diff --git a/cpp/switchchain.cpp b/cpp/switchchain.cpp
index 3b85a8cbcacfa7d6af9f5bab490f4f207c2a0c7d..cdfa68cea8fdcf7ca0f345b3fd82f9c4e20320c0 100644
--- a/cpp/switchchain.cpp
+++ b/cpp/switchchain.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "exports.hpp"
 #include "graph.hpp"
+#include "powerlaw.hpp"
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
@@ -67,11 +68,15 @@ class SwitchChain {
 };
 
 int main() {
+    // Generate a random degree sequence
+    std::mt19937 rng(std::random_device{}());
+
     // Goal:
     // Degrees follow a power-law distribution with some parameter tau
     // Expect:  #tri = const * n^{ something }
     // The goal is to find the 'something' by finding the number of triangles
     // for different values of n and tau
+    float tauValues[] = {2.2f, 2.5f, 2.8f};
 
     Graph g;
 
@@ -79,74 +84,72 @@ int main() {
     outfile << '{';
     bool outputComma = false;
 
-    for (int numVertices = 500; numVertices <= 1000; numVertices += 100) {
-        // Generate a random degree sequence
-        std::mt19937 gen(std::random_device{}());
-
-        // average degree 12
-        DegreeSequence ds(numVertices);
-        std::poisson_distribution<> degDist(12);
-
-        // For a single n, take samples over several instances of
-        // the degree distribution
-        for (int degreeSample = 0; degreeSample < 10; ++degreeSample) {
-
-            // Try at most 10 times to generate a valid sequence
-            bool validGraph = false;
-            for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
-                std::generate(ds.begin(), ds.end(),
-                              [&degDist, &gen] { return degDist(gen); });
-                if (g.createFromDegreeSequence(ds)) {
-                    validGraph = true;
-                    break;
+    for (int numVertices = 200; numVertices <= 2000; numVertices += 200) {
+        for (float tau : tauValues) {
+
+            DegreeSequence ds(numVertices);
+            powerlaw_distribution degDist(tau, 2, numVertices);
+            //std::poisson_distribution<> degDist(12);
+
+            // For a single n,tau take samples over several instances of
+            // the degree distribution
+            for (int degreeSample = 0; degreeSample < 200; ++degreeSample) {
+                // Generate a graph
+                // might require multiple tries
+                for (int i = 1; ; ++i) {
+                    std::generate(ds.begin(), ds.end(),
+                                  [&degDist, &rng] { return degDist(rng); });
+                    if (g.createFromDegreeSequence(ds))
+                        break;
+                    // When 10 tries have not worked, output a warning
+                    if (i % 10 == 0) {
+                        std::cerr << "Warning: could not create graph from "
+                                     "degree sequence. Trying again...\n";
+                    }
                 }
-            }
-            if (!validGraph) {
-                std::cerr << "Could not create graph from degree sequence.\n";
-                return 1;
-            }
-            std::sort(ds.begin(), ds.end());
 
-            //std::cout << "Degree sequence:";
-            //for (auto i : ds)
-            //    std::cout << ' ' << i;
-            //std::cout << std::endl;
+                SwitchChain chain;
+                if (!chain.initialize(g)) {
+                    std::cerr << "Could not initialize Markov chain.\n";
+                    return 1;
+                }
 
-            SwitchChain chain;
-            if (!chain.initialize(g)) {
-                std::cerr << "Could not initialize Markov chain.\n";
-                return 1;
-            }
+                std::cout << "Starting switch Markov chain with n = "
+                          << numVertices << ", tau = " << tau << ". \t"
+                          << std::flush;
 
-            std::cout << "Starting switch Markov chain" << std::endl;
+                constexpr int mixingTime = 15000;
+                constexpr int measureTime = 10000;
+                constexpr int measureSkip =
+                    100; // Take a sample every 100 steps
+                constexpr int measurements =
+                    (measureTime - 1) / measureSkip + 1;
+                int movesDone = 0;
 
-            constexpr int mixingTime = 15000;
-            constexpr int measureTime = 5000;
-            int movesDone = 0;
+                int triangles[measurements];
 
-            int triangles[measureTime];
-            for (int i = 0; i < mixingTime; ++i) {
-                if (chain.doMove())
-                    ++movesDone;
-            }
-            for (int i = 0; i < measureTime; ++i) {
-                if (chain.doMove())
-                    ++movesDone;
-                triangles[i] = chain.g.countTriangles();
-            }
+                for (int i = 0; i < mixingTime; ++i) {
+                    if (chain.doMove())
+                        ++movesDone;
+                }
+                for (int i = 0; i < measureTime; ++i) {
+                    if (chain.doMove())
+                        ++movesDone;
+                    if (i % measureSkip == 0)
+                        triangles[i / measureSkip] = chain.g.countTriangles();
+                }
 
-            if (outputComma)
-                outfile << ',';
-            outputComma = true;
+                std::cout << movesDone << '/' << mixingTime + measureTime
+                          << " moves succeeded." << std::endl;
 
-            outfile << '{' << numVertices << ',' << '{';
-            outfile << triangles[0];
-            for (int i = 1; i < measureTime; ++i)
-                outfile << ',' << triangles[i];
-            outfile << '}' << '}';
+                if (outputComma)
+                    outfile << ',';
+                outputComma = true;
 
-            std::cout << movesDone << '/' << mixingTime + measureTime
-                      << " moves succeeded." << std::endl;
+                std::sort(ds.begin(), ds.end());
+                outfile << '{' << '{' << numVertices << ',' << tau << '}';
+                outfile << ',' << triangles << ',' << ds << '}' << std::flush;
+            }
         }
     }
     outfile << '}';