Setting up large team games (15 players min.)

We played two 5v5s with AC, we won one and they won the other, and then BRN came in and beat both of us in a 3-way match on our home system. We had some technical difficulties with the server and the stream at first, but we've solved most of them now and next time should go much smoother and with bigger teams for all sides. Maybe even with some casting too, so that it'll be more exciting for the viewers. We'll shoot for the same day and time slot that Clan Wars uses, since it seems to be the most convenient to all, but on weekends when Clan Wars isn't running.

For a server we used Amazon's most expensive option and didn't notice any lag in the 15-player game. We are looking at options for an even better server next time, so if you know of any post the info here and we'll check it out.

Also, if anyone wants to design, or help us design, appropriate systems for these big games, let us know in this thread.

Our pleasure! Thanks for the games, everyone! Hope to see you back next time.

As far as I know, reptarking was streaming his pov to twitch, so you can see how we played it. It was interesting to me how roles naturally emerged while we were playing. With some players focusing more on Eco and others more on air micro or land forces.

It's sad that icycalm was removed so early from the game because of crashing. We unfortunately had one player with graphical issues that forced them to leave close to the start of the game, and then another player experienced a full crash a bit later. Fortunately though we still had didlix to micro our air and reptarking for managing the land forces.

We were pretty surprised that the mega base worked out for us, but on the other hand the FFA format really helps for that style of play. As I am sure you are aware, the biggest advantage of a mega base is the sheer attack power the base provides. It is also very good at defending itself because it is dense enough for very effective static defense, all while units are always nearby for interception.

There is however one fairly large weakness; expansions for metal are so much harder to defend since the average distance to each mex is larger. There were two factors that I can think of at the moment, that aided us in bolstering that weakness. First of all, the format where there are three teams; since no team can afford to focus on raiding a particular team with all the micro it requires and the potential to place you at a disadvantage with the other enemy. Secondly was the advantage that such a large map with dense mex provided. We used air fabbers to expand for metal and also had a large Air Force to defend it, and in fact had trouble spending it! That is, until we started building nukes .

Overall it was a pretty good match, when you got the first comm kill with air it spurred us on to attack pink as well! Didlix, our air player ended up with 5 comm kills in that round! And you also took one of our commies!

gg, wp

I did feel bad for AC they were nicely sandwiched between you and cult... Very hard for them .

Ya big bullies!

icy says: "With more clans taking part, as in a 5v5v5v5 format, or with even more of them, there will be less chance of anyone getting sandwiched, and the team FFA matches will be fairer for everyone. So, on the one hand we want these large FFAs, and on the other hand we want large team matches between two clans, as in 6v6s and 8v8s and so on. We just need to figure out a way to have everyone who shows up playing all the time, or at least most of the time, so that they don't get bored and leave. We'll set up 2 servers if necessary.

Meanwhile I am hustling more and more players into Cult, to make sure we can have plenty of people to play any number of big games simultaneously. We had 12 players in at some point yesterday, and I've signed up 25+ new members over the last 3-4 days. I simply go on PA Stats, find people's accounts on Steam (especially easy if they have unusual usernames), friend invite them and then tell them about the clan. It's tough work, and you have to weed out a lot of inactive players and asshats, but you can make your clan as big as you want as long you don't mind doing it. And a lot of those people end up loving the team-oriented voip-enabled side of the game, once you show it to them. You are not merely spamming them, you are doing them (and the PA community) a favor.

http://www.pastats.com/players

So pull as many people as you can, grow your clans, and let's play more of these big team games that are the high point of PA, imo."

I thought joining big clans is bad for new players?

icy went on a huge recruitment streak after what happened with Clan Wars. He just wants to be sure that, no matter what, he can play internal 10v10s and so on without having to rely on anyone. Y'all are welcome to play with us, but the PA community in general has let us down so far, so we aren't taking any chances. It's our fun that's at stake here, after all, and that, to icy, is serious business

It is, for the reasons specified in the thread. But what icy was talking about in your quote is recruitment of people who merely aren't in clans at the moment and isn't really related. Most of those people probably play with only a couple of friends or by themselves, but still have some experience in playing the game. Although not the big team games.

It's really some good advice for clan leaders to be more proactive in their search for members in order to do a quicker (and perhaps even more successful) job of bolstering their numbers, instead of just waiting for others to seek the clan out.