Shrouded Factions

[Sorrow]

Not really, if you play one faction a lot you get good at it (i.e. Cackfiend played nothing but drakes for three months and is the best drake player save perhaps doc paterson). He is not about to tell you choosing drakes is any sort of disadvantage over choosing random. As long as you make a decent selection of units and capture your villages effectively there isn't any reason to fear random over a chosen race.

Second off role playing has nothing to do with my race favorites/least favorites. Its the play style I like, in SC it was Protoss, big strong units; in WC3 it was orcs, again big, strong and few; and in Wesnoth I like Drakes/Knalgans the best, although I am not all that great at Knalgans I still prefer the play style to say, spamming Northie units.

Maybe some people choose their race based on role playing but thats probably not the majority, I never even thought of it :\.

That said I like the idea and still fail to see how role playing has anything to do with it at all.

[Samantha]

I think that this would be a great thing to have (obviously, I started the thread). But I realized another advantage that this feature would provide. It would allow beginning/intermediate players to become better players more quickly. Every faction plays much differently from every other faction, therefore a new player could focus on one or two factions and really learn the strategies for those particular factions. Only then would they venture out into some of the very newbie-unfriendly factions like undead or drakes.

The only disadvantage that I could see with this strategy would be that some factions might be played less than they would be normally. However, I don't see this as a problem and would probably just be an artifact of some factions simply being less fun to play for most people. I don't see any faction being boycotted, however because as Sorrow pointed out, each player has their own personality which fits different factions. Also, players who choose unpopular factions would have a slight advantage because everyone else would have less experience against them.

[rand]

I'd like this as an option as well. If implemented, whoever would be so kind as to program this please consider also adding "randomized factions" as a configurable option. The idea here is that if advertised it might just tend to attract the more skilled players. Sure there is 70% exp + fog but that is little guarantee. Stating randomized up front could help some more.

[Dave]

This has been discussed at length before. It was decided that it is indeed part of the delicate balance.

If you want to choose your faction you are at the disadvantage of letting everyone know what it is. If you are willing to play with whichever faction is thrown at you, then you can have it shrouded from the opponent.

Otherwise we'll end up with people trying to play rock-paper-scissors in the lobby too much.

[Haibane]

And that's why noone sane ever picks undeads for a standart multiplayer game, mb except big maps.
Oh, nevermind, I just had to say it, couldn't help myself

[Madlok]

No "hide my faction" option is terrible mistake. This is the second thread I found about this feathure, and still I don't see any explanation.
Except:
"People are so stupid and they will don't understand this option."

[Caphriel]

Did you even read the discussion?

This has been discussed at length before. It was decided that it is indeed part of the delicate balance.

If you want to choose your faction you are at the disadvantage of letting everyone know what it is. If you are willing to play with whichever faction is thrown at you, then you can have it shrouded from the opponent.

Otherwise we'll end up with people trying to play rock-paper-scissors in the lobby too much.

Reasons for not doing it include:
Avoids faction rock-paper-scissors in the game lobby. (If you are playing Northerners then I will play Undead but if you switch to Drakes then I will switch to Loyalists and then you switch back to Undead etc.)
Advantage of choosing faction you are good with vs. disadvantage of opponents knowing your faction at start.
Advantage of choosing leader vs above.

The developers generally seem to think it's a bad idea, but are willing to entertain the idea of a patch to allow the host to choose to hide factions.

Not at all "People are so stupid and they will don't understand this option."

[Madlok]

Probably we are thinking about two different things.
Maybe I was directed to the wrong topic from this one http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?p=274937

I mean secret picking faction. Opponents see only the "?" sign or "random" or something like that.

Edit:
"Advantage of choosing faction you are good with vs. disadvantage of opponents knowing your faction at start."

let's say that you have mastered all factions, but you want to play a specific faction for pleasure. And now you have to choose: pleasure or unpleasant duty.

[tom030890]

I do think being able to choos your faction would fundametally alter the way the game is played. On a big map drakes are the natural choice, being the fastest of the factions. On a smaller map, and especially one with central keeps (HGB, Wall of pyrennis, aethermaw among others) where the leader can get involved, having a leadership unit (Drakes, loyalists, Rebels) would give you an advantage and would become a preferred pick.

I know options are bad but:
In the setup screen for games have this option:
Allow hidden selection of factions (on/off)

If off (default setting, works as currently)
Random faction
Or
Selected faction visible to all

If on
Random faction - if chosen random
Or
Selected faction ? type visible to all if you pick a faction but don't pick leader
Or
Faction and leader type visible to all if you do pick a faction and leader.

Actually what I really want is a random except northerners option, because I dislike them, and die a little inside whenever I get them on random.

[ancestral]

I've talked about this at length and it's been discussed before many times. Basically, by not hiding the selection, the player choosing random has a significant advantage.

http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 24#p365824
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 0&p=363932
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=25433
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... w=previous
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15400
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=23293
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23235
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23012

Feature request here: https://gna.org/bugs/index.php?13512

This is nothing new. Someone just needs to code it. I'm not sure what else needs to be said.

[Gambit]

Thanks for hunting down those links. Thread locked so that it may rest in peace.

Please don't bump threads back from four years in the past Madlok.