An Alternative to the Rankings?

[ElvisJJonesRambo]

https://rankade.com/

https://laddera.com/

https://leaderboardhq.com/

Many, many more. Most are free. Somebody needs to investigate, for the most open one possible. Set-it up. In case of Death or Rapture the league continues. Delmare Berry for example.

Excuse me, can you tell me if Delmar Berry lives here?

He's not here.

He's a friend of mine, he wrote the address for me himself.

See? That's Delmar's handwriting. This place is hard to find.

That's his writing. - Yes, we're friends.

l'm John Rambo. We were together in Vietnam.

Maybe he mentioned me.

l've got a photo of us both.

Somewhere.

All this junk in my pocket!

Here...here it is.

That's me, that's Danforth, Westmore, Bronson, Ortega,

and at the back is Delmare. He had to stand at the back,

or he'd have filled the whole picture. - Delmare's gone.

When's he coming back? - He died.

What?

He died last summer.

[firsteds]

I have done a bit more research and testing. thanks for the links and suggestions.

I can make the following system work, using an iPhone ELO app and a page on a free hosting site:

1. System starts on Jan 1, but you can enter the results of a current ongoing game if both players agree.

2. Everybody starts on 1000 points except the top 5 players (agreed earlier in this discussion) who start on 1030.

3. If a player doesn't play for a year they drop 3% of their score per year of absence. After 3 years they are deleted.

4. If a player loses a game but lasts into 1946 or beyond they gain a bonus (approx 5 points but it depends on rankings).

Comments and suggestions welcome. Please don't suggest anything too complex or unrealistic.

(I think I can also produce an Axis and an Allied leaderboard as a bit of an interesting bonus).

Chris (firsteds)

[Jonny25k]

I appreciate your effords. Thank you

[ElvisJJonesRambo]

Not playing the game at the current time.
Appreciate someone stepping up.

[Zarevic]

I have done a bit more research and testing. thanks for the links and suggestions.

I can make the following system work, using an iPhone ELO app and a page on a free hosting site:

1. System starts on Jan 1, but you can enter the results of a current ongoing game if both players agree.

2. Everybody starts on 1000 points except the top 5 players (agreed earlier in this discussion) who start on 1030.

3. If a player doesn't play for a year they drop 3% of their score per year of absence. After 3 years they are deleted.

4. If a player loses a game but lasts into 1946 or beyond they gain a bonus (approx 5 points but it depends on rankings).

Comments and suggestions welcome. Please don't suggest anything too complex or unrealistic.

(I think I can also produce an Axis and an Allied leaderboard as a bit of an interesting bonus).

Chris (firsteds)

I like your idea! Practical and simple...
Thanks for the initiative

[HARRIS45]

I am very glad to hear of new ranking system. Thank you to all that have participated in creating. Given that target date is January 1st will someone be posting in Forum the mechanics? Regards,

[firsteds]

The new ranking system starts on January 1. I will look after it and publish a table every month. We should continue to use the ELO game thread to post games and results. (I am still looking for a volunteer 'reserve' to share the password in case I disappear. PM me.).

1. System starts on Jan 1, but you can enter the results of a current ongoing game if both players agree.

2. Everybody starts on 1000 points except the top 5 players (agreed earlier) who start on 1030.

3. If a player doesn't play for a year they drop 3% of their score per year of absence. After 3 years they are deleted.

4. If a player loses a game but lasts into 1946 or beyond they gain a small bonus (6 points against a higher ranked player, 5 points for an equal ranked player and 4 points against a lower ranked player).

I should also be able to publish separate rankings tables for Axis players and Allied players, but I might only do this every second month.

[For any technical geeks out there, we are using a standard Elo formula with a K factor of 32. No draws. No 'bands' or 'levels'. A typical win (pre 1946) against an evenly matched opponent will boost your score by 16 and drop theirs by 16. However, a win against a lower ranked opponent may boost your score by as little as 4-5 points. The best way to boost your ranking is to beat a higher ranked player!]

firsteds
(Chris, in the UK time zone).

[HARRIS45]

Thank you for clarifying comments. These may be uninformed questions, but I still am not clear on mechanics and would appreciate definition of some terms. When you say (6 points against a higher ranked player, 5 points for an equal ranked player and 4 points against a lower ranked player) are these classifications determined by previously discussed A, B, C groupings? So that everyone in group A B or C are deemed equal as to points awarded for game results? Do groupings change at some point based upon your assessment of subsequent point levels? If so, are points awarded determined by grouping at beginning of game? Regards and thank you for clarification.

[firsteds]

Thanks for the questions. All comments and queries and suggestions are very welcome.

1. There are no groups or categories (A, B C etc.). That idea was too complex for an easy to run ranking scheme. Elo apps and calculators are semi-automated. However, the top 5 obviously strong players have been given a starting bonus of 30 points so that the initial rankings are a bit more realistic.

2. The bonus for lasting beyond 1946 is going to be manually applied. 6 points for a game against someone ranked above you. 4 points for someone ranked below you. In rare cases where the two players are evenly ranked (I will set that as within 5 elo points of each other) the bonus will be 5 points.

3. Points are determined by someone's ranking at the end of the game, not the beginning of the game. That can only be done in competitions like chess where everyone plays one game at a time, but not in SC PBEM where players might play multiple games and I only want to enter the results and publish the tables once a month. It won't make a massive difference but theoretically a player could jump above you or fall below you during the month, based on other results. So I will do the calculations based on order of results reported to the forum. It's less work and the impact will be minimal.

I will publish a link to a web page with the tables, rules and a FAQ in the new year.

firsteds

[HARRIS45]

Thank you for your clarifications. Looking forward to new system. Regards,