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 | New team balancer | |
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drippy-
Unreasonable Dictator
Hot Roasted
Sniper Delivery
|  | | P: | 08/23/2017 17:53 EST | | E: | 01/23/2019 16:42 EST |
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So this previous Friday I enabled the new team balancer on the server, and have been tweaking it since then. It works based off the Trueskill algorithm, which is what Microsoft uses for Xbox live matchmaking. More information on the algorithm can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/trueski....
Match Quality refers to the percentage chance that the game will end in a tie. How it works here:
Whenever a player tries to join a team, the server will compute the quality of teams for each team they could join. The server will only allow a player to change to a team if its the best result possible in Match Quality.
If the player is a spectator, it will join them to the team resulting in the best quality regardless of their choice, otherwise it will inform them that they are unable to change teams at this time if it is not an improvement.
The server also provides a queue to switch teams, which you can join and leave via the !switch command. Whenever someone is in the queue to switch, it will check periodically to see if that will result in an improvement in quality and change them when it does. It will also check when another player joins a team to see if the team switch will improve the quality in combination with the new player joining, and switch both players if so.
Currently, the team balancer does not care about people joining spec or quitting. So if people leave a team and unbalance things, it will leave it like that.
The idea there is to never force a player to join the other team while they are playing, and the consequence is that a team can get fucked over by people leaving without others joining/switching to fill their spots.
Unlike the by-player-numbers balancer, people can't really game this by quitting and getting someone forced to the opposite team so they can rejoin and take their place, so the concept of being assigned a team for the game also doesn't apply. People can switch whenever they want, so long as it improves the quality. They can wait in spec for the chance to join their desired team, though !switch works much better.
So far, this works pretty well when the server is busy, but does break down when there aren't many players, but (EDIT) the server alerts everyone when the match quality is low and they can switch to improve it voluntarily.
One other thing of note is that the server doesn't balance based on number of players on each team, nor does it have any concept of the current score. I've seen it balance teams to as much as 15v11 before, and it always seems appropriate for the teams at the time.
Another thing I do plan on doing soon is having the team switch queue take into account two players on opposite sides wanting to switch, and do the appropriate action.
9/19/17 Edit:
Server notifies everyone when they match quality is low and notifies players who can switch to improve it. It also notifies players when it is no longer low.
Changed to use stats from the just the games since 8/23, hopefully matching up players better
1/23/19: Changed to be balanced by numbers instead of skill when less than 6 people are playing | |
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Well done! I was wondering what that was. Makes sense now. | |
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angry_salad
Super Regular
Medic Capping
Service
| | | P: | 08/23/2017 21:31 EST |
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Is there a command that displays match quality to the player? And maybe show whether switching teams would increase or decrease match quality? | |
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Wisdom
Super Regular
Dizzy Capper
| | | P: | 08/23/2017 21:57 EST |
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I'm really interested in how the balancer is rating players. Does it take into account class, off/def kills, etc? | |
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Mr. Walnuts
Daycare Manager
Pipey FlagCatcher
| | | P: | 08/23/2017 22:08 EST |
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I guess that explains why it always has me against 15-18 players.
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Keep tinkering with this AI stuff.... you're going to bring Skynet online and kill us all. | |
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The balancer has me rated as a really lousy player who farts a lot. | |
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Or was it a lousy farter who plays a lot??? | |
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drippy-
Unreasonable Dictator
Hot Roasted
Sniper Delivery
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 12:18 EST |
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 | angry_salad wrote:
Is there a command that displays match quality to the player? And maybe show whether switching teams would increase or decrease match quality? | |
Nope, it just shows the quality at halfway through the match and at the end. It tells you how much the quality decreases if you aren't allowed to switch teams, but thats it.
| Wisdom wrote:
I'm really interested in how the balancer is rating players. Does it take into account class, off/def kills, etc? | |
Just wins and losses, really. Can't really depend on someone playing o/d or using a certain class in a given round | |
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gg#4
Super Regular
Killer Scout
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 14:46 EST |
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Me and Omni were singing this new system praises the other night.
I did notice it fucking blows when there isn't a lot of players on. Kept getting whipped on Saturday when it was like 4 on 4.
Also, I'm usually the first person who joins the game and it keeps putting me Red. Before this id always go to Blue. Not an issue, just I like Blue better. | |
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gg#4
Super Regular
Killer Scout
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 15:04 EST |
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| Wisdom wrote:
I'm really interested in how the balancer is rating players. Does it take into account class, off/def kills, etc? | |
Who was the auto guy last night? He said to call you Kryptonite. He was pulling off some crazy shots. I specced him the second match and recorded a demo but he seemed legit. Though he was missing a shit ton when I was speccing and wasn't missing that much when I wasn't, but I wasn't making what I was doing known so theres that.
Do you know him? Was a real arrogant asshole calling himself the best sniper in TFC.
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drippy-
Unreasonable Dictator
Hot Roasted
Sniper Delivery
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 16:11 EST |
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| gg#4 wrote:
Also, I'm usually the first person who joins the game and it keeps putting me Red. Before this id always go to Blue. Not an issue, just I like Blue better. | |
I think I fixed that yesterday, auto-team will always pick red but it should let you manually assign to blue now if you are the first person.
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omni.AI
Super Regular
Soldier Flag
Defense
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 17:28 EST |
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| gg#4 wrote:
Who was the auto guy last night? He said to call you Kryptonite. He was pulling off some crazy shots. I specced him the second match and recorded a demo but he seemed legit. Though he was missing a shit ton when I was speccing and wasn't missing that much when I wasn't, but I wasn't making what I was doing known so theres that.
Do you know him? Was a real arrogant asshole calling himself the best sniper in TFC.
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Hahaha. That was me!
Just kidding. I am not nearly so arrogant. (He said, humbly)
I'm not gonna come right out and tell you who it is, but most of us will know him very well, he has been around (and arrogant) for quite a long time, though he was m.i.a. for about a year...
Maybe this will be a clue to some of you guys, and I quote:
"Headshot!
Headshot!
Headshot!
Headshot!"
That is one of his more familiar binds. And yes, he has ample opportunity to use it FAR TOO OFTEN for my taste. That being said, he is an old friend and has plenty of skill to justify at least a modicum of arrogance.
Anyone care to fill in the blank here?
Here's another hint: If I were to post his other most frequently used one-word bind, it would be his name followed by an exclamation point. | |
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gg#4
Super Regular
Killer Scout
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 17:50 EST | | E: | 08/24/2017 17:51 EST |
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Im relatively new here so I dont remember him.
Figured you knew him as he said he was waiting for funtown to fill up. So he must play there often.
He was shit talking me when I was going at him as a scout with a nailgun and crowbar so I went medic and made him eat his words. I'm not even a good medic, so I'm not quite sure of his skill in up close combat. Though, maybe spoofer can elaborate, but it could be harder to close combat with a higher ping than it is to snipe far away?
Wisdom wouldn't have let me wreck him as many times as I did to auto. | |
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omni.AI
Super Regular
Soldier Flag
Defense
| | | P: | 08/24/2017 18:58 EST |
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His name is Tr1umph or y0shi. He is a really good sniper and pretty damn good soldier, but he isn't the best at either. He does like to push people's buttons when he is playing, and knowing how exposed your buttons are, I am not a bit surprised that he was pressing them every chance he got (he does it to me too).
As an admin at Funtown, I have been told he is hacking countless times. So I have certainly watched closely and can tell you with near certainty that he is just really good and not using hacks. I am certainly not the authority on spotting hacks, but I do have some experience and I'm pretty sure he is legit. I think the number one reason he gets accused so often is not necessarily because he is so much more accurate than other good snipers, but because he pisses people off by goading them after he hits them.
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