THE POTHMAN CHALLENGE, BRITS v 21 Pz

[bluehand]

hey what's the deal with poohbah's results? I see two flags clearly in british hands that have nazi flags. the little one near the top and the big one near the bottom. those should have been uncontroled at worst. and the little one in the middle is listed as german but should likely be contested too. did he surrender or are you recycling end result maps?

[McIvan]

It's a surrender, bluehand....you can see the Brits with their hands up.

[PoorOldSpike]

Looks like your ego is in danger of getting too big with these results, POS - send me the scenario and I'll send you a setup...

Okay mate, welcome to the band of 10 hunters..:)
(PS - Anybody else can sign up too, i'll keep the gate open til the final game is finished)

"You men of Angers, open wide your gates
And let young Arthur Duke of Bretagne in,
Who by the hand of France this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,
Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground;
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
Coldly embracing the discoloured earth"..
- Shakesp. King John

[PoorOldSpike]

It's a surrender, bluehand....you can see the Brits with their hands up.

Ja, Grand Poohbah knew it wasn't a ladder game (his choice) so when he lost his last tank he saw no point in dragging things out to the end, I'd have surrendered too in his place, that's one of the advantages of non-ladder games, you can say "Oh what the hell!" and make a nice clean end without having to worry about losing points..:)
In fact here's a copy of what I said to him for future reference -

"A word of advice about surrendering - it didn't matter in our game because it wasn't a ladder game, but in ladder games always think twice before surrendering, otherwise you might unnecesarily throw away ladder points.
Example -
It's late in a ladder game and you control one flag but he controls 2 and he's ahead on points (say 60-40) and he's therefore on course for a Minor victory.
You realise you can't win, so you surrender rather than drag it out for the remaining turns.
Bad call! By surrendering, you throw away most of your 40 points and he's credited with a Major or Total victory which scores high in ladder points.
That's why its always best to carry on to the end of ladder games (even though it might be a boring chore) in order to preserve the points you've already got"..:)

[PoorOldSpike]

PS - Does anybody know anything about the Ceasefire button?
It's one of those things I've never researched fully.
Does it freeze the existing points in place, or do you risk losing some by hitting the button?

[Der Kuenstler]

Yes - ceasefire ends the game just as it is - the points are tallied as they are - so if you are winning and want to score more points for kills, then you don't want to ceasefire.

I have used ceasefire before with opponents when we are both out of options and the game keeps going on and on (variable ending) or one person is getting slaughtered and you want a chivalrous ending.

Both players have to agree to press their "ceasefire" button.

[PoorOldSpike]

But suppose the score in a game is reading 50-50, and some of the flags are neutral, then we hit Ceasefire.
Will the score REMAIN 50-50, or will the computer decide to give the flags to our opponent and the score changes to 40-60 in his favour?

PS - In other words, is the score GUARANTEED not to change when we hit Ceasefire?

[Copper]

But suppose the score in a game is reading 50-50, and some of the flags are neutral, then we hit Ceasefire.
Will the score REMAIN 50-50, or will the computer decide to give the flags to our opponent and the score changes to 40-60 in his favour?

PS - In other words, is the score GUARANTEED not to change when we hit Ceasefire?

No, it is an educated roll of the dice, as your own score is only the "perceived" score the computer gives from a calculation of what you know and what you don't.

Therefore, you could be winning a game by a score of 60-40 on YOUR viewscreen, hit ceasefire, and then find that two flags that you thought were yours had hidden enemy squads within 20 feet of it, making them go neutral, while the full effects of what you thought you had killed of the enemy troops was much less than you had anticipated, and the end game score after the CF comes up radically different (let's say 48 to 52) than what you had seen, and now you lose (draw).

You must remember that the score is reflected only by what you know, which is your own casualties, and flags that you can assuredly measure as uncontested by the enemy.

Cheers!

Leto

[PoorOldSpike]

Leto]
No, it is an educated roll of the dice, as your own score is only the "perceived" score the computer gives from a calculation of what you know and what you don't.

Thanks mate that's what I suspected, hitting ceasefire can be risky especially if you think you're winning..:)
It therefore seems that whoever thinks he's winning should NEVER hit ceasefire in case his score drops, but the guy who's losing SHOULD hit ceasefire because he's got nothing to lose and can hope the computer boosts his final score.. :)

PS - So why is the ceasefire option in the game at all, what good is it?

[Copper]

Leto]
No, it is an educated roll of the dice, as your own score is only the "perceived" score the computer gives from a calculation of what you know and what you don't.

Thanks mate that's what I suspected, hitting ceasefire can be risky especially if you think you're winning..:)
It therefore seems that whoever thinks he's winning should NEVER hit ceasefire in case his score drops, but the guy who's losing SHOULD hit ceasefire because he's got nothing to lose and can hope the computer boosts his final score.. :)

PS - So why is the ceasefire option in the game at all, what good is it?

Re read DK's excellent explanation of its usage above.

Cheers!

Leto