Smaller Games

Canadian_Crew

<div class="IPBDescription">Why do so sew people host them?</div> Personally I enjoy a smaller game on NS 8-12 ppl on the server, But so many servers are trying to go 16+ people and their boxes can't handle it and everyone has 500+ pings.

I just question the reasoning that you have to have so many people having a laggy game of NS, when the server could handle a smaller game easily.

If your wondering why I like smaller games better it is because skill matters a lot more and develops a lot faster because if you only have one fellow marine plus commander and are trying to build/defend a foreward base so you can take out a hive it is a lot more difficult than having 2 guys build and 6 others defending them. Also small games are a lot more likely to have great pings than a big game, which makes it a lot easier to hit things when you shoot at them.

Doctor_Awesome

I agree.

Is there a magic number for team sizes (5v5, 6v6, for example) at which the game is supposedly most well-balanced?

We run a 14 player server (plus two reserved, so it can be as big as 8v8) and pings are generally nice, though they can rise to the 100s or 200s or higher on certain maps or with a full load.

We originally ran 18 players, but dropped it to improve performance. I'm thinking I would almost rather drop it even lower (to 10 or 12) for smaller 5v5 or 6v6 games, but it already seems that more people think our server holds too few players than too many, probably because of all those ridiculously huge servers out there where everyone has sky high pings...

So, does anyone know the optimally-balanced team sizes?

On an arguably related note, I haven't seen the marines win more than twice since v1.01. Is this partly due to "large" 7v7 and 8v8 games?

Mellonpopr

well , originally I hosted a 14 players server and cpu usage was horrible after an hour of hera..then I realized that at 24 the cpu usage and ping (false ones from the scoreboard) are the same regardless of the maxplayers.

I don't think it's the maxplayers that effects the server so much.. its the other entities

BioHazard

we tried from 8 players all the way to 16 players and found 12 perfect the 6 on 6 is a great match.. to many or to few changes the balance.. i feel 6 each team is a great balance.. those are the games that go for 5 or 6 hours. so we only run a 13 player server keeping one slot open reserve at all times for admin usage.

MoNkEy_MaN_X

Yea, I run a 12 man server. The 6v6 games are intense. We have games last up to 4 hrs sometimes. Come check us out at 68.63.155.77:27015. The name of the server is cdclan.com cD|-Server 1.03.

--- MoNkEy MaN X
--- <a href='http://www.cdclan.com' target='_blank'>Control Denied</a>

GoleX

I have recently dropped the maxplayers of my server back down after some regs requested (7v7 + 1 res now). It does help the pings, and the teams are still a good size for battle.

tlarmon

I run a 24-man NS server with a beast of a CPU (which helps a lot). Pings are relatively low. I ping between 50ms-100ms on the scoreboard. When I had the server set at 18 maxplayers, I pinged between 40-70ms on the scoreboard. I like having it set to 24 as a lot of people tend to like it better, and, because my server can do it with less lag than most servers have with as little as 1/2 the players of that <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->

<a href='http://204.248.53.42:27015/' target='_blank'>Monitor my 24 player NS server here</a>

Nemesis_Zero

NS was balanced with a minimum of 4v4 (one commander, one marine building, two exploring) in mind.
The most often seen testgames were around 5v5 to 7v7, so I agree that a 12 person server is pretty much 'as it was intended'. Everything above 26 players can get completely out of hand, both because of technical problems and the danger of a turtling team - there is admittely only so much you can do against fifteen LMGs guarding two to three entrances.
Such games can still be won, but can get boring pretty fast.

xmadcowx

i host a 12 person server, maily because i have noticed that in 6v6 games, people will stay for the entire map, from start to finish. much more teamwork is involved as well.

icebox.rh.rit.edu