Elo vs Actual Ability | How Do You See It?

[AlexHerbert]

Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand what “skill” really means in 0 A.D.
Ratings are often used to "balance" teams in group games, so I’d like to know what abilities actually correspond to each rating.
I’d like to know how you associate abilities with Elo ranges. For example:

• 1100–1200: What basics does a player handle well?
• 1300–1400: What additional skills or strategies have they added?
• 1500–1600: What have they perfected compared to lower ratings?
• 1700+: What makes a top-tier player stand out in terms of abilities?

The idea is to get a clearer picture of what each rating represents in practice, not just the number of win/losses.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Perzival12]

8 minutes ago, AlexHerbert said:

1100–1200: What basics does a player handle well?

As someone who is around this rating, I’d say that the basic skills are:

General understanding of the controls

Starting to learn how to have a self-sustained economy (doesn’t need micromanaged in order to get returns).

General knowledge of what techs and units to train over others.

General tactics (turtling and massive attacks)

[guerringuerrin]

26 minutes ago, AlexHerbert said:

 

Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand what “skill” really means in 0 A.D.
Ratings are often used to "balance" teams in group games, so I’d like to know what abilities actually correspond to each rating.
I’d like to know how you associate abilities with Elo ranges. For example:

• 1100–1200: What basics does a player handle well?
• 1300–1400: What additional skills or strategies have they added?
• 1500–1600: What have they perfected compared to lower ratings?
• 1700+: What makes a top-tier player stand out in terms of abilities?

The idea is to get a clearer picture of what each rating represents in practice, not just the number of win/losses.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

From what I’ve seen about how other players more or less define Elo ranges, I’ll go ahead and share my take on this:

1100–1200: Basic understanding of game mechanics. Basic/slow boom. Weak player, needs a strong carry to guide them. Poor game sense. Weak micro / low combat skill.

1300–1400: Intermediate understanding of game mechanics. Decent boom most of the time. Strong if left to boom, but probably weak against rushes. Limited ability to improvise. Decent game sense. Can rush, but at a high cost to their boom. Can have good micro / combat skills. Needs to be carried most of the times.

1500–1600: Advanced understanding of game mechanics. Consistent boom. Decent defense against rushes. Good ability to improvise and read the game. Can rush, but at the cost of delaying their boom. Good micro / combat skills. Can act as a carry in some matches.

1700+: Advanced understanding of game mechanics. Boom is always effective. Strong defense against rushes. Excellent improvisation and game sense. They can rush without significantly hurting their boom. Excellent micro / combat skills. Can always carry. Capable of deciding the outcome of the match.

Edited 21 hours ago by guerringuerrin
forgot rushing skills

[Deicide4u]

1100-1200: Pretty noob plays, always loses, except VS other noobs like him.

1300-1400: Can win if he really, really tries to, but still pretty noob.

1500-1600: Yeah, he is still a noob alright. Will lose a lot of 1v1 games, but win some 4v4s.

1700-1800: Finally starts winning some games, but it's still considered a noob by peers.

1800-2000+: A good player, someone who can be considered regular in 4v4s.

2000+: A literal God of 0 A.D., probably played the game since A17.

As you can see, there is a fine line between being good and being a God here  

Spoiler

I'm a SP player, don't listen to me about this, please. I am only joking.

[Emacz]

@Deicide4u I have a slight issue with your elo sysytem

2000+: A literal God of 0 A.D., probably played the game since A17.  - Ive been playing for a long time, maybe not a17, not really sure, but at least 10+ years off and on, but im still more in the nub stages, definitely not 2k

[AlexHerbert]

12 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

1100-1200: Pretty noob plays, always loses, except VS other noobs like him.

1300-1400: Can win if he really, really tries to, but still pretty noob.

1500-1600: Yeah, he is still a noob alright. Will lose a lot of 1v1 games, but win some 4v4s.

1700-1800: Finally starts winning some games, but it's still considered a noob by peers.

1800-2000+: A good player, someone who can be considered regular in 4v4s.

2000+: A literal God of 0 A.D., probably played the game since A17.

As you can see, there is a fine line between being good and being a God here  

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm a SP player, don't listen to me about this, please. I am only joking.

Thanks for the joke, it made me realize the calculation should weigh differently each skill mentioned by @guerringuerrin and @Perzival12, since some are considered more critical than others by the team  

Edited 8 hours ago by AlexHerbert
Language reasons

[AlexHerbert]

12 hours ago, Emacz said:

@Deicide4u I have a slight issue with your elo sysytem

2000+: A literal God of 0 A.D., probably played the game since A17.  - Ive been playing for a long time, maybe not a17, not really sure, but at least 10+ years off and on, but im still more in the nub stages, definitely not 2k

It happens, when too long without playing, can get rusty. 
(I have seen it even in top players)

Edited 7 hours ago by AlexHerbert
To add ( )

[guerringuerrin]

1 hour ago, AlexHerbert said:

Thanks for the joke, it made me realize the calculation should weigh differently each skill mentioned by @guerringuerrin and @Perzival12, since some are considered more critical than others by the team

Obviously, but the truth is that...

Spoiler

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by guerringuerrin

[AlexHerbert]

Just trying to get a real sense of my level for future tournaments, because honestly I don’t really know my rating and I’d rather not make one up 

Edited 6 hours ago by AlexHerbert
Forgot a word

[guerringuerrin]

3 hours ago, AlexHerbert said:

Just trying to get a real sense of my level for future tournaments, because honestly I don’t really know my rating and I’d rather not make one up 

My humble-noob advice is: start playing 1v1s and 1400+ TGs. People will start rating you, and you’ll be in shape sooner than you think 

[0 calories]

My 2 cents: Ratings is not that accurate as it seems until you get 2000 with 1000+ games

[BeTe]

For ELO to work near to correctly, you need matchmaking system. 

Otherwise, as guerringuerrin said, this is small community - you will find out your relative skill level by playing with others.

Btw, i'd not use ELO numbers, rather Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, etc. Or Level 1,2,3....

Edited 1 hour ago by BeTe

[Seleucids]

6 hours ago, AlexHerbert said:

Just trying to get a real sense of my level for future tournaments, because honestly I don’t really know my rating and I’d rather not make one up 

You are good enough for TGs and I know how to balance you. That's all that matters.