The Altitude Ladder is a project that was developed by Maimer, Eth, and Nobodyhome. The ideas behind the overall scope of the ladder as well as its creation and implementation were the product of many more individuals who frequent the Altitude IRC channel on Quakenet(#TL.Altitude). Many thanks go out to tec27 for his technical support and advice, pig_bomb for graphics work and the new design(not yet implemented) as well as Stormich for his ideas and troubleshooting and Colin Hart for his ratings system and autobalance code. Maimer, Eth, and Nobodyhome can be seen in all their glory in the accompanying image. It is not recommended that players of average skill attempt this flying formation.

The idea behind the ladder was to give players a chance to rank their competitive ability and then challenge players of approximately equal skill. It is also a means by which players can track their improving skill and compare it with their friends.

The ladder is a live updating system that allows for games played to be recorded real time and displayed on this website. The ranking system used is a modification of the Elo rating system originally used to calculate relative skill levels of players in two player games. The modification allows for teams to play each other while the rating of each player is calculated individually. Each player has an individual profile page that tracks numerous stats of the games they have played.

The ratings are split up into 10 individual categories and are accompanied by an icon, which are mirrored from the officer ranks of the United States Air Force. The categories are:

Rank icon	Point range	Rank title
	Rank #1	General of the Air Force
	2000+	General
	1900 - 1999	Lieutenant General
	1800 - 1899	Major General
	1700 - 1799	Brigadier General
	1600 - 1699	Colonel
	1500 - 1599	Lieutenant Colonel
	1400 - 1499	Major
	1300 - 1399	Captain
	1200 - 1299	First Lieutenant
	1 - 1199	Second Lieutenant

We all hope you enjoy playing on the Altitude Ladder and feel free to post any comments, suggestions, or problems on the Altitude Ladder Thread on the Official Altitude Forums.

Good Luck and Have Fun!