Couple of days ago I was checking this tread and wondered where is the Spymaster the great Gerakken??? 
| |
|
He has been under cover for way to long...we need a visit from the Spymaster
         
| |
|
These deep cover ops are gettin' ridiculous!
    
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Great to see you Spymaster!!
| |
|
Time to bring the beer, cheers!!!!  
| |
|
|
|
#108
by Veteran Gerakken - 2/11/2004 3:16:17 PM
Gerakken calls his two loyal Yor espionage droids to his side. "Fog, Shadow, I know that huge backlogs of old empire data and the Euro security system nearly drove you batty and ate up a lot of processor time, but I am not even caught up with half the empires I need to be! Who knows what the unspied ones are plotting. This is a dangerous situation! OK, we go back to the basics. We have recent files on the 100 most dangerous overlords. Track them and they will lead us to their associates. Then we finish rebuilding the imperial intelligence files from there."
It has been a while, so for the newer folks here, the rules of Gerakken's difficulty system are simple: the last three winning games in a player record are assigned a numeric value, averaged and rounded to the nearest whole number to get a snapshot of what levels people are playing right now. It is a linear scale where cakewalk games count as 1 point all the way up to the now fully functional suicidal level counting for 11 each. A record whose last three wins were on challenging, painful, and crippling levels would turn into 6, 8, and 9 points. 6+8+9=25, divided by three yields 8.33, which rounds to 8. 8 rates this player's current level as Painful. The current rundown:
Top 25 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 2
Painful : 0
Crippling : 0
Masochistic:20
Suicidal : 3
Toughness : 9.88. Still brutal at the top.
Top 50 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 3
Painful : 0
Crippling : 2
Masochistic:42
Suididal : 3
Toughness : 9.84. And almost equally nasty here as well.
Top 100 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 5
Tough : 6
Painful : 2
Crippling :16
Masochistic:68
Suicidal : 3
Toughness : 9.45
The addition of the suicidal level has spiced things up a little bit. Maso was once the extreme and it slowly became the norm. Back in the old days, the Maso Honor Roll listed brave souls who took the challenge, but as maso became routine, the award lost its old meaning. Suicidal level deserves its own reward, at least until it too becomes more the norm than the exception. I now present the current Suicide Squad, players who are thriving on the new level:
The Suicide Squad: Aarberg, Arkdoz, and Jaws the Wayfarer.
Orphans: 21 out of 100 are without empires. More top 100 players in empires now than in recent history, true, but still plenty of independents out there.
Until next time, folks. Time for me to slip back into the shadows.
    
| |
|
Hmmm...just d/l AP so I might try to get in the Suicide Squad... 
| |
|
|
|
How do I change the difficulty level? I cannot find it in the manual or figure it out form the screen
| |
|
Difficulty level is determined by the AI intelligence. If you increase their intelligence you will increase the level (you may have to change more than one AI's intelligence to increase the level). If you take them all to Incredible, you will have the highest masochistic level (or Obscene, if you have the Altarian Prophecies beta by being a member of Drengin.net).
| |
|
#113
by Veteran Gerakken - 2/29/2004 4:47:35 PM
The mightiest empires of the Meta are about to clash in the Clone Wars throughout the month of March, but who says anyone has been waiting until March to get the party started! The most active imperial overlords and orphans alike are already starting to raise the stakes with version 1.2 and AP. The magic 10 difficulty has been broken not only for the top 25, but for the top 50 as well.
Top 25 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 0
Painful : 0
Crippling : 0
Masochistic:21
Suicidal : 4
Toughness : 10.16. Danger area! The last of the non-maso holdouts have been driven away.
Top 50 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 1
Painful : 0
Crippling : 2
Masochistic:37
Suididal :10
Toughness :10.10. Like last report, the difference in the top 25 and top 50 is slight.
Top 100 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 5
Tough : 4
Painful : 8
Crippling : 9
Masochistic:63
Suicidal :11
Toughness : 9.54
Counting the suicidal players in the same class as maso players, the top 100 of the Meta has only 26 non-masos left. The species is extinct in the top 25 and highly endangered in the top 50. But despite the maso/suicidal supremecy over the top 25, the Spymaster will continue to cover the top 25 as a separate caetgory until the suicidal players destroy too much maso habitat and drive almost all of them into the lower pages of the rankings as well.
The Suicide Squad: Arkdoz, Bam_Bam, Damon Bryson, Exar Kuun, Jaws the Wayfarer, KitWarrior, Paguma, Primipilus Alexus, Primus Ordines Aaberg, Spellforce, and Technician.
Orphans: Holding steady at 21.
Between new version mania and some players undergoing a Galciv version of rigorous training and carb loading to prepare for the Clone Wars marathon, it has been an interesting two and a half weeks since the last report. I think the Clone Wars are only going to make it more interesting. Until next time, the Spymaster will be watching.
| |
|
#114
by Veteran Gerakken - 3/8/2004 2:00:06 PM
The Clone Wars are in full swing, and here is the promised update:
Top 25 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 0
Painful : 0
Crippling : 0
Masochistic:20
Suicidal : 5
Toughness : 10.2, they are definitely playing for keeps up here.
Top 50 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 0
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 0
Tough : 0
Painful : 0
Crippling : 2
Masochistic:39
Suididal : 9
Toughness :10.14. Still two anti-maso holdouts.
Top 100 Players
Cakewalk : 0
Easy : 1
Simple : 0
Beginner : 0
Normal : 0
Challenging: 4
Tough : 3
Painful : 3
Crippling :13
Masochistic:65
Suicidal :11
Toughness : 9.59
The Suicide Squad: Arkdoz, Bakka, Bam_Bam, Damon Bryson, Exar Kuun, Jaws the Wayfarer, KitWarrior, Master of Darkness, Primipilus Alexus, Primus Ordines Aaberg, Theoden of Rohan.
Orphans: 19.
| |
|
Should be noted that the Suicide level has been removed from the last AP beta.
  
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks Gerraken for documenting the changes. Playing maso used to be considered a "big deal" but now it is expected of the top players. Times have changed and so has the metaverse 
| |
|
|
|
Are you playing the most updated version?
  
| |
|
#122
by Citizen Dracil - 4/19/2004 12:59:35 AM
Um, see the version I posted. If there's a newer version than that, by all means, tell me where to get it.
[Message Edited]
| |
|
The newest version through Stardock Central is 1.49[M]003. To have AP, you should have it somewhere on your hard drive. Load it up, and DL the update. Yell if you need more help.
| |
|
#124
by Citizen Dracil - 4/19/2004 1:44:36 AM
Ooh, whoops. I meant to write, I have 1.49M[b].003 That's the version that shows up on Stardock, and that's what I downloaded on Friday (played, and finished Saturday). So it would appear I do have the latest version... unless it's supposed to be 1.49M[M].003.
| |
|
|
|
|
