Why are there so many servers out there running the largest map size but having a lot less player slots, like 32 or even 16? Isn't that extremely boring? The only benefit I can see is that it's easier to gain various awards.
There are several drawbacks though:
- with fewer players the game will be more vehicle dominated. Everyone uses vehicles and there will no infantry combat. No option to choose infantry battle if you get tired of vehicles.
- fewer players = higher average distance between players = longer distance and time to combat. Everyone will drive from CP to CP wondering where the enemy is. Suddenly a flag turns grey! There he is!
- once you have taken a flag, there will be no action there for some time and you have to go somewhere else. No option to choose defense if you get tired of capping merry-go-round.
- although you get more points in a round with such setup, that doesn't mean higher SPM. It could in fact lower the SPM as you will spend more time finding the enemy than fighting him.
- longer rounds + patch 1.3 instability = bad combo and you will loose more points since you "save game" less often (end of round = "save game").
- needs more people to get a game started
- a lot of servers are caught in a catch 22 situation where no one want to join the server because it's empty. The hermits are needed there to bridge the jump from half filled server to full server. When it gets too crowded for their taste there will always be an almost empty server somewhere. The hermit can leave the server knowing that he made a good deed as the sad server owner now reconsider his decision to close the server. The 16 slot max size servers destroys this symbiosis.
- players with slow computers can't play the large maps because of lag. If you ain't gonna have more than 16 players anyway why don't spare them the extra lag by choosing the correct map size?
There are several drawbacks though:
- with fewer players the game will be more vehicle dominated. Everyone uses vehicles and there will no infantry combat. No option to choose infantry battle if you get tired of vehicles.
- fewer players = higher average distance between players = longer distance and time to combat. Everyone will drive from CP to CP wondering where the enemy is. Suddenly a flag turns grey! There he is!
- once you have taken a flag, there will be no action there for some time and you have to go somewhere else. No option to choose defense if you get tired of capping merry-go-round.
- although you get more points in a round with such setup, that doesn't mean higher SPM. It could in fact lower the SPM as you will spend more time finding the enemy than fighting him.
- longer rounds + patch 1.3 instability = bad combo and you will loose more points since you "save game" less often (end of round = "save game").
- needs more people to get a game started
- a lot of servers are caught in a catch 22 situation where no one want to join the server because it's empty. The hermits are needed there to bridge the jump from half filled server to full server. When it gets too crowded for their taste there will always be an almost empty server somewhere. The hermit can leave the server knowing that he made a good deed as the sad server owner now reconsider his decision to close the server. The 16 slot max size servers destroys this symbiosis.
- players with slow computers can't play the large maps because of lag. If you ain't gonna have more than 16 players anyway why don't spare them the extra lag by choosing the correct map size?