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Feb-14-2011 00:51

Hey guys. This is kind of a follow-up to my last thread. There I asked many of you what you had done to make things any different. Here I'm asking you, "What are you going to do?"

I always tell students it's better to show not tell, so here we go!


What I'm doing- Tonight I started writing a short scripted mystery that will serve as a tutorial to answer a lot of the common SM questions that people have.

How long will it take me- Hopefully I will have the whole thing done in a month (but with me who knows).

What would I need for it to work- I'd need it to be approved as a Scripted Mystery and ideally I'd like Ben to make it free to all players.


So what do you think guys? What can you do to help Sleuth?

Mar-24-2011 09:04

Ok, minor change, after having read more thoroughly. You get the score for the following day, not the previous day. That makes example 1 wrong.

Let me try with new examples:
Member 1 finish on number of days = 3
Member 2 finish on number of days = 4
Member 3 finish on number of days = 4

Team score = member basic points(14 + 12 + 12) + bonus for first additional same day(9) = 45

Next example: all members finish on number of days = 4

Team score = member basic points (12 + 12 + 12) + bonus for first additional same day (9) + bonus for second additional same day (9 + 5) = 59.

I hope I made it right this time. If some oldies find I explained the calculation wrong, please help me correct it so that it will be right :-)

Mar-24-2011 09:35

I am confused on the results. Afterall, we are detectives not rocket scientists. Here is my stab at the results the way I believe Irene intends:

Irene's Example 1:
Example 1:
Member 1 finish on number of days = 5
Member 2 finish on number of days = 6
Member 3 finish on number of days = 6

Team score = sum of member points (9 + 5 + 5) + 0 = 19 points

Example 2:
Member 1 finish on number of days = 3
Member 2 finish on number of days = 4
Member 3 finish on number of days = 4

Team score = member basic points(14 + 12 + 12) + bonus for first additional same day(9) = 47

Hopefully, my math is correct, or I will ask Oregon State University for my money back.

Mar-24-2011 09:41

I am thankful there are people out there that is able to help and correct when I am doing mistakes. I agree with Night Queen here, her results are more correct than mine :-D

Mar-24-2011 18:45

Umm, two slight changes, if I might:
I KNOW there was a seven (7) point score between the 9 and 5 ones (ie, day 5 had 9 points, day 6 had 7, and day 7 had 5). Might want to edit that in. Sorry.
Secondly, the way Serges ran his bonus scores was a bit complicated, but I'll see if I can give it a go (no guarantees on my success though):

Basically, each member of a team that scored on the SAME DAY received an increasing number of bonus points, one day's worth increase for each team member.

So, (for example):

Team A has a group that finishes with one member on Day 3, two who finish on Day 5, and one who finishes on Day 7. Day 3 person receives 14 points. Day 7 person receives 5 points (we stuck in 7 points for Day 6, remember? ;-). But the two Day 5 people are scored differently. The team member who scored first gets 9 points. The SECOND person gets 9 points, PLUS the reward for the next day (ie, 7 points). His/her score is 16 total.

Team A's total is 44.

But let's have a look at a team that deliberately finishes all on the same day.

Team B has a group that all finishes on day 5. Member #1 gets 9 points. Member #2 gets 9 points (Day 5), plus a reward for finishing on the same day as his teammate (Day 6, 7 points), or 16 points total. Member #3 gets 9 points, plus (again) a reward for finishing on the same day as his teammates (he gets Day 6, 7 points + Day 7, 5 points), or 21 points total. Member #4 gets 9 points, plus (again) a reward for finishing on the same day as his teammates (he gets Day 6, 7 points + Day 7, 5 points + Day 8, 0 points) or 21 points total. When the four scores, 9, 16, 21, and 21 are added up...

Team B's total is 67 points.

Like I said, it was complicated. (And sometimes, it took a PhD to add up. ;-) But it was designed to encourage teams to work together and (most importantly) all solve on the same day. Whether y'all want to use the system or not is up to you, but there it is.

Hope I've explained it clearly enough. ;-)

Mar-25-2011 09:00

I am happy for the update. We will go with your way of calculating points, which is basically the system I put up as well.
- just with the addition of the 7-points for day 6 ;-)

BUT, I have deliberatedly choosen 4-member teams, and 3 of the members to give score to the teams total. This is because I want the team to cooperate, but not end up shooting at each other if one is extreemely unlucky.

So, I will make the computer calculate the team score for each possible combination of 3-members within the team, and make it stick with the combination that gives the best score for the team.

This means all will set out from Shangri La, with a new Villain to catch. (preferably not start before the start date April - 1), and try to make the team get a good combination of scores. Even if one of the team members end up failing his or her AVH, the team might still end up with the top score :-) This is an experiment, that I do hope will encourage people. But, we need to test it to see if my suggestion is correct or not.

We won't know until we have tried.

Mar-26-2011 16:24

Are we allowed to trash talk? ;-)

Mar-26-2011 17:31

Sure :-)
Reason why I have not mentioned anything about it, is because I am fairly weak on the social area, so I did not come up with the idea of encouraging it. Thank you for bringing it up, so that my weakness is overcome. Great ideas and suggestions are always great ideas and suggestions. :-)

Also, I would personally be very thankful if you would comment on the ideas we are testing out, if they work or not.
We are testing things like:
* your AVH will be given points as if it failed if it starts too early, or last too long. - are 13 days too much or too little, or just a problem with having a limit of days that will make your AVH count as failed?
* if you get a failed hunt, and start a new hunt within 4 days after the start-date, you will be given points for the second hunt, rather than the first one.
* if you pass through Cairo, and make that "seen", the number of days for your hunt will count as one lower. I.e. a 6-day hunt through Cairo, will be seen as equal to a 5-day hunt that does not involve Cairo.
* there are 4 members of the teams, but just the 3 "best" will make for the team score - something that I hope will be a bit more "forgiving"
* we will be using the score calculation model of Serges, to encourage the teams to cooperate

All of this is part of the experiment, and I would like to know what plays well, and what does not really play well.

When the page is uploaded, you will be able to see the scores on this page:
http://playsleuth2.com/Noir/bonus/Scores/AVHtournament.spy?id=3
- and there will be no need to log in to look at it. There will unfortunately be a couple of days until it will be released from test though :-P

Mar-30-2011 13:54

Preparations start to take form.
The page is uploaded. - at least the first version of it.
There is still a part missing, the part that will calculate the score of the team... - I hope that I will be able to finish it before too many start to catch their villains.. ;-)
Some of you might start considering travelling to Shangri La?...
- if you want to have some "edge" on the others ;-)
But, please, don't start until after the turnover.

I hope you will be having fun, and bring in some experience - so that we will know where the needs for improvements are :-P

I wonder, will it be age before beauty this time, or skill before wisdom? who knows?

Mar-30-2011 15:42

I don't know if this helps or not, but as you do Cairo more often, it will distinctly get easier. Offering people who get Cairo a 'discount' might actually make Cairo a desirable city to get for some players.

Mar-30-2011 22:22

You may very well be completely right. That is why we would like to test it out. :-)
Later on, when I have been able to create a user interface to do the setup of an AVH tournament, the one day by passing through Cairo discount, will be an option to choose, or not to choose.
- just as you will be able to choose to go by strict rules (the first villain you start hunting, in the preset timeframe (-1 day, 4 days), will be the one you have to stick with, or by "gracious" rules (if you in some ways fail one hunt started within the timeframe, and starts another one, that's better also within the timeframe, the last villain will be seen as the "right" one)
- whether you are going to track one villain to complete the round, or if you are going to get two in a row.