I'm down to join, but I think I'm a little late. :(

yes hope your kids get well. Btw are you going to pm the password and gameID or you going to put them official in this thread?

Kids are good, thanks for the words. I will PM everyone to make sure all are aware. Entreri, I have you down as an alternate. If three more express interest before we start, we'll add a 5th pool and figure out advancement.

Thanks a bunch!

Input is trickling in via PMs, but I think we need to settle on parameters together in this thread.

Consensus is growing to make the maps all random instead of the proposed balancing. I have to admit I am leaning more in that direction myself. I get that some players will be affected by crap luck, but we all start with the same odds and I like the element of surprise it brings to each game. There is a lot of quick decision making necessary in this, and keeping things random will emphasize that even more. I think jeremyk2142’s suggestion about standardizing sets of games is a good one, and I am certainly willing to go that route if it proves more popular. Hopefully the number of games will minimize the impact of bad luck. To minimize the impact of playing more games, I propose a limit on length.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

No pools, all players are mixed and assigned to games at random.

As of now, 16 players. If anyone knows how to rotate a 17th through without some complicated math, I'd like to include everyone. My math for 4-player games unfortunately =16.

Three rounds of 15 random-allotment games each. Top 8 move to Round Two, top 4 move to Round Three, top one is the champion. [I haven’t given too much thought to tiebreakers yet, maybe something like # solos, then # draws, then least # eliminated. Maybe head-to-head performance? Or maybe a play-in game would be warranted.]

Games will be played 3-5 at a time. When one game ends another begins. I looked at the 4-player random-nation Classic games I have played, here and on the Spanish site, to see how long they have taken. The range is 1905 to 1913. 8 of the 12 games ended in 1908 or earlier, one in 1909 and one in 1910, two in 1913. I propose we give games a limit of 1908 or 1909. A ticking clock to add to the pressure to resolve the games, as well as to help us keep the tournament from going on forever and fizzling out due to attrition.

Given the number of games, points will be allotted as originally proposed:

3 for a solo
2 for a 2-way draw
1 for a 3-way draw
0 for a 4-way draw
-1 for a defeat or a survival

At the end of a round, if an advancing player decides to opt out, the eliminated player with the highest score will advance in his place.

I will talk to los mods about helping with game assignments to keep things anonymous and fair.

I want to get this started, so please voice objections and alternate ideas promptly. Otherwise I count the silence as agreement. If there is anything not yet discussed that should be, bring it up. I am PMing everyone on the list to check the thread, and including Entreri in case he makes it in. Anyone not signed up who wishes to play needs to make that known ASAP.
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tl;dr -
Vote/approve:
15 games/round
3-5 games at once
Game ends 1908 or '09

everything looks good!

I will send userIDs of participants to mod team, and they will then send each of you a number, 1-16. Here in this thread, I will list gameIDs and passwords with those numbers assigned to specific games.

Unfortunately, I think my vote would be in favor of the more standardized group stage action that you mentioned from my earlier post. I'm not a big fan of randomness, when the controlled option is still doable.

I'm down for however many games per round, the more the merrier. No limit to games at once for me, since they're gunboats.

I'd vote against the end in '08 or '09 for two reasons:
-Gunboats are pretty fast anyway, especially if we urge everyone to ready up.
-I think ending things early will severely lower the amount of solos that we see.

(I'm also ok with any bet size, though I'd prefer ~ WTA 10 bets)

i am okay with everything :)

It's all ok with me

I second all jeremyk2142's comments/proposals.

I'm not interested in much more than 5 new gunboats at a time though, as I've already got a rather hefty load of games for what I can handle right now.

Seems alright to me

Oh, the game phases are set at 1 day right?

Just to confirm: even with no pool, we are doing four-person games right?

I prefer ending at 1909 (i.e. after Fall Builds phase, in case some of you are thinking the otherwise).

I am fine with other settings as laid down by Dr.R, and I am also fine with having one day as phase length.

I am strongly in favor of not having the games end at a specific year. If a game hasn't ended by 1908 or 1909, it probably means it's a competitive, well-played game, and I don't think we should cut that off prematurely. It might take someone several years to get into a winning position, and time shouldn't prevent them from soloing, it should be up to the other players to prevent it. Also, based off of Dr.'s stats, we would rarely see games go that long, and if they did they all seem to have ended max 4-5 years after the proposed cutoff date. This would only extend the games by a week or two at the most, which I think is worth it to keep playing.

All of the other settings look good.

I'd like to agree with Leif, a max of 5 new gunboats at a time seems reasonable and still manageable for getting the tourney done with. Also, I agree not setting an end date for each game would be a preferred course of action for me. BRICH said it pretty well and I think it has potential to hinder solos form happening.

Other than that, my only preference is not starting for at least 3 more days.

Great points all. I am miserably sick today but I'll be on as soon as I can to further this.

oops take care

I'm sending the roster to the mods, they will assign each of us a number 1-16 via PM. I will assign numbers to games, listed here. Four games, four players each. Once the first game for each group begins, I will create three more with the same nations and figure out how we rotate anonymously. When this first series winds down, the next will begin, and eventually the third and fourth. 16 games total. Once those are complete, round one is over.

WTA, Anon, 2 point bid, 1 day/phase.

woooooo getting excited :D

Once you are assigned a number:

Players 1-4
TMS 111 gameID=17484

Players 5-8
TMS 121 gameID=17485

Players 9-12
TMS 131 gameID=17486

Players 13-16
TMS 141 gameID=17487

Password is "password" for all games. I will leave the games once another player joins, and then rejoin the one I am assigned to. If you are curious, the numbers in the game titles represent round, group, and game #. Good luck everyone!

random numbers sent out.
Good luck and have fun!

whats the password?

oh ok nvm

Looks like two games are underway, with 12 of 16 players joined. I will create the rest of the games later today.

Group 1: Waiting on 2 players
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Group 2: TEGI
Players will rotate Turkey > England > Germany > Italy.
So, Turkey in game 121 will join as England in game 122, Germany in game 123, and Italy in game 124. And so on. I have created the other 3 games, and will leave as soon as somebody joins each. If you are taking the nation that I am currently holding, you'll just have to check back to see if I have left yet. I hope all that makes sense.

TMS 122: gameID=17494
TMS 123: gameID=17495
TMS 124: gameID=17496
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Group 3: Waiting on 1 player
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Group 4: TFRI
Rotation is Turkey > France > Russia > Italy

TMS 142: gameID=17497
TMS 143: gameID=17498
TMS 144: gameID=17499

Crap, I don't have enough points....

DC, I have played in webDip tournaments in which players (myself included) that did not have sufficient points to join were covered by a loan of points from the mods, returned as the player gained them back. I haven't seen this on vDip, so I do not know if it would be an option. It's worth your asking, though. Since it is a tournament and the initial total bet is 8 , maybe you will have your request granted.

If this doesn't work, and you can't wrap up another game in the next few days, maybe you should PM Entreri, give him your assigned number, and have him take your place. I would like you to be able to play, so exhaust your options first.

I will be pretty scarce for the next few days, but I'll keep checking in and working to get all games rolling.

Yeah, Oli loaned me some points back in another time, although I was about to finish a game and gain points so it was rather... moot. Will ask the mods again tomorrow then :)