Botanists for Social Justice

Fallen London
41

Okay successfully challenged Flyte, and now I am in a contest of mysteries. I see Lord Crumbledon (Evariste S. Crumbledon) who is highest on the list here, so I will send them a note asking to be challenged so they know to challenge me. Still have yet to see Tyler or Jack anywhere so either they are higher up or visiting the boatman or at zee or something.

Edit: It might be a good idea to edit the list and rules into the first post of this thread so its easy to find and access quickly.

Edit 2: Success Lord Crumbledon has moved on to a contest of voices and I’m back in a contest of blood.
edited by NiteBrite on 6/30/2013

42

[quote=NiteBrite]Edit: It might be a good idea to edit the list and rules into the first post of this thread so its easy to find and access quickly.[/quote]A sound suggestion. It is done.

I now seek a Contest of Cunning. I anticipate a challenge from Katerina once she has vanquished Shadowcthuhlu’s plant.

Edit: my Eyeless Skull compels me to numerous heists. I am presently engaged in one such; in general, if I’m not available for a Contest, this is probably the reason. I’ll usually complete my larceny in half a day, if not less.
edited by Flyte on 6/30/2013

43

Because of the number of botanists whom haven’t shared their rank and the likelihood of brackets not being followed even if I did make them. I doubt their utility (faster to update a list). If you would like me to however I have started. Until then I am at contest of blood. And anyone higher then me on the list should feel free to invite me to a contest and if I see anyone below I will invite said person. Also you might want to update my name on the list with my storynexus name as apposed to my forum name.
*Nite you I see you and your higher in the list so feel free to challenge me.

edited by Tyler on 7/1/2013

44

Aha, so you are Sweeny Todd in story nexus not Tyler who must be a different player altogether. I should have read your signature. That would explain why I didn’t see you before in contest of blood. I’ll send you the invite right away.

45

I was hit by the glitch that broke names and had to change it. Also congrats on the win Nite and you have been challenged Seb.
edited by Tyler on 7/1/2013

46

Known player positions to date
Lord Crumbledon (Evariste S. Crumbledon) - Contest of Voices
Jack Vaux-Harrowden (Jack Vaux-Harrowden) - Unknown at present
Nitebrite (SleepyOrigami) - Contest of Mysteries
Sweeny Todd (jonathan smithsonian) - Contest of Cunning
Katarina Navane (Katarina Navane) - Contest of Strength
Sebastian Flyte (sebastian flyte) - Contest of Cunning
Dirae Erinyes (Shadowcthuhlu) - Contest of Strength

Edit: To make it easier to keep track of my position in the tournament, I have made it my scrapbook status on my profile linked in my signature.
edited by NiteBrite on 7/1/2013

47

Mine is in my scrapbook as well.

48

[quote=NiteBrite]Known player positions to date
Lord Crumbledon (Evariste S. Crumbledon) - Contest of Voices
Jack Vaux-Harrowden (Jack Vaux-Harrowden) - Unknown at present
Nitebrite (SleepyOrigami) - Contest of Mysteries
Sweeny Todd (jonathan smithsonian) - Contest of Cunning
Katarina Navane (Katarina Navane) - Contest of Strength
Sebastian Flyte (sebastian flyte) - Contest of Cunning
Dirae Erinyes (Shadowcthuhlu) - Contest of Strength

Edit: To make it easier to keep track of my position in the tournament, I have made it my scrapbook status on my profile linked in my signature.
edited by NiteBrite on 7/1/2013[/quote]

[li]
I’m at the Contest of Strength still, unfortunately.

49

So here’s the optimal order of things assuming the challenger always wins. Note this is just the optimal order, things might not work out this way so you should always just follow the base rules and attack the person below you whenever you can. I just list this out since we seem to be progressing one step a day. So at my minimum estimate it would be about 17 to 21 days before we have our first winner at this rate. Then another 42 days after that (6 players x7steps) for everyone else to win once. Sixty three days total, so just over two months until this is done at our current pace.

1a. Todd challenges Sebastian to a contest of cunning.
1b. Jack challenges Katarina to a contest of strength.
2. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of strength.
3. Jack challenges Katarina to a contest of cunning.
4a. Jack challenges Todd to a contest of blood.
4b. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of strength.
5a. Jack challenges NiteBrite to a contest of mysteries.
5b. Todd Challenges Katarina to a contest of cunning.
6a. Crumbledon challenges Jack to a contest of voices.
6b. NiteBrite challenges Todd to a contest of blood.
6c. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of strength.
7a. Jack challenges NiteBrite to a contest of mysteries.
7b. Todd Challenges Katarina to a contest of cunning.
8a. NiteBrite challenges Todd to a contest of blood.
8b. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of strength.
9. Todd Challenges Katarina to a contest of cunning.
10. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of strength.
11. Sebastian challenges Shadowchtuhlu to a contest of strength.
12. Katarina challenges Sebastian to a contest of cunning.
13. Todd challenges Katarina to a contest of blood.
14. NiteBrite challenges Todd to a contest of mysteries.
15. Jack challenges NiteBrite to a contest of voices.
16. Crumbledon challenges Jack to a contest of Beauty.
17. Crumbledon wins and cycles back to the bottom of the list.

From step 9 onwards we will be in list order for the rest of the tournament cycles and just need to look out for the person immediately above and below us.

In total:
a) Crumbledon: will challenge Jack to a contest of voices and a contest of beauty. (2x invites sent, 0x invites accepted)

b) Jack: will challenge Katarina to strength and cunning, then Todd to a contest of blood, then Nitebrite to a contest of mysteries twice and a contest of voices. (6x invites sent, 2x invites accepted)

c) NiteBrite: will challenge Todd to a contest of blood twice and a contest of mysteries. (3x invites sent, 3x invites accepted)

d) Sweeny Todd: will challenge Sebastian to a contest of cunning, then Katarina to three contests of cunning and a contest of blood. (5x invites sent, 3x invites accepted)

e) Katarina: will challenge Sebastian to four contests of strength and a contest of cunning. (5x invites sent, 4x invites accepted)

f) Sebastian: will challenge Shadowchtuhlu to a contest of strength once (1x invite sent, 5x invites accepted)

g) Shadowcthuhlu: will accept only one contest of strength from Sebastian at the end of the cycle this round. (0x invites sent, 1x invite accepted)
edited by NiteBrite on 7/1/2013

50

Sorry I haven’t replied, I was pretty busy this past week and couldn’t get a chance. If I could, I would still like to participate.

EDIT: After reading the replies it has become clear to me that I should let everyone know I’m currently at a contest of strength.
edited by Doomlewa on 7/1/2013
edited by Doomlewa on 7/1/2013

51

[quote=Doomlewa]Sorry I haven’t replied, I was pretty busy this past week and couldn’t get a chance. If I could, I would still like to participate.[/quote]I think this is probably not a good idea, for the following reasons:

[ul][li]Going by NiteBrite’s estimates, we’ll be doing this for another nine weeks. I’m concerned that one of those weeks might be as busy as the last, which would cause a disturbance in the Force. Uh, Queue.[/li][li]Seven is actually the ideal number, for two reasons. First, it keeps things very simple. After the initial shuffling, everyone will almost always be entering Contests with the same two people, those immediately above and below in the Queue. Similarly, we’ll almost always alternate between just two stages of the Tournament; for example, I’ll be moving between Contests of Cunning (where I know I just need to wait about for Katerina to challenge me) and Contests of Strength (where I know I have to challenge Shadowcthuhlu). These things don’t hold true with eight people.[/li][li]The second benefit of having seven people is that it enforces fairness. We’re all guaranteed to have similar profits and expenditures, and to win about as often as we lose. With more than seven, these things begin to be influenced by other factors, such as how often everyone logs in.
[/li][/ul]I think the solution may be to open recruitment for a second Queue. It may be a while before enough people come forward, but I suspect that as long as the Tournament remains broken, interest in Queuing will continue to accrue.

I realise this probably isn’t your first preference, but does it seem like a reasonable solution to you?

52

I don’t see a reason why not. Having an eighth player would speed things up substantially and give some redundancy in case anyone drops out months down the line. Although we are well underway with the current cycle so I wouldn’t suggest changing the list order at this point. Maybe we could add new players to the bottom of the list as they show up? Adding Doomlewa to the bottom of the list would give shadowcthulhlu someone to attack effectively halving the invite sending/accepting load on Katalina who would otherwise fight nineish battles to complete this current cycle.

Sebastian, it’s your call since you are running this show. Might add a rule saying only the player at the top of the list can send out a challenge of beauty to prevent the case where three people make it to beauty at the same time causing line skips.
edited by NiteBrite on 7/1/2013
edited by NiteBrite on 7/1/2013

53

[quote=NiteBrite]Sebastian, it’s your call since you are running this show.[/quote]I don’t want to be autocratic. If others find my reasons uncompelling, I’ll accede. Still, I think there are issues with some of the points you make.

[quote=NiteBrite]Having an eighth player would speed things up substantially and give some redundancy in case anyone drops out months down the line.[/quote]Your point about redundancy is certainly correct, but adding more players is unlikely to speed up the Queue – the speed has more to do with the responsiveness of the slowest person. The quickest way for 14 people to Queue is to form two Queues. (This problem could be reduced to some extent by adopting a more complex algorithm, but I’m almost certain it would either significantly increase the number of wasted actions or require us to generate random numbers. Disclaimer: I am not a mathematician.)

[quote=NiteBrite]Maybe we could add new players to the bottom of the list as they show up? Adding Doomlewa to the bottom of the list would give shadowcthulhlu someone to attack effectively halving the invite sending/accepting load on Katalina who would otherwise fight nineish battles to complete this current cycle.[/quote]There are some difficulties with continually adding people to the bottom of the list. Either the Queue goes from a fixed commitment to an indefinite one, or we turn it into a sort of escalator where people drop off the top. An escalator would be seriously unfair. It doesn’t bother me that it would reduce the burden on people at the top of the list: my concern is that unless the stream of new Queuers goes on forever (which is unlikely), it will eventually collapse and the last six people won’t get their Rosettes. (Yeah, kind of like a pyramid scheme.)

It seems to me better to just start new Queues whenever enough people appear. Of course, we can still add Doomlewa to our Queue if that seems best – but we should at least be clear about where we’re drawing the line on new members.
edited by Flyte on 7/1/2013

54

I would add her and if we get more people put her at the top of the 2nd queue. Also I have beaten Sebastian at a contest of cunning. I am now at a contest of blood and have no one to challenge.
edited by Tyler on 7/1/2013

55

Greetings, all. I only today saw this post. Should an standby be admitted, I’d like to participate. I have 17 in Attending… and have not yet participated in any tournament, to date. Regards.

56

I’ve completed 1b–and my thanks to Ms. Navane.

I have a friend who’d accept an invitation to a Contest of Cunning; assuming I won as the challenger, that’d obviate the need for steps 3 and 4b without messing anything up, yes?

57

Youre right, what I was imagining was an escalator that gave a free ride to late comers. And that isn’t fair. Two queues is the fair way to go. My claim of increased speed was based on the idea that more steps could be done in parallel at the same time rather than in a series one after the other. But its debateable either way.

58

[quote=Jack Vaux-Harrowden]I have a friend who’d accept an invitation to a Contest of Cunning; assuming I won as the challenger, that’d obviate the need for steps 3 and 4b without messing anything up, yes?[/quote]By all means, go ahead. Obviously, it would be best if we avoided accepting challenges from outside the Queue, but I can’t think of a good reason to ask folks not to issue them.

[quote=Jeff Crowl]Greetings, all. I only today saw this post. Should an standby be admitted, I’d like to participate. I have 17 in Attending… and have not yet participated in any tournament, to date. Regards.[/quote]Welcome, Jeff. At the moment, as you see, we’re discussing how to respond to additional botanists who wish to Queue. I can’t say yet whether you’ll be able to join our Queue, but at the very least, you could sign up for a second Queue, to begin when we have enough people. Would that interest you?

59

For what it’s worth, I’m fine with the idea of me being in a second queue. Again I’m really sorry about disappearing off the face of the internet like that.

60

Accepted two more contests today.