Random faction choice for matchmaking

Why don't we have random faction selection option like in coh1? it would help for queue times
There are lot of people(including me) who play all armies
I don't think it would be hard to implement

Im pretty sure a Relic Coder would be required to implement this, so the community can't do it

Im pretty sure a Relic Coder would be required to implement this, so the community can't do it

Yeah ofc, I meant relic devs
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One could add an option to choose more than one factions to queue with, but that's different story

Yeah ofc, I meant relic devs

You know that there is only 1 Relic employee still working on CoH2, right? And I don't know if he is a coder.

You know that there is only 1 Relic employee still working on CoH2, right? And I don't know if he is a coder.

didn't know that
nvm then

I don't think it would be hard to implement

Every time an user post this, a developer team gets an aneurysm.

I think the difficulty would be the loadouts created for each faction. You would need an entirely overhauled display to be able to equip basically 5 loadouts at once. This is probably why the game did not get this option when previous games like DOW 2 had it.

It would also require a major update to the matchmaking algorithm which currently has no random players to account for.

In terms of money/man hours it would probably cost more than the upcoming tournament by a wide margin.

I would like random matchmaking though

I think the difficulty would be the loadouts created for each faction. You would need an entirely overhauled display to be able to equip basically 5 loadouts at once. This is probably why the game did not get this option when previous games like DOW 2 had it.

It would also require a major update to the matchmaking algorithm which currently has no random players to account for.

In terms of money/man hours it would probably cost more than the upcoming tournament by a wide margin.

I would like random matchmaking though

Exactly. The only thing you could do now, is brainstorming how a random matchmaking should look and work towards future CoH3.

Having a random option should also help towards matchmaking.

Well, you could do it the lazy way.

1. Select the "random" faction (new 6th faction icon)
2. Your player card is covered with dice or something (doesn't matter what, just hide it)
3. The game has actually picked a faction now (client side), and is using whatever loadout you have as default for that faction (i.e. the one that's selected when you switch manually).
4. Queue as that faction

True "random" faction selection (like in SC2) doesn't really make sense in CoH2. There are no mixed teams (you're always the opposite faction-side of the other team), there's no "random start" locations to scout, and build orders aren't hyper optimized to the point where you can win/lose a game before seeing a single enemy unit.

This 'lazy' solution fixes the problem of you not deciding what team to play as with minimal effort from devs. It also wouldn't be hard to expand it to arranged teams (just cover everyone's cards).

Also, if it was implemented as a new faction, in theory, they could replace the loading screen player card with a 'dice' card as well; creating some sense of 'random selection' for other players as well.

This suggestion would lose out on one of the main benefits of queueing random - decreased queue times. With random, you can match into an either an axis or allied player -whichever matchmaker needs. With your proposed implementation, you can only match into one of the two.

The difference basically boils down to the fact that what people are asking for is an "all" option, and what you proposed is actually an "any" option.

This suggestion would lose out on one of the main benefits of queueing random - decreased queue times. With random, you can match into an either an axis or allied player -whichever matchmaker needs. With your proposed implementation, you can only match into one of the two.

The difference basically boils down to the fact that what people are asking for is an "all" option, and what you proposed is actually an "any" option.

I hadn't considered that. I don't find queue times all that long, so I didn't think that was a factor. I suppose it could check which side has fewer players in queue, and simply select a random faction (still hidden) on that side.

In any event, my suggestion is only for a 'lazy' implementation that requires no changes to the MM-system or other server-side code.

The lazy implementation is just asking OP to have a dice right besides his keyboard so he can roll whatever faction to play.

The point of random should be both to shorten up queue and improve matchmaking by actually finding the most suitable opponent possible.

Example: say your best faction is OH, followed by SU and then OKW. If the best closest match up is against someone who is an allied faction, which in turn is worst than you, the game should probably put you as OKW. If he is better, OH.

Exactly. The only thing you could do now, is brainstorming how a random matchmaking should look and work towards future CoH3.

Having a random option should also help towards matchmaking.

Instead of all the complexity of having the computer have to look up multiple loadouts, all players randomly selected as Soviet should be randomly assigned Tank Hunter Tactics for their commander. Would be great.

The lazy implementation is just asking OP to have a dice right besides his keyboard so he can roll whatever faction to play.

The point of random should be both to shorten up queue and improve matchmaking by actually finding the most suitable opponent possible.

Example: say your best faction is OH, followed by SU and then OKW. If the best closest match up is against someone who is an allied faction, which in turn is worst than you, the game should probably put you as OKW. If he is better, OH.

This is probably correct, but also why coding it could turn into a nightmare. In a random system, the matchmaker would now see you as five different players. Also, if you want to queue 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 at the same time, you would be fifteen different players.

IIRC, players had a separate ranking for random automatch, which would make matchmaking simpler.

This is probably correct, but also why coding it could turn into a nightmare. In a random system, the matchmaker would now see you as five different players. Also, if you want to queue 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 at the same time, you would be fifteen different players.

IIRC, players had a separate ranking for random automatch, which would make matchmaking simpler.

In the current matchmaking yes.
It could be simplified as well as only Allies or Axis and picking a random faction. Or the average ranking for Allies/Axis. Or just your best faction at all for that side.

If it's too much issue for queuing for several modes, you could just disable random search for when you queue for more than 1 mode.

well I am not a game developer but simplest thing that comes to my mind(lets say for 2 factions) is to
add another copy of a player in both sides of matchmaking queue with a reference to eachother, first one that finds a game deletes other and joins the game

they can simply look how it is implemented in coh 1 tho.

they can simply look how it is implemented in coh 1 tho.

Theres no guarantee that said implementation would work with coh2 though. The way matchmaker was built up could be different entirely.

Theres no guarantee that said implementation would work with coh2 though. The way matchmaker was built up could be different entirely.

could be
but I don't think they built matchmaking system from 0
there has to be lot of logical similarities in algorithm

could be
but I don't think they built matchmaking system from 0
there has to be lot of logical similarities in algorithm

The concern is less about the algorithm and more just about...how they coded it. The way they coded the matchmaker could make random near impossible without heavy adjustments.