Out4Blood has been playing Axis & Allies by Timegate Studios. It's still in beta, but Atari has partially lifted the NDA, so we can discuss the game in public.

I was never a big fan of the current statistics package that Timegate is using, even back when they started doing it for Kohan: Kings of War. It's just not that informative. But as Disraeli said: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." So let's do the best we can with what we've got...

Everyone seems to like playing with the USA. They are the most popular (29.5%) and they win the most (23.6%) so they must be the best, right? After all, nukes are "imbalanced."

Wrong.

Comparing the play % with the win % shows that the USA is actually the worst nation in terms of performance. By dividing the win % by 2 times the play %, we can determine the win rate, which helps us estimate the odds of winning with that nation, all else held equal (like player skill). Win rates for the nations:

61.1% - Great Britain
54.3% - Japan
51.8% - Russia
50.7% - Germany
40.0% - USA

Now, this is not 100% accurate. For instance, maybe newbies play USA and Germany, and only good players try playing Japan and Great Britain. But it does show what type of statistics you would want if you were REALLY interested in helping the community. Ahem... Timegate! And while yo're at it, how about win rates for the various generals. And how about win rates by nation by map type. Or map size. Or 1on1 vs team games. Or FFA games. Or by player skill? Or...
posted by Tim at 1:36 PM