I agree that the banner balance system is a nightmare for players who aren't in a clan. I took a look at the code to see if I could do anything, but it's too complicated and long for me. What I had in mind is count "group players" as more than 1 player, so that clan stacks would end up having less non-affiliated players than the other side, so that the teams would be uneven in total. I think this would still be fair, because a) clan players are in average more skilled than other players and b) clan players often have voice communication, giving them a big advantage over other players.
My idea was to find a formula that would scale effective playercount based on the size of the clan banner group. E.g. if only 2-4 players form a group, they might be counted as 1.1 or 1.2 players each, and if player count in the group went up, it would count them as 1.3-1.5, approaching, but never reaching 2 for the very large groups.
Yes, always been a fan of this idea. The balancer should just add additional weight for clanned players and balance accordingly, even if this goes so far as making the teams 30 vs 40. I think adding another layer of banner to take classes into account based on wpf and riding skill or even selected equipment can't be impossible to code. First do the banner balance, then the class balance and finally get everything sorted according to the performance/level/gear balance. Allow aggressive adjustments each round. Not a coder, but such a system would be great.
(By the way, don't overestimate the usefulness of being on a teamspeak for clans. In Byzantium there is rarely more than some loose cohesion, very loose coordination and the occasional 'halp' or come back and I doubt other clans do much more. Because of the very spread out nature of the battle on EU_1, strict sticking together is usually detrimental to the chances of your team. Rounds are won mostly because clans attract veteran and serious players and have the tendency to have a high density of highly skilled, highly loomed and highly levelled players on a server at a time, all of which can be balanced against)
Also Sniger, Byzantium and other clans are not a gathering of sour nerds whose sole goal it is to get the highest multiplier possible and go all alpha-tango-1-2 professional while fapping over valour. We are just a bunch of guys hanging out on a teamspeak having a laugh and a chat while we play games. No need to be so intensely and irrationally hateful towards us or any of our members. Join us on teamspeak and have a chat with us and I am sure you'll think we are decent lads. Although I highly suspect you are way too awkward to actually talk to people online.
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