Too many tanks

[robinzig]

People have assumed I posted this because of run of "bad luck". This is not true. I win about as many games as I lose so it's not about bad luck or bad strategy. It's about observation. In the around 50 games I've played so far, I have seen with my own eyes how many tanks come up and others have commented on this in the games. It would be hard to recorded for this as the game moves pretty fast (and I wouldn't want to run down that stupid clock - the worst part about BGA). I will try and record my turns at some point and prove it but it would need a large sample size.

Thanks for the constructive comeback. Please do record it - maybe play some turn based games so that there are no bad consequences to you spending a few seconds writing down each set of rolls.

For what it's worth, I've played this game on BGA a fair number of times - admittedly not as many as 50 - and I don't recall ever feeling that tanks come up more often than they do in real life. As for other players commenting on them, OF COURSE they do. Since it's a push your luck game and tanks are the rolls you want to avoid, it's perfectly normal that at least a few times per game someone will roll way more tanks than they expected, and comment on their bad luck. Lucky runs with fewer tanks than expected tend not to get commented on.

Please do collect some stats from actual games before continuing this discussion. (Ideally you would have done this before making a post demanding the game is "fixed".) I'm sure if you find a statistically significant number of tanks rolled and present your data then the developers will be happy to look at it.

[XCID]

I took a look into the source code. It's implemented that each die has 1 cow, 1 chicken, 1 human, 1 tank and 2 death rays. Standard randomize function, no side is preferred over another.

[Silene]

People have assumed I posted this because of run of "bad luck". This is not true. I win about as many games as I lose so it's not about bad luck or bad strategy. It's about observation. In the around 50 games I've played so far, I have seen with my own eyes how many tanks come up and others have commented on this in the games. It would be hard to recorded for this as the game moves pretty fast (and I wouldn't want to run down that stupid clock - the worst part about BGA). I will try and record my turns at some point and prove it but it would need a large sample size.

I know this is a premium feature so not everyone can look at it. But if I click your Martian Dice Statistics, it shows some stats about your rolls. Among that is:

Code: Select all

XXX                                                  davidr0607 average       All players' average      Winners' average
Number of Death Rays rolled throughout the game      56.55                    62.45                     65.43
Number of tanks rolled throughout the game           26.81                    31.14                     29.13
Number of Earthlings rolled throughout the game      87.62                    93.08                     97.53

26.81/(56.55+26.81+87.62) is pretty close to 1/6. In fact it's even fewer than 1/6.

The fact that tanks stay on the board while you re-roll some other dice (which you can't do with tanks) is probably why you perceive it as more than it actually is. The thing is: There is many more rolls than 13 (the number of dice) in your turn. When in the end of your turn you have 5 tanks among the 13 dice of the game, that is not in 13 rolls but in maybe around 30 rolls which you did in your turn. You did not roll 5/13 tanks. You rolled 5/30 tanks.

[voriki]

The fact that tanks stay on the board while you re-roll some other dice (which you can't do with tanks) is probably why you perceive it as more than it actually is. The thing is: There is many more rolls than 13 (the number of dice) in your turn. When in the end of your turn you have 5 tanks among the 13 dice of the game, that is not in 13 rolls but in maybe around 30 rolls which you did in your turn. You did not roll 5/13 tanks. You rolled 5/30 tanks.

That is a very smart explanation, and sums it up nicely. You do get a false feeling of having too many tanks because they remain on the table.

[Icebrg]

From all the games I've played it seems like WAY too many tanks are rolled. I understand some of the explanations but something still seems wrong. We save the death rays too and there are twice as many of those but they seldom add up to the tanks.

[Silene]

From all the games I've played it seems like WAY too many tanks are rolled. I understand some of the explanations but something still seems wrong. We save the death rays too and there are twice as many of those but they seldom add up to the tanks.

Your "it seems" is just not the case. It's a perception error. I see you are premium member - so you can check your stats on what was rolled how much if you go to your profile, scroll down to Martian dice and click "My statistics for this game". And you will see that your (and your opponent's) rolls of tanks, deathrays, earthlings are pretty close to 1/6, 2/6, 3/6 - as they are supposed to.

If you don't believe the stats - well then i guess you need to replay your games and count. But don't forget to count the results of every roll - not just what it shows in the end of your turn. Please share your results if you do so!

[frogstar_A]

From all the games I've played it seems like WAY too many tanks are rolled. I understand some of the explanations but something still seems wrong. We save the death rays too and there are twice as many of those but they seldom add up to the tanks.

You only save death rays IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CHOOSE. Often you will choose earthlings esp3cially if you roll loads of death rays.. But you have to save every tank.

It's a bad comparison.