trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

Rabscuttle wrote:
garg! I forgot to enter moves!

I mean, good for me, but if I now go slither and win this thing (which I think is highly unlikely, but hey), it would seem a bit unfair. Like winning a test of skill by pure luck. (Not that there's no luck involved in this game anyway, but you know what I mean). Actually, this is the second time someone accidentally* commits suicide to save me from certain imminent death.

Still not particularly safe, of course. The path to continued survival is long and twisted.

- Gerry

* I'm assuming Someone Else forgot to enter moves back then, too.

michthro
Level: Smitemaestro
Rank Points: 679
Registered: 05-01-2005
IP: Logged

trick wrote:
Actually, this is the second time someone accidentally* commits suicide to save me from certain imminent death.

These shock suicides by everyone who comes into contact with trick are scaring me. Definitely some sort of voodoo involved. Next thing he's going to make me leave my area so he can kill me. I'm feeling the pull already..

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3626
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Looks like I'm dead in 7 turns, due to planning that did not work out the way I thought it did. Oh, well.

It was a good run, guys. And I outlasted quite a lot of people.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

---

[Last edited by Chaco at 09-12-2006 07:53 PM]

coppro
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1308
Registered: 11-24-2005
IP: Logged

trick wrote:
* I'm assuming Someone Else forgot to enter moves back then, too.

He didn't realize he could save himself. His reaction after I told him was hilarious.

Hikari
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 438
Registered: 01-28-2006
IP: Logged

Everyone in the SE corner's dead by turn 324... myself last, after directly killing everyone else.

Good game, all...

____________________________
Caravel Official Holds Progress:

Chris
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 144
Registered: 08-12-2005
IP: Logged

We are currently at the beginning of a 12 hour lull in the game, where nobody is able to affect the game in any way.

The next time anyone has to make a move is trick on turn 321 in about 10.5 hours' time.

Mikko
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 276
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I won't finish in the top three, but I believe I will be the last one to survive in the central area. Considering that I was the second snake to enter it (a couple of moves behind Jason IIRC), that means I am the one who has spent the most time in the central are by a comfortable margin.

Lardarse
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 56
Registered: 08-26-2005
IP: Logged

This is looking to be a very interesting finish... After turn 328 there will be just 5 players left, and 4 of them are very close to each other...

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Well, my serpent still has 30 more minutes of life but I think this is as good a time as any to wrap up my experience - I thought this contest was a lot of fun, though I would have preferred it to move faster. It worked well at its current pace for the size of the conference but in the future I'd rather play smaller games with considerably less time between moves.

I tried to play as aggressively as possible. In the beginning I made a couple of major mistakes - not in the sense that they were bad moves, but rather in the sense that I totally failed to predict their results. That was actually helpful because it made me a lot more careful in my planning later.

I think that if I would change anything in my gameplay, it would be my decision to enter the central area from the top left. I could have left it following the path Trick is taking now, and I probably would have made the top 3 if I did (though you never know, since my absence from the central area would have affected other serpents). It's not that the consequences were bad - I think I did pretty well overall - but rather that I was just following herd mentality in my quest for the center, not thinking about whether it's actually a good idea in the long run. I quickly realized it wasn't, which led to my escape attempt which was stopped by Michthro - but while that was basically the death knell on my hopes of placing in the top 3, it wasn't nearly as upsetting to me because I was happy with my decision, and I was outplayed.

Anyway, fun contest, and congratulations for the remaining top 5 serpents!

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
IP: Logged

Best. Contest. Ever.



____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
IP: Logged

jbluestein wrote:
Best. Contest. Ever.

I'm certainly glad that I stepped up for this one, as my first contest. Just got my qualifying snake puzzle in on time. I only hope my wife wasn't too annoyed at my rather frequent checking of the snake board. I don't think she really understood the game (I haven't even gotten her hooked on DROD yet), but I think she was forgiving of my obsession, as long as I allowed her equal computer time.

Looking forward to next (this?) month's contest!

Jeff

____________________________
"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

Ostegolectr1c
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 116
Registered: 03-14-2005
IP: Logged

Trick .... Voodoo *sob*

Rabscuttle ruined my plan by dying. If trick desires to kill me, he'll doom himself too, but he'll get 3rd place. Or he'll be mercyful and decide to fight for the 2nd place.

____________________________
Just because I happen to have tentacles, it doesn't mean that I'm into Japanese schoolgirls!

---

[Last edited by Ostegolectr1c at 09-15-2006 07:22 PM]

trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

Well, I kinda feel like an ass, but I think I'll fight for the 2nd place. I mean, I can't just give up, can I ?

Now, michthro .. You like jumping, right ? I like jumping! Yeah, jumping is good! We should jump together. Come, michthro, my friend, come jump with us! It's nice over here. Room for you, too! You know you want to .. Jump, jump, jump .. (Where did I put that doll ?)

- Gerry

michthro
Level: Smitemaestro
Rank Points: 679
Registered: 05-01-2005
IP: Logged

Hehe.. Nice try, trick. Funny thing is, I have actually been looking into the possibility of jumping, so your Voodoo tricks are working to some extent. You'll have to do better, though. I know that you'll win if I jump (assuming that you do next what I'm pretty sure you're going to do), so I'm staying right here.

trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

Would be an exciting finish to the game though, wouldn't it ?

Nah, feel free to stay where you are. I'm just here thanks to pure luck. I shouldn't win

- Gerry

---

[Last edited by trick at 09-15-2006 10:46 PM]

Lardarse
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 56
Registered: 08-26-2005
IP: Logged

At this point, I think I'm abou ready to predict who the winner will be...

NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged

Lardarse wrote:
At this point, I think I'm abou ready to predict who the winner will be...

OH, thats a tough one...
Lemme guess. Does the person begin with M?

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
IP: Logged

NiroZ wrote:
OH, thats a tough one...
Lemme guess. Does the person begin with M?

Good to know that at least I got put out of the game by the winner.

J

____________________________
"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Is everyone cool with their snakes and the site downtime? I'm not sure when domainsite (name hosting provider) effectively took our site down, but during the downtime the snakes continued to be updated without owners having ability to change their movement queues.

I am really, really hoping that nobody was caught out by this, because rolling back the clock is severely difficult and very unlikely. In any case, if you feel that the downtime caused significant problems for you that affect your placement in the top 3, then please feel free to describe the injustice. Probably I'd just hand out consolation rank points, unless the whole situation just went completely fubar.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

No worries, I'm pretty sure it's fine. There's just four of us alive now, and Chris and Ostegolectr1c didn't have any choices to make during the downtime. I had a jump decision, but I scheduled that jump before the site went down, so the jump was made. And michthro, well .. he could have jumped during the downtime, but he knows he would've lost his first place if he'd done that, so I bet he's fine with his bump.

Only problem I can see is that if Chris for some reason should want to jump, he's only got two hours if he didn't decide what to do already. If he really wants to die at the head of Ostegolectr1c in stead of mine he's got another opportunity coming up, though.

- Gerry

michthro
Level: Smitemaestro
Rank Points: 679
Registered: 05-01-2005
IP: Logged

I've been planning to bump for ages, Chris and Ostegolectr1c didn't have any decisions to make, and trick's jump was a much better move than bumping, so I don't see any problem.

EDIT: trick beat me to it by a few seconds, but yeah, no worries. I'm sure Chris also knew that trick was going to jump.

---

[Last edited by michthro at 09-16-2006 10:33 PM]

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
IP: Logged

I'm prepared to call the winners, as I believe it's locked in at this point:

4th place: Ostegolectr1c (dead on turn 374)
3rd place: Chris (dead on turn 374)
2nd place: trick (dead on turn 401)
1st place: michthro (not dead for a long time)



____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

michthro
Level: Smitemaestro
Rank Points: 679
Registered: 05-01-2005
IP: Logged

Looks to me like:

4th: Chris (372)
3rd: Ostegolectr1c (376)
2nd: trick (401)

I can survive until turn 528. I *could* die before trick if I wanted to (turn 389 the earliest), but I don't.

Chris
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 144
Registered: 08-12-2005
IP: Logged

I picked a bad weekend to go away, didn't I.

Just got back and it's all over bar the shouting.

Well played all!

Lardarse
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 56
Registered: 08-26-2005
IP: Logged

Pretty much. Well done to all that managed to provide such an excellent finish.

Hey, Erik: Did you ever see this going 400 turns when you first came up with the idea?

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1373
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Lardarse wrote:
Pretty much. Well done to all that managed to provide such an excellent finish.

Hey, Erik: Did you ever see this going 400 turns when you first came up with the idea?

Erik said, somewhere right in the middle of this thread somewhere:

ErikH2000 wrote:I have no idea how long the game will take to finish, but if I had to make a prediction, I'd say 4 weeks.

Lets see, 4 weeks at 12 moves a day, is 336 moves. 400 moves would be just under 5 weeks, so its not too bad a guess

Rabscuttle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2460
Registered: 09-10-2004
IP: Logged

Erik's end of game prediction

And incidentally, happy birthday!

Chris
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 144
Registered: 08-12-2005
IP: Logged

I have made a 3 minute video of the whole contest (up to move 392, anyway).

It's available on YouTube for viewing in your web browser here:

  http://youtube.com/dooglus

A bigger (6.7MB), higher resolution version is available for download here:

  http://dooglus.rincevent.net/snakes/video/392.avi

I know we're only on move 376 at the moment, but the next 16 moves are predetermined.

Enjoy!

Sergenth
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 296
Registered: 05-04-2005
IP: Logged

Thanks Chris. I remember now when the arena was empty... and it was a completely different place.

jjohn7418
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 161
Registered: 08-24-2003
IP: Logged

Chris, great job on the video. I wish I had a mod point for you.

____________________________
"Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge! Know what I mean? Say no more!" - Monty Python