Venting - So hard to find a decent server

[Edymnion]

Ugh, I am having a devil of a time trying to find an acceptable server to play on these days.

It seems nobody really does a plain vanilla PvE server anymore. Everybody is "Huge mining bonus!/Hardcore 1x mining bonus only", "No solo factions", "Vote for our server and get God Mode!", "Block limits, no ships over 500m!", "No shop spawns!", "500 million Starting Credits!", "Enhanced Pirates!", or is a PvP server.

Is it really so much to ask for these days that if you say you're running a Survival server, that you don't hand out creative mode? Why does every damned server think it has to have some kind of gimmick? Just give me a vanilla server (well, crank the build area up to 100x instead of the tiny 10x default), kick out the griefers that think shooting newbs is fun, and then just let people play the game.

I just want to be in a faction by myself where there is no drama, building whatever I want to build wherever I want to build it, with chat and the ability to go visit other people and admire the cool stuff they're building. Is that really that out of line?

 

[nightrune]

NFD Is mainly a build server. Are you looking for more combat, build or RP?

 

[Edymnion]

NFD Is mainly a build server. Are you looking for more combat, build or RP?

My requirements list for an ideal server:

• PvE - Not interested in PvP in the way most people define it. If jumping somebody while they're out mining is considered acceptable behavior, I don't want to play on the server. Two people who want to fight? Great, more power to 'em. But when people are allowed to be bullies and just keep grinding someone into the ground "because its a PvP server", then forget it.
• No RP - I'm old, if there are no character sheets and dice involved, I don't really want to put up with it. I want to be able to talk about the new movie that came out, or build something of the "wrong genre" when I want to without getting yelled at over it.
• Basically Vanilla - No super pirates, no 300x mining bonus, no 1x mining bonus, no "We turned off all the shops!", no "Our sectors are 20 km across because its more realistic!", or anything like that. Just a plain, generic, vanilla server. Well, crank the build area up to at least 100x instead of 10x, otherwise vanilla.
• Survival - Nobody gets creative mode outside of shipyards. Period. Its either survival and everybody works to mine and farm up materials, or just enable creative mode for everybody (which I wouldn't want, as I find actually having to go mining and working up to things to be more than half the game). If you've got a huge ship/station, I know you worked your ass off to build it instead of just spawning it in for free. I recently walked out on a "survival" server after finding out that they let people have creative mode enabled on it.
• No God Mode - No God mode. Ever. For any reason. I don't care if it only lasts for 3 seconds, or what hoops you have to jump through to get it. If God Mode is ever enabled for any reason for any player, I'm out.
• No restrictions on faction size - I play one man factions, period. I don't allow faction members unless they are close enough for me to drive to their house and physically smack them up side the head if they do something stupid. There's no drama, there's no wondering who took my best ship and flew it into the sun, or why my station suddenly has a giant pink dick sticking out of it. If I can't play a permanent one man faction, I'm not interested.
• No restrictions on ship size - I would be okay with it if not for the fact that most places that have restrictions like this set them laughably low IMO. If I have to stop and ask permission to build anything bigger than a miner, I'm not interested.
• No third party forum registration - Brutally honest here, I don't want to be a part of a multi-faceted community. I don't want to participate in forum games, or have to go to yet another website to find out some crazy rule that had they just put it in the welcome text I'd have known to never hit Spawn in the first place. Just log into the Starmade server and start playing. Keep it self contained to the game itself.
• No pay to win - Is your server listed on a rankings list? Great, if its a genuinely good server, I'll be happy to vote for it every so often. If you are resorting to bribing your players by offering them cash or god mode or whatever else and spamming chat with "Remember to go vote for us!", then hell no I'm not going to vote for you, I'm not even going to touch your server with a 10' pole.
• No insane starting bonuses - I don't want a billion credits as soon as I log into the server for the first time. I don't want a big freebie starter ship. Why? Because I've seen what happens when organized griefers attack a server, and that kind of starting bonus gives them insane amounts of power. Just give me my 20k credits to buy some startup blocks, and fly off to a planet in an empty section of the universe and let me start working up to my station.
• Blueprint upload enabled - I have stuff I've worked on across multiple servers that I have gotten down to exactly how I like it. I don't want to rebuild it from scratch just because somebody wants "Only original ships" on their server. I like to occasionally hop over to single player to work on designs and then import them over when I'm happy with them.

Or to put it simply, "A vanilla PvE server where the admin and mods aren't dictating how you are allowed to play the game."

Used to be these were the default servers, dime a dozen. These days it looks like if I want to play on a server that isn't more filled with cheap gimmicks than the latest Nintendo console I'm going to have to buy my own.

 

[StoneCyfer]

Check out NobleWatchmen. We are a smaller server with much of what you are looking for. Yes, there is a little PvP but nothing crazy or manditory. I would say 98% of the players are there just to learn and build, and the rest are good folks. We do not suffer the troll or greifer on my server. There are a few players that are doing exactly what you are asking for, they join and fly off to a corner on their own and build and what ever else they feel like doing. We dont have voting rewards, donation rewards or any of that stuff. The rules are right there at spawn and rather straight forward. The only person with god mode is me and even then, not often. We do give everyone a starter ship (its nothing special, just a miner really with no weapons to help new folks out). We do not have any "hard and fast" rules about ship size, I just ask if you plan on making/spawning a 5mill+ block ship to let me know in case I get lag messages. If I am not online, Lukwantus, TheWind, or HunterX can answer any questions you might have.

But ya, come on by and check us out--- 172.93.98.98:25605

 

[nightrune]

I've got a server that is mine. It's basically just me. I build in creative but still use the ship yard to build usable ships. If you want you are welcome to play on it. Message me for details.

 

[Shaker]

If your ping is within the limits craftau fits most of that, it has custom pirates and if you own/faction a system there is a small mining bonus.

Most are there to build, there is some looking for a fight but wont bother you if your not in a comparable ship.
Admins hold small events like dogfights in admin built ships, boarding derilect ships and searching for lootcrates

 

[Edymnion]

Check out NobleWatchmen.

According to the forum thread for NW over in Servers:

PvP
Enhanced Pirates
"Very Generous" Mining Bonus
Buffed up starter ship "because you'll need it"
And from the picture of the spawn station, I believe I took a look at it already while I was digging around and I think that is one I was told had the shop spawn rate turned down as well.

No thanks.

 

[Nauvran]

You wont be able to find a server without PvP
But I do believe there are some servers with PvE only areas and such

 

[Phocian]

Edymnion.......That was a terrible thread to start.
I want I want....Well want doesn't get.
If you can't find a server that ticks all your boxes put you hand in your pocket and rent one, much like the people that run the other servers do and then offer to everyone else generally for free.

Such an entitled post.

 

[CyberTao]

To be fair, a server with "PvP" tagged to it means nothing. Nothing at all. The first server I ever played was tagged as PvP, and it was just a bunch of guys mining and dicking around within reason. Hell, the (2nd) last public server I was on was PvP and at most some guys came and played volleyball with my miner, knocking it back and forth before leaving.

What "PvP" means depends entirely on the playerbase of the server.

 

[Edymnion]

Edymnion.......That was a terrible thread to start.
I want I want....Well want doesn't get.
If you can't find a server that ticks all your boxes put you hand in your pocket and rent one, much like the people that run the other servers do and then offer to everyone else generally for free.

Such an entitled post.

Well if I had to take a guess, I'd say you are shelling out for a server and are running exactly the kind of one I at least wouldn't want to play on, so you're taking it personally. That or you're just trying to pick a fight you have no dog in, but I'm going to assume the former.

Not everyone likes to play the game the way you do. Not everyone likes to play the game the way I do. My venting is more to do with the fact that what I consider to be pretty much the basic default server doesn't appear to exist anymore, and I think that is a valid complaint of a system when there isn't a generic base option available.

If you've got a tricked out server and it has lots of people on it, great. I applaud your success, and I genuinely hope you and your players have a great time. But if thats true, what do you care about this? If you have a gimmicked up server and nobody will play on it, well then of course you have a right to be upset that you're paying for a service no one wants to use, but yelling at the people who don't want what you're selling isn't going to help that.

You wont be able to find a server without PvP
But I do believe there are some servers with PvE only areas and such

Its not that I want a server with no PvP, its that I don't want one where they are using PvP as a selling point. I have had nothing but bad experiences with PvP servers across the board for every genre of game I've ever played. The mindset of the PvP server player appears to be fundamentally different from mine. A memorable amount of them appear to consider "Its a PvP server" to be license to be an asshole of the highest degree. Not all, surely its likely not even a majority, but enough to make life miserable while the silent majority just shrugs and goes "PvP server, dude. Deal with it."

 

[Phocian]

I'm not taking it personally at all, you would not like our server and we are selective on members as we are themed, no way was I recruiting you after your initial post.

Making a post demanding someone else in the community provide you with the gaming experience you want on server is why I suggested you stop being entitled and pay for one yourself.
I'm amazed your still going on about it.

 

[Edymnion]

Making a post demanding someone else in the community provide you with the gaming experience you want on server is why I suggested you stop being entitled and pay for one yourself.

I wasn't demanding anyone make or provide anything. I was venting that the server base has moved away from vanilla to an extent that it is now difficult to find a vanilla server.

And not all of us are so financially well off that "Oh, I should just go drop $20-30 a month on a hosting server for a single game" is really a viable option.

 

[Groovrider]

And not all of us are so financially well off that "Oh, I should just go drop $20-30 a month on a hosting server for a single game" is really a viable option.

Well I'm not financially very well off and I'm considering it. £8 per month is about how much I spend on sugary beverages/ month so it's not that great of an expense. The server that I'm on currently has been vacated so I'm thinking of taking the jump myself. If it means I can play a vanilla game, £8/month is worth it.

 

[Phocian]

Is it really so much to ask for these days that if you say you're running a Survival server, that you don't hand out creative mode? Why does every damned server think it has to have some kind of gimmick? Just give me a vanilla server (well, crank the build area up to 100x instead of the tiny 10x default), kick out the griefers that think shooting newbs is fun, and then just let people play the game.

Seems demanding to me.

 

[Nauvran]

Well if I had to take a guess, I'd say you are shelling out for a server and are running exactly the kind of one I at least wouldn't want to play on, so you're taking it personally. That or you're just trying to pick a fight you have no dog in, but I'm going to assume the former.

Not everyone likes to play the game the way you do. Not everyone likes to play the game the way I do. My venting is more to do with the fact that what I consider to be pretty much the basic default server doesn't appear to exist anymore, and I think that is a valid complaint of a system when there isn't a generic base option available.

If you've got a tricked out server and it has lots of people on it, great. I applaud your success, and I genuinely hope you and your players have a great time. But if thats true, what do you care about this? If you have a gimmicked up server and nobody will play on it, well then of course you have a right to be upset that you're paying for a service no one wants to use, but yelling at the people who don't want what you're selling isn't going to help that.
Its not that I want a server with no PvP, its that I don't want one where they are using PvP as a selling point. I have had nothing but bad experiences with PvP servers across the board for every genre of game I've ever played. The mindset of the PvP server player appears to be fundamentally different from mine. A memorable amount of them appear to consider "Its a PvP server" to be license to be an asshole of the highest degree. Not all, surely its likely not even a majority, but enough to make life miserable while the silent majority just shrugs and goes "PvP server, dude. Deal with it."

What on Earth did you expect from an online game where PvP is on by default? Are you new on the internet or something?

 

[dougimus]

Yo Edy! I have a server, It's not popular in its current config. If you want I can reset it to vanilla, new universe. Mind you its a VPS I use for pet projects so I dunno how many players till it lags... Let me know what you think. I can hook you up with admin and you can test it out...

 

[therimmer96]

Why does every damned server think it has to have some kind of gimmick?

History, and basic common sense. Years ago, we had hundreds of interchangeable small servers , some of which banned PVP. heck, I was co-owner of one of them. No one wants to own a server like that, so like any product, they set themselves apart from the competition.

The changed configs come from people realizing the current mechanics are kinda bad, and so they change what they can trying to get *anything* that works.

You want a vanilla server? Play singleplayer, or start your own. you don't need to start with $30, Infinite Havoc started on a budget of £6 a month.

 

[Edymnion]

You want a vanilla server? Play singleplayer

I'm thinking I should. Just play single player for a month or two and there will be a whole new batch of servers out there anyway when 90% of the current ones fold.

 

[MacThule]

You didn't even mention the servers where the admins like to multibox alts and spawn in toys for themselves to use against players, sometimes very trollishly. Few and far between, but definitely out there, and just one more problem with finding a good server.