A newbie autohost?

sort
aginor 13 years ago What do you think of adding a "TrainingCamp (Newbies welcome)" kind of host for Zero-K? I think it'd be good if there was a clear, definitive place where newbies could go and play their first games vs human players, since they tend to do poorly in regular battles and as a result are often steamrolled by their opponents and/or yelled at by their allies. Even if this would 'splinter' the battles into two smaller ones instead of one big like we have right now, the effect would be positive imo since more experienced players wouldn't have to shake their heads as much to the newbs who porc in their starting bases, and first-time players would have gentler playing experiences. At least seems worth a try, though only time would tell whether the server would become popular. +0 / -0
luckywaldo7 13 years ago Yes definitely. Actually, in particular I think the distinction should be that elo isn't recorded on such an autohost, kind of like the starcraft practice league before you are sent out into the wild. +0 / -0
Skasi 13 years ago I suggested something like this before and think it's a very good idea. I think elo should be recorded though, but only at 1/4 of the weighting (to make these hosts less grave). I even think the base game speed on this server should be at 90% to allow players more time as well as calling attention to the fact that ZK can be very fast on the real servers and focus on macromanagement (eg. fight, repeat, patrol oders instead of a hundret move- and attack orders and building queues instead of single build commands) might be a wise decision. :) Veteran players should look forward to helping new players out when spectating or participating in these games. +0 / -0
Licho 13 years ago Does it make any sense? If the autohost is empty, ZKL users wont see it by default. They will instead click open new and pick title on their own. So what purpose would it serve and how? +0 / -0
luckywaldo7 13 years ago Idk that the ideal solution is but it would be nice if there was easy way for newbs to get games together. +0 / -0
Licho 13 years ago We could implement rank limits or make empty hosts visible by default, but then the list becomes bloated fast +0 / -0
aginor 13 years ago The point is that there is a place where newb battles can be fought on a newb level, and that everyone who joins the host knows what to expect. Currently, if a ZK newbie opens a battle of their own ("name"s battle, since they don't usually change the title), when people start joining it often becomes just a regular battle with mixed skill levels. Instead they could join the newbie autohost, which would most likely serve as a better starting experience. +0 / -0
Licho 13 years ago But how will they see newbie autohost? +0 / -0
Skasi 13 years ago Maybe there could be a "[ ] Mark as newbie game" marker when opening a new room. Springie would automatically set it up a server (eg. record elo at decreased rate, or not at all; decrease gamespeed; activate tutorial widgets; etc.) and ZKL will display a little "ABC" or whatever icon next to the battle. :) +0 / -0
Licho 13 years ago Record elo at reduced rate makes no sense, it has to track it properly. I still don't see how would this work. In other games (RON) people simply state "nubs" in the game title. +0 / -0
jiero 13 years ago Have Strategies Drawing on map for newbie? For example. lua find mex near the spawn and give wind/solar choices to them. +0 / -0
Saktoth 13 years ago I cannot tell you how many times we have tried to split the server into more than one game. People are an 8v8 playing DSD, so we try and break off for a small 2v2 on red comet or something, and either nobody comes to the new server, or once one or two leave, they all come to the new server. People will always go where the biggest game is, and lump together. It is really frustrating, especially if you're not really into playing massive games. The only real success we've had with this recently is chickens vs a regular game, or FFA vs team, or, sometimes, 1v1 vs team (because this only takes 2 people). This is simply a matter of playerbase. When we have enough players, we will have more than one room open at once. But when we only have enough players to fill up one room, that is all we will get. When we are bigger, we will almost certainly split up games by elo rank. Until then, i suggest noobs play coop vs AI and chickens- some easy one-click way to set up such a game might be good. +0 / -0
sprang 13 years ago "In other games (RON) people simply state "nubs" in the game title. " Maybe there could be a checkbox in the "Open new battle" menu that says "Newbie game", that would be on by default. If checked, it'd simply add a [Newbies] tag at the name of the battle, e.g. "[Newbies]insertname's Battle". When it'd be on by default, players new to the game would most likely keep it on when hosting, which would convey the message well that it's a game for newbies. An experienced player could uncheck the box and be done with it forever. Idea number two: If showing empty battles is on by default (and if it's not it could be made to be, since it's not a problem to show the ~2 empty ZK battles we usually have), we could still have a "TrainingCamp (Newbies welcome)" host, since newbies would see it and go there to wait for more players, even if it's currently empty. +0 / -0
Loh[KoCN] 13 years ago Methods of learning - - Get the Basics (A Tutorial Single Player) - Get the Knowledge (Watch closely to High Elo Players while spectating) - Get the Advice (Ask other players what you should do) - Get the Mastery (Practice, Practice, Practice) +0 / -0

Forum index > General discussion > Development >