Team Balancing.

sTo0z · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">How to...</div> Don't worry this isn't another post complaining about game balance. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>

I know there is a check already in the game to see test whether someone can join a team or not (enough players on the other team). But is there anything out there that will autoswitch people if the team balance gets out of hand?

ie. Team A and B have like 8 people, then 5 from Team B quits. Now it's a 8 vs 3. Nothing in the coding sees this as imbalance, it only prevents anyone from joining Team B for awhile. So is there anything out there that maybe auto-switches someone on their next death or something?

Sorry if this has been brought up before...

Crazy_Dog · November 2002

duck because all the forum players are getting ready to fire......

Secret_Ninja · November 2002

You probably already know the answer to your own question. AFAIK, there isn't any auto-balance. It would be helpful, but right now it would mostly affect the marines and the players who play as them. The simple fact is that many people play as a marine because they are more familiar with having a gun while running around shooting aliens. Throw them onto the alien team and they probably will be disgruntled, to say the least.

coil · November 2002

The difficulty with this is that each player generally has some RPs invested in him - whether it be a gorge saving for a hive, or a marine who has just received HA and an HMG from his commander. Now imagine that player is suddenly thrown onto the other team - those 50-some RPs the commander just spent, the 5 mins that gorge spent hiding and slowly gaining RPs, the cornerstone of a marine assault, the skulk that had kept two marine attacks at bay - has suddenly vanished, and is waiting to spawn on the other team.

Combine that with the fact that some players *vehemently* prefer one team over another, and you've got a recipe for disaster. I honestly don't know what the solution is, here. /:

Turtle · November 2002

Many servers have the bonus RPs option when the teams are uneven. This is a small start since it allows either team to do more with less people. However it benefits the marines more than aliens (although it's rare to find more alien players than marines).

It's a very difficult situation to fix.

My suggestion is that in those cases, hold players on the larger side in the respawn que and only respawn them when it would make the number of players even, or perhaps two more than the smaller team.

sTo0z · November 2002

Yah I always knew that people might get a little edgy over being tossed onto the other team when they don't want to...

As for the RPs, a small sacrifice to the better overall good of the game I think... Who wants an 8 vs 3?

mouth · November 2002

Well, who wants to be ripped from the team they've invested time and effort in just to make up for the candyasses who decided to quit at the first sign of trouble? In a game like CS or Quake, auto-team balancing is fair. In NS, it's more like a misdirected penalty. If half of someone's team quits, half of their team quits. With a game like this, i fail to see how this is the opposing team's problem. I, for one, don't want to go to another team cold under those conditions.

Something does need to be done about it, but i don't think auto-balance is it. Isn't there a "limit resources for uneven teams" option for this kind of thing?

Gelantious · November 2002

You could make it so The Last player that joined the team is the ones that goes over to the other team first.
AND He does it the next time he dies.
So if He's a marine and has a HMG is wouldnt mather becuase he died anyway.

As for the aliens, if a Alien quits: all he's RP goes back into the RP Pool. And then is given out to the other Alien players.

But this is something that the Server Admin should decide if he whants this active on his server or not.

I my self doesnt really whant it on my server, I rather wait until the other team has got some new players.

ViPr · November 2002

automatically switching people to the other team is one of the most annoying things ever invented. don't they know what friends and loyalty means?

Banan · November 2002

Yeah but the thing is.
Even if the RP's go back to the team pool, what if a gorge had been standing still for like 5 minutes to get enough for a hive, then he'd be transported over to the other team.

Firstly: You just spent 5 minutes of that poor persons life
Secondly: The team would not get that hive up as quick as they should so maybe the marines would win.

There could be a system like: If one of the teams are underpowered their equipment / lifeforms will be more powerfull.
That's the only way to balance it really, but it's waaay hard I guess.

that_swanky_kid · November 2002

However unfair it is to the one or two people that don't want to rejoin, it's even less fair for the people on the team that's missing a bunch of teammates.
The server warning for a 30 second grace period after which resources stop coming and accumulated resources decline by 1 per second per player overage (alternatively, your resources get diverted to the other team at a rate of 1 per second per player overage) will convince people to swap out quickly enough; if you're an alien and can't buy squat or a human whose commander can't drop health much less a HMG, you'll move to that other team quickly enough. Or you'll stay but you'll be at a pretty severe disadvantage.

Zarkark · November 2002

Uhmm:
• Auto-balancing <b>before</b> the game starts: <img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'> Fine - as I can decide if I will leave or play on a team I did not intended when choosing this particular server.
• Auto-balancing <b>whilst</b> in game: <img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='mad.gif'> <b>biiiig NO, Sir!</b> It's just not useful/fair to kick someone just to even out player-numbers. You can't force someone to work fine with "the enemy". (It is quite possible he will continue working for his old team by doing sabotage on the new...)

(I already made a (somewhat technical) suggestion concerning team-balance and rating in <a href='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=11118&hl=team' target='_blank'>this thread...</a> )

Team Balancing.

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