UO Second Age

I think Luca Blight said it best, ‘non free-use tournies just make stocking-up a chore.’ Are non free-use tournaments the best resolution to sudden death? I propose two alternatives to sudden death which could abolish stipulation of non free-use tournaments.

Limiting free-use tournaments to resolve the issue of sudden death could imply a failure of resource management among tournament participants. However, there may be fallacy drawn with this distinction. Are all tournament participants failing to manage the amount of resources they use?

Ultima is inherently a game of chance. Keeping everything else constant, it’s safe to assume those who maximize and harness their best chances of success typically are the winners of tournaments. Essentially, this ability is potentially achievable by anyone, leaving controlled fights open to stalemates. Unfortunately, which elapse over an enormous amount of time.


Statistical Victories

After a reasonable amount of time, a duel can end in a statistical victory. A statistical victory takes into account various data relevant to the best use of offensive and defensive strategies. This possibly can be revealed with a ratio such as the amount of damage dealt over the amount of damage adverted. The ratios for the two combatants would be the inverse of each other. The combatant with the highest ratio probably focused more on offense; it could be safe to assume he had control over the duel.


Draws and Rematching

After a reasonable amount of time, a duel can end in a draw. Does there have to be a clear winner and looser? Though this is irrelevant, even a game of chess can end in a stalemate. If there has to be a clear winner, maybe the combatants ought to be re-matched with other participants within the tournament. However, what should be done if this is near a final round or the participation level is low? Maybe a statistical victory should be considered.


In theory, a non free-use tournament eliminates the need for sudden death. In practice however, duels still find their way to sudden death and defeat the purpose of non free-use. I hope that you take serious consideration of my proposed alternatives to sudden death and feel free to debate the issue at hand. Thank you for reading.

obv solution to everything.

Fix sudden death, instead of starting from a point in the fight it should just restart the fight, both people get full hp/mana and sudden death becomes fair and not retarded

Pro, even though this would be better than the current form, sudden death still would ultimately come down to whom ever gets the luckiest high damage. Sudden death is a stupid feature that is not meant for a tournament but is necessary to an extent in the current status quo.

Is there a consensus that there should be no sudden death in non-free-use tournaments?

I've been out for most of last week and am trying to catch up on forums discussions which is not a small task.

The majority dislike Sudden Death since the end result is always the person who gets the luckiest high damage values since you cannot heal. However, sudden death is necessary in the current tournament form or structure. There was an overwhelming amount of support for my proposal in the +65% range that would remove sudden death utilizing the non-free use setup that requires a resource cap per match. The thread seems to have been deleted(no surprise there since it was a post from me) because of the usual smack talkers.

The way my proposal went was fairly simple...

When a match starts collect all resources reagents, potions, bandages, food, etc... from each character's pack and distribute them based on the static item limit cap. For example, some ideas thrown out there was 50 of each reagent. This way people would be able to take plenty of items without the need of restocking and if you are careless wasting resources you will fall victim to a sudden death in it's own form from not having resources.

This new system would remove the need for sudden death and the horrible luck based outcomes that it brings us all. Creating a system that is based on a strategy of resource management instead. Casting in mani is a very good tactic that typically never fails depending on the situation. However, it will come at a cost of consuming more resources. This would allow macers to have a chance again in tournaments too since food won't be unlimited like it is with free use and even non-free use since you can carry over a 1000 fish steaks without taking a huge hit to weight.

Pretty simple, if you ask me.

The only hard part is trying to balance the resource cap and how it should be done taking different templates into consideration, etc...

I believe the scheme subsequent of sudden death is absolutely necessary, in free-use and non free-use. I assume the concept of sudden death is to keep a tournament flowing in a timely manner. As Faust describes, sudden death defeats the perception of a tournament. The winner is the person who gets the luckiest, instead of those who are more skillful. However, I don’t believe non free-use or the rationing of resources will completely solve this.

With non free-use there is implication that participants must manage resources properly. However, when players do control resources appropriately the concept of resource management is negated; duels manage to exceed an enormous amount of time. Which in turn, defeats the purpose of non free-use and some form of sudden death is necessary to keep the tournament flowing in a sensible manner. Fundamentally, when you have two very skillful duelists participating, the rationing of resources doesn’t completely solve the failures associated with the current format of sudden-death.

Ultimately, I propose two alternatives of sudden death which may resolve the source of the issue without negating the purpose of it.

Faust wrote:When a match starts collect all resources reagents, potions, bandages, food, etc... from each character's pack and distribute them based on the static item limit cap. For example, some ideas thrown out there was 50 of each reagent.

i really do not like this idea because who are you to tell me how many of anything i can bring? you are basically forcing me into a generic style of play. if i want to bring 400 nightshade and 0 other regs and just cast poison the whole time, i better be able to. i think sudden death should be removed, and items should be restored to their original amount/repair status at the end of the match (non-free use during the extent of the match, but restored for immediate use in the next match).

GomerPyle wrote:i really do not like this idea because who are you to tell me how many of anything i can bring? you are basically forcing me into a generic style of play. if i want to bring 400 nightshade and 0 other regs and just cast poison the whole time, i better be able to. i think sudden death should be removed, and items should be restored to their original amount/repair status at the end of the match (non-free use during the extent of the match, but restored for immediate use in the next match).

Do you feel the amount of time a tournament takes from beginning to end should be relevant to the outcome of a tournament?