new to online games and irc

[jeagon79]

First off, I would like to thank the devs for keeping this game alive for so many years! I have been playing against AI for some time now and just starting to play against other players. Since I'm kind new to the online scene of this game, I have a few questions. Maybe dumb ones, but I rather find out so as not to offend anyone.

1) When you play online, there is a colored orb (red, yellow, green) by the player number/ rank. What is this for?
2) Is it rude/ against the rules to pop in to a game in the lobby without setting it up on irc first? Irc always seems quiet to me, no one types anything ever. (If I pop in to someones game, I usually say hello and ask if it's ok to play.)
3) People often complain about a players ping being "bad" and to fix it. If warzone is the only program running, is there a way to improve this some other way?

Thanks- Jeremy

[vexed]

First off, I would like to thank the devs for keeping this game alive for so many years! I have been playing against AI for some time now and just starting to play against other players. Since I'm kind new to the online scene of this game, I have a few questions. Maybe dumb ones, but I rather find out so as not to offend anyone.

1) When you play online, there is a colored orb (red, yellow, green) by the player number/ rank. What is this for?
2) Is it rude/ against the rules to pop in to a game in the lobby without setting it up on irc first? Irc always seems quiet to me, no one types anything ever. (If I pop in to someones game, I usually say hello and ask if it's ok to play.)
3) People often complain about a players ping being "bad" and to fix it. If warzone is the only program running, is there a way to improve this some other way?

Thanks- Jeremy

1) that is you lag-o-meter, or the ping time. red=bad, and green = ok.
2) no, not at all. Most people on IRC are just lurkers, for whatever reason.
3) there is very little you can do to improve ping times, assuming nobody else is using your connection.

[jeagon79]

thanks for the info!

[NoQ]

2) In fact, i never play games not arranged on IRC. This might be a bit more rare, but the pre-arranged games are usually a lot of fun; they're of much better quality. You can make the teams equal (impossible when you don't know anybody at all in the lobby), you'll meet much less cheaters and at the same time you won't be accused of cheating every time you win (which is probably the most important thing here). Playing many games with an equally strong player (or with a stronger player) teaches you a lot. Also, on IRC there are people who are ready to play standart classic-style maps, as compared to high-oil ntw games most commonly found in the lobby. It is also almost impossible to play games on master via lobby (nobody joins), but it's much easier on IRC. Last but not least, you can actually make friends when you come to IRC; that's a reliable way of communication.
3) Pings depend on geographical position of both players and on the quality of internet connection. When you're a client, you can't see pings to other clients (in fact, you usually can't even ping them), so only your ping to the host matters. When you're the host, try to avoid players with high pings; on 2.3.* they'll blow up the game (you will hang, and even if you won't, there will be a lot of desync); on master versions, they will just slow down the game.

[vexed]

When you're a client, you can't see pings to other clients (in fact, you usually can't even ping them), so only your ping to the host matters.

Right, I am not even sure why you even care about what the ping is to other clients, since you can never communicate with them directly.

[jeagon79]

Again, thank you guys for the info. The questions about ping were more for my personal knowledge than any other reason. I have nowhere near the level of computing knowledge you all posess. I'm a car/ music guy, not a computer guy. Getting an aftermarket sound card to work for my studio pc was a huge accomplishment for me, lol. Like I said- not a computer guy. That being said, prepare for more dumba** questions from time to time.

[jeagon79]

@ Preternatural-

I personally never understood the point of cheating in an online game. Wouldn't it be fairly obvious if one player/ team has late in game tech, or ridiculous amounts of vehicles vs. resources available? I've played a few games in the past (under the name mr_boom) where people were calling each other cheaters and was later determined it was seriously bad lag from one players computer to the next. Anyways cheating is lame imo.

[devastator]

http://some site/
Press cheaters and learn some cheaters