Organized balanced games with rating

[BinaryDragon]

I think most people will agree that finding good balanced matches is hard. I have been thinking about how this could be accomplished. How to make a system that would allow close to perfect balance.

My plan is to develop a website that organizes games.

below I will explain how I imagine this system will work :

First part is the captains, to play as a captain you need to be level 45. If you are below level 45, you can seek dispensation. This will allow you to play in a test match in order to prove that you are good enough, even if you are at lvl 14 pilot.

So first thing first, all captains who play in these games must have a certain level. I will explain later why I think this is necessary. There is no minimum requirement for the other classes, but I will explain how this can still be balanced :

The game starts with players signing up for the game. After the pool of players has reached  a certain size. The website will announce that the game is about to begin. The (4 or 6) captains are put on random teams, and a drafting phase of players begin. Red Captain starts out by picking one player for his crew out of the pool of players who have signed up.Blue Captain goes next, then second red captain. This cycle repeats until there are no more slots available. This might result in low level players being picked last, but they will enjoy the pleasure on flying with a high level captain who can help them improve

After the player draft, comes the ship picking phase, the ship picking phase is much like the player picking phase. Red Captain picks his ship,a load out and helm tools(engineering tools and gunner ammo is not considered by the draft) But once helm tool , ship and guns have been selected it is final. Blue captain follows, then red again until there are no more ships

Red captain now creates the password protected lobby and players join

After the match, a screenshoot of the score is taken by the winning team and uploaded. The result of the match is given in k/d - the more kills you have as a winning team, the more rating you will get. The more kills you have as the loosing team, the less rating you will lose

About the captain's being level 45, I think the best games is created when the pilots are high level and know what they are doing. They will also be able to help new players get better. Because the pilot has the overall responsibility for both player and ship selection. People below a certain level would probably not have a good time, and the same can be said for their teammates. However if 2 gunners sign up one is lvl 4 and the other is lvl 5 there is no problem, since the low level gunners wont decide what ship to fly and players to pick. It will be up to the captain abilities to instruct a low level gunner on how to gun



Now I have a couple of questions for you guys:
would you like to play this type of game ? (yes, no, maybe - please explain)
do you see any obvious flaws in the system ?

I look forward to hearing you guys feedback

[Silver Corsair]

Firstly, Because guns of Icarus has so few players I worry about splitting the pool. Second, you will never get a pool large enough for good match making.

PS: This might be something to work into (or run similarly) the chaos events.

[BinaryDragon]

I agree that the community  is (way to) small. When I think about why it is so small. I am often lead to believe that it is because people buy the game, they get SUPER rkt by full stacks of  vets picking some trollbuild in order to "give them a chance" . When they have been destroyed without mercy for the 3rd time, they exit because "game sucks".That's why I don't see anything wrong in separating the more competitive players from the novices/casuals who just wants to shoot flamethrowers, run 2 flaks on their pyramidions or simply stand in ave for the entire match and look at everything.

 I think if something like i described in my original post  was created. Less of the competitive players would be stomping the novices who just bought the game. At the same time it would give novices who want to advance fast in the game a place to go.

 if  you had the option to stomp a full stack of novices or play a really nicely balanced competitive match what would you pick ? 

As of now there is not a lot of competitive guns of icarus due to the fact you need to find 8 people that are actually good enough and have time enough to play on the current competitive scene. With the model I suggested anyone can join competitive games and try out their skill against other players

[Silver Corsair]

So what your trying to do is facilitate apprenticeships? Because I thought you were working the match making angle.

[BinaryDragon]

I am working the match making angle. At the same time, the system should be available to anyone who wants to play competitive matches, regardless of their levels (unless they want the pilot role)

Public matchmaking like it exist in Goio today is often hopelessly unbalanced, this is often due to the fact that people likes to play with their friends and it's often these groups of friends are all very high level and very good at the game.

With the system I am thinking about creating, you cannot expect to get in the same team/ship as your friends, because if your friend is a really  good player he might be picked by an enemy captain

[Silver Corsair]

I think perhaps a more effective way for players to advance is to facilitate a skilled captain and 1 or 2 crew to take on 1 or 2 apprentices then hold a competition after some time, next weekend Sunday or something, between ships all of whom took on pseudo random (It should try to ensure personality's work.) apprentices the week before. That way the low level player  has a chance at:

• Skills
• Balanced play
• Competitive play
• A longer term team

Ps: That last one will grow the pool.

[BinaryDragon]

Perhaps that is a more effective way for players to learn. In the system I might make, Nobody will be excluded because of their levels.  The point of the system is not to teach novices how to play. If they have a good attitude and want to learn how to play in a competitive environment they can do that, is all i am saying.

[Huskarr]

At first I didn't quite like the Idea, but now after thinking about it I really like it.