List of balance issues in Tri-color Battles
there were so many facets to this being unbalanced i had to make a list.
- the clout distribution in the tricolor battles is extremely unbalanced:
winning offense: 6000 (+2500 for each ultra signal gotten, +300 per attempt)
losing offense: 5000 (+2500 for each ultra signal gotten, +300 per attempt)
defense: 3000 + turf + synergy
- if even just one of the offensive teams win, the other one also technically wins as well but to a slightly lesser extent (they still get all that clout!). they are still on the winning screen. you can’t fit all 4 players from the defending team onto the screen in addition to the 2 players on the first place offensive team. it’s made to be 4 total players on the screen. one of the offensive teams can come in last in terms of ink turfed, but if the other offensive team comes in first, they automatically get second place. meanwhile, the defending team either gets first place (very hard) or completely loses. no second place, even if they technically turfed more area than last place. it’s all or nothing.
- the two offensive teams can choose whether or not to play tricolor battles. the defending team has no choice and the tricolor matches appear at random in the open splatfest battles.
- less chance of x10, x100, and x333 battles appearing in the 4v4 open splatfest battles for the defending team due to being in rotation with tricolor battles. since the offensive teams aren’t forced to do tricolor they have better chances of running into the multiplication battles and getting all that clout, which ultimately contributes to winning the splatfest.
- ultra signal respawns IMMEDIATELY after it is successfully defended. no cooldown.
- the two attacking teams have a bunch of extra turf to ink around the spawn that is largely inaccessible to other teams. the defending team has very little spawn area to cover for a “baseline”/“backup” level of inkage, so the center area can be inked entirely over from both sides.
- at least for sturgeon shipyard, there were multiple points of entry for the attacking teams to get into the defending team’s turf but very little routes for the defending team to get into the attacking team’s turf.
- the attacking teams only have one real objective: get the most turf inked. getting the ultra signal helps with that and gives them clout, but it’s ultimately to secure more ink. they will *still* get more baseline clout than the defending team even if they don’t bother getting the ultra signal. the defending team has two objectives that cannot happen at the same time: inking the most turf AND ferociously guarding the ultra signal.
- you can argue that you can split the defending team into 2 players watching the ultra signal and 2 players inking turf, but it’s not uncommon in splatoon for two players to be splatted at a time, ESPECIALLY when 4 others players are headed for the center. also reefslider exists and can, has, and will splat the defending team in the tiny little center. if those two players holding the center are splatted, which will inevitably happen, it all falls apart and the match is essentially over.
- as the defending team, you cannot match with randos and expect to win tricolor battles. you need to bring your A-game every single time and be highly coordinated. even a lot of teams of four who were in calls coordinating were losing.
- even experienced rank X players on team scissors were getting bodied, so it’s not a skill issue.
- as it turns out, mixing turf war and ranked mode isn’t really a good idea.
- from a commenter on reddit: “the ultra signal sprinklers could not be turned off once activated, and the ultra signal could be launched way too easily. one reef slider wipes out the defenders, and the ultra signal is captured before you have even respawned. then the sprinkler activates, and you can maybe, just barely, keep up with its ink output if you have a roller... until you run out of ink, and then have to retreat and do it all over again... i worked with another roller, and we were barely able to hold a portion of one side just against the sprinkler.”
- this is minor but while the rock and paper got shiver and frye talking to them during battle, scissors got nothing. just silence.
this is a rundown of why team scissors were getting bombed. also i’m just outlining these issues in one place to compare to if anything changes in the future which it hopefully will.
having 4 players isn’t the advantage it sounds like on paper because you have to split the work of defending the ultra signal and getting the most turf, and those two players holding the signal are inevitably going to be splatted by the 4 offensive players because… it’s splatoon and that happens especially when players are concentrated in one tiny area. therefore, people will say “okay, then have 3 players defending the signal and 1 turfing” but realize that 1 player alone can’t handle defending from both sides of the map at once.
i know tricolor battles are meant to put the winning team at a disadvantage but this is frankly overkill imo. team scissors at halftime was only winning by 1% (if that) so it didn’t really feel like it was even necessary because all the teams were roughly tied. all it did was drag a roughly tied team down into the grave.
i know some individuals may have had fun, but the consensus is that team scissors players did not have fun in the tricolor battles, and there’s a good reason why. what makes something addicting and rewarding is having a chance. that’s why people gamble. i can’t remember the name for it, but in psychology there is a term for the sweet spot where the chance ratio of something happening are super rewarding to the brain. there was no “we may win this time!” to keep me going on team scissors. it just felt like “we’re gonna lose again what’s even the point”, which isn’t conducive to a happy playerbase nor addicting you to splatfests. and certainly not for 6 hours on one of the worst stages for a tricolor battle.
keep in mind wrote this as a blurred general picture, not for the individual rare instances of the defending team pulling through because those are outliers tbh. the overwhelming majority of them are losses, and that’s honestly not fair since it doesn’t feel like your team can be redeemed if you’re in first place at halftime. like you just know your team already lost because of how advantaged the offensive teams are in tricolor battles and that defeats the fun. hence, why people are calling them unbalanced.
this honestly feels some squid game level shit…no pun intended. like that game where the people chose a number and those who chose numbers closer to 1 were the first to try a game in which they will die without other people paving the way first; they are the sacrifices paving the way. this has that same kind of cruelty to it. “oh you’re happy you’re doing good? you like being in first? die”
