Hi, I'm SEA-106. I'm a coder for the Red Alert 3: Paradox mod, and used to be a higher-tier Red Alert 3 competitive player. I am the only competive RA3 player in the mod team, and as such will have a better understanding of the way Red Alert 3 works. I have played great players of RA3, such as Technique, Sofronel, Ukraine$tar_oWnZ, and Zlex, and occasionally won. While I was unable to compete in any tournaments (due to timezone issues) I frequented the higher circles of play, and came to know many great players.
In addition, I code for the Paradox mod, coding units like the Razor Sub, the Duster Bomber, the Allied Mass Tank, and others. And now, with the Paradox beta drawing near, I will have a large part in trying to balance Paradox, having recently been made the Beta Community and Balance Manager.
With the release of Paradox only a few weeks away, the issue should be raised, "How does one mentally approach the balancing process?" This will be the first of several threads on the topic of balance.
First, though, what is the problem that we face in balancing Paradox? What makes it so difficult?
Balance is implemented to achieve two primary goals. The first of these is to achieve equality, so that opposing players of equal skill from separate factions will have an even likelihood of victory. There are issues to be dealt with, however. For example, while balance is supposed to equalize players of equal skill from different factions, the only way the balancer can know the relative skill of two players is by how many games they win. Basically, this makes it hard to determine if a faction is really overpowered, or if the players of that faction simply have more skill.
Secondly, the balancing process is supposed to provide diversity, such that the player is given a large number of viable options. These options are implemented in such a way that the player has some basis to choose amongst these meaningful options. As opposed to Rock-Scissors-Paper, in which all three options are identical, the decisions between these options should take place inside the game in such a way that strategy can be applied to pick among the meaningful options from many factors, such as the enemy behaviour and the player's play-style.
Overarching the whole balance issue is the question, "Is it even possible?" We don't know how the game will be played, and yet we have to balance for it. It is a difficult problem, and while we may never achieve "perfect" balance, we will still strive to do the best possible job.
