Round 12 Calculation

[data2008]

There are two relevant threads regarding round 12 price calculation:

http://www.planetmule.com/forum?topic=202.0

and

http://www.planetmule.com/forum?topic=410.0


So how exactly should PM value food, energy and smithore at round 12?
Is trading round 12 even necessary?
Please let us know what you think of round 12 and if it should be changed in the 1.3 series.

[dynadan]

I can not say how the original handled these issues.

I don't believe the 12th round auction is needed.  It can only really be used to cheat with.  There should be some sort of "unveil" at the prices of the different commodities in 12th round.  That is the most suspensful part of the game and where we get to find out who wins.  Maybe just getting rid of the timer in round 12.

I don't remember energy being quite so easy to spike in the original, but i can not verify it.  I do think that food should be able to spike some also in 12th, but that neither one of them should spike as easy as we can do with energy now.  (those are opinions though and not necessarily how the original worked)

[mikman]

I still think just defaulting everyone to the buy side of the line would be the best way to handle the final round, this way if the store has none, then the no sellers no auction would end the final auctions quicker, and people don't have to remember to switch if they get defaulted to sell...

Also I'm not sure how the prices were affected in the final round on the original, but I do have a memory of high priced commodities sometimes in the final round...

[ask1m]

unfortunately i do not know the original game, but i guess one could get rid of the auction after round 12 and just reveal the prices of the goods - maybe 'auction-style' but without the timer.

[leahcim99]

As usual with any topic here, the solution should be a mixture of all of our thoughts and ideas.

We should definately have all players default down (buy) and no buy/sell in round 12 (leave the auction style so that players can "predict" the winners as the prices are revealed.

@dynadan - what games are you playing that are EASY to spike nrg....the players I play WILL NOT BUY that WAY overpriced nrg unit needed to create spike  

If the colony ship is returning to remove us from the Planet, then commodities prices in the 12th month are a moot point, if however, the colony ship is bringing MORE colonists to the Irata, then the prices in 12 should be a true reflection of the supply/demand curve.

If there is low food at the colony in month 12 and the ship is bringing more gobblers - food should spike, same for Energy, if the ship is coming to get us and we are just leaving....then pricing of commodities should be low.

[GambitTime]

Round 12 trading should be eliminated. 
Allow food to spike as energy does.  I don't understand why they are treated differently.
Leave the acution style in round 12,  I like to see why I won or lost.

[dynadan]

@Leahcim    Currently all it takes for energy to spike in 12th round is for 1 unit to get sold at high price.  (also does not work if somebody has a lot of energy already hoarded)  But it doesn't seem to reflect the overall colony supply/demand.  Everyone can have 8 extra energy and if 1 unit gets sold for high there will be a spike.  This is what i meant by it being easy to spike in 12th.  In practice it is a little more difficult because it takes 2 people to pull off (1 person to sell and 1 person to buy).  So in a game with 4 experienced players it is rare because it would need to help both people out for them to try and do it.....however with a new player in the game it is very easy to manipulate that player because he doesn't understand how the 12th round spike works currently.  (Another case involves unethical players trying to throw the game from 1 player to another by spiking energy against their own personal interests.)  Also, if several players have a shortage in 11th round but no units are sold there will not be a spike...this seems to be opposite of how the spirit of the game should work.

I don't know what the correct formula should be for the energy and food pricing in the 12th round.  I just think it should reflect the overall (and individual) colony supply and demand instead of just what a unit gets sold for in the 11th.

[piete]

In my opinion the current calculation deviates a bit from the original, on C64 I remember having seen food/energy prices over 100 on round 12. It's all in the assembly code that Kroah has provided us with.

But for me the possibility to trade is not necessary and I wouldn't consider it a deviation from the original, there if somebody tried any nasty tricks you could stop them with your fist/foot, here it is not possible . Just show the prices for a while and go ahead. But if my old school colleagues insist on preserving this feature, I won't start to argue about it.

[Rhodan]

I agree we don't need trading in the 12th round. Default every one to buy let us see the prices for a moment.
This will stop any unethical exchange of money and goods between players to change the outcome.

[C64 nostalgia]

I agree, skipping round 12 trading would cause virtually no change in game mechanics, but would speed up the game plus eliminate a potential source for disgruntlement.

[Intergalactic Mole]

In the original game, the formula used to determine the value of goods in the summary page is the average trade price or, if no goods were traded, store offering price.

For example, if someone buys/sells 1 food at 50 and then 1 food at 25, the value of each unit of food in the summary will be 50+25/2, or 37.5.  This # is then rounded up or down to the nearest integer (I dont remember which).

In the C64 version the formula calculation was nullified in round 12 and only store selling price was used to value the goods, even if people traded.

There has been much controversy about whether or not this was done as a "correction" to the Atari version.  In the Atari version, it is possible for 2 players to collaborate to inflate the last round prices. Anyone can speculate for any number of reasons why there is a difference in round 12 valuation between the Atari & C64 versions of MULE, but to claim definitively that the Atari version was bugged because of this is incorrect since we do not have any official statements regarding this from the original author.

Therefore, by removing this ability from Planet MULE, or skipping round 12, you are changing the way the game played for us Atari people.

And I might remind you that the Atari version was the first, and best, version of MULE (in my opinion).