I saw an idea in an AoEZone post by that I rather like (thanks to asdf for the suggestion). Since most games of Aoe2 were played using random civs, it would be nice to consider adding a “Prefer Random” option or checkbox when picking civs. I have a couple of ideas for how the system could work (at least for 1v1s).
Option 1:
- All players both pick a civ and choose whether or not to select the “Prefer Random” option.
- If both players prefer random, then the players get random civs.
- If one of the players doesn’t prefer random, then the players use the civs they picked.
And if random civs are used, the players would need to be informed of this before starting the match, so they know they won’t end up using their selected civ.
Option 2:
- Before picking any civs, both players have an option of “Prefer Random” or “Pick Civ” (could be toggle-able while waiting during matchmaking, so there isn’t any wait time after being matched).
- If both players pick “Prefer Random”, then they go straight to the game.
- If either player picks “Pick Civ”, then they go to the civ select screen, as is done currently.
The selection system could also be inverted, where random civs are used if either player selects the option, rather than both players.
This feature would keep everyone in the same matchmaking pool (rather than splitting it among, say people playing random civs and others playing pick civ). And it address the issue where players are wary of picking random civ, because they don’t want to get a bad civilization matchup against someone who picked a civ explicitly.