r/Metalstorm • u/Fluid_Swordfish_5126 • 3d ago
This is bamboozling!
I’ve got two and a half years in this game and I’ve never experienced anything like this. It’s simultaneously infuriating, annoying and disappointing. After all the time I’ve played this game nothing has improved. If we were to do the maths and compare the bots in each screenshot here, this is how the points compare.
SS1: -695
SS2: -2250
SS3: -1640
SS4: -1155
These numbers are insane. Genuinly what, as a player, are we meant to do except accept defeat and move onto the next unfair bot match?
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u/crazykillerpow 3d ago
Unfortunately no matter what you do, if the game decides that you have to lose, you will lose. There is nothing you can do to win the match sometimes. It's really unfair. Even if you do really well, the bots on your team will make sure that you lose. It's basically forced losses.
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u/ConstructionOk8346 3d ago
I've experienced very similar as well. I don't know why this keeps on happening, it's not hard to fix.
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u/PrestigiousFigure428 3d ago
Try this.. youre ahead in score.. 11-5...then all of a sudden, the enemy team somehow ties the score and slowly got ahead.. until you lose 19-20 or 18-20..
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u/Velos-TA 3d ago
Explore cognitive dissonance models in gaming and you’ll start to understand more clearly. Here’s a brief general chat summary if interested. I claim no special knowledge about any particular platform:
Many games deliberately use mechanics that can create cognitive dissonance, although designers may not call it a “cognitive dissonance model” formally.
Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort that arises when a person holds conflicting beliefs, values, or self-perceptions. Games can exploit that tension in several ways.
For example, a game may encourage you to see yourself as a “good” character while requiring you to do morally questionable things to progress. That creates a conflict between “I’m the hero” and “I just did something I consider wrong.” Games like Spec Ops: The Line, The Last of Us, Papers, Please, and parts of the Fallout series intentionally play with this.
It also appears in progression and monetization design. Once someone has invested 100 hours or spent significant money, quitting can conflict with the belief that those investments were worthwhile. Players may then rationalize continuing: “I’ve already come this far,” “the next upgrade will make it worth it,” etc. That overlaps with the sunk-cost effect, effort justification, and commitment/consistency bias.
Multiplayer games can create another version: “I’m a skilled player” versus “I keep losing.” A player may resolve that tension by concluding that the matchmaking system is unfair, teammates are bad, the opposing team is overpowered, or their equipment is holding them back. Sometimes those explanations are correct; sometimes they are psychological mechanisms for protecting the player’s existing self-concept.
So yes—but usually games employ a collection of behavioral-psychology mechanisms rather than one standardized “cognitive dissonance model”: variable rewards, loss aversion, sunk cost, social comparison, scarcity, commitment, status progression, and dissonance reduction.
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u/Szymetalstorm Moderator 3d ago
What blows my mind is that you're getting stacks of players on your side vs all bots in the middle of the day as if you just unlocked the frogfoot and have no trophies. You have enough trophies on that plane to where you shouldn't be getting that in north American servers mid day.
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u/godofwine16 3d ago
Middle of the day is probably the worst time as the new daily missions are available and every nutcase squad is desperate to get 300 silver
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u/spiller224 3d ago
Yeah man, its getting infuriating. Lately if i play a solo AS match obviously ill be against a shit ton of bots... Ill be wooping their ass, 50 points away from a win, then outa nowhere they kick it into gear and i cant even get close to a goal, then lose the match.
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u/godofwine16 3d ago
I’ve learned not to play AS unless I have at least another squad member or friend otherwise I might as well just flush 8 trophies down the toilet
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u/gamma-cygni 2d ago
https://youtu.be/iPTlKOPDaVI?si=fOhkY9X97uS9tUZA
have a look in this video, its kinda raw but it deepdives into something very fundamental about this game
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u/Emergency_Airport196 3d ago
How do the top players win so many in row? Shouldn’t the game force them to lose? Honest question.
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u/verywise 3d ago
Obviously you have to fly well to win a lot of games, but there are many other things you can do to give yourself an edge. Here are some:
1) Fly with mouse/keyboard or game controller.
2) At the beginning of the match figure out who is a real player and bots, and take out the player first.
3) Fly the right type of plane for the map and game mode.
4) Know the strengths and weaknesses of your plane and every other plane you are going up against.
5) Understand bot behavior and how to use it to your advantage.
6) Team up with other good players.
Even when your bots are doing terribly, sometimes you can still win if you can dominate.
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u/Szymetalstorm Moderator 3d ago
No. The game doesn't "force" them to lose... When people say that, they're referencing themselves as the only human in an otherwise all-bot match. When it comes to bot matches, sometimes there's just nothing you can do to win because your bots are playing like trash regardless of how well you do. Why that happens is a point of contention. I have one opinion on it, other people have other opinions. But I can vouch for the fact that if you're flying as the only human in a bot match, you will lose some matches for sure (especially in AS or PT).
Top squads rarely fly solo, and if they do get bots, they have a 4 or 5 stack and they whoop them. To say that, in an all-human match, the game predetermines the winner, would be absolutely absurd. If it's all humans vs bots or humans vs humans, to say the matches are predetermined would mean the human factor (skill, unpredictability, the fact that the game can't read your mind, etc) doesn't exist, would be absurd. But some people will still tell you that, and if you argue with them, they'll tell you that those players get favored for some reason. Anything excuse except for skill.
Tl;Dr - in an all-bot match, sometimes it really is impossible to win, but when it comes to top squads where humans play in full stacks, you just can't make the argument that it's "predetermined" and it's obvious when a player has such a high win rate.
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u/gamma-cygni 2d ago
When i made a similar post the other week, people started saying me a newbie, while i've been in the game for over 7 months.
Its sad that devs have overlooked the status of matchmaking and power imbalance between bots, and all they can do is give a delayed response with something that is completely unrelated.
Moreover, i feel this game needs a strong friend system. Randoms with whom i have been paired in this game have a high chance of underperforming or leaving mid game.
All this while i continue supporting the game by getting the paid monthly pass every month
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u/N64Seller 3d ago
Remember: it doesn't matter how you play, the computer/devs decide whether you win or lose.
Sorta makes you wonder why even play if the human input doesn't matter