The greatest ladder Fizzled or CLOT could ever make:

 1 Find a great map/settings for FFAs
 2 No private chat
 3 All players remain anonymous until the game ends (so people don't chat in other games, so alliances unrelated to each specific game's strategy don't form andrruin the game, so nobody will know who I am, and so all diplomatic discussion ttakes place in the public chat for all to see) 
4 No restrictions on which players join which games (so each game is unique and includes all levels of skill and strategies, forcing players to adjust to what they see rather than playing fixed styles again and again like on the non-seasonal ladders)

A ladder like this would be so enjoyable.

i think pvt messages are what makes things interesting, even if people can backstab you know that when you ally with them

nah i think no pvt messaging is better. the ffa maps which i'v found most enjoyable are (not the most balanced!) Humanity, A map of ice and fire and small world. maybe someone can host like a mini ladder

If you want real anonymity in the current system all players will need to make one new account per game.

Computer programming > Replace account names with numbers > FFA ends > Show real names.

Fizzer is capable of doing this. Others could make a CLOT. I'd like to play something like this. I am not a programmer so I can only make suggestions.

I would definitely play that. You could possibly have a selection of maps/settings beforehand, with one being randomly chosen each game.

How would rankings/ratings work? Would the survivor win, while all others get a loss? Do you play until you're eliminated or can you surrender? If you can surrender, does the AI gain control?

The best way to rank would be do wait until players are eliminated, but that would require players who have clearly lost to continue to play. This would be a big issue, in that some would purposefully hold up games, try to ruin the chances of winning for certain players they blame for their loss, or flat out get booted. Surrenders/boots would be a pain, even with AI replacement because it doesn't respect alliances.

But overall, I think this is a great idea.

To be clearer: If fog on the board dissipates when the game ends, I'm sure "fog" on the names could do the same, so FFA games remain anonymous from start to finish.

Random maps based on a chosen set of good maps would be cool.

Rankings and stalling issues:

Fixed turn limits. Games end and points are awarded to determine winner if game is not won outright.

Ratings based on (a) average points per game (territories + bonuses + armies + armies killed) and/or average place per game (1st 2nd etc). With ratings like this players would have an incentive to keep playing until the end (elimination or turn limit).

Booted/surrendered: Giving them AIs would be fairest I think. If getting booted is not your fault, at least you get some points. Also, if ratings are based on points, letting the player nearest the booted/surrendered player take territories with 1s wouldn't seem fair. AIs are bad, but at least they attack and defend sometimes.

I'm happier with AI on surrender than I am on AI when booted. Either way truces end suddenly and "without reason" and somebody who thought they had a safe border is now dealing with a rampant AI. At least with surrenders it can happen only intentionally, which allows for warning or something. That said, if someone actually cares about their rating, they already have an incentive to keep playing, rather than surrender. If they are at the point of surrendering (and the order you go out of the game matters), then they shouldn't have very many free bonuses left behind.

Booting is always a problem for all game types, so I'm not sure why FFA games should work differently in that regard. It's intentionally a punishment for going over time, and always "your fault" in that nobody else can make you go over time. A reasonable boot time, like the three day boot from the official ladders, where the person is simply gone is probably the only solution there. I don't think that someone who gets booted should be rewarded with a higher rating than leaving the game at that moment would result in. Yes, it does allow some players to gain advantage, but then it falls on other players to be more aggressive and push against the one gaining, or something similar. It's a trade off between people being next to the booted person getting screwed by a suddenly hostile AI, and people next to the booted getting a chance at some free income. There's no perfect solution, but I'm much more in favor of someone getting helped, rather than someone getting screwed, especially when they weren't the ones that went over time.

Yes please!

i believe u couldnt make a ladder if the settings werent a little bit uniformized, though i wuld love a ffa ladder

will the players be revealed at end

iron, why rnt u a member yet? u r always talking in the forum and all that....

If a natural disaster, short-term computer problem, family issue or work issue comes up that is beyond your control and makes it so you can't take your turn, should you be punished?

i would vote for this if you made it an idea on the uservoice

I think that the reason is irrelevant. You can predict your workload and don't join games if you think you won't be able to finish them, natural disasters are a very rare case, so general rules shouldn't be made up to deal with them. As for computer malfunction - you can access WL even with your phone (or a friends computer or at work or at an internet cafe), so I don't really think this is much of an issue for smbd, who really wants to play.

As for the general idea I would definetly participate in such a ladder. I don't play FFA at all, but this seems like a very good idea.

If a natural disaster, short-term computer problem, family issue or work issue comes up that is beyond your control and makes it so you can't take your turn, should you be punished?

wha?

Gui, most of that stuff can be handled by going on vacation (vacations should be honored), and the rest is very rare. We also WANT booting to be heavily deterred, because we don't want games dragged out forever.

schizo i wish i could but i can't,money is not the problem.

Duke: turn limits for FFAs = games end after a reasonable # of turns if not won outright