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[Salmeuk]

Hey all,

After reviewing this last scoring method I found it to be rather uninspiring, and while some of you might have a round in progress, I am inclined to call Numbercurse complete. At least, until myself or one of you returns to the idea of competition in DF. As it stands, my interest in DF has waned over the course of winter. I plan to make a new thread after a few months have passed, depending on the status of the graphical release. I'll PM people when that happens, especially if you reply here and request to be informed about future competitions. Recon, I'll note those ideas down for a future competition...

Thanks to all who participated, it was quite a bit of fun to see people tackle my strange challenges. And honestly you guys did most of the heavy lifting when it came to theorycrafting. If you happened to be playing the final scoring round, feel free to post your exploits, otherwise,

           the curse has been lifted. Begone, minion of the dark witch! To hell with you!

[Salmeuk]

so I reviewed the various "goals" for each round of Numbercurse.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Highest Number of Metal Statues of the dwarven god of death, Vesh. Any metal is acceptable, but there is one caveat: I will only count constructed statues! So not only do you need to produce these metals, and form them into statues, but you must also make space to display them.

2.Brew as much booze as possible, of any variety or quality stored in barrels or pots as you see fit, and stock these barrels in a single, gigantic vault. No quantum stockpiles will be counted, nor will booze barrels left in workshops or scattered amongst the hallways and crevices of your fortress. Only those barrels* part of the singular BOOZE VAULT stockpile** will be counted at the end of the year.

3.The top 3 most valuable individual items in your fortress, excluding artifacts, will be totalled for a final combined value. These 3 items must be each placed on separate pedestals, but it's up to you where and how you arrange them. The total value will be your score. You will specify which items you want me to tally at the end. These must be single items, so no stacks of ammo or masterwork prepared meals. Again, no artifacts, and I will also exclude traded divine materials. Only the hard work of your dwarves and your careful micromanagement will bring about victory.

4.With goblins at the gates, it's time to arm our non-existent militia! Variety will be key. Create as many weapons of as many kinds as possible. Axes, swords, crossbows, you name it, all will count towards victory. Each player who makes the most of any given weapon type will earn 1 point. All points earned will be totalled, and the player with the most won categories will be declared victor! In case of a tie for category, points will be awarded to both players. In case of a tie for overall winner, the highest weapon count from any category will act as a tiebreaker.

5. Train and craft, forge and grow! The overseer who controls the highest number of legendary dwarves at the end of the year will be announced winner! If a citizen dwarf possesses ANY skill that has reached 'Legendary' they are considered to be a single point. In the case of a tie, any dwarf possessing TWO or MORE legendary skills will be counted as additional points.

6. Undead Zoo! Vesh's demon has whispered in your ear - variety is the spice of Death! Each unique 'species' of caged undead creature is worth a point at the end of the year. (clarification below). High score wins, ties are unlikely and will be dealt with in a democratic fashion. (no one actually participated in this challenge)

So. All in all, the most successful goals were simple ones, like "produce or collect the MOST of something". Training legendaries resulted in hundreds of pump operators... the more complex ones were kind of silly I admit.

One possibility for a potential "Numbercurse 2" would be to use a perchance generator to produce the goals for each round.

So - if anyone is reading this post and might consider joining a similar competitive DF succession game, or would enjoy seeing it happen, chime in and we can plan further details.

[delphonso]

Aye, there's something to simplicity - in my own ruminations on how I'd run it, I kept going back to simpler and simpler challenges (i.e., "improve the fort's military" -> "fastest to train a legendary fighter" -> "whoever gets the dwarf with the highest kill-count wins"). Ideally, the challenge itself should be simple, to allow multiple ways to accomplish that goal, which is where the fun and variety comes in. Switching between "fastest to do X" and "most X by the end of the year" is a good way to change things up as well.

Previous rounds should be taken into account. The weapon-smithing round is one that sticks out in my memory. It was tough but fun, but was pretty same-y because the Vesh statue round had already setup magma smelters (and meltable statues nearby).

Likewise, how easy it is for the players to check their progress is important. The new happiness bar (like the DFHack happiness bar) is a great example. A round where the goal is to make as many dwarves blissed out as possible is easy to keep track of, because the info is always on the screen. The booze round benefited from this slightly as well.

Also, just for playability sake - I think there should be some sort of housekeeping round every once in a while (either done by the gamemaster, or done as an actual round) just to clean up the FPS, the happiness, provide food, etc.

Either way, I'm very happy to run a Numbercurse 2 - even with a new host of players.