Battleships Pro 4v4

[Quetra]

I have been watching the Battleships Pro bot these past few months, and in that time there has been a decline in activity. Games used to fill at US times, but now they no longer do (at all, the bot will be in lobby for 7-10 hours until the next day.) Now the inactivity is creeping up on other timezones too; in order to get a game you have to be on earlier and earlier.

My point is, it's high time that the bot went to 4v4 games. It's been proposed before, and there was some support (and some opposition.) But we are already at the point where it is infeasible for people on UsEast timezones to play at a reasonable time. Soon games may stop starting at all on any timezones.

5v5 may be the optimal number but any games are better than no games, and 4v4 is still very much playable. !votestart in practice is not used due to the amount of people afking in lobby (how could you blame them when the game takes 30 mins to an hour to start?).

[aRt)Y]

So your suggestion is to reduce the team format from 5v5 to 4v4?

[Quetra]

Yeah, that's right.

[khspww94]

It has been previously asked before and the matters have already been decide. That however, perception might have change over time, it would be great to conduct a poll to decide on this matter once and for all. Below attached the previous suggestion:

viewtopic.php?f=43&t=79500

[aRt)Y]

We dont need a poll but just some input of BP players. However, I can easily imagine the games count having gone down in nearly one year.

[Quetra]

As I said, I'm aware this suggestion was rejected in the past. But I'd like to point out that in that thread only you khspww94 were against the idea.

And now activity is much lower than it was at that point.

We dont need a poll but just some input of BP players. However, I can easily imagine the games count having gone down in nearly one year.

I have only been able to play one Battleships Pro game in the past few weeks as they do not fill (I used to play regularly.) I get on to play at about GMT 5pm (pretty reasonable for most people with 9-5pm jobs.) As of typing this now at 6pm GMT the bot has been in lobby for 4 hours and from my experience it won't start again until tomorrow. As such it is essentially impossible for people playing in US timezones to play the map currently, and hard for people from european timezones.

My point is that I don't think there will be much input in this thread because there are hardly any players left to check this thread. If something isn't done swiftly the games won't even fill at earlier times (seems like the majority of players are from asia filling those games.)

[aRt)Y]

Aerent there still like basic BS players? Else why would we even need the bot if no regular players or a small community for it exists.

[Quetra]

As it is right now Battleships Pro is mostly a pub community. There are a few clans still surviving but no organised community. As such your average Battleships Pro player is unlikely to check this thread, even though there are recognisable players playing the game regularly. (Also, a lot of asians play the game that don't speak much english.) Add to that the fact that the bot has stopped filling as much recently and more and more people are probably not checking for games at all.

That is why action needs to be taken fast, as if players think the bot is inactive, then even if the playerbase was there for the game, they will stop trying to join the bot if they don't think it's gonna fill. I strongly believe that most players would embrace 4v4, but even if they didn't, it's a reversible change. I would say try it out now and if people come here in significant opposition then you could reverse it.

[PRECUM.]

Sounds good but there is the !votestart option. Some probably dont want to play only 4v4s

[Quetra]

!votestart is used sometimes, but it's uncommon, purely because Battleships Pro has always taken 30 minutes-45 minutes to fill. The vast majority of players afk in lobby and therefore won't vote.

[aRt)Y]

@PrescottRX Any Input?

[Quetra]

PrescottRX may be gone for a while as he explained in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=258&t=103163

He did request 4v4 however when he uploaded his first version: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=100997

[PrescottRX]

I vote for 4v4 for the time being.

An updated version will be available shortly to address some of the issues posed in the forum.

[HazarDous]

I might've missed it as I only skimmed through this topic, but are there specific slots that I should close? Which ones?

Thanks. @PrescottRX @Civiliznations

[Quetra]

I'd recommend just closing the last the last 2 slots on both teams (should be 7 and 12). Has no significance which you choose as there is no gameplay affect (modes are done through voting.) So long as you dont close the computer slots by accident.