The Dustbin

[rexhurley]

not for the first time, was reported when I last played 14 months agao, glad to see him gone, no surprise he didn't learn just like others in other games and life using, mods, bots etc. Good to see active umpiring and action thank you Pete and the admin team.

[Karvon]

I, for one, would definitely not play in divisions with 1600 pt defaults.

[grumpydaddy845]

Man, and I thought I was in trouble when my Windows 7 laptop (which barely is able to run FoG2) crashed during the early June heatwave a couple times (room temperature got close to 30 degrees Celsius, which caused the laptop to BSoD when pondering too long my turns; this happened IIRC twice in the match with Grumpydaddy and possibly in some other match too (each time the BSoD happened before I actually had moved a unit). That shouldn't happen anymore, as I finally got a gaming PC to my working apartment too (so only the electric breakdowns because of thunder are the only risk now (and that only when I am here at home in the bushes); we had a couple of those this summer, but IIRC I wasn't playing FoG2 during any of them).

Would be indeed cool to have an automatic system informing in the chat box if the turn was re-downloaded from the server.

I knew it! haha, I only wish your troops had melted!

[nyczar]

To be honest I think someone who prefers playing large battles is more likely to acquiesce with being required to play mid size rather than vice versa. Setting large as the default would probably cause some player attrition while medium would not. Also for players that perceive the size of the battle as taking noticeably more additional time that fact may limit their involvement in how many Divisions they sign up for.

+1

i understand that the vote is influencing the consideration. Those that like larger battles have played at the 1200 point level. no one has said they didn't play because of the medium size, but many have warned they dont want to play larger.

Edit: note, I voted for large.

[Swuul]

At the bottom Mike Marchant needs 5 points from 4 games to relegate Swuul (Germanic Horse Tribes).

My situation is not good, but there is still a slim chance of hope for me even if Mike Marchant gets 5 points. I actually did win Bluefin, so according to the rules I should be ahead of him in the table. Though he just needs one point from his remaining three matches to drop me down to the cold chair...

[klayeckles]

They spanned the whole of June, and were FOG2DL games.

Ok thanks. I asked because I had noticed a strange pattern when playing mirrored games against dkalenda: when I logged into multiplayer I would often find one of the pair of games submitted and back to being my turn to move, but the other game would still be on dkalenda's turn except that it has been updated and saved around the same timestamp as the first game.

not for the first time, was reported when I last played 14 months agao, glad to see him gone, no surprise he didn't learn just like others in other games and life using, mods, bots etc. Good to see active umpiring and action thank you Pete and the admin team.

I saw him doing it last year too... i called him on it, and he denied it. Eventually one game i quit playing in protest. I could tell because he would play cautiously then suddenly make a series of "dumb" (with low odds) wild attacks that would have remarkable outcomes....as if he were rerunnning again and again to see what outcomes/dice rolls he might achieve...then submit the run when he got what he liked. What amazed me is that someone's ego would need to be stroked so much as to work tht hard to cheat to win a game we all engage for fun. Since then i've avoided playing in any league with him. In major league baseball players are expunged from the hall of fame for such behavior; maybe we add an astrick to the record books.

if the MP system had a notification system that would be perfect.

[SpeedyCM]

Division C

SpeedyCM (Dailami 928-1055 AD with Armenian 885-1045 AD allies) defeats MikeMarchant (Ghaznavid 962-1187 AD with Turkish 600-1036 AD allies) 43-12.

Thanks for the game mate.

[Darren_H_slith]

Trying to design a foolproof system is perhaps beyond the scope and capability of this company. But perhaps as has been mentioned, a designated tournament organizer could log on to a report page to see the amount of reloads after gameplay, or even a lockout of the account after so many reloads in a certain amount of time. Again, it may not stop cheating, but at least make the amount of reattempts required to game the RNG rolls unlikely. Perhaps make reloads part of the report on the results webpage?

This would prevent wasted time with unfounded complaints, and the inevitable "I have a feeling I should not have lost" lines of inquiry.

[SawyerK]

Division C

SawyerK (Egyptian 664-571 BC with Assyrian allies) defeated rs2excelsior (Carthaginian 550-411 BC with Greek allies) by 62 to 42.

The Carthaginians launched a spirited attack and had success in the middle and curling around the Egyptians left flank late in the game with their cavalry but those victories came too late to hold back the Egyptian wins on their right flank.

[SnuggleBunnies]

I agree that a notification system seems like the simplest thing that can be done for now. It would cut off any blatant cheating. The downside is that people who have truly spotty connections might feel stigmatized. Still, if I am playing someone and they have two reloads during the game (and it tells you right away) then I can judge for myself. If this player consistently has reloads, I would look for a pattern - do those reloads correspond with lucky rolls during their turns? Do they always happen at the height of the battle, or do they also happen during early maneuvering when nothing is happening in terms of rolls? Worst case scenario, I could choose to stop playing someone. I do think this problem is very very rare, but I also think it is vital for Slitherine to put in systems to restore trust. After all, this is an exploit that can be used in all of their PBEM based MP games, to devastating effect.

[rs2excelsior]

As someone who voted large, I'd say medium would still be better for the default. As much as I feel that large battles aren't much more burdensome than medium, it seems a lot of people do, and I agree with the sentiment that most people who prefer large will be more okay with playing medium than people who prefer medium would like to play large battles.

I (personally) think the best idea is to leave the default at medium for now. See how many players choose each size and how many medium vs large matches we end up with. Perhaps if we want to keep some variation once/if this gets rolled out across the entire league, some divisions could default to medium and some to large, similar to the different sizes we have now.

[Jagger2002]

Speaking of the devil, last night, I ended a turn and the turn sat there attempting to transmit but never transmitted. After 2 or 3 minutes, I got I believe an X which I clicked and it returned me to my game. Again I attempted to end my turn. I made multiple attempts to end my turn over 15 to 30 minutes and it never transmitted. I had internet connectivity, so I guessed a server problem. Finally I clicked the option to end my attempt to transmit and it would be recorded as a redo. I was returned to the games summary window. And there I discovered that the turn had actually transmitted at some point but apparently wasn't recognized by my game.

This has happened before but it is pretty rare. I can't remember the last time it happened. So how would this show up to Slitherine? I never reloaded the game but made multiple attempts to end the game. I suspect it would not show up as a problem but I would like to know for sure.

[rbodleyscott]

Speaking of the devil, last night, I ended a turn and the turn sat there attempting to transmit but never transmitted. After 2 or 3 minutes, I got I believe an X which I clicked and it returned me to my game. Again I attempted to end my turn. I made multiple attempts to end my turn over 15 to 30 minutes and it never transmitted. I had internet connectivity, so I guessed a server problem. Finally I clicked the option to end my attempt to transmit and it would be recorded as a redo. I was returned to the games summary window. And there I discovered that the turn had actually transmitted at some point but apparently wasn't recognized by my game.

This has happened before but it is pretty rare. I can't remember the last time it happened. So how would this show up to Slitherine? I never reloaded the game but made multiple attempts to end the game. I suspect it would not show up as a problem but I would like to know for sure.

I am fairly sure it would not show up as any sort of problem.

[ulysisgrunt]

Perhaps it would help, and alleviate suspicion if, as a matter of courtesy, you informed your opponent that you had to re-start a turn?

[Captainwaltersavage]

Division E

Captainwaltersavage Roman 24BC-196AD with Jewish 64 BC-6AD allies defeated grumpydaddy845 Armenian 253-476 AD with Sassanid Persian 350-476 AD allies 43:9

I have learned to bring all the cavalry to cope with the swarm of horse archers and THREE CATAPHRACTS! It was wooded on my left and then nothing but open plain everywhere else. I guessed lucky and with some careful skirmishing and auxiliaries won the left flank and a combination of cav and infantry supported by artillery manged to wear down the cataphracts. Having lots of armoured troops allowed me to weather the arrow storm but from my side it was nail-bitingly terrifying to march into an open plain against the horse lord. Thanks to all those who have previously defeated me with their cavalry skills, and thanks to grumpy daddy845 for battling me both here and in the Tournament- all great matches.

[pantherboy]

To be honest one of the things that I love about Pike & Shot are the melees being conducted between player turns in a random order. My dream would be that FOG2 and Pike & Shot would conduct all combat between player turns. When you launch an impact attack it doesn't resolve until all movement is finished and you end the turn. It would completely alleviate this current hot topic and make planning essential to success. I also like the idea you can't exploit openings on turns you impact which would encourage players to place a reserve to plug previous turn impact results and failed melees.

[Jagger2002]

I am fairly sure it would not show up as any sort of problem.

Thanks!

[stockwellpete]

At the bottom Mike Marchant needs 5 points from 4 games to relegate Swuul (Germanic Horse Tribes).

My situation is not good, but there is still a slim chance of hope for me even if Mike Marchant gets 5 points. I actually did win Bluefin, so according to the rules I should be ahead of him in the table. Though he just needs one point from his remaining three matches to drop me down to the cold chair...

No, the table is correct at the moment as Bluefin has 3 games in hand on you. If he loses those 3 games with no points gained then you will finish above him in the final table.

[klayeckles]

Well played! It was a pleasure to lose to you.

I agree with the "well done" part....my own ego won't allow me to say it was a pleasure

I definitely learned something too...you used the interchangeability of the lancers to great effect, as well as the 50% bow on your cav. that is an army to be watched (as are you obviously)

[Swuul]

At the bottom Mike Marchant needs 5 points from 4 games to relegate Swuul (Germanic Horse Tribes).

My situation is not good, but there is still a slim chance of hope for me even if Mike Marchant gets 5 points. I actually did win Bluefin, so according to the rules I should be ahead of him in the table. Though he just needs one point from his remaining three matches to drop me down to the cold chair...

No, the table is correct at the moment as Bluefin has 3 games in hand on you. If he loses those 3 games with no points gained then you will finish above him in the final table.

Ok, quite understandable. It isn't mentioned in the rules section though, maybe it should be mentioned there? Currently the only tiebreakers listed are number of wins and the result of the head-to-head match, there is no mentioning of number of matches being a tie-breaker.