Hi guys,

Started playing a bit after a year off (I do this on and off).
I've found a couple of servers with nice and clean racing with cars that I enjoy.
However, I got reminded of the same "problem" that was apparent the last time I played LFS.

Many people drop out of the 4/5-lap races if they have a spin, instead of keeping on going.

A simple way to cure this problem would be if it's possible to have the servers running a mini-league of say 4-5 races that immediately start over when the last race has been driven.
On average, you'd have to drive a couple of races before being able to participate in a full league.

I'm struggling to find any negative aspects of this on any server that simply runs the same track over and over anyway. Am I missing something?

As far as I know, a Linux-server does not exist. If it did, I'd probably be hacking away on such functionality (given that the server has proper APIs to allow such an extension).

You can run a server on a linux box by using wine, there's instructions in the wiki/manual.

Airio can support grouping races into small leagues I think, running daily/weekly/etc.
Might be worth looking into this before reinventing the wheel

Yes, I'd think there should be something like that available already, I just find it strange that it's not the norm, if that's the case.

When it comes to Wine, I'm not sure I want to do that.
Maybe I'll play around on the LFS-machine though, but it's less likely..

If people know this is being used, please do speak up.

Quote from Faultygearbox :

A simple way to cure this problem would be if it's possible to have the servers running a mini-league of say 4-5 races that immediately start over when the last race has been driven.

I'm on it already!

It'll be a true rolling league where the last X results count towards the league
table, no matter when those results are achieved... with a small decay to stop people resting on a good position forever.

It's not there yet, but it's all coming together quite nicely. A couple/few more weeks to go before the first scrappy-but-useful version is running. You can read all sorts of grand plans and wishful thinking on the holding page at http://piran.co.uk/ , but the rolling league is the part I'm doing first

cargame.nl has a few servers with races that last about 15min which are very fun.

I really like the S1 server for some TBO action

Quote from Racon :

I'm on it already!

It'll be a true rolling league where the last X results count towards the league
table, no matter when those results are achieved... with a small decay to stop people resting on a good position forever.

It's not there yet, but it's all coming together quite nicely. A couple/few more weeks to go before the first scrappy-but-useful version is running. You can read all sorts of grand plans and wishful thinking on the holding page at http://piran.co.uk/ , but the rolling league is the part I'm doing first

Hi Racon!

It's good to hear that something like that is going on, but from the sound of it, please forgive me if I'm mistaken, it seems to be more of a high-score table in "streaks" ?
i.e.:

1. Mr. Dude [p1, p1, p1, p2, p1, p3, p1, p1...]
2. Mr. Second [p2, p2, p2, p1, p1, p2, p3]
etc..

...regardless of how the result is presented (a total score, average position, etc).
I'd almost accept it if weren't that offline-guys also occupy the spots...

What I'm after is that all involved racers really feel that those they are racing against at that very moment has some kind of bigger connection to you than being moving chicanes.
Imagine building up the feeling "Okay, I need a second place to still have a shot at winning it all"... and the grand finale of "I just need to finish in front of x to...".

Of course, the 'real' racers among you would say "what do you mean 'just'? Why not push as hard as you can every race?".
Personally, I like the excitement and flexibility of a league and the room for strategy when it comes to adjusting the level aggressiveness on each and every race.

Maybe it's possible to simply add this mode to whatever it is you are creating?

Infact, when I think about it, the "Streak"-thing could be represented simultaneously with the league. A table of "Racers that currently are in the best shape".

So there wouldn't even have to be any need for selecting a mode for a server. Could do both.
And in that case, it would be perfectly fine to even show offline-racers.

Thanks for your feedback!

I'm aiming mainly for the community aspect - I'm not one for tolerating fuss and nonsense, so we'll be pared down to 'the right kind of people' fairly quickly I think, and that's more than half the battle IMHO. Experience from the GDC agrees - everyone there is deserving of the gentleman tag, and it makes all the difference in the world.

I've been giving the mechanics of the rolling league a lot of thought, and I have a couple of ideas to try to keep it going in the right direction. I've learned loads of tricks from the way MMORPGs balance the things they need to balance. There'll be a fair bit of tinkering to do to get Piran's balance right, but it'll only be a matter of trial and error for a few parameters. I think it's doable as long as I can keep a decent size of grid around while I'm tinkering

I like the idea of splitting out online/offline players in the table - but it's easier to do both and let everyone choose their own preference. Expect that as a feature

The events will eventually take up the slack for those that really don't get on with the rolling league - they'll be more akin to your single-day open competition type thing, and can be made up of multiple races/knockout stages etc. That part is working on paper, I just need real life to stop needing me quite so much

Thanks for telling what's in the pipeline!

It sounds like you have quite a project going on there..
Also, it suggests that what it is I am looking for (or at least, something along those lines) will be tied to servers within a specific community?

I might have to take a look at whether or not I could be bothered to implement what I was asking for myself.

I do indeed understand your problem - or dilemma sort of. Have felt the exact same thing.
If not already being part of a good league community I think the best way to avoid having people quit after 3 laps when not in the prospect of winning is to gather a small community with friends and set up weekly events with practice run-ups so all can see how they're doing.

We had an extraordinary example running last year called UFR Challenge hosted by "alquimista". It took about 1-2 months to build up a small community that were respecting eachother to the point that no one quit the events midrace. Perhaps we can do this over again as we still keep in contact although the server is down for the moment (racing RSRBR and pCARS for now).

Hopefully you'll find the right spot soon enough!

Thanks for the reply Ingolf!

Being in a community/league would obviously be the ultimate thing, but I'm not sure that I have the possibility for such commitment (racing specific hours).

There are probably communities where "drop-in" works too to some extent if there's a number of hardcore players who happen to be racing most of their time? But that would also suggest a rather small group and few opportunities to grand races during random times.

A year ago, I ran Redline a lot, which is a fantastic place as it's open for the masses, but have great admins that clean things up. So, the only problem that exists is what I mentioned, and I strongly believe it can be fixed (or at least, massively reduced) with the proposed system.
Today, I haven't really found any stick-to server, only played for during two occasions during the last week. Also, if time allows, I thought I might give an absolute-beginners.net race a go tomorrow evening (sunday).
But really, I'm after that sensation of seriousness any time I log on to LFS.