Skill rating#
The servers keep their own skill rating, NSELO2, separate from the official Hive skill. After each round every player gets a chat message with their rating change, and the full details are on NS2Stats. Ratings feed the shuffle and the skill tier shown on the scoreboard; there are also Tier 8 and Tier 9 above the vanilla maximum, plus commander tier insignias.
How the shuffle works#
On the main server, teams are shuffled before a round when enough players are present (or when players vote for it). The shuffle:
- Builds several random team splits and improves each one, trying to respect what players want (their team preference and friend groups).
- Looks at how long each player has been denied their preferred team. Players who keep getting the team they did not want are favoured next time.
- Keeps players in the same enemy group apart.
- Among the best candidates, picks the split whose predicted win chance is closest to 50% using NSELO2.
So your door choice in the ready room still matters: it is your preference, and a long streak of being moved makes the shuffle more likely to honour it.
Enemy groups#
Don't want to be on the same team as someone? Add them to your enemy group: hover their name on the scoreboard and choose Add to enemy group, or type !enemyadd <name>. The shuffle tries to put you on opposite teams. Enemy groups only last while both of you are connected (and across a map change).
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
!enemygroup | List |
!enemyadd <player> | Add |
!enemyremove <player> | Remove |
!enemyclear | Clear |
Friend groups#
Shine's friend groups (from the scoreboard) let players ask to be on the same team. Large friend groups are harder to balance and may be split.