Faction statistics: Popularity vs. Efficiency

The video mostly aligns with the infographics that CB provided. It also shows that some factions have a wide range of used units versus others that just nearly always use the same thing. It is a good watch.

This data also points that CJC and Nomads in general are not overperforming in reported ITS. In fact, Nomads are roughly doing as well as Yujing and some of PanO. Aleph, Arianda, CA and Hassassins are doing great, though.

EDIT: Note that I am NOT saying that Nomads are underpowered. Just noting in tournament environments they are generally not performing as well as Aleph, Arianda, Vanilla CA, and Hassassins. They seem to be difficult to pilot to a tournament victory.

 

Can someone do a summary? Most popular, most wining, etc.

 

Sample size too small, for proper indications.
Small indication CA, Aleph and Hassassin Bahram are the winningest. Some indication QK are the losingest.
JSA shows some indications of being a very common as people's +1 faction. Most NA2 being fairly unpopular. Really no surprises in popularity; it's all fairly even. Maybe a small overrepresentation of Combined, possibly because Australians seem to love playing Combined. Like almost silly overrepresentation of Combined over there.

There's also commentary on faction "health" where factions with many often-taken units can be considered to have low health, which is frankly so many that I can't give you any that really stand out. What stands out is that using this metric Yu Jing and ISS have exceptional "health" where only Kuang Shi are taken a lot.

Also, seems people don't use Guided Missiles all that much.

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But bottom line is that people don't send in lists. That's the only really solid metric and take away. With under 60% of people submitting lists (or OTM accepting the lists), there's a lot of data missing.

 

VINDICATION. Fact is nomads aren't that good, if people lose against them it's because they suck at the game.

 

As I've explained in a lot of places now, Nomads are *really* good at shutting out factions/lists that don't exploit their weaknesses. A lot of the complainers about Nomads tend to be from the factions which have no or few options to deal with oppressive Hacking or dense midfield control. PanO in particular suffers heavily in that matchup- I'd really struggle to beat even a newer player with the stereotypical Correggidor netlist if I were using anything but a tailored list, and I've played against that one list archetype more than anything else in N4 put together. Nomads would face an uphill battle against the top factions though- they can all deal with Nomad tricks efficiently while having access to superior firepower.

 

This is Post #66. Starting with post #7 the great Nomad faction was the subject of matter in 36 posts and was at least direct or inderect mentioned in 4 more, making them the most dominant topic in a general subforum

Ladies, Gentlemen and forum members of all genders, once again the great Nomad faction took over a whole thread, showing all this other feeble attempts of playable factions who the real hyperpower is in this circus.

 

Headchime and the gang put together a great video there. The middling success of Nomads & CJC is probably the biggest surprise for me - I'm one of the people that thought they were performing much better than they actually have been in tournaments.

 

Is there anybody to show chart by chart this evaluation. I cant watch the video at all. It is too long for a guy with a family.

 

While all the information is good, if you start at 20 minutes in, they go over the Factions performances for roughly 15 minutes.

 

I'd suspect that the perceived power of nomads makes them more popular with new players, or weaker players who think a strong faction will help cover their shortcomings, and this may partially weigh down nomads win rate. Although vanilla CA should be getting the same treatment and aren't. I guess its possible that this does happen to CA too, it's just a strong enough faction that it actually does work as a crutch for less skilled players

 

Issue with Nomads isn't that they're overpowered, but that they're overengineered. There's a visible difference in how much more enthusiasm goes into designing them, compared with designing other factions. They get the cool toys, like Gators, Sombras, Vostoks - some of these completely out of line with established Nomad vibe - while many sectorials wither on the wine. It's annoying, but not game-breaking. Another important distinction is that while it's easier to create a fun and strong list for Nomads than it is to create one for, say, PanO, it doesn't mean it's easier to play such list. The general rules framework is robust, and helps keeping the playing field fairly even. And finally, Nomads still have one important weakness, their command structure. They have few NCOs and Number 2s, no CoC, no powerful Lt's, no Strategos. And it's spot on fluffwise, I hope this won't change.

 

Don't forget excellent zoning tools with plenty of very low stakes peripherals, hacking, and perimeter, which also plays well with their fluff and shores up the weaknesses plenty.

Mostly they're frustrating to play against in a way only Tohaa can match.

 

But i was informed by a "Well-Known Member" that Nomads were routinely winning all the big tournaments despite never being told which tournaments they won! Shocker!!!

 

IDK, I think playing against nomads is a more fun, interactive experience than just getting shot up by someone spending 12 orders on a hac tao. It's cool watching somone spend orders on more than two units.

 

Sounds more like that's a local meta problem*, although the irony shouldn't be lost that Hac Tao is the single best attack piece Yu Jing has against goblin mode Nomads. Maybe they're just responding to a pervasive playstyle?

A player won't stop spending orders on something until that stops being the best means of success. If I can't come up with a response to a Szally, then there's nothing inherent about a Nomad list that'll make them stop spend orders on it. That's Infinity in a nutshell.

* Given the data we are discussing.

 

In my defense my Hac Tao was free to roam and not boxed outside an objective room and since he was determined to roll at least one critical in each burst well, why stop him there.

In retrospect he almost lost me the game because he almost killed too much....