Re: Contest of Mayors is a joke

If you're doing all the highest possible valued tasks, and other people are scoring way higher (like 50% higher), then of course that arouses a lot of suspicion for some.

I don't think there's anyone cheating (although it may be possible), I came to the conclusion that people are just having a lot more luck with task allocation.

You could role a die 6x in a row and be lucky enough to role a 6 all 6 times. Someone else might not get a single 6 at all. I believe that's exactly what's happening here, but I strongly feel that the format doesn't belong in such a contest. Most of the luck needs to be removed so these contests can be based on skill and effort. If you put in just as much effort, you should have a competitive score.

For me, I put in the maximum effort and still came 56th. NO PRIZE! My score is so far short of top10...

EDIT: at the end of the League I finished #61... 

The Leagues at this level has become a lucky draw dip, they might as well just randomly place us on the final leaderboard.

What league is that?  I just may want to stay lower on purpose for a bit.  As people go higher, I would expect the lower tiers to become easier too as everyone putting in maximum effort would be in an upper tier.

For the third week in a row I was not given the opportunity to earn enough points to win my league. Although I was much more competitive this week, top 10 finish, the top 2 finishers were ~10k & 9k ahead of me the third place was 8k above me in 8th. If I total all the uncompleted tasks their point values don't add up to 8,000 points, so again I never had a chance to win.

My latest theory on this is the first week everyone seemed to have a similar assignment pool and a equal chance to win and I felt the contest was enjoyable, but I also think it unbalanced the Trade Market terribly with everyone looking to buy and sell the same items in the same time frame. EA's quick and dirty fix to this was to randomize the assignments, thereby fixing the Trade Market problem while making the contest totally unbalanced.

The right way to do this without breaking the Trade Market would be to have pools of assignments at each point value, then randomly assign each player an equal number of assignments from each point level pool. This would result in every player having the same point total potential while giving them varied tasks to complete to keep from breaking the Trade Market.

Again, only my theory and possible solution, but I would love to hear what other think.

The constant "they are cheating" is getting old. It is possible to score big really fast. It's been talked about over and over. you can to multiple tasks at once just dont collect the items you produce until you have that task selected. I moved up a league every week until this week. In my city league you have to have over 60K to advance. I ended up with 42K and finished 48th! So should I be crying that 47 others were cheaters? 

They only thing that does suck is the random tasks and how others can get more points than you even if you do all the highest point tasks. At one point I had a task of produce 12 cheese, I completed it and got the exact same task, so I didn't it again as it was my highest option, then I got it again for the third straight time. If someone else had that happen but it was produce 5 keys for 5000 then of course they will crush everyone.

I may have to bail on the Contest of Mayors as well. 

I completely understand how certain tasks can be completed quickly. For instance getting a Vu task or a Gold Token task can be completed quickly and easily by doing Easy disasters and having some simple components stored and ready for use. Any common sense strategy would be then to go after those tasks first. On the other hand produce assignments are very slow. To speed these up you have to use Cheetah tokens or SimCash to produce and collect items faster. I have no problem with folks using whatever means available to them to gain points as quickly as possible. More power to them and I don't believe anyone is cheating to do this.

What I am frustrated with is the fact that assignments are totally random and point totals at the end of the 5 days really have nothing to do with skill, cash, or time commitment. The last two weeks I've been in the Town League and both times I finished with roughly 35,000 points which was good enough to barely crack the top 30. Whereas the top point getters where well over 50,000 points. Which means they would need to average at least 2,000 points per assignment vs. my 1400 points per assignment. That is a huge statistical divide. I'm also lucky when I get a rare chance at more than 2000 points on an assignment and in the 4 weeks I've been playing I've had less than (10) 3000 point assignments. I'm seeing here that people have had 5000 point assignment whereas I've not seen a single one. This makes no sense.

If there's a game mechanic determining assignments I would love to know what it is, because then at least there might be a component of skill of commitment involved. Do you stay on the same assignment track to unlock better assignment? Do you need more high end specialization buildings? A Maxis Manor? a higher number of Epic buildings? I don't think anyone is cheating but it sure sounds like there are other mechanics in play. 

If anyone has any ideas please share!

My problem is that we don't all start each league at zero points.  Some are already maxed out before you do your first task.  That can't be by luck!

@mbrown2626 wrote:

The constant "they are cheating" is getting old. It is possible to score big really fast. It's been talked about over and over. you can to multiple tasks at once just dont collect the items you produce until you have that task selected. I moved up a league every week until this week. In my city league you have to have over 60K to advance. I ended up with 42K and finished 48th! So should I be crying that 47 others were cheaters? 

They only thing that does suck is the random tasks and how others can get more points than you even if you do all the highest point tasks. At one point I had a task of produce 12 cheese, I completed it and got the exact same task, so I didn't it again as it was my highest option, then I got it again for the third straight time. If someone else had that happen but it was produce 5 keys for 5000 then of course they will crush everyone.

Since it was my original post that started this I will clarify some of my points and maybe dispute some of yours. While I do find it suspicious that any player can complete the entire challenge in 13hrs using all the tricks you mention, which I also employ, it is also a bit funny that he was a level 54 player in a league of 44's with only a handful of 45's and 46's not a single player other than this one was higher than 46 in the league.

The greater issue being discussed here is not cheating but is the inequity currently employed by EA in awarding assignments and possible points. For the third week in a row I could not win my league even if I had completed every assignment without limit my total available point pools simply were not enough. How is that fair?

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@josepootler wrote:

If there's a game mechanic determining assignments I would love to know what it is, because then at least there might be a component of skill of commitment involved. Do you stay on the same assignment track to unlock better assignment? Do you need more high end specialization buildings? A Maxis Manor? a higher number of Epic buildings? I don't think anyone is cheating but it sure sounds like there are other mechanics in play. 

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You bring up an excellent point and XP granted for thinking outside the box.

What if there is more skill involved than we think there is because we don't understand what is going into it.  What if these high end assignments are coming from people who have well rounded specializations.  Where someone with a population of 4,000,000 may have a high population count, but all their beach items are Marinas, all their landmarks are Washington Monuments, all their Education is University, all their transportation is Heliport, all their entertainment is Ferris Wheel, all their gambling is the Luxurious Casino Tower, etc.  High population count, but not much variety in each specialization.  Although someone of the same or similar level has a population around 1,000,000 and a more rounded variety of each specialization within their city and is getting higher assignments rewarded to them because of it.

What if this week I got a lot of high end assignments because I've been slowly rounding out my specializations the last couple weeks and adding more variety within the city.

Another thing to throw out there.  Week 1 there were complaints of having such a wide variety of levels within the Neighborhood league.  Seeing the league pictures this week including my own (top 10 attached from my league) everyone is around the same level.  It looks like that has been fixed or it was only the neighborhood league that mixes all levels together and the higher leagues ensure you're grouped with levels within one of your own.  All mine seem to be level 34 or 35.  It could have just been because it was the first week and the neighborhood league is the lowest tier so everyone is mixed together.

Someone previously stated "This would result in every player having the same point total potential." 

Wouldn't that result in everyone tied for 1st?

There also is a lot of mention about people completing tasks quickly or having a lot of points all in the beginning. What difference does it make if a player is in 1st place on Friday? Doesn't it only matter what place you are in when the contest is over

I have not experienced a situation where starting quickly helped or that I ran out of days to complete my tasks. Each of the four so far I have completed all my designated tasks. For example, my 3rd week in suburban League, when I went for my first assignment, 1st place had 16,000 points. I posted about this, nobody responded. I ended up in 1st place and he dropped to 12th or so. This past week, in Town League, I finished 25 assignments by Friday and was in 5th place. I ended up in 18th place, 21,000 points behind 1st place. That's a big difference between 1st and 18th and I did the top point assignments on 24 of the 25

Someone mentioned EA's model creates unfair advantage. Is life fair? Is war fair? Yesterday I commented that we all hate EA and I was blasted for that. Its their game, they can do what they want.

Here's what I think: Some weeks you do good, some weeks you dont. They are maybe millions of players of this game, could EA possibly tweak it enough to make a difference individually?

I've read alot of people want to quit the game, presumably in protest? I once boycotted Costco because of their bad business practices. Did anyone see their stock drop dramatically as a result? Do you think EA will get the message if you quit? I now shop at Costco because I realized that I was the one missing out

Nobody knows what EA has put into the game, all this info is speculation. Speculation leads to frenzy, which leads to paranoia, and ultimately chaos...

Last time I checked, no one paid to buy this game...

Last time I checked, you can play without spending any money...

They support the game, provide upgrades and resources...without any cost

In the Produce and collect parts of the contest, you can keep everything and sell for a profit...

Bottom line, I take no sides. I play, I get frustrated, I threaten to punch my ipad...and then I continue to play. If ever the day comes that the frustration is more than the fun, well we will cross that bridge...

Let's just all have fun...

PS I use this forum and other forums of other interests to learn more about the subject and to improve my knowledge and skills, which ultimately should lead to more enjoyment. I did not come to this forum to complain...

Someone previously stated "This would result in every player having the same point total potential." 

I don't see an issue with that, except for the fact that the rules state there are no tied scores. The person who gets the score first will be higher on the leaderboard. The down-side of this, is the fact that the contest starts mid-week, and punishes people who primarily play on weekends. Not everyone would have the same score, but those people that completed all the tasks could potentially be. If they complete all the hard work, they should be rewarded accordingly.

There also is a lot of mention about people completing tasks quickly or having a lot of points all in the beginning. What difference does it make if a player is in 1st place on Friday? Doesn't it only matter what place you are in when the contest is over

The rules say there's no tie scores, if you get the higher score first, you're above the following people who tie your scores. This would be 1 example where money rules the game. Speeding up the airport deliveries is a huge time saver. I did it in the last contest and yet I still finished #61.

Someone mentioned EA's model creates unfair advantage.

It surely does, because the fact is, the task values are completely random, making it a contest of almost pure luck. I got word back that this is changing soon, however I don't know how soon.

Quote: "We understand your frustration. A balancing of the tasks will arrive shortly & it will make it more fair for everyone."

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@TroyParry74 wrote:

Someone mentioned EA's model creates unfair advantage.

It surely does, because the fact is, the task values are completely random, making it a contest of almost pure luck. I got word back that this is changing soon, however I don't know how soon.

Quote: "We understand your frustration. A balancing of the tasks will arrive shortly & it will make it more fair for everyone."

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Soon from a programming aspect can easily mean anywhere between 2 weeks and 3 months.  Although I'm sure EA has a team working on the game and not just one person, so I would think sooner than later.  Although when my boss is asking me how soon is soon, I usually mean, It's done when it's done, don't rush me or it'll be buggy. 🙂

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@TroyParry74 wrote:

 

Quote: "We understand your frustration. A balancing of the tasks will arrive shortly & it will make it more fair for everyone."

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So the *s admit that they screwed up? I demand a refund. I want my money back!!

Oh wait, I forgot we play for free

Good followup as usual. Good info. Guess we just wait and see

PS I did forget about the no ties thing

I'm guessing the task assignments are issued server-side, so it could change much sooner than you think.

It would be poor programming if it were client side, because that would make it very vulnerable to exploitation.

I'll start the city league again today, but if it's not looking promising i'll abort early. Fingers crossed!

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@TroyParry74 wrote:

I'm guessing the task assignments are issued server-side, so it could change much sooner than you think.

It would be poor programming if it were client side, because that would make it very vulnerable to exploitation.

I'll start the city league again today, but if it's not looking promising i'll abort early. Fingers crossed!

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Small patches/downloads can be passed in-game too that don't require an entire update.  I've been thinking they do this sometimes and it goes in when it initially opens your city that's why sometimes it takes longer to load.  

There was a bug in some people's contest that would crash the game last week and an EA rep said it was fixed and to close the game and load it again.  How else could a crashing bug be fixed if not but for a downloaded patch?  Is it possible a server-side bug crashed only some devices?  Anything is possible, but I think it more likely that when loading the game small patches are downloaded at that time.

That they don't charge us for the game, does not make them saints. Pay to play is dying, they get more money out of this way. I've spent 60 on this game in about 2 months. When I was a kid simcity cost 20 bucks and I could build freely, without all these time restrictions and having to unlock more land to build on. This game sucks you in and is easy to find yourself dropping 10 or 20 bucks here and there, it adds up. They are making a lot of money on this game, and they really don't you defending them.

Some may complain too much, or make too big of a deal about it no doubt. But none the less is this not the place for us to address our concerns, do you really think video game designers pay no attention to the chatter about their games and try to improve them? I've spent 60 dollars on the game in 2 months, if they don't listen they are not bright. I don't like the randomness of the contest of mayors, clearly I am not the only one. It's not in the best spirit of fair competition. Why do I want to continue doing it if the time money and effort into purchasing forth are not fairly rewarded? Playing this game is a waste of my life, and realistically I'm always looking for a reason to stop. This might just do it for me. I worked my way up to the megalopolis league, had gotten 1st or second in everyone I tried up to this point. Was going thru doing the most valuable assignments, well I've got 12 of the 50 assignments left, and I'm almost 40k behind the leader. I spent more  money  to get thru some assignments and hopefully catch up, but it was a waste as I have no chance  now, in fact I'll be lucky to  make it out of the small prize.  Other because of lack of skill or planning. I have almost 50 items for upgrading tokyo/London etc homes, haven't gotten a single assignment to upgrade anything but one standard residential worth 800. * that mess. It's such a hassle keeping this * in my inv, saving those upgrades for the contest, and then to not get any, 40 assignments in...yes life is random, doesn't mean we want our video  games that way too. Surely there is a way to make it more fair, and avoid the issue of ties. If they want to keep my business they will look into it.

Those of us, who don't pay for any offerings in the game, usually watch ads -- advertisement brings a lot of money to the developers of such free games. So we pay with our time, they get real money 🙂 I actually installed a couple of the advertised games -- one of them is still here and I play it actively.

With COM (we talked about it in some other tread) a player who tried it for a little while can figure out what he can and can't do, and often it means aiming not for the win but for some kind of a reward. In my case, it is lower 40th place since the reward for it is the same as for 11th, but it costs me significantly less nerves and resources.

Have a good COM 🙂

An update to my previous post:

Since they do not give any green sim bucks for watching ads anymore I think I'm pretty much out of the race entirely -- that was my only source of getting the greens. Now I cannot finish any shipment assignments in comprehensible time. They increased the time between airplanes as well: now I have to wait whole 18 hours each time I need to send a shipment -- that hardly works with the time frames for the COM, so it seems only you guys, who pay real money, are now left to fight.

😉

So the *s admit that they screwed up? I demand a refund. I want my money back!!

Oh wait, I forgot we play for free

Good followup as usual. Good info. Guess we just wait and see

PS I did forget about the no ties thing

A lot of us spend money on this game. You keep acting like since it's a 'free' game no one gives EA money. We do and we expect value for that money.

We have a right to speak. If you aren't paying for the game, maybe you should listen more and talk less.

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@RevTKS wrote:

So the *s admit that they screwed up? I demand a refund. I want my money back!!

 

Oh wait, I forgot we play for free

 

Good followup as usual. Good info. Guess we just wait and see

 

PS I did forget about the no ties thing

A lot of us spend money on this game. You keep acting like since it's a 'free' game no one gives EA money. We do and we expect value for that money.

We have a right to speak. If you aren't paying for the game, maybe you should listen more and talk less.

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You must have me confused with someone else because everything you comment on about me could not be farther from the truth. You make some accusations that just are not accurate. From what Ive read of your posts, you do nothing but complain and yet you still play. I read these forums to learn and to enjoy the game better. So many people complain that it gets old. You obviously have a problem with people who have different opinions that you, you obviously believe that your opinions are the correct ones and thats fine. I actually feel sorry for people like you, who have a hard time existing in society because you have no friends. Maybe you will get it someday. Try seeing the cup as half full sometime

Bottom line I'm not here to fight anyone. You obviously have a problem with me and since I am the bigger person, I will give way and let you have your way. I dont have the time nor desire to keep responding to you nor do I want to stoop to your level

Good job buddy! Enjoy your life...

Just regarding this post, it looks like it's diverged away from the original topic.

To that point, i do think the contest is far fetched.  I can't fathom people spending money on this game just to win the one contest. I put it down to hackers which seems the most logical theory

The contest really demands to much time and effort and the whole random factor in skill points is just to much of a negative.

@Toby-G-211: Thank you for posting those screenshots!  I always found it amusing that people would keep insisting that there is no hacking or cheating going on--that it's all just "strategy" or people paying money--when it's obvious that this couldn't be the case. Why would someone spend $50 or more just to win at City Leagues? How could someone possibly lead at 40-60K points within an hour of CoM starting when everyone else is still at 1K? 

BTW, here's another beauty to add to the collection:

It's not clear to me. What exactly are these pictures showing that proves cheating?

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@SkeeterMark wrote:

It's not clear to me. What exactly are these pictures showing that proves cheating?

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Look at the last screenshot I posted. What is unusual about that city?