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What good is PPS?

Tue, 26 April 2005 21:11

jrbuller

Petty Officer 3rd Class

Messages: 48
Registered: February 2004
Location: Clearwater, FL

OK, so I'm playing in a game that has Public Player Scores, and I'm wondering how useful other players find this info. It's nice to be able to tell how many escort ships my enemy has, and how many planets (that helps me plan how best to CRUSH him!). And I can stack myself up against the other players in resources and tech. But if anyone else has insights into the best way to use this, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks in advance for any tricks of the trade you might have!

jrbuller

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 04:06

Storm

Ensign

Messages: 359
Registered: February 2005
Location: Wanker's Corner

PPS is a lovely fluffy thing that should be cherished.
Firstly, you can see who is at the top of the scoreboard, and paint a biiiiig target on their back accordingly.
Or run away from them.

It can help you put together a picture of what PRTs & SRTs people have (to be taken as part of a calory controlled diet - PPS not to be used as a sole source of evidence).

Playing without PPS is a bit like playing snooker with blindfolds, and not being told the score until the end of the game... Wink

On the other hand, in a game *without* PPS, you don't inherit any scoreboard-based prejudices....

Horses for Courses? Cool

** Storm **

"Yeah... but... Jar Jar makes the Ewoks look like f***ing Shaft!"

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 04:14

PricklyPea

Lieutenant

Messages: 534
Registered: February 2005

I prefer game without PPS. Gives you much more uncertainty Smile

PPS also useful when MT is around and you see that somebody jumps up 6 tech levels Wink

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 07:01

Robert

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 393
Registered: November 2002
Location: Dortmund, Germany

The number of starbases also shows if someone has ISB or not, and that again is a hint for being -f or not... not always true, but often.

You can also see when someone starts building a real fleet, I usually build no warships or produce a real fleet - you either want to figth or not, you either have the tech ready or not - buildnig half a fleet with bad tech is stupid.
And once I got a fleet I also use it - fleets are built with a purpose in mind, building one and not using it is a waste or resources and mins - so if you see someone building ships you should start building minelayers or a fleet by yourself.

There are a lot of information in the score, if 2 races each lost a lot of ships (chaff usually) then there has been a big batttle and both might be quite powerless and it is a good time to attack, a.... lots of things.

The most important thing is that it is more unlikely that someone runs away with the game and becomes unstopable.
In newbie games most players dont realize that the monster is growing, and once they do it is too late. This is not always bad, but I prefere a balanced game where the top player is challanged by smaller alliances until someone else becomes #1.
You can do that by having experienced players who can scout and analyze info or by making the score public.

I prefere no public score and having smart players Very Happy

2b v !2b -> ?

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 07:17

PricklyPea

Lieutenant

Messages: 534
Registered: February 2005

As well as ISB, it can also show up HE races. Also bear in mind that the resources indicator can be fooled by pop lifting.

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 07:47

Kotk

Commander

Messages: 1227
Registered: May 2003

How so ... "What good is PPS"? Having knowledge one can decide, without knowledge he has to investigate on or to gamble. Wink

Primary parameter what there matters is how big yours or someones stick is. Wink

Size of fleet. With PPS you see who has built loads of capital ships recently, you see who just lost a fleet of these, you see who does not build or ran out of chaff etc. Wink

Secondary parameters are all with what to build that "big stick". With starbases and tech one use his resources and minerals to build fleet. PPS does not display amount of minerals and mining rate, but looking at resources is usually informative enough. You see who is hard to beat in shipbuilding ratrace Twisted Evil

, you also see who is easy kill weenie there. Surprised

There is also thirdiary information available ... number of planets, score and rank. Most of it has just diplomatic value. By planets you may roughly guess minerals.

PPS is very useful for newbies. They usually lack skill to judge the situation (and seriousness of the situation) without PPS. Nod

PPS takes part of the fun away from people with more experience. It is making things somewhat too opaque and also the developments in game bit too straightforward. Wink

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 14:58

joseph

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 440
Registered: May 2003
Location: Bristol

Also you can use PPS to fool other players.
See one of your neighbours building a fleet, build about 50 chaff (and minelayers) and another 50 next turn and hey presto they (might Laughing

) think you have just built 100 frigates or cruisers and choose to attack someone else.

Joseph
"Can burn the land and boil the sea. You cant take the Stars from me"

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 15:22

m.a@stars

Commander

Messages: 2765
Registered: October 2004
Location: Third star to the left

joseph wrote on Wed, 27 April 2005 20:58

Joseph
"anyone who isnt paraniod isnt paying enough attention"

Tsk, tsk. Should be "paranoid" Rolling Eyes

You're not paranoid enough! Twisted Evil

By the way, PPS adds some flavor to the game. If you're leading in resources, tech, planets, and such, you tend to worry a lot about everyone else ganging up on you. Rolling Eyes

Makes you think about maintaining a low profile and/or excellent diplomacy... Cool

And, if you're not #1, PPS makes for an excellent diplomatic tool in the right hands.

[Updated on: Wed, 27 April 2005 15:35]

So many Stars, so few Missiles!

In space no one can hear you scheme! Deal

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 18:14

mlaub

Lieutenant

Messages: 744
Registered: November 2003
Location: MN, USA

Kotk wrote on Wed, 27 April 2005 06:47

PPS is very useful for newbies. They usually lack skill to judge the situation (and seriousness of the situation) without PPS.

I disagree to some extent. From my experience, newbies don't understand the score card very well, and think that rank is everything. As you mentioned minerals are a biggie. You can have the biggest empire, but without minerals your score is meaningless.

Quote:

PPS takes part of the fun away from people with more experience. It is making things somewhat too opaque and also the developments in game bit too straightforward. Wink

No. Score isn't that indepth. You can gain much more info by simply observing (cloaked scanner ships), bombing and popdropping. You can reverse engineer a race fairly easily.

The only problem with PPS, is cloaked ship counts. It hurts SS by taking away part of the surprise.

-Matt

Global Warming - A climatic change eagerly awaited by most Minnesotans.

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 22:24

Kotk

Commander

Messages: 1227
Registered: May 2003

I agree, Matt, there are various sorts of newbies. Some more clueless some less clueless. I still think that PPS more helps than hurts them.

Yes, its possible to reverse engineer a race by looking at it and bombing and pop-dropping it. Just that Embarassed

i have had diplomatic reasons to avoid this sort of vital experiments. Got to limit my curiosity there. PPS would often make such experments less needed. Wink

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Re: What good is PPS?

Wed, 27 April 2005 23:47

mlaub

Lieutenant

Messages: 744
Registered: November 2003
Location: MN, USA

Kotk wrote on Wed, 27 April 2005 21:24

I agree, Matt, there are various sorts of newbies. Some more clueless some less clueless. I still think that PPS more helps than hurts them.

I'm not entirely disagreeing, just wanted the newbies out there to understand that the scorecard is not the end all. It is a rough approximate of the race capabilities, no more. As with all things, there are always factors the score card does not consider.

Quote:

Yes, its possible to reverse engineer a race by looking at it and bombing and pop-dropping it. Just that Embarassed

i have had diplomatic reasons to avoid this sort of vital experiments. Got to limit my curiosity there. PPS would often make such experments less needed. Wink

LOL. I usually limit it to cloak and dagger scanning myself. However, I have played against players that only 'listen' to actions. No sense wasting the opportunity, if afterwards they suddenly decide to propose a peace treaty that allows carte blanche on another border. All that info might come in handy later. Twisted Evil

-Matt

Global Warming - A climatic change eagerly awaited by most Minnesotans.

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