Experimental "serious" FFA-games

[smursh]

Luck always should be a factor in games, otherwise it becomes stale with better players automatically beating weaker players. And even if one or two players get an advantage because the player next to them resigns or has a horrible start there is nothing preventing the rest of the field from allying against them. In short FFA tends to be won by the player who most skillfully sets up alliances to give themselves an edge.

[KGB]

Luck always should be a factor in games, otherwise it becomes stale with better players automatically beating weaker players. And even if one or two players get an advantage because the player next to them resigns or has a horrible start there is nothing preventing the rest of the field from allying against them. In short FFA tends to be won by the player who most skillfully sets up alliances to give themselves an edge.

Except the most important bit of luck in FFA games tends to be who is next to someone who resigns. I've been in 8 player games where 2 players resign and one player happens to be next to both of them so they get a double benefit.

Also ganging up on other players is only possible in non-ladder FFA games. In ladder games there is no way to know who managed to benefit because all stats are hidden (never understood why that was implemented) so it's all but impossible to organize an alliance until it's far too late.

If everyone is against doubling or tripling the number of starting units then another option is to change the resign feature so that the AI takes control of the side rather than all cities/armies changing to neutral. The AI may not be great but at least it will prevent easy claiming of neutrals.

KGB

[Qube]

Luck always should be a factor in games, otherwise it becomes stale with better players automatically beating weaker players.

Beefing up the starting units will not remove all luck from this game. Battle results, hero offers, ruin contents, the game has layer upon layer of RNG.

[smursh]

Except the most important bit of luck in FFA games tends to be who is next to someone who resigns. I've been in 8 player games where 2 players resign and one player happens to be next to both of them so they get a double benefit.

Also ganging up on other players is only possible in non-ladder FFA games. In ladder games there is no way to know who managed to benefit because all stats are hidden (never understood why that was implemented) so it's all but impossible to organize an alliance until it's far too late.



KGB

Might make more sense in FFA ladder to have city stat function available. I would still have units and gold hidden but at least you will see if somebody has benefited from players quitting early by how many cities they have. Maybe this lasts for first 15-20 turns.