Why so few full servers?

[Average Jew]

I used to host a popular server back in legacy and it seems like there was more full servers back then than there is now even though there is 4x the amount of players. I just picked up the game again finally for the sale and I'm really disappointed.

There was only one near full server that wasn't locked and the admin was doing nothing but griefing and none of the players were actually playing, and I'm not like a diehard "play the game right" type guy, I'm the opposite on this game really but it was a pretty lame experience.

I really liked/like this game but, the lack of 'actual' players in multiplayer is really confusing and I don't get it.

[Average Jew]

The singleplayer still feels so...meh. All of multiplayer is literally just campaign, I can't just jump into a mission unless I only want to play with like 2 other people, and the singleplayer AI still feels weak even compared to when I last played literally years ago. Sadly I'm over the refund period for this game, I used to love it but even with the large player count it feels dead.

[shrekstyle]

Originally posted by ~~Nya~~:

The singleplayer still feels so...meh. All of multiplayer is literally just campaign, I can't just jump into a mission unless I only want to play with like 2 other people, and the singleplayer AI still feels weak even compared to when I last played literally years ago. Sadly I'm over the refund period for this game, I used to love it but even with the large player count it feels dead.

I think single missions are only good if you can get a group of people to start with instead of hoping to have randoms join to most likely troll.

Campaigns are more popular because of the progression, The feeling of working towards something.

Just curious, In what what way do the AI feel weak compared to past versions?

[Average Jew]

Originally posted by shrekstyle:

Originally posted by ~~Nya~~:

The singleplayer still feels so...meh. All of multiplayer is literally just campaign, I can't just jump into a mission unless I only want to play with like 2 other people, and the singleplayer AI still feels weak even compared to when I last played literally years ago. Sadly I'm over the refund period for this game, I used to love it but even with the large player count it feels dead.

I think single missions are only good if you can get a group of people to start with instead of hoping to have randoms join to most likely troll.

Campaigns are more popular because of the progression, The feeling of working towards something.

Just curious, In what what way do the AI feel weak compared to past versions?

I'm sorry I made you misunderstand, I wasn't trying to say that the AI was weaker, I was just saying that it doesn't feel like there has been as much progress on it as some people seem to imply. I for example had a crew with one engineer that just completely refused to repair anything unless I reordered him to. My mechanic also ignored orders a few times but it was mostly just the engineer for some reason. But my point is that from what I remember at least(I could be wrong) the AI in singleplayer has been capable of the exact same things it is now, albeit with revamped menus, and interface. An overall improvement still imo, just not a very large one.

Sorry for the wall of text lol.

[shrekstyle]

Originally posted by ~~Nya~~:

for example had a crew with one engineer that just completely refused to repair anything unless I reordered him to. My mechanic also ignored orders a few times but it was mostly just the engineer for some reason.

All good.
Did you order them to fix something in with the repairs button next to the chat window or did you set them to repair as a job?

I cant remember how long ago it was added but you can set a bot to do a job by clicking middle mouse button on their name and setting the job that they will automatically do without you giving orders.
Up to 3 jobs and it now (since latest patch) carries over between rounds.

Once iv set the bots with their jobs iv never had a problem and don't have to give them any more orders, unless the waypoints arn't set properly on workshop subs.
They are more reliable than some players in fixing/repairing the sub.

If you have a look at the last few patch notes their is a list of things they added to bot AI.

[Average Jew]

Originally posted by shrekstyle:

All good.
Did you order them to fix something in with the repairs button next to the chat window or did you set them to repair as a job?

I cant remember how long ago it was added but you can set a bot to do a job by clicking middle mouse button on their name and setting the job that they will automatically do without you giving orders.
Up to 3 jobs and it now (since latest patch) carries over between rounds.

Once iv set the bots with their jobs iv never had a problem and don't have to give them any more orders, unless the waypoints arn't set properly on workshop subs.
They are more reliable than some players in fixing/repairing the sub.

If you have a look at the last few patch notes their is a list of things they added to bot AI.

I did actually set him to repair as a job, I had repair and then keeping the reactor on. He was managing the reactor just fine, just not repairing and I had them in the right order. I could just be dealing with a bug I suppose.

[Bloop]

Originally posted by ~~Nya~~:

Originally posted by shrekstyle:

All good.
Did you order them to fix something in with the repairs button next to the chat window or did you set them to repair as a job?

I cant remember how long ago it was added but you can set a bot to do a job by clicking middle mouse button on their name and setting the job that they will automatically do without you giving orders.
Up to 3 jobs and it now (since latest patch) carries over between rounds.

Once iv set the bots with their jobs iv never had a problem and don't have to give them any more orders, unless the waypoints arn't set properly on workshop subs.
They are more reliable than some players in fixing/repairing the sub.

If you have a look at the last few patch notes their is a list of things they added to bot AI.

I did actually set him to repair as a job, I had repair and then keeping the reactor on. He was managing the reactor just fine, just not repairing and I had them in the right order. I could just be dealing with a bug I suppose.

For the reactor job they will just stand at the reactor in my experience and never go repairing. What you want to do is set repairs and reactor, bring up the crew tab with c, and right click ONCE to set the reactor job to inactive. You can left click the reactor job when power goes out for easy ordering of bots. Best way I've found so far without hiring a cheap assistant with the task of standing in place and feeding rods into the system.

[Average Jew]

Originally posted by Bloop:

For the reactor job they will just stand at the reactor in my experience and never go repairing. What you want to do is set repairs and reactor, bring up the crew tab with c, and right click ONCE to set the reactor job to inactive. You can left click the reactor job when power goes out for easy ordering of bots. Best way I've found so far without hiring a cheap assistant with the task of standing in place and feeding rods into the system. :captainsinful:

I had no idea you could stop jobs, good to know ty!

[Elf]

Stuns have been nerfed, making griefing harder while subsequently making meticulous sabotage nigh impossible. SMG has a higher stun duration that immobilzes a person instantly with a full mag and can kill someone with full body armor (but you can still inject morphine and bandages while being shot at). Wiring is frowned upon in most servers so you can't use your knowledge to benefit nor sabotage subs. Crew interaction is so minimal now that it generally isn't fun with randoms to just mess around and RP unless you join some server's Discord. It doesn't really surprise me that a majority of players are bored and don't play due to either having admin abusers or hardliners who want 100% obedience from their crew.

I've seen poor Engineers get banned instantly for accidently overloading the reactor and fixing it. I've seen Mechanics getting banned instantly for fabricating equipment. I've seen Medics getting banned instantly for healing burns with bandages without getting anyone to help him understand that you don't typically do that unless the person is dying or at half health. I've seen Security even getting banned for detaining people who were obviously trying to grief only then the sub gets destroyed because they were freed. It's pretty ugly at the moment.

[Average Jew]

Originally posted by what da dog doin'?:

Stuns have been nerfed, making griefing harder while subsequently making meticulous sabotage nigh impossible. SMG has a higher stun duration that immobilzes a person instantly with a full mag and can kill someone with full body armor (but you can still inject morphine and bandages while being shot at). Wiring is frowned upon in most servers so you can't use your knowledge to benefit nor sabotage subs. Crew interaction is so minimal now that it generally isn't fun with randoms to just mess around and RP unless you join some server's Discord. It doesn't really surprise me that a majority of players are bored and don't play due to either having admin abusers or hardliners who want 100% obedience from their crew.

I've seen poor Engineers get banned instantly for accidently overloading the reactor and fixing it. I've seen Mechanics getting banned instantly for fabricating equipment. I've seen Medics getting banned instantly for healing burns with bandages without getting anyone to help him understand that you don't typically do that unless the person is dying or at half health. I've seen Security even getting banned for detaining people who were obviously trying to grief only then the sub gets destroyed because they were freed. It's pretty ugly at the moment.

I gave up on multiplayer already, singleplayer is so ehhhh for me because the AI is AI if you know what I mean.

[Hub]

AI is definitely leaps and bounds better than it was in legacy. Assuming you still have 0.8.2.3 on your hard drive, you can go back to play it and see how shaky and unreliable the AI is.
Large scale public servers that aren't griefing or admin abuse are mostly a thing of the past, primarily because any average joe can host their own server without port forwarding. Your best bet for a "true" server is to join a password protected one.

[The Grand Mugwump]

Did you actually read the title of the server? It sounds like you may have joined a RP server or something. I see plenty of games when I look, so maybe it's a regional thing or some setting you have enabled.

Though I've been seeing less and less games lately, but that's mainly because clowns keep getting a hold of my ID and framing me for their tomfoolery.

Originally posted by ~~Nya~~:

Originally posted by shrekstyle:

I think single missions are only good if you can get a group of people to start with instead of hoping to have randoms join to most likely troll.

Campaigns are more popular because of the progression, The feeling of working towards something.

Just curious, In what what way do the AI feel weak compared to past versions?

I'm sorry I made you misunderstand, I wasn't trying to say that the AI was weaker, I was just saying that it doesn't feel like there has been as much progress on it as some people seem to imply. I for example had a crew with one engineer that just completely refused to repair anything unless I reordered him to. My mechanic also ignored orders a few times but it was mostly just the engineer for some reason. But my point is that from what I remember at least(I could be wrong) the AI in singleplayer has been capable of the exact same things it is now, albeit with revamped menus, and interface. An overall improvement still imo, just not a very large one.

Sorry for the wall of text lol.

The AI can have three jobs. It will always prioritize the one to the farthest left. If it can't do that job (for example, it can't fix a leak because there aren't any), then it will attempt to do the second job and so on. You have to arrange them in the correct order. If you set operate reactor as the first job on the left, the AI will never do any of the other jobs because it can only not operate the reactor if it gets destroyed.

Edit: Also, Red Solstice 2 just came out, and I feel like it attracts some of the same playerbase Barotrauma has. If nothing else, there's also a huge summer sale to distract people from their usual games.