Is this a competitive game?

The game actually is a balance in between the two. This was our objective and judging from the feedback we have been receiving from both the more hardcore RTS camp and the singleplayer 4X camp we are definitely in the middle somewhere

Yeah I would say there is a good balance. I'm kind of both types of players in one, where I like to have tough player vs. player battles, but I also like to play huge games against computers that I can save and load up again when I have the time.

This game, percentage wise, has few people playing online.

But just 5% of 200,000+ isn't a very small number. It's not hard to get a game going except at 5am.

Thx for your quick replies guys.
I too, both like single- and multiplayer portions of most games, but it's definately another feel when you play against real humans instead of AI bots.
So as it is a balance between the two, do u think there will ever be some tournaments going for this game?

And just one last question; is it possible to get a good 1v1 match to last only 30-60 min.? Or is the game just not designed to be that quick??

If you pick an appropriately small map, a 30-60 minute game isn't rare at all. You may not get terribly high on the tech tree (or depending on how aggressive the players are, maybe you will) but you can have a decent game in that time.

I know of a few people who have already played in tournaments for this game. How big or official these are, I don't know, but they won money.

And my 1v1 games don't last very long because the game can be decided in a few battles. On larger maps, even if you lose a few battles or planets theres allies to help or many other planets to pull from.

There frankly will probably never be tournament support except for LANs.
I don't think the devs are even ever going to add in ranking from what i've heard..


Games tend to last between 20-60 minutes between good players for a 1vs1 or 2vs2. 3vs3 like twice as long.
Games can last 6 or 7 hours though, especially with newer players playing against each other, or if you do a huge as hell custom multistar map.

Personally, I don't like playing multistars.

To be honest, the single-player part of the game is just the same gameplay as Online, except you're playing versus computers.

The most prompt way to handle the game's balance would be to listen to what the online players think is bad. With that feedback it would be easier to tune all aspects of the game, and make the computer use the tactics properly working with the changes made supported by the player feedback.

Actually, no.

Competitive players have specific needs for a game. They need it to move relatively quickly so they can achieve and hold a rank in a reasonable length of time. Balancing the game strictly for a fast, competitive, online style of play would tend to harm those who prefer a more relaxed, multi-session offline style of play, perhaps against numerous opponents, perhaps with multiple star systems.

It may be the same game, but it is not played the same way by people who prefer to play competitively online and people who prefer to play solo offline. Both styles of play are equally valid.

awwww... It's a shame there properly wont be an online ladder That would be great.

You can always find a game online. I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes before the game started. I usually host.

I believe there should be a TIMER option and a TOTAL SCORE which would make an online ladder system easier to implement.

Currently, there is no clue as to how long an online game will last. An online game could last an hour, or it could last for days. This increases the rate at which players quit in the middle of games.

I see nothing wrong with giving the host the option of setting a game timer.

I know a lot of people have to work or go to bed at a certain time. If they knew the game would only last 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, or what have you then it would make for a more comfortable game, in my opinion.

In summary, a game TIMER would make weekday nightly games more practical. On the weekends, it doesn't matter but many of us only have X amount of hours to play on weekday nights.

If there were a ladder system, I think people would probably play small - medium maps. The average length of a game on those maps for me has been between 1-3 hours. In any game I played where all players were very good, it lasted about 1 hour. In a competitive match, the game almost always boils down to who wins a couple decisive battles. Once the outcome becomes apparent, there's little point dragging the game on.



Also, having a timer will end up causing the fundamental mechanics of the game to heavily deviate and skew into a bad direction. The problem is that points need to be allocated to your military might, econ, etc. The problem with this is that in any given moment, one aspect is better than the other. Points, being statically assigned to represent your empire's strength, would not reflect this properly.

For example, if the enemy is very far from you and you have several planets with large neutral fleets between you, it would be silly to build up a rush fleet. Going econ in this case makes much more sense and vice versa. Then there's also the subject of counters. If you have a slightly larger fleet than me but my units completely counter yours, I would win the battle. Point systems would fail to recognize that and would simply allocate points to each ship, even though my army is the dominant one. Similary for Advent combos. When advent gets their combos going, it because very difficult to brute force through them. Thus, they can kill you with a smaller army. Again, points wouldn't take into account things like combos, micro, and counters.

Having a timer/point system isn't a bad idea as a game unto itself though.

You only read what you think I meant here. What I mean is that the balance of units come from Online players and that wouldn't be noticable as easy during offline play.

Having balanced the game from this, the offline play will benefit. And all that is left is the AI work.

No one really answered guys question properly...

No this is not competitive game!

It has SP and yes it has MP too but there is fair few things missing from the game to be categorized as "competitive" game...

In short:

a.) competitive 5v5 mode is not here (small map + shared resources)

b.) no claning initiatve

c.) no claning support

d.) no ladder or any "rank" type of thing either for individual player or a clan

etc... etc...

So - NO - sins has nothing to with competitive game...

However...

It can easily become one and i can only hope it will one day

Why is shared resources needed for a competitive game?..

And small 5vs5's are there.

And go on irc. I thought you wanted to play?

To speed up the game and enhance the teamwork

I am not going on IRC - i replied in other thread...

Post challenge in forums and we will reply (when setting up the time keep in mind we are euro based)

Ok?

WTF do you mean by clanning innitiative / support?

Fact is, as things stand I will freely admit you have on great clan -- GE -- a bunch of "good ones" (good skills, but some have "personality" issues) -- SF, RaY, XX and more -- and a whole junkload of nobodies.

Time will fix that.

Well, thx for all of your constructive answers. Just what I needed.

how the hell are we supposed to arrange a game and get everyone ready through a forum?

Competitive gamers all know how to use IRC.

By claning initiative i mean something like official SD / IC organized CUP

Winner gets a T-Shirt!

By claning support i mean ICO feature to create a clan in game as well as have some sort of clan ladder...

Simple really

And no - time will not fix claning scene in Sins - there is much more needed here if we want healthy and evolving online / clan community...

By setting up a date and time!?!?!

That would be cool starting point...

IRC is sooooo backwards - i used it back in Quake 1 days...

How about XFire

add me: nephilim76

Where? when? Who and how? please let me know as I have been planning just such a thing myself. (please pm or email me with it, that way you know I will get it)

Bah, you can find [GE] in game by our nametags

And we use our vent server / MSN to communicate, no problem.