Arcen Games

General Category => AI War Classic => : Spikey00 July 06, 2011, 04:19:32 PM

: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Spikey00 July 06, 2011, 04:19:32 PM
(http://arcengames.com/img/side_aiwar.png)
AI War Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/AIWarFleetCommand)
Arcen Games' Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/arcengames)
Tidalis Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Tidalis)
Our community forums (http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php)
Report bugs and suggestions: MantisBT (http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/)
The Official Discord server (https://discord.gg/za5qYhj)
"How and where does one organize together for a coop game in AI War" is a question you probably will come across while playing, and since there isn't an internal matchmaking service you will have to find your games manually.  As a prologue to this topic, here's an explanation from Chris Park on why a matchmaking service wasn't implemented in AI War:

Matchmaking services are neither simple nor inexpensive, nor would they be of particular help for this game. When games last 8-12 hours routinely, you don't need a matchmaking service -- you need a way for regular groups to form and meet. That's these forums, and we have a subforum dedicated to that. I'm sorry you're frustrated, but this isn't a typical RTS where matches last 15-60 minutes at most. That means that, even if we had a matchmaking service, there would be very few people on it because most people would be actively in game the majority of the time; the match time greatly exceeds the matchup time. The math of the situation means that no matchmaking system would behave like you expect with a game like this.

Also: given that this game is co-op only, it's something built around the idea of groups of friends playing together, rather than total strangers.

Please note that all of these solutions require you to have patience, and if you don't then how would others expect you to finish a multi-hour game?  Hamachi (https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi2/download.aspx) is also something you probably will need if you are unable to port forward a router, and a lot of people playing AI War use it.

1.  Using the Arcen forums
Our forums are probably the best place to find individuals whom are seeking out others to play with.  The AI War Meeting Grounds (http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/board,4.0.html) is the best subforum for that.  Be detailed and specific with both your title and content like your timezone and location, what expansions you have, difficulty preferences and et cetera. 

2.  AI War Steam hub sortie bulletin announcement
Occasional announcement posts will be made here to gather a list of players who want to add others over Steam to form a group to play; you post your info and add or be added by others.  Keep in mind that people who have posted on the older topics might not be looking for a game anymore.

These posts are generally renewed biannually to refresh the list of people actively looking for a game to avoid topic clogging.

The newest announcement: 
December 3rd, 2014 (http://steamcommunity.com/app/40400/discussions/0/624076850968446400)

Older announcements:
November 8th, 2013 (http://steamcommunity.com/app/40400/discussions/0/666825525015589392/)
June 7th, 2013 (http://steamcommunity.com/app/40400/discussions/0/864969953331882906/)
October 10th, 2012 (http://steamcommunity.com/app/40400/discussions/0/882962698518931451/)
July 18th, 2012 (http://steamcommunity.com/games/aiwar/announcements/detail/1803941024835434436)
November 1st, 2011 (http://steamcommunity.com/games/aiwar/announcements/detail/1351305350860931539)
December 19th, 2011 (http://steamcommunity.com/games/aiwar/announcements/detail/1371576318549571187)

3.  Discord Server
Similarly to the AI War group chat, our AI War Discord server is another way to both find others and orgainze games.  If you have not used Discord before, you can access it from your browser, and run it without downloading any software.

The Discord server might not be an incredibly active place all the time, but it might be the best solution to matchmaking overall, from two-player coops to a full game of eight.  Your best chance in finding a game here is to idle daily if you do not receive a response.  People here generally partner up with people they trust that will finish a game, which usually means those who are regulars to the channel.  There are are a few regulars who chat about other topics here too.

4.  AI War Subreddit
You might be able to find others looking for a game over at Reddit here (http://www.reddit.com/r/aiwar).  200 320 subscribers going up!

5.  AI War Steam community hub
You might find a couple people who are interested in looking for a game on the AI War Steam community hub forums (http://steamcommunity.com/app/40400/discussions), mostly from miscellaneous "looking for game" topics.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Spikey00 July 06, 2011, 04:20:19 PM
Just thought I'd cross-post this from the AI War group to catch some of the new player influx--I'll give this a post on the Steam forums as well.

EDIT:  or not, I see a sticky being sufficient.  :p
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: x4000 July 06, 2011, 04:22:18 PM
Good idea!
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: cupogoodness July 12, 2011, 08:19:59 AM
I'd suggest the game's Subreddit as well. Up to nearly 200 subs, several of which are looking for a game at different days and times during the week.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: KingIsaacLinksr July 14, 2011, 03:56:11 AM
This is what the game ah, matchmaking? Solution. . .


As discussed at length...matchmaking would not solve the problem and would put financial burden on Arcen when quite frankly the "issue" is easily solved by just being social.  Which unless your going to be mute throughout the entire 10 hour+ match, your going to have to do anyway.  :)

Although I can't tell if you were saying that matchmaking is the "solution" to this "problem" or if you were saying this is the game's "matchmaking".  (sorry if I'm wrong)

King
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: keith.lamothe July 15, 2011, 01:05:53 PM
This is what the game ah, matchmaking? Solution. . .


As discussed at length...matchmaking would not solve the problem and would put financial burden on Arcen when quite frankly the "issue" is easily solved by just being social.  Which unless your going to be mute throughout the entire 10 hour+ match, your going to have to do anyway.  :)

Although I can't tell if you were saying that matchmaking is the "solution" to this "problem" or if you were saying this is the game's "matchmaking".  (sorry if I'm wrong)

King
It was actually a semi-clever spammer, the signature link was a google search on some kind of things on your feet, and looking at the google results they all looked like the kind of spam they used to post directly in the post bodies ;)

But it did look like sort of like an on-topic, potentially-semi-helpful (if we hadn't been over the subject a dozen times already) response.  Reminds me eerily of http://xkcd.com/810/ .
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: KingIsaacLinksr July 15, 2011, 07:21:21 PM
Would explain the crappy english, geez, I didn't click any links but to get fooled by a spammer, ughhhhhhh.  :(

King
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: x4000 July 15, 2011, 07:24:43 PM
Fooled me, too, if it makes you feel any better!
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Nalgas July 17, 2011, 02:41:42 AM
But it did look like sort of like an on-topic, potentially-semi-helpful (if we hadn't been over the subject a dozen times already) response.  Reminds me eerily of http://xkcd.com/810/ .

Heh.  The mouseover text for that reminds me of something that happened recently on a forum I help run.  When reCAPTCHA was broken earlier this year and its effectiveness at stopping spam substantially dropped, we tried setting up some other simple things, because we're not large enough to get bots targeted directly at our site.  One of them was asking trivial questions that any human could answer but would require a bot to be able to parse English.  We just got an email from someone saying they tried 30 times to register an account and failed, and they were begging us to tell them what color the Beatles' White Album is...
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: x4000 July 17, 2011, 07:58:31 AM
But it did look like sort of like an on-topic, potentially-semi-helpful (if we hadn't been over the subject a dozen times already) response.  Reminds me eerily of http://xkcd.com/810/ .

Heh.  The mouseover text for that reminds me of something that happened recently on a forum I help run.  When reCAPTCHA was broken earlier this year and its effectiveness at stopping spam substantially dropped, we tried setting up some other simple things, because we're not large enough to get bots targeted directly at our site.  One of them was asking trivial questions that any human could answer but would require a bot to be able to parse English.  We just got an email from someone saying they tried 30 times to register an account and failed, and they were begging us to tell them what color the Beatles' White Album is...

We do something like that here, but overall with simpler questions. I had to take down one of them, though, because too many people could not solve 1 + 1 - 1. Seriously.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: GeneReyva July 17, 2011, 08:24:27 AM
1 + 1 - 1
People didn't know the answer?
Wow... my faith in humanity slips more day by day  :-\
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: x4000 July 17, 2011, 09:07:25 AM
Yes, no kidding! Answer of 3 is understandable if the misread it. But people were saying 2 and 0, mostly.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: mindloss September 08, 2011, 04:46:27 PM
I actually had to think for about four seconds before I got it, and I'm a mathematician (well, will be soon enough). That's half because I've been up for thirty hours, but also I suspect it's because it's literally so simple that people are not used to dealing with similar problems.

Yeah, and it's easy to misread. ;)

Fun fact: Read a study a couple years back showing that computer programs actually solve traditional CAPCHAs better than people do. (I know I can never tell if it's an F or a screwed up E, etc.)
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: doctorfrog September 09, 2011, 07:56:14 PM
I actually had to think for about four seconds before I got it, and I'm a mathematician (well, will be soon enough). That's half because I've been up for thirty hours, but also I suspect it's because it's literally so simple that people are not used to dealing with similar problems.

Wait, so, to be half a mathematician, all I have to do is stay up for thirty hours?

(I'm an English major.)
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: x4000 September 09, 2011, 07:58:05 PM
 :D
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: mindloss September 11, 2011, 02:03:31 AM
Wait, so, to be half a mathematician, all I have to do is stay up for thirty hours?

(I'm an English major.)

...well played, sir.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Spikey00 November 01, 2011, 03:50:49 PM
Topic updated, including Steam meetup announcements and the subreddit as additional methods.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Spikey00 December 03, 2014, 09:55:15 PM
The bulletin on the Steam community hub has been just given a refresh; so, leave a post there if you're looking for a game to help it pick up pace!
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: ISJ-311 July 04, 2015, 06:45:15 PM
If anyone wants, drop by my Teamspeak and we can play a game. I'm not a pro but I can do 7.3 and prob 7.6 difficulty.

IP: home.adamther.com
Port: Default
Pass: dontbeadick
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: bigpingo February 12, 2016, 03:34:07 PM
thank you! I just registered here to find this info and here it is! Useful guide, I recommend it.
: Re: Guide to Finding Coop Players
: Dominus Arbitrationis November 25, 2016, 01:20:38 PM
I removed the IRC link (The IRC server is dead now), and replaced it with the Discord server, which is more active than IRC was anyways.