64 Player Verdun. The Current Situation.

[biggalloot]

Verdun introduced a larger template for private matches late in 2016. A number of people tried setting up 64 player private matches from the first opportunity and large matches were quite common in early December, but they lacked a set schedule. On December 3, 2016, my group was formed for the special purpose of having private matches on a regular basis using said larger template and the group is still active each and every Friday. As administrator for Group x64, I was asked by some from our community to write down my thoughts about the larger template in Verdun matches.
I first want to say that it required much trial and error to come to my opinions concerning large Verdun matches. My views have changed over time and I assume that most of those who have only played 64 player matches a few times might also have different notions after playing large matches on a regular weekly basis for over seven months.
One common statement in other general Verdun discussions about the large template is, "large matches do not work with the Verdun maps." I will mention artillery and balance in a moment, but it is true that some Verdun maps work better than others when large numbers are present. Argonne is very small, perhaps even too small for 32 players. Vosges and Artois are only of modest size, so they are also not ideal when the larger template fills. All of the other maps work well with 64 players, some surprisingly so. Aisne and Douaumont actually are better balanced with larger numbers than the common 32 limit. Champagne is better with large numbers and it has become a favorite with many in our group. Picardie is always the map most requested and it still holds the all-time Verdun total death record for one game of 1,638. Flanders is the best map of all in my opinion with the large template. My current conclusion regarding the Verdun maps is that Argonne, Vosges, and Artois all need editing if future Verdun includes the 64 player template, while the other maps do not need to be fixed.
The other most common concern expressed by many who have tried a few large template matches is that 64 player Verdun games are unbalanced due to the fact that squad composition was set for 32 player games and templates much larger than 32 result in artillery and machinegun spam. With 4 man teams, a 64 player match in theory sees up to 16 different NCOs calling in artillery and up to 16 different players operating machineguns. The artillery situation can be very messy, especially when many of the NCOs have creeping barrage or even sector artillery, but our group has discovered a couple of ways to mute their effectiveness. The machinegun problem can't be easily fixed, although I will add a suggestion later concerning this.
My group has found two methods which have been successful in muting the affect of overpowering artillery in large matches. The first method involves turning on Friendly Fire in those private matches. NCOs playing fair in large matches with friendly fire on must be very careful in placement as reckless call-ins can easily destroy their own side. Accidents will happen, since some NCOs do not warn their team always on time and some will not read said warnings and advance into friendly artillery. Abuse of friendly fire is dealt with by the new /ban private match commmand given to us recently by the developers and our matches always feature referees watching teamkill incidents. One result of friendly fire on is a smaller number of call-ins per match.
A second method for muting artillery is fairly recent. A few months back, the developers added another new private match command named /setsquadlevels. One can do a number of useful things in private matches with /setsquadlevels. The command disregards co-op points and the private match administrator can force all teams in the match to a determined level from 1 to 100. Besides being useful for balancing team levels and for setting historical uniforms, /setsquadlevels has been found to be a very helpful tool in larger template games. If creeping barrage is not wanted, levels can be set at 99 or less. If mustard gas in undesirable, levels can be set at 74 or less. Setting levels at 49 or less removes sector artillery. Those who witnessed early 64 player trials with high level artillery everywhere really should try some of our group's games with /setsquadlevels employed, especially combined with /friendlyfire on and /ban for FF abuse.
A less common complaint concerning large template Verdun concedes that games are more balanced with friendly fire on, but was unhappy with the friendly fire mechanic which involved suppression by nearby team members running past you. I say "was" on purpose, because the developers did yet another thing which improved large template Verdun a few months back. Suppression by nearby friendlies running near you was fixed. If you have not played large template Verdun in the past few months and were upset with the suppression problem, try it again and you will find out that the problem no longer exists.
My conclusion regarding the artillery and machinegun situation with large template Verdun is that some of the problems may be muted if private match administrators employ the /friendlyfire, the /ban, and the /setsquadlevels commands. The result is much better balanced Verdun games with the large template, resulting in more fun for everyone.
I have one more request to the developers. They have been very patient with me and have graciously given us the new private match commands of /setsquadlevels and /ban and they have fixed the suppression by nearby friendlies running near you.
I suggest yet another private match command for Verdun. I desire a /setsquadsize private match command, with three options of squad size available. One may wish to play private matches with the typical 4 man teams, but I also wish that one option is 8 man teams and that the other option is 16 man teams. Additionally, if /setsquadsize is used, limit each resulting squad to only one NCO and only one machinegun.
For example, /setsquadsize 4 would have private matches like we have seen them in the past. The use of /setsquadsize 8 would have 4 NCOs and up to 4 machineguns per side in full 64 player matches. The use of /setsquadsize 16 would have only 2 NCOs and a maximum of 2 machineguns per side in full 64 player matches. Historically, eight or nine soldiers were in late war squads, so /setsquadsize 8 would also help those interested in late war private match scenarios. It was common in 1914 to have up to twenty soldiers in those early war squads, so /setsquadsize 16 would also be very useful for setting up early war historical events. For purposes of artillery and machinegun spam, /setsquadsize would solve most of those problems for existing Verdun with one additional private match command.
I have been very fortunate to have met so many fine members of the Verdun community during my seven months of running weekly matches employing the large template. I very much want to thank the developers for helping me by fixing the suppression problem of FF and for adding the /setsquadlevels and /ban private match commands. Could we next have the /setsquadsize private match command for Verdun?
My general conclusion is that with a few tweaks and map consideration, 64 players work well with existing Frontlines Verdun. With a /setsquadsize command, it could be even better.

[Ragnarök]

Цитата допису biggalloot:

i should have added one more thing, as it pertains to the current situation of 64 player private Verdun matches.

somehow, no medals are ever awarded in private 64 player matches to any player for any reason. many in my group don't consider that a problem, but it is a curiousity.

i am not sure if other things are different in 64 player private matches toward career record, but it might be possible.

That is because the game doesn't award medals in private matches.

[biggalloot]

one more potential tweak to Verdun 64 players concerns momentum. casualties in large matches can be very heavy on both sides. watch one or both of the videos i included in one of my comments. in that full picardie match, the entente would sometimes gain attack time for footholds, but the attack was most normally given their additional times due to "the enemy is taking heavy losses." perhaps some tweak for momentum gained due to enemy losses might be considered in the future, based upon the size of the template.