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... if April Showers Bring May Flowers, What Do May Flowers Bring?
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
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
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
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
- Games must start between CC Time: 2019-05-01 00:09:00 and CC Time: 2019-05-31 23:59:59 to be considered for the challenge.
- Wins will count until CC Time: 2019-06-30 23:59:59
- Any issues will be solved by groovysmurf and Dukasaur, and our word is final.
