Just a quick comment on this, cuz im not that experienced to talk about most of it, but there is a button to turn off the "so-and-so has joined the lobby" display
its right at the bottom underneath the conversation window.

also it would be nice if the available games would refresh but is it so hard to hit that button yourself?

the rest i kinda agree on, to a degree. any way thats all i got.

cheers

Hitting Enter then Tab will put /a in there automatically.

Fair point in OP...

I also think that Sins deserve much better online presence. I mean we have amazing game here - fact! ICO is rather solid too - fact! It sold (and is still selling) enough for some chunky online fun - fact! Yet of course it isnt quite there yet...

I made few threads and posts regarding this before but it's worth repeating

In my opinion two major reasons (although more can be squeezed in) are:

1. Lack of claning support and lack of competitive initiative. What i mean by this is that it is all fine to get on line with few friends and have a blast - but much more is required for healthy blooming online community. One of this things is what SD / IC / GP are currently working on... Clan support, ladders, rank / unkrank mode etc.. that's hopefully going to be implemented some time soon So first point will be solved and i was more than happy to hear about it...

However, there is also second major issue...

2. Lack of true team based competitive game mode... Fact is that Sins are simply speaking awesome game as it is - but games can simply take way too long to complete which isn't necessarily bad but it surely is off-putting when it comes down to serious online presence...

Therefore SD/IC simply MUST come with extra game mode designed around, roughly speaking, 30 - 45 minutes per match time frame. This mode next to catering for faster rounds should also support up to 5v5 games. There is few ideas in this forums that are talking about same game as Sins as we know it but with shared resources / army / research etc... It's of course only 1 in dozen of possible solutions... But point here is that extra game mode, call it competitive game mode if you wish, is indeed needed for Sins if we are to significantly boost online presence


These are 2 major issues - once they are addressed things would get better for sure.

As we know - point 1 is already being worked on and i can only hope that point 2 will receive some sort of attention as well

I definitely wish we could have a faster game mode, *specially* for the first 5-10min of any game... I'm always twiddling my thumb alot of the time during that game-period... Would be nice to be 50% faster for first 5-10min and then back to normal fast speed =p.

How can you say this game is not popular it was best seller in the US for weeks and still is doing amazingilly, we even have an expasion pack coming after 1 month!

The reason why no one plays MP is because it crashes! I bought the game when it first came out and have not been able to play a full MP game from start to finish. No, I don't have any mods loaded. About half way through the game I get a minidump, doesn't matter what I do. And I know I'm not alone with this problem, there are many others that are having this same problem in addition to the five people that I game with. However, IC doesn't seem to want to address it. Makes me laugh to hear Thomas go off saying "we even have and expansion pack coming after 1 month" yet they can't make the game stable. Sounds like IC has their priorities out of whack. Heh, don't get me wrong. I love this game, up until I get the minidump - which has been every time.

Blue, you may have issues -- most people don't.

@ ServiusVivo

Yes, 1.1 will give us optional (those of us not wanting game-traffic "tunneling" past our controls hope it remains optional) netcode that'll eliminate the need for port-forwarding etc. I realize for some (those at university dorms etc. ) port-forwarding isn't really an option and therefore optional NAT-T type netcode in v1.1 is required.

the Monk

Ron, I would beg to differ. For every one post in the forums there is more than likely a much larger number of people experiencing the same problem.

Monk, right, I have a very detailed understanding of what a mini-dump is. But really it doesn't mater, the fact that I, along with many others, can't make it through a MP game is a contributing factor as to why people aren't playing.

You'd think so! Just today after linking someone to my guide in ICO, he popped back in less than 2 minutes later saying something to the effect "read your guide....forwarded the ports.....still doesn't work". It turned out he'd skipped everything else in the guide and only read the part relating to the two ports needed for SINS. After being "chastised" for skipping the rest of the guide, he went back to it, actually read the entire thing, fixed his problem and was on his merry hosting way!

*sigh*...you can lead a horse to water.......

Ah yes, that reminds me: the alerts. I am not sure if this is an option that is easily changed, but the alert voices are basically useless in this game. When you play a large map there is always going to be some trade vessel getting attacked. I don't want to hear about it, but at the same time I DO want to hear about when a large enemry fleet is attacking me or an ally somewhere.

My biggest complaint is not even necessarily that these issues are unsolvable, but that they are not easily solved by newbs like me. There is tons of stuff that I don't know yet, and I don't think I should have to spend time searching the internet to find out basic info. Like that hitting tab for communication thing. How the heck was I supposed to know that?

Regarding port forwarding issues: I disagree that anyone could follow that guide. I've seen it and it is very well written, but first of all, everyone should not have to seek out and follow a guide in order for their game to work. It should work right out of the box, using routers that are also right out of the box, on default settings. Most people are not that good at that kind of stuff, and it's not as simple as "anyone who can read," being able to do it. I just built my third computer from parts and I consider myself far above average in computer-savvness, but as a person who is still basically an average joe, I can tell you that solving networking problems is not common sense. Oh, and that brand new computer I made out of highly rated parts from newegg.com works perfectly in every way, except for the minidumps. Yep, I get them.

Until it becomes EASY for ANYONE to navigate the game online, and the game in general, it will be hard to build a large online multiplayer following.


This is totally separate, but I've also been thinking lately that the factions are too similar to one another. It reminds me of Warcraft I (the original!), where the orcs and humans were the exact same, but with different unit pics. This really is only partly true, but I just think there could be more major differences. I mean, come on: The Vasari are an ancient race from far away that just happens to have a fleet composed 80%+ of ships that are the direct counterpart to ones from the TEC? Really? As far as game balance is concerned, it would be more fun if there were fewer battles with ships that are direct equivalents to one another going toe to toe, and more situations where you have to think "well, he's getting unit A, so I need to get unit Z or I'm in trouble, unless he decides to shift focus to unit B." If that makes any sense...