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32-player TAW is not good for Zero-K

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Date Editor Before After
7/21/2025 12:25:41 AMAUrankSnuggleBass before revert after revert
Before After
1 The cons? 1 The cons?
2 + Most of the units the game is designed around are obsolete damn near the moment they hit the field 2 + Most of the units the game is designed around are obsolete damn near the moment they hit the field
3 + Players are stuck with an income that is not sufficient for most strategies 3 + Players are stuck with an income that is not sufficient for most strategies
4 + The above two points interact - most units small enough to make are not good in big teams, so players are encouraged to passively wait while building something that might be useful 4 + The above two points interact - most units small enough to make are not good in big teams, so players are encouraged to passively wait while building something that might be useful
5 + Individual player impact is small and this makes playing unsatisfying 5 + Individual player impact is small and this makes playing unsatisfying
6 + It's hard to have impact, but it's easy to be impacted upon by multiple players, encouraging passivity at the back while others get wrecked to facilitate your passive teching/ecoing. Perverse incentives. 6 + It's hard to have impact, but it's easy to be impacted upon by multiple players, encouraging passivity at the back while others get wrecked to facilitate your passive teching/ecoing. Perverse incentives.
7 + This also makes most strategic decisions kind of arbitrary. Your opponent is always doing rock, paper, and scissors. So is your team. How do you make strategic decisions in this environment? 7 + This also makes most strategic decisions kind of arbitrary. Your opponent is always doing rock, paper, and scissors. So is your team. How do you make strategic decisions in this environment?
8 + The feedback for learning is terrible, resulting in players learning bad habits and remaining bad players. 8 + The feedback for learning is terrible, resulting in players learning bad habits and remaining bad players.
9 + The space isn't actually that safe for newbies, because your performance is lost in the noise but you have many more people looking for someone to blame. 9 + The space isn't actually that safe for newbies, because your performance is lost in the noise but you have many more people looking for someone to blame.
10 + Somehow the room cap coalesces into one room culture, which effectively caps the active multi playerbase to the size of one room. 10 + Somehow the room cap coalesces into one room culture, which effectively caps the active multi playerbase to the size of one room.
11 \n 11 \n
12 Big teams is an RTS without strategy. It's competitive without personal success or failure. It's a sandbox that limits viable choices. 12 Big teams is an RTS without strategy. It's competitive without personal success or failure. It's a sandbox that limits viable choices.
13 \n 13 \n
14 Despite all this, the only issue being addressed is the last one. At 32 player room cap, we seem to land at an unfortunate number of players defined by how many people are willing to wait outside the room to play, which isn't enough to seed a second room. If we lower the room cap, the number of people who show up and are waiting MAY hit a threshold that it currently doesn't, allowing for a second room to be seeded and increasing the total effective cap on players. Room player cap is therefore something that can be tuned to socially engineer a more accessible play environment. 14 Despite all this, the only issue being addressed is the last one. At 32 player room cap, we seem to land at an unfortunate number of players defined by how many people are willing to wait outside the room to play, which isn't enough to seed a second room. If we lower the room cap, the number of people who show up and are waiting MAY hit a threshold that it currently doesn't, allowing for a second room to be seeded and increasing the total effective cap on players. Room player cap is therefore something that may be able to be tuned to socially engineer a more accessible play environment.
15 \n 15 \n
16 If this is the case, ZK may overcome one of its hurdles to playerbase growth. The reasoning above is my own, don't assume I speak for the mods. 16 If this is the case, ZK may overcome one of its hurdles to playerbase growth. The reasoning above is my own, don't assume I speak for the mods.