A little experiment

This relates to the Derby but I thought others might be interested in the mechanics of the game so I post here in general. If the mods want to move it later then that's fine!

For some time I have had the theory that neighbourhoods are only added to a 'Derby pool' when they take their first task. This was based on my observations from starting fairly late in the 6-day period and finding all the other participants also at '1st base'. It makes sense from a game mechanics perspective - you wouldn't want a load of non-participating hoods cluttering up the matchups, making them a stroll for everyone else. It's also the simplest way of creating a level playing field and is fairly simple to code.

So, 2 of us forumites got together to try to test out the theory, one in the UK and the other in the Caribbean. We synchronised our watches and both took our first task at the same time - 8am GMT today (Friday). We were participants 7 and 8 in our matchup. Interestingly it took another 55 mins for participants 9-15 to all join us which is a measure of how many single hoods are commencing the Derby this far in to the period. I have noticed a glut of people joining VERY late - I tried once to start with just an hour to go and there was quite a stream of others doing the same.

i believe this information is relevant to larger hoods too - you should know that if one of your hood takes a task from the first board, you will be matched against other hoods who are just as eager. You may find that working the board for a few hours before taking the first task may see you get a much more relaxed matchup, more chance of a trophy or an easier ride towards another successful survival at Champions League...

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Originally Posted by StanDadVille

i believe this information is relevant to larger hoods too - you should know that if one of your hood takes a task from the first board, you will be matched against other hoods who are just as eager. You may find that working the board for a few hours before taking the first task may see you get a much more relaxed matchup, more chance of a trophy or an easier ride towards another successful survival at Champions League...

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That is until they read your thread and then all the agressive hoods do the same ;);););)

But seriously, good detective work. Thanks for sharing.

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Originally Posted by haydayforum

That is until they read your thread and then all the agressive hoods do the same ;);););)

But seriously, good detective work. Thanks for sharing.

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Haha maybe - or until Supercell decide they need to fiddle again

Nifty and helpful experiment, StanDadVille:thumbsup:

Thank you, very much, for sharing your experience with us:caticon:

another helpful trick if it still works is trashing all tasks for those first few days until your board is loaded with just 320 tasks then when you do jump into the derby you'll be starting with a leg up on the rest vs the ones that simply waited.

you can trash the tasks without starting the derby. all the way until the first task is taken....then you're in it to win it.

I'm not sure. Didn't open the derby board until last night because crazy busy 3 days at work and heavy commutes. We are in 15th place and it looks like all the other teams have done /are doing 300+ tasks. A couple teams appear to be finished. This is for a 5 person hood. Next week, expert league for us I guess.

Sounds like you were unlucky enough to be the 15th team in that grouping - and in a grouping that took a long time to complete so the others had a real head start. I would say try starting early in your morning, but with the various time zones that's not really helpful. As in everything, there are some variables that cannot be eliminated, but the basic theory certainly seems sound.

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Originally Posted by StanDadVille

Haha maybe - or until Supercell decide they need to fiddle again

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Let me preface my comment, my personal nickname for Stan is Stan the Statistician! Brilliant work!

This is truly awesome. And of course you have your board filled with "sweet" tasks?

Keep us apprised, please!

Persevere!!!🐴

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StanDadVille

This relates to the Derby but I thought others might be interested in the mechanics of the game so I post here in general. If the mods want to move it later then that's fine!

For some time I have had the theory that neighbourhoods are only added to a 'Derby pool' when they take their first task. This was based on my observations from starting fairly late in the 6-day period and finding all the other participants also at '1st base'. It makes sense from a game mechanics perspective - you wouldn't want a load of non-participating hoods cluttering up the matchups, making them a stroll for everyone else . It's also the simplest way of creating a level playing field and is fairly simple to code.

So, 2 of us forumites got together to try to test out the theory, one in the UK and the other in the Caribbean. We synchronised our watches and both took our first task at the same time - 8am GMT today (Friday). We were participants 7 and 8 in our matchup. Interestingly it took another 55 mins for participants 9-15 to all join us which is a measure of how many single hoods are commencing the Derby this far in to the period. I have noticed a glut of people joining VERY late - I tried once to start with just an hour to go and there was quite a stream of others doing the same.

i believe this information is relevant to larger hoods too - you should know that if one of your hood takes a task from the first board, you will be matched against other hoods who are just as eager. You may find that working the board for a few hours before taking the first task may see you get a much more relaxed matchup, more chance of a trophy or an easier ride towards another successful survival at Champions League...

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Can you paste this on the Time Zone forum?

Persevere

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Originally Posted by Tiaxotrax

another helpful trick if it still works is trashing all tasks for those first few days until your board is loaded with just 320 tasks then when you do jump into the derby you'll be starting with a leg up on the rest vs the ones that simply waited.

you can trash the tasks without starting the derby. all the way until the first task is taken....then you're in it to win it.

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Yes indeed - I always have my 10 tasks ready before I start. Production tasks stacked up, townies ready, lots of help needed in mini-farm and so on ;)