To play you will need Age of Wonders SM updated with the 1.3 patch, be registered on the Wizard's Ladder and be willing to play in three games simultaneously. Since they are four player games, it should average about a turn per player per day. All games will be registered on the Wizard's Ladder as FFA games. Positions on the maps will be assigned randomly, and players will be put into games so as to have the most diversity of opponents possible.
All players will play one game each of the following in the first round:
Forest of Legends (Modified to remove Anarchist and War Mage from Skulkan)
Goldrush Mountains (As is)
Pirahna Bay (Corrected to assign spheres and skills to all wizards)
These maps are all reasonable well balanced, though nothing is perfect, and everyone will be expected to make the best of the situation as they find it.
To determine who plays in the final game players will recieve credits as follows:
6 credits for each 1st place
4 credits for each 2nd place
2 credits for each 3rd place
3 credits for each other wizard eliminated (see FFA rules)
If a players is eliminated by independants, all other players still in the game get one credit.
(Yes this does mean you can gain more credits coming in second than coming in first if you are doing most of the work.)
After the first round the best 10 credit totals will play two simultaneous 5 player games to qualify for the final round. (We'll be using "Through Rage and Wisdom" and "Five Alive SM"). The credit totals will start over at zero, with 8 points for 1st, 6 points for 2nd, 4 points for 3rd, 2 points for fourth, and 3 points for each wizard eliminated.
The players with the four highest credit totals in the semi-final round will then compete in a final map, chosing which position they want in the order of their credit total. The final map will probably be "A River Ran Through It" which is amorphously balanced at best, so it pays to do well in the second round. (In the case of a tie the scores from first round will be used as the tie-breaker. Only if both groups are tied will we use a larger map.) There will be no "credits" for the final game, the last person alive will be the contest winner.
With 96% of the first round games completed the standings are as follows
42 - JWorth
39 - Evil Roc
28 - Chascal
27 - greenmonster
27 - ZombieEater
27 - Fubarno
26 - Daidalos
24 - Tibbs
23 - Minstrel
22 - Tripcrow
19 - Hiranu
16 - Tasslehoff
16 - Unapu
14 - Nerull
13 - WonderBeast
13 - Timelord
11 - Swolte
11 - Izaqyos
7 - Montys Monkey
6 - White Duke
6 - Kirk
6 - MrFrumkins
5 - Jugglervr
4 - Erupted
4 - Horza
4 - Berend
4 - BlackCat
4 - KrakaTur
4 - Alex Mars
4 - LordTheRon
2 - SteveB
2 - SgtSeeds
Anyone not listed above has zero credits
[This message has been edited by hiranu (edited 04-26-2005 @ 04:29 PM).]