, you tell me the charts are faulty. Oh well

You can still end up at the top of the charts. Just don't compete the battle.

Quote

BTW @BFCElvis, the system doesn’t seem to want to let me upload a turn from a different system than the one I initially started on (for instance, my desktop works but my laptop doesn’t). Is that by design?

No. It is not designed that way and I am able to process turns on different machines. Make sure that you're using the correct login information.

[MeatEtr]

1 hour ago, Probus said:

the system doesn’t seem to want to let me upload a turn from a different system than the one I initially started on (for instance, my desktop works but my laptop doesn’t). Is that by design?

 

1 hour ago, BFCElvis said:

No. It is not designed that way and I am able to process turns on different machines. Make sure that you're using the correct login information.

Ditto here, I’m playing / logging in from two different systems as well with no problems.

[Butschi]

On 1/8/2023 at 3:51 PM, BFCElvis said:

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle.

So, on the other end of the spectrum, what happens when my opponent can't be bothered to churn out a turn more often than once every few days? Am I left with the points I was able to rake up until the clock runs out?

EDIT: I don't care all that much about the points, I'd like to see battle unfold. But what are the "incentives" now?

Edited January 10, 2023 by Butschi

[BFCElvis]

6 hours ago, Butschi said:

So, on the other end of the spectrum, what happens when my opponent can't be bothered to churn out a turn more often than once every few days? Am I left with the points I was able to rake up until the clock runs out?

EDIT: I don't care all that much about the points, I'd like to see battle unfold. But what are the "incentives" now?

That's a danger in any online tournament. It is not unheard of for players to ghost people in tournaments. Or play slowly. Right now, you are better off having them churn out turns slowly and not complete the tournament. It will yield higher scores than finishing will.

[Butschi]

42 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

That's a danger in any online tournament. It is not unheard of for players to ghost people in tournaments. Or play slowly. Right now, you are better off having them churn out turns slowly and not complete the tournament. It will yield higher scores than finishing will.

Of course that can happen. I was just wondering what the consequences are. Do I get punished by, hypothetically, getting 0 points because I didn't have the chance to score any - I mean in addition to missing all the fun?

Aside: This should not sound too much like complaining. What I got out of the turns I could play so far was awesome. My second ever PvP and my first tournament! The drama! The excitement! The exhilaration when a plan works!

[Probus]

19 hours ago, Probus said:

BTW @BFCElvis, the system doesn’t seem to want to let me upload a turn from a different system than the one I initially started on (for instance, my desktop works but my laptop doesn’t). Is that by design?

I figured it out.  My version numbers were different.  The one that worked was 1.05 and the ones that didn't work were 1.03.  I upgraded to 1.06 and problem solved.

[BFCElvis]

10 minutes ago, Butschi said:

Of course that can happen. I was just wondering what the consequences are. Do I get punished by, hypothetically, getting 0 points because I didn't have the chance to score any - I mean in addition to missing all the fun?

Aside: This should not sound too much like complaining. What I got out of the turns I could play so far was awesome. My second ever PvP and my first tournament! The drama! The excitement! The exhilaration when a plan works!

Ah! That. Yes. There are provisions for that. In the settings you can award points to someone who has been left at the alter. In this Round's case it is 1,000. Which is like getting complete wins for both battles. But, because the way the scoring is happening that is a very small amount as things stand now. 

 

There are no consequences on the Matrix side for people who sign up and don't play. I looked at score for other game tournaments and see that there are always people who sign up and don't play.

[A Canadian Cat]

On 1/8/2023 at 9:36 AM, BFCElvis said:

Yeah, when I finish a turn and am saving the game, whether it's for a PBEM++/Tournament turn or just regular saving of turn, it doesn't seem to be faster or slower than CM2 games have always been. If others are seeing a difference it would be worth checking out.

The timings seem expected to me. Nothing is taking longer or shorter than a typical PBEM turn.

 

On 1/8/2023 at 9:51 AM, BFCElvis said:

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle. Play until there there is 1 turn (or as far as you can go) left in each battle. If everyone were to play their battles to completion all scores would match the end game AAR CM score. But, until then the higher scores will remain.

Ack Oooops. I will remember that.

 

On 1/10/2023 at 11:30 AM, Probus said:

The one that worked was 1.05 and the ones that didn't work were 1.03.  I upgraded to 1.06 and problem solved.

Oh that's not good. Yeah we all need to be playing 1.06. I thought older versions would not even connect to the PBEM+ system? Or my memory is faulty. Probably should reject older versions though...

[A Canadian Cat]

On 1/8/2023 at 4:20 AM, MeatEtr said:

Not at all, there was decent turnout for the test tourneys and there's 20 battles going on now, which makes 40 players. Not bad for something you claim is a disaster that nobody asked for. The core functionality is working fine. It's just not as polished and smooth as we all hoped it be.

Yep. Over at theBlitz.club the most we have ever had for a Scenario of the Month is 20 players with an average of 10. We have a 63% completion rate. So this is twice as big as our biggest Scenario of the Month tournament.

[jackal263]

On 1/7/2023 at 5:07 PM, IdontknowhowtodoX said:

oh sry man. I Haven't checked this thread recently so I missed your msg. I am sorry about your PC loss. I can wait no problem.

As for the game, I usually scout for 15 minutes then take move. So this intense opening really shocked me. It's painful to command a crippled troop I have to say. 

Unfortunately ... bad news... i tried on two different pc.. and now another problem appeared : i play the turn,i  give orders, press the end turn button... but no email is sent (no error message appears) ... if i go to games in progress (tournament games) i see the login page that doesn't mantain the password (only the user name) ... and in the turns to be played, i still view the turn i tried to send back.. i'm really disappointed... that was a very fun battle and a lot of time spent (by both of us)... if there isn't any technical suggestion i think i will never be able to complete my pending turns ... and will be forced to abandon the tournament... Version is 1.06 (Steam)

I made 3 attempts, always giving all my orders and pressing the end turn... in all the cases i get the same result. Unless you don't receive the turn anyway (so eventually only an extra file appearing in my list, that i can ignore) ... the turn played is the one where i'm the US player.

 

[Probus]

1 hour ago, jackal263 said:

Unfortunately ... bad news... i tried on two different pc.. and now another problem appeared : i play the turn,i  give orders, press the end turn button... but no email is sent (no error message appears) ... if i go to games in progress (tournament games) i see the login page that doesn't mantain the password (only the user name) ... and in the turns to be played, i still view the turn i tried to send back.. i'm really disappointed... that was a very fun battle and a lot of time spent (by both of us)... if there isn't any technical suggestion i think i will never be able to complete my pending turns ... and will be forced to abandon the tournament... Version is 1.06 (Steam)

I made 3 attempts, always giving all my orders and pressing the end turn... in all the cases i get the same result. Unless you don't receive the turn anyway (so eventually only an extra file appearing in my list, that i can ignore) ... the turn played is the one where i'm the US player.

 

Your problem does sound similar to mine except I never had the trouble with the login page.  I would stay logged in for hours at a time.  Could it be mods?  Dunno if they can affect game play.  Wouldn't think so.

[jackal263]

10 hours ago, Probus said:

Your problem does sound similar to mine except I never had the trouble with the login page.  I would stay logged in for hours at a time.  Could it be mods?  Dunno if they can affect game play.  Wouldn't think so.

No mod installed, so i can exclude it ... the only difference with the version that was ok before my pc went down, is that on the (now broken) pc there was Windows 8, while both new systems have Windows 10. I don't receive any error message, after i press the end turn button... it returns to the main menu page... and if i go to select again the option for the tournament games in progress, i see again the login page (without password this time... in previous pc (the one where it worked fine), the password was stored and i got immediately the list of the files waiting for my turn) ... and then i see agan the turn that should have been sent.

[jackal263]

Could it be something related to firewall or some kind of permissions i must give to the game ?

[Probus]

1 hour ago, jackal263 said:

Could it be something related to firewall or some kind of permissions i must give to the game ?

you could try that. Also start it in admin mode. Maybe your computer is loosing connectivity to the internet?

[MeatEtr]

3 hours ago, jackal263 said:

No mod installed, so i can exclude it ... the only difference with the version that was ok before my pc went down, is that on the (now broken) pc there was Windows 8, while both new systems have Windows 10. I don't receive any error message, after i press the end turn button... it returns to the main menu page... and if i go to select again the option for the tournament games in progress, i see again the login page (without password this time... in previous pc (the one where it worked fine), the password was stored and i got immediately the list of the files waiting for my turn) ... and then i see agan the turn that should have been sent.

Might be a long shot but I’d try contacting Matrix support. Maybe you have two accounts interfering with sending / receiving. I had this problem awhile back in test tourney and they fixed it for me. I didn’t even know had a second account.

[ng cavscout]

I just discovered that surrendering also screws over your opponent point wise, so, lesson learned. I sincerely apologize to @IanL

[BFCElvis]

6 minutes ago, ng cavscout said:

I just discovered that surrendering also screws over your opponent point wise, so, lesson learned. I sincerely apologize to @IanL

 

On 1/8/2023 at 9:51 AM, BFCElvis said:

We are advising everyone to NOT complete each battle. Play until there there is 1 turn (or as far as you can go) left in each battle. 

Correct. Surrendering completes the battle. If only 1 person in each battle has seen this notification the only way the other player could mess it up is by surrendering. 

[jackal263]

Thanks to @MeatEtrand to @Probusfor the support !

I finally managed to solve the problem... i didn't notice that also the email address was not saved in the login form... so filling with my email and again with password it finally worked and the file was sent... but i also launched Steam as Administrator (and i don't know if this also was relevant for my last succesful attempt)

@IdontknowhowtodoXFor now i sent back just one turn, tomorrow the second one.. it takes me more time than before, because i watch the turns with the new pc (old really but with a Nvidia graphic card), then i switch to the best pc for giving my orders (here i have the ATI Radeon that is terrible in the 'watch action' phase)

[A Canadian Cat]

20 hours ago, ng cavscout said:

I just discovered that surrendering also screws over your opponent point wise, so, lesson learned. I sincerely apologize to @IanL

I hear ya. No worries, sucks but no worries. Hopefully the scoring bug will be fixed for the next one.