Patch 1.2 Hall of Fame

[maltz]

I hope I am not the only one who is curious about how the Hall of Fame score system works...

OK, I know this long-waited feature look rather unimaginative now, and who has the patience to replay the ENTIRE campaign just to check the score? Why don't they give score for each mission? Why everybody on the default list is a black dragon?...

Anyways, here is a default score list of the Haven campaign. The first thing I noticed is that Day x Score looks more like a constant to me:

Days Scores Day x Score
80 50000 4000000
86 46000 4002000
96 41500 4025500
106 37500 4012500
124 33000 4125000
141 28750 4082500
155 26500 4134000
169 24500 4165000
184 22500 4162500

Not really a constant, but close. So it would be safe to predict that somebody who spends 200 days to complete a compaign would receive 2X score than another who spends 400 days to do it, if they've achieved the same thing through the same settings.

This is what I got for my first patch 1.2 Haven campaign result (heroic):
Days Scores Day x Score
278 24772 6911388

(Good thing about patch 1.2 -- I think they tuned the AI a bit so now C1M5 is more challenging.)

It is strange that I suck in terms of days compared to anybody else on the list, but I had a ~1.65 times better score then a default list who would finish in 278 days, giving me one of the bottom spots.

Therefore there should be some additional factors. My personal guess would be:

1. Difficulty
2. Main hero level (exp? other stats?)

Will do more test if I have time.

[asandir]

Interesting analysis maltz ... good work ... although, I'm not sure how many people will be using this feature for two reason,s the first you stated above - having to redo the campaigns and two, how many people are actually gonna install patch 1.2 when it's a bit of a disgrace?

[maltz]

... patch 1.2 when it's a bit of a disgrace?

Yeah it is not that good. The entire hall of fame thing looks really lame. Ideally you should be shown a score, with a nice picture and some interesting stats, whenever you finish every mission.

[LordErtz]

I've redone 2 of the campaigns so far, and I never got a notice about the HOF...I guess you have to MANUALLY look to see IF you've been given a score, unless it gives it to you after the all the campaigns.

Why is everybody a black dragon? GAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[asandir]

cause it's the coolest??

maybe ubival lacked inspiration? who knows, but that is the least of my complaints about patch 1.2

[Orfinn]

Well I havent seen this HOF yet, but if it sucks, why cant someone create a mod, spice it up a bit?

[ChinaBlue]

No rewarding victory movie? How disappointing..again. A little but integral part of homm, so unbelievable they just skip these things.

[Orfinn]

Easy that

Throw in fast money attitude, bad customer service, bad intention to listen to the fans and their greatest ideas, some incompetent monkeys on keyboards trashing great ideas and mess up patches etc and greed. Mix all that with flour, some water, chili, hard rock halleluja and toast the mix into oblivion, let say 1h min on 800 degree, cool it down and send it to Ubival.

Seriously, its a mystery why they just do the wrong things, again and again! Even in patches the game cant rest from wicked bugs, glitches, errors, lack of new and old features (if they are, they are somewhat brokenly implemented), even the patches themself are not patches at all but infested ones, making the wound worse

But anyway the mod makers are doing a great job keeping HV in shape. Havent it been for HV and its great modding capabilities, the game wouldnt last for much longer. So plenty creds for the mod makers, keep it up!


gah enough jatta from me...time for a lunch break...*stomach rumbling*

[Meandor]

Seriously, its a mystery why they just do the wrong things,

It looks like it is signature of Russian developers. I mean most of the games i played developed in Russia were good games with good ideas but bugy as hell.

[ChinaBlue]

So plenty creds for the mod makers, keep it up!

hear hear

[Lord_Haart]

*cough*Maybeithassomethingtodowithallthesepeoplepressuringthemtoholdtheirwordandreleaseapatcheachmonthevenifitsnotready*cough*

Hm? What? Oh, bless you.

[maltz]

That's a great idea. Since we don't like the way they do it, why don't we do it ourselves?

Too bad I know nothing about programming. But here are a few ideas of a score model. Any opinion is welcome:

First, we want a score for EACH mission (don't know whether that's possible). Let's list all the factors to be considered:

(1) Days "DA"

Definitely, the faster the better.

(2) Difficulty. "DF"

A simple, constant modifier on top of the score.

(3) Experience gained "EG"

An efficient campaigner kills a lot given a limited number of time. This can be easily obtained by substrating the initial EXP point from the final EXP point. The counter keeps going even after reaching the level cap.

(4) Experienced allowed "EA"

Basically this is how many troops (adjusted by their experience points) under the player's control are killed. A negative modifier.

** Together EG - EA serves as a basic score. However, if this value is small than, say, 10000 (experience bottomline "EB"), then a basic 10000 is rewarded.


(5) Experience Bottom line "EB"

The design of EB is to encourage "rush-type" players. If you want to pass a level ASAP, and forget about the experience stuff, the score system also rewards you accordingly.

EB is a constant, and should be change according to different missions. Later missions have a higher EB.


(6) Main hero's stats gain "SG"

Sometimes one spends quite a few days visiting all the stat bonus buildings on the map. It would be a little mean to give a much lowered score just because of that.

Since stats changes are small numbers, we probably need to multiply it by something, say 10000. (just a constant, can be changed.)

***

So the final formula can look something like this.


Basic score (BS) = (EG-EA+10000xSG).
If (EG-EA+10000xSG) < EB, then BS = EB.

Final Score (FS) = Df x BS / DA

In this model the days past has a simple power of (-1). It can be changed to adjust the model better.

[ChinaBlue]

*cough*Maybeithassomethingtodowithallthesepeoplepressuringthemtoholdtheirwordandreleaseapatcheachmonthevenifitsnotready*cough*

*cough*maybethiswouldbedifferentiftherewassomecommunicationinbetweenpatchessothatweallknowwhatisgoingon*cough*

Ughh, sorry, gotta stop smoking