Introduce same luck mode

[nvs]

In short, this would cause each player to experience the same luck. That is to say, they would be presented the same choices each round in regards to gem selection. Regardless, I do not see this competitive mode being used often, except for those serious about racing others. Perhaps, in some sort of tournament. Or, maybe in a system that tracks results.

Certain steps would most likely be necessary to keep things fair, such as the use of fog of war. Best would be not needing the fog of war at all, but I do not see how to implement this mode if everyone is offered the same choices as they progress. It would be possible to watch players progressing faster than you, and plan your choices accordingly.

As far as implementation, most likely storing the rolls ahead of time. The key thing to recognize is that it is not necessarily the rolls that can change throughout the game, but rather what the rolls mean. Think gem quality being upgraded. Or 'Alignment' changing the chances for various gem types.

Now, 'Extra Chance' works differently. Currently, it allows rolls greater than 80 (the current maximum once quality is maximized). And if the roll is greater than 80 you have successfully performed an 'Extra Chance'. Better might be to have a system that requires only a single roll, instead of two, for each gem selection. Need to think about how to set that up a bit.

Anyways, this is probably dependent on #168. Also, somewhat related to a debug mode #65, given the desire for a fixed seed.

[nvs]

Adding this would be nice. But at the same time, it certainly is blocked by the absence of an improvement to settings selection. Unless that is worked into 1.4, the soonest I see thing being added is in 1.5.

[nvs]

Also blocking this being released would be the following:

• Preventing attacking other players Prevent attacking friendly structures #198
• Prevent entering another player's area Look into preventing structures from moving/attacking out of the player's area #197
• An improvement to settings selection Allow people to pick their own individual settings #178, Rework settings selection #176

[nvs]

This is blocked by #168. I see it being added in 1.5 at the soonest.

[nvs]

The primary issue with this idea, as far as I see it, is the fog of war. People simply may not like it. They may want to see other people's mazes. They may want to see their choices. This presents a problem. Need to think some more about an alternative way to implement 'same luck' mode, or perhaps an alternative to it altogether.

[nvs]

The idea was interesting. However, it presents a setting that could divide the Gem community. And for what? When there are few choices for players to make, most mazes and games will end up very similar. And when there is bad luck, the conservative mazes will survive. And when there is great luck, the riskier mazes will reign supreme.

The only point where same luck mode shines is when there are many choices. And in a situation like that, sharing the same luck shouldn't be necessary if things are balanced properly. In the end, this idea is dead in the water.

[nvs]

My previous comment still stands. It is up to me to address those concerns. But after thinking about it further, the only real way to deal with the randomness luck creates is to try to rein it in. True, balancing helps. But ultimately skill in Gem involves dealing with the choices presented to you. Not with simply having an easier puzzle to solve than your opponent. Thus, same luck mode needs to be added for rated games.

In regards to the fog, it could be lifted on certain levels. However, as information is a powerful tool, it would not be fair for players who are behind to consistently see the choices offered in future rounds, as that would influence their decisions. Other avenues of leaking information (e.g. messages about one-hits, etc.) will be filtered as well. Regardless, every so often players could be able to view the mazes of others who are also playing a rated game. This is to promote that competitive nature that currently exists in Gem, where you can see the maze of the person you are racing. And, perhaps, this small bit of information can even help those who are behind.

[nvs]

A bit of thinking makes me believe same luck mode, in the short turn, could be beneficial for things such as tournaments. It is not an ideal long term solution, of course. Fog of war is certainly needed to ensure fair games. Although, playing it in a public setting without fog would be perfectly fine.

Store the number of rounds a player sits at their current quality level. This value is used as an index to see if there is a set of rolls cached for this quality. If a set isn't cached, do the rolls and store them. This same idea can be extended to Extra Chance as well (after it is reworked a bit in #380) by treating bonus levels similarly to quality levels.

[nvs]

The idea is to change things in #411 to allow same luck mode to be effortlessly added. This is blocked, for now.

[nvs]

No way this is happening for 1.6.0.

[GaDaHo]

I like this idea for choice is not a metaphor but with fog of war on and only the leaderboard visible understanding all that you said they can look at the replay after if such is a mode to be considered but even with fog of war off, choice is still not a metaphor. Do they complain if they lose then? I got to understand that we all are born the same but it's choice still greed & corruption exist! Does it make sense anyway? It is a good mode to add thou but still would make no difference for surely then you would have to add the chance to one-shot the same!

[nvs]

My current thinking is that same luck mode is not worth the effort. It was an idea to address the issue of races being unfair at times. For the most part, luck is to blame there. And imbalances. With improved balance and more options, there should be little need for a mode like this. And with more options, there should be more than just a handful of dominant strategies. In a healthier meta, same luck mode is not needed at all.