Balance without a Mod? A Discussion (Long)

[Velusion]

Thanks for the input! I'll address my comments below:

FrankTrollman said:
As is, a lot of nations are somewhat niche (Middle Age Agartha and Middle Age Tien Chi, for example), and thus the bidding on them would stick to zero at all times. Does that mean that the two factions are equal? Probably not, it just means that neither is especially desirable.

Well the goal is to bid the least for a nation compared to the other bids, not to pick your favorite nation. If it comes down to playing Agartha or Tien Chi someone might think it is worth 10 Pretender Points to pick one over the other, or perhaps not. A number of the nations might be won with a bid of zero, that *should* mean that those players don't think it is worth a bidding increment to go over to the other side. Perhaps not equal - but fairly close.

FrankTrollman said:

1. I am openly contemptuous of peoples' ability to rationally price the overall effectiveness of any particular faction at this point in the game. The "market" is so full of misinformation and panic that it does not behave rationally.
2. Were such a market to potentially stabilize, it would at the very least take several complete iterations - something which would plausibly take years of real time.
3. I still don't see anything you could really bid with except turns, which are a currency so massive that fair pricing is absurd.

-Frank

1) I agree to a certain extent. That is sort of the purpose of the designed test. People can try to put thier money where thier mouth is and prove they can evalute the worth of a nation better than other players.

2)One game is not enough for real info I completely agree - but it would be interesting. 4-5 games *might* give people a general idea of what is generally worth what (in a broad sense). For me... I think it would be interesting just to see the bids.

3) Why don't you think Pretender points would be good to bid with? (other than the fact that such a bidding mechanism requires a neutral party?)

On a side note I agree that there are lots of blitzers on there that are tired of a few nations - but small blitz maps are one extreame. That's why I highly suggest a medium map be used for any testing.