Balanced Teams for Great Games!
There's nothing more annoying than being teamed with far Another terribly frustrating frustrating experience is when The above defective distributions of skill are even more I am not even entering in the field of "All experts" The ideal team structure is the one that makes the A few days ago, 6 APC'ers joined for a game and soon we found This arrangement works particularly well and so much more when Of course, if 4 experts + 2 weaker players, we should do a 2x2 It creates memeorable games, even when the defeat is quick - 1. Ratings. Don't ******about them being lame. Only thing needed is that 2. Knowledge of each other. I know most players that I team with It is true that, normally, I play with strangers, the vast But, when playing known people, you simply don't need to run that 3. Self-appointment by players. When you don't know them, you can ask them and, since it's the Note: This does not work with Celestial Down ("I suck" The single best way to spoil the care put in the First, it may be perceived as a declaration of Second, it may compromise the chances of victory for The weaker players won't do it on their own versus the The "star" player picks a fast Civ and tries A variant: the "star" picks the fast Civ only Th "star" picks a strong, powerful Civ and The objective is to turn a 3x3 into a 3x2 and, This is also why the "star" player must pick There is no doubt: The role of the "star" players in each team is The weaker players need not to assume a supporting role only In the end, all contributed to victory, possibly at different In the process, no one can disregard anyone (ex.: attack the Don't you believe it?... TRY IT!...
= Frustrating experiences in team play
weaker players versus an homogeneous intermediate team. It will
soon be a 1x3. Not fun at all.
you are all but one of a low level and that one is the far better
player - the team that has that guy wins, and there's even no
surprise, * yawn *... accomplishing the schedule, one might say.
frustrating and humiliating in a 2x2.
vs. All Rookies or Intermediate, that's more offensive than
frustrating.
Fantastic game Experiences!
approach.
"star(s)" of the team respect the other team. That is
only possible when the other team also contains its own
"star(s)"!...
that 2 of the players were far above the others. So, we set up in
room that the first of the "stars" would team up with
the first 2 "non-stars" and the other "star"
player would team up with the remaining bottom players. A
"Star-centric TvB", one would-say.
this avoids the bitching about "I wanna be in X's team"
stuff.
experts and distribute the rookies by the teams.
there's always something to learn!...
skills.
we KNOW which is the BEST nickname of a smurfer (that is: no
smurfing, hehe).
majority of my games is with unknown people. In these cases, I am
willing to accept any bad imbalance experiences - it's an assumed
risk.
risk!... Since all players' skills are known in advance, it is
easy to identify the "stars" of the group
first time, trust their own self-rating.
CD) and APC_General (he likes to fool you, so that you let him
alone to make an army of 1,656,987 compies, LOL).
Teams.
"Star" players a no-no!...
balancing is to have the experts of the teams play random
civs. Need I say anything more?... Ok, I will, but only
to leave it in writing, because everybody has certainly
identified the problems.
superiority - let me pick any Civ, this is not a game of
"responsibility", I can afford to get by with
any Civ against these inferior players.
the team that has the random Civ expert.
"Star" Players is to lead the Team to the Victory.
other team's "star" player(s). Normally, the
path to Victory is accomplised as follows (there may be
variants):
to place one opponent out and at least to synch out the
other, normally the neighbors of his weakest ally.
Meanwhile, his best ally should be progressing
undisturbed and managing a sizable Bronze force to carry
out - at least a successful defense. The "star"
goes back into "catch" mode, in order to retake
the pressure as soon as possible.
to be able to defend the "power" ally until he
Bronzes or Irons. Examples: Star Phoenician defends Power
Minoan for Bronze, or Star Shang distracts opponents from
his Hittite Ally, or "star" fast Civ defends
Roman ally until he can go out with Siege Combo and wipe
out map... many possibilities here, the Ally needs to be
very competent, but he has a problem with fast Bronzes,
so he needs a hand
tries to develop a strong Bronze. If successful, it can
normally totally cripple and even destroy at least one
player and leave the other in such bad shape that it will
be a loooong time for him to show up again...
optimally a 3x1.5 as soon as possible. The star player of
the team should not tool rush unless he is sure that at
least one of his allies is able to sustain a rush. He
needs to ba able to catch-up undisturbed, so some
insurance is needed.
a good Civ! The plan is worthless if he draws Choson,
Palmyran, etc.
for great games!
paramount - they mostly achieve victory - or suffer the defeat.
just like in real life...
and much less a "parasite" role. They can be the
moppers, the "power-crushers" (slow to start, but
overwhelming when up to speed) or even participate soon in the
action (because of undisturbed Tool).
times in the game. The "star" players normally are the
first to intervene, then the others follow through.
"star" and ignore the others, then be overwhelmed) or
kill the wekest players only to be killed by the strongest
opponent...).