Does anyone have a good recipe for crow?

Darn for the last year I been getting my butt handed to me because I hate all those pretty colors!!!

Thanks Slim, I'll see your pod fly out of my sectors now!

Here's an interesting thing, my displays abort with Cn1 set to on even WITHOUT the spaces in the macro and I never NOTICED this?

Muahahah.

hehe, my pod stays on my ship hehe

Slim

quote:look at it like this. does a junior high basketball team have a chance at beating an NBA team? NO, because the NBA team has been playing alot longer and understands the game much better. BUT the NBA team will teach the children and mentor them and when they are older, THEY can join the NBA. you shouldnt lower the baskets just because some people are shorter.


I agree with this analogy. But what I see in TW is somewhat different. A junior high basketball team at least has the option to get up and down the floor and take some shots. There are tactics in TW that make it impossible for a player to even move from sector to sector. It's like trying to learn how to read in the dark. The ONLY way a player can progress under such conditions is to be mentored by another player. While I'm all for players teaching players, not every player is interested in being a teacher or a student. It automatically limits the game to a very select group. Add to that a number of other factors that tend to limit the game to a certain demographic, and it really becomes difficult to round up enough players to support the number of active games.

I think chess is a perfect example of a game that's fun not only for experts but for beginners. I played for years against my dad without ever winning a game, but I always felt like I was in the hunt. In fact, I was never in the hunt, but the beauty of the game is that I always felt like I had a strategy that had a chance to succeed, and I continued to learn and improve with every loss. And chess is a game that is highly stratified in terms of skill level. If a 2400 player plays a 1200 player (about my skill level), the 1200 player will lose EVERY time. And yet, it's the games against the more skillful players that are the most fun to play. Because that's how you learn and improve.

All I can say is that many of these TW tactics did not used to exist, and the game was more appealing to a larger number of players back then. It should therefore be possible to return the game to its roots in many ways, and the result will be a game that's generally more fun, not less.

You have to understand that from my perspective, I hear a lot from players who say "this game used to be fun", or "I played for a few days and lost interest", or "we had a great game going, and then some player showed up and annihilated the game in two hours". Maybe the 98 players who have this kind of experience with Trade Wars are the ones who are missing the point, and the two who figure it out and move on to become good players are the only ones that really matter. I don't accept that. I think the game can be better than that. And I think even the elite players will benefit from the changes if it means more competition and more games in which to compete. Perhaps they won't be as dominant, but they will still have a significant edge.

can you truly name any type of online game where if a new player plays against someone even half decent that they stand a chance? even first person shooters, if the person is experienced, they will dominate newbies and the newbies will stand no chance of learning the advanced tactics without mentoring (thats why they are advanced tactics)(i tried UT04, man those guys are good) i used to play starcraft alot, i was decent, but i lost against people good. then i ran into some good people and they mentored me and i became far better. i play D2. if i didnt have a mentor, i would have the crappiest lvl25 sorc ever. instead, i have a crappy lvl80 sorc (heh) and like 8 other characters that are good. and i understand more about the game. they also were kind enough to point me to a website where i could learn for myself as well (as we have many for twars) mentoring imo for any games is key, because you get alot of game knowledge and experience and you can absorb it all. it also makes you friends and people who you can corp with. since v4 will be able to run side by side with v3 (i believe) i guess it wont be that bad, so we can still have the game as we know it, we will just have a new one to learn. but guess what. the veterans and "elites" will learn the new settings alot faster than someone new and will still dominate no matter what (unless they play me, heh)

Slim

I can see some of what you are saying JP. But to be honest, the problem isn't in the game model, it is in the editor. When you have people without a clue making edits that breed the very problems you describe, well, that is were it lies. Lets be realistic. How easy is it to lock down a 800 turns stock game? With a few corps playing, really hard. The problem is that people make edits that encourage that kind of end result. With a large number of players playing high turn/unlim games, they are short and end quickly. Perhaps you should look into this as part of the problem. Just something I have noticed alot.

Jhereg

I definitely recognize the problems with editing. My philosophy about the edits has always been that giving gameops the choice will allow the best games to rise above the others. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. What I'm considering to address this in the future is a new mode for the game (either v3 and v4, or just v4, haven't yet decided). Currently you can play standard or MBBS, with Gold edits active or inactive in either. I'd like to add a very restricted mode, called Stock, that will not only limit the number of settings that can be changed, but will limit the range of the settings that can be change. Of course, this will mean nothing if players don't seek out "stock" games as a way to avoid the kinds of gameplay issues that can exist in "anything goes" games. Still, I think it would be helpful to provide a not-so-subtle template for how the game is best configured.

But getting back to the issue of whether TW is too hard on newbie players... I can't believe I'm even having to argue this point. I mean, most online games won't even touch player verses player because it might turn some players off. TW is the polar opposite of the EQ-style game when it comes to player conflict. I personally think that's a very refreshing thing. But it can go too far, and I believe it has. When there are players who have played this game since the late 80s who come to me and say they're throwing in the towel because they don't enjoy the style of play that prevails today, I take that seriously. If the game can't even appeal to the die-hard fans, what's the point?

JP, I think you are on the right track. I see some of the points made by Slim and Draconis as well. I like your last post I just read, because I am one such player. People don't know it, but I threw in the towel on Twars over a year ago, and I'm not a "newbie" player (although I've been continually called that by some because I don't like kill scripts and because I've opened my mouth a few times concerning things I wasn't thoroughly informed about).

I never claimed to be an expert in this game, just very experienced. You know that I have been a die hard fan of this game for many years JP. This game used to be fun, but the scripting has made it "not fun."

I'll give one perfect example.

I've played about 4 serious games in the last year. One of them was the "Nationals" tournament.

3 of my corp members didn't even make it out of pods! They were unable to play the entire game. (Now, this was a low turn, almost stock game so it wasn't the "edits" that were the problem).

I didn't get podded or killed the entire game, and Madd Anthony heeded my advice concerning sector avoidance and macro clearing and he did well too, but two players against a corp of FIVE highly experienced players using advanced tactics and advanced scripts... we didn't stand a chance!

I knew we didn't stand a chance and I told Madd Anthony from the beginning, but I was "mentoring" MA and I wanted him to have the experience going up against these "God like" players, (it was Alexio and his group)!

What is the bottom line? This was a low turn game with pretty much stock everything, and in 5 days Alexio's corp had the entire universe locked down. We couldn't move without macros. We couldn't colonize without staying fed safe. We survived for 14 to 16 days in there, I can't remember, but I'm telling you JP that was a FEAT to be PROUD OF. Just us two against Alexio and his trained killers! We were indeed pleased with ourselves!

What is my point? I've been playing the game now since about 1990-1992 (can't remember the exact year), and although I am by no means an expert, I have a decent grasp of the game's mechanics. My friends and family have called me a Tradewars Addict because of the hours I've spent playing the game. For me to finally give up and decide that the game is no more fun, that is a VERY BIG thing!

I think scripts have their place! I also don't fault players for using them, even for kills, I mean, if something is there to give you an advantage in the game, why wouldn't you use it? Right?

I believe that you, JP, hold the key to this problem and I think that your plans are balanced and they are logical.

I don't think for one second, though, that the die hard scripters are going to approve of ANY change to the game that takes away even ONE of their advantages.

As for me, I don't see the point of those that let software play the game for them primarily, and then develop huge game egos because of it. Shrug. I never did get that, and I never will.

I know there are some players who will read SGOs last post and say "he doesn't enjoy the game because he doesn't understand how to play at our level". They'll conclude that it's only "not fun" for SGO because he hasn't been able (or has been unwilling) to evolve as a player to be competative against these kinds of tactics. Well, I consider players like SGO to be by far the norm, and the other, more advanced players, to be anomolies. And the bottom line is, if this game only appeals to that very rare group who can master a particular set of tactics, then this game has no future. It has to change for the game to continue to thrive.

Don't get me wrong. There will always be "elite" players, and "elite" players will always win when they play against lesser-skilled opponents. That's not the problem. The problem is that the game isn't any fun for anyone but the "elite" player. Any game has to be fun for everyone who is playing, not just the best player. I want to work out a solution to this problem that will continue to allow advanced players to dominate, but will allow the less advanced players to enjoy the game enough that they'll put in the time to become advanced players.

An example was given earlier of Unreal Tournament, about how there are "elite" players in this and any game out there, players that 99.9% of us could never hope to beat. But this is the key difference in that comparison. It's a BLAST to play UT against a great player. From what I'm hearing, it blows to play TW against a great player or team. That's a major flaw, and this game didn't used to be like that. Bottom line.

quote:Originally posted by John Pritchett (EIS)

I know there are some players who will read SGOs last post and say "he doesn't enjoy the game because he doesn't understand how to play at our level". They'll conclude that it's only "not fun" for SGO because he hasn't been able (or has been unwilling) to evolve as a player to be competative against these kinds of tactics. Well, I consider players like SGO to be by far the norm, and the other, more advanced players, to be anomolies. And the bottom line is, if this game only appeals to that very rare group who can master a particular set of tactics, then this game has no future. It has to change for the game to continue to thrive.


JP, I will agree partially with the above. But I think there is also a BIG difference that I feel is being skirted. I believe there are 3 groups of people, not the two that you present.

1.) "Advanced Tactic" players, which i do not ONLY mean scripters. I know plenty of really good players who aren't the "script monkeys" people seem to think. they are the people who have studied the game and use it to their advantage.

2.) People who want to learn.

3.) People who don't care to learn.

Now the difference I see between 2 and 3 that people seem to be lumping together are as follows. SGO never understood after all his years of play how to use spaces to abort displays. I guess this is a prime example, I have newer players who I spend hours with who have learned that. They may not have advanced scripts, etc. but they are learning the game concepts which allows them to advance.

If there are die hard people who don't want to use macros/etc to do anything, no problem. There are plenty of servers out there for them. that many of the "elite" players wouldn't go to.

Now I may be the anomily here, but I meet people every week who are asking questions about game mechanics, how to do stuff, etc. Ya know what they learn it and continue to grow. So I pose the question if the problem is lack of knowledge. I see plenty of new players who are not scripters grow quickly because they seek to learn to play the game.

To me it seems that plenty of people want to learn, I have 13 people in a practice game right now, practicing, learning, etc. They will leave there with more knowledge and go back and share that with their friends. It took a few hours a day for me to help them. So I question out of the known group 1 above how many are group 2 vs group 3?

But to help resolve this. I'll post a game idea, and JP and SGO you see how many people you can get to reply that they are interested. As the saying goes let them vote with their feet if they really like the idea.

quote:
An example was given earlier of Unreal Tournament, about how there are "elite" players in this and any game out there, players that 99.9% of us could never hope to beat. But this is the key difference in that comparison. It's a BLAST to play UT against a great player. From what I'm hearing, it blows to play TW against a great player or team. That's a major flaw, and this game didn't used to be like that. Bottom line.


As to UT, I have played 1st person shooters for years, and let me tell you it sucks to play a really good person. You move around, you die, you respawn, you die, you get a cool gun, you die. The worst part, it isn't always tactical mistakes you are making, it is lack of experience. At least in TW you can find out what you did wrong.




And in general, I'm sorry if a team of newer players went to a major tournament and got wiped out. Lets pick ANY online game. New players don't make it past round 1 anyway. So that can't be used as a valid example. I mean pick any online game, sport, etc. Does high school baseball teams play the Pros? They shouldn't survive.



I would also like to point out, that of all these complaints about scripts ruining games, you will notice only one person on your entire forums has responded, and ONLY about one of the initial points. If you feel SGO is the norm, umm....were are these people?


Now to get down to it, are there are things that should be addressed? Sure there are. PWarp delay, Photons not being so aweful broken. Lots of things could be fixed. But I question whether the use of trying to keep advanced tactics out will solve it. Let me put this another way. I am a programmer, and I know the limits of software. Every software programmer knows they can't reach 100%. You'll make your new revision and people will develop advanced tactics for it. It is that simple. Every game has it, new release, and people find new ways.

Also, I wanted to make one point that I think is being merged again. This thread was about scripts, I'll be happy to start another one about "advanced tactics." They are two different things.

Jhereg

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Galactic Overlord

JP, I think you are on the right track. I see some of the points made by Slim and Draconis as well. I like your last post I just read, because I am one such player. People don't know it, but I threw in the towel on Twars over a year ago, and I'm not a "newbie" player (although I've been continually called that by some because I don't like kill scripts and because I've opened my mouth a few times concerning things I wasn't thoroughly informed about).


If your threw in the towel, why were you in nationals?

quote:
I never claimed to be an expert in this game, just very experienced. You know that I have been a die hard fan of this game for many years JP. This game used to be fun, but the scripting has made it "not fun."


I think the reason some people may call you a "newbie" is that experience = knowledgeable. I know plenty of "experienced" programmers in my company that I would never ask for help. They have worked there for 10 years, but can't do alot.

quote:
I'll give one perfect example.

I've played about 4 serious games in the last year. One of them was the "Nationals" tournament.

3 of my corp members didn't even make it out of pods! They were unable to play the entire game. (Now, this was a low turn, almost stock game so it wasn't the "edits" that were the problem).

I didn't get podded or killed the entire game, and Madd Anthony heeded my advice concerning sector avoidance and macro clearing and he did well too, but two players against a corp of FIVE highly experienced players using advanced tactics and advanced scripts... we didn't stand a chance!

I knew we didn't stand a chance and I told Madd Anthony from the beginning, but I was "mentoring" MA and I wanted him to have the experience going up against these "God like" players, (it was Alexio and his group)!

What is the bottom line? This was a low turn game with pretty much stock everything, and in 5 days Alexio's corp had the entire universe locked down. We couldn't move without macros. We couldn't colonize without staying fed safe. We survived for 14 to 16 days in there, I can't remember, but I'm telling you JP that was a FEAT to be PROUD OF. Just us two against Alexio and his trained killers! We were indeed pleased with ourselves!


Okay, as I mentioned in my previous post, you played in a TOURNAMENT against top players and go smoked bringing newer players. How does this show anything. I have to believe you are of at least average intelligence. I mean come on, this doesn't help anything with crap like this. You played in a tournament. This is were people bring it. And you go killed because they used advanced tactics. Now maybe that is JP's goal. He wants to make it so TW is unlike every other game / real life event in the world were in a tournament the newer players on are equal footing, but I don't think that is the case.

Now I am confused, so, is the problem that DU used scripts to lock you out or "advanced tactics"? You had to macro around? Well duh, it was a tournament, they were there in force. You had to be fed safe to colo? really? Wow, that seems a norm even on newbie servers. So you had to play fedsafe and colo....hmm...is this a flaw JP? Isn't that the blue advantage to being fedsafe?

quote:
What is my point? I've been playing the game now since about 1990-1992 (can't remember the exact year), and although I am by no means an expert, I have a decent grasp of the game's mechanics. My friends and family have called me a Tradewars Addict because of the hours I've spent playing the game. For me to finally give up and decide that the game is no more fun, that is a VERY BIG thing!


In general it is knowledge of tactics NOT scripts that make the difference. You can't write a script without understanding tactics and mechanics of the game (or at least not anything good)

quote:
I think scripts have their place! I also don't fault players for using them, even for kills, I mean, if something is there to give you an advantage in the game, why wouldn't you use it? Right?

I believe that you, JP, hold the key to this problem and I think that your plans are balanced and they are logical.


Sure I'll bite. JP please do not respond to this section. SGO please explain in detail the ket to th problem, and JP's plans. So far they have been fairely vague, and even someone with a "decent grasp" of game mechanics could see that. So please, you are known to be long winded, let loose, give me a long description please.

quote:
I don't think for one second, though, that the die hard scripters are going to approve of ANY change to the game that takes away even ONE of their advantages.

As for me, I don't see the point of those that let software play the game for them primarily, and then develop huge game egos because of it. Shrug. I never did get that, and I never will.


I want you to know I am dying laughing right now. Could you please list the die hard scripters who are also these elite players? I'm just curious. List some names, I'm really interested.

Now back to the original post in this thread, what are these people doing with their scripts? You discussed one and only one of the points. Now as soon as that was pointed out that they were easy to get around, you are back to vague statements. No evidence of scripts being used to ruin the game. I am waiting on some solid discussion.

SGO...heh.. I have played alongside Bone and Loki ("Alexio's Trained Killers") in a tourney type game. I can assure you that they used virtually NO attack scripts in that game. They use macros mainly. The reason WHY they don't use the attack scripts in a tourney is because the competition is competent enough to lay traps and take advantage of flaws which virtually all scripts have. So before you label someone as a "Script Kiddie", you need to get your facts straight. I'm sure ALexio and his "crew of trained killers" could defend themselves, but I'm personally tired of you making accusations and statements which are lies and then get all defensive when someone corrects you. What was the universe size in that game? If they had it "locked down", I doubt you would have survived for 14 -16 days, because they would have figged the whole grid. Get your facts straight!

quote:Originally posted by Draconis

If your threw in the towel, why were you in nationals?



I played in the Nationals because Madd Anthony asked me to.

quote:

I think the reason some people may call you a "newbie" is that experience = knowledgeable. I know plenty of "experienced" programmers in my company that I would never ask for help. They have worked there for 10 years, but can't do alot.


I've gone up against "the best of them" and smoked them. I find it ironic the last time I went up against Zentock he called me a newbie, I told him he'd be *SD* before the hour was up, he told me "you overestimate your skills," less than five minutes later I photoned him (by hand) and put him *SD*
quote:
Now I am confused, so, is the problem that DU used scripts to lock you out or "advanced tactics"? You had to macro around? Well duh, it was a tournament, they were there in force. You had to be fed safe to colo? really? Wow, that seems a norm even on newbie servers. So you had to play fedsafe and colo....hmm...is this a flaw JP? Isn't that the blue advantage to being fedsafe?



You missed my point entirely. Earlier you stated that the "lock downs" of the game occurred primarily in high turn games! Go back and read your own post. In fact, you stated "it is hard to lock down an 800 turn game" or something like that. My point was, the Nationals were a low turn game, and they had the game locked down in less than 5 days! So much for your theory!
quote:

In general it is knowledge of tactics NOT scripts that make the difference. You can't write a script without understanding tactics and mechanics of the game (or at least not anything good)

Heh, you're forgetting, most of these guys didn't WRITE their scripts! They were given to them or they bought them, and they come with full instructions. You don't have to know ANYTHING about the game to download a bunch of scripts, with instructions, and go in there and lock down a game with them! That's the true irony! The guys that do this call ME a "newbie" because I don't get those scripts and use them myself! Why should I? I actually like to play the game, and in fact, have beaten the scripters on more than one occassion using just my wits! Yet, there is a definate limit to how much I can compete against some of these scripts! I'm only human.

quote:
SGO please explain in detail the ket to th problem, and JP's plans. So far they have been fairely vague, and even someone with a "decent grasp" of game mechanics could see that. So please, you are known to be long winded, let loose, give me a long description please.

I don't think JP has been vague at all, and I think you are miscronstuing his words, much the same as my words are often misconstrued in here! As for speaking for JP, that is not my place. I happen to know he's on the right track! I'll leave it at that.

quote:
I want you to know I am dying laughing right now. Could you please list the die hard scripters who are also these elite players? I'm just curious. List some names, I'm really interested.

The "elite" players as some call them (and as they call themselves on occassion) are ALL scripters, they either write them, or they utilize them heavily. As for me, a colonizing or product moving script is one thing, using advanced kill and grid scripts to completely lock other players out of the games, well, I'm not impressed with them at all, nor with the so called "elite" players who use them! They don't have my respect as players, and they never will, and when they pod me or *SD* me, they STILL don't have my respect! I just luagh at them and move on to the next game if I still feel like playing (which is a rarety these days).

quote:
Now back to the original post in this thread, what are these people doing with their scripts? You discussed one and only one of the points. Now as soon as that was pointed out that they were easy to get around, you are back to vague statements. No evidence of scripts being used to ruin the game. I am waiting on some solid discussion.


Ok First, they are running bots, that allow them to utilize their partners turns! Therefore, they are garaunteed the maximum benefit for each player in their corp. Then, they run scripts using these bots, which garauntees them the max benefit for EACH TURN! Then, they are RUNNING those bots so that they can send one of their partners off into the universe to "grid" the universe with fighters.

Meanwhile, they run multiple scripts at once, so that, while they are trading, ssting, or colonizing, if a new player enters the game and hits one of their fighters, their scripts take over, warp them (or one of their partners they are botting) off to kill the new player.

In REAL play, if you want to kill another player, you or your partner has to stop what they are doing, and go kill! Not so with the advanced scripts out there! There's no "delay" as you stop, read the message that so and so is killing your sector fighters, there's no need to stop, go get a kill ship, or a planet to drop, etc. It's ALL automated and instantaneous!

They get 5 guys in there, some of them who are not even at the keys, but are runnning a photon script or running a planet drop, plus a save me script with full bot capability.

I could go on, but frankly, this conversation is pointless because no matter what I say here, I'm WRONG!

It's gets tiresome.

SGo... Do you know the level of game knowledge of every player you have played against. You are making generalized statements about people you have never met or conversed with. So how do you know? Just because someone utilizes a scripts doesn't mean they have no game knowledge. I see why you are often ridiculed... Really man.... This is what causes flames and etc.. This is why you got ran out of the TWGS.ORG forum. You seem to never learn...

quote:If there are die hard people who don't want to use macros/etc to do anything, no problem. There are plenty of servers out there for them. that many of the "elite" players wouldn't go to.


If that was true, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. But in reality, I hear all too often from gameops and players who are ready to throw in the towel because a game that had been running for weeks was suddenly derailed by one of "these players". There are certain players who get a kick out of being a bully, and those players won't limit their tactics to just tournaments. They'll scan around for unwary victims, and they'll get a kick out of locking up a game and ruining it for every other player there. I'm not just making this up. I get reports of this happening. It's one of the main reasons I'm concerned.

I would say that this kind of player wouldn't be such a nuisance if there weren't tactics that would allow them to gridlock a game in a few hours to begin with. If the same player had to spend even a few days trying to win the game, the thrill would be lost. It's not about winning, it's about spoiling everyone else's fun. And if I'm not talking about you, that's fine. These players know who they are. Perhaps it's only one or two. It doesn't matter. It's the fact that the situation exists and can be avoided that matters.

quote:I would also like to point out, that of all these complaints about scripts ruining games, you will notice only one person on your entire forums has responded, and ONLY about one of the initial points. If you feel SGO is the norm, umm....were are these people?


You might as well make the argument that murdering people is ok simply because there aren't any people around to complain about being murdered. It shouldn't surprise you that the only people who have any interest in this forum are the people who have accepted the kind of gameplay that's prevalent in TW today. There are 10,000 games you could be playing. If you play one game of TW and you can't even move from sector to sector, you can't even begin to get a feel for what the game is really about because every sector has a fighter in it, and, God forbid, if you come into contact with one of these fighters, you're dead, I don't think you're going to waste your time playing the game again, much less participating in the forum.

quote:Now to get down to it, are there are things that should be addressed? Sure there are. PWarp delay, Photons not being so aweful broken. Lots of things could be fixed. But I question whether the use of trying to keep advanced tactics out will solve it. Let me put this another way. I am a programmer, and I know the limits of software. Every software programmer knows they can't reach 100%. You'll make your new revision and people will develop advanced tactics for it. It is that simple. Every game has it, new release, and people find new ways.


I really don't mean to focus my attention on just "scripts" or just "advanced tactics". That's too limited. All I want to do is look at what gameplay tends to break the game. And by "break the game", I mean, what gameplay will cause a new player, upon entering any game, to scratch their head and say "what's the point"?

To get back to your UT example, you say it blows to play against a great player. Well, let's expand that example to an online game. Typically, in an online game, you have the option to avoid confrontation and do your own thing if you want. You probably can't win this way, but you have the option. And if you are just trying to learn the basics, that's probably all you're going to do. Now, in any online game with PvP, there will be elite players, and any time you go up against them, you're going to be crushed. That's fine, as long as you have a choice. I'm sure you're familiar with the problems with newbie-killing and PvP abuse in online games in general. It's no different with TW. Currently, a player has no choice, has no way to avoid being crushed by an elite player. There's no "newbie-safe zone" and no rules to control PvP. In the real world of gaming, that's a recipe for disaster.

All I'm saying is, I want the game to function so that, if a player wants to compete with you, you can crush them ten ways to Tuesday. But if a player doesn't want to compete with you, if the player wants to run a flower delivery service from StarDock, that should be his or her choice. They won't be a threat to you if they do, so why should you want to crush them? Keep your "advanced tactics" for those players with the guts to oppose you.

Do you realize that there are more reasons to play a game of Trade Wars than the thrill of killing other players? There's a major element of RPG in this game. Also, exploration, and building. The game was once a balance between these modes of play, but now it's heavily weighted toward killing, and only killers stick around to become masters. It's not about scripts, or about advanced tactics, it's just about having a balance between skills. If one skill so far outweighs all the others, then the game is only achieving a fraction of its potential.