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May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

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May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Wed May 01, 2019 11:31 pm

Official Monthly Challenge for May 2019
Brought to you by the Community Team.

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... if April Showers Bring May Flowers, What Do May Flowers Bring?
show: the punchline for anyone who has lived under a rock the last 400 years


This old kindergarten joke came to me yesterday while driving through the rain. I do my best thinking while driving through the rain. Sure as sherry brings a monumental hangover, April Showers bring May Flowers, and that brings to mind the old joke about the Pilgrims.

Like most of what people know about history, most of what they know about the Mayflower Pilgrims is wrong. The pilgrims on the Mayflower were not only Puritans, they were also Separatists, an extreme branch of Puritans. A minority within a minority within a minority. Even on their own ship they were a minority. Of the 102 passengers that sailed on the Mayflower, only 40 were actually Separatists. A majority of the passengers were adventurers with ordinary secular motivations: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where... ah, you get the picture.

Eventually, the Plymouth colonists were subsumed into the larger and darker Massachusetts Bay Colony, and that leads to our Challenge.

Massachusetts is tied to three maps on CC, each very different, and lending itself to three different styles of gameplay. Enough ridiculously easy Challenges. This months's Challenge will truly test your mettle. Three maps, three styles of play, and you must win at least two of each to qualify for a medal.

First there is USA New England, a small, simple map from CC's early days that lends itself perfectly to traditional gameplay. With only 35 terts, it's nice for 5 players, and of course with its wide-open traditional topography this calls for basic default CC settings. 5-player Standard, Automatic, Sequential, Escalating, Chained, No Fog and No Trench. Winning one of these will give you a bronze token, and you will need two of them.

Stay awake, it gets harder. The second hurdle to clear will be 13 Colonies. This peculiar little map with its asymmetrical bonus structure looks simple, but I've seen it approached a dozen different ways. There just isn't a single strategy for the map. To experiment with different strategies, we will allow you a choice of spoils -- flat rate or nuclear, and a choice of forts -- parachute or adjacent. We will even let you choose fog or no fog, trench or no trench. You will of course need a partner for discussing all the possibilities, but we don't want to make it too easy, so we'll add one more set of opponents to really mix things up. In the end, therefore, the game is 6-player 3-Team Doubles, Automatic, Sequential, Flat or Nuclear, Adjacent or Parachute, Fog or No Fog, Trench or No Trench. Navigating these complexities earns you a silver token, and likewise you will need two of these.

Third, there is Salem's Switch, our devious little map about the Salem Witch Trials. You either know it or you don't, so this will require you to play with yourself in Polymorphic fashion, no help from your team-mates except the team-mate in the mirror. 4-slot so there's no blank starting points. No Spoils, of course, since this map has such a powerful bonus structure that any spoils just water down the effect. Unlimited forts, Yes to Fog, No to Trench, for the most satisfying experience on this map. 2-player, 4-slot Polymorphic, Automatic, Sequential, No Spoils, Unlimited forts, Yes to Fog, No to Trench. No surprise that this is the gold-token venture, and you will likewise need two of these for a medal.

At least 6 tokens including at least 2 of each type gets you a shiny new Challenge Achievement medal.

But what about those who want to play this Challenge competitively? Haha, do you think I will let you just rack up a whole pile of gold tokens in head-to-head games while others are grinding out 5-player Standards? Ha! Ha! Ha! No, no, no, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die! The actual scoring formula will be diabolically terrific! (Note: keep in mind that this applies only to those who are playing the Challenge competitively, which is to say, trying for the Top-5. Those who just want the basic medal don't need to worry about this part.) For competitive scoreboard position, your record on each of the three game types will be evaluated separately. Win ration on bronze games, win ratio on silver games, win ratio on gold games. A correction factor will be applied. Your win ratio will be multiplied by 5 for the 5-player games, multiplied by 3 for the 3-team dubs, and multiplied by 2 for the head-to-head Polys. But here comes the diabolical part: after applying the correction factor, the system will discard your best score! That's right, you need to do well across all three game types, because only your bottom two will be reflected in your final position on the scoreboard!



Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Bronze Token

Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Silver Token

Click Here to Join Waiting Games - Gold Token


May SCOREBOARD

No Sign-Ups Required

Settings - Bronze
ImageImage
Maps: USA New England
Players Per Game: 5
Game Type: Standard
Initial Troops: Automatic
Play Order: Sequential
Spoils: Escalating
Reinforcements: Chained
FOG: NO
TRENCH: NO
Round Limit: 20 or 30
Round Length: 24 Hours
Joinablility: Public

Settings - Silver
ImageImage
Maps: 13 Colonies
Players Per Game: 6
Game Type: 3 Team Dubs
Initial Troops: Automatic
Play Order: Sequential
Spoils: Flat Rate or Nuclear
Reinforcements: Adjacent or Parachute
FOG: OPTIONAL
TRENCH: OPTIONAL
Round Limit: 20 or 30
Round Length: 24 Hours
Joinablility: Public

Settings - Gold
ImageImage
Maps: Salem's Switch
Players Per Game: 2
Game Type: Poly 4
Initial Troops: Automatic
Play Order: Sequential
Spoils: No Spoils
Reinforcements: Unlimited
FOG: YES
TRENCH: NO
Round Limit: 20 or 30
Round Length: 24 Hours
Joinablility: Public

Medal Criteria
Tokens are for WINS only.
Two of each token type is required for a medal.

For Competitive Play of this Challenge
(Note: if you just want the basic Challenge medal, you don't need to worry about this part.)
For each of the three game types, your win percentage will be evaluated. So (bronze wins/bronze joins), (silver wins/silver joins), (gold wins/gold joins). ONLY YOUR TWO WORST WILL COUNT. Your best record will be discarded. Therefore, in order to triumph in this Challenge, you need to do well on all three game types.

Your two worst percentages will be averaged together for your scoreboard position, but first they will be multiplied by a correction factor: X2 for the 2-p games, X3 for the 3-team games, X5 for the 5-p games.

Algorithmic representation of the scoring formula:
Step One
B=(bronze win tokens*5/bronze join tokens)
S=(silver win tokens*3/silver join tokens)
G=(gold win tokens*2/gold join tokens)
Step Two
Discard highest of B,S,G. Sum together remaining two. Multiply by 20.

This is a new and untested scoring formula. There may be technical difficulties. Treat it like a Beta Feature, and please accept our advance apologies for any chaos that may erupt.

Edit: Tiebreaker added. Total wins. In case of multiple players with the same score, total wins shall be used as a tiebreaker.

Notes
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Elaterate on Thu May 02, 2019 12:13 am

Dukasaur wrote: please accept our advance apologies for any chaos that may erupt.[/size][/b]


CHAOS!!!!!!!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby josko.ri on Thu May 02, 2019 12:17 am

If i read this correctly, for having maximal score, I need to join 2 of each game type, win all 6 games, and my score will be maximal 250. Is it right?
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Thu May 02, 2019 5:09 am

josko.ri wrote:If i read this correctly, for having maximal score, I need to join 2 of each game type, win all 6 games, and my score will be maximal 250. Is it right?


That's the theory. We're not sure if we have the coding right, but we'll make changes on the fly if necessary. If all three of your scores are the same, we're not sure if that won't crash the scoreboard, but we'll see.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Thu May 02, 2019 5:12 am

Edit: Tiebreaker added. Total wins. In case of multiple players with the same score, total wins shall be used as a tiebreaker.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Vlasov on Thu May 02, 2019 8:10 am

You're an excellent writer, Dukasaur -- perfect spelling, complete sentences, clarity, humor. As for me, I think I've lived under a rock for the last 400 years.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby the warrior65 on Thu May 02, 2019 11:52 am

Map New England gives no tokens. At least not in this game 19048869
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby jytreberg on Thu May 02, 2019 12:57 pm

Dukasaur wrote:... if April Showers Bring May Flowers, What Do May Flowers Bring?
show: the punchline for anyone who has lived under a rock the last 400 years



Is that Plymouth Rock that people have been hiding under? :lol:
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Bwana on Thu May 02, 2019 4:31 pm

I love the new scoring!!!
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Thu May 02, 2019 4:36 pm

Bwana wrote:I love the new scoring!!!


Thank you!

=D>
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby iAmCaffeine on Thu May 02, 2019 4:58 pm

Am I blind or is there no mention of what you get for winning the competitive side to this?
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Thu May 02, 2019 5:03 pm

iAmCaffeine wrote:Am I blind or is there no mention of what you get for winning the competitive side to this?


That part remains unchanged from month to month.


What are the prizes?
All players who meet or exceed the minimum number of required points for the month will earn a Challenge Achievement Medal. The point requirements change every month as we aim to provide a vast assortment of challenges which includes a varying level of difficulty.
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Site Event Medals are awarded to the top three finishers on the challenge scoreboard.
1st: Image
2nd: Image
3rd: Image


In addition to the medals, the first place finisher receives: 1 Green Conquer Star
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And the 2nd-5th place finishers receive: 1 Blue Conquer Star
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Sorry, I should have added the FAQ like we usually do. One part of the FAQ is incorrect, though... we've changed the tiebreaker condition for this month.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby hopalong on Thu May 02, 2019 10:51 pm

Dukasaur wrote:... this will require you to play with yourself ...


heh heh, heh heh heh. heh heh.
i think i am winning.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby iAmCaffeine on Fri May 03, 2019 1:52 am

Ah okay. Cheers Duk.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby anonymus on Fri May 03, 2019 8:24 am

I know I always complain..

BUT NOT THIS TIME! THIS SETUP IS AWESOME!!

3 Different game styles that on 3 very different maps.

Good background-story and good competitive edge vs. casual play.

VERY WELL IMPLEMENTED TEAM!!

This will be a fun one i'm sure ;)

/ :?:
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show: BoganGod speaks the truth
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May Challenge - Practice makes perfect

Postby hopalong on Mon May 06, 2019 8:01 pm

Looking for some practice for this month's challenge? The Pantry has these games on offer with different settings:
USA New England
Game 18417304
Game 18452557

Salem's Switch
Game 18408065
Game 18486466
Game 18486467
Game 18486468
Game 18486469

https://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=870&t=222406
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Symmetry on Fri May 10, 2019 6:32 pm

WTF is a Puritan Separatist? That seems like a bit of a made up American thing to distinguish rich American colonists who could afford the boat ride from poorer folk who were ok with the UK.
the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it- Albert Einstein
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Fri May 10, 2019 10:41 pm

Symmetry wrote:WTF is a Puritan Separatist? That seems like a bit of a made up American thing to distinguish rich American colonists who could afford the boat ride from poorer folk who were ok with the UK.

There was an economic difference, yes, but that's not the main thing.

The capital-P Puritans, who started the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony, retained their membership within the Church of England and believed it could be remade as Puritan church. The Mayflower Separatists believed the Church of England was beyond redemption and the only option was severing all ties with it. That's the main distinction.

Until the Uniformity Act of 1662 most Puritans remained within the Church of England and the Separatists were considered a splinter group. With the passage of the Uniformity Act, most Puritan were driven out of the Church and the situation was reversed, with Separating being the norm and staying in being the oddball.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby josko.ri on Sat May 11, 2019 1:52 am

Try test your formula on already qualified players, I think it does not match.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Wed May 15, 2019 6:21 am

josko.ri wrote:Try test your formula on already qualified players, I think it does not match.


Formula is
Step One
B=(bronze win tokens*5/bronze join tokens)
S=(silver win tokens*3/silver join tokens)
G=(gold win tokens*2/gold join tokens)
Step Two
Discard highest of B,S,G. Average together remaining two.

Four players have qualified thus far: Riverj, Awoodness, rgrjoey001, the warrior65. Testing formula on these.

Riverj
B = 5*5/10 = 2.5
S = 4*3/10 = 1.2
G = 6*2/11 = 1.1 (approx)
Discard B. Average of S and G = 1.15 (approx)

Awoodneess
B = 2*5/10 = 1
S = 5*3/11 = 1.4 (approx)
G = 3*2/5 = 1.2
Discard S. Average of B and G = 1.1

Okay, not even going to bother with the last two. I can see from the first two that we're not even in the right ballpark. Going to send this to BW for recalibration. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Thu May 16, 2019 10:15 pm

Okay, got this worked out.

You'll recall this discussion yesterday:

Dukasaur wrote:
josko.ri wrote:Try test your formula on already qualified players, I think it does not match.


Formula is
Step One
B=(bronze win tokens*5/bronze join tokens)
S=(silver win tokens*3/silver join tokens)
G=(gold win tokens*2/gold join tokens)
Step Two
Discard highest of B,S,G. Average together remaining two.

Four players have qualified thus far: Riverj, Awoodness, rgrjoey001, the warrior65. Testing formula on these.

Riverj
B = 5*5/10 = 2.5
S = 4*3/10 = 1.2
G = 6*2/11 = 1.1 (approx)
Discard B. Average of S and G = 1.15 (approx)

Awoodneess
B = 2*5/10 = 1
S = 5*3/11 = 1.4 (approx)
G = 3*2/5 = 1.2
Discard S. Average of B and G = 1.1

Okay, not even going to bother with the last two. I can see from the first two that we're not even in the right ballpark. Going to send this to BW for recalibration. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.


I sent this to BW and got this back:
bigWham wrote:The 2 scores are not averaged, but summed... and then multiplied by 20 to give a total score out 100. So the upshot is a multiplication by 40. If multiply your calculations by 40 they should match. And we do need to scale the scores up because the event scoring system does not handle fractions. We can do it some other way if you like, but otherwise everyone will be tied on 1 or 2.



Okay, so let's add the new perspective and re-test the people who have qualified with the above in mind.

Step One
B=(bronze win tokens*5/bronze join tokens)
S=(silver win tokens*3/silver join tokens)
G=(gold win tokens*2/gold join tokens)
Step Two
Discard highest of B,S,G. AverageSUM together remaining two. Multiply by 20.

riverj 6,4,7,10,10,11,49
Awoodness 2,5,3,10,11,5,44
the warrior65 5,6,3,18,24,7,32
rgrjoey001 2,3,5,11,17,5,29

RIverj
B = 6*5/10 = 3
S = 4*3/10 =1.2
G = 7*2/11= 1.27 (approx)
Discard B. (Sum of S and G)*20 = 49.45 (approx) which rounds to 49. Correct.

Awoodness
B = 2*5/10 = 1
S = 5*3/11 = 1.36 (approx)
G = 3*2/5 = 1.2
Discard S. (Sum of B and G)*20 = 44.Correct.

the warrior65
B = 5*5/18 = 1.39 (approx)
S = 6*3/24 = 0.75
G = 3*2/7 = 0.86 (approx)
Discard B. (Sum of S and G)*20 = 32.14 (approx) which rounds to 32. Correct.

rgrjoey001
B = 2*5/11 = 0.91 (approx)
S = 3*3/17 = 0.53 (approx)
G = 5*2/5 = 2
Discard G. (Sum of B and S)*20 = 28.77 which rounds to 29. Correct.

(Amounts listed as approx are given only to 2 decimal places, to spare me typing them out. However, in my calculator I did carry forward the full non-truncated values at maximum precision allowed by the device.)

Okay, so the formula was working correctly. Essentially, reported amounts just needed to be multiplied by 40 so that the scoreboard can report integer values only. All's well that ends well!
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Symmetry on Fri May 17, 2019 10:22 pm

Dukasaur wrote:
Symmetry wrote:WTF is a Puritan Separatist? That seems like a bit of a made up American thing to distinguish rich American colonists who could afford the boat ride from poorer folk who were ok with the UK.

There was an economic difference, yes, but that's not the main thing.

The capital-P Puritans, who started the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony, retained their membership within the Church of England and believed it could be remade as Puritan church. The Mayflower Separatists believed the Church of England was beyond redemption and the only option was severing all ties with it. That's the main distinction.

Until the Uniformity Act of 1662 most Puritans remained within the Church of England and the Separatists were considered a splinter group. With the passage of the Uniformity Act, most Puritan were driven out of the Church and the situation was reversed, with Separating being the norm and staying in being the oddball.


It's always interesting seeing the history of the US as taught by revisionists. Of course- Puritan was (and still is) a perjorative outside of American teachings. It's one of those things where Puritans were a joke, until they weren't.

I've always liked the term that more modern historians use- "The hotter sort of Protestants". Kinda sums them up better, no?
the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it- Albert Einstein
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby DoomYoshi on Sat May 18, 2019 8:14 am

Trust me Symm, I already had this discussion about how there is no such thing as a capital-P Puritan behind-the-scenes. He doesn't care how many times you've studied this at a postgraduate level, he saw a brochure once.
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Re: May Challenge -- April Showers Bring May Flowers

Postby Dukasaur on Sat May 18, 2019 8:29 am

You jokers deserve each other.
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