Well, that’s another round of Turf finished. The previous round, Round #126, December 202o, saw me finish with around 44,200 points for the round, placing me 65th out of 569 Turf players in Scotland. That might not seem great but it was my first round as a beginner and I’m more than happy with that. Today, Round #127 closes and all zones are reset to neutral for the next round and we all start the mad frantic rush to take fresh zones again and all those 50 point neutral zone bonuses.
My score-on-the-board finds me improved on the last round, with points for the round sitting at 122,800, taking my overall score up to around 167,000 and a rank to Rank – 24 Master Seeker. Placing in the round is 59th out of 799 players, so an improvement on last month and also interesting to note the additional 240 Scottish players who have joined the game in the last month.
As with many Turf players, I’d have liked to been able to spend more time out turfing but the usual obstacles such as having to earn a living, family commitments and most of all the icy winter weather, all conspired to keep me away from the game. Some recurring back trouble over a few days also took a toll on my ability to take zones and collect points. On the bright side, my May 2021 retirement date creeps slowly closer with each passing day and I’m kind of like an excited 6 year old wee laddie waiting for Christmas day to arrive.
Strategy for the next round will be, as usual, to take as many zones as I can, perhaps, concentrating on unique zones, not only to get another medal, but also because searching for and discovering new zones you’ve never visited before, can be quite exciting.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions limiting cross-region travel to work essential only, I’ll need to stick mostly to the Midlothian region for now, although we are allowed to travel up to five miles from the region boundary for exercise, so perhaps East Lothian (424 zones) and the City of Edinburgh (925 zones), may see a short visit or two. Midlothian has just over 300 zones, so plenty to keep me busy and new zones are being added all the time. My thanks to the Turf zone makers for Midlothian, as I’ve been keeping them busy with suggestions. Sorry, in advance, I’ve still got a few more to suggest. I kind of like the idea of setting myself a goal to take, at least once, all the zones in Midlothian.
One thing about Turf is the question of whether it’s better to take zones with a high take-over points value and a low point per hour (pph), or to go for zones with a lower points value and a higher pph. For example, the nearby zone KirkCockpen has 185 points and a pph of +1 point. In contrast, a zone in the centre of Edinburgh, say, Hogwarts, offers only 110 points but has +6 pph. Which one gives you the most points? It’s a complicated business but I’m going to try and work something out. In the first instance, I’m staying local in Midlothian and let’s say the zones are all 185 points with +1 pph. Not really the case but I’m keeping things simple for comparison.
Over the course of a 35-day round, say you average taking 50 zones a day with 185 points per zone and maintain ownership of 50 zones each day. Of course, you may take more or less zones each day and you may lose zones to other players but the average here is key. A simply calculation of 50 zones x 185 points x 35 days will give you 323,750 points. Now, for the pph. Assuming you own 50 zones every day as above, that’s 50 zones x 1 point per hour x 24 hours’ x 35 days, which adds another 42,000 points. Grand total is 365,750 points.
Now to compare that with the City of Edinburgh zone. Here you have the same 35 days taking 50 zones a day on average but at only, say for a median value, 110 points per zone. That’s gives you 35 days’ x 50 zones x 110 points, which equals 192,500 points. Now, for the pph, that’s 50 zones x 6 points per hour x 24 hours’ x 35 days, which adds another 252,000 points. This gives a grand total of 444,500 points.
So, it would appear that taking zones with lower point values and high pph in the city is the way to go. Yes, nothing is every as simple as that, I know, but very interesting all the same. The downside to this personally is I live in Midlothian and would have another 90 minutes or so travel time on the bicycle and I can take a lot of zones locally in that time so it’s all swings and roundabouts. I guess at the bottom line is you just put in the hours taking zones whenever possible and keep on taking zones.
Finally, before we leave, let’s imagine we are able to keep hold of 100 zones in Edinburgh for each and every day of the 35-day round period. Using the figures above, a quick calculation totals some 889,000 points and that would out you in the Top list and in the medals. That’s Turf.
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