I have seen some very high scores with v1.05. One was in the 20,000 range. I have managed as high as 8000. How are people doing this ?
          
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Mysteries of scoring revealed:Here is how the system generally works now:
Difficulty Level:
The base score is based on the intelligence of the various computer players. This makes up the vast majority of the score. There is a slight bonus for playing as the opposite alignment as most of the players for most of the game. It looks at each turn and then looks at how much you are different each turn. But it's a relatively small adustment.
Galaxy Size:
There is a moderate adjustment based on galaxy size. But not much. Gigantic galaxy vs. tiny will be about a 3 to 1 difference in scores if all variables are the same.
Population:
Population is looked at but its value decreases as the game progresses. It is Population P / Turns N ^2. You're actually better off having a pretty good population earlier than having a huge population later and sitting on it. You're not penalized for having long games though, you simply don't get additional points at a certain point. That said, population is a relatively minor part of the scoring. It also takes into account what percentage of the total galactic population you have that turn. That is, your score is then modified by 100% - your percent of the population. So if you have 90% of the galactic population, you're only going to get 10% of the population score that turn.
Technology:
What percentage of the technology tree you have acheived and how fast you get it are added in. A fairly modest bonus but it's still lookeda t.
Economics, Trade Goods, Wonders, etc.
These other things are looked at and a few points added. They won't make that big of a difference (on a 15,000 point score they may add a few hundred points total).
Victory Condition:
Then the victory condition is looked at. The score is multiplied by it. Conquest = 10. Alliance =9. Culture = 8. Technology Victory = 7 (bear in mind that this is partially made up for by having a higher percent of the tech tree completed bonus).
Notes:
You're best scoring scenario is to win but not win too quickly. The system is designed to appeal to the mass majority of players, not the top 10 players. As a result, we want to create a system that rewards people for playing the game as it was designed to be played. That means your best bang for the buck will be games that are medium in length. You get serious diminishing returns. Sitting on 90% of the galaxy for turn after turn is not going to net you more points. You're not penalized either but you're not rewarded for having a huge population if you've got the game wrapped up. On the other hand, win the game in say year 3 due to some specific strategy won't net very good scores because you haven't had time to build up other parts to get multiplied by.
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So try playing on a bigger map size for starters, Bradley.
  
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Thanks for your help, I am limited to medium size maps because my computer is a P3-600. Any size larger the game bogs down too much. I will be upgrading soon, but Galciv runs just fine on it now.
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Why isn't there a score difference for Painful vs. Crippling? (or much of one)
I normally play Medium size galaxies... and my last crippling game scored lower than my regular Painfuls....
I'm sticking with painfuls for awhile, there's more small ship combat.
  
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#6
by Diplomat TheoLeo - 6/28/2003 5:55:48 PM
I agree about "Sitting on 90% of the galaxy for turn after turn is not going to net you more points" but what else can I do?
In my current huge game, I am trying for an Alliance or cultural victory and I cant get it:
It just me, Torians and Altarians. The 3 evil majors and all minors are gone. My morality is 100. The other 2 are Intelligent Good/chaotic good. The Torians and Alterians are allied and I am allied with the Torians. For some reason, I cant get the Altarians past warm or friendly. I tried giving gold or a tech every few turns. Its been 24 months! I am ranked 1 in galaxy. Why wont the Altarians ally?
A cultrual victory is 85% completed and an Alliance is 1 treaty away.
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#7
by Citizen Franco fx - 6/28/2003 11:10:16 PM
A pure good decision on a random event would probably bring the Altarians around but I guess the random events are scarce in the late game. You can also BN them at the council meetings.
You will doubtless win a cultural victory but it is tedious doing it.
 
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#8
by Diplomat TheoLeo - 6/29/2003 7:16:10 AM
"A pure good decision on a random event" wont get my morality past 100, I tried. Its seen morality cant go below zero or above 100. (I've been at both extremes)
I ignored the Altarians for 6 months and they are netural to me 
It look like its gonna be a long boring game for a culture/tech win as I am now a Saint and should not war with the good guys.
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Actually, I still haven't figured out the Military score. It doesn't seem to be based on actual combat because you could get a decent score by playing a peaceful game.
Eldin, are you rather certain that it is based on military standing strength?
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I know that Metaverse isn't the first priority for the Devs, but the scores seems screwy.
I can play a Medium size game at Painful without too much trouble. I'd say medium difficulty.
I get 8-11k.
A Crippling game on a medium map is VERY HARD for me.
Eventually I come back and win.
My crippling scores are usually LOWER than my Painful scores. I believe it's cause the AI beats me to trade goods and wonders all the time...
(Do you get points if you buy a trade good)???
I think the crippling games should score alot better, regardless of wonders.
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It is all a matter of perspective, Miguel.
Inherently, most of us associate a competition with the perspective that the most skilful player gets to be on top. However, this may not necessarily be the case for the Metaverse. The Metaverse scoring system was designed by Stardock to reward Galcivers for playing the game as it was designed to be played.
So empire building (pop, econ, tech) contributes to the score and is unfortunately disproportionately large in the 1.05.071, thus frequently negating the score bonuses from playing at a harder difficulty level.
As has been pointed out, it is much easier to build a great empire by playing the easier levels.
I don't think that was the intention by Stardock as Brad had described to us a scoring end state where harder difficulty levels would get a distinctly higher score (ie huge difficulty weightage) but the implementated scoring just didn't turn out as planned.
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Well I'm glad I don't care that much about the Metaverse scores (hey, I was happy when I broke 25)...
I played some games on painful just 'cause I knew they would score better than crippling.
Crippling is more fun, that's where I stay.
I can't even imagine how you guys play Maso.
I know how the late-blooming Minor Civs feel, when they enter a world completely dominated by others and their doom is just months away - that's me on Maso.
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Yeah, Maso is more chore than fun for me most of the time. So I alternating between between Crippling and Maso but not really enjoying either. Like I posted before, I would love an intermediate level.
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As you can see in earlier post, the official multiplier is techx7, culturalx8, alliancex9 and militaryx10.
But like your experiment showed, the difference seems a whole lot more.
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You should be able to see a 'Q' icon at the bottom left of each post. Highlight the text then click the button. You should see it appearing in the message area with (quote) and (/quote).
[Message Edited]
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| Back to the problem someone was having earlier getting an alliance victory (can someone tell me how to quote previous posts?) the solution is to give them about 6 to 8 star systems in one gift. Sometimes it needs it needs more, but coming from neutral that is pretty much guarenteed to get anyone to close relations (unless they're *way* bigger than you, then it'll take more like 15). Doing it in multiple gifts won't cut it, I've found, because the AI will typically only accept one gift every couple turns (if they say "Ah. More presents. Thank you." then they haven't actually accepted). |
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So you're saying one LARGE gift is better than several small ones?
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