About 24 player servers
Neoken
Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
Bruges, Belgium Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27447Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester
I'm seeing more and more 24 player servers pop up. Can someone please explain to me why server admins choose to run these servers instead of the more standard 16 or 18 player limit? Not trying to step on anyones toes, but I just don't understand why these servers are so popular when it's so clear performance suffers for it. Not to mention gameplay.
Comments
in a 12 player server, 5 players on the field, 1 bad player effectively 20% of your force is lost.
in a 24 player server, 11 players on the field, 1 bad player effectively 9.09%r of your force is lost.
It also provides several game mechanic bonus' to the marine team. These are:
Early game aliens suffer a self-egg lock penalty if they die to much, giving marines early game breathing space (hence the shift hive being the primary strategy)
Marines in larger numbers (3+) groups generally win equal number fights due to ranged attacks
Marines get enough players that they feel safe enough to be aggressive and this is a significantly more fun playing experience for both teams as both sides will be aggressive and doing missions into each others territory which requires defence/reactions.
So even with the performance hit on the server, you get a better casual game experience; if you screw up, you don't cost your team so badly. If you are a god incarnate and never miss, you cannot decimate the enemy team as hard because they will simply zerg you.
It reduces the chance of games being sub 5 minutes due to rushes because with enough players, people split up amongst all exits from your base and provide early warning system/delay to prevent the base rushes.
TL;DR It's more fun for casual players
I find 12 vs 12 to be really fun even though late game sometimes becomes unplayable, except as bile gorge or GL marine.
The whole joining and filling servers should be improved in many ways. A warm-up mini-game on empty/almost empty servers for instance (Combat mode could be used for that in NS1, but it required a map change back to Classic during which most Combat-only players left). Except filling up a server, there's no point in playing a terrible match with few players...
* For certain values of fun.
Casual players generally don't like dying, more hardcore players like the rush from nearly dying and making a huge play
Most people don't/would not find Dwarf Fortress fun - that does not make it not fun, it merely requires a different mindset to enjoy
Its way more fun to be a gorge in a giant server as you can actually set up somewhere and have people come at you, whereas in a small server you may end up just sitting there.
Certain big servers have gained reputations for being servers for better pub players, thus if you want to play with other good players you either go there or you roll the dice on a random server, and often end up with fairly inexperienced players.
I definitely agree about the 12v12 lategame issue tho, for me my fps starts dropping pretty hard once there are a million cysts and shit.
I'd rather not play than play on such a server.
Larger servers lessens the chance of one team getting completely stomped as an exceptional player joining a side will have less of an impact on team balance
Large servers also change the way the game is played. . .
Multiple Front Lines:
Aliens can typically punish marines for using a distress beacon as they might fold 2/3 of their front lines to save the 3rd
Having multiple front lines usually means less running back to save nodes which can detract from the experience if there is too much of it
Much less emphasis on endgame Units:
Onos aren't nearly as oppressive in large games so marines won't auto-lose if more than 1 hits the floor
ARCs require much more coordination as aliens can get away with just suiciding to destroy large packs of them
More emphasis on upgrades:
Weapons and evolutions always take priority over turret farms or mini bases
Your team will spend much more time fighting the other team and not a huge stack of crags
Bigger breaks; more upsets / combacks, or faster steamrolls
Games that are lopsided tend to end very quickly letting players move on to the next game that much faster
In long games where one side has been slowly losing the whole time might get that big push they need making it all worth while
These are all huge benefits in my eyes so I naturally prefer the larger servers where 1 early mistake won't ruin the next 20 minutes
It all comes down to squeezing more fun out of the game by lessening the things that detract from having an otherwise good time
Because not everyone agrees with you?
Because different people like different things?
"It's good we all like different things, because otherwise there wouldn't be enough haggis."
I can understand that. I guess I just think of it differently. I like my actions to have more of an impact. If I'm doing exceptionally well, I'd like to see results to go with it. Playing on larger servers often feels like pissing in the wind to me, in contrary to say a 6vs6. Having to rely on larger number of team mates can be as equally frustrating as doing badly myself. For me at least.
So we should actually try to get some 64 player servers up then? Maybe even 128 players? Would that equal more fun?
Fair enough. But you don't feel that the maps are too cramped with that many players around, or the gameplay too stale?
Yes, different people like different things, and not everyone agrees with me. Thank you for stating the obvious. I was just wondering why. Hence the questions.
Personally I like a good chaotic fragfest now and again. I can see the appeal of larger servers. I'm just baffled and slightly worried these oversized servers are becoming the new standard for pub play. Especially considering the fact you really sacrifice a lot of performance by upping the player limit like that, and performance is already a big problem to begin with.
Because people like me enjoy and populate these servers.
Performance on one of the better hardware 24 players: http://ns2servers.devicenull.org/servers/52073/199.192.205.183:27015
Not perfect, but not that bad at all. Most severe tickrate drops are usually tied to hitting the entity cap, which does tend to happen sometimes and is easier to do on the bigger servers, but not all that commonplace as people would think.
>strofix agreed to this post
Oh man I lol'd.
If you are talking about performance hit server-side then that is not a problem on my server box... CPU is not even 3/4 pegged with 24 player load.
If you are talking about performance hit client-side then you simply need to get a PC that can handle the commotion 24 players puts out.
Secondly, more marines means more players to respond to attacks. Since aliens are faster, this means marines are able to compensate for their slower speed with improved numbers.
Lastly, for many people it *IS* more fun to play on larger servers. It may be hard to believe, but not everyone is a fan of 6vs6 gameplay.
To those who think the game should be hardcoded to prevent larger games, I strongly disagree. Why? Simple.
Give the people what they want.
If a large chunk of the player base likes larger games, give it to them. This is a business, and you don't succeed in business by flipping off your customers. That's exactly what it would be if server restrictions were put in.
Strategy is mostly out the window, and all is reduced to shoot & die within 2 minutes of spawn.
I also had this on 16 players servers. Does this mean they are also all terrible? I've had some great games on 24 players servers where both teams had to relocate their base several times and the game went on for more than 70-80 minutes. It was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had and surely it wouldn't have been as much fun on a 16 players server. Sure, these servers attract more rookies and new players who want as much action as possible without any regard to strategy or tactics, but that doesn't mean it happens all the time.