Tenacity - The True Measure of a Commander

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Tenacity (tenacidad, Zähigkeit, упорство, ténacité)


Most people will tell you that tenacity is a great quality to have, especially if you're trying something challenging that takes a while to complete.

Odds are, the people you admire have shown real tenacity in achieving their goals. Anything really worth doing takes persistence, perseverance, and stubborn determination. Being a great baseball player requires real gifts, no doubt, but even the most gifted player won't make it to the big leagues without the tenacity required to make the long, hard journey up from the minors. Tenacity is the quality displayed by someone who just won't quit — who keeps trying until they reach their goal. - Vocabulary.com 

Ever since the creation of the VGA Planets there has been a single problem which has plagued the game. It has been complained about since the beginning of time itself. It is the problem of commanders quitting games (dropping) just when a fight was getting good. The reality is, this is a true reflection of the many characters found in the universe. Some people grow fiercer in times of difficulty and others flee and try to forget.

In a real war, you hope you enemies are weak and quit at the first sign of danger.  But here in the Echo Cluster, just for a moment, we have to remember we are playing a game and games are more fun when people don't walk away half way through. So it is important that the system of rewards built into this game rewards players who fight to the end with the best of their abilities and lose or win with grace and charm. To solve this problem we are proud to introduce the new Tenacity rating system. 

Important note: This is a rating of both skill and perseverance.

Tenacity at a Glance


Each player is now given a Tenacity rating based on 3 main components:
  • Raw Tenacity - Your ability to survive in games to the end.

    For each game where you quit or are defeated before the end you will lose 10% tenacity. Based on your last 10 completed games. Only standard 11 player games and team games where you join on turn 1 are counted. (Giant melees excepted)

  • Daily Grind - Your ability to complete turns consistently and quickly. 

    Your percent of turns missed is deducted from this score and the use of holiday mode is considered 1/2 a turn missed each turn. Each turn completed early (less than half way to host time) counts as 1.25 turns made (a bonus 25%). Based on approximately your last 300 turns.

  • Rescue Factor - Bonus tenacity is given if you play as a replacement commander and do well. 

    If you join a game as a replacement and maintain or improve the current rank of the replacement position you will get a bonus. This bonus is increased by having a higher percentage of replacement games in your last 10 completed games. Can be up to 25%. You do not lose tenacity for leaving a replacement game.  

Overall: 

RawTenacity * DailyGrind * RescueFactor = Tenacity Rating

So what affect will this tenacity rating have?

Tenacity rating has 2 main affects:
  • Some games will have a minimum tenacity rating to join.
  • Campaign resources and leader board achievement will be multiplied by your tenacity rating. If you have a low tenacity rating you will earn less achievement and less campaign resources. If you have a high tenacity rating you will earn more. 

    It is now impossible to move to the top of the leader board or earn many campaign resources if you drop out of games.
Here are the top tenacity rated players today: http://planets.nu/#/leaderboard/tenacity

You can see your own tenacity rating on your game history tab.

As always your feedback is welcome (and impossible to stop). We will be monitoring the affect of tenacity in the coming months and hope to see some quantitative improvements in your game play.  

The Echo Cluster loves the fearless leader who won't back down against all odds. If you are fearless and successful you will rise to the top!