a couple of suggestions for multiplayer

[Kebabrov]

I was playing a network game today and it was very fun, and i didnt have any desync errors . but i've noticed a few other 'issues' with it:
-its too easy for some moron to come along and join a company, then start wrecking everything. Maybe get openTTD to ask the company's current players if its ok for another person to join
-when lots of people leave, theres lots of redundant track that noone wants. maybe add an option so the players can vote to completely remove an unowned company from the map when they've been inactive for a certain period

edit:
-a way to buzz players would be nice too. sometimes you get to engaged in building some track and fail to notice the chat.
-is there a chat-log yet?

[Darkvater]

-its too easy for some moron to come along and join a company, then start wrecking everything. Maybe get openTTD to ask the company's current players if its ok for another person to join

Password protect your company.

"Usage: set company_pw \"<password>\". Use * as <password> to set no password."

-when lots of people leave, theres lots of redundant track that noone wants. maybe add an option so the players can vote to completely remove an unowned company from the map when they've been inactive for a certain period

There is an autocleanup feature now in the game. If a company has been inactive or leaving for a while the company will be sold off; declared bankrupt. The server can do this manually at any time it wishes.

-a way to buzz players would be nice too. sometimes you get to engaged in building some track and fail to notice the chat.

You mean like a sound played on receiving a chat message? Perhaps a good idea.

-is there a chat-log yet?

Open the console and you will see all chatmessages there.

[HighSpeedCoalTrain]

Mentioning those railway tracks from other companies...
When these companies are gone, these tracks could turn into public tracks (which could anybody use) but they would become worse by the time (slowing trains down) until trains are down to speed 0.

But in case one company wants to own these tracks, this company could by them for half the price from local authorities.

Just my 2 european cent.

[orudge]

Password protect your company.

Surely a GUI option is a bit more friendly for the end-users, though?

[Mad Dog McKill]

Password protect your company.

Surely a GUI option is a bit more friendly for the end-users, though?

Prefferably somewhere in the company gui..

[Moriarty]

Open the console and you will see all chatmessages there.

Not quite. u can only see the recent ones (unless i'm missing something).

I'd suggest a proper log thing that keeps all messages for seeing in-game.

[Dundee]

Shift+PgUp/Shift+PgDn scrolls through console.

[Kebabrov]

thx for replies. learnt some useful stuff.

i think a few little challenges could be added to make multiplayer extra special. e.g.

(each one should be seperate for each transport type)
-highest average speed between two places (ripped off from locomotion)
-longest service in squares travelled
-busiest section of track (kind of ties in with 'rusty tracks' feature)
-shortest waiting time

and then maybe boobie prizes too.

maybe reset it every year, and the winning company gets a cash prize, or increased ratings?


so what you think? good idea? any other suggestions?

(i know this whole idea is not a top priority for the devs)

[Sionide]

Password protect your company.

Surely a GUI option is a bit more friendly for the end-users, though?

Prefferably somewhere in the company gui..

definately, i didn't know how to do this till i read this thread..

however, i'd make to make this point.

a couple of times when i've joined a game, it's been too late to start my own company and i've taken over other companies and continued their work. so.. i propose that if there's no client for a company for a certain amount of time (before the company is declared bankrupt) then the password disappears, allowing a late-joiner to take over.. it's kinda hard to explain.. heh

[Korenn]

Surely a GUI option is a bit more friendly for the end-users, though?

Prefferably somewhere in the company gui..

definately, i didn't know how to do this till i read this thread..

however, i'd make to make this point.

a couple of times when i've joined a game, it's been too late to start my own company and i've taken over other companies and continued their work. so.. i propose that if there's no client for a company for a certain amount of time (before the company is declared bankrupt) then the password disappears, allowing a late-joiner to take over.. it's kinda hard to explain.. heh

That should be optional then.

[Sionide]

you understood me then, good it was very a rambled reply.. heh

[Moriarty]

i like Kebabrov's idea about different minor prize things. would work well in multiplayer, as at present the only real criteria for winning is the company rating which isn't too good IMHO. Those little things would give you a few extra bragging rights.

[CheesePlant]

Maybe when the share system gets sorted, before the company starts going bankrupt after a certain time if someone has %75 shares they can buy the last 25%?

[Kebabrov]

I've got another suggestion. There should be a setting somewhere to force signals to be shown on the left or right side no matter what side the vehicles drive on.

In network games when i play on any non-UK server (which is probably most of them), my signals appear between the two tracks since i like to drive on the left, and the server wants to drive on the right. It just looks confusing!!

[Tcq]

I also have a few suggestions for multiplayer, to improve playability mostly.

Limiting Exclusive transport rights to 2-4 towns per player, yesterday i got into a game that had been running for 20 years and 1 rich player just bought exclusive transport rights in every town, no one else had enough money to do that so a lot of players went bankrupt after a while, fixing this will make multiplayer easier for starting companies.
You can still harass other companies, you cannot shut them down completely f they have more than 2-4 transport routes.

Allow the server to set the interval signals can be places at, i saw several players who built a signal at every tile of their track so you can't create bridges over the track and there's not always room for a tunnel, less people will do this when it has to be done manually. Of course this will no longer be needed when the new map array is done

[mike[F]]

I've got another suggestion. There should be a setting somewhere to force signals to be shown on the left or right side no matter what side the vehicles drive on.

In network games when i play on any non-UK server (which is probably most of them), my signals appear between the two tracks since i like to drive on the left, and the server wants to drive on the right. It just looks confusing!!

Agreed. Maybe just let the user's individual preference override the server's preference - after all, signal side is just a cosmetic thing, surely?

[habell]

It seems that the multiplayer feature isn't fully operational. Whenever I try to connect to a game it immidiately gives "decync error" or something like it.

And on other games I can join without any problems.

I use a DSL connection, so I think the bandwidth can't be the problem.

[swiitsch]

here is a great suggestion:

the server owner should be able to set a admin password in openttd.cfg. In game he can enter that password to become admin. The admin can kick players from console, delete everyones tracks, take and give money, chance the game settings (as far as they can be chanced during the game...)

that would ease the problem of idiots p***ing people off by sabotaging them or cheating (creating lots of money, giving everyone -1.4bn pounds and so on)

[teeone]

Limiting Exclusive transport rights to 2-4 towns per player, yesterday i got into a game that had been running for 20 years and 1 rich player just bought exclusive transport rights in every town, no one else had enough money to do that so a lot of players went bankrupt after a while, fixing this will make multiplayer easier for starting companies.
You can still harass other companies, you cannot shut them down completely f they have more than 2-4 transport routes.

This is WAY too powerful...It needs to be like 2 times in a whole game or something like that.

[lucaspiller]

When people have different localisation settings from the server (just currency and distance units are affected) the server ones are used. I am used to my settings so everytime I join a new server I have to change them over.

Something simular to desyncs also still appears to be in the game. At random times I seem to get disconnected from the server without any warning, at other times the game just pauses for me - even though it is working fine for other people.

Yesterday I was playing on a server hosted on a DSL connection and everytime someone new connected the game became really slow for everyone playing, because the bandwidth was being used up by the new bloke recieving the map. Would it be possible to implement some sort of rate limiting?

Apart from those I can't find any major problems. It is even really playable over a slow 56k connection.