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Messages posted by: Mantis Lord
Forum Index Profile for Mantis Lord »» Messages posted by Mantis Lord
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rules and registration » Go to message
Zergjah advances to next round, winning 3 games to 1, after skipping me this morning in 3 games when the turn clock changed from 24 hours to 12 hours while I was sleeping.

They were very close matches. Good games, good luck next round!
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rules and registration » Go to message
Mantis Lord 4-0 vs Ivanavich, who never showed up.
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rules and registration » Go to message
4 games with Ivanavich all sitting at 0:00 on their turn. Inactive player for over 32 days. Don't want to skip/remove but worried I'll have to...

Heads up if anyone knows Ivanavich and can ask them to log in. Thank you.
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rounds and statistics » Go to message
Mantis Lord wins all 4 games in 8 rounds after surrenders in each by Illist1ever. Thanks for the matches!
What's New in the Latest Updates » Rank Reform » Go to message
So in summary: changing ranking system alone does not improve the actual gameplay experience. As currently proposed, the rank changes will result in (bad things):

- Lots of upset Team Players. Do not count on them to 'wait around' for team play to get the same treatment as 1v1.
- (Getting locked in to a fixed 2 player team is not realistic either btw).
- Players being forced to play twice as many games as normal (if mirror req) because of poor-race balanced maps and race choosing mechanisms
- A meltdown of the validity of the ranking system, if 10 days is kept.
^ People will realize how short and ridiculous that is on their first vacation, lose a big chunk of points, then stop caring about ranking altogether. That's my prediction!

ALSO, keep rated bot games for low rated players!! They should be rewarded for learning! Keep it for them up to rating...1800? Then turn it off.

I mean, ask yourself, will you suddenly have MORE FUN playing Uniwar with the first pass of rank changes? I know I won't!
But then ask yourself, would you suddenly have MORE FUN playing if core gameplay was improved, ie what I and many have suggested in the posts here? I sure would!!

I love you guys devs, this is one of my very favorite games. I always try to get more people playing it.

I think it is upsetting some of the fanbase though that the real issues with the game feel like they're being ignored. The rank changes are just a band-aid - we need stitches instead.

(Let alone other huge core gameplay improvements we're dying for, like new units, a new race, new terrain, and a game-playback / spectator feature!!!)

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What's New in the Latest Updates » Rank Reform » Go to message
The rating system we have now is decent. The big reason to change it is to remove cheaters, and add incentives for more frequent ranked play overall. But even a few simple changes, combined with focus on the previous *more significant issues*, will get us to where we want to be.

- Please remove/ban/block the KNOWN cheaters? I feel like we all know who they are, I don't know why we cannot just address those people in the open. Or is that not possible? Apologies if I missed that explanation.
- Please remove any time control below 12 hours for ranked matches, (or even altogether) <<< I know this is in the proposal and that's great!
- ^ Also good was the suggestion to start the game timer upon the 2nd player accepting a game (in 1v1).
- I like requiring continued Random Ranked play to maintain rank, to some extent. Please pick a more realistic mechanism though.
- 10 days is an arbitrary amount of time used by no one. Pick 2 or 3 weeks instead please (I prefer 3).
- Starting a game every X time is still clunky. What if you are capped for games? High-end games can be very long and intense, they will stack up quickly.
- And does getting randomly matched, but not being the 'game starter', count for activity?
^^^Combined with blind-to-opponent race selection in randoms, re-booting the rated map pool, and focusing on race-balanced map acceptance system, we will have a GREAT system!

I saved most important for last. Let us define Uniwar, so we can understand our priorities. I see it as the combination of all the ways people play the game. Hence:
1v1 + Team + AI = Uniwar

- I will posit that not many people care about the AI. It is nice to have, and a much stronger AI would be nice, but I think most people like to play with/against other people.
- Unless developers have stats to show that 1v1 play >>> Team Play, I think both types of play should be treated EQUALLY.
- Even then, if developers want to focus on one type more than the other, they WILL lose a MAJOR portion of the player base. Just a heads-up. I will happily quit if ranked team play is not continued.

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What's New in the Latest Updates » Rank Reform » Go to message
Many great thoughts all around. Glad to see the community coming together for this.
There is a lot to keep track of though. Personally, I like bullet points, and will try to keep my ideas succinct.

First off, I think focusing primarily on changing the rating system is a mistake right now. The game has bigger issues!
- Poorly race-balanced rated maps are the biggest problem in the game right now.
- That is why I do not play rated random 1v1. It is a joke, cannot be taken seriously. No one likes being dealt a losing hand to start the game!
- SOLUTION: please just give us a random map in rated 1v1 that we can see, let us pick our own races, BUT don't let the other player see the race their opponent picked! >>>Problem solved.
- Mirrored games are a crutch, and a bad one, that attempt to fix the problem above.
- This results in a balloon-swelling/bloat of the time required to play this game (if mirror becomes standard).
- That is fun and fine in a tournament, but in most club chess, playing and winning 1 chess game is quite a normal occurrence without requiring the mirror match. Please fix the root cause of the problem instead (starting with above proposal).

The above suggestion is part of the whole solution. The other part is the way maps become rated, then the 3rd part is the player rating system itself.

- I suggest making all maps unrated except the defaults, and starting the rated-map selection process fresh as the developers have recently described.
- It makes sense that long time / solid players might have a broader understanding of a map's merits and therefore have more voting power than a fresh account should.
- I think a map becoming rated should be a big event, and thus should be announced with fanfare on the uniwar website when it is added. Maybe with an overview and a few tips on how to play it.
- It is not easy to create a balanced map that will make it to this level, reiterating the above. There should be more detailed suggestions/guidelines on how to make balanced maps for newer players.
- All mechanisms behind what makes a map rated should be transparent.
- (Maybe there is a way to automate a post to forum about a map that is about to become rated, where discussion can take place and then a final vote)

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Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rules and registration » Go to message
(@Talone - same post in other thread - please remake 4 games for me and Illist1ever, we each quit 2 of them thinking we'd messed something up in setup. Thanks!)
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rounds and statistics » Go to message
Thanks, that's all clear now.

@TALONE - please remake the 4 games between me and opponent (Illist1ever). We each quit 2 of them thinking there had been a mistake in the setup. Thank you!
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rounds and statistics » Go to message
OH! So the sap-titan sap-sap games were made automatically by the system? And we need to play the mirror games of those 2?
And it's a 24 hour turn timer this round apparently?
Tournaments » The Beach Wars: rounds and statistics » Go to message
So this time we each choose 1 game and then play the mirrored set of games correct? They will not be generated automatically?

Also a slight correction, for the record - in the last round my opponent won the last game. So final match score was 3-1, not 3-0.
General Discussion » gmail UniWar training with TALONE » Go to message
Haha no doubt, very nice!
Khraleans » Plague » Go to message
That's fair, capturing bases is hard enough as it is. I like your interpretation.

Adamant that plague should kill though!
General Discussion » gmail UniWar training with TALONE » Go to message
Wow nice results Talone, that's got to put a feather in your cap for sure! I know I'd be very proud of them

I am curious how your students would fare on a map that you did not make, one of a very different style?
I have picked up on certain tactics that your tourney maps encourage that also align with the core of your gameplay strategy.

Perhaps the next tournament could be on a standard map, or one voted on by the players that will be in the tourney?

I have been thinking about how to possibly run a smaller tournament myself later this year, a quicker one with a different format. I'd love to talk to you about that if you're interested. I can start a new thread if you'd prefer.

In the meantime, trying to figure out this Beach Wars mess hehe...
Khraleans » Plague » Go to message
Agree. Plague should kill. And if not, then UV shouldn't kill.

I'll also add that I think that EMP should stop mechs that are capping a base, but it does not.

And that you should be able to convert infantry while they are capping a base, as any race. Counter-intuitive that you cannot.
Forum Index Profile for Mantis Lord »» Messages posted by Mantis Lord
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