Where is everybody?

[Aussiewalrus]

It's a new non-mainstream game that's just been released, so that's a bit of a tongue in cheek question. But I'm wondering what's the largest number of players we've seen in a race so far? I managed to join 6 others the other day which was fun. Other than that there are usually only 1 or 2 other people across the entire server list when I look. I'm guessing it's because I'm in Australia and therefore out of sync with the European evenings when most people play? Makes for a bit of a dull game, although I'm still enjoying the flying

So what's the biggest player numbers so far?

Tom

[bobby royal]

Im in NZ! we should organise some flying in this neck of the woods!

[hitzi]

There was a server with 64 pilots on monday

[sadatoni]

I saw one with 31 the other day.

[ThunderToe]

The servers are dead dead dead for anyone on west coast usa as well. The only regular large player count flights i find are 8:30 am and 11:30 am for me (16:30utc)(19:15utc)

I started a Discord chat to try and help coordinate some flights. Check it out. https://discord.gg/uwmVWK8

[Aussiewalrus]

64 pilots! Awesome!

Guess we all need to move to Europe. Or get up early in the morning. I might try a morning flight on the weekend.

Would be keen to fly with others from this side of the world, but by flying tends to me sporadic and when I can find a spare minute. Hard to schedule it in!

Hopefully the numbers will come up soon

[sadatoni]

Need more US pilots. Too few as it is.

[lightbulbjim2]

Would be keen to fly with others from this side of the world, but by flying tends to me sporadic and when I can find a spare minute.

I'm in Australia too and also in the same boat. Family commitments at the moment mean I haven't even been able to find the time to fly a task from start to finish. I'm sure it will get better in a few years time

If I could commit the time I'd be well up for some antipodean multiplayer.

[smithcorp]

Aussie here too. Not a regular RL flyer for the past few years (small child) but keen to try some multi with other Aussies.

[SteveK]

It's not just a problem "down under".

I'm in the UK and had problems finding a suitable server yesterday, (a Sunday afternoon), and when I did, I ended up flying alone (well one other chap joined, but he failed to get away and ended up scattering fibreglass around just as I started the task). Prior to joining that server, I'd rejected a couple of others with longer tasks as I did not have the spare time to be sure of completing the task (and such, I could not bug out of the server I was on, wait for it to re-cycle and hope for someone else to join the second time around - I'd not have the time to complete the task if I did)

I do think that participation in online flying is currently generally lower than it was in the Speedbattle days. I was hoping for significantly higher participation immediately after the Condor 2 release.

The Free-flight servers seem to be doing the best trade at the moment - I can see why, dip in/out - no waiting around, and spend as much or little time in there as you want, get to know an aircraft that you haven't flown before, etc..

Of course flying a task is better, but as I said above - it's time consuming. You obviously have the task time, but on top of that,the wait for a suitable server to start, the wait the join time to complete, The pre race start time, and any time that you choose to delay your task start. Maybe even showing a slower fellow competitor some respect by waiting around after your own landing for him to finish and to help him derig.

There is also the issue of the available time window to join a server. The default join window seems to be 15 minutes. As such it only has the capability to pick up anyone who is looking for a server in that fairly small time window. However - the window can be even smaller.The server list only rebuilds every two minutes, and the server list webpage only asks the server for the latest page every two minutes as well. Depending on luck, it may be anywhere up to four minutes after a server starts that you see it on your copy of the list (likewise there could be a period of up to four minutes after a server has ended join, that the list still shows it as joinable). So a fresh server has an average of 13 minutes to drum up it's trade - a difficult task when there is only a trickle of punters. I can't help thinking the must be a better way to do a server list, (but I appreciate the limitations and capacity issues with doing things the current method imposes).

Obviously a server advertised somewhere to run at an expected time has the best chance of getting trade. People know when to look for it and can plan free time to accommodate the expected task.

I suppose there is also the "Do I want to be the first person on the server" syndrome. I can't rationalise it, but it does seem to be an issue. I suppose it's a bit like the reason that an empty-ish restaurant will seat people near the window, to encourage others to enter.

[BeastFromTheEast]

It's not just a problem "down under".

Join up with us tomorrow night if you wish.

Ian

[SteveK]

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I don't think flying a sizeable task in the evening is realistic for me at the moment - I have minor caring responsibilities that would make it difficult to cloister myself away for about three hours in the evening (those same responsibilities caused me to cease RL flying recently). Additionally, even were I to somehow work around that, the 19:00 start time is a little early for me to cope with after a day at work.

[phil_delaine]

There is also the issue of the available time window to join a server. The default join window seems to be 15 minutes. As such it only has the capability to pick up anyone who is looking for a server in that fairly small time window. However - the window can be even smaller.The server list only rebuilds every two minutes, and the server list webpage only asks the server for the latest page every two minutes as well. Depending on luck, it may be anywhere up to four minutes after a server starts that you see it on your copy of the list (likewise there could be a period of up to four minutes after a server has ended join, that the list still shows it as joinable).

That's a question : why the V2 serverlist updates so lately while V1 and Hitzi serverlists update as soon as a server is up.
A drawback for CV2, for the reasons you explained above.

Can the CV2 team look at this point to make the serverlist raw data (json) updated as soon as a server pops up.
Thanks in advance.

[avanspron]

Hi,

For the Aussie & NZ guys I plan to start up the "Aussie Task" again after Easter but it will change as to what night due to my work shifts changing each week (can be 3am to 11:30pm). I am on the NSW Central Coast so the start time would be 7:30pm Sydney time and aim to be finished by 10pm.

If you are interested send my a PM (private email via the forum with you email address and I will add you to the email I send out before I host any tasks (I try to give a few days notice).

I also have my own TeamSpeak 3 server as well.

Arie

[Snoman314]

I too have never seen more than 2 people online in total across all servers. Usually those 2 pers will be on different servers as well!