Limited co-op multiplayer

[assemblerbot]

I'm against multiplayer in any X game. Or at least against multiplayer made by Egosoft (multiplayer mod created by community would be ok) for one reason:

Since I remember after each release of new X game Egosoft needed a lot of time to polish the game to playable state. And it's just a singleplayer. Splitting Egosofts forces to making multiplayer and singleplayer would probably make that time much longer.

[Zetoss]

I'm thinking something along the line of assemblerbots conclusion, while multiplayer would add a bit to the game it would feel like asking the entire ES programming team to take a break for 6 months just to deliver a couple of pizzas to my door. Basically I'm firmly against anything that postpones the game or in any way interferes with a rich single player experience, if they can make the game with a future multiplayer patch or something in mind without it having the slightest impact on the process that would be great but the only programming I've done is a buggy Pong clone on a Ti83 calculator so I'm in no position to speculate vividly regarding the complexity of multiplayer foundations.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Hell yeah. While some small co-op "hop in and hop out" would be great, I'd love to have a full multiplayer Elite-like multiplayer with all that belongs to it - from alliances and playergroups to territory control, piracy and PVP, I'd even kickstart this.

[Kitty]

See this thread and my answer :
https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php ... c&start=15

Multiplayer on LAN with my friends and/or familly, Yes.
MMO, big NO.

This is not a requirement, for me, it is a wish, a dream perhaps as this question was asked many times and EGOSOFT's answer was always the same: NO.

[vahull]

im loving the points being brought up , and wanted to elaborate more on my original Multi Player idea im not suggesting an MMO type setup only
instanced Multiplayer where you or your friends host the game via a dedicated server ( think Rust or Empyrion Galactic Survival ) where you can choose the way the server is run , operated , mods etc and controll who can access it

[Alan Phipps]

In that case the two (limited) multiplayer threads can merge.

[blotunga]

No, those who want Multiplayer can go and play Elite: Dangerous or Star Citizen. I want a single player experience where it's me, my ship, my fleet and the universe against me

[Silla]

For the time being I voted NO. I think this game needs to get to the next step first before one can start to think about what a good COOP gameplay should look like. After all a game needs to be wrapped around its content and not the other way round.

Considering the fact that with the introduction of KI handlers the universe will be more flexible to extern input we are moving ever so slightly in a region of the possibility to having several inputs as in multipayers, but we don't know yet to what extend that is. Also one should not forget that SETA should not be part of a proper multiplayer experience ...

... let's talk about this again after X4 as X was always a titel of little steps

[Vandragorax]

I would also love to see a coop MP experience, with multiple people being able to fly around and manage aspects of the empire. Limiting the scope of the MP experience to that would be enough imho as I agree with people that a full MP or MMO experience with PvP and crap like that is not what X fans are after.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

No, those who want Multiplayer can go and play Elite: Dangerous or Star Citizen. I want a single player experience where it's me, my ship, my fleet and the universe against me

Both Elite and SC are different games with a different focus. Try building stations or commanding traders in Elite

[StoneLegionYT]

Would I? Sure will it happen No? I voted yes though even though a lot of people who voted no will be no because they know its not going to happen.

[aquatica]

I would welcome multiplayer, partly. Similar to games like OpenTTD - you set up a server (Dedicated or not) and start playing. Other people could join in as their own players and you would be competing against the others.
In the case of dedicated server, the game would go on and everything would be taken over by AI in the similar way as the AI economy all together. So in bad case someone could blow everything up (unless player-owned stuff were protected, a setting on the server maybe?).

I do know that even the simplest ways to have some multiplayer would require very much work. It's not just the netcode, but the whole infrastructure for multiplayer.
Just a few points:
- The game engine would need to support that in the first place...
- How to keep everything synced, not so simple as many thinks...
- Deciding what to do with excess lag so it wont affect other players...
- Setting up the rules. Could anyone build as many stations as they wanted? Space *WILL* run out after enough time and congestion *WILL* become an huge issue... unless it gets reset enough, which would pretty much ruin what X is
- What to do about SETA? It could be dumped, but it would mean adjusting a lot of things to work as intended

And that is only few basic things to think about, I'm not even going to go to the more complex parts of the stuff.

But basically, I'd like to have similar competitive multiplayer as, for example, OpenTTD. Anyone could practically anytime pop in the server and join the competition etc.

[Morkonan]

I'd like to see co-op combat arenas, much like the old "Fleet Fest" sorts of combat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w_4HuEXQIQ

These were done with scripts, the combatant's fleets worked out in advance.

But, if players could use their own fleets, from in-game, and those were verified as "legit" by the engine, they could do P2P contests, perhaps in a ranked system (Estimate fleet value) then players could work toward building a "PVP Fleet" in their single-player gaming experience. They'd go to the arena, get a match or arrange for one, fight it out and, if they won, maybe they'd get some resources or something like that? Some sort of points they could spend on "junk" in their SP game. If they lost, they'd still get some points just for participating.

Edit - Giving the game multiplayer campaign capability is just too complicated, IMO, and the expense wouldn't justify the cost in terms of how much value-added gameplay it would bring for most players. Multiplayer components that are optional would be just fine so long as they're not too difficult to implement and don't adversely effect a player's single-player experience. (An MMO would be great, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon and it wouldn't be a proper X3/4 sort of game, anyway.)

[Nanook]

Hmm, interesting poll results so far. Pretty much the same results as all the MP X game polls from time immemorial.

[Ketraar]

Except for the fact that it attracted Morkonan out of off-topic, no surprise at all.

MFG

Ketraar

[Observe]

I used to think that playing an X game multiplayer with a friend, might be fun, but lacking any friends notwithstanding, this is not how I play these games.

Once I get hooked on a game like X2/X3/not Rebirth/hopefully X4, it becomes a deeply personal foray into an imaginary world of my own role-playing creation. Sometimes, a single game can take months to complete, and then I have to stop all the time and delve into modding, so I can continue my fantasy in ways the game didn't initially provide.

Without reaching for your sympathy or therapeutic counseling, this can become practically a career, spread over years sometimes. None of that fits multiplayer. So, for me, not interested very much.

[LTerSlash]

Hmm, interesting poll results so far. Pretty much the same results as all the MP X game polls from time immemorial.

Well i dont blame them, Multiplayer means compromises for SP gameplay, no one wants that, not even I.

I just want to invite a friend to take control over an NPC and do the same stuff that i do sharing the same player data, whiout having to do any kind of MP balacing or take away any part of SP gameplay.

X4 is not going to have SETA, the only feature that could have got in the way of doing that on X3. So i really i dont see the problem, X4 SP and X4 with limited coop MP should have the exact same SP gameplay, thats the whole point of not going over the limited coop MP.

[LTerSlash]

As for the times have changed argument, actually I think we're over the pinnacle of the "every good game must have MP" sentiment already. A couple of years ago, the incentive to add MP was a lot greater, especially for new games and franchises. Besides with so many other space games covering multiplayer gameplay (Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Infinity: Battelscape, EVE, No Man's Sky) in so many different forms, I feel Egosoft would have a hard time winning so many new customers, as people are more critical about a proper and their desired MP implementation.

You have no idea of how wrong you are, with Elite being a let down in many things, No man Sky is not even a MP game and is a big dissaster, and Star Citizen being in the eternal development stage, Egosoft should be able to capitalise that.

X4 is going to beat SC out of the door, by MANY years if X4 comes out in 2018, people is HUNGRY to play games while waiting for SC. Those are sales right there... Why do you think XR sold that well while being seen as a big let down to a lot of X fans?

There is a lot of groups of people looking for a game to play while waiting for SC.
And X4 looks like a SP version of what SC was intended to be before they started to add too much extra things that took away the space focus.

Coop MP, if it does not take away SP gameplay, it may be a HUGE win for X4.
They just need to keep it as simple as possible, P2P, Steam platform MP, sharing the same player data.

You want to do a test run because you may belive that adding MP is never going to bring profitsss(Teladi voice)? release X3 source code under some severe limitations, like all changes or anything based on it is still owned by Egosoft.
Wait and see how many time it takes until some random people add MP support and how people is attracted to it.
Free market analysis right there.

[aquatica]

You have no idea of how wrong you are, with Elite being a let down in many things, No man Sky is not even a MP game and is a big dissaster, and Star Citizen being in the eternal development stage, Egosoft should be able to capitalise that.

If and only when it would be done well. If the MP isn't done very well it will only be a waste of resources and a turn down for that potential customer base.

Coop MP, if it does not take away SP gameplay, it may be a HUGE win for X4.
They just need to keep it as simple as possible, P2P, Steam platform MP, sharing the same player data.

So, in a sense as simple as in CS 1.6? Anyone could setup a server at any given time with ease. So in essence: someone hosts a game and others would join there. If the host disconnects, server dies and bye bye everyone? That would be the simplest of ways. However what that would mean resources wise is completely different story... X-games haven't been the lightest of loads so far.

If resources wouldn't be a real issue for player-hosted servers, heck yea. Sadly, as I see it, the only way possible would be through dedicated servers. And that would mean a lot of tinkering with the AI and all that.

[26072013]

I don't want to play MP, I want a universe simulation in which I can build an empire, and that I can mod to my taste. A multiplayer X just could not have the same appeal for me.

Also there is no other complex singleplayer space sim, it's what makes the X-series so unique. I think they should focus all their energy on that.