Dear Voobly Team,

I’d like to raise a concern about the current imbalance of civilizations, which has been an issue for at least a week now. Playing in this state often takes away the enjoyment, as entire evenings feel wasted. It’s particularly frustrating that out of ten games, maybe one is somewhat balanced – this just can’t be how it’s meant to be.

Could you please clarify what the issue might be? Is the format (FMT) perhaps not intended by the developers, or could this be a hack affecting matchmaking or balancing?

I’d appreciate any insights or solutions, as it’s becoming difficult to stay motivated under these conditions.

Thank you in advance for your response.

Best regards,

Random civ does not mean the match is actually balanced. You should consider playing mirror instead!

Dear Voobly Team,

Thank you for your suggestion regarding mirror matches. However, I believe the diversity of civilizations is what gives the game its spirit. Often, overcoming an "outcived" situation brings the greatest satisfaction – the challenge of breaking free from an apparent disadvantage and still managing to win. That’s part of what makes the game enjoyable.

That said, your response doesn’t address my main concern. My question wasn’t about finding a way to avoid outcived games but rather understanding why, out of approximately 100 games, over 90 are unbalanced. This hasn’t always been the case, but recently, it has become more noticeable.

Could this be due to a programming issue? Is the FMT (format) potentially causing conflicts with the developers’ intended balance? Or could it be the result of a hack affecting matchmaking or civilization assignment?

I’d appreciate clarification or insights into the root cause of this issue. It’s not about avoiding challenges, but ensuring that the game remains fair and enjoyable for all players.

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

Best regards,

Random means the civs are selected randomly, there is no such feature that would balance the game or its civs. The game was released in 1999, so not sure what you expect from a game that is already 25 years old. Another problem is, that the balance often depends on the map and what you are playing (RM, DM, CS) and changes even more in team games with four, six or eight players.

What are you trying to achieve anyway?

I've been playing this game for 25 years, since the very beginning. I've also been playing on Voobly for several years now. Sometimes there are months where you can't really complain about the civs, and other times, even on a daily basis, things aren't going great. But when it goes on for a week, and almost no decent games come together, something must have happened to make the civs play out like they do. Statistically, it can't be pure coincidence that suddenly only unbalanced games are happening when, before, things were generally okay.

It's still the same old algorithm released by Microsoft in 1999, we never touched it.

Playing Castle Blood including CBA with random civs is simply stupid. The match is balanced as long as the civs are mirrored.

When playing RM there is no out civ generally.
When playing CBA it’s a different story because it’s not how the game was intended.
You may see up trends or down trends in your mind but it’s pure luck of draw.

Reminds of all those complaints where people request to have their 1v1 CBA Hero matches reset... they either had the better civ and complain about their opponent camping or vice versa, they lost, because their opponent had the better civ which is of course "unfair". *sigh*