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Q. How is the winner determined at the end of a game?
A game can be won by an individual nation or by a multiple nations. The way it works is as follows:
The individual score for each nation is calculated (based on victory conditions - mandatory & optional).
The average score is calculated for each nation - factoring in the individual scores of any TA that a nation may have. The average score is the one used to determine the winner(s).
Examples,
1) Germany has an individual score of 400 and no TAs. Germany's average score would be 400 as well and its final standing would be based on that.
2) France has an individual score of 450 and has Lowlands as a TA. Lowlands has an individual score of 330 and has France as a TA. The average score for both France and Lowlands is 390. They would both finish behind Germany from the previous example (France would have beaten Germany if it did not have Lowlands as a TA at the end but it did and the low score of Lowlands resulted in an average that placed them both behind Germany).
3) Spain has an individual score of 450 and has Italy as a TA. Italy has an individual score of 430 and has Spain and Tunisia (an inactive nation) as TAs. Tunisia (inactive) has an individual score of 200 and has Italy as a TA. This is the most complicated scenario since each nation has a different set of TAs. The average score for Spain would be 440 (the average of Spain & Italy). The average score for Italy would be 360 (the average score of Spain, Italy and Tunisia). The average score for Tunisia would be 315 (the average of Italy and Tunisia). The fact that each nation has a different set of TAs will accordingly result in each of them finishing with a different average score. Spain would finish above Germany at 440 (earning an individual victory if no other nation finishes with a score equal to or higher than it), Italy would finish behind France & Lowlands with its 360 average score (the inactive Tunisia dragging it way down) and Tunisia, as an inactive, would not place at all. If Italy had managed to break the TA agreement with Tunisia before the end of the game then it would have been averaged only with Spain and the two of them probably would have had an alliance victory.
The last scenario is the most complicated - the way to avoid that is to make sure that every member of a Total Alliance has the same TA set (i.e. Norway is TA to Sweden and Finland, Sweden is TA to Norway and Finland, Finland is TA to Norway and Sweden). If anybody has a TA that nobody else has then the average score for the group will not be the same (in most cases - mathematically it is possible).
Note that the TA agreements you have in force will determine your average score but the final determination of winner(s) is based only on the average score. It is possible for two or more nations who are not TA's to finish with the same average score. In that case it would be considered an alliance win - whether or not they were TA's in the game.
To avoid unpleasant surprises at the end - make sure nobody has an extra TA that the rest do not and make sure to ditch any inactive TA well before the end of the game.
Q. If multiple nations win a given game do they all receive the free game prize for winning?
Yes - the free game prize for winning a game of Victory! can be awarded to multiple players if they all finish with the same winning average score.
Note that the free game prize has some game mechanics of its own and it does not guarantee a specific number of free game turns. The way it works is as follows:
1) If you have won a free game prize you may invoke it at any time during the course of a Victory! game simply by telling the GM (Russ).
2) Once you have invoke the free game, all turns for that game position are free of charge (the only limits are the game mechanics limits - i.e. 60 orders on tech periods 1-24, 90 orders for TP 25-48 and 120 orders for TP 49+)
3) The free game prize can only be invoked once however so choose wisely when to do so. If your free game position is subsequently conquered or badly battered during gameplay then you may not get the value out of the prize you had hoped for. It is impossible to completely eliminate a Victory! nation - even a position that has lost all territory and units can stay in the game as a government in exile type position - but that's probably not the sort of thing you hoped to use your free game prize up on.
4) Accordingly, it is probably a good idea to hold off invoking a free game prize until you are certain that your nation has a good chance of doing well in the long run. If you start a game with Iceland...well, the chances are pretty good that you'll be around for a while and invoking a free game prize immediately should work out ok. If you start out as Austria and everybody around you is a stranger...you might want to wait a few turns and see how things go. The free game prize doesn't have expiration date on it so you can always use it down the road.
Edited by RTGRuss, 15 May 2006 - 10:34 PM.
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