- Joined
- May 28, 2017
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 10
I have noticed a lot of what makes starmade unplayable for more than 50% of the player base at the moment is that the game is completely unlimited even if people's computers or the server code itself can't handle it.
All you have to do is push an update that only changes the default settings in the configs so "officially by default" (some would call it "Vanilla") the game's configs are set in such a way that is actually playable in a low-lag environment. This would still allow people to change it to their liking, but at least those without much knowledge about scripting or who prefer to play the game "out of the box" would have a smooth and enjoyable experience, and any issues that arise out of setting the configs well above the default settings (such as weapons not firing properly, or loading issues, etc) would be their own fault, and would not be "intended".
As it currently stands in the multiplayer community, most people consider 1 million mass ships to be the standard "maximum size" which is very problematic when even 2 of these ships do battle, everyone gets near 1 frame per second, and the server nearly or actually crashes because of it. This is definitely not intended that the game crashes itself or can't handle it's own gameplay... So obviously a default set of limits that are actually "playable" and that the server can handle without issues, would be the best until there is some means of optimizing the code so that larger scale ships and combat can occur reliably without lag or disappearing bullets, or damage not being counted, etc.
What I'm suggesting is to establish a much lower "maximum size standard" as the vanilla, which would be a smooth, playable, and enjoyable experience for more than 50% of the player base (who do not possess top of the line gaming computers)
I know this might upset some of the people who like to build bigger instead of smarter, but sadly, the current state of the game and most likely a lot of the future of the game's server and client code, as well as end-user machine specs for the majority of possible audience will not be able to handle things on a scale that melts your cpu and blows up the server.
Now, limiting the maximum ship size to about 100k mass by default would ensure that everyone can have an enjoyable gameplay experience and avoid a lot of the problems involved with the heavy load of extremely over-sized ships. Also, limiting the number of computers and the number of outputs per computer (and salvage computers with separate standards) would ensure that "no bullet is left behind" to have a much smaller load on the server and player's machines.
The ship mass limits in the config can be bypassed by having tons of turrets that don't exceed the limits, and then docking them onto the main ship (last time I checked) this would need to be taken into account for helping keep things in reasonable stable limits. Speaking of turrets, turrets shouldn't share a pool of rail mass enhancers, they should require their own rail mass enhancers each (so 4x 5k mass turrets would require 20k mass worth of rail enhancers on the main ship).
If the game was limited to a smaller scale by default, output limits, mass limits, and so on, a lot of the playability of the game would return and combat would be fair and enjoyable once again.
From what I hear, a lot of players agree with this, and a lot of new players complain about this too...
Wouldn't matter if the limit was 1m mass or 100k mass, as long as everyone is on the same scale, battles will play out the same on equal footing, only difference is nobody would get lagged out or even completely crash when someone pulls a huge laggy ship into their system. Limiting weapon outputs and computers allowed per ship would also ensure that people can't abuse flooding the server with bullets to help them gain an unfair advantage as well.
Best thing for everyone would be some fair and stable default settings so everyone knows what game they're playing and what they're up against. Also, crashing and lagging is never intended or expected, the general rule of thumb for expectations for any sane player is that the game "just works" and simply limiting the defaults like this would provide a stable play environment by default that "just works" and if anyone pushes the limits beyond the appropriate limits, they can't expect the game to operate properly anymore.
tl;dr : smaller good - bigger bad.
All you have to do is push an update that only changes the default settings in the configs so "officially by default" (some would call it "Vanilla") the game's configs are set in such a way that is actually playable in a low-lag environment. This would still allow people to change it to their liking, but at least those without much knowledge about scripting or who prefer to play the game "out of the box" would have a smooth and enjoyable experience, and any issues that arise out of setting the configs well above the default settings (such as weapons not firing properly, or loading issues, etc) would be their own fault, and would not be "intended".
As it currently stands in the multiplayer community, most people consider 1 million mass ships to be the standard "maximum size" which is very problematic when even 2 of these ships do battle, everyone gets near 1 frame per second, and the server nearly or actually crashes because of it. This is definitely not intended that the game crashes itself or can't handle it's own gameplay... So obviously a default set of limits that are actually "playable" and that the server can handle without issues, would be the best until there is some means of optimizing the code so that larger scale ships and combat can occur reliably without lag or disappearing bullets, or damage not being counted, etc.
What I'm suggesting is to establish a much lower "maximum size standard" as the vanilla, which would be a smooth, playable, and enjoyable experience for more than 50% of the player base (who do not possess top of the line gaming computers)
I know this might upset some of the people who like to build bigger instead of smarter, but sadly, the current state of the game and most likely a lot of the future of the game's server and client code, as well as end-user machine specs for the majority of possible audience will not be able to handle things on a scale that melts your cpu and blows up the server.
Now, limiting the maximum ship size to about 100k mass by default would ensure that everyone can have an enjoyable gameplay experience and avoid a lot of the problems involved with the heavy load of extremely over-sized ships. Also, limiting the number of computers and the number of outputs per computer (and salvage computers with separate standards) would ensure that "no bullet is left behind" to have a much smaller load on the server and player's machines.
The ship mass limits in the config can be bypassed by having tons of turrets that don't exceed the limits, and then docking them onto the main ship (last time I checked) this would need to be taken into account for helping keep things in reasonable stable limits. Speaking of turrets, turrets shouldn't share a pool of rail mass enhancers, they should require their own rail mass enhancers each (so 4x 5k mass turrets would require 20k mass worth of rail enhancers on the main ship).
If the game was limited to a smaller scale by default, output limits, mass limits, and so on, a lot of the playability of the game would return and combat would be fair and enjoyable once again.
From what I hear, a lot of players agree with this, and a lot of new players complain about this too...
Wouldn't matter if the limit was 1m mass or 100k mass, as long as everyone is on the same scale, battles will play out the same on equal footing, only difference is nobody would get lagged out or even completely crash when someone pulls a huge laggy ship into their system. Limiting weapon outputs and computers allowed per ship would also ensure that people can't abuse flooding the server with bullets to help them gain an unfair advantage as well.
Best thing for everyone would be some fair and stable default settings so everyone knows what game they're playing and what they're up against. Also, crashing and lagging is never intended or expected, the general rule of thumb for expectations for any sane player is that the game "just works" and simply limiting the defaults like this would provide a stable play environment by default that "just works" and if anyone pushes the limits beyond the appropriate limits, they can't expect the game to operate properly anymore.
tl;dr : smaller good - bigger bad.
