Ragequitting pilot captains and what to do about it

[Charon]

A time-based penalty for abandoning matches would work out just fine. You abandon a match, you don't play another for several minutes.

[Plasmarobo]

A problem is crappy matches that last way too long.
In which case a 5 min cooldown could be peanuts to the actual time cost of the game.
I've had some really rough capture points. Mostly because some folks don't understand Capture Point means "Capture the Point", and felt they should ignore my polite (and then not so polite) instruction via captains chat.

I am resistant to the idea of 'hot swapping' either with classes or ships. I like consistency, tactics, and planning. It takes away from learning new strategies if you can just decide "Oh, that Squid is annoying my galleon and we can't hit it! I'mma respawn as a Squid! LULZ."

I like the system as it is now. If this is still a big problem once players figure out how the game works I think a rejoin cool-down or going the Call of Duty (GASP!) route of having achievements/kills/whathaveyou not stick until the match is complete might be okay.

Maybe.(/noncommitment)

[-Muse- Cullen]

I think if your captain leaves there should be a big sign at the middle of the screen "YOUR SHIP HAS NO CAPTAIN! PRESS I TO TAKE CONTROL!" Pressing I would open a crew slot, stick you in captain slot as pilot.

I like this idea. After pressing I, the player would enter the captain's slot. The next time that the ship is destroyed, it will respawn as the captain's ship, and the player will become a pilot.

[dragonmere]

Obviously the 5 min cool down I suggested wouldn't outright SOLVE these problems, it would just be a slight deterrent and a good source of feedback to brand-new players. It would only have significant impact on two specific play "styles": players who ROUTINELY start a match and quit if they don't get the first kill, and players who legitimately "give up" but quit in lieu of surrendering in order to find a new match immediately.

I am quite fond of the idea to not having achievements complete until the match is over. The type of people that ragequit are quite often the same type of people who care WAY TOO MUCH about achievements. Since the first several levels are fairly easy to net, I could see this having some effect on new players. By the time they are on achievements that take much longer, I would hope they have matured past ragequitting. I, honestly, wasn't aware that this was a core COD system.

I think that hot swapping would be a bad idea, it would definitely throw the balance of the game off. If there is not an opportunity for a crew/opponent to check out the loadout of a ship before it is launched, a large element of the current strategy is outright removed. If a captain could repeatedly change his ship or loadout, it would basically turn into a guessing game of rock, paper, scissors with both the enemy team and captain's own crew. I think the little "workaround" for switching classes, as well as the fact that it is widely unknown, is about as far into changing anything other than equipment mid game as we should get.

And I would imagine the opposite on 'crappy' CP games. If I have to call the enemy to the CPs using regional, if it's gonna be that kind of game, I usually find it to be over in one swift uninterrupted cap. Perhaps a little over 5 minutes, but the only 1+ hour CP game I played was very well balanced, with one single point separating the teams when the dust finally settled. If the enemy is providing significant combat that prevents me from capping all points quickly, even if they aren't exactly getting any CPs  themselves, I still consider that to be a good match.

Finally, I do agree that the "replacement" captain should be on a volunteer basis, not necessarily just whoever is 'highest' on the crew list. This would at least let the co-captains talk to whoever is TRYING to fly the ship, rather than the usual random gunner. I always feel bad for that gunner...

On a tangent, if a pilot captain leaves a human crew of two engineers and one gunner, which role does the AI take; 2nd gunner or 3rd engineer?

[Captain Smollett]

Just wanted to apologize to Hamster for my incredibly poor paragraph structuring.

My opinion regarding hot swapping ships was in response to your suggestion.

My opinion regarding rage quitters was aimed at said rage quitters (which as far as I know is not you)

[HamsterIV]

It is ok, it was late (in my time zone) and I was grouchier than normal.

I still hold that the length of time newbies have to live with their bad decisions is contributing to this problem. I don't think I would use hot swapping mid game, because I am pretty happy with my current ship builds. However I would have loved to have it back when I was learning the ropes of this game.

[Enjix]

I like the 5 minute lock-out idea. Yes, it may not last as long as a normal match, but it doesn't need too, it still brings up the question of "Would I still want to play in this match if it was the only match I could play right now?" It wouldn't be all that much of an inconvenience to the average player (I agree harsh punishments would be out of muse's character), but it does add a considerable amount of time to the testing phases of those who are just joining and leaving to mess around with different builds or the like. As far as this deterrent goes, if it were implemented, I would like to see it affect any member of the crew. Yes, the captain does have the most responsibility, but that's not to say the rest of the crew has none.

I love the "press I to Captain" idea too. As the captain slot only has a 1/3 chance of landing on the person who is going to take the helm, and neither of the people can effectively bring out the ships full potential anyway, it would just make the whole transition process a lot smoother. As far as changing load-out mid match goes, it would make the transitional period a lot longer, and leave your teammate out to fight 1v2 for more than they probably feel comfortable with. Maybe have it so that the ship stays the same, but the guns automatically change to the new captain's build? As little downtime as possible is best, as that transitional period between when the captain leaves and when one of the other crew decides to take the helm is one of the most vulnerable times in the game. Pausing the game would pretty much equate to sending everyone back to the lobby to ready up a second time, which is to say, not an valid option in my book.

Final notes: Taking over the ship after the captain leaves is some of the most fun I've had piloting, as it's purely about working with what you've got. I still sucks, but it can be fun.

Also, to answer it dragonmere, it gives you a second gunner, which means you're at the accepted 2 engineers and 1 gunner if your gunner takes the helm, but unfortunately left with 1 engineer and 2 gunners if an engineer takes the helm.

[dragonmere]

A second AI gunner. Thats what I was afraid of. I understand that the AI tries to balance the crew positions, but in this case I think it would be best if an abandoning pilot/captain could always be replaced with a third engineer, or the first gunner. I don't think the game itself, under any circumstances, should throw a second gunner onto a ship, when a second gunner is pretty much universally accepted as a 'bad idea'.  Having another AI engineer would allow any member of the crew to take the helm without forcing the current gunner to the job in order to avoid a severe disadvantage. Combined with the suggestion of volunteering for the captain spot, this would leave an abandoned ship much better off. However, this is skirting the true issue, which is simply, CAPTAINS SHOULDN'T LEAVE.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I won't go too much in depth here, but here is my take on this:

As a captain who doesn't leave matches mid-game, I'd much rather see incentives for players to stay for a match vs punishments for those who don't. As suggested, you don't get achievement points till after the match, or something to that effect. Even if that doesn't deter one guy, it will deter a whole boat from simply giving up.

The ability to make someone the new captain (thus taking the captain slot) is also appealing. I don't see it having role change though, nor will I ever support the changing of ships or loadouts of ships mid-match.

And I say players, not just captains, because you can't single out one class like that, regardless of its importance.

[Governor Explosion]

I left a match today because I was having a lot of lag, and because I'm still too new to be jumping into online matches yet. I'll get more practice in and return when I have a better handle of things.

I would completely understand if I was penalized, or if players who did what I did didn't get experience because I left. I think that's fair enough.

[Plasmarobo]

On the lag issue, try turning your lighting settings down (Options -> Video -> Lighting), it helps whenever flame effects are in play.

I have a pretty good PC, but the lighting effects absolutely ruin my frame rate. Not sure if that's an idiosyncrasy of Unity or what.
I turned that to the lowest setting and haven't had frame rate lag since. Lag spikes still happen occasionally, and you might want to try and play on a server near your location (America, Europe, Asia, Oceana) to minimize that.

I know Muse is working hard to fix those issues. Just some friendly suggestions!

[Governor Explosion]

Thanks! It did help for the most part, but there's still a little shakiness-- mostly just moving around and the camera. I don't know if it's something I need to tweak, or just being new and not used to the controls.

I do have a 5+ year-old MacBook, so lag is something I'm used to by now, though.

[James T. Kirk]

Not saying we should have ship loadouts switch mid-match because of a yellow-bellied Captain, but here's a little something that came over the Captain's Chat mid-game one day.

"Jesus Christ! Somebody REALLY likes flaks."

Poor guy dropped in on a Goldfish with a Heavy Flak up front and two light ones on either side.

Thankfully, I had a Whirlwind, so were were able to coordinate a few kills outta our predicament.

Fellow Captain, I don't remember who you were, but I salute you for sticking with me 'till the bitter end of that match.

[evodoc]

How about adding a server browser to the game's main screen that would list the live games with missing pilots/captains?
Something like that:


Bad pilots are still way better than nothing, because they have a chance becoming better.

[James T. Kirk]

Whenever I'm trying to find a match, I always look through the running matches and make sure they all have 4/4 or 6/6.

If they don't, I drop in and take over.

I normally say "oh, Captain abandoned you guys, huh?" Then I thank the engineer on the helm, and grab it myself.

Normally, I just got a loyal crew in exchange for half a bad game on an awful ship.