You know those aliens we discovered in the transformation chambers in the last Void? Well... they've followed us back to our ships and want to do some analysis on human and robot behavior, so us ship captains figured we may as well play along.
For
part 1
of the challenge, your entire team may participate. You will be using human simulator machine BrantSteele.net to simulate a season of The Challenge. By altering the abilities and other attributes in the profile page and relationships/alliances of each player, you must try and match our target results as closely as possible. Your target is shown below.
1st Place: Nehemiah Clark & Casey Cooper
2nd Place: Tyler Duckworth & Svetlana Shusterman
3rd Place: Chris Tamburello & Robin Hibbard
4th Place: Wes Bergmann & Beth Stolarczyk
5th Place: Derrick Kosinski & Diem Brown
6th Place: Brad Fiorenza & Aneesa Ferreira
7th Place: Evan Starkman & Kina Dean
8th Place: Kenny Santucci & Jodi Weatherton
9th Place: Johnny Devenanzio & Tina Barta
10th Place: Eric Banks & Paula Meronek
Once you believe you've gotten as close as you can to the target placements, take a screenshot of the "Placements" page of the simulation, with a Mafiascum tab visible. You will receive 10 points for every contestant whose placement you match exactly, 7 points for every placement that's one off, 5 points for two off, 3 points for three off, 2 points for four off, and 1 point for 5 off. Any contestants who are more than 5 positions away from their placement in the target list result in 0 points. Any member on your team can make a submission, but be sure to indicate your official and final submission; otherwise, the final submission received will be the one that is scored. You have
24 hours
to make a final submission.
In
part 2
of the challenge, which is
live
, your team will use the points you've accumulated to bid on movement options for a robot that will compete in a strategic challenge. Each team will control one robot, which will move around a 10x10 grid of tiles. After a robot has stepped on a tile, it is blacked out and can't be stepped on again. However, your robot can only operate using a set list of movement options, with each option only available to be used
once
.
Before the live portion of the challenge, the players competing for each team will have 15 minutes to deliberate and submit a list of bids for each movement option. You may bid any value of points for each option, and the cumulative total of all your bids across all items can exceed the points you have available for bidding. Once both lists are in, each option will be given to the highest bidding team, and that team will lose the amount of points they bid. This will continue until all options are given out or neither team can afford to make their remaining bids. If a team's bid exceeds the number of points they have remaining, their bid will be switched to an amount equal to all their remaining points. If neither team bids on an option, or both teams bid the same amount, neither team will receive it nor lose points. The full list of movement options is below.
Spoiler: List of movement options
1 space up
1 space down
1 space left
1 space right
2 spaces up
1 space up, 1 space left
1 space up, 1 space right
2 spaces down
1 space down, 1 space left
1 space down, 1 space right
2 spaces left
1 space left, 1 space up
1 space left, 1 space down
2 spaces right
1 space right, 1 space up
1 space right, 1 space down
3 spaces up
2 spaces up, 1 space left
2 spaces up, 1 space right
1 space up, 2 spaces left
1 space up, 2 spaces right
1 space up, 1 space left, 1 space up
1 space up, 1 space left, 1 space down
1 space up, 1 space right, 1 space up
1 space up, 1 space right, 1 space down
3 spaces down
2 spaces down, 1 space left
2 spaces down, 1 space right
1 space down, 2 spaces left
1 space down, 2 spaces right
1 space down, 1 space left, 1 space down
1 space down, 1 space left, 1 space up
1 space down, 1 space right, 1 space down
1 space down, 1 space right, 1 space up
Stay in place for one turn
Jump over the space above you to move 2 spaces up
Jump over the space below you to move 2 spaces down
Jump over the space to the left to move 2 spaces left
Jump over the space to the right to move 2 spaces right
The team who earned more points during part 1 will choose who goes first. After the movement options have been given out, the game will begin. The teams will take turns posting a movement option in-thread that they haven't yet used. If it reaches a team's turn and that team either has no remaining options that don't require stepping on a blacked-out tile, or the team has no remaining options whatsoever, the team loses and must face the Void. The live portion of this challenge will begin in
24 hours
.
"CC is very [whatever the equivalent of photogenic as it applies to videos]" - racefan12
"CC is an objectively attractive person." - Crazy
"You look like a happy version of Trent Reznor." - LicketyQuickety
"Do you practice sounding like you're high all the time?" - xofelf
Bids are in. Instead of putting everything in individually, I'll just say what happened.
Gold voted 8 on everything and won the first 23 moves. That left them with 5 points left.
Purple was outbid on the first 23 and then tied exactly with Gold for the next 7 moves. No teams lost points, but no one earned them.
Gold then took 1 space down, 1 left, 1 down with their last points.
Then Purple takes the remainder.
Gold:
1 space up
1 space down
1 space left
1 space right
2 spaces up
1 space up, 1 space left
1 space up, 1 space right
2 spaces down
1 space down, 1 space left
1 space down, 1 space right
2 spaces left
1 space left, 1 space up
1 space left, 1 space down
2 spaces right
1 space right, 1 space up
1 space right, 1 space down
3 spaces up
2 spaces up, 1 space left
2 spaces up, 1 space right
1 space up, 2 spaces left
1 space up, 2 spaces right
1 space up, 1 space left, 1 space up
1 space up, 1 space left, 1 space down
1 space down, 1 space left, 1 space down
Purple:
1 space down, 1 space left, 1 space up
1 space down, 1 space right, 1 space down
1 space down, 1 space right, 1 space up
Stay in place for one turn
Jump over the space above you to move 2 spaces up
Jump over the space below you to move 2 spaces down
Jump over the space to the left to move 2 spaces left
Jump over the space to the right to move 2 spaces right
Tied (unused):
1 space up, 1 space right, 1 space up
1 space up, 1 space right, 1 space down
3 spaces down
2 spaces down, 1 space left
2 spaces down, 1 space right
1 space down, 2 spaces left
1 space down, 2 spaces right
Last edited by pablito on Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
has won! Everyone in the game will now privately cast a single vote for one member on the
Purple Team
who they want to send into the Black Hole. The 3 players who receive the most votes will go in.
All
remaining members of the losing team will enter the Void challenge, where the worst-performing Black Hole nominee and worst-performing Void participant will be eliminated from the game. The candidates are shown below. Players have 24 hrs from this post to privately submit their vote.
We've been away from Earth for so long, I'm really starting to miss my family. We've designed the next challenge to help us all cope with our homesickness.
When you're ready to begin, fill out this google form. You'll be given an empty crossword puzzle grid, as well as a list of institutions. Each institution will have a number in parentheses beside it, indicating the number of digits in its phone number. You'll need to look up the phone number for each of these places, and insert them into the grid using an image editor. There is only one way all the phone numbers will fit into the grid.
To complete the challenge, take a screenshot of the finished puzzle and place a link in the form, submitting it again to stop your time. For every incorrect digit in your answer, one minute will be added onto your time. The Black Hole nominee and Void participant with the slowest times will be eliminated from the game. You have
This was a well contested contest and those in contention put in a lot of effort with their telephone minutes. Good thing, you all have the intergalactic roaming contract on your phones.
First the Black Hole contestants:
In first was...
Spoiler:
DrumBeats was first with a time of 18:40! DrumBeats cannot go into the Black Hole next time.
Also surviving was...
Spoiler:
Zoraster, who successfully completed in 21:06! Zoraster cannot go into the Black Hole during episode 4 either.
This means that the eliminated Black Hole contestant was...
Spoiler:
Entreri who did not finish before Zoraster's final time. Good effort and we've loved having you here. Sorry to see you go. Webdip is great to have you and we hope to have you too in the future. You've been a great asset and it's been fun to see you evolve here. Hope to see you next time.
Onto the Void.
The first to finish was...
Spoiler:
Cephrir with a time of 12:59!
In second was...
Spoiler:
Fluminator with a time of 14:59!
In third was...
Spoiler:
Xalxe with a time of 16:50!
In fourth was...
Spoiler:
Racefan with a time of 17:00!
In fifth and in the bottom half was...
Spoiler:
Kublai with a time of 18:39!
In sixth was...
Spoiler:
Vashta with a time of 22:23! This means that Happy and MGD are the final two. Unfortunately, we'll lose one of our best Challenge fans
In seventh and still safe is...
Spoiler:
MGD with a time of 25:49!
This means that our eliminated contestant from the Void is...
Spoiler:
Happy with a time of 42:01. You've been a happy one and brought in a lot of Challenge humor to our game. As a big fan of the Challenge, it's sad to see you go. Unfortunately for being Fresh Meat, you're leaving more of a Ryan than an Aviv. But we hope that you come back enough to become an Ev, Cara Maria or Laurel.
Last edited by pablito on Mon Jan 29, 2018 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Today's mission is a basic word search puzzle. But here's the catch: half the letters aren't in the puzzle yet. For this mission, each team will once again split up into two groups, this time groups of 5. Each group will complete their portion of the challenge
semi-live
, meaning your portion is timed but you choose when to start.
Group 1
will be figuring out what letters go into the wordsearch by answering a number of crossword clues. "Bruce Wayne's secret identity (6)" would correspond to "Batman", for example. Once your group is ready to begin, you'll be given a google spreadsheet, with one tab containing the unfilled wordsearch and one tab containing the list of clues. You'll input the answers to each crossword clue with one letter in each cell of the answer space provided. Each answer cell is linked to a cell in the wordsearch grid, meaning that as you input answers, the wordsearch will be slowly filled out. On the wordsearch tab, many adjacent cells will have the same color; this indicates that once all the clues have been answered, those cells will form a word or name that's to be found in part 2 of the challenge. You will not know the words that are meant to be found, but they all share a very similar theme. It it helpful to work back and forth, completing words in the wordsearch to help with crossword clues you can't figure out by checking the cell reference of each cell in the wordsearch.
Do not manually input letters into the wordsearch grid, as this will override the cell references.
Once you believe you've answered all clues correctly, send the list of crossword clue answers to a mod, and your time will be stopped. For every clue you answer incorrectly, 5 minutes will be added onto your time.
Group 2
will then be given the completed wordsearch grid and will be asked to find as many words or names as possible. They will not know the common theme between all words, but it is easy to deduce. Indicate the location of each word by circling it in the image provided by using an image editor. There will be 15 words to find. Your time will stop when you've posted images of all 15 words circled.
Outside sources are prohibited for this challenge. Additionally, members of Group 1 cannot communicate about any specifics of the challenge with Group 2.
Either group can begin whenever the groups have been designated within each team. The times of both groups will be combined, and the team with the shorter overall time will win. The losing team will enter the Void, where two of its members will be eliminated. You have
48 hours
to divide into groups and complete both portions of the challenge.
We recommend basing groups on who can be online at the same time.
"CC is very [whatever the equivalent of photogenic as it applies to videos]" - racefan12
"CC is an objectively attractive person." - Crazy
"You look like a happy version of Trent Reznor." - LicketyQuickety
"Do you practice sounding like you're high all the time?" - xofelf
Group 1 for each team required knowledge related to several clues. Some clues were obscure so the players were able to look at how the crostic inserted letters into the word search. This helped ensure that they were using the correct word, especially as both teams prefer iceberg to romaine.
Gold Team
(D3f3nd3r, DrumBeats, Ghug, PrivateI, Vashta) had a time of:
Spoiler:
12:00
Purple Team
(Cephrir, Gimmick, Meme, Xalxe, Zoraster) had a time of:
Spoiler:
9:17
Group 2 required players to find words/names related to a theme without being provided the word list. Both teams quickly deduced that they were looking for U.S. Presidents. Thank you State of the Union for your impeccable timing. Speaking of timing...
Gold Team
(Kublai, McMenno, MGD, Racefan, Radja) had a time of:
Spoiler:
11:56
Purple Team
(Chevre, Fluminator, IPS, TWIE, Vijarada) had a time of:
has won! Everyone in the game will now privately cast a single vote for one eligible member on the
Purple Team
who they want to send into the Black Hole. The 3 players who receive the most votes will go in.
All
remaining members of the losing team will enter the Void challenge, where the worst-performing Black Hole nominee and worst-performing Void participant will be eliminated from the game. The candidates are shown below. Players have 24 hrs from this post to privately submit their vote.
Today's Void will test your spatial awareness, because you know, we're in space. This Void will require you to navigate a maze. When you are ready to begin, you will click on this google form where you must provide your information to start the challenge. You are highly encouraged to use a graphic editor for this challenge to denote your maze pathway. We recommend downloading paint dot net and you may also use pixlr.com to write on an image. Upon completing the form for the "starting" option, your time will start and you will be provided with a long url link to a spreadsheet which has the link to a 3d maze (and has an imgur link to a screenshot in the title). Feel free to take a screenshot of the maze and use a graphic editor to denote your pathway. Don't forget to screenshot you should click ctrl+print screen and then paste into a graphic editor. When you feel you've solved the maze, submit your screenshot in the google form. If you submit an incorrect maze solution, your time will not be ended at that time and will only end once a correct submission is provided. Therefore, it is in your best interest to ensure that a mod is online when you finish to provide that check. If for some reason, there are multiple "did not finish" entries, the entry which has the longest correct pathway will be ranked higher.
This void takes place in an abandoned space station which has many pathways in the airways in which you may lose yourself, but there is only one pathway that will lead you to the exit. Your goal is to find the exit to the space station by wandering through the airways and moving between the three floors of the space station to exit. On the screen you will see three 20x20 grids with letters on the left denoting the rows, and numbers at top denoting the columns. Imagine that the left-most is the bottom floor of the space station, the middle one is the middle floor of the space station, and the right-most one is the top floor of the space station. Your goal is to enter the space station on the left-most grid on the bottom floor and find your way up to the exit on the right-most grid on the top floor. To go between levels you may find ladders within the airways. Each ladder will show a "^" if it goes above to the next floor or a "v" if it goes below to the below floor. Additionally, all ladders that go between the first and second floor (left and middle) will be marked in red, and all ladders that go between the second and third floor (middle and right) will be marked in blue. You will be required to go up and down ladders several times.
All competing players will be ranked based on their time to complete the maze. The lowest-ranked Black Hole nominee and the lowest-ranked Void participant will both be eliminated from the game. You have
24 hours
to complete the challenge.
Last edited by pablito on Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
"CC is very [whatever the equivalent of photogenic as it applies to videos]" - racefan12
"CC is an objectively attractive person." - Crazy
"You look like a happy version of Trent Reznor." - LicketyQuickety
"Do you practice sounding like you're high all the time?" - xofelf
Due to one of the trivia questions being difficult to even google to confirm a final answer, I have determined that I had made the trivia portion needlessly difficult. As a result, the trivia portion has been scrapped and you are now only required to compete in the maze portion. Because others have already attempted the trivia portion, it was determined that the fairest result would be to remove trivia entirely. Apologies to those that have already attempted.
Note: if you wish a mod to check your solution immediately, just submit the ending form before asking.
Also, ladders stay in the same exact row/column, but you switch only between levels. Ie: a ladder at A1 would switch you from A1 on level 1 to A1 on level 2.
Apologies again for the change in challenge. I think it's clear from the results and feedback that it was the best decision. Now onto our eliminations.
First the Black Hole contestants:
In first was...
Spoiler:
Meme was first with a time of 9:09! Meme cannot go into the Black Hole next time.
Also surviving was...
Spoiler:
Cephrir, who successfully completed in 12:50! Cephrir cannot go into the Black Hole next time.
This means that the eliminated Black Hole contestant was...
Spoiler:
IPS. You did a great job winning the first three missions and then you were voted in the first time you were vulnerable. I know that maze was difficult, but you put in so much effort and you're a fighter. Hope to see you next time.
Onto the Void.
The first to finish was...
Spoiler:
Both Chevre and Fluminator finished at a time of 5:30!
Next was...
Spoiler:
TWIE with a time of 5:49!
Next was...
Spoiler:
Xalxe with a time of 7:46!
Next was...
Spoiler:
Gimmick with a time of 19:27!
This leaves only Vijarada and Zoraster, one of which will be eliminated.
The final surviving player was...
Spoiler:
Zoraster with a time of 22:30!
This means that our eliminated contestant from the Void is...
Spoiler:
Vijarada. You've been a great player this go around and you kept going at it despite knowing what your weaknesses were (ie: mazes). You did a fine job and you should be proud of how well you managed. Hope to see you next time.
