Yeh, I know – another scoring system, and another of my designs. Well, if at first you don’t succeed…
I’ve designed the Size Matters system to score tournaments. The idea is that it is a hybrid system (of which I’ve been pretty scathing in the past, but one which places draw sized scoring at it’s heart (as all my scoring systems do).
So, how does it work?
- A solo is worth 210 points initially. Everyone else scores 0 before the modifier is applied.
Any player that ends the game with SCs when a game ends in a solo, has the number of SCs multiplied by a modifier to score points.
The modifier is based on a comparison based on Supply Centre count. I’ve said before how much I dislike SC count as a basis for scoring Diplomacy as it really has no place in the game, but I’ve come to recognise that, in a tournament, there has to be some differentiation to separate tied scores based on DBS.
- The starting point is the Base SC score, which is based on 34/n, where n is still the number of players in a draw. So, in a 3-way draw, the Base SC score is 34 ÷ 3 = 11.33; a 5-way draw would be 34 ÷ 5 = 6.8.
Why this formula? Well, 34/n provides the average number of SCs that would be held if all surviving powers had an equal share of SCs at the end of the game. This is needed to find a comparison between each player’s SC Score and the Base SC score for the game.
- Next, find the modifier by taking the player’s SC score and multiplying by the base SC score. So, if a player ended on 5 SC, and five players ended with SCs, modifier would be 5 ÷ 6.8 = 0.74.
- Finally, multiple the number of SCs the player ended the game on by the modifier. So ending on 5 SCs the player’s score would be 5 x 0.74 = 3.7.
Note that, if a player finished on more SCs than the average number of SCs held when the game ends in a draw, then they’ll score more than the number of SCs they held. So, in a game which was lost and 5 players ended the game on SCs, the base score is 6.8; if a player ended on 10 SCs their modifier would be 10 ÷ 6.8 = 1.47; their final score would then be 10 x 1.47 = 14.7.
If the game ends in a draw, points are initially awarded such that:
| Draw size | Score |
| 2-way | 105 |
| 3-way | 70 |
| 4-way | 52.5 |
| 5-way | 42 |
| 6-way | 35 |
| 7-way | 15 |
For all scores, the formula is 210/n (where n = number of players in the draw) except for the 7-way draw. I don’t think any tournament game should really end in a 7-way draw but I’ve learned enough about these games recently to recognise that they do, so I suppose there should be some recognition of that.
These, then, are the base scores, which are then modified to give the points earned from a game.
The modifier is based on a comparison based on Supply Centre count. I’ve said before how much I dislike SC count as a basis for scoring Diplomacy as it really has no place in the game, but I’ve come to recognise that, in a tournament, there has to be some differentiation to separate tied scores based on DBS.
- The starting point is the Base SC score, as described above.
- Next, find the comparison between each power’s SC Score and the Base SC score using s/B, where s = the number of SCs held at the end of the game, and B = the Base SC score. This produces the Modifier.
If the game has ended in a 5-way draw, the Base SC score is 6.8. A player who finished the game on 12 SCs would calculate their modifier as 12 ÷ 6.8 = 1.76.
- Finally, use the value in the step above, the modifier, to calculate the player’s points using D x m, where D = the draw-size score and m = the modifier. However, a player’s score can never be reduced by more than 1/7 of the Draw score.
So, in a 4-way draw, the player’s DSS score is 52.5; if the player finishes on 12 SCs the modifier is 1.41, so the player scores 52.5 x 1.41 = 74.03 points for the game. If a player finishes on 3 SCs, the modifier is 0.35; the player’s score based on the modifier would be 18.38 which is much smaller than 6/7 of 52.5, so the player’s score is 45.
One aspect of this system is that it rewards players who finish on more SCs than the average. For those who finish on fewer SCs than the average, the modifier could penalise them hugely, especially if there’s a big gap between the highest SC score and the lowest. This is why the modifier isn’t used if the modifier would reduce their score by more than 6/7. In other words, the number of points a player takes from a drawn game cannot be lower than 6/7 of the DSS score
If you wanted to focus more on SC count, you could, of course, remove this final rule of the SM scoring system!
This system may not provide a sufficient level of differentiation so I suggest using the Comparative Points Difference system as a way to differentiate between points, and perhaps head-to-head scoring.
So, what happens when a solo is won? Well, effectively, two 2-way draws would normally match a solo combined with an elimination. Now, I’m all for celebrating a solo so, what I’d do, is place a soloist above a player who secures two 2-way draws automatically. However, if you wanted, you could calculate the CPD for a solo and use that. It will certainly add a sizeable number of points to the soloist! Alternatively, where points are tied, the initial differentiation could be CPD scoring, the head-to-head, first.
You’ll also notice, though, that a 2-way draw scores a maximum score of 105 points anyway. There’s nothing to be gained by using a modifier in this scenario. Which is fine by me: a 2-way draw is not something that should happen in Diplomacy!
THE DIPLOMATICON 