The Skill Score,
by Beeblbrox
'...because Challenger Tanks shooting Robin Reliants just isn't fair play'
### NOTE - I have yet to detail the points lost (or even gained) for losing ships. Bear with me.
Basically rates a player on the difficulty and skill of their combats rather than 'bashing ability'. The simple upshot of this system is that people can see who are skillful and who are bashers - and then sit back and see what the Universe does to them ;-)
Essentially:
K = power value of ship/roid killed/capped/stunned
P = total fleet power of the Player AND ALL his allies
E = total fleet power of the Enemy AND ALL his allies
X = difficulty multiplier
Players gets skill score for each kill/stun/cap based on this formula:
K * (100 + ((100/(P/(P-E))) * -X))%
What this formula basically says, the power difference between fleets, expressed as a percentage of the players sides fleet power, multiplied by the difficulty percentage, is added to the value of the ship kill - meaning that if the balance of power is in your favour this percentage actually reduces the value of your kill, or if you are outgunned the percentage will be a positive addition to the base 100%, therefore increasing the value of your kill.
Simple Example:
Difficulty multiplier of 2
Player1 total fleet strength (with allies) = 80
Player2 total fleet strength (with allies) = 120
Player1 kills 1 Player2 ship of power value 10
Player2 kills 1 Player1 ship of power value 10
Player1 Scores:
10 * (100 + ((100/(80/(80-120))) * -2))%
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(80/(-40))) * -2))%
# -40 is the fleet power difference in relation to Player1
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(-2)) * -2))%
# working towards a percentage expression
= 10 * (100 + ((-50) * -2))%
# -50 is the fleet power difference expressed as a percentage of Player1s fleet power
= 10 * (100 + 100)%
# the second 100 is the ship kill value modifier, or Score modifier (adjusted by the difficulty) for Player 1
= 10 * 200%
# the Score modifier is added to the base 100%, then applied to the ship power value
= Player 1 scores 20 points for killing the ship (double for each kill basically)
Player2 Scores:
10 * (100 + ((100/(120/(120-80))) * -2))%
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(120/(40))) * -2))%
# +40 is the fleet power difference in relation to Player2
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(3)) * -2))%
# working towards a percentage expression
= 10 * (100 + ((33.3) * -2))%
# +33.3 is the fleet power difference expressed as a percentage of Player2s fleet power
= 10 * (100 + -66.6)%
# -66.6% is the ship kill value modifier, or Score modifier (adjusted by the difficulty) for Player 2
= 10 * 33.3%
# the Score modifier is added to the base 100%, then applied to the ship power value
= Player 1 scores 3 points for killing the ship (rounded down)
Note: Depending on the value of the difficulty modifier, once the higher power fleet reaches a certain size above the opponent fleet the final %multiplier value will become negative (in the above example of Difficulty modifier value of 2 the final score modifier will become negative once the enemy fleet power is <50% of a players fleet power).
I don't know if this is mathematically correct, but it should be dealt with as the larger fleet scoring negative points for killing ships (i.e. losing points) - However this loss can never become => ship killed power value due to the nature of the algorithm. If actually losing points for killing ships no matter how obscene the bashing is too unpalatable it should be easy to cap the score multiplier to 0% (no points lost/won) in code.
It is important to be aware that Score multiplier and Difficulty multiplier are two seperate elements - the Difficulty multiplier is a constant that is set by the game admins to make bashing more/less easy, the Score multiplier is a result of the formula that is determined in each combat through the formula and is applied to the ship killed value.
Extreme Example: What happens to Bashers
Difficulty multiplier of 2
Player1 total fleet strength (with allies) = 80
Player2 total fleet strength (with allies) = 400
Player1 kills 1 Player2 ship of power value 10
Player2 kills 20 Player1 ships of a total power value 50
Player1 (being bashed) Scores:
10 * (100 + ((100/(80/(80-400))) * -2))%
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(80/(-320))) * -2))%
# -320 is the fleet power difference in relation to Player1
= 10 * (100 + ((100/(-0.25)) * -2))%
# working towards a percentage expression
= 10 * (100 + ((-400) * -2))%
# -400 is the fleet power difference expressed as a percentage of Player1s fleet power
= 10 * (100 + 800)%
# the 800 the ship kill value modifier, or Score modifier (adjusted by the difficulty) for Player 1
= 10 * 900%
# the Score modifier is added to the base 100%, then applied to the ship power value
= Player 1 scores 90 points for killing the ship (nice - but is it enough to make up for being bashed?)
Player2 (the basher) Scores:
50 * (100 + ((100/(400/(400-80))) * -2))%
= 50 * (100 + ((100/(400/(320))) * -2))%
# +320 is the fleet power difference in relation to Player2
= 50 * (100 + ((100/(1.25)) * -2))%
# working towards a percentage expression
= 50 * (100 + ((80) * -2))%
# +80 is the fleet power difference expressed as a percentage of Player2s fleet power
= 50 * (100 + -160)%
# -160% is the ship kill value modifier, or Score modifier (adjusted by the difficulty) for Player 2
= 50 * -60%
# the Score modifier is added to the base 100%, then applied to the ship power value
= Player 1 scores -30 points for killing the ships (not too terrible, but if this is all he ever does hes going to be permanently in a negative Skill score)
NOTES:
Roids:
A value should be determined for roid capping should be applied as they have no fleet power value. I'd suggest 1000 per roid to start with.
Freezing/Capping:
Capping a ship is more difficult than killing it, so perhaps a final additional multiplier of 1.5 or whatever is deemed appropriate should apply. Vice Versa freezing is much much easier, and if I remember correctly from my stat tables (
http://www.jasonarcher.co.uk) its about 5 times easier roughly, so a final additional modifier of 0.2 would be appropriate.
Loopholes:
There are a few loopholes that allow exploitation, and these can be closed with 3 or 4 simple caveats.
Clause 1: Cowards Clause
Somebody running away from a fight and leaving the enemy to cap roids with 0 opposition will cause the enemy to lose points for capping undefended roids. Therefore the defending planets total fleet power is used as a minimum for the defenders total fleet power *regardless* of whether there is actually any ships there or not.
Clause 2:
There are 2 or 3 more clauses for exploitation, but I have as yet to remember them. There are very very few however, I remember that as the original thread was argued to death for a long time by one persistent detractor. I will update the document as and when I remember them.
SUGGESTIONS:
This system has a great deal of scope for mucking around with certain situations, e.g. a heroics or kamikazee bonus could be applied to people standing up to impossible odds - simply by giving their own difficulty modifier a boost for that combat - try giving the Player being bashed a difficulty modifier of -10 instead of -2 and his 1 small victory is much more appealing.
Different races could have different difficulty modifiers to add more flavour to them.
Don't forget the difficulty modifier doesnt have to be a whole integer.
You could introduce a whole new attribute for ships, their kill value, rather than using their power rating. This makes the idea of super-capital ships / flagships an interesting idea to explore (e.g. each race has 1 flagship that has a huge kill value)
I havent even begun to figure out what would happen with a Difficulty modifier < 1