Speedybanana Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 I'm looking to purchase this game but I first wanted to get a better idea of the kind of multiplayer experience I could expect. Any info would be greatly appreciated as I don't exactly want to shell out $40.00 for yet another simulator with just a handful of highly scripted single player missions and a mission editor for me to create my own game. How many servers are usually online? How many players are usually online? How many players maximum per server? Are servers continuous or just quick missions and then off to the next level? Is it easy to hop in and find people to play with or do I need to make friends on the forums and host private servers? Thanks in advance for any info
Grimes Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 How many servers are usually online? How many players are usually online? How many players maximum per server? Are servers continuous or just quick missions and then off to the next level? Is it easy to hop in and find people to play with or do I need to make friends on the forums and host private servers? Thanks in advance for any info Welcome to the forums. :) To answer your questions: The number of servers and active players fluctuate throughout the day. It really depends on your timezone and when you want to play. Also the sim is basically "between versions" in that the next major version of the sim (DCS World) is in an open beta process, so the community is slightly split between the older version and the new open beta version. However at the time of this post there were 6 or so servers in DCS World and a dozen or so in 1.1.1.1. Maximum number of players on a server really depends on the connection speed of a server, but I've seen 12+ a few times, but I'd say the average number is closer to 4-8. There are a lot of different styles of missions that are played online. There are some which are quick missions, while others can take hours to complete. As for finding people to play with, there are some servers that like to stay open for anyway to join. Some require you to join a VOIP server in order to play, and others are just for private sessions among friends or squadrons. So it is a mixed bag. One of the better ways to get introduced to the sim is through Hoggit. http://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/ They do a weekly "Noob Night" and generally are able to help new players out with a lot of basic questions. The right man in the wrong place makes all the difference in the world. Current Projects: Grayflag Server, Scripting Wiki Useful Links: Mission Scripting Tools MIST-(GitHub) MIST-(Thread) SLMOD, Wiki wishlist, Mission Editing Wiki!, Mission Building Forum
Slazi Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 You can join missions at any time which is a nice advantage. Right now the servers are quite quiet (probably one of the worst times to play). There are about 9 servers up, 7 of which are passworded. To be honest, if you're looking for massive public games, this isn't the game. But if you're looking for the best sims available, then you're in luck. If you want, I could always add you on steam (assuming you use steam).
seikdel Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 I played for a long time on SP, and I only recently made the jump to MP. The key for me was finding a squadron to join. I joined up with 1VFW, and I've been delighted by the opportunity to fly multiple different missions (most at least 1hr long) with both Sharks and Hogs. Some squadrons keep a server up 24/7, others don't. I've greatly enjoyed the multiplayer, but finding a squadron for me was key.
Pikey Posted June 9, 2012 Posted June 9, 2012 The sim has a long learning curve and thus it's not ideal for jump-on, jump-off gaming because quite literally you will spend hours just learning to fly then hours learning to fight and fly. Thus because of that investment in time any multiplayer is best suited to a long term relationship with a group of like minded people. You will get your money's worth well before you are able to support a team in combat though because that's how long the play time will be...but don't expect it to be highly structured, you need to teach yourself unless you find similar staged people in a more open organisation. Oh and it knocks anything else for six as a simulator and provides massively rewarding experiences given the right time and effort as well as being the most exciting platorm for developers right now, in my own opinion. I also (personally) found that before i had rudders and seperate throttle, helicopters were not ideal to fly. ___________________________________________________________________________ SIMPLE SCENERY SAVING * SIMPLE GROUP SAVING * SIMPLE STATIC SAVING *
Slazi Posted June 9, 2012 Posted June 9, 2012 I could enjoy the sim on a pretty cheap joystick with seperate throttle controls, although upgrading to the X52 pro made a big difference. TrackIR or alternative is strongly recommended too.
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