Scores question (in General)

Ok, so as not to clog up Flamey's thread:


How do scores work? I've always been a little puzzled and fascinated at the ebb and flow of the score standings.

I understand how a low level char fighting up can affect scores. What I've never understood though is the idea that if the top players scores drop that filters down the ranks. Would Ranger sitting at 4 million in score increase scores further down? (It's not something that's only in my head by the way, it's something that's been put to me on several occasions...)

Is that some kind of weird delusion? We have a few of those around these parts lol....

Assuming the only way score is transferred is by fighting, Ranger at 4M would not increase scores lower down. If he is unbeatable then he can only reduce scores every time he wins and his score is never transferred downwards.

Double tapping can do it but I'm not sure about the overall effect (apologies to those with which I argued that double hits did increase scores lower down). Some of Rangers score gets distributed through the ladder but then he will reduce his targets scores by more per hit (I think) as his score is lower.

Right now there is a group, Koy, King of pain, oxcha, nwo, edyit, hubbel and the lega which cannot be beaten by anyone outside. They take score from the rest of the ladder each time they hit someone outside the group but don't have a link to further down except by double tapping

The double tap effect is generally short lived (I've been a double tapper lol).

If I hit someone higher I increase my scores. That increased score is passed to somebody hitting me from lower down and they in turn pass that onto somebody else. So initially scores climb.

But then the person at the top of the chain is now lower in score. His/her fightlist are then hit and anyone on his/her list of a higher score gets their score pulled down. They in turn pass their deflated score back down their list. There is a level that it will eventually return to, sometimes quickly, sometimes not.

Scores outside of that particular bullring you describe have remained fairly static for some time. The NCB particularly is IMO responsible: lots of players of lower score fighting as high as they can, challenge bonus has made more people than ever do that...so inflated scores moving upward then passing back again....

Yeah, so: double tapping of higher score players I understand. But the idea of letting higher score players keep their score because it can have a positive impact on scores came from somewhere...not just my head lol...I'll see if I can find out where/who.. personally I find it a puzzling idea, would be nice to either wipe it away, or have it confirmed/explained.....

During a not-so-recent double-tap thread, I was directly accused of irreparably damaging the score ladder. The two people I remember taking issue where the two fastest-climbing NCBs at the time, NightStrike and Mikel. NS insisted that me inflating scores then led to a WORSE dip in scores later, a phenomenon I do not believe in. Basically, my personal conclusion was that double-tapping at high levels takes a bot of "score juice" from the top and trickles it down, only ADDING to score/PR ratios lower down.

You can read for yourself in the previous thread:

Thread.

Score is like a fruit tree. It must be carefully harvested, or else it will dry up like an overly irrigated lake.

I've had this score since september last year :O

That's what I get from reading my graph, it changes a little, but nothing too dramatic.

I have always think that score is something that doesn't bring any true meaning, it should be PR versus PR that counts when computing challenge bonus.

Reason being, if you have 1mil score and 1mil PR, and you win a 1.2 mil score and 500k PR char, that doesn't prove that you are taking risk, it's actually no risk at all. Your raw fighting power is already 2x the other person, why are you getting challenge bonus and not penalty?

This will also make people more cautious of the PR weight and effect of tattoos / items on their general growth. Balancing might be required, but it's at least a more fitting way to determine the bonus especially the name of it is "challenge" bonus.

At the middle or top, PR is above or almost equal to score.

JW maybe you are thinking of PR as the system tries to equalize score and PR. So higher PRs=higher scores.

NK, that would make the game an even worse roundabout of rock, paper, scissors and well over 50%, if not 75% of strategies will beat you with a higher PR regardless of how good yours is.
Score, while not being perfect by all means still allows you to gain a reasonable idea of how good yours is at a certain level.
The only problems now are the fact that there is a bottomless pit between 1mill and 1.5mill and that everyone starting a character, including NUBs are fighting people at least 10-20% over those that would be on the level to give them 100% rewards.

Scores are depressed people unequipping to fight and then having a defensive set up. Just a general point :)

JW -

Here's an explanation that I've tried to put together for you.


First, understand that according to a FAQ from a while ago, CB tries to keep your score relatively close to your PR. That means that after everything else I mention, if your score is currently above your PR, you will gain less. If it's currently below your PR, you will gain more.

Now, score is created when you fight just like the total XP in the game and the total cash in the game. Unlike those rewards, however, score is also deleted from the game when you fight, depending on the outcome.

Obviously, whoever wins gains score and whoever loses loses score. A stalemate should be counted as a loss for both people, and scores are affected on an individual basis. For instance, if A and B fight, and A wins, A will gain score that will not be equal to B's score loss. A's score gain will be calculated based on the scenario that A faced, and B's score loss will be calculated based on the scenario that B faced. Stalemates pose interesting situations, for A's loss is based on A fighting B, and B's loss is based on B fighting A. Both lose score in that situation.

As for the factors that influence how much you gain and lose, there are many that I don't fully yet know. An important factor, however, is the score delta between the two opponents. CB will have the scores naturally converge on repeated battles, so if you win against someone with a higher score (or if you lose against someone with a lower score), the higher score will lose a lot and the lower score will gain a lot. If you win against someone with a lower score (or if you lose against someone with a higher score), the winner will gain a little and the loser will lose a little.

As stated before, this is further modified by what I stated initially -- that is, your score relative to your own PR.


Now, as for how score trickles down the ranks, it's an interesting sequence of events. Score flows down in droves, but is also created at every rank in small amounts. Ranger creates a small amount of score with every fight, as does everyone else in the game. Ranger's score when double tapped, however, flows down in large gushes. Further, anyone who can find a large score opponent and win will create a similar gush of score down the ranks. What I find so fascinating is that this gush will also flow back UP the ranks.

For a while, I was able to beat The Alchemist. My score shot up far, fast. Everyone above him, however, could easily beat on me and take more score away than usual because of what I stated above. That resulted in a blip of see-sawing behavior on the radar of CB score, which eventually evens out as people smooth over the curves and settle in to their new position on the score ladder.

Score from the top, however, takes on an attribute that is different from score elsewhere, seeing as how it gets created at a rate with a net gain higher than at most other levels (since the top can generally not be beaten, and thus only loses score in contrived situations). A top score supplier is like a money tree, fueling the people underneath him. Money trees, according to American fiction, are devices that supply riches in a limited way. When abused, they dry up and no longer supply that commodity.

As a top scorer outstrips those below, the score he creates with each battle lessens. I would like to say that there is a minimum gain of 1 score point on a win, but I've only seen as low as 3. The point is, the amount of score someone like Ranger can produce is dependent on how high he lets others below him get. It's a symbiotic relationship that requires both parties to give and take, working together against the ultimate underlying pull of CB, which, as stateed in the beginning, likes to see Score equal to PR.


I think that's enough for now. Let me know when that's been fully digested. :)