[SamC]

The '09 season is finally over. Over the past months we've all seen (and heard) on these forums, and in the shop, complaints and compliments on the game. One of the biggest (in my opinion and observations) complaints has been that of [the big bad?] G14

Originally Posted by The Game Rev I

<G14>CELL Count Modification –If the assigned ALLIANCE score, before penalties, for the last
non-surrogate MATCH played by the TEAM was more than twice (2x) the opposing
ALLIANCE score, before penalties, then one EMPTY CELL or SUPER CELL will be withheld
from the initial set of GAME PIECES made available to the PAYLOAD SPECIALIST for the
TEAM. If the assigned ALLIANCE score, before penalties, for the last non-surrogate
MATCH played by the TEAM was more than triple (3x) the opposing ALLIANCE score,
before penalties, then a second EMPTY CELL or SUPER CELL will be withheld from the
initial set of GAME PIECES made available to the PAYLOAD SPECIALIST for the TEAM.

The optimist (or skeptic, depending on how you look at it) in me isn't actually convinced that G14 had that big of an impact on the game as a whole. In some cases, I'm sure the added points would have been beneficial, and game changing; but for the most part, I'm sure most would agree that the teams getting G14 penalized were able to outscore the majority of the competition so as to make the super-cells pure bonus and not strategy dependent.

All that to propose an idea. I am by no means an expert programmer, but I know that this idea, in theory, is possible. What I am thinking is creating a program that does the following for any given competition

Open Match 1
	Evaluate Red-score & Blue-score for 2x & 3x Penalty
	If there is 2x OR 3x Penalty
		Get Teams on offending alliance
		Record score difference [for future statistics]
        Else -> Move on to next match
For-Each (Teams-on-offending-alliance)
	Repeat score evaluation for their next match
	If there is 2x OR 3x Penalty
		Get Teams on offending alliance
		Record score difference [for future statistics]

That structure continuing for every match played. (With more detail, obviously) Possibly collecting other random data to use for statistical analysis of the impact of G14.

I've talked to several people about this idea, all agreeing it is a somewhat large project, but would put to rest the argument of whether or not G14 "ruined" the game. So I figured I would propose the idea to the community at large. Whether or not the idea will become reality, I don't know, but the idea is out there for what it's worth.

What are your own thoughts, ideas, suggestions for settling the score of whether or not G14 did anything to change match outcomes of the masses?