sugarvalves [1963573] —
Original article
Find out what War Mode does, how you can use it outside of warring periods, and discover the answer to some of the community's biggest questions regarding the Ranked Warring update.
War Mode Coming Soon
Factions who wish to alter their upgrade trees ahead of ranked wars, training periods, or bonus events will soon be able to do so with ease thanks to the forthcoming introduction of War Mode.
Larger Link
Previously, factions had to wait 72 hours for any upgrades to be unset. But when War Mode is released on Tuesday the 19th, factions will be able to unset upgrades immediately and replace them with a pre-chosen set of alternatives. The caveat to this is that these upgrades are fixed in place for 72 hours and cannot be unset during this time.
There are effectively two loadouts for faction trees now, with one labelled War Mode and the other Peace Mode. A faction can enter War Mode instantly whenever they need to, switching all of their branches over to their ideal warring upgrades. From War Mode, they are then able to return to Peace Mode whenever they like, instantly swapping out all of the chosen warring upgrades for the faction's peace-time upgrades. It is only at this point that the 72 hour cooldown comes into play, with no upgrade changes possible for three days.
Larger Link
Of course, just because War Mode and Peace Mode are so-called, it doesn't mean that factions have to use them as such. With two upgrade setups able to be customised and saved, factions can design these loadouts for any purpose they desire. If an event day may require a specific cooldown reduction or your faction is taking a training break, factions can amend their existing upgrades knowing that they can be put back on a war footing instantly, should the situation require it.
You can read more about faction specials and how they work in this thread by Harley.
Ranked Warring Questions Answered
The news that Ranked Warring would soon receive a major update provoked intrigue among the community earlier this week. Chedburn released a more detailed announcement alongside the newspaper article that helped to answer many people’s questions, but we’ve gone through the forums to see what else the community would like to know about this forthcoming update.:
If a faction’s war continues beyond Tuesday noon’s enlistment deadline will the participating factions be forced to miss a week? And if so, will this count as a missed week for the purposes of judging RW inactivity?
Ranked wars still have a maximum duration of 123 hours, so it's more than possible for one to overrun the following week's matchmaking. Currently, we're excluding Sundays from the scheduler, so the latest a war can start is midnight on Saturday, which would only give a faction 60 hours to complete their war before they miss the next matchmaking session. The duration used to determine rank decay starts from the end date / time of the previous war, so this wouldn't have any additional effect on inactivity.
Will the Hidden Rank be based on all factions or just those who enlist? And what is the distribution?
Hidden Ranks are calculated by taking every faction’s stat score into account, not just those enlisted in ranked warring. The very top factions with a stat score of over 200,000 receive the highest possible Hidden Rank of Platinum III. Factions are then bracketed below this in increments of 1.3x, meaning that factions with a stat score of between 153,846 and 200,000 get Platinum II, 118,343 to 153,846 get Platinum I, and so on and so forth. This seems to distribute minimum ranks very well across all factions.
Will the prizes be based on actual rank or the highest rank?
Prizes are always based on the Actual Rank. The Hidden Rank has no impact on anything other than the matchmaking when it's below the faction's Actual Rank.
Is the 21.5% of unfair losses stat something that will shrink over time, with most of them coming early on as Hidden and Actual Ranks sync up?
That's correct, once many factions are at their rightful rank, this would reduce over time. For such a system however there will always be some unfair matches occasionally, that's just the nature of it.
How soon after the noon enlistment deadline can we expect matchups to be created?
The process of pairing all enlisted factions and scheduling their wars should only take a few seconds.
Hidden Ranks can be discerned with an accuracy of +1/-1 after just one match with another opponent, and likely figured out with 100% certainty after two or more matches. Will this pose any problems?
Hidden ranks are only called 'hidden' as they're not publicly visible. There is no significant reasoning for us to keep them a secret.
Is the "recently fought" criterion met after 6 wars have been fought including the first war with that fac or the second?
No, it doesn't include the first war or the second, there must be six wars in between two fights with the same opponent. So if the first time you meet Faction A is war 1, you'll need to war six additional times with other factions before you can war Faction A again in war 8.
If the top ranks get stratified (via hidden or actual), could this completely lock up warring for one or more factions from the top down?
Factions that pull far ahead will need to wait for potential opponents to catch up with them, however, this should be temporary. Factions should be moving around pretty frequently and are generally pushed upwards, assuming many remain in active participation of ranked warring, there shouldn't be any significant problems.
The Story of Silver Hand
Silver Hand is currently Torn's top-ranked faction within the Ranked Warring system, having achieved Platinum II on the 13th with a victory over November Chopin. But is this to be the zenith of their achievements now that Ranked Warring's matchmaking system has changed? ig_chen is the faction's Chancellor, and they were defiant in response to this changing of the landscape.
"This change in matchmaking mechanics does not change our determination and ability to compete - as seen in Torn City over the past few months, Sliver Hand is extremely competitive in relatively fair battles."
ig_chen admits that this update did affect the faction's enthusiasm for Torn, as they originally thought that Ranked Warring was "an incentive for late entrants who are energetic but young, and loving this game, just like us." This was never intended to be the case, but the way Silver Hand and others of their level took to Ranked Warring is perhaps proof that a feature aimed at new factions would be something worth considering.
"I'm not saying we speak on behalf of the non-HOF factions but Ranked Warring really provided factions like us an opportunity (which normally one is unlikely to get on the current rather stagnant territorial map) to show what we are capable of doing with our unity, activity, willingness and also with some practical tactics."
Silver Hand, who are part of the SMTH family, owe their success to the hard work of their members and the meticulous preparation undertaken before each and every ranked war. ig_chen says that every opponent was respected and researched thoroughly, with stat spies, activity data, and war reports scrutinised in order to glean as much useful information as they could about their future foes.
"Different tactics were used during the fight itself. This might be arguably judged by some, as they believe the war is between two factions and no external force shall be used, which includes mercs, revivers, bounties, flight delays, etc. To us, as long as it is not forbidden by the official rules, then we can make the best out of it. These tactics helped us defeat opponents which had higher average stats and without which we might not be able to."
"And do forgive us if you were one of the victims of our tactics and hope there’s no hard feelings as we do not intend to make your experience of playing worse, it’s purely for the purpose of winning."
Silver Hand's honesty and respectful behaviour is a refreshing change from the toxic, entitled mindset one sometimes encounters among those at the top of the HoF. While the forthcoming changes to Ranked Warring are necessary, it is a shame that there is now one less avenue for ambitious, young factions like Silver Hand to muscle their way in among the established order.
That being said, Silver Hand has done well from their brief time in the spotlight, and since the top factions still have work to do to make their way towards the top ranks, talk of SH's demotion may be premature. Silver Hand should still be able to grab a few more wins before the HoF catches up to them, and this means the rewards will keep on coming in, even if, as expected, they eventually lose their lofty status.
"Money-wise, I believe almost every player in Torn now knows that RW is a gold mine, since one can easily find out how much a RW cache is worth in the market. Especially when your faction hits a higher rank. For example, a Gold tier win will easily get you 10 plus caches which are worth more than 10b."
"You might have noticed that about 90% of the players in Silver Hand are 2 years old or younger. They are still in the phase of accumulating their networth. We all know that it is the most difficult and time-consuming to build up your first bucket of gold in Torn, and with which you can start snowballing afterwards. Luckily for us, with the payouts from Ranked Warring, we have a much shorter start off."
Silver Hand distributes their Ranked Warring rewards on a fair basis, with every single hit, assist, and even losses credited under their payment system. ig_chen says that the whole faction knows the importance of their stat beasts, but they are also aware that they couldn't have taken down any of their opponents without the efforts of their newer players.
"Frankly speaking, we did not expect us to be where we are before. Lots of our players learnt a lot on their fighting skills along the way of RWing – picking the right opponents, self-hosping, how to group attack, etc. Some of the semi-inactive players became more active since it’s always exciting to enjoy new contents and new play style from the game you’ve been playing for some time."
I will reiterate once more that the amendments we've made to the Ranked Warring matchmaking system were vitally important if we were to succeed in our goal of creating a fair and competitive environment for warring to take place. But while the original system was imbalanced in the way it treated the top sides, that doesn't mean that any mechanism that doesn't completely favour the top factions is inherently unfair.
While the leaders of the major faction families were correct that Ranked Warring should accurately reflect some form of merit-based ranking system, I must say that some of their comments towards those outside the top 20 left a sour taste in my mouth. This quote from JFK's Z_junior rather sums up how Torn's best feel about the rest.
“Yeah cuz it makes sense to create a system in which Man U, City, Chelsea and Liverpool will compete in the 3rd division of English league while Wigan, Ipswich and Doncaster get the spotlight and the best caches in the Premier League... But if you believe Cheltenham should play on Wembley in front of 100k people, then so be it.” - Z_junior
Z_junior’s knowledge of sports is a little off, as Cheltenham Town actually won the FA Trophy at Wembley with a 1-0 win over Southport on May 17, 1998. Admittedly, only 26,000 were in attendance, but it’s worth pointing out that professional sports do allow the little guys a chance at the spotlight too, and they don’t always have to face every single one of the best to get there - knockout cup competitions are a great example of this.
Everyone loves an underdog, but in Torn, the solid, statistical nature of warring makes it virtually impossible for low-ranked sides to compete against those with double or triple their battle stats. Of course, it used to be easier for upsets to occur, and one of the main complaints against last year’s medical and attacking mechanic updates is that high-stats can no longer be overcome with huge amounts of activity.
If this doesn’t change, perhaps we have to level the playing field some other way. Real-life competitions have limits, handicaps, and divisional grading to ensure that they remain competitive in the presence of a dominant force, and these limitations give us an increased competitive element among sports teams with differing levels of resources.
In Torn, we have no such limits, and we also don’t prevent mergers that would never happen in sporting competitions - if Manchester City and Liverpool merged squads, the league would be over by December, and I would also throw up in my mouth a little. The concentration of power and the longevity of certain players has led to the top HoF factions pulling far away from the rest. This isn't something to be judged as good or bad, merely a truth that must be considered if we are to keep Torn competitive.
How do we reign in the top sides without demeaning their prior efforts, but in a manner which also respects the desire for everyone else to compete? I think we had a glimpse of what's needed in Ranked Warring's original form. Ranked warring, territories, and chaining are the preserve of the old guard. Now, perhaps we need something new, a competition in which all players and factions can compete on an even playing field. Wouldn't that be nice?
Because, as Silver Hand has shown, the desire to compete is present within us all, whether you've been a Torn resident for 10 years, or 10 minutes.
"If 'compete' is referring to the need to fight against factions as strong as NS or Monarch, since ranked warring is used as absolute proof of strength and ability, as stated in the update announcement, then we must accept the fact that we are still relatively weak. However, we will try our best. Great challenges are expected before we hit Diamond but I would say everyone in Silver Hand is prepared for them." - ig_chen
Factions who wish to alter their upgrade trees ahead of ranked wars, training periods, or bonus events will soon be able to do so with ease thanks to the forthcoming introduction of War Mode.
Larger Link
Previously, factions had to wait 72 hours for any upgrades to be unset. But when War Mode is released on Tuesday the 19th, factions will be able to unset upgrades immediately and replace them with a pre-chosen set of alternatives. The caveat to this is that these upgrades are fixed in place for 72 hours and cannot be unset during this time.
There are effectively two loadouts for faction trees now, with one labelled War Mode and the other Peace Mode. A faction can enter War Mode instantly whenever they need to, switching all of their branches over to their ideal warring upgrades. From War Mode, they are then able to return to Peace Mode whenever they like, instantly swapping out all of the chosen warring upgrades for the faction's peace-time upgrades. It is only at this point that the 72 hour cooldown comes into play, with no upgrade changes possible for three days.
Larger Link
Of course, just because War Mode and Peace Mode are so-called, it doesn't mean that factions have to use them as such. With two upgrade setups able to be customised and saved, factions can design these loadouts for any purpose they desire. If an event day may require a specific cooldown reduction or your faction is taking a training break, factions can amend their existing upgrades knowing that they can be put back on a war footing instantly, should the situation require it.
You can read more about faction specials and how they work in this thread by Harley.
Ranked Warring Questions Answered
The news that Ranked Warring would soon receive a major update provoked intrigue among the community earlier this week. Chedburn released a more detailed announcement alongside the newspaper article that helped to answer many people’s questions, but we’ve gone through the forums to see what else the community would like to know about this forthcoming update.:
If a faction’s war continues beyond Tuesday noon’s enlistment deadline will the participating factions be forced to miss a week? And if so, will this count as a missed week for the purposes of judging RW inactivity?
Ranked wars still have a maximum duration of 123 hours, so it's more than possible for one to overrun the following week's matchmaking. Currently, we're excluding Sundays from the scheduler, so the latest a war can start is midnight on Saturday, which would only give a faction 60 hours to complete their war before they miss the next matchmaking session. The duration used to determine rank decay starts from the end date / time of the previous war, so this wouldn't have any additional effect on inactivity.
Will the Hidden Rank be based on all factions or just those who enlist? And what is the distribution?
Hidden Ranks are calculated by taking every faction’s stat score into account, not just those enlisted in ranked warring. The very top factions with a stat score of over 200,000 receive the highest possible Hidden Rank of Platinum III. Factions are then bracketed below this in increments of 1.3x, meaning that factions with a stat score of between 153,846 and 200,000 get Platinum II, 118,343 to 153,846 get Platinum I, and so on and so forth. This seems to distribute minimum ranks very well across all factions.
Will the prizes be based on actual rank or the highest rank?
Prizes are always based on the Actual Rank. The Hidden Rank has no impact on anything other than the matchmaking when it's below the faction's Actual Rank.
Is the 21.5% of unfair losses stat something that will shrink over time, with most of them coming early on as Hidden and Actual Ranks sync up?
That's correct, once many factions are at their rightful rank, this would reduce over time. For such a system however there will always be some unfair matches occasionally, that's just the nature of it.
How soon after the noon enlistment deadline can we expect matchups to be created?
The process of pairing all enlisted factions and scheduling their wars should only take a few seconds.
Hidden Ranks can be discerned with an accuracy of +1/-1 after just one match with another opponent, and likely figured out with 100% certainty after two or more matches. Will this pose any problems?
Hidden ranks are only called 'hidden' as they're not publicly visible. There is no significant reasoning for us to keep them a secret.
Is the "recently fought" criterion met after 6 wars have been fought including the first war with that fac or the second?
No, it doesn't include the first war or the second, there must be six wars in between two fights with the same opponent. So if the first time you meet Faction A is war 1, you'll need to war six additional times with other factions before you can war Faction A again in war 8.
If the top ranks get stratified (via hidden or actual), could this completely lock up warring for one or more factions from the top down?
Factions that pull far ahead will need to wait for potential opponents to catch up with them, however, this should be temporary. Factions should be moving around pretty frequently and are generally pushed upwards, assuming many remain in active participation of ranked warring, there shouldn't be any significant problems.
The Story of Silver Hand
Silver Hand is currently Torn's top-ranked faction within the Ranked Warring system, having achieved Platinum II on the 13th with a victory over November Chopin. But is this to be the zenith of their achievements now that Ranked Warring's matchmaking system has changed? ig_chen is the faction's Chancellor, and they were defiant in response to this changing of the landscape.
"This change in matchmaking mechanics does not change our determination and ability to compete - as seen in Torn City over the past few months, Sliver Hand is extremely competitive in relatively fair battles."
ig_chen admits that this update did affect the faction's enthusiasm for Torn, as they originally thought that Ranked Warring was "an incentive for late entrants who are energetic but young, and loving this game, just like us." This was never intended to be the case, but the way Silver Hand and others of their level took to Ranked Warring is perhaps proof that a feature aimed at new factions would be something worth considering.
"I'm not saying we speak on behalf of the non-HOF factions but Ranked Warring really provided factions like us an opportunity (which normally one is unlikely to get on the current rather stagnant territorial map) to show what we are capable of doing with our unity, activity, willingness and also with some practical tactics."
Silver Hand, who are part of the SMTH family, owe their success to the hard work of their members and the meticulous preparation undertaken before each and every ranked war. ig_chen says that every opponent was respected and researched thoroughly, with stat spies, activity data, and war reports scrutinised in order to glean as much useful information as they could about their future foes.
"Different tactics were used during the fight itself. This might be arguably judged by some, as they believe the war is between two factions and no external force shall be used, which includes mercs, revivers, bounties, flight delays, etc. To us, as long as it is not forbidden by the official rules, then we can make the best out of it. These tactics helped us defeat opponents which had higher average stats and without which we might not be able to."
"And do forgive us if you were one of the victims of our tactics and hope there’s no hard feelings as we do not intend to make your experience of playing worse, it’s purely for the purpose of winning."
Silver Hand's honesty and respectful behaviour is a refreshing change from the toxic, entitled mindset one sometimes encounters among those at the top of the HoF. While the forthcoming changes to Ranked Warring are necessary, it is a shame that there is now one less avenue for ambitious, young factions like Silver Hand to muscle their way in among the established order.
That being said, Silver Hand has done well from their brief time in the spotlight, and since the top factions still have work to do to make their way towards the top ranks, talk of SH's demotion may be premature. Silver Hand should still be able to grab a few more wins before the HoF catches up to them, and this means the rewards will keep on coming in, even if, as expected, they eventually lose their lofty status.
"Money-wise, I believe almost every player in Torn now knows that RW is a gold mine, since one can easily find out how much a RW cache is worth in the market. Especially when your faction hits a higher rank. For example, a Gold tier win will easily get you 10 plus caches which are worth more than 10b."
"You might have noticed that about 90% of the players in Silver Hand are 2 years old or younger. They are still in the phase of accumulating their networth. We all know that it is the most difficult and time-consuming to build up your first bucket of gold in Torn, and with which you can start snowballing afterwards. Luckily for us, with the payouts from Ranked Warring, we have a much shorter start off."
Silver Hand distributes their Ranked Warring rewards on a fair basis, with every single hit, assist, and even losses credited under their payment system. ig_chen says that the whole faction knows the importance of their stat beasts, but they are also aware that they couldn't have taken down any of their opponents without the efforts of their newer players.
"Frankly speaking, we did not expect us to be where we are before. Lots of our players learnt a lot on their fighting skills along the way of RWing – picking the right opponents, self-hosping, how to group attack, etc. Some of the semi-inactive players became more active since it’s always exciting to enjoy new contents and new play style from the game you’ve been playing for some time."
I will reiterate once more that the amendments we've made to the Ranked Warring matchmaking system were vitally important if we were to succeed in our goal of creating a fair and competitive environment for warring to take place. But while the original system was imbalanced in the way it treated the top sides, that doesn't mean that any mechanism that doesn't completely favour the top factions is inherently unfair.
While the leaders of the major faction families were correct that Ranked Warring should accurately reflect some form of merit-based ranking system, I must say that some of their comments towards those outside the top 20 left a sour taste in my mouth. This quote from JFK's Z_junior rather sums up how Torn's best feel about the rest.
“Yeah cuz it makes sense to create a system in which Man U, City, Chelsea and Liverpool will compete in the 3rd division of English league while Wigan, Ipswich and Doncaster get the spotlight and the best caches in the Premier League... But if you believe Cheltenham should play on Wembley in front of 100k people, then so be it.” - Z_junior
Z_junior’s knowledge of sports is a little off, as Cheltenham Town actually won the FA Trophy at Wembley with a 1-0 win over Southport on May 17, 1998. Admittedly, only 26,000 were in attendance, but it’s worth pointing out that professional sports do allow the little guys a chance at the spotlight too, and they don’t always have to face every single one of the best to get there - knockout cup competitions are a great example of this.
Everyone loves an underdog, but in Torn, the solid, statistical nature of warring makes it virtually impossible for low-ranked sides to compete against those with double or triple their battle stats. Of course, it used to be easier for upsets to occur, and one of the main complaints against last year’s medical and attacking mechanic updates is that high-stats can no longer be overcome with huge amounts of activity.
If this doesn’t change, perhaps we have to level the playing field some other way. Real-life competitions have limits, handicaps, and divisional grading to ensure that they remain competitive in the presence of a dominant force, and these limitations give us an increased competitive element among sports teams with differing levels of resources.
In Torn, we have no such limits, and we also don’t prevent mergers that would never happen in sporting competitions - if Manchester City and Liverpool merged squads, the league would be over by December, and I would also throw up in my mouth a little. The concentration of power and the longevity of certain players has led to the top HoF factions pulling far away from the rest. This isn't something to be judged as good or bad, merely a truth that must be considered if we are to keep Torn competitive.
How do we reign in the top sides without demeaning their prior efforts, but in a manner which also respects the desire for everyone else to compete? I think we had a glimpse of what's needed in Ranked Warring's original form. Ranked warring, territories, and chaining are the preserve of the old guard. Now, perhaps we need something new, a competition in which all players and factions can compete on an even playing field. Wouldn't that be nice?
Because, as Silver Hand has shown, the desire to compete is present within us all, whether you've been a Torn resident for 10 years, or 10 minutes.
"If 'compete' is referring to the need to fight against factions as strong as NS or Monarch, since ranked warring is used as absolute proof of strength and ability, as stated in the update announcement, then we must accept the fact that we are still relatively weak. However, we will try our best. Great challenges are expected before we hit Diamond but I would say everyone in Silver Hand is prepared for them." - ig_chen
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