(Using Entrenchment v1.02 on LAN)

Various issues with start locations are proving horribly annoying. We created a map for 3v3 play, and wanted to use it for a 2v3 game (2 humans vs 3 AI). Although the settings on the planets and players in GalaxyForge were correct (and we verified the .galaxy file to check it had the right info in it), the players wouldn't start at the right locations: the humans (Team 1, first two in the list in the game lobby) started in the right positions, but the AI, who were assigned to Team 2, ended up with one player on our side of the map despite that home planet being assigned for a Team 1 player. Moving the AI players to the bottom three slots produced the same result, proving that the GalaxyForge player numbers have no in-game meaning at all.

We then thought, OK if we can't make the AI go over to their side of the map, we'll just remove the home planet (so that the map now has two starting planets for Team 1 (GalaxyForge TeamIndex of 0) and three for Team 2 (TeamIndex 1)).  If only life was that simple! On creating the game, it positioned the host player on the THIRD SLOT DOWN - so that one human is forced to start on a Team 2 home planet (even with Team 1 selected)! With no way to change your slot in the game lobby, we eventually had to go back to 3v3, use a third PC and have a dummy player join the game then immediately leave.

Having read the other post about the inability to get suitable start locations for team play, I think the setup here has been very poorly thought out by the game's programmers. The following are clearly a must-fix for the next SoaSE/Entrenchment patch:

1) Interpret teams correctly. Take the first team number assigned to a player in the game lobby and assign all players with that team number to the smallest numbered team in the .galaxy file, then the second team number, and so on. Maybe have an option to randomise the start locations within a team. In our example, the two humans with Team 1 selected should have been positioned on/randomised between the three planets whose owners have TeamIndex = 0, and the three AI players that were given Team 2 should have been positioned on/randomised between the three planets whose owners have TeamIndex = 1.

2) Allow players to change their slot in the game lobby.

3) Always position the host in the first game lobby slot when the game is created.

I do hope something can be done about this - as other people have mentioned, this is a very frustrating issue for those wanting to play team games, and the code to fix it is no doubt very simple.

AlmightyHydra