So since you are posting about changing govts in other solo servers I think this server should not be neglected. I happen to think that both in the old days e2025 and nowadays the tournament style play brings out the essense of what is enjoyable in this game.

It is also the one server that you dont play multiple countries on that actually works on it's own merit, without needing the GDI mechanics of primary and express in order to make it possible to netgain without being randomly suicided every single reset. The ladder mechanics are enough for that to be a rare occurrence. Its a relaxed server, a server where friendships are built and in-game communication is joyful.

One thing is a slight problem tho. All-xp might be a bit too strong. Its quite reasonable that it should be hard to win without attacking at least a few times, otherwise we have just removed an aspect of the game on this server. As I see it there are 3 ways to make attacking crucial to get a top position:

1. Add a few bots.
-Pretty self explainatory, if you add countries that don't retal it's going to be better to hit them than to explore after a certain point. I do think this is a bad solution with how the bots work today.

2. Add turns.
-More turns(20 or 15 minutes/turn instead of 25) mean that longer time will be spent with low explore gains, thereby increasing the relative benefits of grabbing.

3. Lower explore gains.
-Either just half em like around what they were like in 2003 or something like that, or keep the base the same but make them decline faster.

Leave tournament alone, if you don't like it don't play it!

Constructive critizism... especially considering you totally missed everything I said.

I play tournament because I think it is the best server. That does not mean I think it can't be better though.

Good thoughts, but I disagree with adding bots. Players can still attack for land without bots (perhaps shocking to some players these days). I'd even risk saying that your top players here are occasionally hitting other players for land.

i 'll consider all this more carefully, but i want to chime in early on the NO BOTS IN TOURNEY chorus -- please don't even think about it --- i am sure bots will destroy tourney.

Lets not get bogged down argueing about adding bots or not then since we all agree bots should not be added. I just listed 3 possible solutions for creating an environment in which grabbing is necessary for top ranks. And it is quite simple to get 29-33m NW with all-xp in tournament depending on how lucky you are with the market that set perhaps.
One of the ways I listed was adding bots and I specifically said I'm against using that option. So lets talk a little broader and look at the other options, shall we?

Do we want a longer game(turn wise) or lower explores? Each seem reasonable to me.

Turn rate: I think if the turn rate was the same as in team server you would see lots of grabbing since its not a clan game which means there are more viable targets. Though that is a huge change to the tournament meta if you do that.

Explore rates: You could cut them in half, forbid mass-exploring, or you could make them start declining sooner, or make them decline faster, maybe a combination thereof. It would require a fair big of balancing I think. The negative aspect of this is that, to me at least, theres a good reason to use the same game formulas in each server for players to be able to learn the game no matter where they play and have good skill carryover from server to server.

I think explore rates should be trippled on tournament :P

i share the feeling that dithering the explore rate could achieve the "need to grab to win" objective, but that such a subtle server rule change would make tourney play weird and a bit confusing vesus the rest of earth - so i'd rather avoid it

lengthening the set will push all the nw finishes to higher numbers ... but i am pretty sure the extra turns will push the potential for new nw records in favor of efficient grabbers

if you keep the 100(100) limit, the turn flows will feel different; if you increase the turn limits, you add new demensions to what is possible on longer turn runs - even for the all x p!ayers.

also, i think extending the set by adding turns may unbalance the bonus system

but certainly, ALL existing strats will need to be re-tuned to fit the game length, so there would probably be 6 months to year of wild west frontier play while we figure all that out

personally, i think it could be fun and am happy to consider this option further - especially since this feels like something that could be technically accomplished

cheers!

A possibility to curb parts of the issue with turn storage is to make max turns something like 100(180) instead of 160(120) like on team, if team rules were applied. That would not improve mass exploring while still adding ~1100 turns to the reset.

Another possibility is to add a tournament specific bonus for say 4 bonus points a day for those who kept their country name for more than 2 resets, thereby incentivizing players to stay identifyable and take responsibility for their actions. This would only add 6 turns a day, which is significant but has to be coupled with a faster turn rate in order to make all-xp less powerful.

I actually really like his suggestions...having recently started playing tourney again

One problem I am finding in tournaments is that people are able to do insane damage to a country without even having to click that War button. A couple of suggestions of mine would be to perhaps make it so you cannot use missiles or Bioterrorism (because it's very, very powerful) without declaring War. Attached to this suggestion would be an option to choose a bonus when you go into War instead of just 10% to attack power. Maybe have four options: 10% Attack Power, 10% Defense Power, 10% Spy Effectiveness, or -10% Military Losses.
Thoughts?

I think a pressing issue against a change like this is the fact that GDI is required in tournament games already.