Observing games
This article explains why an Observer feature is unlikely to ever be coded into Allegiance.
Being able to observe a game, say from the command view, without having to join in would be great. However it is considered that it would be too easy to abuse - to give information to one of the teams about the other one's movement - via a third party communication tool, such as TeamSpeak. Or for a player to observe the game and see who is winning before choosing which team to join.
Plus it would require a lot of work (and remember that all the developers are volunteers).
Hypothesised solutions
All the ideas below assume that the problem of abuse is solved in some manner, and do not discuss it any further.
Achievable under current code
Observer ship
Create a ship which has no cargo, no weapons, no radar signature, no dimensions, no mass, no fuel consumption etc. which players can fly in and watch the game, instead of participating.
This solution was in fact incorporated into the Dark Nebulae core but failed for two reasons:
- Players flying observer ships still counted towards the team's total, so any player using the Observer craft was a handicap to the team. This severely limited its use.
- Although the ship could not use any cargo, it could carry it. This allowed teams to sneak valuable items such as teleport probes to teammates in an enemy sector.
Observer map
Create a custom map with a third team on it which acts as the observer team. This third team would have no production or combat capabilities, but would have a powerful yet invisible probe in each sector of the map which allows observers to see everything happening on the map.
Problems:
- This third team would give eye to both the other teams 100% of the time, meaning they would never know if their surprise attacks were in fact uneyed by the enemy team.
- Massive server load at the beginning of the game when the third team is given all map information instantly.
- It would require creation of custom maps for every playable map, and a custom faction for the third team.
- The team imbalance code would enforce that the observer team maintains the same number of players as the other two teams.
Live streaming of a game
Frap an ongoing game of Allegiance and stream it to a website for viewing. Alternatively, point a webcam at your monitor and stream that.
Problems:
- The main problem is simply the amount of CPU power and manpower required to organise and execute this.
Requiring a code change
Observer team
A third team which is given the same info as one or the other of the two teams. Effectively you'd get the same info as if you were on a team, sitting in base watching Command View - but you're not counting towards the team player list.
Code changes required:
- Create a team that doesn't require a home sector, starting garrison, etc.
- Let all the info that a team gets be sent to this observer team.
- Setup some way for the observers to choose which team they're observing.
- Make the team not count towards player imbalance, win/loss conditions, etc.
Observer turret
Give every ship in the game a dummy turret which has no gun and always faces forwards. Anyone boarding these turrets would then have almost the exact same view as the pilot.
Code changes required:
- Give every ship a dummy turret - even those capital ships which already have maximum turrets already.
- Create an "observer team" which are the only ones that can board these turrets.
- Allow people on the observer team to transfer turrets to any ship, at any time.
- Allow more than one observer per pilot, perhaps.
Forum discussions
- Allegiance game broadcast live? - December 2008
- Observing Games - September 2008
- Suggestion: 3rd Team to view game while running - January 2008
- Observers in Games - April 2007
