Over the last few days on many servers including the 'official' one, I've noticed the majority of games seem very unbalanced in terms of teams. I was on a server playing NF for a few games where BE outnumbered them by one or two every game. Finally on the last map I played on that server, the teams were 8 to 12 in BE's favor. After that I left and went to the official server, where I saw the exact same thing going on. Obviously, there is a BE preference overall. Auto-balance is one way to correct it, but a better solution I think would be to ask why so many seem to prefer BE and try to balance it that way. So... for anyone who finds themselves falling into that category of 'usually plays BE' I'd like to pose that question. What is it about BE you feel makes them better overall than NF?
Hmmmmm maybe since the website's tailored towards the BE, more people instinctively join that side in games.......................o_0
It's the more accurate and powerful guns. BE SMGs own NF SMGs, just like almost any other BE weapon owns NF weaponry. I usually join the team with less players or if I want to enjoy myself I join the team with familiar names. Thus I'm finding myself more and more on the NF side(because of the first criteria). It seems that all the players that are considered "good" play BE because you don't have to shoot several clips of ammunition into people at close range(on longer ranges you can't even hit) to do something... I say it's the guns. Even BE grenadier is better suited for his job because of the reload animation(NF gren reload animation blocks the whole screen). I really like to play more on BE side, but ... seriously I just can't bring myself to to join a team that overpowers the other by 4 people already(I also don't switch teams during game very often so if the teams were balanced when I joined I don't switch to the other team, it's up to the new players who created the inbalance to switch IMO).
so im not paranoid... im almost alwase NF simply because the majority of games seem to be BE stacked.
i also think the Bren is general look much cooler, theve got nice big black guns. but this may no be the case , as the weapons are gettign a makeover anyway.
Yeah, the BE are always stacked. I don't think it's the look, red is a prefered colour by most, and I like the NF RPG since it doesn't block the screen when not reloading. It's the weapons. They are generally more powerful. The BE Heavy Rifle kills in two shots vs. anyone without armour or health boost and has the accuracy for a quick tap two get a small burst off that consists of the two bullets needed to kill and another three to make sure they're dead / kill them if they have armour and/or health boost. I accually rushed a flag in Escort and took down a bunch of people with it. One sprayed me with the NF AR while I bunny hopped to dodge, I was reloading when it happened, and after I got the clip in, I burst and killed him in a snap. I even said, "Wtf?". The NF weapons are too specialized. High power and low Accuracy or High accuracy and no power. BE weapons have high accuracy and high power. But the NF Light Tank is a monster, with just standard weapons and a little bit of Research in the Armour/Engine, they can tear a base apart.
I'd say its escort's fault, BE has the better weapons and since everybody played the map, they all want to play BE. My idea is that the map should change sides when either team wins, after both teams did the escort the map should change.
I'll give a list of unbalanced weapons: RIFLES Brenodi Assault Rifle (Wins) Higher accuracy (Kicking spread of 0 to 0.5) Same damage (35) VS Northern Assault Rifle (Loses) Lower accuracy (Kicking spread of 0.5 to 2) Same damage (35) Brenodi Heavy Rifle (Wins) Slightly lower accuracy, but better over range (Can fire 100 shots before it reaches maximum spread) Lower damage (50) Larger ammo clip (40) Higher rate of fire (920 bullet per minute) VS Northern Heavy Rifle (Loses) Slightly higher accuracy, but appalling over range (Can fire 3 shots before it reaches maximum spread) Higher damage (60) Smaller ammo clip (10) Lower rate of fire (400 bullets per minute) Possible solutions: Brenodi Empire (Weaken): -Lower damage OR -Lower accuracy over range, make it closer (medium range max) quarters OR -Make it 3-shot or 5-shot (lower damage too, then) Northern Faction (Strenghten): -Higher accuracy over range, make it better in medium range The description says the Heavy rifle was designed for medium to close quarters, so I'd make them like that. SMGS Brenodi SMG1 (Wins) Higher accuracy (0.01 while ducking) Higher damage (24) Smaller ammo clip (30) Lower rate of fire (600 bullet per minute) VS Northern SMG1 (Loses) Lower accuracy (0.02 while ducking) Lower damage (10) Larger ammo clip (35) Higher rate of fire (700 bullets per minute) Possible solutions: In general: -Make accuracy the same (preferably reduce it, because SMGs aren't supposed to be ultra-accurate ninja weapons) -Reduce damage done over range substantially, so it is used solely for close-medium range battles Brenodi Empire (Weaken): -Lower accuracy to 0.02 OR -Lower damage to 20, increase ammo size to 35, ROF to 700 (essentially, the same as NF SMG1) Northern Faction (Strenghten): -Increase accuracy to 0.01, lower ammo size to 30, ROF 600 (essentially, the same as BE SMG1) OR -Increase damage to 24 Currently, the BE SMG1 will always win over range. In close quarters the NF SMG1 may win because of its higher rate of fire. Seeing as 4/5ths of all the maps are large outdoor maps, I'd increase the accuracy. But at the same time, I'd limit the range SMGs can fire (like the sniper rifle's damage is decreased over range). Brenodi SMG2: (Loses) Same accuracy Lower damage (14) Smaller ammo clip (30) Higher rate of fire (700 bullets per minute) Northern SMG2: (Wins) Same accuracy Higher damage (20) Larger ammo clip (40) Lower rate of fire (660 bullets per minute) Possible solutions: Make them exactly the same on terms of ammo size, damage dealt and ROF (the rest is already the same). The SMG2 is designed for medium-close quarters and is very good in it. Well, for NF that is :p Northern SMG3: This SMG seems to be the addition that is given to NF to balance out the other weapons. The NF SMG3 has: High damage (28) Low accuracy Medium rate of fire (600 bullets per minute) Normal ammo clip (30). It excels in close quarter combat, but is horrible in medium-long range. This weapon is feared especially on escort, because it can kill people almost as fast as a normal Assault Rifle (4 shots). The normal BE Assault Rifle will often win against this weapon, though, as it will only take 3 shots to kill an NF engineer, and the rate of fire is almost double of that of the SMG3. Possible solutions: Give the Brenodi Empire an SMG3 like this if you're going to balance out the SMGs. Pistols and HMGs seem fine, gren weaponry is all the same and sniper rifles (no they are not scout rifles, admit it :p) are way overpowered, as they have always been since 1.04.
I wouldnt say everything has to be balanced like that, but the balance as it is right now makes baby jesus cry
Well, that's my take on it. The rifles and a few of the SMGs are out of balance. Although the rifles are more out of balance than the SMGs.
Wow, I'm surprised at the response in such a short time, but glad to see other people have noticed the same thing and at least a couple of people have tried to explain why. Perhaps if the NF AR were changed to duplicate the BE AR, this would make a big enough change to get people to play NF more?
I think there needs to be a change, but not making the rifles identical. Then each side wouldn't have any sense of identity and whatnot. I was thinking maybe reduce the BE rifle's power, maybe by alot, and keep the accuracy. This way, you'll have to play each side a lot to get used to each weapon. The BE rifle could be more of a spray weapon, and the NF rifle could be more of a trigger tapping/two round burst weapon.
I'm reminded of the auto-balance system in Tribes. It doesn't force you over at first, but informs the server that such-and-such (the name of the newest player in on the team with too many people) needs to switch sides to even the teams. It lets that sit for a minute (in case the person's busy), then forces the person.
How about similar/same accuracy and spread pattern, but different damage/rof clip size. ATM they both do same damage with one just being far more accurate and having far less kick on the second/third round out of the barrel.
I think it would make for more fun gameplay if BE were allowed to research infantry weapon upgrades/armor and NF to research infantry supersenses/athletics/extra health. You know NF has crappy weapons just by looking at them. The pistol looks like a medical syringe and in the introduction it explains that the NF are genetically superior and the BE have better equipment. If you make both sides the same then the game isn't fun at all. NS was the best mod for HL1 and it had completely different sides. Finally I think it should cost resources to spawn say 1-3 because when you kill someone it really does nothing against the other team they just come back again after 10 seconds, while killing a turret costing 50 or 75 res actually does something unless it was built by an engineer.
falixx you might try and read the organize stuff thread, you will notice theres already an entry for infantry research, next to the devs already wanted to do this (i think) also arent you on vacation?
I am but I did some crazy things yesterday and my parents aren't letting me out of the house for a few days.
