Thanks.

Cypher, shhh!!!! Motti might hear you!

Seriously though...what's the best score for the two year mark? I had 455,500 in my last game. I just got to that point in my current game and it's a lousy 383,000. The real bummer is that I thought I was doing better this game. My planets are mostly fully populated, everything is tiled in stock markets, I got the SCC ealier than I ever had before abd got nightmare torpedoes in record time. So I'm with you Seth, this feels like epic fail.

I've normally played 1% mil, and then adjusted my tech slider to optimal every round and let the balance go to social. This time I've pretty much played 100% tech. Maybe this just produces a different score curve and things will be better later...we'll see.

@Motti: do you know what your year two score was on the 1.5 million point game?

In my current game I just tested the score at the 1 year mark with 257k, which is by far my best ever.

Sentient species taste better...

Waaaaiiiiiiit a minute......KP, are you saying you own every planet save one at the end of year 1???? How?

Not every single one.  There is one enemy planet, and maybe 70 uncolonized planets left.  And when I say Year 1, I start counting with Year 0, so maybe that is throwing you off?

By comparison, in my 900k game with no econ boom, my score-test at Year 1 end was 193,200.

Sentient species taste better...

Yep, that was throwing me off. Doing that in 24 months is certainly achievable, doing it in 12 was going to make me whimper in fear.....

What about doing it in 6...?

I own 400+ planets in September fo year 0.....Should have all but one by middle of year 1.

If i ever fire it up again......

With an econ boom early on, i think 5 is very feasible.

The Few, The Powerful, The Deadly.The Tyranny!

My Dec 2228 score was 777730.  My best 2 year score wasn't that game though.  It was 791700 on the game afterward.  The final score was 1.3M.

I'm close to you with this current game...I'm at 773 at year 2. I got the econ event earlier than normal for once, about 30 months in.  I'm not going to build an SB array though so we'll see where this one winds up. I hoping for 1.1 million+

These differences in early year scores highlights the significantly different approach I have for my games compared to the majority of the people getting mega-scores.  I'm very happy with my 257k Y2, yet relatively speaking it is low.  My score builds more consistently over the subsequent years of the game, with gains from year to year being about 70% of the previous year, as compared with the 50% that I see most people  talking about.  I have lesss ships and consequently less military score, but higher scores with at least one of the other components.  That the end result seems to be nearly identical, with mine and CL's 900k games being the best example, its interesting that these different approaches score so similarly.

Sentient species taste better...

Hmmmm. Maybe I should be spending 2 days on the first year instead of 2 days on the entire game........

I just lack the patience for this sort of thing. Maybe I can tweak my particular technique and squeak out a 3-day million-pointer some day. Another map with 10 or 11 military resources should make it possible. I'll have to cozy right up to that 17k ship limit, too, which is another thing I have not done yet.

Snark, you can have a 3 day million pointer game. I just did one. You'll find plenty of clues in the Twilight Pub web page that will help you to do so. <cheesy grin>

I believe this is the all-time high score on TA. I achieved this without building a starbase array. Now I'm going to go back and build a SB array to see what type of overall difference it will make in the score. I'd like to figure out whether the time invested into a SB array in TA is worth it.

Well done CL!  And without an array?  And to top it all off, in 3 days!   

Kay, no matter what the score was...

What is the longest game (date time!) anyone has listed in the Meta?

And, if so... is it a Tech Victory and a 74.5% influence skim?

Scoring compares is fun, but patience and trying to escape simultaneously appearing conditions is where better players get defined, IMHO.

I'm not sure what the longest game would be.  I personally limit mine to 9 years or less. I've seen some in the double digits, but I don't have that kind of patience.

As far as avoiding the influence win, just declare war and you can stop it from happenning until you can gift enough influence bases to keep the countdown from continuing.  Also, with the all x strategy, you can completely stop research at any time.  Just go to 100% social and focus mil.  You'll need to take out any AIs close to the tech victory, but that's not a problem by that time.

Trick of the trades are always good to have, tks.

Maximal scoring may just be a way to "evaluate" performance but if it were my design decisions to make, i'd turn this gameplay into;

1- Somehow, give Peace a chance.

2- Make money counts beyond spending it all on Conquest or Influence or Diplomacy or Ascension or Techno. I've got me a savings account that piles up over years, so should my GC2 treasury for extra-points or an outright Economic winning condition.

3- Tech Victory (but completing ALL techs) should carry a bonus.

Only then, would i seek for a Millionaires list. Since it HAS to be metaverse proofed without cheat flags.

Longest doesn't necessarily equals highest scoring, but that's the point isn't it?

If you hurry in that mil+ result **knowing** there's about one simple reasonable path to obtain it, would you want a second, than a third?

Or stick to the conventional wisdom & principles discovered by, lemme be blunt and direct, exploits?

There is the distinction.

My 250,000 glory of an epic 20 years might be an exemplary demonstration of superb strategy BUT it simply won't rank.

Actually, I don't see score as the ultimate measure of skill.  It's the challenge of obtaining that high score without cheating that drives us in the Metaverse.  Other ways of winning besides military victory are just as valid and the Altmeta recognizes that.  You can compete there with the alternate wins.

In the Altmeta, you can compete based on type of win and galaxy size.  That's the Altmeta.

This being the Metaverse though, score is boss.  In that regard, military victories are the only logical choice for now.

There are a few people who disparage points as something less than valid.  The vast majority of those people simply can't achieve high scores and want to lessen the value of the challenge.  That's just sour grapes and shows nothing but jealousy.  Small mindedness.

Compete for score in the Metaverse.  Compete for win type or galaxy size in the Altmeta.  Compete for mods in the modmeta, if it in fact exists.  but there's no reason to put someone down simply because they can outscore you.

well said Motti

Oh, darn i'm again being misunderstood somehow.

Scoring is a way to measure UP the, let's be clearer, quality of results based on a strict principle designed by SD metaverse keepers of the truth.

I've got nothing against being looked down (Or admired for being better) for not having ranked (yet) as high as anybody could ever perform... that has a cause - modding. Today, as we speak.

Eventually, i might take a whole week off personal life issues but not before my left hand is cured and ready. Playing is fun, but work puts pizzas in the microwave!

I save often, does that count? See, what i'm getting at?

I know that the system works extremely well as it is (alt or meta), but i've skipped the Jagged Knife event once or twice to raise or lower the turn counts.

The result files should keep track of these 'alterations'. And, no, i'm not trying to call anyone Cheaters - far from it.

I simply assume valid gameplay exploits are a sign of intelligence and of common knowledge that progressively raised the bar for the entire community. As such, if the aim is above million points, a registered score *without* any load, re-loads (of any amounts) has a LOT more value than a game session filled with these. Sure, people would be stuck at their PC for hours on end to finish and yet -- 999,999 is still a one shot ride that outscores a few others of a single point more. If only from the HOW than the WHEN the activities were spread. Have a break, take a coffee cup, sleep at night, answer the door bells, watch a hockey game... that sort of things.

Don't forget this is TBS.

You're misunderstood every time you speak, Zyx.

...no comment.

The scoremongers save every turn, or if not that every other, simply because of how long turns can take at that point.

Reloading is another topic entirely but generally since it takes up time to reload it it's not that big of a deal, particularly as the game wears on (and it will have less and less of an effect).

As Mumble, and others, have said-each game has a curve, and once that curve is established (generally in the first 20 turns if not less), it's very hard to make that curve have a higher rate than it does.

So reload to your heart's content. 

My understanding was that most players who have played long enough love the JK event because it lets them take planets without angering the AI.  Personally, I play without megas on because the last 12 games I've played with them on, on a large or larger galaxy, the 5pc/wk speed limit event hits me less than 2 years in.  It hates me.

I feel I've failed to address the point of your post, but that would be easier if I knew what it was. 

lol can I join the thousandnairs club?

Not so, you were deadon sharp on the fact that re-savings can "ease" the decisions process we all must think over; IF the results file has a tag line that states for example from an old XW-game --

<Version>v1.80g Dark Avatar</Version>
        <Years>1</Years>
        <CharacterID>0</CharacterID>
        <GalaxySize>4</GalaxySize>
        <GameID>20080705162138108</GameID>
        <Difficulty>6</Difficulty>
        <Score>12600</Score>
        <EndGameMode>6</EndGameMode>
        <Race name="S-H-A-D-O">12</Race>
        <RaceLogo>F:\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar\Mods\X-Worlds(TC)\Gfx\Race\Logos\Shado_Logo.png</RaceLogo>
        <RaceName>S-H-A-D-O</RaceName>
        <LeaderName>Ed Straker</LeaderName>
        <Weeks>4</Weeks>
        <Months>3</Months>

right HERE... <SaveLoads>68</SaveLoads>

etc.

It would indicate that you restarted every week!

Or, in this particular case;

<Version>v2.01 Dark Avatar</Version>
        <Years>7</Years>
        <CharacterID>0</CharacterID>
        <GalaxySize>5</GalaxySize>
        <GameID>2008122601543806</GameID>
        <Difficulty>6</Difficulty>
        <Score>14960</Score>
        <EndGameMode>4</EndGameMode>
        <Race>0</Race>
        <RaceLogo>G:\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar\Mods\X-Worlds(TC)\Gfx\Race\Logos\X-Com_Logo.png</RaceLogo>
        <RaceName>X-Com</RaceName>
        <LeaderName>Julian Gollop</LeaderName>
        <Weeks>1</Weeks>
        <Months>10</Months>
        <InterfaceColor>-11513776</InterfaceColor>
        <TechTree>0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|20|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38|39|40|41|42|43|44|45|46|47|48|49|50|51|52|53|54|55|56|57|58|59|60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|70|71|72|73|74|75|77|78|79|81|87|88|89|90|91|92|93|95|96|97|98|105|106|107|108|109|110|112|121|122|123|124|125|126|127|128|129|130|131|132|133|134|135|151|152|153|154|155|156|157|158|159|160|162|163|164|165|166|167|168|169|170|174|175|176|177|178|179|180|182|183|184|185|186|187|188|196|197|198|199|200|201|202|203|204|205|206|207|208|209|210|211|212|213|214|216|217|218|219|220|221|222|223|224|225|226|227|228|229|230|231|232|233|234|235|236|237|238|239|240|241|242|243|244|245|246|247|248|249|250|251|252|253|254|255|256|257|258|259|260|261|262|263|264|269|270|271|272|273|274|275|276|277|278|279|280|281|282|283|284|285|286|287|288|289|290|291|292|293|294|295|296|297|298|299|300|301|302|303|304|305|306|307|308|309|310|311|312|313|314|315|316|317|318|319|320|321|322|323|324|325|326|327|328|329|330|331|332|334|335|336|338</TechTree>
        <AbilitiesBonus>109|74|75|35|217|177|80|75|101|162|42|204|50|41|16|15|181|25|0|30|0|0|185|25|0|25|0|0|57|115|0|3|3|3|3|3</AbilitiesBonus>
        <Alignment>50</Alignment>
        <TotalPopulation>972341</TotalPopulation>
        <Campaign>NoCampaign</Campaign>
        <CustomMap>NoCustomMap</CustomMap>
        <Scenario>NoScenario</Scenario>
        <Cheater>0</Cheater>
        <ModName>Generic</ModName>

right here... <SaveLoads>1</SaveLoads> and NOT *405*!!

Okay, but how does that add any benefit?  Again, when the scoremongers get to the point where turns take that long, they save that often.  Some of them don't have that much time in one block, so they happen to reload often.

What difference is there in playing a game without saving once or playing a game while loading your last save 500 times?  Is the person who managed to find enough time to play 8 years in one span before stopping so much as to sleep a better player?  Is the person who has real world responsibilities a worse player?  Hardly.

Time spent playing might be a better measure of what you're trying to measure, although obviously the game would only know this after each turn, so any of the reloadings that you'd actually have a concern about wouldn't exactly be addressed.

This still has the effect of filtering out the scores of those who try to reach the asymptote, but as I understand it, that is partially your goal-just not in such a way that their games are invalidated, but in such a way that everyone else can "compete" with "normal" games.  To which Motti's response (I think it was Motti) of the AltMeta is valid, but not sufficient for your needs.

And for that, all I can suggest is GC3.