Playing on Mattherson is Painful

i've been playing on mattherson since beta. The last two game updates indeed made the mattherson server a Vanu paradise.

But don't foolish yourself, There is a LOT of new soldiers shooting at everything that moves. The fourth faction is very clear. As soon as a alert begins, vanu pop have a kick.

But the main reason (i think) for winning alerts, is our organization in battles.

HAYABUSA!

The first and easiest fix I would try is including a floating ratio of XP for killing/capping between your two enemies. Killing the more populated of your two opposing factions should give greater reward than killing the underpopulated.

This would naturally create alliances even if they aren't formal. SOE would just need to play with the ratios until the desired result occurred.

This is a classic of example of deflection and denial of facts.

We, the Vindicators, did this to TE, at least 3 separate times, all in the same spot and in the same week, during server prime time. We talked about it and even planned it the last time we did it because it worked so well. It was so successful, we actually used a half Vindi's halfpugger Platoon to do it on the 3rd day. I believe TE used to run ops M-F 5-10, so that would put this squarely in your OP window.

All of this took place at the Allatum Botany Wing/Snake Ravine/Vanu Archives. The road to Snake Ravine from the Botany Wing has a huge rock formation on both sides of the road that allows for defenders to sit up there and destroy everything with wheels that tries to come up the hill into the botany wing. Infantry is forced in a small assault area and are simply annihilated at they attempt to crest the hill. Conversely, if you sit in Snake Ravine, you can command this same pass with ease. This is where the advantage against a larger force is easily exploited.

Every move was countered, they spawn in the bio lab and attack the botany wing, we re-secure Snake Ravine. They start pushing Snake Ravine from the Botany Wing, we attack the Botany Wing from TI. This corridor is the weak point for the SE gate, too many paths for the enemy to simply get behind you when you assault. The quick redeploy and over whlem with maxes tactic does work and was used quite often against us, but we always had a fall back position and would not let TE get out of that area for the entire 2 hours. Eventually, you would leave the area after realizing you could not make progress without losing bases in your rear.

TE left because instead of just losing fights, they started to get their ***** kicked, repeatedly, because their roll forward method was hindered by new game mechanics. They didn't want to defend and couldn't really move forward being forced to re-secure every time they left a base en mass. No longer could they run around a fight, no longer could they take ground because of the lattice mechanics and flipping bases stopping the ability to cap.

No one honestly believes TE left because they where tired of winning. No one believes that you all decided you beat PS2 and had had enough. We do believe that your eccentric leader got tired of getting abused in game and laughed at in the community. You can tell the story however you like but some facts will not change: TE started to get kited around the map like a dumb-AI raid boss and then your leader quit.

I'm NC and don't have a dog in this fight, but I think "they" (really just BCP) quit for various reasons. I don't think it was because they were getting beat, though, as VS has outpopped TR in virtually every alert in recent memory. If they got beat it wasn't because of tactical superiority, but because the VS zerg steamrolled them. And really, who can blame them. It isn't fun, it's boring.

While I will debate that the Vindicators run with the zerg, we cant stop people from spawning in on us but we leave fights once we have a huge pop advantage unless its a common goal type objective, continent break or an alert. I will say this in response to comment about zerging:

Yes, zerging does happen within the VS, its obvious but how is it any different than what TE was doing for months? They would never fight an equal force, everytime they got punched in the mouth, they would "re-direct" to another base where they could steamroll. They are enemies of their own tactics, they where caught in the trap they help lay and I have no pity for a bigot with an ego. I have a hard time accepting that they could dish out but not be forced to take it. Then quit once their ego's had been deflated while still claiming victory.

They built their reputation of overwhelming force, not tactics. In kind, both other empires responded. Many times a smaller force repelled TE, it was not impossible as some on these forums would have you believe. They can site however many reasons they like and everyone is entitled to their opinions. To quit after such chest beating and getting almost everything you suggested put into the game, that is not quitting, that is losing.

Why that's a fabulous story with zero proof to back it up other than your word BUT I think I'm going to go with what I not only experienced but also what was shown publicly on the stream to everyone. I mean I'm glad you found a way to envision yourself as the victor. It's clearly very important to you to feel that you somehow "won" and caused the the ruinous downfall and complete collapse of The Enclave.

The only note I would make in your narrative is you have a little inconsistency there. On the one hand you point out that we wanted to mindlessly roll forward and not defend but on the other hand you also point out we'd abuse the "Needs Reinforcements" mechanics and MAX crash to defend territory. My suggestion would be to just flatly deny that we defended territory at all or double down on the idea that we tried to defend but did so horribly. Either option continues with the theme of things that never really happened but the way you'll want to remember things

Add in a love interest (Pepper?) and man you got yourself one hell of a fiction novel there.

Oh BFS. I have to catch a flight but ill be responding to this one later tonight. We will have a nice discussion about team play within TR, not just TE.

Yeah, FOR THE VS.

After The Enclave left, there was nothing to hold VS in check.

in addition, the TR is completely inept on that server. I tried to play, but after getting TKed continuously, and people just trying to camp from the spawn room but never tried to cap a point, I just left....again.

I wouldn't say that playing on Mattherson is "painful" at the moment, but I have noticed a distinct lack of fun lately compared to the old days of the server. There is no doubt that the VS have a really great inter-alliance going on that gives them a very effective core group of players that gets things done. This made them effective in the past and will continue to keep them effective in the future, no matter what happens to the server.

However, the problem that has popped up with ZOE, is that this very effective alliance has now been bolstered by a fresh influx of cannon fodder that can be used to occupy forces while the coordinated outfits hit strategic targets, or buy them the time they need to resecure targets under siege. It also allows them to generate a ridiculous amount of dominating alert victories that involve capturing facilities on other continents since they have the extra pop to spare. This of course leads to more people hopping to the winning side and the problem gets worse.

From my perspective, the fights have certainly become one-sided for the most part which means I am redeploying much more often to find a decent fight that isn't a steamroll. I still find them from time to time and still find enjoyment in the game and the small group of outfit mates I play with, but increasing time spent in the redeploy queue could start to dry out my experience if this continues unchecked.

I have no doubt that Mattherson VS are coordinated and effective, and can win fights without high populations. But there is also no denying that overpopulation has made things a whole lot easier on them, and ultimately led to more boring fights across the entire server.

EoB

No, for the Game.

There is really a simple solution to this, many of this VS overpop comes from the 4th faction. Make a queue for continent pop be balanced by ratio. So lets base this on a 10% ratio. NC is 30% VS is 40% continent population. Any other VS will be in a queue while the NC can freely enter until they balanced. This 10% ratio is hypothetical and needs to be adjusted but this would ultimately make populations filter through the 3 continents more evenly. You could even go as far as to make a faction based queue for login in the event the population for one faction is significantly higher than the rest. It would be a huge turnoff for the 4th faction if they are stuck in a queue.

Your mental gymnastics are only out weighed by the hilarity of your reasoning. There is no lack of consistency unless you didn't bother to read the post directly above yours.

I can sum it up for you again thou: TE quit because they realized their play style was no longer consistent with winning given the game mechanics. A lack of forethought by leadership caused them to be repeatedly out played and maneuvered on the battlefield leading to many hilarious defeats by a smaller more organized force. Once it became obvious that the TE was never going to be able to function outside of a single large mass, the leader decided to call it quits for "other reasons." His followers still insist they left while on top when the reality is that they stopped winning long ago and simply can not accept their defeat.

edit: What streams? I went back and looked and the only footage available from the first week after the lattice rolled out is about 80 minutes long and several days are missing. Please point me to the streams if they are in another location

Maybe, I haven't played long enough or frankly paid that much attention to The Enclave to say one way or the other. What I can say with 100% conviction is something needs to be done to encourage more balanced populations. I'm not going to be lame and threaten quitting or list other games that do a better job, etc. etc. But I will say I have logged out on more than one occasion because of absurd population imbalances and that is just bad for the game over the long term.

Early days of Matherson: TR overpopped, TR claim their victories are due to tactic and skills. VS and NC say lol, you win due to pops.
Current days of Matherson: VS overpopped. VS claim their victories are due to tactic and skills. TR and NC say lol, you win due to pops.

Anyone see a pattern?

yes, NC is consistently underpopped and needs a buff ; )

Your overlord deleted said streams lol.

quoted from another thread:

Your fan fiction is still lacking a love interest. Without a love interest you will lose the female demographic. I mean think of the rest of your outfit and their needs when you write this stuff!

If you're having writers block you could always go try to hit up your source material. I mean if this was such a common occurrence someone probably captured some video footage that you're referencing, right?. Personally I always find myself looking back at the classics like the time we turned NC's Fright Night Ops into an Enclave Recruitment video which inspired GOTR a week later to pre-record their video. If you need additional video streams as proof of your point maybe you'd realize that your point isn't as nearly as valid as you cling to?

Naaaaaaaaah. Writing fiction is a lot more fun!

You skipped the part where you havent addressed your leader removing the video of your outfit getting led around by its nose, and reinforced the idea that your ego is logic proof.