Oh yes they call it the streak...

[Venger]

Busy showing the Indians what the bottom side of my boot looks like, after having shown it to countless other Civs, and have concluded.

This is the streakiest combat engine ever made.

Maybe random result generator is a more apt name than random number generator, because I cannot possibly be the only who watches these constant statistical anamolies occur. As I have hit points doubled, I probably see it much more than someone playing with 'stock' HP. But literally, watch as you rattle off 5 or 6 winning rounds, only to watch the streak give the other way. One would expect a more even distribution of combat round victories, but even when evenly matches, long, improbable streaks pop up far too often. Anyone else with increased hit point numbers see something similar?

Venger
P.S. Bonus points to whoever gets the song reference.

[lockstep]

I have played several games with korn's blitz mod which features a 4/6/9/12 hitpoint scale (so that battles started to become tedious in massive wars), and noticed a decrease in 'odd' combat results. (Can't prove it with statistics, though.)

[Excelsior84]

If you will recall, I studied the RNG quite a bit back some months ago. I did some tests and found that the streaks did not have a statistically significant difference from what would be expected.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35627&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

And yes, I play with upped HP and see these streaks, but I don't think they occur any more often than what would be expected purely by chance. As I said back in November...

I ran a chi-square on the results and it returned a 0.43, not anywhere near a statistically significant result. It looks like Civ3's RNG is working properly.

The reason I was looking at streaks specifically was to address the sentiment expressed by Venger and others that while the overall results might not be off, there were a larger number of long streaks than there should be by random chance. I believe these results disprove that hypothesis.

However, I am open to new data. On the other hand, there's no way in heck I'm doing all those tests again.

[MBD]

Re: Oh yes they call it the streak...

Originally posted by Venger
Busy showing the Indians what the bottom side of my boot looks like, after having shown it to countless other Civs, and have concluded.

This is the streakiest combat engine ever made.

Maybe random result generator is a more apt name than random number generator, because I cannot possibly be the only who watches these constant statistical anamolies occur. As I have hit points doubled, I probably see it much more than someone playing with 'stock' HP. But literally, watch as you rattle off 5 or 6 winning rounds, only to watch the streak give the other way. One would expect a more even distribution of combat round victories, but even when evenly matches, long, improbable streaks pop up far too often. Anyone else with increased hit point numbers see something similar?

Venger
P.S. Bonus points to whoever gets the song reference.

I agree about the streakiness of the 'random numbers', especially when the unit I am attacking can't take another hit. All of a sudden, my full strength unit takes multiple hits until IT can only take one more hit. Then, it's anybody's battle.

Oh yes they call him the streak.
Fastest thing on two feet.
...There he goes,
And he ain't wearing no clothes.

it was a novelty song from the mid 1970's called 'The Streak'

[playshogi]

I still think if you initiate combat with catapult/cannon/artillery, you'll get better results even if the initial bombardment has no effect. Maybe, just my imagination, though.

[Jon Shafer]

Yep. I play with the Blitz mod HP #s and that happens a lot for me also. It's somewhat annoying, but I'm sure Firaxis didn't program it that way.

[Pliny The Elder]

Calculate pi out far enough, and you'll see some odd sequences, too....math happens...

[alva]

I'm guessing most off this this is just perception.

[Barchan]

Re: Oh yes they call it the streak...

Originally posted by Venger
Venger
P.S. Bonus points to whoever gets the song reference.

Ah, the old Ray Stevens classic. Also heard on the Simpsons during Homer's Prom flashback episode. And just who was "the streak" in that episode? And what did his exploits earn him, according to the vice-principal??

[dexters]

Sorry, but perception does not equal reality