From jjweston@kenny.sir-toby.com Fri Jul 26 17:35:09 2002 Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 06:14:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Sir Toby To: Kerim Aydin Cc: Ian Kelly , raganok@intrex.net, ke3om@earthlink.net, taral@taral.net Subject: Re: Agora: Life Contest - Mid Week Update On Wed, 15 May 2002, Kerim Aydin wrote: > Sir Toby, can you give an "semi-official" policy on how often you'll send > out updates? Knowing that an update will/won't come before the next week > will affect strategy (see below for suggested change). Without any regulations specifying this, I was trying to do it immediately after every request to purchase control of cells was made. However, my schedule doesn't always give me a predictable amount of free time at predictable intervals, it pretty much boiled down to whenever I got around to it. I realize the timing of these notices is critical to the strategy involved. I will hold off on any further contest updates until the next round is run, unless the regulations change in such a way to require me to do otherwise. > I'm not 100% keen on Craig's suggestion yet, just because it would be fun > to see how "original" life plays out for a few rounds. I agree with this sentiment. Just to make things a little clearer on my policy of consenting or not-consenting to regulation changes as Contestmaster. Just because I consent to a change doesn't neccessarily mean I like the change. I will consent to ALL changes that are easy to implement on my end. I leave it to the players to decide which suggestions they want or don't want. > However, I have a suggestion of my own. It's pretty critical to know when > updates will be sent out---whether I wait to play or not depends on > whether I know Sir Toby will update the map before the next Round. I > propose to formalize it thus (rough draft): > > New Rule: The Contestmaster will publish the map once after each run, > with the map showing the map immediately before and > after the run. The contestmaster will not otherwise > publish the map. Some minor suggestions. "Map" should be "Life Grid". Instead of "before and after the run", perhaps, "before and after each Round is run." Also, since one Round may include many generations, you may want to permit me to publish the Life Grid after each generation as well. Since running a generation may involve some random determinations, the players may be curious to see how each generation turns out. > The other suggestion is to resolve conflicts in timing. There are bound > to be certain key spots where several players may wish to play. Rather > than "first one gets it" I propose the following simultaneous mechanism > (modelled on Diplomacy): > > 1. Between runs, Players may state intent to spend up to their current > holdings in Ooze buying squares. They may intend to spend more than > one Ooze on a single square. > 2. Immmediately before running the model, the Player who spent the > most for each given square actually gets it (and is considered to > have paid the Ooze). Ties "bounce" and no one gets it. > > Thoughts? Again, some minor suggestions. "Runs" should be "Rounds". Might want to spell out the full name of Ooze, as it appears elsewhere in the regulations. "Squares" should be "Cells". "The model" should be "a Round". #1 should probably be an amendment to regulation 16. #2 should probably be an amendment to regulation 21. Might want to clarify exactly when transfer of Ooze take place. Do they occur when the transfer of the control of a Cell actually occurs, or when the request is made? When a tie occurs and "bounces", do the contestants still have to pay? If two or more contestants pay for a cell and one contestant wins, do the others also pay? -- Jeff Weston (Sir Toby) "If you insist, I will post a number so large that it will be a waste of your time to download it." -- Craig, in agora-discussion