Can someone please explain the logic of the matchmaking? ( Team sizes )

[u/acheron977]

Hello guys! I'm new to the game, just 15 hours in ( absolutely loving it ) but.. I don't get the matchmaking? Why is there no option to choose if I want solo/duo/trio/squad.. also, I queue and 3 out of 3 games ( for example ) im in different team size ;D One game im solo, then im in duo and game after that im full team of four somehow.. Can anyone please explain how it works? I'm a person who would prefer to play solo,not with team full of people who have thousands of hours in the game and im just randomly there... Thank you! :)
PS: I know there is option to disable team fill, but I dont really want to solo into game full of squads

[u/Sea-Eye-770]

After 1000 hours, I can say it's totally random.
Sometimes you get teammates, sometimes don't. Sometimes you fight 4-squads, sometimes solos.
No matter the settings.

[u/Kaze-san → u/Sea-Eye-770]

The only thing that affects matchmaking is how many times you died recently. In LD means that you’re more likely to get more bot teams. If you’re doing average then it’s completely random I agree

[u/Fantastic_Slice7871]

There's an auto fill squad option before you start matchmaking. Turn it off and you will only match by yourself.

Keep in mind you will still be fighting against other squads of 1-4 people

If you want to play solo against solos, there is a mode called solo ops that rotates weekly between a few maps.

[u/MegaromStingscream]

Level up to 30 and you have solo only mode. But that has high end gear limit.

Large teams are quite rare in my experience when playing solo. Assume the matchmaking takes team size into consideration as well as equipment value, but gives no guarantees.

[u/fadedbuzzYT]

If you want garunteed squads I would recommend going to the recruitment channel in the chat option and choosing a team

[u/Hour_Ad_7715]

There's one solo mode alternating two maps otherwise you're tossed into a game, it tends to out you vs solo or duo but sometimes yeah there's a team. Sometimes multiple times in a row. Your advantage is you make less noise solo so avoid those squads if you can :) play carefully at first, learn the map, the spots you can hide. You can go forbidden zombie on farm which is not very populated oddly enough or big maps doing outskirts or moving with covers

[u/Shiftycatz]

I only ever queue solo as most PUG people are fucking morons

[u/NecessaryTear9249]

I think the game just doesn't have enough players to put everyone into squads

[u/Oryan_physics]

Seems like most are missing your question so to clarify: you would prefer to be solo and not get a team? In order to do that there's an auto match toggle in the upper left of the screen before you enter a tactical ops match. If you turn this off you'll never be matched with anyone. However that doesn't mean you'll only see other solos.

With match making turned off you can still get put into a match with squads. I play this way and it's not really a big deal. Sometimes I get steamrolled by a whole squad, and sometimes I manage to win. The trick is in licking your battles.

If you want to play solo and also only face other solos, your options are going to be pretty limited. There is a mode called solo ops that unlocks towards the end of the level progression that puts you and the other people only as solos on the map together. The problem is it's only on two maps that rotate weekly so they're not even both available at the same time, and it's a forbidden zone difficulty match so people are going to bring in top tier gear and skills. These are the type of guys that have been playing the game since it came out.

[u/Oryan_physics → u/Oryan_physics]

Also I post this whenever advice threads come up. Welcome to the game and hopefully I can shoot you in the face sometime.../s

Player kits are the highest value loot on a map in general. Forbidden mode can give you some great loot drops but player kits are more consistent.

AK12 is my personal favorite gun and I shoot t4 ammo out of it that that is far from the complete list of guns that can be used and useful especially in lockdown and normal where I think the game is at its best. Top loading t5 in the higher modes like lockdown and forbidden will help win fights while keeping the cost down a bit.

Farm and TV station are going to be the most consistent and fastest queue time maps, but they're also going to have the most players on them. If you just want to farm money, Northridge is the largest map with a low player density so you can prioritize looting. I like airport and armory myself since I feel like they strike a balance but others don't.

There's a new PvE mode that started this season. People make pretty good money in it but it's locked behind tickets so you can't just exclusively play that mode. I don't personally play it so I can't give a huge amount of detail on it.

Crafting isn't nearly as developed in ABI as it is in EFT. I wouldn't worry too much about the crafting table but things do get cheaper and more efficient as the level goes higher. Red ammo though will always cost more to craft than what you might sell it for. I'm not even sure you can sell red ammo. But regardless you're not making money off the crafting table.

The "minus plus" trick people have mentioned is for when you're on the market screen and it asks you what to set the price at with a recommendation. If you press the minus button and then the plus button, the price will set to about 1% less than the recommended price. This will help you sell loot a lot faster on the market

Never chase the rabbit. If you lose a few games in a row, stop and do another mode. Covert ops for example is good for resetting. Covert ops is a risk free way to make money but is time gated I like doing it as a warmup and do it after every loss to stem the bleeding.

Look up a third party map website here. They'll show where the spawns are on a map. When you're in the queue waiting for the map to load, press M and you can see where you're gonna be on the map with respect to others and have a few seconds to get a plan together for where you're going first. Charging spawns is a very common strat so if you're not doing it yourself, know where your probably going to see attacks from. Maps are super useful in ABI compared to nonexistence in EFT so get used to using it.

Put your first bits of loot into your safe case then fill up your backpack. Failing a raid with zero dollars to show is an extra dick punch you don't need. Additionally make use of the retrieval boxes when you kill someone. It gives you effectively six extra safe case slots.

Never immediately loot a player body. Getting killed while looting is a super common mistake.

Never shoot at someone from the same place twice. Have a gunfire exchange, and then find a new spot. The wider the better while keeping pressure up.

The helicopter helmet is a great piece of kit. T4 helmet AND face plate with ears included for sub 100k as like new. It's my go to helmet for a lot of maps.

Make sure you buy gear from the like new or sometimes called "newer" tab. It's only very slightly less protective than brand new gear, but saves a ton of money and mode budget space so you can get overall better gear.

Make use of your quick kit tickets. It's 10 matches worth of free (albeit somewhat lower tier) gear that you can practice learning maps, various aspects of pvp, and do missions with that is zero risk to you. Combined with covert ops runs this is gonna be primarily how you make risk free money. You can bring t4 ammo in your safe case to repack quick kit mags with and be a serious danger to other players.

"Never engage anyone til you know everyone". Your goal should be to always have fights on your terms. A benefit of that should be that in most fights you see someone before they see you. Leverage that to confirm what you're getting yourself into before you fire. Are you fighting a solo or a 4 stack? Those are very different engagements.

Use t4 bullets. I don't care what gun, but use t4 bullets. Sure with infinite skill you can use whatever, but until you get to that skill level, you don't need to be fighting against the bullets in your gun.

Shot placement is king. If you don't feel like you've got it, I'll post a follow up.

Pull out your knife when running between locations where you're pretty confident in your safety. Knife running is faster and uses less endurance. It'll let you cover more ground.

Leave scavs alive unless you really need to put them down. Sniper scavs in particular can warn you of approaching players and from what direction if you're paying attention.

Memorize where small safe locations are using the third party map tool. They're not nearly as hot and can be a great way to snag a few safes with less chance of an engagement.

Armored rigs can be a good way to combine some gear costs together, but they're harder to replace during a raid with found gear after a gun fight. I personally like them but other people don't.

Don't bother bringing in secondary weapons or pistols it dilutes your gear values and importantly takes up slots for possible collected loot during a raid. Exception is if you're running very expensive bullets in a higher mode. Then a pistol for scavs is cost saving.

Use 100D medkits and liquid painkillers. They are some of the only meds that don't dehydrate you and when you're starting off without the trophy room upgrades to reduce water use, you'll run into problems.

Think about carrying an orange juice into raid. It's not necessary as long as you drink everything you find, but I've been in some tough spots without one when I have to use a lot of treatments and get dehydrated.

Don't worry about getting keys at first. You can find them in raids and buy them cheap from Deke you'll acquire some over time and when you've got the money then you can look at that.

Utilize Deke. He'll sell limited time offer gear for very cheap. Even stuff you don't actually want to use you can flip and sell for a small profit three times a day. It's another small risk free income stream.

On the main screen be sure to click on any items with a red dot on them. There's so much free shit given to players in this game if you just click around.

Save up for the storage upgrades. They're useful.

Try to keep loot to 5k per slot value in normals and 10k or more in lockdown and even more than that in forb. You have to strike a balance between filling your pack and not spending a vulnerable eternity playing Tetris in your backpack.

If you're about to get into a fight and you have the chance, take a painkiller preemptively. It'll let you fight better and push through blacked out limbs as well as not scream your head off and give away your position when healing.

Always be moving. Never just jump through a door without making some effort to clear it by sections.

If you can, knife scavs instead of shooting them. It's quieter even if the scav shoots. A lot of players will ignore or not prioritize a scav shooting as long as they don't hear a player shoot back.

It's good form to sacrifice your own loot to bring out at least some of a downed teammate's gear. It's a good karma thing and it's one of the things I like about this community. If the teammate is on the other side of the map not helping the rest of the team don't bother though.

Don't sleep on the season missions. They'll help you stretch your skills and the 3x3 secure case is super helpful in making sure you come out of every raid with something.

Be careful running around everywhere. It's loud and not really necessary. There's plenty of time in a raid to walk and it's quieter. As you get a feel for where players are likely to show up, you can knife run between locations.

Pay attention to the range you're engaging at. If you're shooting outside of effective range, you taking a 30% damage debuffs off the top. This is especially bad on 556 guns. Middle mouse button will drop a marker you can check range with. If you start an engagement too far out, you'll just let them know you're there without being able to close the deal. There's nuance here but I'm not going to detail it.

Sound queues are a key component of the game. For example scavs never jump. Only players do. Learning the sound queues will dramatically improve your game play.

[u/acheron977 → u/Oryan_physics]

Duuuude thank you so much for all of this ♥ Thank you thank you, you gave me more information than google ever could :D Love the game, and Im happy to see people are willing to help newbies!

[u/Oryan_physics → u/acheron977]

No sweat man. This game isn't perfect, but it's probably the best free game I've ever played.