Bots, forceteam

[Max Rambone]

1. How many games on average per day do YOU see ruined because of too many bots + autobalance

Depending on how much I play, at least one. It can sometimes last several maps unless an admin can manage to kick the right bot and switch someone in time before another bot connects. Binding the commands would be nice, but it would take some complicated script since the slot numbers are always different. Many times, it tends to be all bots vs all real players....especially when there are only 2-4 real players on the server

2. Would you prefer lowering the bots and keeping autobalance, or just turning off autobalance?

You could try lowering the bots and keep autobalance and see how it goes...You only need one bot to start a game, anyways. Two if you want the loner to be able to pick what team he wants. Real noobs are still gonna just wait in spec until someone else connects.

3. What if I uploaded an admin vstr that automatically shuffled the teams? An admin with vstr permissions would be able to execute this script and even if there are a ton of bots, and autobalance is on, it would even it out at the very least.

An auto-shuffle would be sweet. If nothing else, we could see how it goes. I'm sure the people who really want to will just join spec and wait until they can get on the team they want.

4. Do normal pub players even notice it? Or is it just seasoned players like you guys?

Of course, the uber noobs don't notice, but they don't tend to notice much. I figure this makes it tougher for anyone still new (lol?) to get into siege. The regulars complain quite a bit, but usually only when they are on the short-end of the stick. :/

5. Anything else you feel I should know.

I don't know why you'd need more than two bots at maximum, but I do remember JA+ being quite the bitch about some bot settings.

~archi

[Turky]

1. How many games on average per day do YOU see ruined because of too many bots + autobalance

It's not a matter of "how many games on average per day." This happens on a constant basis as people leave and join the server.

3. What if I uploaded an admin vstr that automatically shuffled the teams? An admin with vstr permissions would be able to execute this script and even if there are a ton of bots, and autobalance is on, it would even it out at the very least.

Shuffling isn't the answer, all it does is make the job of the admin a little easier (ie, no more forcing bots to spec one by one), but my point is that it still requires the presence of an admin to get fixed. As I said--I suggest we try getting rid of bots entirely and see if it really affects our server population. If it does, then we can start discussing things like bots vs. autobalance. But if it doesn't affect server population, why put them back on?

4. Do normal pub players even notice it? Or is it just seasoned players like you guys?

Sometimes they do. Otherwise they'll just obliviously join the bigger team because it's all they're able to do, and they just play. Most people aren't very verbal in the video game, as a general rule.

5. Anything else you feel I should know.

This:

Lol guard you act like this is some drastic change. Just do it.

[Maximus]

Max 4 bots total. I've seen pub games where it's 3bots+1human vs 1bot+3humans. You could still wind up with this arrangement with 4 bots total but it's much less likely than with 8 bots total (what it is now mirite?). As others said, 2 is enough to get a game started, which would work too. Qualitatively speaking, bots can't contribute to siege in any other way than to get a game started. So 2 if you want them to do something useful but otherwise not interfere too much, and 4 if you want to pretend the server is populated all the time.

[tens0r]

If you get rid of the -Tensor- bot I'm gonna crash Tempest constantly.

[nightwatch]

Hi,
We should certainly get rid of bots. I played a 4v0 today. P.S. keep just the tensor bot.

[j3rk]

I played a 4v0 today. P.S. keep just the tensor bot.

Heh, these statements made me chuckle. I thought you should know.