Spring RTS Engine

Peet wrote:peoples' skill in one mod should not affect their rank in another nor a global setting, unless we set up a TASServer for each mod.

If you have the manpower do it for each mod(do it), otherwise, have it output raw data to the lobby. You can interpret the data in any which way you please, you can make it predict how fast a player learns based on time, or how good they are capable of playing at as compared to other players. This is statistical data.

ps. this is the perfect solution for smurfs if you think about it.

That could be done through recording different statistics called by a content ID value, possibly using the short-tag Meltrax generated for the Ladder. Anyway, when in battle room, you would call the ability value for balancing which corresponds to that ID.

Am I seriously talking to the devs here? didnt know this topic had gotten to that level yet.

You're just talking to minds in jars. We run theory primarily.

Scratch wrote:

Peet wrote:peoples' skill in one mod should not affect their rank in another nor a global setting, unless we set up a TASServer for each mod.

If you have the manpower do it for each mod(do it)

I apologize for my hyperbole and obscure implication, I was implying that it's unfeasible and seggregative (sp?).

otherwise, have it output raw data to the lobby. You can interpret the data in any which way you please, you can make it predict how fast a player learns based on time, or how good they are capable of playing at as compared to other players. This is statistical data.

This still doesn't solve the issue regarding cross-mod skill...Say I set up a simbase ladder, and beat down all the BA pros? That would give me horrendously huge global rankings, regardless of my skill at other mods.

Then we don't use global rankings. It is as simple as that.

Scratch wrote:Am I seriously talking to the devs here? didnt know this topic had gotten to that level yet.

It's not like the devs are gods who don't communicate with the mere mortals, they regularly comment in threads they find interesting, just like everyone else.

Right - but nobody cares about lobby performance.

Would it be possible to have the lobby convert unit/resource unit specific data on an individual one at a time basis? (based on some kind of Unit ID.) that way you could probably even make the stats page display info based on all mods played by one player.

Also balancing a game is the last thing on my mind, auto balancing could be done after all the statistics have been gathered. This should be fairly simple process to understand(coding being another issue).

Make the statistic system first, and make it priority.

What would a massive, complex system like this add to the general player experience? That's the question that must be answered.

Remember, just because you think it's a good idea doesn't mean that it's a good idea. That's not to say that it's a bad idea, but there's a difference between an idea that you think is good, and an idea that you genuinely think would be good for everyone.

It's a truthful way of comparing player skill

ps. i dont think the dev's would agree that its that complex, either.

Scratch wrote:It's a truthful way of comparing player skill

ps. i dont think the dev's would agree that its that complex, either.

What would a skill-based ranking system add to the general player experience?

IMHO the only thing that's "broken" in the current ranking is that it's global and not per mod, for the rest I think the gametime as ranking is fine.

Tobi wrote:IMHO the only thing that's "broken" in the current ranking is that it's global and not per mod, for the rest I think the gametime as ranking is fine.

The catch with that is including the "lineage" of mods. If I'm friggin' awesome at BA 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7, then I'll probably by good at BA 5.8, and any related mutators.

True, but that's an implementation detail

Might have some admin panel or something where mods can be grouped together in the same rank. Could even be automated for the newer mods based on the shortname tag in modinfo.tdf.

"Rank does not tell how 'good' a player is, but rather how experienced he is"

ranking system help hint

make a wc3/sc style profile.

Games played, wins/losses.

Disconnects included in the loss section

Then watch no one playing against someone who has ration of over 60%

Felix the Cat wrote:

Scratch wrote:It's a truthful way of comparing player skill

ps. i dont think the dev's would agree that its that complex, either.

What would a skill-based ranking system add to the general player experience?

It sounds like your trying to argue about player psychology. People would look at the stats they have and say

'well, we have saktoth there, whos unit damage per flash tank is thru the roof(lol). but look at my stats, my economy is consistently better than most other people's. That makes my e peen grow. '

Also there really are no other factors to take into account, if you keep going with the hour system it won't add much. Win/loss ratio is basically the ladder system, so if you want win/loss go with ladder.

If you want an intelligent system, find factors that are elements of a win or loss, such as economic output, expansion, and unit damage. People would be able to tell where there weak points are and where there strong points are just from these stats.

And I continue to say that it shouldn't be hard to code if done properly.

ps. There is a stats screen at the end of every match, is it possible to use that data?

Also, unit damage and unit resource is handled the same way by the engine for any mod. The devs should be able to output at the end of the match a table containing all this information from the engine's core, but it would include the mod names for each unit in the table so the lobby would be able to categorize it properly.

Then again maybe rank has more to do with wins than anything else. Maybe having a rank as well as an experience rating would be an idea.

i think hours in game (even though its moot) should be a number. like:
1hour
156hours
1,045hours ...
87,986hours ...