What constitutes a "good" multiplayer server for you?

[Dangerzone]

What you like or consider as a good multiplayer server? 

 

Here's my list of what I tend to find adds up to a good server for my tastes. The more items ticked off, the more I tend to enjoy the server:

 

• PvPvE but mostly PvE  (Plenty to do regardless of number of players that are on the server). I'm primarily a co-op person myself and enjoy online gaming to communicate with, and work with other players - which is why I would tend to go for PvE - but having the odd player on the other side can certainly liven things up and reduce the monotony.
   
• Environment that supports various tasks. (A2A, A2G, CAP, CAS, Helicopters, etc all have their options, Carriers, Air Refuels) - especially one that allows good teamwork between various operators. Spawn slots for most/all available units.
   
• Good active admins that are quick to ban trolling players. (A 'clean' server that doesn't put up with rubbish).
   
• A balance between realism and enjoyment. (Doesn't focus on one side too much to sacrifice enjoyment of the other).
   
• Persistent game saves with the ability to capture bases and progress "forward". (Opens up new spawn points on captured bases, closes spawn points on lost bases, and has an environment that changes so you can be spawning from and operating in different areas on the map from one day to the next - could take weeks or longer for the mission to 'reset' - but a feeling of 'accomplishment' as the map is moved 'forward')
   
• Variety / dynamic AI Spawns so not knowing what to expect.
   
• Large scale - utilizes the majority of the map and not just single area focused (but at the same time don't have to fly for 20 minutes just to get to action - lot's of opportunity everywhere).
   
• SRS & Overlordbot. (After running on servers with Overlordbot - it's very difficult to go back to servers without this!)
   
• Running on Stable Release. (When I get online with friends - I like to know what I'm going to get and that it will just work like it did last weekened or the weekend before - taht I know what works and what's buggy). Stable release servers give me more consistency of what I know I can and can't do). I keep Open Beta for offline exploring of new features.
   
• A server that has attracted a quality of players over quantity of players. For me - I honestly couldn't care less if I join a server with only 2 or 3 other players on it - if they're good chaps to get along with, and we work together, communicate well towards a common goal. I'd prefer that over joining a server with 20 players but it's chaos, TKing and all 'lone wolf' type players wanting easy kills. Might as well go play W.T. if I want that.  
   
• A challenging server that has a variety of levels of difficulty depending on tasks, etc.

 

 

So what do you like or look for in a multiplayer server?

[twistking]

10 hours ago, Dangerzone said:

What constitutes a "good" multiplayer server for you?

That it is password protected.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

In the end the most important factor for me is the behaviour of the regulars:
A while ago I felt like hopping onto a WW2 server (I rarely ever fly warbirds in DCS). Because of my lack of experience in these modules, I was quickly shot down by a more experienced player. My plane was highly damaged but flyable enough for me to attempt an emergency landing in a nearby field. I was about to feel proud that I managed to put my highly damaged bird down, but the enemy pilot (an actual human, not an AI bot) kept following me down until my aircraft blew up and the pilot was killed.
I made a comment about it in chat, only to get a reply in the lines of "stop moaning, this is war!", apparently not being aware that most (if not all) IRL WW2 pilots had no desire whatsoever to kill another human being, just to shoot down the enemy's aircraft or at least damaging them enough to render them no longer mission-capable.

This left such a sour taste in my mouth, that I instantly left that server and never looked at it again.

[Northstar98]

12 minutes ago, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

In the end the most important factor for me is the behaviour of the regulars:
A while ago I felt like hopping onto a WW2 server (I rarely ever fly warbirds in DCS). Because of my lack of experience in these modules, I was quickly shot down by a more experienced player. My plane was highly damaged but flyable enough for me to attempt an emergency landing in a nearby field. I was about to feel proud that I managed to put my highly damaged bird down, but the enemy pilot (an actual human, not an AI bot) kept following me down until my aircraft blew up and the pilot was killed.
I made a comment about it in chat, only to get a reply in the lines of "stop moaning, this is war!", apparently not being aware that most (if not all) IRL WW2 pilots had no desire whatsoever to kill another human being, just to shoot down the enemy's aircraft or at least damaging them enough to render them no longer mission-capable.

This left such a sour taste in my mouth, that I instantly left that server and never looked at it again.

 

Funnily enough, I'm pretty sure somebody was complaining about the .50s in the P-51 being too anaemic, but they were trying to shoot down a plane that was out of the fight, and in some cases the pilot had even bailed out of it.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Northstar98

[Lace]

I don't play online MP due to time constraints - most of the servers I would in theory be interested in joining require commitment to be online at regular and frequent times.  The sort of servers I can just jump in and out of are exactly the sort I would wish to avoid.

 

All of this 'base capturing' etc is hilarious, like you could just land on an enemy airbase at claim it - what about the ground forces occupying it? are they suddenly going to switch allegiance just because an enemy fighter parks up on the apron?  For a simulator community who argues the minutiae of realism I can't see how anyone can seriously entertain such a concept.

 

For me the ideal server would have zero chat, realistic mission-based objectives, and no respawn. Fly as briefed, against an organised enemy (AI or human) and IADS. 

[Northstar98]

27 minutes ago, Lace said:

All of this 'base capturing' etc is hilarious, like you could just land on an enemy airbase at claim it - what about the ground forces occupying it? are they suddenly going to switch allegiance just because an enemy fighter parks up on the apron?  For a simulator community who argues the minutiae of realism I can't see how anyone can seriously entertain such a concept.

 

Yeah, but this is a mission editing issue and DCS gives you free reign here, and I think that's probably the best compromise. Where we should focus and enforce realism however, is in the assets and maps themselves, which should IMO, be as accurate to their IRL counterparts as possible.

 

I probably spend 99.999% of my time in SP, but there are just so many things that kinda ruin the experience - mostly, but not limited to, the AI (which includes things like IADS for instance).

Edited May 20, 2021 by Northstar98

[=4c=Nikola]

Good multiplayer server is the server without AI aircraft.

[Eldur]

A good MP server would be one that doesn't drop my fps from almost rock stable 45 in VR down to far sub-20 in Pancake even after dumping all the graphics settings completely.

Sadly, no such server does exist to this day. MP is inherently unplayable for me, which, TBBH, sucks.

[Furiz]

49 minutes ago, Eldur said:

A good MP server would be one that doesn't drop my fps from almost rock stable 45 in VR down to far sub-20 in Pancake even after dumping all the graphics settings completely.

Sadly, no such server does exist to this day. MP is inherently unplayable for me, which, TBBH, sucks.

 

That's not a server issue, its your computer issue.

If you are getting that low FPS on low settings something is very wrong there, either old components or something is bottlenecking the rest of your system.

If you don't know how to optimize your computer components, get some help with it, you don't need 3080TI for good performance, and you don't need 32GB RAM but you need your components set up so that none is bottlenecking the rest of the system.

 

For example if you pair a 3080Ti with a 350 Watt power supply... its not gonna work very well

 

Even slow internet connection can have impact on your FPS.

 

 

On the Topic:

 

Since I don't have time for a squadron commitment at the moment I like servers that have some amount of players that I can fly with, co op is great for me.

Dinamic mission servers, missions that are changing and if they can spawn AI planes depending on the number of players online that's a win!

Servers that change time of the day/night and weather conditions on restart,

well dinamic ;D