Is competitive 1v1 fun? Should it be?

So a while ago someone else posted this thread pointing out that said review was lame, I didn't agree as they actually made a lot of good points but the more I play of 1v1 the more I agree with the review (though it's far from comprehensive or perfect).

The argument is not about balance it's about what is viable. I've seen many agree that competitive 1v1 is all about T1. To me it comes down to a question of who can spam the right T1 factories and units to win. The most decisive victories I have had and from the most games I have spectated this is the best way to win.

I'm not saying that strategy isn't involved or that it's not competitive, it's just not fun to me. The most fun games of 1v1 ranked I've had are ones that lasted a good 30 mins plus and involved T2, titans, nukes, asteroids. Games which involved a larger gamut of units and strategies. The games I'm talking about neither of us were really that "good" I could easily think of 5 or 10 ways either one of us could have won the match before 20 minutes.

The bigger maps with water make a difference, they seem to be a little less spammy, but the problem is still there.

My question is, are you happy with competitive 1v1? I think I'll probably let it take a back seat and concentrate on custom games with systems I find give more opportunity to use more units.

I think if air was taken down a notch you would see t2 on every large planet and on the small ones when there is a stalemate. This has been the most fun 1v1 patch in a long time. Longest it has ever taken me to learn and see what the strongest units/ compositions/ starts are. The fact that these starts are also map related mean pa is a lot more diverse than it has been in a long time.

1v1 is still not fun for me. I also don't like set maps and would prefer the randomized generation of Beta. That randomness is what made 1v1 in PA unique and interesting, instead of the map memorization we have now.

I am happy to play the 1vs1 ranked game,
and my current rank is platinum 9th. (It may change later though.)
In my experience, it is not impossible to see high tech in 1vs1 ranked game.

T2 and orbital units: I see them quite often.
Titan: I see them many times.
Nuke: I only see it 3 times, including the games in old PA.
Halley & Catalyst: I never see them in 1vs1 game.

I more like the fixed map rather than random map
since it is easy for player to refine and improve the map awareness.

Even if the map can be generated dynamic, I think uber won't implement that.
Fixed map can be shared and reused in multiple games, I think it can greatly reduce the loading of the server.
Otherwise, each single replay must contain its own map data, it is too terrible.

I´ve actually been seeing more and more T2 in 1v1. As there is a certain time range were if you dont go for or have t2 your opponent will ahve it. You can also see that top players are getting logner matcher on average. Where matches would normally end within 10 minutes, now they almost all take atleast 15 minutes. Thats also when T2 starts to kick in and when players are well evenly matched you get matches of 30 mins+, Like Matiz and Clopse yesterday on forge, FORGE of ALL MAPS!

I'm going to ignore that last half because it's easy to prove that it is completely untrue with just a little research.

Like, one google search.



And that's what I'm getting at. Random maps will improve a player's skill to adapt. Unfortunately this is not currently present and 1v1s are more focused on eco management than anything else.

i like ranked play for the most part
ballance feels overall allright to me
with maybe except air were intercepterplay seems to be a must on large planets also not sure with catapults and bluehawks ... ... ikarus feels totaly weak and not worth it ...




what i don't like about ranked however is the way the system one is ranked with ..
that needs a change

and of course ranked should be fun
.. otherwise why play it?

I am willing to know more information about the map data.
I think the data size of map is not small, my computer usually takes 20+ seconds to load the map.
If I join the custom game with big map, it may take more than 1 min.

As you say the 1vs1 is more focused on eco management, I disagree with that.
I feel the eco management is the easy part of the 1vs1 game.
The real hard part of the game is to gather intelligence and react the opponent correctly.
Players need to have the awareness of entire planet, what is the opponent going or doing, and control the metal spots as more as possible.

Your PC generates the map it does not load it. Imagine I wrote an A4 page with instructions on it how to draw a globe that is 10ft by 10ft.

The instructions are small but the result is large and time consuming.

The only difference between two maps in load time is the amount of entities in the system, including CSGs.

The bluehawk is used for shooting down the orbital units, such as SXX and anchor.
Since the anchor has longer range than bluehawk gets, player must send other units to attract the anchor first.
If you don't see your opponent builds the orbital units, and you don't need to build the bluehawk.

For catapult, I think it is an umbrella with the ability to target the ground units.
And it is slightly more expensive than the umbrella.
When the battle progresses to the T2,
don't relay on anti-land defensive structure which can barely hold the T2 land units.
Please build more T2 units instead.
And I really seldom build the catapult.

The Ikarus is useless, sadly.
Its 500 underwater vision is removed since patch 86765.

1v1 isnt fun. It is challenging, rewarding, and frustrating. The fun is taken out bc people are too competitive, myself included. Sorry everyone.

I make some pictures for you.
I hope they can convince you that the 1vs1 is not just the T1 battle, and it is really fun.

Meso


Clutch


Amplus


Roc


I think the most important factor to see high tech units is the game duration.
In my recent games, it is quite common to have a 1vs1 game which is longer than 15 min.
But if I or my opponent lose too fast, there is indeed no T2 units in the game.

It's fun when you're winning!!! that's the key.

Personally I find it fun when it's a close match. If you've fought a back and forth long game. Then I don't mind if I win or lose.

I had a couple of these types of matches. They are rare though.

It depends who you play. I find I get lots of these off the ladder against specific players (cola Colin is good to play against as he cannot stand winning without taking the whole map haha). It's less common on the ladder, I think because people tend to be more aggressive resulting in shorter games. That said I've had a few brilliant ladder games recently.

I think I played a grand total of two ladder matches, lost the first and won the second, then quit because that was the only win I was ever going to get. I might play a third with titans, idk.

I think you'd probably win more than you think

Remember the ladder is essentially a skill based matchmaker rather than a traditional ladder. It's designed to put you against players of equal skill- so if you lose a few matches at first it will put you against lower ranked players until you win 50% of your games (ideally).

The thing is, the *average* player is in silver league. I think you might surprise yourself if you played enough games to get ranked (you have to complete 5 games before you get an initial place- unfortunately placement games in PA doesn't count for Titans so your effectively still at 0).