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Answers to questions about the Metaverse

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Answers to questions about the Metaverse

how scoring works and more

from GalCiv2 Forums

Metaverse Question # 1: How does scoring work?

    The general forumula is SumOfDepreciatedScores / NumberOfGames^4

    Scores deprecate by 5% every 30 days with the maximum depreciate being 65% at 290 days or more.

Metaverse Question # 2: What is the status of the score re-calculation?
 
     Rankings are updated twice a day and a player's score is updated when a new game is submitted.  There was a bug that caused some scores to fail in the middle of updating, but that is being fixed.
 
Metaverse Question # 3:  Error 12 (serial does not match) - what is this and how can I fix it? 
 
     This is generally caused after updating or a re-install.  You probably mistyped your serial number, or left out a character, etc.  You won't be able to fix the save game, unfortunately, and I can't submit games or scores for you.
 
Metaverse Question # 4:  Error 16 (Please try again later) - Huh? I'm connected to the internet, I have the Skip Internet Check option ON, my anti-virus/security program/firewall is configured to allow GC2 to submit to the metaverse and I keep getting this error.  What gives?!
 
    This is a general error returned by the metaverse that GC2 doesn't recognize and doesn't know how to handle.  These errors were supposed to be logged so that they could be fixed, but a few of them were overlooked.   The guys who handle the web end of the metaverse have added additional logging code and will be monitoring the logs to try and fix these errors.  If, after repeated attempts, you can't submit the game, go into My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2 and rename the Endgamesave.sav file.  You can also create another subfolder and move end game saves there, and the load game dialog will still be able to load them.  This will let you try again later without worrying about overwriting your game.
  
Metaverse Question # 5: What causes the cheating flag to be tripped?
 
    Modifying data or finishing the game in 12 turns or less, even if you used legitimate means to finish the game.  Also, if you somehow end up with negative ability bonus points when customizing your race, that will set the cheating flag if you start the game with that race.  For 1.3 (starting with the third beta) I am adding a message box to warn if you have an invalid race config so that you can fix it before starting a game that will be flagged as invalid. Also, if we change the metaverse data for the races or the starting abilities, you will get this warning if you are using the old data.  If you are warned that you have an invalid race config, use the Clear button to reset to the default race configuration, and then make whatever changes you want.

Metaverse Question # 6: Why can't I use mods with the metaverse?
 
    Because mods can give you an unfair advantage over people submitting without mods, and not everyone wants to use mods. Anything we did to try to equalize a game using mods in the metaverse would just make more people unhappy. Also, mods can have unexpected effects on the code, because they ARE modifications.  For example, in GC1/AP, someone made a custom map with over 1000 planets and it caused the game to crash as soon as the 1000th (or higher) planet was colonized, because the max number of colonies was 1000.  It was a bug, but it wasn't one that would have shown up in an unmodded game, which always had far less than 1000 planets.
 
   If you want to compete with mods, talk to one of the fansites' webmasters about setting up a contest where everyone uses the same mods and agrees to play under set conditions.  Then you can post the results and discuss your different strategies. 

metaverse faq support
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Reply #101 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Bananaman1945, reply 100
Just to clear this up,
The person who started this forum said that the score cannot reach lower than 65% of the original, right?
So, assuming that you score 10,000 points on an MV game, it will never ever go below 6,500 points?

I think so, yes.

Quoting Bananaman1945, reply 100

And also, does the difficulty of the game add a scoring multiplier?

Yes. As well as the galaxy size (Giga/Immense is best), the time it took to finish a game (the earlier the better...), and the way you achieved victory (Military victory or ascension is best).

(Edit: Somewhere here I´ve read that Military & Ascention Victory do hold the same score multiplier ( X2.0 ), but I´ve found that an Ascention Victory is approx 30% lesser in score than the Military one....)

Reply #102 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Giga And Immense?

But in GalCiv II, the largest is Gigantic!

Did u get an add-on or something.

And I still don't understand the logic behind score depreciation...

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #103 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Yep, the immense galaxy can be played in GalCiv II - ToA, but that galaxy won´t hold more planets than the gigantic one, and won´t give a better score multiplier. In fact, it might be harder to score better there due to the longer distances one has to travel....

Well, there´s alot about the scoring here I don´t understand either, and in now way can I give you an official answer why things are like they are; but the way the MV has been designed clearly has some effect, and one is to give new players and/or freshly submitted scores an advantage over eg. scores that are older. In some way this keeps people to stay active here... while others who deserted the MV will slowly fall behind. And that´s a pretty good concept, as well as is with the fact that from each game to another the score will be taken less into account (look at Mumble´s last to posts for this...) which has basically the same effect - it provides an evergrowing-disadvantage to long-term experienced characters.

Reply #105 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Does anyone know if you can play GalCiv on a LAN network - or - if this cannot be done - how can you play a co-op game with your friends in the metaverse??

 

Cheers

Reply #106 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Does anyone know if you can play GalCiv on a LAN network - or - if this cannot be done - how can you play a co-op game with your friends in the metaverse??
As far as I know you can do neither of these things. You certainly can't play GalCiv2 on a network and you can't play a cooperative game with your friends in the metaverse.

You used to be able to play a quasi hot seat multiplayer game by using cheat mode and this would automatically make the game metaverse illegal. But it involves the ability to use Ctrl-Shift-Z (I think it is) to take over a particular AI. If I recall correctly this involved some disadvantages for the player that was "playing" as an AI and so it was recommended that the more experienced player play this position. However I have never personally tried this and so I can't really vouch for it.

See https://www.galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Hot_Seat_Game.

Reply #107 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I prefer to restart games over and over again (dozens) until I get a planet with good bonuses, and a good map setup. This is the (only) way to play on the highest skill levels (and win). I have a laggy Satellite Internet connection, and login takes about 10sec and sometimes fails due to the extreme lag, especially in early evening time. I know the <Ctl-N> thing to restart a new game, but I think this only works with non-metaverse games. Once I am logged in, is there any way to (re)start a new metaverse game with the same settings without logging in again? (skilled veterans only please)

Reply #108 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Ctrl-N works just fine with Metaverse games.

However there is one thing you need to be careful of and that is that randomly and for no apparent reason your difficulty level could be reset to cakewalk and if you're not looking you might not even notice it until later in the game when the AI's don't really bother to colonize or otherwise show any signs of life.

There's an easy way to avoid this and it's simply to pay attention to your initial income. The exact value will be dependent on your global economic ability and the difficulty level you're playing but should remain constant from one ctrl-n to the next. If you notice that your starting income suddenly has increased that's a sure sign that your difficulty has been reset to cakewalk and you need to exit and relogin to the MV before continuing. Basically the income jump happens because at cakewalk *you* get an economic bonus over and above your default racial abilities.

Once you've restarted you can again reliably use ctrl-n for as long as you want until your starting income jumps again at which point you'll need to repeat the MV login.

Reply #109 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The Ctrl-N difficulty reset bug appears when you reload a saved game and then do a Ctrl-N on it.  It's possible there are other rarer circumstances that might cause it, but that's the only one that I've seen that consistently has that effect.

Reply #110 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The Ctrl-N difficulty reset bug appears when you reload a saved game and then do a Ctrl-N on it. It's possible there are other rarer circumstances that might cause it, but that's the only one that I've seen that consistently has that effect.
Yeah. If you ctrl-n a reloaded saved game that will mess up every time. Also this is perhaps somewhat of a holdover from my DL experience, however due to that experience I always keep a close watch on my initial income and I've most definitely had cases even in DA v2.01 where I've seen my initial income increase after a ctrl-n. It may have taken as many as 100 or so ctrl-n's but I have indeed seen it occur. What I haven't necessarily checked is whether or not that income increase definitely corresponded to a reset in difficulty to cakewalk which requires you to check the debug.err file.

But basically if I see something funky happen after a few 100 ctrl-n's I figure it's probably not a bad idea to quit the game entirely and reopen the game and start fresh. As far as I know an occassional fresh start never caused anyone a problem whereas ignoring something funky in the initialization of a game that may take you 100's of hours to complete is a risk I'm not willing to take.

Reply #111 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Mumblefratz, reply 108
Ctrl-N works just fine with Metaverse games.

However there is one thing you need to be careful of and that is that randomly and for no apparent reason your difficulty level could be reset to cakewalk and if you're not looking you might not even notice it until later in the game when the AI's don't really bother to colonize or otherwise show any signs of life.

There's an easy way to avoid this and it's simply to pay attention to your initial income. The exact value will be dependent on your global economic ability and the difficulty level you're playing but should remain constant from one ctrl-n to the next. If you notice that your starting income suddenly has increased that's a sure sign that your difficulty has been reset to cakewalk and you need to exit and relogin to the MV before continuing. Basically the income jump happens because at cakewalk *you* get an economic bonus over and above your default racial abilities.

Once you've restarted you can again reliably use ctrl-n for as long as you want until your starting income jumps again at which point you'll need to repeat the MV login.

 

Thanx Mumblefratz, that worked great. (too bad I lost the game; Masochistic BTW)

Reply #112 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I cant create a character it keeps telling me that i have invalid characters in my name i didnt type anything but wolverine28 what gives?

Reply #113 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I not sure but try not using spaces.

By
the way are you interested in joining an Empire if so go to Forums then click
on Metaverse there you find Empires that are active, I would not want anybody
to join a dying or dead one. I would join one that is in the top ten, Oh by the
way. I have an Empire you should read about, click on the link below
to take you to my empire. You know you can do whatever you want to do because
you have a choice.

 

 

We are looking for players to join to be aggressive Admirals to lead my fleets across the Galaxy. 

Saint Mina of Ophelia VII ofOrderof the Bloody Rose of Orders Militant ofAdepta Sororitas

Reply #114 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well I got a problem on how to make a race or empire or character, whatever, the problem is that I got the Ultimate Edition, theres a total of 19 # of the box, the disc, etc. I Put in all and none appears to be the serial number, where can I find it, doesn't say on the entire thing. Thanks, and if I was mean in any part of this, i'm sorry.

Reply #115 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Kryo, please help, all the time when I send a post or a reply, my message never shows up, please help with the problem, once thats done, I get to report my problem here when its fixed. Thanks.Or not, nevermind. Found it.