Joining/leaving teams

[Titanoboa]

Here is the thread I was gonna post in before I realized it'd actually be off-topic there.

The issue: Can't switch one player for another and allowing him/her to join and shuffle before the next round starts (if the teams are locked). This is only a real issue in organized matches for teams (e.g. ladle matches), but it would make the experience a little smoother in normal gameplay too.

Here is one way to make it work without complicating things for the users:
Make Join Team x take immediate effect instead of waiting until the end of the round.
Make /teamleave take immediate effect, (or create "/teamleavenow" if the current "/teamleave" is useful for other purposes).

What I'm wondering is..
Will this not be possible because it would mess up the armagetron code?
Or.. will this not be possible because it would take too much time?

Just wondering which one.. (Although I'd think it would be worth dev-time, but that's not my decision to make.)

[sinewav]

I like the idea of setting TEAM_MAX_PLAYERS 7 to make subbing easier, but there is the potential for teams to abuse it. In professional sports, teams simply receive a penalty for too many players on the field. We don't have an equivalent, do we? If we had a referee, then they could penalize the offending team, like, 4 points or something - but we don't have referees either.

Even if a player is able to join while a teammate leaves, that still doesn't mean the subbing player is coordinated enough to shuffle at the right time (which is immediately I think).

We can always vote in a higher player limit for subs, and vote it out after it get abused.

One other idea is this: Since team leaders can start_new_match, we can make a rule that says "the round immediately following each match can be used for substitution." In that time, the newly joined players shuffle, and a team leader starts a new match. But this gives teams the opportunity to play dumb, so maybe not.


(Also, I'm just writing this for the sake of writing. I don't think substitution is a game-changing problem. But if we can come up with a good, efficient way of doing it, then we definitely should.)

[PokeMaster]

We can always vote in a higher player limit for subs, and vote it out after it get abused.

It would get voted out almost immediately imo (remember, Liz exists). I say we just skip that step and implement Titan's method (if the devs are willing). It sounds much more logical and foolproof.