The concept of player strength ratings for AACW has been inspired by Chess ratings, but that's where the similarity ends. Unlike Chess ratings, this ratings system tends to reflect the margin of victory, and rewards a potentially significant bonus for sudden death victories. "Quiet" games have fewer points on the line. As a rule of thumb, a game which is essentially a draw is going to have "Points" that are close to being equal to the number of turns.
On the other hand, violent conflicts that end in sudden death will cause an impressive increase in the victor's rating! (And of course, a hair-raising plunge in the rating of the vanquished.
)
One of the cool things about this is that with enough data from enough rated players, we'll be able to give Athena a rating, for various combinations of difficulty level and options! Looking further, this can be used to help newcomers figure out their playing strength. We'll be able to make a recommendation of AI settings for a particular scenario, and ask them to play both sides. With the results, we can calculate their provisional rating... and so, they'll have an idea of who they want to play in their first PBEM.