PlaneBall.com Ranked Ladder Servers

Ranked servers (also known as “ladder”) offer a higher level of gameplay by enforcing minimum levels, plane restrictions, and special rules as well as balancing teams by player ratings.  Each player has a rating which increases after each ranked win and decreases after each ranked loss.

New Player Information

By entering ranked servers you agree to the rules listed in the next section.  You also will not be able to play ranked prior to reaching level 40 but lower level players are welcome to watch.

After joining the server you may find yourself either in the ranked lobby, in an unranked warm-up game, or spectating an actual ranked game.  If you are not able to join a team, a ranked match is in progress.  Occasionally you may be able to join a team on a non-lobby map.  Sometimes players change map to warm up while waiting for enough players to begin a ranked match on that server.  In either case, you will have to wait until the map is changed back to the ranked lobby before you can play.

In the ranked lobby players join a team to indicate they wish to participate in the next ranked match. Do NOT leave spec if you do not want to play.  When 8 (4v4) or 12 (6v6) players are team joined, any player may use the command “/ball” to initiate a vote to play a ranked match on a random map.  Assuming the vote passes and there are still enough players team joined, two teams are created out of those wanting to play.  Teams are balanced by player rating and other factors such as average points (points = goals + goals assisted) per game.

After the game begins it is against the rules to stop playing.  If you must leave please inform those playing that you are forced to exit the match before leaving to avoid being banned (frequent leaving may still result in a ban even if notice given – this is necessary to maintain the integrity of ranked gameplay).  Whenever a player does leave or gets ping kicked, a player on the opposing team is expected to spec in order to have an even number of players per team. The winning team will all be awarded rating points while the losing team will lose rating points.

New players start in the Bronze tier and the winner of each tier will advance at the end of each season.  4v4 Ball seasons normally end after approximately 3 to 4 months.  Ranked TBD and 6v6 Ball servers are also available, but those modes are rarely played anymore and there may be no additional seasons / rating resets.

Ranked Rules

  1. You must have a rating of at least 700 in 4v4 or 900 in 6v6 to use Miranda and 1400 to use Reverse Thrust. There are only a few players in the game that can make good use of reverse thrust, but many new players mistakenly think it is a good perk for them to use. Randa takes more skill than most planes to play well so also is restricted. This rule is automatically enforced. You will be auto specced if you do not have the required rating and attempt to spawn with Reverse Thrust or Miranda. A ban can result from repeated attempts to spawn with these since your team will be down a player with you not playing.
  2. Leaving in the middle of a game and not returning.
  3. Playing when you know your connection is too bad to not get continuously disconnected in the middle of a game, causing repeated disruption.
  4. Speccing because you didn’t know you were supposed to be in the game
  5. Speccing as a player for any other reason, either repeatedly or without giving warning.
  6. Abusing the /voteStop command, such as voting for no legitimate reason near the end of a game.
  7. Acing or changing nickname in the middle of a game.
  8. Racism/Bigotry. General immaturity. Excessive or unrelenting trash talk targeting specific players.
  9. Playing on multiple accounts (i.e. smurfing). Alternate accounts are subject to permabanning (the main account receives a regular ban).
  10. You may not purposefully use another player’s nickname or put another player’s nickname within your nickname. You are also not allowed to use nicknames that can cause confusion or make it more difficult to be identified. Example: nicknames filled with lower case L’s, upper case I’s and 1’s.  You are also not allowed to include a clan tag in your nickname without permission from that clan.
  11. Showboating in any manner.
  12. Any activity not listed above that can cause a negative experience for others while playing ladder.

You alone are responsible for all activity on your account. Please do not let others play on your account.

@aka Feature

Unique to PlaneBall.com servers is a way to identify players even when they change to unrecognizable nicknames.  The server owner, VAN1SH1NG, manually assigns one or more @aka names to established players.  If you have been around for awhile and do not have an @aka name set or wish to add/change it, contact VAN1SH1NG in-game or on the PlaneBall Discord.

For example using any of @VAN, @VAN1SH, or @VAN1SH1NG will select VAN1SH1NG.  After selecting a player using “/@ ” or other player selection commands as described below, you can use “/rating @” or “/”nicknames @” to get information about that player.

Special Server Commands

The following commands are unique to the PlaneBall ladder servers.

  • /ball
    • Initiates vote to start a ranked match on a random map.
  • /voteStart

    • Initiates vote to start a ranked match on specified map.
  • /voteStop
    • Initiates vote to stop a ranked match. Can only be called and voted on by a player in the match.
  • /voteMove 
    • Initiates vote to move to a different server. This is useful to either switch between server locations or modes. If enough are in the server to start a second match, specs can use this command to move to their own server to start a new match.
  • /voteMap

    • Initiates vote to change the map (to warmup while waiting for more players or to return to lobby). You are unable to use this command while a ranked game is active.
  • /P
    • Selects player currently in server by nickname. You can then use @ symbol to represent this player in other commands.
  • /@ 
    • Selects player by one of their aka names or by vapor id. You can then use @ symbol to represent this player in other commands.
  • /ID
    • Selects player currently in server by ID. You can then use @ symbol to represent this player in other commands.
  • /rating
    • Shows rating and rank for the specified player.
  • /nicknames 
    • Lists up to the last three nicknames the specified player has used on ranked servers.
  • /y
    • PlaneBall.com servers use a custom vote system. Use /y to vote yes when a vote is active.
  • /n
    • Use /n to vote no when a vote is active.
  • /c
    • If you are a member of a clan you can use /c to talk with other members of your clan.
  • /specchat
    • Use during a ranked or league game if you want to prevent spectators from using all chat. Two players in the game must use the command for it to take effect.
  • /left
    • During a ranked game this command will list any players who are assigned to a team but have left the server.

Rating System

The rating system is based around wins and losses.  If you win a ranked match your rating increases.  Similarly it will decrease after a loss.  This type of system is used in most games because it simply is not possible to fairly determine ratings through individual performance in a team game.  Yes, you will have games where you play excellent but your teammates let you down.  However, over a more extended period of time your rating will naturally approach its true value.

The system is designed to take each player to the rating value that results in them having approximately a 50% win rate.  If you are underrated you will win more often than you lose and over time your rating will increase.

Some notes about specific variations of the rating system used for ranked PlaneBall:

  • You are not assigned a rating until you have played 10 games.  Starting rating is based on your tier and your win/loss record after 10 games.  Base ratings for each tier are 1800 for Diamond, 1500 for Gold, 1000 for Silver, and 500 for Bronze.
  • You win or lose more points if your win rate is significantly above or below 50%.  If your rating is far from 50% it is expected that you are severely over/under rated and the extra points help get players rated properly at a faster pace.

Privacy Policy

Upon joining the PlaneBall.com servers your IP address and nickname are logged by the Altitude game server.  By joining our servers you consent to the server owner storing the IP address for administration purposes.

Your in-game nickname as well as gameplay stats are also stored to display ranked leaderboards and player statistics on this website and on the PlaneBall Discord server.  We are not associated with Nimbly Games, the company that developed Altitude, so we only have access to the data that is logged by the Altitude server software, as described above.

Ranked Server Admins

Players listed below have admin powers on the PlaneBall.com servers.  If you witness rules being broken, please alert one of these admins.  If there are any server issues report them to VAN1SH1NG in game or on the PlaneBall Discord server.

NicknameAKAID
beer@beer2425
zombologist@bol232
[E] JonaBran@Bran805
3_o'clock_roadblock@buffalosoldier752
DN@DN757
tinka@etain2292
0y$+32@Oyster390
shirley@slender804
<twig>@Twig85
VAN1SH1NG@VAN1SH1NG513