Top 10 Things CNCNET YR needs

[XXxPrePxX]

1. Integrated ranking/badge system with the lobby

This would be the biggest help possible. As it stands, the current ladder is nothing but a system to set up semi competitive 1on1 games where the ladder winner isn't really known. With a ranking system integrated in the lobby, the entire CNCNet universe will want to gain rank/gain badges. This would increase ladder activity likely by 2x or more. This goes hand in hand with item #2 as there needs to be a way to integrate everything into the lobby.

2. Hosting own Ladder games and clan games

This is important as players don't always want to play randomized match ups in QM. It also helps players who are very sensitive towards playing against yuri, or playing with supers on. This would allow players to play at their level and pace further increasing activity on the ladder as it opens it up to all strategies. Additionally, this is a necessary step towards creating the clan ladder.

3. Clan system

Everybody's favorite wish. We all want a system that lets us group together and take on other groups. This combined with #2 would give CNCNet a new population of players. I'd venture to say around 100 active players would join the ladder due to this. Possibly more.

4. Fixed QM ladder bugs

A big problem with the QM ladder is the games that get recorded when you don't even play, or disconnects occurring causing random wins/loses. Also the win % statistic is messed up and not real due to DC wins/losses.

5. Weekly or Monthly Game Patches (and an update patch)

We need to emulate modern games like Fortnite that patch their base game on a weekly basis. First, we need to give this game a much needed initial patch that beefs up different factions like Russia, Cuba, Germany, etc. Also, we could patch yuri. Then, on a weekly basis we could introduce a new unit, or a new tweek to the game like Fortnite does. This would be quite spectacular if done right.

6. Ra2 Ladder

A Ra2 ladder would be nice and not too hard to implement, methinks. It would be cool to gain badges (#1) based on RA2 and YR ladder. (Badges to be displayed in lobby).

7. A quick-match Clan based system

This would be cool where you could enter a random system with a clan mate and get faced up against other clans doing the same thing (similar to the current QM system). This has never been done before, so it would be very different.

8. Better lobby chat interface

 The chat lobby is pretty dead right now. I personally don't like how it announces when users leave CNCNet or enter CNCNet. That breaks up any sort of chat conversations. Make it more inviting to chat.

9. integrated paging system using when typing similar to WOL/XWIS "/u Hi" or /page iwin4prep hello

This was very helpful when you were paging multiple players especially when you are in game. As it stands, you can't receive or send messages during game. It would be nice to be able to page during game to set up future events.

10. More options in game like "no spy"

Overall CNCNet has revolutionized YR/Ra2 with it's many options, but there's still some options left out that could be useful for FFGs. One in particular is the no spy option. This would make big massive FFGs more enjoyable as players can't prey on the weak by spying the weak and ruining the game. Other useful options exist. 

Edited January 7, 2019 by XXxPrePxX

[XXxPrePxX]

Bump, opinions

[Stoneman]

Points 2 and 3 are essential with everything else being a minor issue/fix. Without the option to host your own ladder matches whereby you can change options (no Yuri, supers) and pick your map (May Day trolls will love this) then the competitive scene will continue to languish and the game will keep losing numbers. Essentially, you need to mimic the XWIS way for the ladder. 

[DoDger]

Point 3 is needed by so many players there's alot of clans already lol log in at saturady and see the tags

it's just shame they don't hv the time for it

about point 10 more option how about *Fog* mode it's like other RTS the whole map has fog of war or whatever it's called once ur unit leave an area it will be covered in fog again after afew sec's just like Ra3/ZH/Ao2 Etc

Edited January 7, 2019 by DoDger

[heldro]

11. Prep playing the game instead of only talking about it

 

On a serious note; i dont think #2 is such a good idea as it means not everyone is on a even playing field. Ppl will just take 1 map and put dumb rules and play only that shit and kick everyone Who is better as them. This will result in flattered ranks. I think playing random maps and players is part of the system if you want to play competitive.

[a1nthony]

here are some off the wall things And some thoughts to you’re points.

-Better AI:

Someone on this forum already made a very strong ai, can’t you just copy and paste the code and make a level above brutal ai?

-badges were awesome, there are a lot of people who did(and still might) dedicate a lot of time to the game in order to get a difficult badge showing next to their name for the rest of their cnc career.

-patches and updates:

this would be super fun! The initial update I think we would need a bunch of veteran players on discord talking, because text wouldn’t be enough.. this would be the hardest part.

i think you pretty much hit all the main points though, what a great post!

[XXxPrePxX]

51 minutes ago, heldro said:

11. Prep playing the game instead of only talking about it

 

On a serious note; i dont think #2 is such a good idea as it means not everyone is on a even playing field. Ppl will just take 1 map and put dumb rules and play only that shit and kick everyone Who is better as them. This will result in flattered ranks. I think playing random maps and players is part of the system if you want to play competitive. 

For sure that would occur, but that has always occurred in clan ladders and Ra2 QM ladder. It promotes activity from a subset that wouldn't normally enter QM.

In general, it has a very low affect on the top 10 outcome, sure a random newb might one-map or newb bash his way to the top 20 or so, but who cares -- it'd be pretty easy to rank bust him if need be.

I'd take the increased activity (which I think there would be a ton of, since CNCNet is filled with players who don't know how to QM, but know how to play a few maps/settings) over the fact that a few lower skilled players would reach a respectable rank.

[cypher]

I like the points you make. We are different kinds of players, you are more pro/competetive player so you care more about ladders n stuff. I think the first seven point are important for many players, but not me personally. For me point 8 and 10 are most important. I opened a similiar thread where I prefered the variant, that a spy can't infiltrate barracks and war factory . Because money stealing, gap scouting, radar sabotage and power sabotage are fine for me. Super units like chrono commando are a matter of taste IMHO.

I also feel like there's a need for a ping icon next to the player because as a host I don't always watch the incoming players ping and it's messy to look it up when a lot of chat happens. Also an icon for players with different game files is important IMHO.

 

[Lucifer]

these 3 are realistic goals for this year imo:

-#3 clan system seems both most important and easiest to implement. And nowhere is it written that you don't need to be a competitive player to be part of a clan

-#2 custom ranked games.  Would boost activity for sure.

-#6 (ra2 ladder) this would boost activity as well. Ra2 mode has already been implemented successfully into the client so why not? 

all 3 are closely related in the sense that they require custom games to be ranked. So minimal work is required. Adding additional qm features or patch updates is too much imo

[[CC] RaVaGe]

On 1/7/2019 at 5:38 PM, heldro said:

11. Prep playing the game instead of only talking about it

 

On a serious note; i dont think #2 is such a good idea as it means not everyone is on a even playing field. Ppl will just take 1 map and put dumb rules and play only that shit and kick everyone Who is better as them. This will result in flattered ranks. I think playing random maps and players is part of the system if you want to play competitive.

4

Agree on #11, but on a serious note, no one is going to get enough points 1 mapping, a map% rule can be put into the ladder to disqualify players who 1 map.

[Kamuix]

If you don't mind my adding to this, What about adding the Tech Level Option in the skirmish menu? just a suggestion.

Second Idea! The random map generator. is there one? is it possible to make a random map that's editable in Final Alert 2?

 

Thanks for any replies

[XXxPrePxX]

2 hours ago, Kamuix said:

If you don't mind my adding to this, What about adding the Tech Level Option in the skirmish menu? just a suggestion.

Second Idea! The random map generator. is there one? is it possible to make a random map that's editable in Final Alert 2?

  

Thanks for any replies

For your first idea that could be covered in #10 -- more options like Tech Level.

For your second idea -- the random map generator was a part of the original product Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. I loved that part. I wonder where it went. Would be a nice idea.

[[CC] RaVaGe]

8 hours ago, XXxPrePxX said:

I wonder where it went.

It didn't go anywhere, it's still part of the original game, though I'm sure the CnCNet client can't read those files.

[Andy.]

I'd like to see a no eat for first minute of the game patch in QM.

[LeOwNzAll]

On 1/6/2019 at 6:30 PM, XXxPrePxX said:

1. Integrated ranking/badge system with the lobby

GOOD !

2. Hosting own Ladder games and clan games

For Clan Games if QM Clan based system can't be done, yes it's good, else no.

For Ladder games i think it's a BAD idea. You can't have in same ladder some players playing QM and others only their map, etc. it will introduce a bias. If i'm correct, all "new" games (since WC3) you can only play ladder via QM. 

On Ra2 - if i'm correct also - the quick match was not implemented correctly in the first patch by Westwood (Ra2 was one of the first, or maybe the first, using QM system); that's why you can host a ranked game.

3. Clan system

Good ! - 1st priority !

4. Fixed QM ladder bugs

Yes but for me it can be done later.

5. Weekly or Monthly Game Patches (and an update patch)

I disagree with this point. There are 2 main differences

1- Fornite or others games, there are 100000+ players, with all this database you can analyze what works, and what does not work. 

For us, we need lot of games, in lot of map, in lot of scenaria (AvS; SvS etc.), and with differents players to conclude something. Unless we do something too much OP or UP, we would need several months to conclude if it's good or need an adjust.

2- the players still there are "almost" not new. We like this game how it is. Fornite is new game. It needs to convince players to play and stay. They need new things, etc. In Ra2 or Yuri, the most part of players who could join us are old players, if they come back, it's to play the original game. Changing game, we may get them never come back, and for sure as the game is old, we could not convince any new players.

 

On 1/6/2019 at 6:30 PM, XXxPrePxX said:

6. Ra2 Ladder

Up to you.

7. A quick-match Clan based system

YES !!

8. Better lobby chat interface

Up to you

9. integrated paging system using when typing similar to WOL/XWIS "/u Hi" or /page iwin4prep hello

Up to you.

10. More options in game like "no spy"

Up to you

 

[XXxPrePxX]

Thanks for the replies! 

@dkeeton @Grant

I know you guys are busy, but may I request any updates on a few of these:

- I think the easiest is the chat lobby, what do you think about making the chat more inviting with some of the suggestions?

- I know this is a long shot as it will require an extensive amount of work, but is there any work/thoughts going on with streamlining the QM/Ladder system with the CNCNet lobby? (I.e: Badges/Ranks that show up IN the lobby, Hosting one's own Ladder games). It would be incredible to get this going, although admitedly I'm not sure how it could be done since the Ladder requires an E-mail log on while the lobby doesn't. 

Perhaps if you signed into the lobby with your e-mail verified account, you can have badges/ranks shown and host your own tournament games while those on un-verified accounts won't have that access?

Anyway, as always -- thanks for everything :D. 

[SodswSov]

Clan ladder would make his game pop currently the way it is already with no other real needed changes for at least a while. Once that gets boring (would take awhile) then implement other tweaks to the system

[ZAIN]

 

6 hours ago, Andy. said:

I'd like to see a no eat for first minute of the game patch in QM.

IRONY IS REAL

[cypher]

What about a fundraising campaign for the programmers with different goals for the money raised. I would spend some money. I'm sure many players would. To give something back to the hard work necessary to make things happen.

[[AuF]Mindwar]

Clan system sounds great.

[Chandler]

Even though I'm a moderator... this is more my unofficial take on some of the suggestions here:

1)

Grant's talked about this before - https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/8894-ladder-suggestions-feedback/?do=findComment&comment=69128

If you link QM logons with the lobby then a lot of the technical challenges for the below get easier.

2)

I think this is a lesser priority.  I think custom game bugs that already exist should be dealt with first... if you play a tournement game with observers and you get the "colour bug" or the "internal on one map until you change it" bug, then that'll just cause annoyance.  Fix the building blocks of what you've already got before adding new things to the stack.

3) 7)

It's a nice idea.  I believe the Chinese ra2ol is developing a version of this... interesting to see what that looks like and if it's open source. EDIT: just seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLSHhw8VpNE&t=11s

4)

For: " Also the win % statistic is messed up and not real due to DC wins/losses. "

I had a look at this.  It's a pretty simple fix, it just involves joining an extra table into the query.  The problem is, what would the performance impact of this change be? (I don't have a way of testing)  The ladder feels sluggish to me as it is.  Is it that important that you'd be willing to wait a couple of extra seconds for the page to load?

5)

You mean like the custom community patch?  Seems to divide the community's opinion... if a consensus could be achieved...

6)

Do you mean RA2 mode QM? Or original RA2 QM?  The former sounds kind of realistic... for the latter considiering the amount of work required... I'd probably point you towards XWIS.

8}

Did you know you can disable player joining/leaving messages in the client? It's an option under the CnCNet tab.  I guess you could argue to make this the default setting.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by Chandler

[XXxPrePxX]

For 6) yes I mean the Ra2 Mode.

for 8 no I didn't know, that's a nice option, thanks.

I think our communities focus should be in #1. Integrating ladder with lobby should make #2 easily possible and should set the groundwork for a clan system.

Thank you for the reply, I hope there's still work being done on number 1.

[VWWWWWWWWWWW]

It'd be nice if you can set QM up where any time you match Yuri, you are also Yuri. But vs other ppl you're allies/sov

[DoDger]

as far as i know the chinese copied alot of things from Cncnet if they are working on CM now can't we copy that when it's done ? it's an open source after all xD

[XXxPrePxX]

55 minutes ago, DoDger said:

as far as i know the chinese copied alot of things from Cncnet if they are working on CM now can't we copy that when it's done ? it's an open source after all xD

Absolutely, I don't see why not.

On my #1 wish, I don't think it would be hard to allow people to log into the lobby and thus have a lobby-rank interface where ranks are shown in the lobby, badges are shown in the lobby, and users can host their own tournament games.

Get it done admins! That'd be sweet. You already have the badge images from old YR WOL :D.

 

I would QM SIGNIFICANTLY more if I knew my rank was shown in lobby and badges accumulated. There would also be 100's more tournament games with people opening their own ranked games.

Edited January 13, 2019 by XXxPrePxX