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Recently I've seen many different people talk about lag and its effects on the game. Those who have lag have quite obviously defended their positions while those who don't or at least have less of it argue that lag destorys the game. There has been a serious lack of real analysis on this (save a few people) and much more namecalling on this subject. In this post I hope to clarify what lag does once and for all. I base this on my experience in this game of over 5 years and at least 8 ISPs. I've had lag from 1000ave ping to 40/40/40/40/0.0/0.0.
1. Levels of Lag
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The fact of the matter is in this game, any lag numbers above 150 will qualify you as a "lagger". Because of the way Trench Wars is built, this is even more promanent as the effects of lag will be seen as hits which don't kill, or jumpyness (especially in the warbird game where thrust screws up the SS prediction code). For almost everyone living in North America a ping of under 150 is simply impossible. Because of the fact that a majority of the Trench population is from North America, it is reasonable to assume that most people will lag above 150 ping.
For those with a "good" connection they can easily hover at sub 200 ping, while almost every falls under the 300 ping range. It's safe to say that 10 players all playing in the 200-300 ping range will see lag, but can still have a good game.
At around 300 ping, you start seeing very visible jumps. Basically everytime a person uses thrust to move, the SS prediction code will make it look like they moved further than they really did, then "warp" them backwards as their lag catches up with the server. Also at the 300 ping range (270-320), it's safe to say that 1/2 the time you hit that person (no matter what your ping) it's not going to kill them. Already problems can be seen. If you have this range of lag, you're most likely considered a "lagger" by almost evryone.
Yet it dosen't end here. Above the 350 ping mark you can pretty much say all these people have a BAD connection. More than 1/2 the time you hit them (if you manage to actually hit their jumpy ships) they will definately not die. They are also excessively hard to hit as they are jumpy. Finally their bullets will appear an inch from their ship making it very hard to dodge them as this one inch can be either one inch in front, or at times the bullet will pop out one inch BEHIND them. For them to hit you most of the time has nothing to do with skill, as sometimes you are just unlucky the bullet pops up from nowhere.
Over 400 ping is just ridiculous. At this point it is almost impossible to hit people, and almost impossible to predict where their bullets will pop up from. Sadly there are quite a few people in TW who happily admit their lag falls in this range.
2. The Bigger Picture
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So how does this all figure? From the point of view of the lagger, everyone on their screen is lagged. The lagger will admittedly have a very hard time getting kills because everyone will absorb their "hits" and everyone will jump. But most people fail to remember one thing. If you lag, you're used to EVERYTHING on your screen lagging. When absolutely everything lags, you play in a very different style than when you have a good connection. You play safer, you're used to "shooting ahead" and you don't charge as much knowing that you probably won't hit. Also if you know what you're doing, you will probably want your enemy to come to you. It's much easier to hit someone who's rushing at you, and you hope they forget you're lagging. Finally because everyone is lagging it's quite hard to get mad at any particular individual in lagging your bullets.
So how about the people trying to kill you? From their point of view, you are hoping all over. Everyone else on their screen is stable, but you're majorly hopping. From their point of view, your bullets pop out of thin air, and you are impossible to hit. Meanwhile everyone else on their screen is shooting them too (while they avoid your laggy ass). If the lagger decides to fight you and chase you around, you will have no choice but fight. You can avoid them alright if you are good, and you place a few well aimed shots right at them. They don't die. Suddenly someone off screen comes in and vulches your 0 energy ass.
And remember, the more power you have in this zone, the more able you are to avoid the regular lag restrictions because your smod/sysop powers lets you stay in no matter what.
3. Leagues
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Now let's stick this information in a league setting. First let's start with wb/jav league. It's a 5on5 game. There's a lagger on one team who eats everything. You know he's there, but when you see him on radar he looks the same as everyone else. This guy comes in and attacks you. Your team shoots and hits him. He does NOT die. Then your team has no energy, and is easily picked off by the laggers teammates.
Okay so you think you're smarter than that. You intentionally don't shoot the lagger, knowing that your energy is better saved fighting his teammates, a reasonable strategy. Bullets whiz by from the lagger non-stop. He's pounding you with bullets that you have to dodge while you're fighting his teammates. You can't kill him, but he can make you dodge and run into his teammates bullets (the teammate you're dueling). See the problem? Once in a while his bullets will connect with you too, and you die. And what if you separate him and chase him outnumbered? Anyone who's played enough leagues can tell you that chasing a lagger is a dangerous thing. But the thing is, if you stop chasing him, he'll just keep vulching you. What do you do?
How about the basing league game? This is even worse if the player is a vital ship like a terrier, jav or shark. If they lag bad, this means they ignore your bullets. They enter the upper base seemingly easily because you're shooting your bombs/bullets at where you see him, but not where he really is (thanks to lag). This lagger gets in base. You have a problem. If they are jav, they can randomly shoot and probably kill you just because of bomb prox. So you MUST kill him. Your whole team shoots at him. Nothing. He picks off your teammates with some prox bombs. Then his teammates come and finish your depeleted team off. What if the lagger was a terrier? Well even worse, cause now you have an invincible terrier!
As I have described, in the league game the effects of lag are compounded. No longer is your lag just affecting directly the person you're fighting, your lag is affecting the entire opposite team. They have to play "around" you hoping you die sometimes, but really hoping you don't do too much damage because you're unkillable. Meanwhile you might not have the best personal score for the game because you have a hard time hitting people too. But the effect is there. Your lag "advantage" has helped your team win.
4. Conclusion
-------------
So what does this all mean? Basically it's fair to assume that thanks to bad ISPs and North American connections that there will be people who have >400 ave ping and many with over 350. It would be against the spirit of Trench Wars to not let these people play in the pubs, and some would argue it's okay for them to play in elim (unless you're the type that wants to get a good ranking in elim). But it's completely wrong and completely unfair to let these people play in league. Why should the rest of the League be subjected to your lag advantage that you bring for your team? Why should ANY team be entitled to a lag advantage in the first place? The answer is they shouldn't. Extreme lag ruins the fun and competition of league games, and has no place.
There should be a strict lag setting for league arenas. There already is a tougher setting for elim, extend this to league but with an even tougher setting. No one with >400 ping should be allowed to play, period. I would suggest that >350 is too much, although that would probably marginalize TOO many players, so 400 would be a good number.
-Epinephrine
1. Levels of Lag
----------------
The fact of the matter is in this game, any lag numbers above 150 will qualify you as a "lagger". Because of the way Trench Wars is built, this is even more promanent as the effects of lag will be seen as hits which don't kill, or jumpyness (especially in the warbird game where thrust screws up the SS prediction code). For almost everyone living in North America a ping of under 150 is simply impossible. Because of the fact that a majority of the Trench population is from North America, it is reasonable to assume that most people will lag above 150 ping.
For those with a "good" connection they can easily hover at sub 200 ping, while almost every falls under the 300 ping range. It's safe to say that 10 players all playing in the 200-300 ping range will see lag, but can still have a good game.
At around 300 ping, you start seeing very visible jumps. Basically everytime a person uses thrust to move, the SS prediction code will make it look like they moved further than they really did, then "warp" them backwards as their lag catches up with the server. Also at the 300 ping range (270-320), it's safe to say that 1/2 the time you hit that person (no matter what your ping) it's not going to kill them. Already problems can be seen. If you have this range of lag, you're most likely considered a "lagger" by almost evryone.
Yet it dosen't end here. Above the 350 ping mark you can pretty much say all these people have a BAD connection. More than 1/2 the time you hit them (if you manage to actually hit their jumpy ships) they will definately not die. They are also excessively hard to hit as they are jumpy. Finally their bullets will appear an inch from their ship making it very hard to dodge them as this one inch can be either one inch in front, or at times the bullet will pop out one inch BEHIND them. For them to hit you most of the time has nothing to do with skill, as sometimes you are just unlucky the bullet pops up from nowhere.
Over 400 ping is just ridiculous. At this point it is almost impossible to hit people, and almost impossible to predict where their bullets will pop up from. Sadly there are quite a few people in TW who happily admit their lag falls in this range.
2. The Bigger Picture
---------------------
So how does this all figure? From the point of view of the lagger, everyone on their screen is lagged. The lagger will admittedly have a very hard time getting kills because everyone will absorb their "hits" and everyone will jump. But most people fail to remember one thing. If you lag, you're used to EVERYTHING on your screen lagging. When absolutely everything lags, you play in a very different style than when you have a good connection. You play safer, you're used to "shooting ahead" and you don't charge as much knowing that you probably won't hit. Also if you know what you're doing, you will probably want your enemy to come to you. It's much easier to hit someone who's rushing at you, and you hope they forget you're lagging. Finally because everyone is lagging it's quite hard to get mad at any particular individual in lagging your bullets.
So how about the people trying to kill you? From their point of view, you are hoping all over. Everyone else on their screen is stable, but you're majorly hopping. From their point of view, your bullets pop out of thin air, and you are impossible to hit. Meanwhile everyone else on their screen is shooting them too (while they avoid your laggy ass). If the lagger decides to fight you and chase you around, you will have no choice but fight. You can avoid them alright if you are good, and you place a few well aimed shots right at them. They don't die. Suddenly someone off screen comes in and vulches your 0 energy ass.
And remember, the more power you have in this zone, the more able you are to avoid the regular lag restrictions because your smod/sysop powers lets you stay in no matter what.
3. Leagues
----------
Now let's stick this information in a league setting. First let's start with wb/jav league. It's a 5on5 game. There's a lagger on one team who eats everything. You know he's there, but when you see him on radar he looks the same as everyone else. This guy comes in and attacks you. Your team shoots and hits him. He does NOT die. Then your team has no energy, and is easily picked off by the laggers teammates.
Okay so you think you're smarter than that. You intentionally don't shoot the lagger, knowing that your energy is better saved fighting his teammates, a reasonable strategy. Bullets whiz by from the lagger non-stop. He's pounding you with bullets that you have to dodge while you're fighting his teammates. You can't kill him, but he can make you dodge and run into his teammates bullets (the teammate you're dueling). See the problem? Once in a while his bullets will connect with you too, and you die. And what if you separate him and chase him outnumbered? Anyone who's played enough leagues can tell you that chasing a lagger is a dangerous thing. But the thing is, if you stop chasing him, he'll just keep vulching you. What do you do?
How about the basing league game? This is even worse if the player is a vital ship like a terrier, jav or shark. If they lag bad, this means they ignore your bullets. They enter the upper base seemingly easily because you're shooting your bombs/bullets at where you see him, but not where he really is (thanks to lag). This lagger gets in base. You have a problem. If they are jav, they can randomly shoot and probably kill you just because of bomb prox. So you MUST kill him. Your whole team shoots at him. Nothing. He picks off your teammates with some prox bombs. Then his teammates come and finish your depeleted team off. What if the lagger was a terrier? Well even worse, cause now you have an invincible terrier!
As I have described, in the league game the effects of lag are compounded. No longer is your lag just affecting directly the person you're fighting, your lag is affecting the entire opposite team. They have to play "around" you hoping you die sometimes, but really hoping you don't do too much damage because you're unkillable. Meanwhile you might not have the best personal score for the game because you have a hard time hitting people too. But the effect is there. Your lag "advantage" has helped your team win.
4. Conclusion
-------------
So what does this all mean? Basically it's fair to assume that thanks to bad ISPs and North American connections that there will be people who have >400 ave ping and many with over 350. It would be against the spirit of Trench Wars to not let these people play in the pubs, and some would argue it's okay for them to play in elim (unless you're the type that wants to get a good ranking in elim). But it's completely wrong and completely unfair to let these people play in league. Why should the rest of the League be subjected to your lag advantage that you bring for your team? Why should ANY team be entitled to a lag advantage in the first place? The answer is they shouldn't. Extreme lag ruins the fun and competition of league games, and has no place.
There should be a strict lag setting for league arenas. There already is a tougher setting for elim, extend this to league but with an even tougher setting. No one with >400 ping should be allowed to play, period. I would suggest that >350 is too much, although that would probably marginalize TOO many players, so 400 would be a good number.
-Epinephrine
If you're a good SS player, killing a lagger isn't a big deal, in fact, it's quite easy.
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