Epic Forty-one: Balance of Power

[Griselda]

Hello all,

Epic Forty-one: Balance of Power will open shortly, but we thought it would be helpful to post the rules ahead of time, so that we can make any necessary clarifications *before* the game is open. So, if you have any questions, please ask now, and try to use your best judgement after the game is open.

I'm way behind on the site (sorry!, and we don't have a completed map just yet for this one, so I won't put it up on the page until the map is ready. But, expect this Epic to open within the week.
**************************************
EDIT- THE RULES THAT FOLLOW ARE NOT THE CURRENT RULES! The current rules are available on the official Epic 41 Page. The original rules are kept here for reference.

Epic Forty-one: Balance of Power

Sponsor: Bihary
Duration: Four weeks (maybe 3.5 to 4.5, any preference?)

Civilization: English
Difficulty: Emperor
Map size: Standard
Opponents: Spain, Turkey (Ottomans), Italy (Rome), Prussia (Germany), Netherlands, Russia, France
Land: Pangaea, 30% land, temperate, average age, average humidity
Barbarians: Roaming
Victory: All enabled, diplomatic preferred
Version: Conquests 1.15
Cultural link and respawn off

Scenario concept: How much of the balance of power in Conquests is under player control? Let's find out! In this scenario, the player will try to maintain equilibrium between the competing civilizations, their own included, throughout the game. Success will come from helping the weak, and containing the strong; by continuous, careful use, and redistribution, rather than accumulation, of power and potential resources.

England's history is the prototype for seeking the balance of power in the old continent, securing a safe, and sometimes dominating, position in Europe.

1588 - Queen Elizabeth does not hesitate to ally with pirates to fend off her rival of the seas, the invincible Spanish Armada.

1805 - In the Battle of Trafalgar, the English admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the French-Spanish fleet. This victory shatters Napoleon's dreams of invading England and speeds up unified resistance against French domination in the continent.

1854 - To protect the warm seas from the Russian bear, England supports Turkey in the Crimean War.

1904 - The pact Entente Cordiale paves the way for Anglo-French diplomatic and military cooperation against the emerging power of Germany before and during World War I.

1915 - Italy, a former ally of Germany and Austria, is persuaded to join World War I on the side of England and France.

1941 - "If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons," says Winston Churchill. He then comes pretty close to his word, making an alliance with the Soviet Union to contain and eventually defeat Germany in World War II.

1946 - "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent," says the same Churchill, soliciting Pan-Atlantic cooperation against Soviet dominance in Europe.

Scoring: The base score is based upon the distance in game score between the leading and the trailing civilizations.

Each time you enter a new age (middle, industrial, and modern), and at the end of the game, you may earn scenario points. On the first turn of a new age, record the game score of the eight competing civilizations (your own included). Civilizations not yet contacted, and those that have been eliminated, are considered to have a score of zero. Take the average of the four highest scoring civilizations (yourself included if among the highest four), and the average of the four lowest scoring civilizations (yourself included if among the lowest four). Divide the low average by the high average, this is the balance ratio you achieved for the previous age. Multiply the balance ratio with 20 for the Ancient/ Middle Ages, and with 30 for the Industrial/ Modern Ages (rounding to the closest integer). The result is the number of scenario points you earned for the previous age.

Example: You just started the middle ages. The top four civs are Italy with 850, Turkey with 820, France with 780, and Netherlands with 750, for an average high score of 800. The four trailing civs are England with 500, Prussia with 600, Spain with 600, and Russia with 700, for an average low score of 600. 600/800=0.75. Multiply 0.75 by 20 for a total of 15 scenario points for the Ancient Age.

Repeat this process to determine scenario points at the beginning of the Industrial and Modern Ages, and at the end of the game. If your game ends before the Modern Age, use your final game score for the remaining age(s).
For verification purposes, keep a copy of your game's save file at the start of each new age and at the end of the game. Do not use the "interturn" score except for your game-end calculation, so that you will be able to save at the time you are calculating points.
At the end of the game, it is the unmodified raw score that should be taken into account, not the final score with the bonuses.

You can also earn bonus points, which are added to your total score.

Diplomatic victory: +20 points
Cultural victory: +15 points
Space victory: +5 points
Any defeat or retirement: -20 points (You do not earn scenario points for Ages you have not started, if losing. Losing control of the game gives the other powers, not England, the ability to control the balance of power!

Honorable game (no "dastardly" tactics): +10 points

Ties, if any, will be broken by fastest finish date.

Rules clarification: As long as you have RoP with another civ, you are welcome to build roads, protect resources, or conduct a "friendly blockade" in their territory (surrounding friendly cities or territory with military units to prevent an unfriendly power from capturing territory). However, keep the "Resource Piracy" exploit in mind! You may not keep a unit on a resource to prevent another civilization from connecting that resource, unless you're in neutral territory or at war with that civ! Feel free to connect any and all resources, though.

Good luck!

[Sir Bugsy]

The game concept seems simple, although putting the theory into practice will be altogether another story.

Please make the game reports due on a Monday/Tuesday as you have been doing in the past.

Bugs

[Kylearan]

Hi,

that's an original concept! When I began to read the description, my first reaction was "Oh no, not another easy emperor game...", but the scoring mechanism should make it interesting. Although I guess keeping the player's in-game score on par with the rest could become tricky. What do you do if you realize you are running away in score...?

Which leads me to a question: I never cared for the in-game score, nor did I participate in any other tournament where this was important (like GotM), so I have no idea how the score is calculated. If someone has an explanation or a link, I'd be most grateful...

Another question regarding the balance of the scoring mechanism: Assuming you aim for a diplo victory since this will give you the most points, the scoring for entering the modern age and for ending the game will happen during a very short interval since the UN will become available with the first modern age tech. This basically doubles the weighting of the score of the situation at that time compared to the scoring for your situations at the end of ancient and medieval era. This is also amplified by the fact that you multiply the balance ratio by 30 compared to 20 for the previous two scorings. Is this intentional, i.e. you can do more mistakes in the beginning but you must be extra careful at the game's end?

-Kylearan

[Griselda]

Hi,

I think it will be very interesting to see how much control a skilled player is able to have here. If you realize you are running away in game score, it will be up to you to find a way to level the playing field again.

The extra scoring at the end of the modern age is intentional. The thought is that the player has less control over things that happen early, but over the course of the game should have gained control of world affairs.

I'd also like to see a link to game score information. I never paid much attention to it myself.

-Griselda

[Griselda]

We'll always close on a Monday. I'm just thinking that if we have a map ready mid-week, I might go ahead and open mid-week, but still close on a Monday. That would make the duration either 3.5 or 4.5 weeks, and I'm not sure which would be better.

Or, we could just open next Monday and run four weeks.

-Griselda

[Justus_II]

Here's the link to an excellent article by SirPleb on how to maximize the in-game score:
Maximizing Your Score
He starts with a description of the scoring formula. Since he just completed a Huge map HOF game with a score over 60K, I guess he's an expert. Obviously, it talks about how to max score, which is not the goal here, but it should give you a good idea of the factors that go into the scoring. Basically, it's all happy people and territory, nothing else matters. The key, though, is it's averaged over the number of turns, so the further into the game you go, the harder it is to move the average. Planning a quick war to trim an opponent down right before an era change probably won't affect their current score for a while. Hope that helps!

[Justus_II]

If we do start mid-week, I'd just as soon prefer the 4.5 weeks, I usually need all the time available, and with Memorial Day weekend in there, the extra week would be nice. (Although normally a 3-day weekend is good for Civ, Memorial Day traditionally means attending multiple cookouts and picnics, and I don't have a laptop. B) )

[bihary]

Hi guys,

Thanks Griselda for opening this discusion thread.

I have been consulting with Griselda and Charis on the scenario concept and on the rules, and they are at least as competent if not more than me to answer technical questions. I will also try to contribute as much as I can.

Griselda: I sent you a mail about map-generation, let us discuss.

Bihary

[bihary]

" Although I guess keeping the player's in-game score on par with the rest could become tricky. What do you do if you realize you are running away in score...? "

One has to decide when to switch from the greedy survival inctinct to redistribution of power. As for myself, I read again the epic rules, and the definitions of honorable tactics, as things are in a different light for this scenario concept.

Bihary

[bihary]

" Basically, it's all happy people and territory, nothing else matters. The key, though, is it's averaged over the number of turns, so the further into the game you go, the harder it is to move the average. Planning a quick war to trim an opponent down right before an era change probably won't affect their current score for a while. Hope that helps! "

Thanx for the excellent link! The score is indeed all about land area and population, so these are the important aspects to watch for when seeking balance of "power". The actual "power" that is also shown at F8 is more complicated (I am not sure what it is exactly, the screen says it is "an amalgam" of this and that...) I wish we could have defined this power as the basis for calculation, but they are not printed out as numbers unfortunately. So it is the score that counts.

Also, thanx for pointing out that score is an averaged quantity, it is not easy to change it very fast, so its continuous monitoring is very important. The only way score does change very fast is when a civ gets eliminated. A power's accumulated score stays more or less in line with the others', even if she gets a serious beating. But when she dies, it goes down to zero.

Bihary