Max Planets for a 8 slot (4 PC vs 4 AI) Recommend

from Stardock Forums

I would like to know when designing a galaxy what is the recommended max Planet for a 8 slot (4 PC vs 4 AI) size galaxy, so that Latency does not become a big issue and slow down the game.  Some latency is fine because with that many people (4 PC) latency will be bound to happen.  Every playing would hav eeither a mid range computer built or a high end, but the person hosting will have a high end computer built.  All computers are custom built and not modded RAM, CPU or VCard.  The galaxy would be made in Galaxy Forge Tool program.  Also everyone would have Either Entrenchment or Have Trinity (with recommendations for both Executables). 

If I were t ocreate a Galaxy with a 10 slot option, what would be the best for max planets too?

Thank you.

12,345 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Well the big thing that is going to kill your framerate is the fleet sizes, not necessarily the planets. Unless you are playing a maps with hundreds of planets, its really not going to compare with 8-10 players with maxed out fleets. It may help a bit to play on singe rather than multistar maps, but other than that I wouldn't worry map size too much.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

As mentioned, the size of fleets really determines performance more than anything.  I find a good system can usually handle about 8k command before it starts to become unplayable.  Unfortunately, with ten players that means only about 800 command in units each.  That is easily doable if the game goes on for longer than an hour.

More to the point is how defensible you make the map.  If the players are placed far apart so they can't be rushed and have excellent choke points to defend, you will very easily build up to game-stuttering fleet sizes.  If the map is more open and prone to bloodshed, this will keep the fleet sizes suppressed for longer and improve performance, even if there is a large number of planets.

That said, I'm of the opinion that a map should have in the range of 5-15 planets per player.  If you're going smaller or larger, you should have a good reason for doing so. 

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I would say that as a general rule, a good size is about 8x gravity wells per player, so for 4v4 (8 players) try to keep it around 64 gravity wells.  Do note that this game can also be played PvP.  Once you and your buddies learn the game, I hope you'll feel cordially invite to log onto Ironclad Online and try it against other people, which is really great for when you want to play but your friends aren't around.