side balancing redux again

[Simaril]

OK, the horse has been beaten...but things are getting out of hand again.

I admit I'm disappointed, because my brother came up for the holidays and we all wanted to play AH together -- my brother, my son, and me. But the sides were so stinking imbalanced tonite that we counldnt find anywhere to play, even if we had switched sides.

LW Blue Bish:Knight:Rook Total 77:61:83   % 35:28:38 in flight 55:31:68 (Knights couldnt get into air without vulching or long flights to hordes) ENY ZERO for everyone!

LW Orange Total 64:66:61   % 34:35:32 in flight 49:57:52 (We could have flown there, but for us vox doesnt work in LW Orange and no one from HTC or ISP can figure out why) ENY ZERO for everyone!

MW Total 2:9:14  % 8:36:54 in flight 1:7:13

EW Total 7:8:8  % 30:35:35 in flight 4:7:4


Now this is NOT a "play my way" post. Even if you allow that we should have been able to play in Orange, were it not for whatever electronic demons have possessed the vox system, its clear that there is so much imbalance that most arenas have the choice of A) Hording B) Being Horded or C) playing essentially alone. (The matter of EW/MW consistently failing to reach critical mass is a whole other issue...I wonder how many would be happy playing there if there only were enough in the arena when they logged on!)

Nor is it a "balance the numbers perfectly" post. Real life wont ever balance perfectly, and the game shouldn't try to either. BUT it should be near enough balanced that any country can take off and have fun -- without being a horde busting ace. (BTW I was disappointed to see how many of the horde busting aces...including some BKs..were flying for the hording side.)

By the simple measure of "everybody having fun", the system is failing.

HT, please consider reinstating the per country cap. All I wanted was to have fun with my family, with the rare chance for all of us to fly together. We couldnt do that because there was absolutely no  place or country to fly at our skill level.

[Zazen13]

I've never been a big fan of the ENY limter in principle. But, one flaw I have recognized is the fact numbers can be pretty lopsided so long as two countries have high numbers without any limitation on them. For example, 100 Knights; 100 Rooks; 50 Bish. The only time it really kicks in is if only one country has the high numbers. Another anomoly is if there's 110 Knights; 100 Rooks and 50 Bish, the Knights would have a rather large penalty and the Rooks a very low one or none at all even though they only have 10 less people and still a huge margin over the low country.

Also, all planes' values start at 5 ENY, yet the limiter starts at 0 and it takes quite a big imbalance to reach 5.0 where there is any effect. In my opinion, if the limiter has reached a point where it kicks in, it should start at 5.0. Anything less is meaningless...

Zazen

[Killjoy2]

My suggestions again:

1) Don't limit planes.  Push ENY Perkies up as number imbalance changes.  If Rooks have 30 more players than Bish, a spit 14 is gonna cost 15 perkies.  Pretty soon Rooks are flying P38-J's against Bish Spit 14's and it will all even out.

2) Include EW and MW as a feature like tank town or fighter town in our current maps.  Few people will log on to EW when there are just 7 people there.  But if you have 250 people in a LW, you'll find a couple of dozen will play Early War for a while.

3) Extra spawn points become available when a county's numbers are low.   These spawn points begin 2 levels behind the battle line so they will have resources and allow the low-number country the chance to attack with troops.  

I really like this one, because the low-number country gets some interesting options.  to really screw up a big-numbers country.

[Yeager]

Agreed.  Bring a meaningful ENY into the game.  Squads dont seem to be able to manage themselves to keep sides balanced so lets get HTC to force side balancing on them.

[whels]

even if sides say are even 50 50 50, the way the arenas have been going, like LW Blue,  Knits fighting both fronts,  bish rook maybe 5 10 guys fighting each other. the rest all on knits. so   even with =#s the sides are imbalanced whenthey dont fight evenly.  all day today both maps, Knit been fighting aroun 100 total enemy with about 45 on =s no fun map after map after map.

[RAPIER]

I think the idea of letting the low number country get the advantage of deeper spawn points is a good idea.  It will allow for some attack advantages, as well as some defense that would not be available when the high number country is knocking out all the VHs and ord all over the FEBA.

[Laurie]

Originally posted by Yeager
Agreed.  Bring a meaningful ENY into the game.  Squads dont seem to be able to manage themselves to keep sides balanced so lets get HTC to force side balancing on them.

now since when were squads given a sash and told thier job was to pay 15$ a month to fix other peoples problems. usinth they're own time. change countries yourselves, dont ask peole to do stuff for the minority. surely the 'go it alone' guys should switch, as it is easier forlots of single guys to move, than large squads.

[SteveBailey]

But the sides were so stinking imbalanced tonite that we counldnt find anywhere to play, even if we had switched sides.

Wow, in my years of playing I have never  been unable to find a fight due to being outnumbered.  That seems like an oxymoron, really.  The more you are outnumbered... the more targets there are, right?

Heck, I prefer my side to be outnumbered.
 I don't much care about hordes.  There is almost always somewhere one can up and go mix it up w/ the hordes.  You can usually get a kill or 5 before the down-looking vulch monkeys even know you are there... that never ceases to amuse me.
Then there's the last second, dive-through-the-horde-and-kill-the-goon thrill.  Wheeeeeee!  Bahahahahaha!

It's nice to be able to look at the map and find plenty of full enemy dar bars to choose from.  I don't have a lot of time to spend searching for a fight.

[Yeager]

I was in MW a few night back and two squads were playing rook and numbered 18.  The bish numbered 4 and the nits numbered 2.  Guess what team the rooks were bashing

The evening would have been alot more enjoyable had one squad changed over.  As it was I had to listen to these prepube rooktards boast about capturing undefended fields.  Geeks like that really drive home the need to force side balancing.  Squads have a duty to help the game along, not hurt it.  Its in the best interest of squads to help balance the game, not knock it off its axis.

My proposal: Limit squads to ten players each and do not allow affiliation between squads.

[Hoarach]

Personally id like to see the two LW arenas put back together.

[Simaril]

I like being outnumbered some too.

There comes point when it stops being fun, though. We played a couple hours, and we tried a lot of combinations. I died my share upping from a nearly capped base. I flew in from the next base, and got swarmed. I tried intercepting the stream of attackers, 1 v however many came...and got to fight some. But, after a kill, either I got jumped by an ace (Why are "big names" attacking against the outnumbered side? For the challenge?), or I'd get jumped by numbers of weaker ones.

I took a lot on the chin, and well, it stopped being fun.

When I said "find a fight", I meant "find a place to have fun." I dont mind dying, but if there isnt a time when I get to give some back there isnt much joy in it.

[The Fugitive]

I think the "queue" should be put back in. Along with the new capture system ( must capture a percentage of BOTH opposing countries) It will force more even numbers, and slow the "gang up on one country". Also this set-up should be put into ALL arenas to give it a far shake. If it only goes into one arena, everyone will avoid that arena like they did when "OrangeLW" had the ordered base capture system in test.

[hubsonfire]

After a lengthy and long winded crusade in the name of fun, fair, and balanced gameplay, I have only this to say.

 "Side Balancing" is just a term on the Country Status page of the clipboard. If HT wanted equal numbers, we'd have them.

[Nilsen]

Why not just give the chesspiece with lower numbers som puffy ack help at random places on their turf or along their border, and/or turn down ack lethality on the chesspiece(s) that has tons of players.?

[TexInVa]

Originally posted by Laurie
surely the 'go it alone' guys should switch, as it is easier forlots of single guys to move, than large squads.

A) Lots of us single fighters have been jumping around. I have no clue as to which country I'm flying for in any given arena. I know we're moving, because I see the same names in the same arenas and they, like me, are in different countries in the said arenas.**

2)Co-ordinating the single flyer's is harder than co-ordinating the squad. I should point out that when I said "Lots of us", I meant somewhere in the ballpark of "10". Trying to herd the single flyer's is like cat herding.

But some of us are at least trying. Now, let the squads try and help out some.













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