Scoreboard Proposal
This is a proposal to change the scoreboard display to provide a rating instead of just a killcount. Based on the objectives and the gameplay of Tremulous, a killcount is an inadequate way to judge one’s worth in a match. The killcounter gives people this idea that we’re playing team deathmatch. I’m not saying the proposed system will be perfect, but rather it will be substantially less flawed than kills. If you’ve played on a server with the Lakitu7 QVM, then you’ve probably seen the /mystats function in console. This provides a wealth of knowledge that only the player can see. We’re not here to debate why/why not that is the case, but rather, I bring it up because there is good information already there that can worked into a scoring system. The point being that I know these functions work and it will ease the amount of coding that needs to be done on the project. My other ideas were made without an understanding of the feasibility of implantation. Thus, I submit a practical, implementable way to rate a player on the way Tremulous should be played.
Basically, the amount of damage done to structures (friendly or otherwise) and players (friendly or otherwise) is recorded and yields a bulk number. The general idea is to have a formula where the basic equation looks something like this:
Score = {A*(damage to players) + B*(damage to structures) – C*(damage to friendly structures) – D*(damage to friendly players)}/E
Now, to answer the concepts and the variables (A,B,C,D,E) and I will answer the building questions in a later section. It is possible to record all of the damage done to the above mentioned items. Now, instead of just taking kills, we have all this all data on damage but I’m adding modifiers. The reason being, Tremulous is a game where you’re supposed to destroy the spawns and the last remaining players of the opposing team. A base exists to protect the spawns and aid the opposing team. The base and structures are the important things to destroy, so modifier B would be a multiplier greater than modifier A. This would be done to encourage people to attack structures instead of padding their killcounter while still rewarding a player for getting kills. It will also reward human players for killing bigger aliens since bigger aliens have more hp and can take more damage. Also, since points can be subtracted from the score and the modifier can be made large, it will discourage team damage, especially on structures. Now, the reason I’m using letters for modifiers is well, I don’t know what they’re going to be. I’d like to know what the tremulous community thinks before I pour lots of time into establishing these. Although, I do know what kind of modifier E will be, it will be a power of 10. The point being, the score displayed will be a number from -100 to 100 with 0 being the reference point. Say player Z has a numerator equivalent to 100,000. His score will be divided by 1000 and he will have 100 for a score. E will not be different for each player. This divider is determined by the player with the highest score. If Z has 100,000 and Y only has 100, Z’s score will be 100 and Y’s will be 0.1. Y’s contribution is relative to Z’s but it is still on an absolute scale.
This explains how the first part of the score will be made, now for part two which includes what I intend to do with builders.
Well, to put it bluntly, trying to score building fucks up everything. It is extremely difficult to make building comparable to a score that is ever inflating. How do you award points for a good decon when you help in moving a base? How do you even code that? You can record time for ckit held or time granger, but just because you’re a granger or have a ckit doesn’t mean you’re doing anything. Humans can repair restructures, grangers cannot. Does that make the alien builder less deserving of a score? What do you do about that guy that sucks at building; his putting up structures doesn’t solve anything? What about someone who would just decon and build a turret all game? These are all epically problematic and I’m not going to be the guy who solves that. So the best I can offer our tremulous builders is just recognition on the scoreboard. If you build the most structures (in the case of human, build/repair), you will get a B next to your score. I am talking to people to find out if it’s possible to hide that B until the end of the match, you don’t want the opposing team to know who’s building after all. Also, secondary builders will also be rewarded with a B if they did F% as much construction as the primary builder. Once again, F is used because I do not know what to make this yet. I’ll be the first to say, that’s not perfect, but tough shit. At least builders will finally be recognized with something. Also, for those who say “but Medic, why should I repair or build if it won’t show up on my score because I need F% for it to?” Well, hopefully you’ll decide that repairing/building when necessary to save your team is worth picking up a ckit or being a granger for a minute or two.
So, here’s an example:
Say that as a goon I kill 10 people and 3 turrets. For now, assume every person and turret had full hp; also for right now, say that B is equal to 2 and A is equal to 1. Which means that I'm saying killing structures is 2x more important than killing people, so my score would be 2,080. This would be divided by 100 to give me a score of 20.8. Say a teammate of mine killed 1 turret and 5 people. He'd get 360 for the turret and 500 for the people which would equal 860. Well, the divider is 100 so his score would be 8.6. But, say this teammate decided to put up the Overmind and a few eggs and the rest of the base. Well, he’ll get a score of 8.6B to show his efforts as a builder.
A few notes for editing purposes if I did not cover or something is suggested:
Note 1: Score is separate for each team.
Note 2: If you need your killcount that desperately, mystats will show it to you.
Note 3: Deaths being factored into the equation has been thought about and open todiscussion
Note 4: This is feasible and there is a coder/code that can make this happen.
