Posts from [HMM II TOURNAMENT OFF] New Year Arena - 2008

"New Year's Arena - 2008"

1. To fully participate in the joint offline tournament in Heroes 2, "New Year's Arena-2008," you must register on our website and on the HeroesLeague website, and it is also recommended to leave an application in this thread.

2. The tournament is held on the Russian version of Heroes 2 "The Price of Loyalty" from Buky. However, you can also use the English version of the game. The save will be generated on the Russian version.

The starting save is common for all participants, both HL and HW.

3. The goal of the game: Within a fixed time – 22 days – prepare a hero-fighter with a corresponding army. The choice of the hero-fighter is made by the player (it may not match the starting heroes, it can be of any type, etc.).
After the first stage of the game, the host creates a duel map – an "arena" – to which the fighter is transferred with troops identical to the sent save, their arrangement, primary and secondary skills, luck and morale modifiers, mana, and artifacts. On the arena, each hero will fight each other, twice: they attack in turn. All participants who reach the finish line will be sent "arenas" with their heroes. Seven days after sending the arenas, each player can send their verdict by return email.
The final awarding of results is carried out by the tournament judge.


4. In the tournaments, the following are prohibited:

• redeeming your dismissed heroes on the same day (i.e., using the "dismissal-redemption" technique);
• it is also not allowed to buy heroes who died in battle (do not confuse with those who fled)!
• using a redeemed hero who fled or was redeemed in battle on the day he fled or was redeemed. It is allowed to buy such a hero, but he can only be used on the next day;
• digging up UAs without fully opening the puzzle map;
• Open discussion of the tournament on the forum during its course is PROHIBITED!!!
• (Players who violate this rule will automatically be disqualified from the tournament; their results will not be counted and will be annulled).
• using any cheats and bugs in the "final" playthrough
• using weeks and months with additional troop increases or plague. If a week "+5 monsters X", a month "monster X" or plague appears, the player must replay the week/month transition and achieve a neutral result. If there are difficulties in obtaining a neutral result, you must immediately notify the judge.
• taking genies and the "Sphere of Negation" artifact to the arena.

5. The player must save intermediate saves for each game day during the tournament.
Intermediate saves may be requested by the tournament host to verify the fairness of the playthrough. If the use of cheat codes is detected, as well as clearly indicated errors and features of the game that are prohibited, the player will be immediately disqualified from the tournament.

6. Together with the final save, players must send a short description of the playthrough.

7. Send the final save to the email address qwertyheroes@gmail.com. The sent save must contain the tournament number (7), the participant number in the application table, the abbreviation (NA – New Year's Arena), and the player's nickname. Example: 7_1_NA_Kyle.gх1.

8. The first stage of the tournament starts on December 14 and will last until January 15 (inclusive). The timing of the second stage (battles in the arenas) will be announced separately.

9. After receiving your save, you will see in the application table that:

save accepted - in bold Nickname.
save counted - in green bold Nickname.
save not counted - in red bold Nickname.

We invite everyone to participate in the tournament!

Saves will be accepted only from those players who are in this table, so submit your applications in ADVANCE!!!

TOURNAMENT in HMM II: New Year's Arena
Number	Participant
1	Kyle
2	Ley
3	DR28
4	SDV
5	Alex_R
6	Мечник
7	Catch
8	vbn
9	Psixxx
10	Kamikaze
11	Koren Zla
12	Mantic0re
14	Inquisitor
15	aastr
16	Pash
17	PReDS
18	lavageth
19	Freza
20	Nzol

1. Download the save and the map.
Note: The save and map are archived using WinRar 3.62.

2. The downloaded save must be placed in the Games folder in the folder where Heroes 2 is installed.

3. Load it and start the game at any time that is convenient for you, while remembering to make daily saves at the beginning and end of each turn, as well as before digging up UAs.

4. After reaching the last action (22 days after preparing the fighter), you must save again.

5. A complete description of the tournament map is encouraged (not required). If there are any, a competition will be held for the best description, 10 of which (the best) will take their place of honor in the "Feats of Our Best Heroes" section!

6. Send this save to the specified address (in the rules of this tournament).

7. Wait for the transition to the second stage of the tournament.

* - In order to be able to compete with players from another forum and for your result to be officially entered into the tournament standings and a rating assigned!

P.S. If there are any questions about the rules, please contact us immediately for clarification!

P.S.S. I wish all participants a good game.

4. The following is prohibited in tournaments:
Taking Djinns into the arena.

But I really wanted to take Djinns. Seriously. I'm just sitting here dreaming... I'll take one Djinn and just blast 50 Paladins :D

Good afternoon!
I have a question here:):
"After the first stage of the game, the host creates a duel map - an 'arena'" -
Are all stages offline? And if all stages are offline, how will the winner be determined? - by the total health of all remaining units? (maybe I'm wrong - don't be too harsh...:))
And one more thing: when will the starting save and map be uploaded?

How will the winner be determined?

I think the winner is determined by the number of victories.

And also: when will the starting save and map be released?

December 14th

I really wanted to take the Djinns. Seriously. I'm sitting here dreaming... I'll take one Djinn, and then BAM, I'll crush 50 Paladins :D

They ruined it... :D
Hmm, but ghosts are still available... ;)

Colleagues, questions are welcome, especially before the tournament begins! 1. Regarding Djinns. There was a well-known case where, during an arena tournament, the Djinn attack, which halves dragons, significantly affected the standings. Halving with Djinns is a very serious matter. How can we prove that when preparing the arena on another computer, the Djinns will/will not halve? That's why we decided to ban Djinns in the arena. 2. The winner will be determined as in a chess tournament, by the number of points. Possible sparring results: 2:0; 1.5:0.5; 1:1; 0.5:1.5; 0:2. Whoever has the most points in the end will be the winner of the tournament. And so on. 3. In general, the tournament is conceived as 100% offline, although I cannot rule out that someone will play online with someone else.

So, generally speaking, if the tournament is exclusively offline, then Ley is number 2 ;)

Please register me. Although, I don't quite understand how the 2nd stage will work. Will the computer play for the other participants? What if I attack, and they don't want to attack back? P.S. I'm probably a noob, right?

Added 5 minutes later
If everything will be offline, please register SDV - my colleague from work.

Alex_R: I'll be fifth :smile01:
I liked the idea of an online battle...
By the way, a related question:
Are decisions based on the results of 2 battles? Or can you try "a certain" number of times until you achieve a stable outcome...?
I mean, for example, you might make mistakes and lose in the first battle, but then, having learned from your mistakes, achieve a result of 9 wins out of 10?

Colleagues, feel free to ask questions; everything is fair and legal, and you have every right to ask as many clarifying questions as you need. I will answer questions regarding the procedure for the second stage. 1. January 15th has arrived, and my inbox is full of save files. Let's say there are 10. 2. I take a hero from each save file. In total, I get, let's say, 10 heroes. 3. I create 90 maps (I just realized WHAT I have to do. But, notice, not a single curse word:))). These maps are what are called arenas. 4. Each of the 10 players receives an email with 18 save files. They need to load them in multiplayer mode and conduct battles for BOTH sides. There's no need to play passively; in fact, most players already have a reputation as fair fighters. 5. 18 save files represent 9 two-round matches. The rounds differ in who attacks first. You send me the results of the battles in a reply email (e.g., vbn - X 1:0; X - vbn 0:1; and so on). 6. I conduct the battles myself in parallel. 7. The results are published. If anyone has a different opinion, they can express it. But the final verdict is given by the judge. Here's another excellent question that was asked, but in a chat that I have open and there's no way to answer. The question was asked by Alex_R. I'll try to rephrase it as follows: "What are the criteria for evaluating the arenas, and what guarantee is there of the judge's impartiality and objectivity?" (Alex_R, did I state it correctly?). First of all, I think the question is absolutely correct and legitimate, and it can and should be asked in this thread. 1. Criteria for evaluating arenas. There are four possible player verdicts on an arena: 1) The opinions of both participants coincide; 2) The opinions of the participants do not coincide; 3) One of the participants did not send a verdict; 4) Neither participant sent a verdict. Based on these situations, the judge: 1) In the case of an identical verdict from the players, with a probability of over 95%, will agree with their decision; 2) In the case of different verdicts from the players, will request the most detailed justification for the decision (possibly with screenshots). Based on the players' arguments and his own preliminary decision, a final verdict will be issued; 3) In the case of a missing verdict from one of the players, the PRELIMINARY verdict of the judge will begin to play the role of that player's verdict. The situation then develops according to the scenario described in point 1) or 2); 4) In the case of a missing verdict from both players, the situation automatically transitions to option 1) with identical PRELIMINARY verdicts from the judge. Thus, the judge's PRELIMINARY verdict on this match has a probability of over 95% of becoming final. 2. Guarantees of the judge's objectivity and impartiality are my reputation. As you can see, I will not be playing in this tournament. I will judge the arenas fairly and, of course, will try to find the strongest moves from both sides. In the event of protests, I will analyze each case in detail. I want to say that judging arenas is a very delicate matter. I can say that I have some experience in battles, as well as in modeling without a computer. I also have some experience in judging competitions, and not only offline and not only in Heroes. More questions!

The essence of the question has been correctly identified. :) The objectivity of the judging is not being questioned; the goal was to clarify the following: If I understand the answer correctly, you have allowed for a margin of error of 1% to 5% for the judge, which can be used if there is official evidence, and possibly even in online mode. Another question: Is it possible to arrange an online duel by mutual agreement, and have the result be the verdict from both sides?

Of course, if both opponents have carefully considered the tactics for the upcoming battles beforehand and decided to play the arena online, this is possible. I would like to immediately note that if their verdicts in the submitted letter do not match, then the situation will develop according to point 2).
Of course, the PRELIMINARY verdicts of the judge can be revised. Participants can find original ways to conduct the battle, provide arguments, preferably supported by screenshots. And if the judge finds these arguments decisive, the preliminary verdict can be revised.

Good evening.
I understand it this way:
1. If I have the best hero, but I lose 18 battles with him, then I'm completely out.
2. What about luck and morale? Can I move twice in one turn and deal double damage, but if I try to repeat this 1000 times, it won't happen. Perhaps, in extraordinary circumstances (morale, luck, and the properties of some units that allow them to cast spells), I should take screenshots?
3. Question: what kind of terrain will there be on the arena? This can greatly affect things, including which units to give to the final hero. If it's a flat area without a single object, then everything is fine.
4. Will it matter with what advantage you won or lost? Will a preliminary ranking of heroes be compiled after the first round (i.e., if a hero with the lowest ranking wins against a hero with the highest ranking, will this matter)? Or is it just win or lose?

In Heroes of Might and Magic II, luck and morale always appear in a fixed manner. That is, if Phoenixes attack with a certain luck value in the first turn, they will continue to attack with that same luck value (unless you cast another spell). However, if you repeat the same turn exactly, luck and morale will always appear at the same time.

Question: Should I save intermediate saves under different names and then send you all the saves? P.S.: This is my first tournament, and I want to understand everything!

Question: Should I save intermediate saves under different names and then send you all the saves?
P.S.: This is my first tournament, and I want to understand everything!

Yes, you need to save them under different names. For example, I can suggest the following template:
day_save number for that day
i.e., for example, they might look like this:
01_01
01_02
01_03
02_01
02_02
03_01
etc.

These saves may be required, and you will need to send them if the organizer requests it.

I hope I explained it clearly. :)

Good luck!