Simple solution to blue star matchmaking problems

[echo notch]

First the problem:
It's a common complaint that newbies (e.g. levels 100-300) are frequently matched with 900+ level players with fully developed mods and have little chance to compete.

Analysis:
This presumably happens when the matchmaking algorithm can find 3 players of similar lower level strength, but then can't find a fourth before it's own internal timeout runs out and it just picks a random player scanning at a time, which is always someone higher up the food chain.

Solution:
If the matchmaking algo can't find a fourth player of similar strength in time, then it should fill it with a second bot and still declare the game ranked..
This solves many of the issues with insertion of very high level players into low rating games.

Please upvote, you know this is good for everyone!

[lost rover]

Better than the other suggestions at least

[zenith kindle]

fair enough, upvoting this, or the other idea of giving rewards no matter the position

[ivory bloom]

Should it do the same when only 3 top-level players are found, they have a ranked match with 2 lones?
Is it not a concern with season rankings?

[echo notch]

Yes, I'm sure the lone newbie doesn't want to fight 3 whales.
Ranking points may be easier to get, but that's the necessary trade-off for not finding enough matching players while scanning.

[terse stream]

andy should make the lone ships in BLS with ai driven mechanics, so that it can think for itself and actually pose a challenge instead of going to a random sector and activating veng around the spot and dying

[ivory bloom]

Personally I'd like to see longer queue times first, try and get the sensitivity up a notch for what's considered "similar level".
No justification for what we have today with lvl14s vs lvl7s tech, but bring it down to +-2 and it's fine by me. And I'm happy to wait for it. Better than to play vs dumb lones 🙁

[zenith kindle]

The ranking points are somewhat supposed to be for the leaderboard, which is dystfunctional anyway. Maybe we could reduce the criteria of a ranked match from 4 to 3 altogether, idk

[echo notch]

it really affects a small percentage of people grinding for leaderboard places or a small crystal bonus.

unfortunately those people are here. 😄

[zenith kindle]

oh well