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    Morax

    @Morax

    House of Wolf

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    Best posts made by Morax

    • Thank You and Parting Gift to FAF

      Hello, everyone,

      It never occurred to me that bringing a game like this into continuity was possible until everyone involved with the upkeep and leadership of FAF was brought to my attention via everyone's favorite streamer, Gyle. I thought I was watching a "suggested YouTube video" for some supp comm match from years ago. When I looked at the upload date and saw "2013" it was a true shock. How did this guy upload a match when the game lost official support?! It was thanks to many different people - too many to list - who kept my favorite game going.

      Good and bad times aside, it was a pleasure working with everyone, hope I brought a net positive to the community during my time here. Unfortunately, life has caught up with me and after taking an extended break this past year, it became apparent that it was time to move on.

      Given that, I have already discussed with Balthazar [Creative Team Lead] and Stormlantern [Mathcmaking Team Lead] that I am giving them the rights to use the maps I have created as they see fit. As times change and things move on, the style and play evolve, and believe it would be best that people with more time committed to the community manage that.

      The world kind of is rough right now, but soon in time things will hopefully improve, and I plan to donate to the events FAF produces in time again. I am sorry I have not done that in recent, but financial uncertainty across the board has made me hesitant to spend on anything like a game community for the time being.

      Best of luck and well wishes to everyone going forward.

      posted in General Discussion
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Player Councilor Election 2021

      Once again, Morax, here on the Council of Setons campaign trail.

      I want to start by stating what I think the Player Council should be in a few simple statements before I get onto key duties, responsibilities, and plans for current or future issues to address.

      If the formatting of the message board post bothers you, please feel free to read on my Google Doc.

      What is the Player Councilor?

      The player councilor should be the voice of the community who takes every minute they work in the position to express the desires and what makes people in the community happiest. This person should uphold the task of taking all the complex language and technicalities such as TrueSkill rating and explain it in layman terms to those who are interested, all the while providing an optional media (written report, video, etc) that demonstrates all the details for those interested. It should be a person who not only works on the community but as well actively plays with the community to better experience the choices made.

      My Previous Experience As M&M Council And How it Applies for Player Councilor

      For nearly 2 years I was the maps and modifications community councilor where I spent a majority of the time helping people and creating a learning tool. My best achievements - in my opinion - were creating a series of documents that had a list of all the references and tutorials possible. This was a necessary step in figuring out what the community knows - together - so that we can move forward and improve.

      For those interested, you can see the compilation of documents below:

      Mapping Resources

      Modification Resources

      Modification Resources

      If you look at the #mapping-resources channel in the primary discord, this has been updated from my own list and improved by biass (thanks for doing that! Looks great!).

      This is not an application for the Maps & Modifications council, but this style is one example of how I would like to apply my didactic and helpful nature to the player council. There is a lot of need - in my opinion - for things like game strategy, new player tutorials, and other “how to do this in the community” which I believe currently is a bit lacking. The unified Discord is a wonderful step in the right direction, yet there is more detail and direction needed there.

      That said, here are my thoughts and hopes for the Player Council role in detail ahead.

      Tournaments & The Legend of the Star(s)*

      Events and viewership of them is a pinnacle part of the community, encouraging plenty of discussion and fun of the drama as it unfolds. I began running WWPC alongside a player named Lextoc - who quite coincidentally taught me most of what I know - and it was a blast. I looked through this old thread and it made me realize a lot of the “top players” came from this.

      As exciting as the top player events are, I kind of want to take a step back and work on some other types of events - AS WELL - that are critical to other features of the game: TMM, learning (lower player stuff and balance, and anything extraordinary like the mapgen. I IN NO WAY intend to lower my dedication to the competitive player scene as it was always something I enjoyed. Those of you who know me well know I for many years have put a lot of time, money, and effort into this.

      Some of my favorites were donating to Legend of the Stars, 2v2 Master Cup, 3v3 Trident of Power, and tons of Blitz events or the likes. My loyalty to those who spend the most time becoming the best of the best is true and will always stay, yet I just feel like the Player Council need to celebrate all aspects of levels.

      Legend of the Star(s):

      This tourney in particular is the year end celebration of FAF in my opinion, and it needs to constantly be made better and better to uphold the kindness and generosity of blind donors like Legend who gives and allows the community to run it the way they see fit. With his permission, and others that play and donate, I would like to propose a new concept for this event: A “majors” and a “minors” that run in parallel.

      At the beginning, these events were loaded with players of all levels and slowly the top players picked up seeds through a series of “Qualifiers.” Most of the time, people who play these who are not at the top pretty much pray that they are matched against someone of equal level, even with the seeding introduced by Blodir a couple years ago. Rather than do this, I think similar to sports and other leagues that a major and minor (do not quote me on this) O1900 and U1900 be implemented. The money, FAF Live, and everything will mainly focus on O1900 of course; however, those who feel it interesting to see “up and coming” stars could be free to do so. I think this will make the “Legend of the Stars” true to its name rather than the “Legend of The Star.”

      The format otherwise is pretty good as-is, so am not certain of any other types of changes. I realize this concept is and will be a bit controversial, and am eager to hear the community’s reaction. I just think it would be great for up and coming players - or those who cannot achieve the highest level - to have fun and see where they stand. Who knows? Maybe if someone wins the U1900 of the LoTS it will motivate them to graduate on up and be a true “pro.”

      It gives people a chance to get tourney experience they might not elsewhere...

      If it becomes obvious people do not like this idea, we can scrap it and try other stuff.

      Ladder & Team Matchmaker

      This is a tough area to cover as subjectivity is VERY HIGH as every and all players really have different preferences of play styles. The map pools are made with a great effort in current, and the one thing I would change is this:

      1. Limit the # of new maps to 1 to 2, have a community feedback thread for new maps to see if people like it BEFOREHAND rather toss it into the pool.

      2. No rating resets, ever again. The global rating system is known to have its flaws, yet it has never been reset, so why do that with another one?

      3. Openness and transparency with map ratings rather discuss the actions and reasonings for why what maps go into the pool behind closed doors

      4. No more numerical-based polling: the community size and motivation to play ladder is really small, for instance, and could likely be personally interviewed, with feedback posted to a thread. This does not need to be complicated and short of dysfunctional maps, it should be easy to discuss matters. I suspect it will have some rules and discussion points much like the “before you post in the balance team” except perhaps a little less strict…

      TMM is really critical to help finalize the return of “Galactic War.” It started out as a stepping stone as it requires matchmaking much like TMM does, so it became a reality thanks in hand to interest by the developers and a push by the player council.

      My advantages to the handling of map pools:

      I know how to make and edit maps so outsourcing checking them will not be necessary, but appreciated
      I play ladder fairly frequently and get to experience the maps first-hand

      Training of Players and Resources

      The training program in FAF for players interested in learning to improve their skills is rather poor in current. After interviewing the trainers it appears very little activity is being kept up on this task. I want to make this a BIG DEAL and find a way to engage with new or desiring players to get it going. Much like the “mapping, modding, unit modeling” resources posted at the beginning of this application, I would like to entertain one for game knowledge.

      I would approach this by collecting any and all references such as the following:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uPjOxCTEng

      This is still a great video albeit a bit dated, yet do you see anything about how to perform reclaim activities listed anywhere? Perhaps I am wrong, but it was not obvious to me when I went looking, spare knowing this particular video existed.

      To show how I will make videos myself, you can see one of my tips and tricks here:
      [ will update and link once YouTube gets it finalized so the resolution and 60 fps work… ]

      It really blows my mind that in the amount of years FAF has existed there is not a concrete knowledge base with easy access. This will be one of my primary focuses early on, should I get elected.

      Collaboration with Other Councils

      Balance Council

      This is a tough one as people are always going off on balance - myself included - and believe the community often feels left out of decision-making on how the game works in terms of balance or style changes. For the most part, I want to keep distant and let them do what they do as a team, but make it heard how people perceive that in a much more constructive manner.

      How to do this?

      1. Regular conversations with people in the balance team on up and coming changes and how to best inform the player base
      2. Revive “balance testing tourneys”
      3. Make demo videos if necessary to explain changes

      I think for the most part the balance updates are very far and few between, so this should be relatively easy to coordinate and spend time on the tasks listed.

      Petric, what do you think of this? Maybe if the “balance testing” tourneys show some real good data, we can make it a requirement to ensure it works outside of internal testing?

      Promotion Council

      Obviously in current the player council and promotion work on quite a bit of overlap. For me, the FAF Live should have been the primary duty of the promo council and the player council to support that. I am unsure of the total reasoning for this, but of course would be happy to help develop promotional content and share information of interest, or vice versa, what others find useful.

      Development Council

      This is of course a major responsibility of the player council. Not everyone understands or has the time to understand the complexity in operations within the development channels, and should be given an as easy-to-understand-AS-POSSIBLE reasoning for how they operate.

      For example, the ladder and TMM pools show a sheet of “brackets” where a certain rating must be met in order to see those maps. It was discovered recently that it is not really that rating but is instead the “mu” which is often considerably lower than what was listed.

      I will uphold the task of putting technical information in layman terms so it is simple and straightforward.

      Moderation Council

      In an effort to keep moderation of the community sound, I will without a doubt support Giebmasse’s ruling and decision-making. I believe the player councilor should interfere with these decisions at a minimal amount, but sometimes it becomes necessary to help facilitate issues.

      Administrative, Game Code, Maps & Modifications

      I turned the final 3 into 1 category because I do not have much to say about these other than the M&M council! I believe the M&M is working fine as I have seen what biass has done after my departure, would not change much.

      Final Words

      There is one thing I must admit: I am in much less of a state where I can play the game or work on the community as much as some other people. It saddens me to admit this, but I think if I play a little less and boost my commitment it will be sufficient. No one is paid in the community for what they do (heck, I lose money because of my donations haha!) so the time given is tough. I would estimate I play anywhere from 12-15 hours a week, so it would be pretty easy to give that up a bit.

      That said, I really want to be more whole-encompassing and take on a more community-driven approach. I want to be the guy Aulex wrote about in the final post of this thread.

      I spent a lot more time than recent in researching my posts, and see a lot of the concerns given by Petric here as still pertinent to today. I do not agree with everything stated, but he has some great points.

      The competitive scene is important and will not be forgotten, but I think it has gotten a little bit too much attention over other matters recently.

      I want to be the guy that helps everyone be heard and make FAF about fun again. It seems we may have lost a bit of that.

      I pledge wholeheartedly to be the very best I can should I get enough votes to be the next Player Councilor of the Forged Alliance Forever community.

      posted in General Discussion
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • Parting from M&M Council, Thoughts on Biass, and Future

      Hey, everyone,

      Parting Words as M&M Councilor:

      First and foremost I just want to say that is has been really interesting to work on the community (FAF) project for the past 18 months. It taught me a lot about how open source projects function in that I never really knew the structure and organization of people who make this possible.

      My original goal for taking up M&M was to do one thing: raise the bar. The previous M&M councilors were motivated and kind people; however, they never made as much of an impact on the community (in my opinion) due to not knowing who made it function. There is a very unknown scene with the development side of FAF in the slack/zulip realm where most of the real work takes place.

      I do not want to flood everyone with examples of the rather tedious work, but for example, here is a "issue request" in GitHub that took 6+ months to address:

      https://github.com/FAForever/faf-moderator-client/issues/106

      When moderating content in the client, it previously took a click of every version of some map or modification, so if you had a modification with 200+ versions it would take quite a bit of time to go through - pain in the butt!

      This is not to say that the developers are slow, bad people, but more a warning to those who speak ill of them and those like myself who run the community. You hear it all the time, loathe it, want more - like anyone does, but we are unpaid, few, and there are many who we serve.

      I did what I could without relying on the developers as much as possible, as per our council discussions, we all felt that a feature like "Team Matchmaker" took precedence over anything else, so I put it on the back-burner to enhance M&M, spare adding resources and creating the M&M discord, teaching individuals how things work.

      It has become quite a cumbersome task, as at the old age of 35, I have other thing in real life that are detracting from my availability. This is unfair to the community, unfair to others who want to lead the position, and unfair to how I have reacted to some feedback; it's not that I do not have good responses to criticism, but lack the time to write in a proper manner, and it makes me react poorly, often angrily.

      Since this unfortunate consequence has come about, I have decided, that since time is not plentiful, to let someone else give it a go!

      Thoughts on Biass

      Biass is a tough one for me to discuss. I would say most of the community knows we have fought and argued more then what seems healthy, and it stems from a long history of interactions.

      For me, he was the first person I talked to that was able to give me a start in actually contributing to mapping in FAF. It was between he, Cookienoob, and speed2 who got things going. It would be a lie if I said it was all pleasant, but they did help and kept doing it. I think part of the problem was that so many people don't really want to go "all the way" with what the tools and offerings give, so it was a natural reaction.

      The continuing arguments between each other is not something uncommon among artists, musicians, etc that create "art." This comes off as likely frustrating to hear from other people, but it's usually just a medium in which progress happens. No one ever built great things without arguing: all countries and populations argued relentlessly on how to govern themselves (and still do) so thinking it's such a bad thing is kind of immature / naive.

      For that reason, I would happily like to note that I support biass full and 100% as the next M&M councilor.

      He might seem really aggressive and tough to deal with, but I like that: you need to have a certain standard and draw the line somewhere. You can't just let anyone and everyone walk over you, and once you develop enough, I am certain you will appreciate him as I do today, even with all the friction we have encountered.

      Future Work with FAF

      Now, on to what will be next for myself. I want this game to last as long as possible as it's been something I have enjoyed since 2007, and as a former Total Annihilation player, it's incredible to see the Chris Taylor legacy live on.

      As I mentioned above, the community is most desperate for one thing: developers.

      So, to keep true to that, I am going to take up apprenticeship with Brutus, Axel, GeoSearch, Sheikah, etc etc to learn some coding and apply it to what the community needs. I am not certain how long this will take, but anything will help.

      It is my hope that I can bring TMM, the "author vault" biass wants, and many other fixes to the community in time.

      Of course, I will certainly create some maps as it's my biggest passion, but it will likely take a seat back.

      For those seeking some great help with that, talk to MadMax and Jip, who are creating a pool guide of everything to know for that!

      It was a pleasure working with everyone in M&M and looking forward to future endeavors.

      Be well, everyone.

      • Morax
      posted in General Discussion
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • Legend of The Stars 2021 Championship Tournament

      Legend Of The Stars 2021 Championship

      LOTS Player Collage.png


      Introduction


      This year we are anticipating to the have the biggest and most competitive event to date. As the event entries now rely upon the annual point system (see Helpful Links below) the details of players, substitutions, Group stage will be revealed at a later date. For now, expect FAF Live coverage, a handsome prize pool, the best players in the community competing, and plenty of eye candy artwork!


      Challonge



      IRC: LotS21



      Current Prize Pool $1450


      The donors thus far:

      1. FAF - $1000
      2. LegendOfTheStars - $350
      3. Roboute01 - $100

      Prizes

      Prizes for the event are pending total donations, but expect a large portion to be given to 1st-4th place. A unique avatar for 1st-3rd will also be given out.

      • Champion: $445 + 1st Place Avatar alt text

      • Second Place: $325 + 2nd Place Avatar alt text

      • Third Place: $215 + 3rd Place Avatar Unique 3rd Place Avatar

      • Fourth Place: $145 + 4th Place Avatar alt text

      • Fifth through Eighth Place: $80

      IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE: Please contact myself, Brutus5000, or post in this thread directly.


      ------------------- Rules ------------

      For all phases of the event the Tournament Code of Conduct will apply.

      Special rules will apply to the following:

      Groups Stage

      1. All matches that involve the RNG map generator are to be "TOURNEY" settings. Both players may use ONE roll each if the map that is generated is deemed unfit. Example settings for the RNG.

      2. Any ties that happen at the end of a group stage will be resolved as follows: 2-way tie results in a BO1; 3-way tie will get decided by opponent strength victories, and if necessary, a condensed mini round robin.

      3. Standard map and faction veto system applies.


      -------- Tournament Details ---------


      December 11th: 15 UTC: Group Stage, all 16 players participate in a standard, 4 Group Format


      alt text

      Day 1 of the event will be the lengthiest, involving a full, Group Stage round-robin format. Groups have been determined via a snake draft system by placement of total points acquired throughout the year for the 1st thru 12th seed, and 13th thru 16th by placement in the Qualifier event.

      Each group will receive its own 15 map pool, follow the same map veto process (3 vetoes per player) to reduce to 9 maps, with faction vetoes. The top 2-performing players in each group will advance to the final stage, playoffs RO8 which will take place a week later.

      SPECIAL RULES FOR THE GROUP STAGE


      December 18th: 15 UTC Playoffs, RO8 BO5 and Semi-Finals BO5


      wallpaper.png

      And so our final 8 appear!

      The second day of the event will consist of the initial RO8 with 4 BO5 matchups taking place simultaneously in a single-elimination format. The victors of these matches will move on to the semi-finals, a RO4 set of 2 BO5s to determine the top 4 places, giving way to the Bronze and Champion matchups.

      Map Pool for the Finals:

      5x5

      Desert Arena (Blackheart)
      crazyrush (Petric)

      7.5x7.5

      Map Gen (Tournament Settings)

      10x10

      Daroza's Sanctuary (Tagada)
      Arcane (Nexus)
      Open Palms (JaggedAppliance)
      Frithen (Tex)
      Map Gen (Tournament Settings)
      Amoor

      15x15

      Map Gen (Tournament Settings)

      20x20

      Bermuda Locket (TURBO2)
      Point of Reach v4
      Krakens Nest (Yudi)
      Map Gen (Tournament Settings)
      Ronoake Abyss

      Special Rules for the BO5s (RO8 and Semis):

      1. Anti-Cheat Mechanism: RezyNoob will be hosting a channel setup in the main FAF Discord where players must share their screen while playing. This is to ensure that no one is using any sort of advantageous material whatsoever.

      2. Map Veto: Players will receive an additional veto (standard is 3) each, totaling 8 vetoes, bringing the map pool from 15 down to 7 maps. For the vetoes, the low seed will go first, then the high seed; for map picks, the high seed chooses first, then the low seed, and alternates.

      3. Faction Veto will be used as is in other events

      4. Ties will result in playing the same map with the same factions.


      December 19th: 15 UTC Finale, Bronze & Champion Match BO7


      The final day of the Official Tournament will have 4 players left. These 4 players will be playing a single BO5 (Bronze match) and BO7 (Championship) each to decide placements.

      The same map pool will be used as was for the RO8 and Semifinals.

      For the Bronze Match: Each player will get 4 vetoes.
      For the Championship Match: Each player will get 3 vetoes.

      Faction veto will be used.

      Ties will result in playing the same map with the same factions.


      Substitutions


      Should a player be unable to play the event a substitution will be made. This will come to the next-highest point accumulation. Based on the point tracker, the 6 in line subs are as follows:

      1. Blast_Chilled
      2. Reactive_
      3. Blodir
      4. Farmsletje
      5. Shen
      6. Raider-

      Poster Samples


      [ link to all the posters on imgur ]:

      alt text

      alt text

      alt text

      And a News Hub Side Banner Poster:

      alt text


      More Details to Follow Soon(tm)!


      Helpful Links:


      League Leaderboards:
      https://www.faforever.com/competitive/leaderboards/leagues

      League Months:
      https://forum.faforever.com/topic/332/faf-league-month-system

      Nexus Series Thread:
      https://forum.faforever.com/topic/1246/faf-league-invitational-series

      posted in Tournaments
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • M&M Map Vault Plans for Fall 2020 and On

      Whelp, it's been a wild year and a half since I took over as M&M:

      In the past days I learned a lot, got to know people working on projects that will bring some interesting fun to the community, and have given thought on how to handle better presenting that.

      First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who have helped me over this time and given me a chance to show what I can do as M&M councilor. It went pretty well: helping hands, a big boost in tutorials and wealth of knowledge, a death threat - pretty exciting stuff.

      Plans for the mapping vault are going to be as follows:

      WE ARE MOVING TO A WHITELIST VAULT SYSTEM

      What this means:

      People can still upload to the vault, but there will be no "showroom" when users go to the vault section in the client.

      One can still find their map by searching

      One can still host their map and others can download it

      Why is this happening?

      To answer that question, let me explain what the "Most Recent" vault showroom for maps is meant to do: it is a place where mappers can get their content seen and distributed by users of the client service - that's it!

      What we found is the following: maps, aside from ladder / remakes of popular ones like canis river, are seeing an average of 10 or less overall plays over the course of a year. That is pretty staggering at how poorly the vault is "helping" people distribute their content.

      So why a "whitelist" vault?

      After years of talking to community members about "why do you download and play a certain map," it was in general because someone hosted it and they saw it in the game tab; the map was actually quite good and was showcased in the news or by a caster/streamer; and etc

      When asked "why not play maps in the vault" the resounding reasoning was "because it's full of (insert random word that means 'garbage')

      To me, that reinforces that the vault content is frowned upon and it becomes laborious to have to search through page after page, until something remotely "good" shows up.

      The whitelist vault is going to be a system where people demonstrate they can create content that meets the minimum rules of the community; it will not be nearly as strict as the "M&M Top Picks" list, so don't be fearful you cannot get access.

      How to be given access to the vault?

      Good question, and there will be an application process made. I am thinking a sample of 3 maps uploaded to the vault with replays that the M&M team can review to see it meets the rules.

      After that, the author will be given unlimited access, so long as they keep abiding to the rules of the vault.

      Final Words

      I understand this in general not going to be liked, but I myself am tired of being a "vault policeman," and the community is definitely more engaged in expressing quality annoyances of maps and modifications.

      My real passion is to lead by example by making tutorial videos, guides, maps and mods myself along with other M&M folks. It doesn't make sense to me for the council position to feel more like a moderator then a content creator.

      If anyone has any strong feelings about this, please state so, and present some damn good evidence if you think what I stated here is not the case.

      posted in Mapping
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • 4v4 QUEUE ISSUES UPDATE

      UPDATE 02/01/2022:


      Layman terms explanation: Layman terms explanation: The ice adapter contains a serious bug mangling data packets in transmission causing the connection process to crash.

      In short, continued patience is appreciated as we believe the issues will be resolved and everyone can enjoy the 4v4 TMM queue more going forward. This is bad but good news as it means the poor game connectivity issues will be a thing of the past soon enough.

      Technical excerpt from the ICE developer:

      Layman terms explanation: The ice adapter contains a serious bug mangling data packets in transmission causing the connection process to crash


      Technical excerpt from the ICE developer:


      Additionally to forwarding data, the ice adapter constantly monitors the latency of the connection to react to connection losses by reconnecting. To achieve this, the adapter prepends each data packet from the game with a type marker <d> or <e>:

      Data packet: <d> <game data> <game data> <game data>
      Echo packet: <e> <the time when this packet was sent>

      The data packet is forwarded to the other player's game, the echo packet is returned back to the sender to estimate the connection's latency.

      Case 1: The bug occurs due to the way packets are received. The protocol is not capable of detecting packet sizes or boundaries. So when there is a delay in the packet transmission over the Internet, multiple packets may be received and processed at once:

      <d> <game data> <d> <game data> <e> <timestamp>
      The ice adapter sees a data packet, removes the first <d> and sends <game data> <d> <game data> <e> <timestamp> to the game, which can't deal with the injected <d> and <e> markers and discards the packet. -> packet loss

      Case 2: The other possible cause is the packet being split (either during transit or due to the receiving buffer being to small, this is under investigation):

      Sent packet: <d> <game data> <game data>
      Received packet: <d> <game data> -> game data sent to FA
      Next packet: <game data>

      The next packet now is really the second half from the previous packet, the ice adapter reads the first byte from the <game data> , looks for the marker, doesn't find one and crashes / reconnects (causing this packet to be dropped).
      This happens during custom games as well, but the adapter usually reconnects within <5 secs. This might be amplified with TMM due to everybody connecting at once or the game not being capable of handling packet loss during the initial connection process cause the game to never launch.

      This will be incompatible with previous adapters and require a forced client update.


      CLIENT UPDATE FOR 4v4 NO SHARE:


      As it turns out, the client issue was unique only to the "4v4 No Share" search and queue. The client issue has nothing to do with the likelihood of a match taking place.

      alt text


      posted in Announcements
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • FA Modern Trailer Contest

      Modern Forged Alliance Trailer Contest!


      Presented by: Morax & Saske
      Tournament Voting / Finale Live Stream: 21, August, 2021
      Current Prize Pool: $220

      GAMEPLAY_TRAILER1.jpg


      Synopsis:

      First and foremost: This is not an official FAF organization trailer. It is a community-driven project for self-promotion rather through the association/board. If this is confusing, please read up on how the FAF Association operates here.

      This is a contest to help promote the creation of a new, up to date trailer for the game Forged Alliance highlighting features, updates, and demonstrations of the modification Forged Alliance Forever.

      There will be a cash prize for the top video trailer for 1st place. If the funding exceeds $200, a 2nd place will be added. If there is a much larger portion, then possibly a 3rd, 4th.

      For reference, here are good examples of a trailer similar to what is being desired, except keep in mind they are both QUITE dated:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoxPvkg21Jg&list=PLD5B7864ABDA0D620

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xWTKqKCuPU


      Content:


      The Basics

      The video should of course show all the classic highlights of the game: many units, epic scale (up to thousands of units), variability and interaction of units, entertainment, etc. It should also show the best game mechanics: zoom, physics, and so on. For example, units cling to air transport, and in other strategies they just disappear, a nuclear missile really kills the base, as opposed to a RTS like Starcraft where it is not exactly a game-ender (or close to it!). You can show how engineers collect the remains of a fallen unit. What do you think is cool in the game? Show it!).

      Desired Highlights:

      1. Show the game enhancements through popular modifications such as Supreme Scoreboard, UI Party, better reclaim, target priorties, etc.

      2. A lot of UI updates such as "notifications," idle engineers, additional camera stuff, etc have been added to make the gameplay experience much more manageable as opposed to its 2008 form. Try and show some features to give interested parties/players a glimpse of why FAF is so much better than the original/Steam/GoG.com versions of FA.

      3. New units, advanced AIs, new game modes like "King Of The Hill," Phantom X, a totally new faction set (Supreme Commander TA, Nomads, etc).

      4. Use your own personal highlights to get a competitive edge in your trailer!

      Mood / Flow:

      Try not to make the scenes too long, an average of about 5 seconds is ideal, but no more than 10 seconds, the viewer should not get bored. The video should inspire. Imagine you haven't played Supreme Commander yet. What would prompt you to play this strategy? Show it in your video!

      Try to keep the length to 2 minutes - approximately! A succinct and effective message is best.

      Music:

      It is better to choose an epic soundtrack of the game, but it is better to make sure that, for example, YouTube does not block your video (you can upload music with a black screen to YouTube and check, in most cases everything will be ok). For example, you can take any audio track or something similar.
      It will be ideal if the video sequence will be in harmony with the music (for example, cannon shots are synchronized with the rhythm).

      Finding content with no copyright or "free use" will be tricky, so if you need help feel free to ask in this thread, or contact Morax/Saske.


      Submission Rules


      The video must be uploaded to YouTube and a link left in the comments to this post with your FAF & Discord nickname (for communication). Please refrain from changing either so it is not a challenge to keep in contact. Optional: Make an attractive video preview.

      Voting for the best video will take place on August 21 (in the format of an online broadcast on YouTube, (we can comment and watch together) or your version)


      How Winner(s) Are Determined


      The winner(s) will be determined by a live stream by Saske (aka Lenkin) via voting which will take place on August 21 via YouTube. Comments and viewership will take place in parallel!

      Disclaimer: Due to the fact that not everyone may be able to attend the "viewing part," a secondary voting system is being discussed. There is plenty of time until August so hopefully this will be determined well beforehand.

      The prize fund starts from $ 50 (courtesy of Saske) and if you want - you can contribute ( LINK to be posted - soon[TM] ). If the prize fund is more than $ 200, then there will be a reward for the second place, if more than $ 300, then there will be a reward for the third place.

      You have three options
      a) Create a video and participate in a competition (you can join teams)
      b) Sponsor a competition and contribute to the development of FAF
      c) Tell your friends about the competition for promotion and repost.


      Current Contributors

      Prize Total: $220

      1. Saske - $50
      2. Morax - $100
      3. Astrocrater - $40
      4. Yugo - $30

      Current Signups

      posted in Tournaments
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: How come you don't play ladder?

      Lack of people playing

      Less than 2 minute game-ending strategies such as intie transport rush, first bomber, etc

      Learning build orders for every map is too time-consuming

      Other games are more fun than being stressed out all the time like in FAF

      Getting map gen in any form is awful because the maps are 90% of the time quite poor in quality and redundancy

      posted in General Discussion
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • 4v4 TMM Release!

      4v4 TMM Matchmaker Release

      Intro

      The 4v4 TMM queues are now ready for release and the development team is ready to flip the switch once the map pools are finalized!

      To get everyone on the same page, please read the following posts:

      Initial Matchmaker Team Announcement

      Developer's Announcement


      4v4 TMM Pools


      The first set of 4v4 Matchmaker Pools are below. Before trying to read it, note the following:

      There are 2 pools: 1 for Share Until Death (NS = No Share) and 1 for Fullshare (FS). The pool on the left is the NS one and the one on the right is the FS one.

      You will notice a few things such as the ratio of 10x10 to 20x20 maps is dramatically different as FS and NS work better for certain map layouts / sizes. The matchmaker team will need time to flesh out every single map and see what works best, so this is our initial best effort.

      Please note that the matchmaker team is still talking through some choices and you will likely see a different list used by the time we launch. This is purely for reference.

      alt text


      The 4v4 Map List


      In order to keep open and transparent to the community, the list of 4v4 maps the matchmaker team is using is in the link below.

      4v4 TMM Map List

      What has been updated since my last post?

      1. Pictures of maps are starting to be added so it is easier to identify maps
      2. Tabs have been added for the full map list, Detailed Reviews (similar to the 1v1 and 2v2 sheets), Maps that Can Be Saved, Broken Maps
      3. A column to determine if a map is usable for NS, FS or both
      4. Continued work on evaluating maps

      "Maps That Can Be Saved" are ones where some simple map editing work could be used such as spawn fixes, resource placement, minor graphical tweaks so that the map can be added to the usable list.

      "Broken Maps" are ones that require a massive amount of rework and fixing, not complete, lots to address and would require a dedicated mapper. These are not exactly "lost causes" but will not be addressed by the matchmaker team itself.


      Community Feedback


      In order to ensure we capture community feedback well, I will be using a broadcast poll for the first time in some years. We want to ensure that everyone's voice is heard so it is very desirable to push this.

      After 2 months have elapsed and enough people have played the matchmaker a poll will be designed and launched.

      The initial feedback we are looking for is as follows:

      1. Do you feel the ratio of 10x10 and 20x20 maps is appropriate for each matchmaker?
      2. What rating bracket do you primarily play in?
      3. What map pool size should each FS and NS have? (Options will be given)
      4. How many 10x10s do you think should be in the NS pool?
      5. How many 20x20s do you think should be in the FS pool?
      6. Rate your experience overall with the 4v4 TMM Matchmaker
      7. Open Ended Feedback (written response)

      Submitting Maps for Matchmaker


      If you think a map should make it into the pool, please post it up in the #matchmaker-submissions channel in the main FAF discord under the Mappers group:

      ca00be51-a2ee-4775-b36c-6878be4343e8-image.png

      posted in Announcements
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • Archived Matchmaker Pool Posting - All Queues

      This thread has been archived, new thread: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/7267/matchmaker-map-pools

      Matchmaker Queue Postings


      As of today and going forward, all matchmaker pools (1v1, 2v2, 4v4 NS, 4v4 FS) will be posted in this thread. As the queues may change so will this thread to reflect that.

      What is 4v4 NS and FS?

      Please see this thread for details.

      How do I submit a map I made into consideration for future map pools?

      Go to the #matchmaker-submissions channel on the Forged Alliance Forever discord. If you are not a part of the discord, you can join here: https://discord.gg/2gQeSDFH.


      Matchmaker Map & Rating Systems


      Each pool has a system where your rating give access to certain maps:

      For the 1v1 Matchmaker Pool:

      cf26434d-44d1-40a9-b0cb-a0baaba8fbfa-image.png

      For the 2v2 Matchmaker Pool:

      8b985c09-11db-4a2e-b05d-32c4701aa975-image.png

      For the 4v4 Matchmaker Pools (both NS and FS):

      3b839a48-02ef-479b-b734-5d33cc10464d-image.png

      Like the 2v2 matchmaker pool, your rating should exclude you from certain maps; however, there is a caveat to this: if someone participating in the match teams has a rating in a lower bracket, the system may select a map from those pools as well.

      For example, if all the players are 1500+ on both team, they will only see maps in the 1000-1500 and 1500+ pools.

      If all players are in a mix of ranges between 500 and 1500+, then all maps are possible for the match.


      Current Matchmaker Pools (updated monthly)


      1v1 Matchmaker

      The first week of February will be a special "Mapgen only" experience.

      e1894aad-e529-4dd5-a55d-62c837b482a3-image.png

      2v2 Matchmaker

      33c412ef-48dc-45a8-b0e3-c41ee2a9b4d7-image.png

      4v4 Matchmaker

      No-Share:

      fcb98904-d5b1-4a3a-b2c9-51304fefd7f0-image.png

      Full-Share:

      97347f21-80c9-4dc0-b6f0-7aa0482e8f40-image.png

      posted in Announcements
      MoraxM
      Morax

    Latest posts made by Morax

    • Thank You and Parting Gift to FAF

      Hello, everyone,

      It never occurred to me that bringing a game like this into continuity was possible until everyone involved with the upkeep and leadership of FAF was brought to my attention via everyone's favorite streamer, Gyle. I thought I was watching a "suggested YouTube video" for some supp comm match from years ago. When I looked at the upload date and saw "2013" it was a true shock. How did this guy upload a match when the game lost official support?! It was thanks to many different people - too many to list - who kept my favorite game going.

      Good and bad times aside, it was a pleasure working with everyone, hope I brought a net positive to the community during my time here. Unfortunately, life has caught up with me and after taking an extended break this past year, it became apparent that it was time to move on.

      Given that, I have already discussed with Balthazar [Creative Team Lead] and Stormlantern [Mathcmaking Team Lead] that I am giving them the rights to use the maps I have created as they see fit. As times change and things move on, the style and play evolve, and believe it would be best that people with more time committed to the community manage that.

      The world kind of is rough right now, but soon in time things will hopefully improve, and I plan to donate to the events FAF produces in time again. I am sorry I have not done that in recent, but financial uncertainty across the board has made me hesitant to spend on anything like a game community for the time being.

      Best of luck and well wishes to everyone going forward.

      posted in General Discussion
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      Well whatever is going on, it is far more noticeable with this one command.

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      @ftxcommando said in Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show:

      half a second

      Ah so that's why I'm going mad... Everything else is seemingly instant.

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      @jip said in Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show:

      it works in 1 click for me. There's a 5 tick delay before it is applied, but you can continue doing what you were doing. The selection is stored the moment you issue the callback

      What is a "5 tick delay" in layman terms?

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      @Jip so I have been using the "ctrl-assist" and no problems since, but for some reason I have to click engineers or comm a few times to get it to work?

      What's up with that?

      I don't know how to share other than creating a video but it's super frustrating to have to click something so much as it really distracts.

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Red lines on map

      This is an issue where the texture files are missing and or not compatible.

      If it is happening to you alone it's likely your game files are corrupt and you'll need to restore them.

      Let me load it up and see if it happens to me as well.

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      Interesting, however it is happening a lot more lately...

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • Pathfinding Issue? Time Stamps and Images to Show

      Edit: Here is replay: https://replay.faforever.com/21242419

      @Jip starting around 3:30 mark and throgh 3:45, you can watch the expanding engineers to grab hydros. At around 3:40 there is a reclaim action on the hydro from the engineer in front, then the second engineer bumps the first, then the orders just seem to simply disappear even though they are in queue.

      I have seen this happen with a commander or unit getting stuck on some reclaim, but what is going on here has happened to me a number of times recently in addition to what @silentNoob showed here: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/6808/degrading-game-responsiveness-over-time-factory-queue-in-particular

      It could be a separate issue but still.... it worries me.

      Cannot figure out how to take a screen shot while order queue is visible as it "snip it" tool is refusing to work with the shift key held, but here:
       
      https://ibb.co/album/Df913C

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Legend of the Stars 2023

      @noc said in Legend of the Stars 2023:

      Avatars are as follow's:

      1st lots_1.png

      2nd lots_2.png

      3rd lots_3.png

      4th lots_4.png

      If people are interested, I can make some new avas. Looks like the same ones are being used that I made 3-4 years ago so thought I would offer to update a bit.

      posted in Tournaments
      MoraxM
      Morax
    • RE: Degrading game responsiveness over time (factory queue in particular)

      Yeah, got a game here where my 2 engineers expanding to build hydros just STOPPED for no apparent reason:

      https://replay.faforever.com/21242419

      Never seen this kind of thing before until recently.

      I, too, have been suspicious but no evidence such as presented by the preceding posts. This is a bit alarming as this has not been quite this bad before...

      posted in Game Issues and Gameplay questions
      MoraxM
      Morax