In both my ladder and team games I've gotten the feeling that Chrono Dampener can be quite oppressive to play against, while also providing little feedback. I've written a mod (called "Chrono Expand" in the vault) to try to address these shortcomings.

Default Chrono Dampener:

There is a small effect around the ACU which causes units in a huge area to get immediately stunned for 2.5 seconds. The last titan is actually at the edge of the range, but there's no way to tell that.

Chrono Expand:

The effect now covers the entire area in a wave which stuns units. All units lose the stun effect at the same time, which means that the closer the unit is to the ACU, the longer it gets stunned for. At present, units right next to the ACU get stunned for 3.5 seconds, while units at the edge get stunned for only 1 second.

The values above aren't set in stone, and are actually mostly the result of my lackluster modding ability. I'd love to get a stun shorter than a second at the edge but for some reason that starts to shrink the radius of the effect instead.

What are your thoughts?

Make radar selection not make the exact same sound as a ping

There's little to no point making any judgment on Sanctuary until people not involved with the project can play it.

I did some testing and managed to determine that the formula used is
Speed Multiplier = 2^(Simspeed/3)

In other words, every +3 difference in simspeed is a doubling of the simulation tick rate. Here's a handy dandy table for those curious:

Simspeed	Time Factor*	*For positive sim speeds the time factor is times faster, for negative sim speeds it is times slower
0	1×
1	1.25×
2	1.59×
3	2×
4	2.52×
5	3.17×
6	4×
7	5×
8	6.35×
9	8×
10	10×

Can't say this is the most useful information, but I found it interesting.

Instead of focusing on what I would do if elected, I'll focus on how I've already been doing many of these duties.

• Being a communication relay between players and contributors
  • Compiled a loooooooot of data on the small suggestions topic: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/3206/small-suggestions-topic/291?_=1649658115116
• Collecting data related to the player experience
  • Ran an experimental survey on people's opinions on the state of naval balance https://forum.faforever.com/topic/1597/naval-balance-survey?_=1649658115124 (as well as the above)
• Being present for the players and answering questions
  • Hard to provide a simple link to that, but I'm pretty active on both Discord and forums, as well as the many PMs I get being a moderator.
• Organization of regular games
  • A little old, but I organized this thread on a forum: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/supreme-commander-gaming-thread.323817/, which ran for 2,879 posts over several years before finally running out of steam. I've also organized many games among my Discord friends but again, can't just link that
• Other Community Management-esque items
  • Trying to lead the Balance Discussions subforum by example: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/759/balance-thread-guidelines
  • Supcom "fun fact" kind of posts: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/3413/what-each-simspeed-value-means?_=1649658115138
  • Occasional meme-making:
    • https://discord.com/channels/197033481883222026/849681991111934002/952114017487446066,
    • https://discord.com/channels/197033481883222026/849681991111934002/930825385443196948
  • Wrote an April Fool's mod that sadly couldn't be implemented this year but perhaps could be next year
  • Activity on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/supremecommander/search/?q=author%3Au%2FDeribus&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&type=link (as well as dozens of comments answering questions)
  • Many private training sessions with players
  • Responsible for the single most important Discord channel, #cute-animals

Hopefully the above demonstrate both my experience with and willingness to do many of the tasks that might be asked of the community manager. Oh, and also I'm a Russian speaker so I can engage with astro players.

What are my actual plans if I were elected?

A lot more of the same, additional data compilation, updates on the state of development, I like the regular games idea. Might look into running a successor to "this week in slack" but Zulip is so active in so many channels I frankly don't know if I have the time to catch up on that many messages. I have a few other ideas but I'm not committing to anything at this point until I consult with the board post-election.

Will I remain a moderator?

I too had this question, as I was hesitant to retain the moderator role while also being the community manager. I felt this would make me less approachable as a community member. However after posing this question to the board they recommended I keep my role as a moderator, so that I will do.

Trying to make a more convenient list of suggestions, as this thread has grown enormous:

Being worked on/looked into:

• Easy to interpret lag information (Coming soon)
• Change radar selection sound (Being worked on)
• Give friendly/enemy nuke launches different sounds (Being worked on)
• Display total score of each team in lobby (Being worked on)
• Repeat hotkey improvements (Being worked on)
• See friendly radar bubbles (May not be possible, being investigated)
• Full share unit gift prompt/notification (Being worked on)
• Button to notify players to ready up (Being worked on)
• Enable many "proplayer features" by default (Being looked into)
• Global unit toggle (May not be possible, being investigated)
• Force rainbow cup colors (Not possible in custom games, but being worked on for matchmaking)
• Better CPU test (Being worked on)
• Audible low power warning (Being worked on)
• Display whether maps are rated (Being investigated)
• Matchmaking menu improvements (Being worked on)

Probably not possible

• Add unit to beginning of build queue (May not be possible)
• Fix stereo sound issues (May not be possible)

Feature already exists or was purposefully removed

• Ship FAF with PD + Walls template by default (Rejected/similar feature already exists)
• Prevent pause button spam (Feature already exists)
• Target prioritization improvements (Rejected/old feature that was reworked)
• Allow reduced disconnection timer (Feature already exists)
• View share condition in-game (Feature already exists)
• Ability to name templates (Feature already exists)
• Shift-g reclaim orders (Rejected, purposefully removed)

Suggestion outside the scope of the thread

• Clear client search field (Client issue)
• A variety of UI improvements (Client issue)
• Toggle option for UI mods when watching a replay (Client issue)
• Highlight alternative game modes (Client issue)
• Merge all ladder queue chats (Client issue)
• Option to hide games by specific mod (Client issue)
• Portal/teleportation building (Rejected, better as a mod)
• Chat history (Client issue)
• Wyvern mod fix (Rejected, mod issue)
• Encourage optimal balance games; discourage leaving the game early (First is a large feature but may be looked into later; second rejected)
• AI improvements (Rejected, large issue)

Rejected for other reasons

• Lobby voting system (Rejected)
• Gain rating for each player kill (Rejected)
• GC claw inconsistency (Rejected/no issue)

Miscellaneous

• Hotkey of build closest mex for engies
• Announce when players lose connection to one another
• Infinite build experimentals
• Chat beep lite integration
• Spread build
• A variety of changes from KonjikiNoYami
• Filter maps by size
• A variety of changes from WillowsDuality:
• Make air units bounce off map edges like wrecks do against shields
• Custom template images
• Allow premade teams in optimal balance
• Separate nuke load bar for nuke subs and battleships

One of the things requested in the Call for Community managers is setting up regular community game. I've spent some time figuring out how best to do this, but eventually decided the best way to find out is to attempt one and see what happens.

First weekly game will be on Diversity on Sunday, June 12th, at 4PM UTC -4

Here is a link to let you know when it will be in your local time zone

Why this date/time?
Sunday because I work Saturdays, and that time because that is when daily FAF peak player count is. It won't necessarily be at this time every week.

Why this map?
I thought it was a relatively straightforward 10x10 map that most players should be comfortable on.

This first game will be largely experimental, so don't take it as a definite sign of how these will play out in the future.

Also depending on how many people join I may need volunteers to host parallel lobbies so we may split up by rating.

Did you know?

Transports assisting a land factory will automatically carry units to the factory's rally point

Whenever you fire at something, you have a choice of two firing angles. A high arc (red) and a low arc (green)

• 

The high arc is above 45° while the low arc is below 45°.

Unlike every other artillery piece in the game which uses high firing arcs, T2 artillery uses low firing arcs for some reason.

These two are firing at the same target, but look where the T2 arty is pointing and where the T3 mobile arty is pointing.

• 

So I'm proposing we do a bit of a...

• 

Benefits

• Longer time to impact
  • In my testing a high firing arc at max range gives an 8 second time to impact while a low firing arc gives one around 4.5 seconds.
  • This nerfs it against mobile units as it has to predict their movement further ahead and also gives them more time to dodge.
  • It can even be extended further by increasing the projectile speed, so that it fires even more vertically.
• Fixes inability to fire at certain elevations
  • Currently T2 arty can have issues aiming at higher ground. See this thread for an example
• Consistency with other artillery pieces

Ship FAF with PD + walls template by default

One of the most common pieces of advice I see for new players is to make a template of PD surrounded by walls. It's by far the most used template and even some more experienced players can be annoyed if they lose access to it for one reason or another.

Why not have FAF add the 4 (one for each faction) templates automatically? It'd be a QoL feature like mex assist for storage and should be fairly low impact to everyone who doesn't want it.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

I am asking why the majority of players for most of the time think playing a game for 15 minutes is more fun than play a game for 60 minutes.

Already answered.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

in my mind, objectively speaking, playing a game for 60 minutes is in most cases inherently more fun than playing a game for 15 minutes.

in my mind, objectively speaking

objectively

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

Call it what you will. Eco is half the game. You don't see "eco players" calling out aggression as "aggression simulator". Or "rush sim" when someone is fulfilling the 15 minute prophecy.

I am calling what I will. But you're the one asking "why don't people let me eco sim?", you can't then flip it into aggressive players having some kind of superiority complex when you are the one questioning the way others prefer to play.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

Which is the t1 phase, which is "dynamic" as you say. A long game will include way more elements of what the game has to offer than any almost any 15 minute game. Which is to say is more dynamic.

No, a more dynamic game is by definition less stable. A less stable game is less likely to turn into a long game. You can have dynamic, aggressive, games that last a long time because no side is able to gain a decisive advantage. That is different from both sides deliberately deciding to extend the game. That is what leads to less dynamic gameplay.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

I value my time, just as much as the next person. And I would value watching a 4 hour high quality, bloated service catering to my fandom of that movie, as opposed to many good unrelated and potentially obscure short movies.

And many players, specifically the ones you're asking about, have no interest in a bloated game. They are interested in an action packed (even if shorter) game. You might disagree, but your opponents are under no obligation to play the game you want them to.

@Kazbek Has done it

His tool stopped working due to the API restrictions that were added to help protect against DDOS.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

The difference is, they are hoping to play for some eventual epic combat later on.

I'm not interested in "eventual epic combat later on". 5 mantis shooting at each other is functionally gameplay the same as 5 monkeys shooting at each other. Why bother waiting for monkeys to come online if mantis could give me the same gameplay 30 minutes sooner?

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

Just because people prefer long game does not mean they are playing an eco-sim game.

It's not always, but often true. I don't know my Dual Gap slots, but many slots are going to be on full T2 mex before they build a combat unit. Some slots might even get to full T3 mex. That is eco sim.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

Just because someone is ecoing fast and efficiently does not mean they are not paying attention to the game and what their opponent is doing. The efficient fast eco player is still mindful of the game state and is ready to counter aggression.

Never said they weren't

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

My point again, is why do players want to end a game as fast as possible.

Two reasons. The first is because I intend to play at full capacity. If the skill difference between myself and my opponent is great enough that the game ends quickly, then that's when the game ends. To artificially drag out the game would by definition mean either I, my opponent, or both are deliberately not winning, which is boring.

Let's say at the 15 minute mark I my opponent has 75% map control and vastly more eco than me. I want him to kill me at that point because there is little to no way for me to recover. Sure he can sit and wait for 30 minutes while I get all T3 eco, but in that time he's going to be ecoing too except much faster because of the map control and eco advantages. Even if I have 200 mass income I'm not winning against a 600 mass income opponent. Those extra 30 minutes would be a waste of both people's time. I'd rather be queueing for the next game than technically in a game but waiting to die.

@xclkvnspoijfoisn said in 15minutes of gaming?:

Is watching a movie for 10 minutes really more enjoyable than watching all the movie?

10 minutes is the whole movie. This isn't a comparison of a 2 hour movie or just a 10 minute clip of the same movie, it's watching 2 hours of a movie that could have been 10 minutes. Have you ever watched the Hobbit trilogy? They tried to extend a book that was shorter than any of the Lord of the Rings books into 3 movies. They accomplished this by filling it with all sorts of garbage and time-wasting nonsense that nobody cares about.

If given the choice of watching a single Lord of the Rings movie or all three Hobbit movies, I would watch Lord of the Rings every time.

Moved to General Discussion

There are two reasons:

1. I play for the combat. I have little to no interest in playing eco-simulator or sim-city until I have 3 digit mass income. You can do that in single player or even in a spreadsheet. If I really feel like turning my brain off and making a Monkeylord as my first unit I would skip the queue entirely and go do a solo survival or campaign. So say I queue 15 minutes. I can then send my first raids out 5 minutes into the game for 20 minutes of total wait time, or obey some kind of non-aggression pact for 30 minutes for 45 minutes of total wait time. I'll chose the 20 minute wait time every time.
2. I play multiplayer to play against another human playing to the best of their ability. This involves exploiting any gaps they find in my defenses to the best of their ability, and defending against me doing the same. To reiterate the point from section 1, if I didn't want this to be the case I can do campaign, survival, or even games vs AI and skip the queue entirely.

BlackOps FAF: ACUs adds a ton of upgrades

Otherwise you're better off asking in the modding section of the Discord. You'll have to say you're interested in modding when you join, or go to the Channels and Roles section if you've already joined.

Okay, it's now just "x doesn't know y????" Over and over again. I think the initial proposal has been adequately discussed.

Locked

Nah, requires people to know what these ranks mean.

It was removed because backend changes over the years meant that tool didn't work anymore, and nobody wanted to make (and maintain!) a new version of it.