DUST Search - [Discussion] Squad sizes

Imp Smash wrote:

Theoretically and mathematically speaking, making squads 4 man would make it easier for Scotty to match even teams as that is 4x4 for 16.

Logically it is flawed as it assumes several conditions including but not limited to:

*All squads in Que are 4 person or divisible by 4
*A pool of solo players to pull from to fill out a team is available for that game mode
*The pool of players contains people of equal skill in numbers divisible by 4 at all skill levels

We have essentially 7 ques -- 3 public and 4 factional. So we have a split player base migrating back and forth. Sometimes 4 man squads will yield balanced teams. Sometimes 6 man squads (with a 4 man in there for kicks) and or randoms will yield balanced teams.

The perception that teams will magically be of the same level at 4 in public is based on this weird idea that Scotty doesn't have enough people to match make from. This may or may not be true -- but changing squad size does not affect number of people Scotty gets to choose from.

All it does is make it so fewer friends get to play together. And as a lot of people don't want to play unless they are with their friends -- they simply will log out. Giving less for Scotty to match with, making games more lopsided.

So, in actuality, smaller squad sizes has a better chance to make the problem of unbalanced teams worse than better.

(Also -- anyone with an ounce of brainpower will tell you -- learn from history. We used to have 4 man squads. The increase in squad size was one of the most widespread beloved changes in Dust history.)


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Protected Void Nos Nothi 407	Posted - 2015.04.14 08:33:00 - [1] - Quote Imp Smash wrote: Theoretically and mathematically speaking, making squads 4 man would make it easier for Scotty to match even teams as that is 4x4 for 16. Logically it is flawed as it assumes several conditions including but not limited to: All squads in Que are 4 person or divisible by 4 A pool of solo players to pull from to fill out a team is available for that game mode *The pool of players contains people of equal skill in numbers divisible by 4 at all skill levels We have essentially 7 ques -- 3 public and 4 factional. So we have a split player base migrating back and forth. Sometimes 4 man squads will yield balanced teams. Sometimes 6 man squads (with a 4 man in there for kicks) and or randoms will yield balanced teams. The perception that teams will magically be of the same level at 4 in public is based on this weird idea that Scotty doesn't have enough people to match make from. This may or may not be true -- but changing squad size does not affect number of people Scotty gets to choose from. All it does is make it so fewer friends get to play together. And as a lot of people don't want to play unless they are with their friends -- they simply will log out. Giving less for Scotty to match with, making games more lopsided. So, in actuality, smaller squad sizes has a better chance to make the problem of unbalanced teams worse than better. (Also -- anyone with an ounce of brainpower will tell you -- learn from history. We used to have 4 man squads. The increase in squad size was one of the most widespread beloved changes in Dust history.) Hm, some decent points here, but there's one thing not taken into account. Ie: squads work as a force multiplier. The more people you have in your squad, the more people are earning extra WPs from squad leader orders and the more people are earning WPs towards orbitals. Also, more people in a squad gives you way better passive scans, since their scanning radiuses (radii?) are spread out and cover different sections of the map. Stay properly spaced and you can easily get good coverage of a large area, as well as 5 other people able to spot and help you out against that dampened shotgunner or nova knifer entering the inner circle of your scans. Reducing squad size will lessen this effect, and consequently narrow the power gap between solo players and full squads. Lower power gap should equal better matchmaking.