Game balancing

[Harti]

(01-06-2013 01:40 AM)Alvendor Wrote:  Even if the data says feedback is as good as the other races, I'd put a fair share on money that that is false.

Agreed to a certain extent. Each team has got weaknesses and strengths for each map. The Feedback is particularly strong on Glitch in my opinion. Well, on any single-spawn map with its spawn close to the base, the Feedback is surely a viable choice.

I've had some games against p1noyboypj, him using Feedback. The pressure coming from that well-shielded Scrambler was intriguing. I had to return all my units to where they came from and I had to tweak the positioning each and every turn actually.

So the problem doesn't lie within our subjective understanding of how the teams work. We probably never found the Feedback too strong, thusly didn't use them and therefore don't know how to use them and finally mistake them as a weak team.
It may well be that the win percentage of the Feedback is low. But that's quite likely because only few people know how to use them appropriately. And more importantly, OML's data is most likely to also contain games without any spawned specials (which doesn't really show which team is better except in a mindgame way).

In order to really address balance issues among teams, we would need to find four top specialists for each race, and let them play 1,200 games against each other (100 per match-up, 50 P1, 50 P2). For each map (9,600 games).
THEN we would maybe have some bullet-proof breakdown about how the teams are balanced for every map. :O



We need to accept that it's nearly impossible to really find a perfect balance between the teams, and with a fifth team approaching sometime we're going to have to live through the whole process again.
Hence, we should try to live with what OML's figures say and trust in their ideas for fixes. Things that seem to be obviously out of balance are immediately brought up and fixed within the beta testing group.
Please do note that, if any Special changes, so does the complete spectrum of balance between all Specials. A good Veggienauts buff might make the Veggienauts "a respectable team" (i.e. get more people to try to figure out how to use them; they are a decent team already), making people switch from Adorables to Veggienauts for whatever reason (e.g. better match-up against Scallywags) and therefore influencing all percentages.


Long story short: Let's try different things and find out. Your suggestions might balance the game but from what I see, it'd shift the balance in Feedback's and Veggienauts' favor.