A small teaser on our next update

Man, long are the days of when a dev. can just snap a picture and say "This is what I'm working on. Guess what it is."

Why is everything all serious all of a sudden?

Bob Berry reads the forums and I don't think he's an artists of any sort. Just the CEO. Also goes by ooo27 on the forums.

Bob berry confirmed top of ladder.

The more absurd the possibility, the more likely. Personally, I think they look like faces. Therefore, aliens confirmed.

yeah I knew that name. I saw it again in the polygonal article ...well you don't have to be an artist to be doing what he's doing there, no offence, it's pen tool SVG drawing with vertical symmetry for rather simplistic of a shape. Really rather accessible for somebody who tired illustrator or photoshop a couple times or is a hobbyist of those.

Being good at using "random, outside" factors to your advantage is also a skill, and an extremely important one in the real world too.

You are the one who doesn't understand what balance is. It is the death of variation and difference, with difference being by definition unbalanced.

Balance doesn't have to be absolute. Asymmetry can be balanced to an acceptable (define your own definition of acceptable) degree.

Fair enough. That's what I was saying before. And mirrored maps are unacceptable to me. In fact predesigned maps are also unacceptable. I want every game I play to take place in a different map, and if Uber's ladder only works on predesigned maps... well, I won't play on the ladder, which will make me really sad because I really want my skill to be ranked (which includes my skill to adapt my playstyle to unknown maps, including maps which favor my opponent).

The PA Stats 1v1 maps, for example, are horrible. I would be bored to tears if I had to play 5 games on them, never mind practically ALL my games, as the top 1v1 players are doing.

People are basically terrified of losing a game. So you lost a game! and so what! You can win the next one. And isn't the pleasure that much greater if you manage to win despite starting at an obvious disadvantage? Why are you denying yourself the possibility of enjoying that pleasure? Because you hate the idea of someone else having an easier time than you?

I really don't get the whole balance map issue for ladder play. I can see the argument for tourneys where you don't have enough to balance random spawns. But we're talking about ladders here, hundreds, maybe even thousands of games are going into your rank. It will not matter

I avoid PvP myself, simply because the odds are to equal.
With PvP if everything is balanced my chances to loose is about 50% (pracically my win ratios in FPS are closer to 45%). Because if you have two sides and every side has the same chance that leaves 50/50 chance for either.
Give me enough data/matches over enough time and I can tell you who is the better.
And I really hate loosing

They are applying some of the data given in this thread:
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/community-and-communication.64237/

Indeed it was obviously from the OP for me and others that this is exactly what is described in the video.
Since the thread went on for 8 pages and there was quite soem usefull data gathered about concerns/potential issues.

I'm afraid of losing games. Because I know I suck. And it's not that I mind that I suck, but I don't want to give someone ELSE a poor experience. Playing games is about the enjoyment of both people, and how many matches can I get trounced in before people simply stop playing against me because I'm no good and the match isn't worth their time? I mean, this isn't like an FPS where you can hop in a battle and just go, and unless it's a one-on-one duel there are other people a) carrying the team and b) to fight against. If you screw things up in an RTS, that's several minutes of setup and base-building just--poof. Down the drain. And so it's frustrating for me, and it's gotta be frustrating for my opponents to have wasted their time like that.

Trust me, that's not the reason that the "balance" brigade is so obsessed with "balance"

If it was only loosing... The problem is the exact opposite. We see where possible exploits and overly rewarding tactics are, and that actually makes the game kind of boring for us. Winning by using these tricks feels like cheating.

Yes, some people made a sport of abusing certain mechanics in the most effective way, but that makes it just more frustrating to watch since this means that if you want to play "competitive" you have to become an exploiter yourself - or to stomp everyone who tries to play the game the way controls, tutorials etc. indicate.

What's wrong with the PA Stats map pool?

Since the updates to the system designer, the metal distribution has changed. I've had a few games on the ladder recently that have been greatly influenced by spawns (both ways) which is frustrating. On the other hand the issue is there for everyone so I guess it balances out.

I'm not one to need or request 'perfect' maps- I think the maps before the update were fine, and that a large part of the skill of being a player is adapting to situations on the fly. The maps as they currently are though can reward player 1 with 10 mex spots, whilst player 2 gets 2... that does somewhat stack the game in the favour of the person at the better start position as they can achieve a high metal income in a relatively safe location.

Oh yeah, I was aware of that, thought someone had some other bone of contention with the maps. Last time I checked someone called James_Pond had updated the maps (on Shared Systems mod), but they've gone now. No idea what's going on!

Interestingly, o hasn't been on in a long time. (ooo27 is his twitter account, o is his forum account )

One of the main reasons for me to back PA was procedurally generated maps. Which by its very nature of it adds an element of pseudo-randomness. 10% of strategy is dealing with what you don't know likewise tactics as well. There is a post somewhere talking about randomness in games from garat. I just don't know where it is at the moment and it's from 2012 during or just after the PA KS campaign.