Super League 2024: Round 4 - Populous

[lifeschool]

Populous [lemon] [hol]

Round Ends: 23:59 (UK Time) on Saturday 30th March 2024

Rules:
Get the best score you can during this round.
Post screenshots of your score in this thread, and write the score nearby.
Scores to be achieved without save-states, trainers, passwords, and cheats.
No continues or infinite score leeching.
Full rules and info are HERE.

Special Rules:
Select level 0 (GENESIS), or level 16 (BADACON), leave all other options on default.
We are playing for LEAST SCORE (!!), combining the scores from both levels.
If you DONT trigger Armageddon, -50K, but remove Battles. Total = Score - 50K - (Battles Won - Battles Lost)
If you trigger Armageddon, then your Total is also your final score.
If you Gave Up or Lost the game, add (+) 200k, and take away your score. (Total = 200k - Score)
500K will be added to any level left unplayed.
Up to 500 Maximum Battle score is acceptable, negative scores = 0.
Score under 20K in total (both games combined) to get the Completion Star.

Get the Game:
ADF
WHDload (PAL version - direct link)



Extras:
Lemon's Round 4 thread is HERE.
Super League Live Ladder.
Check out the C64 Games Competition at our sister site Lemon64.

Live League Table:

All new players are welcome at any time. Join us!

[lifeschool]

Notes:
Please submit your scores like this:
Genesis XX,XXX
Badacon XX,XXX

How to Play Level 16:
Start a new conquest mission. Click the World icon. Click Conquest. Click New Game. Type BADACON.

How to Quit/Give Up
Click the World Icon. Choose 'Surrender This Game'. Add 200,000 points to your score.

Scoring:
We are playing a low score challenge this round. This is because the game can be milked by using up mana like crazy, and generally spending hours building a million buildings and settlers. Instead, if you built fewer buildings, used less mana, and used fewer magic spells (like Earthquake etc) - this is harder - and so it is worth a higher place in the compo.

150 points are awarded at the start of the map. Maybe this is different for some maps?
250 points for each Earthquake.
500 points for each Swamp.
1,500 points for each Knight.
1,000 points for each Volcano.
2500 points for each Flood.
50,000 points for triggering Armageddon.
If you win you appear to get a flat 50k bonus to your score. We are removing this bonus score in the compo if you killed all enemy and saved your civilization, without triggering Armageddon.

Examples:
Beat Level using Armageddon = Score
Beat Level without using Armageddon = Score - 50,000 - (Battles Won - Battles Lost)
Give Up or Game Lost = 200,000 - Score.

FAQ:
What do I do?
I watched Jim Play this game online. The videos contain general play rules, and don't give away the fast way to kill everything, or any secrets. [ Show youtube player ], [ Show youtube player ].

How Do I Quit and get a Token score:
Just give up, see above.

Can I submit an Armageddon score?
Yes.

How do you know I used Armageddon?
The score page will be blank apart from the score. Otherwise, there will be surviving buildings listed on your score page.


Without Armageddon score. In this example, the score would be Score - 50K = 18,050 - 74 = 17,976

[Harry]

Genesis 429

(300 - 129 = 171)

[Harry]

Genesis 171
Badacon 113,450

[Harry]

Genesis: 171
Badacon: 12,834

[lifeschool]

I've had to change the rules, because it is easy to destroy towns before the end of the level. So instead, we'll go with Battles Won - Battles Lost.

@ Harry, I've corrected the scores in your posts.

[Harry]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

looks like Harry did it all without using any knights on genesis?

I used only the papal magnet in Genesis and that and only a few swamps in Badacon.

Originally Posted by lifeschool

@ Harry, I've corrected the scores in your posts.

Thanks.

[lifeschool]

Rules updated. Thanks Harry!.

EDITED:
If you give up, add (+) 200k, and take away your score. (Total = 200k - Score)

Ah! If you move the magnet around, you can just guide your followers into battle. That's a neat trick. And rather a Genius idea!

[mailman]

How to calculate the score if I lost? My score was 500.

Should I add 200000 as if I gave up?

[Harry]

Take 200.000 and subtract your 500 for a result of 199.500!

Oops, saw too late that you lost, but I think it should be the same like giving up. Lets wait for Lifeschools confirmation.

Meanwhile, another tip: Make flat areas, in towns the people grow much faster than in huts. When time has passed a bit, make a hill near a town so it is reduced, and let the appearing man settle elsewhere, then remove the hill again - now you have 2 settlements. So you dont have to wait too long until someone comes out of the town.

[lifeschool]

Originally Posted by mailman

How to calculate the score if I lost? My score was 500.

Should I add 200000 as if I gave up?

Thanks Harry for helping me with the scoring. I didn't think about losing the game. If we are taking away (-) the score first before the 200k, it would mean those who wasted lots of mana would get a better score than those who just gave up, or used mana conservatively. If we add (+) score after the 200k, it means those who quit out straight away would get a better score than those who tried?

For now, I'd say just keep Lost games the same as Given up, e.g. Score + 200k?

[lifeschool]

Just got a note from Harry, Lost games = 200K - Score?

[mailman]

Ok then. I'll post my "astounding" score :-)

By the way, I think that in the rules mentioned in the first post and in the example in the second post there are two different ways to calculate a score when the player gives up. In the first post it is said about substraction and in the second post it is said to add.

[Total Eclipse]

I thought I'd give this one a go, though I usually played Populous II.

Genesis, 1544

I accidentally spawned a knight

I'll give BADACON a try either at the weekend or next week,

[lifeschool]

I've now update the rules. The Lost games penalty is now the same as giving up, because anyone can give up if they lost the game, and get the same score. Also updated the example in the second post.

Welcome Total Eclipse!

I double checked your score and it is correct. Well done for taking part and getting a good score. If you dont trigger a knight by mistake next time, you would be right up there on the table!

[mailman]

Genesis 199,500

[mailman]

Badacon 198955

[lifeschool]

RULE CHANGE!

If you beat the level without Armageddon, Total = Score - 50,000K, minus! (Battle Difference)

This is because games lost should give players a '+' score, while games won should give a '-' score; which is broken if we use + Battle Difference. The win difference means the more battles won, the more BONUS score the player should get. That means dominating the opposition with a high battle difference is rewarded, rather than it being a penalty by plusing it.

This is open to ABUSE however, because a player could simply hang around a level milking enemies, by keeping them alive. But although there is no incentive for fast battles anymore, I hope players will avoid loitering, and just play through the level as normal, until all enemy are dead.

It also opens up the possibility of getting minus scores on Genesis e.g. 300 - 301. But that opens up another can of worms.

I've now gone through and changed all the scores in the thread with the new format. I hope I've done the right thing. Everyone please remember this rule change, and I'll double check scores for you just in case.

[Total Eclipse]

GENESIS : 69

(assuming my calculations are right)

I'll give BADACON a try in the morning.

[Total Eclipse]

BADACON: 10,326 (Again, assuming my maths is correct)