Congratulations to zibik21 for winning a very close Season VII!
Season VIII is going to do something a little different than previous seasons. In Season VIII, every bonus will have its value randomized. For each bonus on the map, there is a 1/3 chance that it will be worth one army per turn more than normal, a 1/3 chance that it will be worth one fewer, and a 1/3 chance that it won’t be changed.
It’s up to the players to determine how the modified bonus values will affect the game. Because each map will be randomized in this fashion, every game should be very different from the rest. Of course, the bonus boxes on the map will reflect the new values, but players can also check the Settings panel of each game to see a list of how each bonus was modified.
Since this bonus randomization is a special feature to Season VIII, creating a game with the same template won’t have the same bonus randomization. Therefore, it’s not as easy to practice these settings ahead of time. However, if you’re motivated enough, you can still practice by overriding each bonus value on the Armies tab.
It’s worth noting that the zero-bonuses that are located in Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, and Korea will also be modified. They will become either a 0, +1, or a -1. This opens up new strategic possibilities, such as the option of taking a zero-turn bonus. It’s important to remember that the bonuses you start in are the cheapest to take, so while taking a zero-turn +1 bonus will give you strength on the first turn, it can also make you weaker on future turns as your opponent captures their early bigger bonuses.
Settings are similar to Strategic 1v1 except on the Modified Medium Earth map. This map has also been modified from its previous version. In addition to East Russia having one fewer territories, East United States also has one fewer. The goal of this map is to increase the value of bonuses that are often ignored. Even though this map has two fewer territories than Medium Earth, it feels larger since there are more attractive bonuses and therefore more space that gets used.
You can see the template here, but as warned above, using this template won’t get you the randomized bonus values since that feature is specially coded into Season VIII.
The season will begin on Tuesday at Midnight GMT (which is really Monday night for those in negative timezones, such as North America). Good luck!
Looking forward to it, season ladders get better every time. This random change in bonuses will make things very interesting. Maybe this could even be a feature that could be implimented into warlight in the future?
I love the idea of the randomized bonus sets, and would love to see it implemented into Warlight in the future. I can’t wait for the season to begin.
Usually I am the first to moan about not-so-inventive settings on the seasonal ladders, so now I feel obliged to say that I really like seeing new features, like these randomized boni!
Here are some more ideas, in case you plan on making randomized boni a permanent warlight feature:
a) How about revealing the true value of a bonus only to that player alone who owns it (optional: controls at least one territory of it)? Others would only see the standard value (e.g. 3 for India), whereas the owner would see it’s true value (3+probability*x, where probability and x would be game settings)
or
b) Re-randomize a bonus value each time a new player gains complete control over it.
c) Modify sanction cards, so that players can play them on a bonus instead of a player. (Alternative: add a new card for this). Maybe leave players the choice: sanction an opponent for the duration of the sanction card, or sanction whatever bonus for twice that time or twice the percentage or whatever.
Same with reinforcement cards: maybe they could be played on a bonus instead of a player. The trade off would be something like: instead of getting the total value of armies of a reinforcement card immediately, you would instead get higher income from a chosen bonus for a certain period of time, where the total number of armies received would be slightly higher than the nominal value of the card, of course. The downside would be: you have to keep that bonus, else you get nothing at all.
d) Re-Randomize boni each turn (though I admit that this would not be my favourite game setting, but others might like it?)
e) Another idea, only Loosely related to the topic: Allow players to not deploy the income of a bonus if they do not need it right away. Example: You have 5 base income and own India worth 3 and East Africa worth 4. For your next turn you choose to deploy only 9 armies instead of 12, setting aside those 3 armies from India for future deployment. India would be worth 6 instead of 3 next turn (for one turn only, of course), giving you the element of surprise when you are able to deploy more than your enemy expects you to. Down side: you shouldn’t lose control over India, else you lose your postponed reserves.
BTW: If you make it a habit from now on to test new game features in the ladder games first this might make buying a membership even more attractive 🙂
Damn you Fizzer – such an interesting Ladder will force me to join, effictivly killing all my spare time. Thanks. Thanks a lot!
Will this feature ever be available to members?
I have found this season the most fun to play. I hope for many more interesting and creative seasons in the future!