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There has been a traditional argument back and forth between North America and Europe on the issue of scoring systems. Much of it revolves around the perception that most North American tournaments are Draw Based systems where as the Europeans (outside of UK) are center lead oriented (C-Diplo) systems. The following is a summary of the North American systems which seems to establish that there is no uniform anything or consistency in methodology or administration throughout the continent. Definitions:All scoring systems have a "win" rated better than any other result, but what happens in a game that is not won? This is the issue....
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Three North American tournaments have no voting other than to just end the game as is: Conquest, GenCon, and KublaCon. Four or five other tournaments have voting systems that have votes based on centers owned and allow for minor powers to be voted out of a draw or game conclusion: Origins, Tempest, WBC, Prez Con, and Carnage. Conversely, one event has a vote system where you cannot vote yourself out of a draw or game conclusion: ARMADA.
Open balloting (show of hands) has been used as well as secret voting. Though the trend seems to be in favor of secret voting, there are changes back and forth.
Several Cons have limits on the minimum number of centers needed to receive a concession vote: WBC (15) and Origins (13). Due to being center count influenced victory by concession is worth LESS to the winner in systems such as DixieCon; as well as substantially more valuable to the non winning players such as in GenCon.
No Limits: Four systems (DixieCon, Origins, Tempest and WBC) use no time limits on rounds other than the last round. Origins is unique in that all rounds are Night rounds starting at 6PM.
Central vs Board Time: Central Time, where all games go at the same time is used consistently at ARMADA, PiggyBack and Dragonflight; it is being introduced at Boston Massacre. Most other systems allow each board to handle their own time.
Short time: Shortest time for a round is 4 hours at GenCon.
Drop Dead vs Split Time: Drop Dead is a system in which the clock runs continuously with negotiations, order writing and adjudication all combined to make one limit and failure to get orders in at the time of the bell is a disaster. Split Time is when there is a separate time for negotiations and then order writing and then adjudication. Drop Dead is used at three: ARMADA, Dragonflight and PiggyBack and is becoming experimented with elsewhere inconsistently. ARMADA has recently introduced the idea of a single use ‘Grace Time’ where a player can call for 60 seconds once a game to complete his orders.
Interim results/rankings are publicly posted at Dragonflight and Conquest (Irregular).
Seeding of the players initially in the first round is done at Conquest, Dragonflight, KublaCon. Dragonflight uses a ‘Swiss Pairing’ of the first round from NADF scores. In subsequent rounds at Conquest and KublaCon the game boards will be seeded by novice and experienced players if there is enough raw newbies to be isolated on their own board. At Dragonflight after the first round there is complex seeding method using a break into two scoring groups, then three, then four. Scores, by rating order, the middle of each group unassigned in that group is moved toward the middle. It is available from Buz Eddy on request.
Conquest and KublaCon have 5 tournament points bonus assigned to all newbies who attend the mentor round and then go on to play in the tournament. Further all newbies are identified and are allowed to make one mistake of every type in each game and be forgiven/corrected. It is therefore that during order reading all the newbies are read first to cut down on ‘contamination’ of meanings by prior results.
Country assignments are not initially random at two: Conquest and Kubla Con where newbies are given France/Turkey if two present and if three present then France, England and Germany in their first game.
In two cons, the board is divided into an East-Center and West region and a player plays one country in each region in each of the first three rounds and not the same country twice: PiggyBack and ARMADA
In ten you are not suppose to play the same country twice: ARMADA, Conquest, DixieCon, Dragonflight, KublaCon, Origins, PiggyBack, Tempest, WBC, and Carnage.
There was some experiment in the East West divide so that players would always play at least one round in the East ( I-A-R-T) and one in the West (E-F-G) but the administrative support for that is mostly computer oriented and those people have graduated to the East-Central-West system.
Dragonflight uses a ‘Wheeled sequence’ system: - normal progression: E-I-R-T-G-F-A. If two or more players are up for the same country its usual to skip two forward (T&G consider one for this). Other adjustments as needed to minimize playing the same country twice.
In two events there can be games with less than seven players counted: Conquest and KublaCon. In some there is a formalized method where local players are knocked out to make the 7 player boards: DixieCon and Victoria. There has been experimentation with players playing double positions but nothing has reached a formal entry into anyone’s house rules on the issue.
There is a great deal of diverse approaches to badly written orders from very strict to very forgiving. Two have a formalized guideline that specifies that all newbies are allowed one of every type of mistake per game while veterans are given no mercy: Conquest and KublaCon
Smallest number of rounds is 3 and largest is 6 (GenCon) so far.
Conquest, KublaCon and Origins count best two out of three rounds. ARMADA counts best three out of four rounds while GenCon has four preliminary rounds then, one intermediate and one final round.
WBC does not recognize 6 and 7 way draws. Calgary is similar but does not allow 5-6-7 way draws. Conquest and KublaCon have no Draw concept at all.
Origins (and sometimes PrezCon) operate on an unknown detailed scoring system that is described in vague terms by the TD (see below) designed to avoid players trying to pin point their scores in the course of play.
Dragonflight has a hidden tie breaker that is vaguely related at times to the countries actually played. Conversely, Conquest and KublaCon decide ties on the player that travels further or in favor of newcomers (varies from year to year). ARMADA uses a count back system related to centers.
There is no consistent agreement on the value of a win versus a combination of other results. In Dixie Con two 3 ways each with 11 centers are worth more than a18 center win and an elimination. In Aramada, two -three ways are better than a win and an elimination, in Dragonflight a win is better than two 2 ways or three 3 ways. In WBC a win is worth four - 3 ways, in Tempest a win can be worth more than three -3 ways if there is a survivor not taking part in the draw.
Seems that in a game that is won by someone else compared to results of a 4 way or more draw that in both GenCon and DixieCon the second place player can come out ahead so that at both it is in your interest NOT to stop a win if you have a large center count and there are a lot of players surviving.
Very few of the tournaments have a team round. Typically: ARMADA, Dixiecon and WBC. The sizes of the teams have varied from 3 to 7. WBC has a unique tradition in that during the Team Round cross game alliances are allowed and it is not uncommon to see a Team Captain come over to tell a team mate to attack some other team on his board because of something elsewhere going on.
Variants are played outside of the tournament. Classic Gunboat is popular at WBC, Boom Gunboat (game ends in Fall 01 with nuclear weapons = black hole makers) is popular as a midnight game at Dragonflight. Conquest and KublaCon always have Escalation games going on. Colonial use to be played at WBC but has faded out.
ARMADA 104 points to a single victor
80 points to a participant in a two-way draw
56 points to a participant in a three-way draw
40 points to a participant in a four-way draw
32 points to a participant in a five-way draw
24 points to a participant in a six-way draw
16 points to a participant in a seven-way draw
0 points to a player achieving any other result
The above is LESS a number typically from 5-14 points based on what year the game ended in for winners or draw people. For survivors and eliminated then they get typically between 2 and 14 points for the effort.
Best 3 out 4 rounds count in sum of the points
Boston Massacre If you survive to 1905 then you get a point (whether you're eliminated later or not).
If you are in the draw at the end of the game then you get a point. You get a point for every supply center you own.
If you are in the outright lead then you get a bonus of the difference between you and the next best player.
If you are first on the board you get 4 bonus points, if you are second you get 3 bonus points, if you are third you get 2 bonus points, if you're fourth you get 1 bonus point. (If there's a tie you get the points for the lower position -ie equal 2nd both get 2 bonus points.)
You add each person's points to get a raw score. The next step is to standardize the game. Divide each person's raw score with the sum of all the raw scores and then multiply by 100. This generates a percentage for everyone. So an entire game is worth 100 points and how much of those points that each person gets is determined points 1-5.
If you solo you get 110 points and everyone else gets *nothing*.
Calgary Each board will be given the opportunity to come to a consensus for the outcome Otherwise, the game will be adjudicated with the basic rule being: Win: You must control at least 12 supply centres and at least 3 more than any opponent.
Draw: As few people as possible, that control over half the board, and each member has at least 3 more supply centres than anyone not in the draw. The largest allowable draw is a 4-way draw.
12 points are divided equally among all members of the draw (12 points for a solo victory).
Your final supply center total is added to this score (whether in the draw or not).
Conquest and KublaCon Win is 34 points all others are –0-
Non won games:
- 1 point per center
- 1 point for surviving past 05
- 2 points for each dead position (including civil disorder)
- 2 points per center difference bonus to leader compared to next position
- 5 points for newbie in first game if they attended the mentor round maximum points 27
Best 2 scores count.
Dragonflight Win is 61 points all others zero.
Others divide 60 points equally between survivors.
Fraction point add “to the right of the decimal point”.
For tie breaking purposes there is a decimal computation composed of the strength of the countries played using the NADF results for all countries (more for Italy and less for England) as well as the value of the opposition on the board using again the NADF scores of the players. The total of these point is limited to .24 so that over four rounds the maximum impact is .96 of a point.
DixieCon Win 270 points
2nd place: 70 points
3rd place: 50 points
4th place: 34 points
5th place: 20 points
6th place: 10 points
7th place: 0 pointsPlus 4 points a center. Including centers in a win.
Draws and ties for position split the points for places involved. Example: two people are eliminated in the same year and share 5th and 6th place. They each get 10 + 20 = 30/2 = 15 points. If they had survived the game with one center, they'd get 19 points each (15 points as above plus 4 points for the center).
Draws work the same way. A 4-way scores as 270+70+50+34 = 424/4 = 106 points each plus centers. For a 17-10-4-3 draw, this would be 174-146 - 122-118.
Examples in a scores:
- Win with 18 centers = 342
- Second place with 16 centers = 134
- Three way with 1 center = 134
- Four way with 7 centers = 134
- Five way with 11 centers = 132.8
GenCon Two preliminary rounds with the best 2 center count for each country going to an Intermediate round. The best for each country is then placed in a top board again based on supply center count. The winner is the player on the top board that has the most centers. Games are typically played in 4 hour convention blocks with fixed endings in real time, but each board goes at its own pace. No votes, no draws, if countries are eliminated the last elimination goes to the next round.
Origins Origins is a combo of Draw and Lead. There is no time limit, rounds are Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings 6 PM. Voting is secret. 30 centers can pass a draw vote; a concession must be unanimous to the largest power of at least 13 centers. Results of earlier rounds are not posted. There is no top board or seeding. Country assignment is random, with each country played only once by a player during the tournament. Best 2 out of 3 rounds count for scoring.
Scoring recognizes results, centers, longevity, and a comparison of size relative to the other players. This is intended to encourage players to 'stick it out' in order to get a few more points, rather than just giving up. It also encourages players to kill, in order to get more dots for themselves for points and size comparisons. It discourages giving 'gifts' to other players because you are penalized in less dots and smaller size. Overall, I think it encourages all players to play their very best until they are either killed or have a victory. I think it also helps minimize cross-board and cross-round playing, a little.
It is very difficult to know exactly how many centers you need to get a best country, for example, unless you know what the dot count for each year was, on every other board. And with no time limit, players can play the game more like it was designed. Play your best, and the scoring system will reflect it.
PiggyBack Society Solo: 80 points plus all sc’s (will not be 18 if it is a voted solo)
2way: 35 points plus all sc’s
3way: 20 points plus all sc’s
4way: 12 points plus all sc’s
5way: 7 points plus all sc’s
6way: 4 points plus all sc’s
7way: 2 points plus all sc’s
Surviving Solo/Draw: 1 plus sc’s
Elimination: 1 point
Topping a Board in a Draw: 5 additional points
Tempest Solo 150 points
Non-solo results: Take the 150 points subtract the centers of the non drawing survivors.
Divide the remaining points equally amongst the drawing.
Victoria Solo 125 pts
2-way 100 pts
3-way 85 pts
4-way 60 pts
5-way 30 pts
6-way 15 pts
7-way 1 pts - Plus 1 pt for each supply center at the time of the draw or solo that ends in victory conditions.
WBC SCORING:
- Supply Center Points: Each player receives one point for each supply center owned when the game ends. A solo win via concession will receive credit for 18 centers although the player may have as few as 15 centers (see section #5 below).
- Bonus Points: Each player will receive bonus points based on his participation in a win or draw, as follows:
- Win - 46 Points
- 2-way Draw - 22 Points
- 3-way Draw - 10 Points
- 4-way Draw - 4 Points
- 5-way Draw - l Point
- 6 or 7-way draws- Zero
- Tie Breaker: In the case of a tie, we will calculate the involved players' average number of supply centers per game year. The player with the highest average wins the tie.
- Game Ending Negotiations - Draws include all survivors. Players may vote themselves out of a draw if they wish.
- Concessions: - A game may be conceded only to the player with the most supply centers on the board - 15 centers minimum. A concession vote must be unanimous of all active players (positions in CD are not considered active).
- Victory Criteria: We will be using a victory criteria of 18 supply centers at the end of the Fall adjustment phase. Or players may vote an unanimous concession per section #5 above.
- Reporting of Results: The Tournament Director will not comment on nor make public the results of each game and round until the awards are given out at the end of the Tournament. It is common and unpreventable for players to disseminate information, both true and false, on game results. Off board manipulation is traditionally part of the BPA experience.
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