Galactic War scaling mechanics (My theory and what you think)

SolidSnake

I've been doing Galactic War for a while now and never had a trouble with unfair match-up which I see a lot of complaints in the forum. Now that I'm at max level I still didn't even get to see much of level 60 team, let alone full stars and it'd been like this since I started, it definitely isn't because of luck.

With curiosity I took a look at my team and realised that most of my units aren't max out and not even max leveled (too lazy to train but I do farm gears and stars) and I also have many level 1 units on bench.

I've played this kind of game before and the Attrition battles like GW usually aren't just random match-up by level. One of the game I played scale the opponent level by your average top 5 units power level, the others use the average of your entire roster.

With that, I think that GW definitely has a scaling system for match-up. If they use a similar mechanics as the others of its kind, it either be the average of your top heroes or your entire roster. Whichever it is, an unfair match-up can be prevented by doing these (which is also the basics of these kind of game already):

1. Focus on optimizing those you use and make sure that they're useful.
2. Don't waste your resource on units you're not going to use or not good.
3. You can unlock and star those you aren't currently using but don't equip or train them until you need them.

Doing these will not only help you with GW but also on resource managing, I know it's kind of unfit for many who like to experiment but that's the trade off.

Lastly, this is just a theory, maybe this game just random and I was just lucky. So please share your experience wether it congruent with my theory or not!

DanTom

It's just random

I'm not sure on this one because so many of the teams seem random. Many don't seem like a person put together at all.

I'm only like 19.5k or so power on my main team and usually spend at least the last segment fighting 6/7* purple teams. Some days the whole last half is like this.

I have maybe 3-4 GW specific heroes with 6/7 gear and 55-60 level. The rest of the ones in use are gear 5. I only keep my arena team at 60 and the GW bench 55-57.

DarthSamJackson

Great post. Would you care to elaborate on how you built your team - ie. Focusing on starring up your top 5 ASAP or building your roster slowly and uniformly? If the scaling is done by average team strength, then having a lot of weak units and a few beast units will help. If it scales by the top 5 units, then having a evenly balanced roster is the way to go.

I'm at a crossroads in GW. I've won 5 straight fairly easily and at L47 I will have Lumi to 5* today. I'm conflicted about continuing Lumi to 6* vs starting Phasma and what impact this would have to my ease in GW.

Keaven

It's scaling with average of your entire roster

I get the impression it's scaled by the total power of your entire roster which is how some people get totally outclassed because they are spread too thin.

Both my accounts p2p amd f2p are very focused on key heroes and have won every war (plenty of tough matches on p2p account though which is currently fully geared level 60 7☆ squad).

Toben_Clayto

Other theory (please share)

I just reached level 56 and I regularly have to battle level 60 and high 50's quite a bit. It seems like the better my top team is the worse I do. Case and point: in today's war I had to battle a level 60 Darth Maul in the fifth match. He was accompanied by several others who were high 50's with crazy health.

Kosar

It's just random

I think it is random. I won my first GW with a team of around 55 and below, mostly 5*, purple gear. It was the first one where every battle was against a group of level 50 or lower. I've won only 3 more since, all where in the final rounds I pulled no team higher than level 52 when I was 55, 58 when I hit 60.

besides those 4, I have run into the most ridiculous party make ups when I lose... around 53-55, I consistently got all maxed 7*, lvl 60 super AoE teams where I get wiped before I had even 1 attack go off... including 7* Vaders. That's one of those signs I feel like I'm running into an AI generated team in many cases.

I now, at 60, have many 6* and a core group of 8 at 60 for GW, but still run into those parties, but usually in the middle rather than end. if i get past those, I usually see regular lvl 56-58 groups in the final rounds, but often don't have the right characters still alive to win.

my biggest problem is the random posts i've seen about people who suggest strategies/parties for different encounters, but unless it's the odd and crazy 7* teams, I never run into different make ups of teams on the table. it's almost always this:

Dooku
Sidius
Barris or Luminara
Consular or Kylo
Chewie or Talia

Occasionally a Darth Maul might be there, or a Jawa early on, but there is no dynamic strategy per fight that I've seen regularly. this is the biggest indication it is mostly player builds, because it rarely differs from the vast majority of Arena squads.

i think it basically boils down to luck because i've tracked this pretty well for a couple weeks, but now that i've been sixty for a couple weeks, the most difficult encounters now happen regularly to me around battle 3-4 or 7-8... the only thing difficult about 10-12 is when I've lost characters in those early fights, like i said, and just don't yet have enough characters to finish.

HavokTrigger

It's pretty random for me. Yesterday my first battle was lv 59 and the rest were lv 60 with full teams of 6 and 7*. Today my first battle was lv 51 and I didn't see a level 60 until over half way.

Pilot

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

Kosar

It's just random

that actually makes complete sense from what i've seen because getting a rando hard early, check... getting to the point where the vast majority stops and getting their last good party, check... strolling through easy parties at end because someone beat with 3rd tier characters left in the inventory, check... and makes sense of the crazy all star parties from 9 on when i'm playing at 2am est.

seems completely legit--absolutely no sarcasm intended-- but i have to ask, is this confirmed somewhere by ea/cg? just curious.

Pindasauskanon

Wow this actually souds logical. Gonna try this out.

Kr4itok_

I usually rush through after midnight, but I have a relatively deep roster and can absorb a few losses if I absolutely must. I also have a pretty young shard (maybe 3 or 4 weeks), and nobody has hit 60 yet in the top 10.

TheVinegru

Other theory (please share)

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

You say this with as much confidence as Liam Neeson on the phone from the movie, "Taken", lol. SO is this a theory or are you a developer for the game?

Sith

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

Note to self read all pilot posts. Thanks man

akositzke

It's scaling with average of your top units

I'm currently at level 58 - since level 55 I have been facing full level 58-60 teams, at least 4/5 with purple gear the whole back half of my GW every day. The only characters on my team that are above level 50 are my main 5 (which are at 58 with 3 of the 5 having purple gear), and 1 or 2 others I'm experimenting with or keeping up as GW backups. I definitely think that it's based on your top 5 - or maybe on your arena power ranking, and then based on your overall level as a secondary factor.

Seems like matching in Arena is done similarly as well - based on a combination of your arena power and your level.

Preemo_Magin

What Pilot mentions seems highly reasonable in that it checks several things. Maybe it's not exactly so, but try it out and complete GW at a different time.

When I started playing nobody was level 60 but I already faced level 60 in GW. Somehow they must pre populate thigs

When I was lower 40s i faced essier teams. I don't think level 40s fave any epic gear 60!teams. Sonit can't be just randomly assigned. There's something else.

I never recognize any name in GW. I don't encounter same names than in my team. I wonder why, but sometimes I face an enemy with a chinese name (kanji). After more that 400 GW battles i should have crossed paths... Donyou encounter people you know?

Hardest battles are always immediately or between Tokenn rewards. I never ever face an easy team for reward and after getting credit face the epic team. Near the end this relaxes and I might get the toughedt player at battle 10 or 11. But before that, the battle eith Tokens is always a pike in difficulty.

xylitol0524

It's scaling with average of your top units

It's clearly scaled based on the top x members of your roster (most likely top 5) with a HUGE RANGE for potential power level of teams you could encounter. The teams ABOVE your power level seem to begin at around battle 6 or 7 but sometimes as early as 3 or 4.

ThePedroKid

At 47 my second to last GW group was all level 57's with two of them purple gear level. It was a total '**** moment'. I prevailed, barely. But, it was entirely insane to have that kind of group against me.

J7000

TheVinegru wrote: »

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

You say this with as much confidence as Liam Neeson on the phone from the movie, "Taken", lol. SO is this a theory or are you a developer for the game?

I just reread that in Liam's voice. It sounds interesting and I might see if it works.

zextasy

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

Are you 100% sure? I had assumed it had something to do with arena rankings and the three for each subset were picked depending on your current ranking. Eg nodes 1-3 would pick from maybe 3 levels below you (if you're ranked top 100, then from the 1000s or so I think) and so on, nodes 9-12 pick from those right around you. Basically the three you would see in an arena battle selection.

Zekex

It's scaling with average of your top units

zextasy wrote: »

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

Are you 100% sure? I had assumed it had something to do with arena rankings and the three for each subset were picked depending on your current ranking. Eg nodes 1-3 would pick from maybe 3 levels below you (if you're ranked top 100, then from the 1000s or so I think) and so on, nodes 9-12 pick from those right around you. Basically the three you would see in an arena battle selection.

Take whatever theory you find on the forums with a grain of salt. Correlation does not necessarily imply a causal relationship.

It's like getting a full score on an exam everytime you wear your lucky underwear. You may correlate your success to how you dress but you certainly can't establish a causal relationship between your undergarment and your scores.

It would be nice if we could get a word from the developers on this though. I'm very curious on how the pairing system is designed

SolidSnake

It's scaling with average of your top units

DarthSamJackson wrote: »

Great post. Would you care to elaborate on how you built your team - ie. Focusing on starring up your top 5 ASAP or building your roster slowly and uniformly? If the scaling is done by average team strength, then having a lot of weak units and a few beast units will help. If it scales by the top 5 units, then having a evenly balanced roster is the way to go.

I'm at a crossroads in GW. I've won 5 straight fairly easily and at L47 I will have Lumi to 5* today. I'm conflicted about continuing Lumi to 6* vs starting Phasma and what impact this would have to my ease in GW.

I'm more lean toward focusing,yet I try to get the those I use for various situation especially pvp and GW to be as effective as possible. That's why for me I got my top 5, then another 3 that following and the rest are left as they are.

BTW, I think that if it scales with top5, balance roster is POSSIBLE with no penalty but still give you the same result with the scaling as building team with outliner

Pilot wrote: »

Here is how GW works (I'll be brief):

Nodes 1 - 4 are computer generated based on your player level.
Nodes 5-12 are pot luck draws from everyone who has completed that node.
So, if you get to Node 5, you will draw at random someone from a pool of all players who have beat node 5. Evidence of this is found in some of the team compositions you'll encounter where someone struggling to pass Node 9 used 3 level 1 heroes along with his two remaining strong heroes, and was able to pass the node. If you draw this player for your node 9 match, you'll laugh with relief. It happens.

To take advantage of this system, and to give you a better chance of being matched with easier opponents, do GW as late as you can. This way, you are more likely to face struggling teams who are pecking their way through. If you take on the GW challenge as soon as it is available for refresh, your most likely pulling from softlaunch players who quickly dominated their way through. OF COURSE, time zones factor into this, as the player pool is in constant rotation as each time zone passes. I find that the easiest time zone to find matches in is around 11am CST, and the hardest times are between 12-1am CST.

That's interesting, mind if I edit that to the topic and add it to the poll?

edit: nevermind, turned out I can't add anything else to the poll.

Zekex wrote: »

Take whatever theory you find on the forums with a grain of salt. Correlation does not necessarily imply a causal relationship.

It's like getting a full score on an exam everytime you wear your lucky underwear. You may correlate your success to how you dress but you certainly can't establish a causal relationship between your undergarment and your scores.

It would be nice if we could get a word from the developers on this though. I'm very curious on how the pairing system is designed

Great statement! That's actually the purpose of this thread, I completely agree that forming a theory alone isn't going to yield validity, that's why I want to encourage everyone to either vote on what congruent with you experience or give your own theory. I know there're a lot of factors that influence the vote other than pure experience and we'll probably never reach the actual fact, but with enough sample size it's going to be a considerable information.

zextasy

I will test my theory when I get into the top ten (or 20) on my server, cos I can see a list of the top 200 players and compare. I will post any findings here...

Pilot

The "servers" as we call them, are actually "shards" and not servers. There is only 1 server, where all of the "shards" exist. GW pulls from the servers pool of players, and not from any particular shard.

Heronmar

It's scaling with average of your top units

My findings on GW,

Pilot wrote: »

The "servers" as we call them, are actually "shards" and not servers. There is only 1 server, where all of the "shards" exist. GW pulls from the servers pool of players, and not from any particular shard.

This guy is correct as I've never seen one of the top teams in my shard in my GW, I have all their teams written down.

And regarding scaling, I'm absolutely certain it is based on the highest 5 power of your toons. I used to think that GW scaled from -25% power to +25% power but right now I'm think that it starts off with -25% power but scales up to your total power as I haven't seen teams that are 22-23k power in my GW (I'm about 18k) even though I regularly battle them in arena to see what their HP/damage should be with higher power rating.

MasterTamias

Other theory (please share)

Pilot wrote: »

The "servers" as we call them, are actually "shards" and not servers. There is only 1 server, where all of the "shards" exist. GW pulls from the servers pool of players, and not from any particular shard.

So if the majority population of this game is based on US players, the easiest time for one to beat GW is 11:00 pm CST since US players refresh at 12:00am and strong teams tend to do them after refresh.
Is that correct?

Pilot

Soft Launch is primarily in Australia. So you could look at it as 9 am EST (8 am CST) as being the point where Australian GW resets. Between 9 am through 3 pm EST (8 am to 2 pm CST) are your best chances to find easy opponents. During this time-frame, you rule out most Soft Launch players, and face the most "struggling" players in GW.