Task Force Patch Notes — November 1, 2024
Aggregated from Steam, cross-tracked with Battle.net coverage on GamePatchNote.
This is probably one of the most important updates we've ever made. Not to be too overdramatic or emotional, but having an automated ladder system was the entire dream of this game from the get-go. You see, this game started off as a mod on Insurgency called Resurgence. It was a total conversion mod for Insurgency that created an entire 3rd person mode along with a robust server infrastructure that offered stats, rankings, and a custom clan ladder. We had our own website where players could register their clans, send/accept challenges, and schedule ladder matches.
These players would then join any set of "war servers" where they could type "!ready" in the chat, and if the remote website could find a scheduled match, it would reserve the "war server" for that match, almost like going to a basketball court in a public park and starting up a game. It would download the entire roster list, prevent any players that weren't on the rosters from joining the server, and automate the entire match process. You couldn't switch teams, the maps were already preset, and everything just ran according to the rules of the ladder.
However, this system was very limiting because it required a set of pre-allocated servers to basically just "sit around" waiting for people to claim them. It wasn't scalable, and couldn't be rolled out on a mass scale. But it was literally at this exact moment that we saw the future of what we were trying to create. It was essentially the complete merger of both SOCOM and GameBattles, where clans could play ladder matches without the need to have the losing team "report the loss" or require a staff of admins/referees just to deal with all that bullshit.
And it is today that we finally have the modern re-creation of this system, one that we pioneered over 9 years ago on Resurgence, fully working and integrated into OUR OWN GAME BUILT FROM SCRATCH...Task Force! So without further ado, we present to you, the Task Force Competitive Ladder System!!!
We've setup an entirely temporary system that allows complete access to the ladder via a Discord Bot. That means you can access the ladder even while on-the-go from anywhere, using the Discord mobile app. This system will eventually be integrated into the game itself, with custom menus, ect.
You start by registering a team using the `/register` command in the chat. You can create any type of team you wish, whether it's an entire clan, squads team, doubles team, or singles profile. If you're registering a clan, you can reserve a clan tag on the ladder that NO OTHER TEAM CAN USE. It will be unique to your clan, and only members of your clan will have this tag.
You can then send roster invites to other players in the game using their Steam IDs:
You can use the `/roster list` command to view your roster for a specific ladder type:
You can also promote members to "admins" so that they can send/accept challenges and schedule matches for your team, since basic members do not have the ability to manage your clan (and can only play in scheduled matches). Most importantly, to reduce the abuse of "ringers" you must register a player 12 hours in advance prior to a match for them to be on the roster for that match.
You can view the current stats/ranking of your team using the `/team profile` command:
Once you post on the match finder and organize a scheduled match with another team, you can send them a "challenge" using the `/challenge send` command:
The opposing team can then "accept" this challenge using the `/challenge accept` command:
Once a challenge is accepted, an official match will be scheduled on the ladder. You can check the upcoming matches for your team using the `/match schedule` command:
Now that a match is scheduled, here is where the real magic happens! When it's close to the time for your match, our entirely AUTOMATED SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE will just create a server for your match, INSTANTLY! We've setup an entire geo-location service that calculates the optimal location for the server, based on the location of all the players on each roster:
It will automatically cross-reference this information with your entire team along with the entire opposing team in order to select the most optimal server location for everyone in the match:
You just boot up the game right before your match is scheduled to start, and you'll see a server for your teams. Nobody else can join this server, it's completely restricted to only the authorized players on each rosters, so no password or anything is required to join:
Once in the match server you'll be in a temporary "respawn lobby" where everyone is waiting for the match to start. You can go to the "players" screen to see a bunch of "green up" icons, where each player has to "green up" in order to start the match. After every player in the game is ready, the match will start:
Then you just play out the entire match, without worrying about anything! After the match is over, all the stats data will be logged for the match, including the final outcome of which teams won/lost. The losing team DOES NOT need to head over to the website to "report the loss" it just does everything automatically:
Once the match is over, the server will be automatically destroyed after 5 minutes, so that more servers can be created for upcoming matches. And that's it! The process is really that simple, it's an entirely AUTOMATED LADDER SYSTEM!!! Just the way we dreamed of it many years ago, now finally ready for testing! If you want to get in early and help test the new ladder system, be sure to join the official Task Force Discord for more information: discord.gg/zGha2gtFzX