A fair handicap?

[Cataphract]

I've been considering getting into PVP Wesnoth with some friends of mine, but in order to do so I'd like to get a good guideline on what's considered to be a "fair" resource bonus for going second or third. We played a 3-way free for all with no handicap and let's just say it laid bare the need for a resource bonus for the second and third players.

Thanks ahead.

[Sapient]

N3T!

[Turuk]

What he said. It's generally thought that 1v1v1 means that one player will always get shafted as no one side targets the other two equally.

[randomdragoon]

Second and third players just need to get the sense to gang up on the first player a bit to even things out

[Simons Mith]

So, make one side twice as powerful as the other two. That effectively makes it into a disguised 2v2. Unfortunately you will always have balance problems because 1v1v1 is an inherently unstable contest.

[Zachron]

Yeah, you know many civilizations have had time frames refered to as "The era of the Three Kingdoms," and in every case said era would last less than 50 years, and would end with the kingdom in the middle getting ganked.

[Cataphract]

...OK, you guys aren't being helpful.

So what's a fair handicap in 1v1, then?

[dfranke]

Zero. Most(?) 1v1 maps are arranged so that the first player's villages are further away from his keep and take longer to capture. That's his handicap.

Handicaps should be reserved for evening out matches between players of mutually-acknowledged disparate skill. If you need it for any other purpose, then you're either doing something very odd, or the map needs rebalancing. (Note: while the latter hypothesis is by all means possible or even likely, be forewarned any claims of such probably won't be taken seriously until you've earned your stripes against veteran players.)

[randomdragoon]

Is the same person always player 1? Try switching it up and see if the same imbalances still exist.