From Large Games to Small Games [Winner: LLLUUUKKKEEE]

[geigerm]

Two more eliminations, this time in Game B. Jack_Strap and Mikalf are out; sargonflex, jly_thechampion, and Shurr move on. Shurr's got a commanding edge in territories and armies and will likely win unless sargonflex pulls off an impressive comeback.

EDIT: Shurr is indeed your Game B winner. We've got 6 of our 12 Round 5 participants; let's see what happens in Games A & D.

[geigerm]

Congrats to dfp2dep, who won Game C, making it three wins in four rounds--very impressive!

Games A and D (particularly D, which started especially late due to some trouble filling the last slot) look like they could take a while. I'll update you as things change, but as of right now, we've got half of our Round 5 players.

[geigerm]

AtreidesHouse is the first player eliminated from Game A.

[geigerm]

m33 is the second player eliminated from Game A, which means that we've got three more players ticketed for Round 5. Just waiting for the Game D results now.

[geigerm]

Congrats to seamusvibe for snagging the win in Game A, his first of the tourney.

Things are moving fairly slowly in Game D at the moment--we have yet to see a set played, and all of the players are pretty evenly matched in armies and territories. So, we could be waiting a few days to see this one resolved. I'll keep you all posted.

[geigerm]

We finally have some movement on Game D--Vrb deadbeated his way out of the game and the tourney. Hopefully that game will move along a little better now that we don't have a player consistently missing turns, and we'll be able to get to Round 5 soon.

[geigerm]

It took almost a week, but we have our final elimination from this round--I actually logged on just in time to see endar1077 knock out Outsider on the way to a Round 13 win. We're therefore ready to move on to Round 5--expect your 4-player games shortly!

[endar1077]

Alright, then, we finally finished our game on USA... and I finally won one. : )

[geigerm]

Alright, then, we finally finished our game on USA... and I finally won one. : )

Yeah, that game took FOREVER--I'm not sure I've ever seen a five-person game go that long. I couldn't believe it took you guys a week after Vrb deadbeated out. But hey, it's over now, and we can keep this tourney moving ...

Games are out, folks--good luck to our 12 remaining players!

[geigerm]

We've got our first Round 5 elimination, as dfp2dep was eliminated in Round 13 of Game B. One more elimination from that game, and we'll know our first two semifinalists. With the next set bringing 55 armies, I'd expect that second elimination to come soon.

The other two games are a little bit behind that pace--we have yet to see our first set played in Game C, which is in Round 6, while sets have climbed to 8 armies in Game A, which is in Round 8. As always, I'll keep you posted as players get knocked out.

[ZionT]

In a valiant effort of Game 4865747 df2dep comes in fourth... showing resiliency, but getting hit in the tail.

Coming in third, sargonflex put on a good move, but got couldn't quite finish the game.

Finally, our two semifinalists will be Death_on_a_Horse smartly playing for the spot and ZionT who cleans up what was left in a lucky win.

GG all, it was a pleasure!

How'd I do?

[Death_on_a_horse]

I'm just happy you didn't eliminate me until last!

Ready for the semifinals.

[geigerm]

In a valiant effort of Game 4865747 df2dep comes in fourth... showing resiliency, but getting hit in the tail.

Coming in third, sargonflex put on a good move, but got couldn't quite finish the game.

Finally, our two semifinalists will be Death_on_a_Horse smartly playing for the spot and ZionT who cleans up what was left in a lucky win.

GG all, it was a pleasure!

How'd I do?

Excellent update--couldn't have said it any better myself.

And congrats to our first two semifinalists! Start thinking about your preferred map for the semis--remember, you'll play a three-game series among your group of 3, with each player choosing one map. However, game settings will stay the same as they've been so far.

By the way, with that win, ZionT now has 3 bonus points to take into the semis. We'll see if that turns out to be a major advantage ...

[sargonflex]

was a very well played game by all. quite enjoyable. made the move i had to make, got a little unlucky. perhaps could have placed differently. nature of this game. tough draw of opponents though. i like the setup of this tournament, hope their is another. perhaps if their is another as rounds progress players with most wins could be automatically placed in different games. say in this case dfp in one game. zion in one game. me in one game. then all the players with one win randomized into those games. since dfp had the most wins perhaps he would have less players with a win in his game if their is an uneven amount of game winners. then finally players with no wins randomized in filling out the games. i think the draw of opponents and the target of having the most wins put dfp in an impossible position in that game. further once dfp was battered down to the most likely first man out i think it was more than probable that either zion or i were going to win the game with the other finishing third. death on a horse played his neutral stance beautifully. so the nature of the game was eliminating two of the top three game winners to this point. i think a setup avoiding this scenario would be beneficial to enabling the players with multiple wins to all have a chance to make it into those semifinals. perhaps this would make it so no players with a tally of wins would make it in. i dont know. these are just my thoughts. was good fun. good luck to ziont and deathonahorse.

[geigerm]

sargonflex, thanks for the feedback. I agree that there might be a better way to handle the wins thing later on. But I do think that's sort of the nature of tournaments. Smart players are going to target the early leaders to maximize their own chances, so the best tourney strategy often doesn't involve jumping out to a really fast start. Perhaps playing multiple games per round a little earlier than the semifinals might make things a little fairer for those who win a lot early on. That's something I'll have to mull over.

I may very well bring this idea back for another go-round. I think that, after this tourney ends, I'm going to run a "From Small Games to Large Games" tourney--same type of idea, but we'll start with 1v1 games and work up to 8-player games. But heck, if there's support for it, I'll be happy to run another round of this one, too.

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Another update: we have our first Game C elimination, with ralphcptc being knocked out in Round 8.

[Death_on_a_horse]

I would play in both...this has been a lot of fun.

Personally, I think that no matter how you run this, there will be a meta-strategy to it, a strategy that involves not just winning the game, but winning the tournament. But isn't that why we are playing tournaments?

Just my 2 cents...

[geigerm]

I would play in both...this has been a lot of fun.

Personally, I think that no matter how you run this, there will be a meta-strategy to it, a strategy that involves not just winning the game, but winning the tournament. But isn't that why we are playing tournaments?

Just my 2 cents...

I agree 100% on the meta-strategy thing--you said one of the things I was trying to say in my previous post in a much more concise manner! I guess my question is whether that meta-strategy ought to place more of an emphasis on winning games. The way the tourney's set up right now, you're basically penalized in the later rounds for having won too much earlier. I'm not sure that's the outcome I'd like ... but it very well might be. I'd certainly welcome any more feedback on this issue that people might have.

Nothing new to report on the elimination front. But there should be very, very soon in Game C. Game A remains fairly balanced for the moment.

[ZionT]

sargonflex, thanks for the feedback. I agree that there might be a better way to handle the wins thing later on. But I do think that's sort of the nature of tournaments. Smart players are going to target the early leaders to maximize their own chances, so the best tourney strategy often doesn't involve jumping out to a really fast start. Perhaps playing multiple games per round a little earlier than the semifinals might make things a little fairer for those who win a lot early on. That's something I'll have to mull over.

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this whole points versus strategy argument. Sargonflex is right that winners are targets, in fact, I'll probably be a prime target in the semifinal, especially the first round in a 3 player game. However; so it goes and at least I'll have a chance to exact revenge later. That being said, I think it adds an extra layer of strategy and forces some defensive play, which is okay. I really like the way the tourney has been run. You've done a great job geigerm.

However; the point sargon made about splitting up winners in future rounds should be considered. This way at least you have some incentive to keep winning. Anyway you slice it, the strategy game will still come into play. I also think you should stick to 1 game per round, it just makes the survivor factor less complicated and more exciting.

[geigerm]

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this whole points versus strategy argument. Sargonflex is right that winners are targets, in fact, I'll probably be a prime target in the semifinal, especially the first round in a 3 player game. However; so it goes and at least I'll have a chance to exact revenge later. That being said, I think it adds an extra layer of strategy and forces some defensive play, which is okay. I really like the way the tourney has been run. You've done a great job geigerm.

However; the point sargon made about splitting up winners in future rounds should be considered. This way at least you have some incentive to keep winning. Anyway you slice it, the strategy game will still come into play. I also think you should stick to 1 game per round, it just makes the survivor factor less complicated and more exciting.

Thanks for the feedback and the compliment. I agree on keeping things at 1 game per round. The only reason I don't do that in the semifinals is because 2/3 of the remaining players get knocked out in that round--I think it's only fair to have multiple games at that point. Before that, no more than half of the players get knocked out. But keeping things at one game per round makes things simpler for the players ... and the organizer.

I keep going back and forth on this "splitting up the winners" thing. I'd argue that you're almost better off having winners grouped together. Let's look at this round, for example: who should have been more worried about having dfp2dep (our leader entering the round) as a semifinal opponent? sargonflex and ZionT, each of whom would have had at most a 2-point differential in the semifinals (if dfp2dep won the game and they each stayed at 2 wins)? Or Death_on_a_horse, who potentially could have faced a 4-point deficit? Split up the top winners, and you'll have them in games against people who really don't want to play them in later rounds.

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Speaking of the semifinals, we can now name two more semifinalists: jly_thechampion and Shurr, who will advance from Game C. Shurr knocked out endar1077 in Round 11, which was a heck of a lot later than I expected. When I made my last update on that game, endar was down to 6 armies and one territory, but used a nice bit of diplomacy to buy a few more rounds.

Remember, semifinalists, you need to choose a map for the next round. You'll each be playing 3 games against a random group of opponents, with one map chosen by each of you. I'll send out a reminder via PM when this round is done.

[geigerm]

Congrats to Shurr for winning Game C. We're now just waiting on Game A to determine our last two semifinalists.

[geigerm]

All right, we have our last two semifinalists: aniximo, who won Game A, and LLLUUUKKKEEE. Thanks to seamusvibe and KidWhisky, our two eliminated players, for playing.

We've now got our final 6; I'm about to send out a PM asking them to choose maps for the semis. Once I get their responses, we can start the games.

[geigerm]

Semifinal games are now out. You can check the second post to follow everyone's progress, and I'll of course continue to post regular updates.

[geigerm]

Looks like Death_on_a_horse will draw first blood in Group 1, having taken control of Game B. Shurr's already out; LLLUUUKKKEEE only has one territory remaining.

[geigerm]

Group 1 Game B is indeed over, as expected--Death_on_a_horse snags the win, with LLLUUUKKKEEE finishing second and Shurr third. This result means the total score for Group 1 is now all knotted up, at 3 points apiece.

I don't think there's any imminent eliminations in any of our other games--that game was on Arms Race!, which lends itself to pretty quick play--but I will of course keep you all posted as things change.

[geigerm]

We've got our first update from Group 2--ZionT wins Game A, with jly_thechampion finishing second and aniximo finishing third. This win gives ZionT a group-leading 6 points, with the other two players tied at 2.