Balancing Imbalance

Game conversions or mutators.
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Nelsona
Posts: 1693
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:03 am

Balancing Imbalance

Post by Nelsona »

I decided to throw something out in public based on what was requested and then no longer requested at UT99.ORG - I no longer comment on the intelligence there.
It's about CTFGame aka Capture the Flag and the extended classes which is known through some maps even from stock repositories that have no balance, the bases being different. The balance solution I can offer is that during a game, the bases change between them, causing a hotter moment. If I tested some very unbalanced maps I found that it is not enough to just exchange bases one time, because the game can be finished before the first half of the game time in these badly unbalanced maps. What then would be an alternative solution? We define how many times the bases change between them, changing them 1-3-5 times in a game, getting pair balanced fragments of time: 2-4-6. 1 change = 2 timer parts; 3 changes = 4 timer parts, and so on.
Using even numbers for the number of changes we obtain odd numbers in the playing time fragments and then causing ourselves unbalanced games allocating more time for a team at using a base location. A game divided into 3, by value 2 defined configuration changes, will have 2 times for one base and 1 time for the other. We prefer to balance the game as the main goal using odd values 1 3 5 or 7.
The INI file is created at the first launch because the mutator will not accept 0 changes, the value self taken is 1 (divides the game into two periods) and will save this configuration. Regardless of the time set for the match, the mutator will divide this time into fragments according to the number of changes desired - configurable in the INI file. With these we try to establish a balance of the match, the teams being able to play several times in the same place as Home or Target.
Time dilation/contracting due to the game speed set in UT is also taken into account but no future speed changes will be taken into account as this may be another factor in the game imbalance as some players do not immediately adapt while Artificial Intelligence reacts instantly.
HalfCTFTime_Parts.zip
(4.48 KiB) Downloaded 293 times
I have also attached here the INI file which can be modified as needed. The value I have given here is 3 so that I can get 4 time slots allocated regardless of the total time allocated to the party. Remember: these times depend on the chosen game speed.

As auxiliary information, the mutator name for the chaining with other mutators is described in the INT file. There we also have the name of the mutator that appears in the list of available mutators and which can be changed according to each individual's wish.
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