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Post by slayernz on May 3, 2013 5:48:02 GMT -5
I'm an idiom!  |
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Post by contributor on May 3, 2013 14:42:13 GMT -5
Guess I should leave the English grammar to the non-Americans.
Anyways, I'm thinking of launching another challenge soon. I think it will be something like the Loot and Scoot Challenge and I think I will do it at two different difficulty levels. Would "demanding" and "crazy" be the best or should I knock it down to "challenging" or up to "insane."
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Post by johndramey on May 5, 2013 0:18:50 GMT -5
I'm up for anything, but I think demanding and crazy should be fine!
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Post by slayernz on May 8, 2013 12:56:26 GMT -5
Add to the challenge queue,
"The Collector"
Objective - collect at least one flag ship from each faction in the quickest time possible ... maybe on Demanding and Crazy difficulties like the above. On the face of it, this seems a very straight forward challenge, but there are a number of aspects that need to be considered.
1) What is the fastest way to get to rank 17 (needed before Flagship becomes visible)
2) How do I manage RP - because getting to Rank 17 quickly means you're going to be standing on someone's toes
3) How do I fund my challenge? You're going to need lots of cash. This is because the flagships aren't cheap, and buying your way to rank 17 is also not pocket change.
Challenge ends as soon as you have purchased your last flagship (timestamp is from your ship log entry)
Score is:
((10,000 - turns played + sum of all military ranks) x2
So obviously faster you do it, the more you get. There is a bonus for having high military ranks at the end of the challenge too. You're going to have at least have rank 17 with one faction, but will you have it for other factions too?
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Post by johndramey on May 8, 2013 22:56:13 GMT -5
That's actually a very interesting idea. I don't think I could go about doing it, but I'd be willing to pound my head against the wall for a while trying! How long does everyone think the challenge should be run? I was toying with the idea of maybe having a monthly challenge, like next month could be "Loot and Scoot" month, July could be "The Collector" month, etc. etc. If we make it a really regular thing and the TB post it on the ST facebook/twitter pages we might be able to pull more new people into the forums  |
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Post by contributor on May 9, 2013 9:04:31 GMT -5
I better get the loot and scoot challenge going soon. Fortunately/unfortunately some stuff has come up and my presence in the quadrant and on the forum will likely be diminishing significantly in the coming months.
The last challenge ran for 10 days. I wasn't sure how long to do it, because I know some people have almost unlimited time to play and others can maybe get in 5 hours in a week, so I tried to give enough time that people should be able to participate in, without stringing it out forever. Maybe one week would be enough though.
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Post by johndramey on May 9, 2013 17:01:21 GMT -5
Well whenever it gets posted I'll join it for sure. Not sure how well I'll do, but it'll be a fun distraction from work!
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Jamozk Ekhiss
Star Hero
This is not the Personal Text you are looking for.
Posts: 599
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Post by Jamozk Ekhiss on May 10, 2013 12:20:42 GMT -5
I'd love to join, but I've got a forest of exams to navigate for the next couple of months, so I'm afraid I'm out.
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Post by xdesperado on May 10, 2013 19:39:21 GMT -5
I'm interested in doing some of these challenges, but I can't do screenshots on my phone.  Are we on an honor system with these or do we need to be able to provide screenshots for verification?  |
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Post by johndramey on May 10, 2013 21:26:09 GMT -5
I would think that honor system is fine, I don't think anyone will cheat because there's really nothing to be gained from it.
Are you sure that there is no way at all to do screenshots on your phone? Usually pressing the power + home button together will snap a picture, or if you have the Galaxy Note (a great phone, by the way) you can just hold the pen to the screen for about a second.
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Post by contributor on May 10, 2013 21:53:24 GMT -5
@x go ahead and play. Ultimately there is no way to keep everybody honest, unless ST had some seriously crazy permissions that none of us would want. So it all depends on the honor system. If it looks like you're going to come in as the winner you could always pull the trick of actually taking a real picture of your phone/tablet with another device in order to assuage anyones doubts. But like I said, it's really all on the honor system, which is why we're not giving away any cash prizes. Also, there is a thread about taking screen shots that might help you. I know it's complicated with earlier versions of Android and requires installing other apps. startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=3641As for the monthly challenge idea. I like it a lot, though I would definitely be in the curator (or acolyte!) class in a TA challenge. If it's the second week of every month that would add some regularity to it and people would know it's coming. Who wants to organize the the June challenge? Slayernz had some good ideas and all the those pretty stars under his name give him lots of credibility. |
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Post by xdesperado on May 10, 2013 23:05:29 GMT -5
Only free apps for screenshots I've been able to find all require the phone to be rooted which I can't/won't do. Most recent android OS has disabled most if not all the ways (combinations of button pushes) that you used to be able to use. Not sure why but Google has apparently decided that screenshots are a bad thing since they have been making it increasingly difficult for users to do. |
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Post by slayernz on May 10, 2013 23:14:46 GMT -5
Most phones support holding down POWER + HOME as a screenshot. Some take longer before the shot is taken, and can be fussy if you don't press both at exactly the same time.
The Galaxy S4 supports this, and it's running Android 4.2 ... Gingerbread (2.3 is definitely supported too).
Oh ... and yeah, fully support the Honor system ... screenshots are a bonus, but not essential to stake your claim in the challenge. We trust you - and since there is no cash prize or anything funky, I would hope it's not worth cheating just for bragging rights.
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Post by johndramey on May 19, 2013 19:47:57 GMT -5
Here's an idea: War Hero May restart before 15 (this should probably just be assumed for all challenges) No Exploration after level 10 (Harvesting is fine, but records gained this way have to be sold to neutral ports). No Large-scale trading of contraband after level 10 (selling loot is fine, but no bulk trading on surpluses/shortages of Artifacts, Weapons, Electronics, or Records*) No Contraband Cycling (buy followed by immediate sell for rep). Pick a side, Syndicate or Clan. Score based on a combination of your total positive rep with your side and negative rep with the other side. Bumped for kills but *NOT* turns passed. By the end you must have positive rep and rank with all three members of your side, and negative rep with all three opposition, otherwise you fail outright (score = 0). *Exception for records if you happen to get lucky enough to sell into a shortage as a normal part of a spy war. It's not super hard, but given the way inter-faction politics work, it still offers some fun complications. I actually like this idea right here, and think it might be worth a play through for our next challenge. Maybe modify it a bit, say.. War Hero challenge[/b] purely positive and must be negative with the opposing side. [/ul] Your score is calculated by getting your positive rep from your chosen side and subtracting the negative rep from the opposite side, in essence adding the two numbers together. e.g. you choose clans and finish with +100/50/200 and your syndicate reps are -100/20/30, so that will give you a total rep of Clans = +350 and syndicates = -150, 350 - (-150) = 500. Total score = 500. Obviously this is laughinman's idea, I just added in a preferred starting class. |
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Post by contributor on May 19, 2013 21:57:59 GMT -5
The War Hero Challenge is very close to what I was thinking of for a True Zealot Community Challenge. I like the idea. I think rules about trading weapons and exploring could actually be dropped because credits would have nothing to do with the score. People would have to balance their cash levels with maxing their + and - rep, deciding whether it was really worth it to explore or chase shortages verses keeping up their war campaign. And lets be honest, the exploitation of commerce and natural resources has always been deeply involved in wars and their causes.
I definitely won't be able to organize the next challenge (may not even be able to play in it) so somebody else will have to put it together.
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