more games more often

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:53 am

LT31 doesn't start until at least April?

I think it would be great if we had a game start on about the 1st of every month, as long as it has 20 min players or so. LT31 already has enough players to start and it just opened for signup. Making people wait 3 months seems totally unnecessary. Many people signing up now will have forgotten or lost interest by April. Maybe it's a server problem?

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:06 am

So what is involved in being an operator? Just a commitment in time or do I have to provide a machine? I note three of five machines are defunct. Are they usable at all for another game? Is one of the machines running a game able to run two?

Marduk · Post by **Marduk** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:55 pm

Yes, good idea.

A new game every 1st of the month is possible if we make sure these smaller games actually last shorter. If a game lasts at most 2 months then we could host two parallel "small LT" games, starting one when the previous is halfway (if that's ok with the server). So the challenge is to give these games a satisfactory end within the time available, and that should be possible using the ruleset:

- If we set the map relatively small on purpose that would speed the game up.
- Continental maps tend to be faster than island maps.
- Cheap science (few bulbs per tech) speeds up the game: when howitzers arrive the game is basically over, and otherwise global warming soon after forces a draw

Also we can use these "small LT" games to add some variety, for example by having a scenario game once in a while (with scenario you can definitally control the length of the game).

Might be a good idea to keep these games off the ranking list and advertise them as fun/practise games so people wouldn't mind too much if we have to end the game when the time is up. Also scenario games don't necessarily have to be fair for all players, it can be fun to let players start in a weird situation and see how they deal with it.

canuck101 · Post by **canuck101** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:30 am

This is an intriguing idea.

Perhaps a chance to try some quirky ruleset changes or scenarios. It'd be a fun way to keep things fresh.

mrsynical · Post by **mrsynical** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:26 am

akfaew wrote:Here is the list of our machines: http://longturn.org/tech/comps/

It is feasible to start another game on games5.gp.net.nz? or is 1 game taking up most of the resources?

I am guessing Kirk can't handle a large game. Can it handle a small/medium game?

Marduk · Post by **Marduk** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:05 pm

Let's make a list of concrete ideas for "small LT" games here, we can start as soon as the server capacity allows it.

Kryon wrote:Good ideas Marduk! We can have only 1 huge game (e.g. 50+ players) running while starting/ending multiple small games (e.g., <20 players) with modified settings to speed up the game. That way we don't lose newcomers who get bored by waiting months for their first LT game.

Another idea I had was to have leagues: separate games for advanced players only and beginners only. We can define advanced as having played more than 3 games or having rank score above a specific value, say 1000). Of course we should always have a game running that allows all players.

That's also a good idea, though I see some drawbacks. The best players are also the ones who tend to survive till the endgame in regular LT games. Endgames can be a lot of work, especially if you have a chance to win. So the people you'd most want to have in the 'advanced league' may stay away because it's just too time-consuming to have another challenging game running on the side.

A "beginner server" could be a good addition. Beginner's tend to get killed early and have to wait the longest before a new game starts. Since they miss out on the endgame they also have more energy left for another simultaneous game. On the other hand LTeX is already a good place for beginners to have some practice, and LTeX already has a bit few players sometimes (a beginner server would draw players away from LTeX).

Any beginner's who could give some feedback on this? Would you like to have a beginner server for players with score <1000 points or who played at most 4 games or so?

zsigy · Post by **zsigy** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:29 pm

I have only one game (lt23ex) experience and I would like to play in a beginner server.

mrsynical · Post by **mrsynical** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:51 pm

Marduk wrote: A "beginner server" could be a good addition. Beginner's tend to get killed early and have to wait the longest before a new game starts. Since they miss out on the endgame they also have more energy left for another simultaneous game. On the other hand LTeX is already a good place for beginners to have some practice, and LTeX already has a bit few players sometimes (a beginner server would draw players away from LTeX).

Any beginner's who could give some feedback on this? Would you like to have a beginner server for players with score <1000 points or who played at most 4 games or so?

LTeX is not a good place for beginners for a number of reasons:

* In that past we have had quite different/radical rulesets from the normal LT games (e.g., population migration, cost of population to build an attack unit, etc)
* Unless they start at the beginning of the game, they do not experience the initial phase of the games (this part is the foundation of the rest of the game).
* They don't which early techs to pick.
* LTeX is more of a FFA type game (especially if you are unknown).

However, the EX games are a good place to decide if you want to play a full LT game as:
* you can start immediately
* you start with units and resources
* if you die, you can come back again quickly.

Just my thoughts ...

roemertopf · Post by **roemertopf** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:18 pm

I am a beginner(actually I have not played a round of longturn at all) as well, but I would like to play in normal games, because I think it is more fun to play altogether and learn from experienced players.
Nevertheless a LTS game seems to be good for the time waiting for a new round is already disappointing for me and I am just waiting for a couple of days.. So yes, please start LTS1 =)