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Would you be up for this?

Hot damn, sign me up!
- 1 (7.7%)
Meh, sounds okay but I'll pass
- 6 (46.2%)
What is this I don't even
- 6 (46.2%)

Total Members Voted: 13


Author Topic: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]  (Read 2321 times)

ed boy

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Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« on: June 12, 2012, 07:26:57 am »

This is an interest check for some DF speed challenges. This is speed in the sense of in-game time, not real time. The challenges would normally involve constructing something. The goals would be clearly defined. A typical challenge cycle would be as such:

-A challenge is announced and the requirements defined
-There is a period of time (a week? more? less?) that people have to complete the challenge
-Competitors submit a copy of their embark save, their finished save and seasonal autosaves, ideally with comments on each season
-At the end of the time period, the person who did it in the shortest in-game time is declared the winner
-The next challenge is released

The rules of competing are as such:
-No raw editing or using programs like DFHack
-The most recent version of DF at the time of announcing the challenge must be used
-Temperature, Weather, Invaders, Cave-ins and Artifacts must be enabled
-If you suspect someone of cheating in at least one segment, then point out such a segment. I will try to reproduce the next season's save. If I can't (within experimental error), then I will declare the submission invalid. This can be appealed.
-The person who can achieve the goal in the least in-game time with a valid entry is the winner

So how do people feel about this? What's interest like? Any further suggestions/problems?
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Z1000000m

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2012, 09:15:32 am »

Giving people the ability to do the challanges in their own worlds will make it imbalanced because of random agility of starting 7.
You can also avoid the problem of random agility migrant by giving a save thats several years old, with fully capped migrants.
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luppolo

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2012, 09:32:05 am »

first challenge will be who will 300 spearmasters equipped with only masterful iron spears and red mantles first
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Tharwen

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2012, 09:38:13 am »

Giving people the ability to do the challanges in their own worlds will make it imbalanced because of random agility of starting 7.
You can also avoid the problem of random agility migrant by giving a save thats several years old, with fully capped migrants.

That's pretty negligible in the length of an entire game. The embark location is more likely to make a difference than any of that.
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ed boy

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2012, 09:42:40 am »

If the starting seven is such a concern, it is a possibility to provide people with a freshly-embarked save and let them carry on form there, but I'd rather let them have the choice of what to bring.
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khearn

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2012, 01:10:53 pm »

I was thinking of doing something similar, only as a form of research. I was going to put out an embark and challenge people to have a functional set of magma shops (smelter, glass, clay & forge) within 10 z-levels of the surface in minimal time, using one of three techniques: pump stack, magma piston, or minecarts. I wanted to use it to see which method of elevating magma is fastest. But I'm pretty sure it's minecarts, since you can actually transport magma in one without building tracks. Maybe the challenge could require that the minecarts actually travel over tracks the whole way.
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Tharwen

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2012, 01:14:35 pm »

If the starting seven is such a concern, it is a possibility to provide people with a freshly-embarked save and let them carry on form there, but I'd rather let them have the choice of what to bring.

Were you planning to make everyone use the same embark location?

I think it would be good to let players choose areas suitable for the challenge in question.
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Sutremaine

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2012, 02:28:45 pm »

If the starting seven is such a concern, it is a possibility to provide people with a freshly-embarked save and let them carry on form there, but I'd rather let them have the choice of what to bring.
Minimalist embark. Seven dwarves, two animals, one wagon, one anvil, and one lump of weapon-grade ore.
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caddybear

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2012, 02:44:55 pm »

I'm interested in seeing what people come up with.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Dwarf fortress speed challenges? [Interest check]
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2012, 03:14:08 pm »

So... Any challengers?