Why did you stop playing FAF regularly?

[Hush]

I became inactive because Steam fa is so much fun. Games fill faster, Othhums actually deal decent damage, t1 transport com for cancer, monkeys are weak as shit etc etc. Absolutely love it. Also theres a nice community of about 20 players who are on my level or above which makes for fun games I appreciate it isnt for everyone though. I do love faf but my friends dont come online as much anymore sooo

[partymarty81]

I read this thread with some interest, as a new player coming in.

As with anything that is getting old, new challenges and changes need to be made to keep it interesting.

From what I can see in this thread the main gripes are with the map choices on ladder games (should be easy enough to change, excuse the naivety?) and reliability which is the harder to fix. Balancing and suchlike I can't comment on as I've not played long enough however this should be after its working in a stable way.

One point I would make, as a new player coming in, there is plenty of help on the forum which is great to help learn the game. On the one time I clicked to play a ladder game, instantly greeted to a comment of "oh great why do I always get F*!£ing newbies" is hardly welcoming in new players with open arms. I understand that it's frustrating when you want a challenge and you play someone that is a rollover it's no fun, however the attitude can be better.

Of the noobie games I have played common themes so far is lagging and people quitting when they are falling behind, I guess that's the nature of playing someone that is new, they don't have the knowledge/experience of getting back. It's still frustrating as hell to play a good game and it ends early!

Lastly - there is a lot of people still playing this game and which has an opinion, people still regularly posting casts which are really entertaining - use it to improve it!

[CookieNoob]

I kinda stopped playing because
1) it takes ages to fill a game (on my rating range ~1700 it can take more than an hour)
2) hosting a game is really frustrating, when the game is 7/8 someone disconnects and everyone leaves (after waiting an hour)
3) joining a game usually isn't an option either since there is almost exclusively dual gap, thermo and stuff like that hosted (or one is excluded by the rating limits)
4) after a break of ~2 month I am too lazy to tryhard and get back to my old level, mainly because it's so hard to find a game anyway
5) the bugs really annoy me: when the game finally starts, two ppl always disconnect from each other or some other random shit happens
6) not working replays: I like to review my games afterwards, but since almost all teamgames desync when someone has a connection problem (or leaves or blows his nose) ...

instead I either make some cool maps (check the ultimate maps in the vault) or just play some other games.

Edit: I am hosting a tourney (34 signups already!) to encourage some more map diversity* and 2v2 play... lets see how that turns out. If it is a success I will also do a 3v3 tourney and maybe ppl will start playing other maps more.

*and to promote the ultimate series

[Flynn]

So much complaining and negativity in this thread!

I am mainly a ladder player, since 2013 after a brief period of time on GPG Net in 2007 back when SupCom was shiny and new.

The one thing I have noticed is that the perfect system of selecting the 1v1 maps you are willing to play has been ditched.

I guess someone complained about being able to select your maps so they just got rid of it and replaced it with a rotation of about half a dozen (?) different maps and said "to hell with it".

I too am a proponent of having a vast map pool, it creates very interesting games and gives you a real surprise of which map you might be on.

One thing I do feel strongly about is build orders, or "BOs" for short. I absolutely hate the idea of having to rigidly stick to a certain way of doing things, I believe this stifles creativity and is bad for the game.

If having a diverse array of maps reduces the reliance on having the perfect build order to win the game then even better! A true commander should be able to think on his feet.

Edit: On the thread, I stopped playing for six months because I got a job that was on the weekends and that is when FAF is most active. It certainly does take some "getting back into" being such a complex game and when I haven't played for awhile I feel apprehensive about the frustrations of getting raped hard.

[ColonelSheppard]

I stopped because I didn't really have anybody in RL playing as well. So essentially you go online and there will always be somebody who's better and somebody who's worse. Back in the days when basicly all of my friends were playing there always was a small group of people and you tried to be the best of them.

I tried to introduce SupCom to new people since then and SupCom is played on a Lanparty I often go to, however it's difficult because usually I let them play and give everybody tips, because even my inactivity-cripled-1600-bullshit skill is enough to just roflstomp everything and everybody at lanparties if I start playing as well.

[Flynn]

It's funny you should post because I was wondering where you were since I came back Sheppard! I even looked your profile up a few days ago to see what had happened

[Gorton]

I tried to introduce SupCom to new people since then and SupCom is played on a Lanparty I often go to, however it's difficult because usually I let them play and give everybody tips, because even my inactivity-cripled-1600-bullshit skill is enough to just roflstomp everything and everybody at lanparties if I start playing as well.

This is exactly why I couldn't get any friends into this game. Some just aren't fans of rts - fair enough. Others liked rts well enough, but impossible to play with them against others to show them the game, the difference in skill is too great. In the end, they don't play at all.

And then, like I mentioned in a similar thread, I also stopped because of games I played with them instead took up time. I feel like that is very common.

[Morax]

Supp Comm is such a complicated game barely anyone is willing to learn how to play it, coupled with the fact that the game and server are suffering greatly from functionality it is not really a good thing to get into for most people.

We are quite lucky to have the folks we do...

It also certainly does not help that most of the people that play the game are on 7+ year-old PCs that bog down game speed. It seems Supp Comm and FAF are a poor man's solution to not being able to play newer games.

I think it is nice to note though that some new faces like Farmsletje and Peplomord (still WIP but improving quick) are making a nice impact at least in the team game scene.

Keep at it folks and stick around... even if we don't grow that much I think this community will always be fun.

[JoonasTo]

But supcom is easier to play than any other RTS so getting people who don't have 200 apm(anyone not RTS player) into it is way easier.

[lextoc]

This game is way more active than most games this age. You can check Steam's statistics somewhere on average players online each day or something like that. Look that up and you'll notice how weird it is this game is still going so strong.