Ship Scrambling and Other Upcoming Features

[Shinkurex]

If quick join cannot find an open match that has not started, it will create a new match for the player. This was changed a long time ago (https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,368.msg5788.html#msg5788). any player who has joined mid-match, has done so on his own volition... There is a problem where someone will join the lobby right as the countdown is almost finished, leaving the captain with no time to organize his last team member, but I feel as though that might be a topic all in it's own, as it's not anything to do with ship scrambling.

[-Mad Maverick-]

If quick join cannot find an open match that has not started, it will create a new match for the player. This was changed a long time ago (https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,368.msg5788.html#msg5788). any player who has joined mid-match, has done so on his own volition... There is a problem where someone will join the lobby right as the countdown is almost finished, leaving the captain with no time to organize his last team member, but I feel as though that might be a topic all in it's own, as it's not anything to do with ship scrambling.

o cool so it is both the quick join and the lobby menu that both need over hauling as I suspected...  sounds like we need a matchmaking system

[N-Sunderland]

I didn't read the all the rants, but I have a new point:
When you get stuck on a team with a captain who doesn't know how to work a ship and refuses to learn/take advice the ship (lets call him Leroy) the scramble would be a blessing. It will spread the burden of having to put up with Leroy around to each ship on the server. It will give an exceptional captain a chance to show they can win regardless of how stupid their ally is. It will also give the last captain to fly with the Leroy some catharsis as he pummels Leroy into the ground.

When I am stuck flying under a bad captain I feel no sorrow for abandoning him. When I am flying with a good crew and a bad ally ship I feel bad leaving a crew that did nothing wrong.

There's a difference between how people would feel optimally and what they actually do feel. In reality there are very few captains who would view it as a blessing to end up with a bad teammate, and once again, that's when said captains start leaving the lobby.

[HamsterIV]

You miss read Sunderland, it is a blessing to be shuffled away from the bad team mate. It is a bit of a curse to be stuck with a bad team mate. I am viewing this from the angle of being paired with the bad teammate before the scramble, and being free of him for a few rounds after the scramble.

Have you ever voluntarily swapped sides after one captain from the opposing team rage quits, only to discover the remaining captain is a complete retard? Some times you don't realize how bad the situation on the other team is while you are busy killing them.

[RearAdmiralZill]

So in that situation, you are just trading a loss. How does that do anything to better the game's enjoyment?

[HamsterIV]

Scrambling spreads the dissatisfaction of having to put up with a bad team mate (Leroy) evenly around the server. The current system puts the burden of escorting a Leroy on the shoulders of one crew. Even if that crew leaves the server it will be replaced by another crew who will have and equally bad experience.

The worst case scenario in a 2v2 without shuffle over the course of 5 games is that eight people have a very good experience and 40 people have a very bad experience. Shuffling will make the experience of the winning eight less enjoyable, but will make the experience of at least some of the 40 more enjoyable.

Think of it as the video game communism.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Until that team leaves anyway and you net back to nothing. It's not a band aid for all cases, but for some it's not a bad way to go.

Option it. They will come.

[DMaximus]

I really like the idea of scramble lobbies, as long as it's not the only kind. It would make PUGs a lot more enjoyable. It's essentially just the auto-balancing mechanisms that you see in a lot of games.
 
Sometimes though, you just want to fly with your team. As long as I can create a public lobby with scramble disabled, I'll be happy. Ideally (to me, at least) Scramble and Scramble-disabled lobbies would both be shown by default on the match screen but would be differentiated by a label and maybe an icon or coloring or something. Add some hover text on the label so new players can see what it means easily and make an informed choice. I'd make Scramble the default type, since most games tend to be PUGs.

It's a similar idea as the Competitive lobbies Bubbles was seeking opinions on, but without the baggage of deciding how to limit them or how to define "Competitive". 

[HamsterIV]

I am hoping that coming in off a win streak will make the crew that got scrambled over to the bad team more tolerant. Especially since they know another scramble is coming to pull them out of this bad situation in the near future. Also the the crew coming off the win streak stands a better chance of evening up the game than a freshly joined crew. They had that win streak to sharpen their crew interactions.

[shadowsteel]

Throwing my 0.02 in.
Assuming scrambling goes live and it's an optional part of lobby making and most people are happy, how do we want it to work?

One problem I see is this.

Scrambling is a counter to stacked and i agree with that. However if you're getting scrambled every match, you constantly have to form a new cohesiveness with your crew. There's no time to learn how to play together effectively in one match. One of the greatest joys of playing Guns is that feeling you get from great teamwork. Everyone knows exactly what they have to do because everyone is depending on each other to do what they can't. You can't get that from just one  match.

Maybe have scrambling done every other match?

[Sammy B. T.]

If you're crewing on a ship with a bad captain it doesn't really matter if your ally is good or bad, you won't have a good time.

Voluntary ship switching and perhaps mandatory tutorials would be a better solution than sharing the crap.

[-Mad Maverick-]

so no one else thinks and ACTUAL match making system would help?

[HamsterIV]

I think the community is too small and the matches last for too long for an actual match making system to work. Also match making systems suffer greatly from mid game quitters since they do not allow for mid game joins.

[-Mad Maverick-]

I believe if we do a good job on match making on the front end we will have fewer mid game leavers on the back end. 
 
also number of players matters little to a well set up matchmaking process.   and I think it is very probable that the better we do on MM now the more players we will add moving forward.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I am hoping that coming in off a win streak will make the crew that got scrambled over to the bad team more tolerant. Especially since they know another scramble is coming to pull them out of this bad situation in the near future. Also the the crew coming off the win streak stands a better chance of evening up the game than a freshly joined crew. They had that win streak to sharpen their crew interactions.

That all depends on the x number they pick for scramble (remember, they haven't decided yet). Idk about pubbies, but it takes forever to get a game going these days, let alone waiting and praying for a scramble over just not bothering and making a new lobby to sit in.

It also messes with players leaving and joining. Nobody would want to be that captain that gets one good game before a scramble which tosses you over to Leroy for a serious of aweful.

I believe if we do a good job on match making on the front end we will have fewer mid game leavers on the back end. 
 
also number of players matters little to a well set up matchmaking process.   and I think it is very probable that the better we do on MM now the more players we will add moving forward.

Until I see ranks actually giving some indication of skill level, they need a way to figure that out first before even considering a matchmaking system.