Why so few humans when they're there?

[Wotthe Dickens]

I spent time in lugh, and know there's lots of human action there, so why don't I see more human players? Surely the game mechanics should put you with humans in preference to npcs? I hung out there expecting to see more than 1% human players...?
Is this a tweak for my router???
Edit: first post, hello cmdrs

 

[Dablin]

The galaxy is a big place.

I recommend heading for earth, many players are excited about the prospect of visiting our own solar system, you are sure to stumble across somebody eventually.

Oh yeah, welcome Wotthe

 

[bambam_ofc]

The galaxy is a big place.

This is the stock answer but doesn't really explain the low human vs NPC ratio unless players really are scattered.

Even in Sol if you look at a radar with a dozen contacts, only one is likely to be human. If you dock in a major station like Earth / Abraham Lincoln there probably won't be another human arriving or leaving. Sure you'll see one eventually but I don't think only one global player in the game is actually at that station (it's be good to see stats).

I'm guessing the human players are at the moment spread across a larger number of server instances than is currently necessary, so we're thin on the ground.

I have a (unproven) theory that human players that like multiplayer will tend to congregate around Sol (and the nearest 200 systems you can currently reach within 2 jumps from Sol).

 

[JosefEk]

As it seems, it is in the game design not to allow many players on the same location (32 players seems to be a lie).

And then, calling this game mmorpg is nonsense and even calling it multiplayer doesn't make much sense.

 

[Wotthe Dickens]

I'm guessing the human players are at the moment spread across a larger number of server instances than is currently necessary, so we're thin on the ground.

I have a (unproven) theory that human players that like multiplayer will tend to congregate around Sol (and the nearest 200 systems you can currently reach within 2 jumps from Sol).

Thanks for the reply guys, yep - I suspect you're right in that the instancing mechanics don't favour bringing humans together. Lugh and Sol are full of human players and as you say, I'd be lucky to have one out of the 12 or so on my scanner as human.

I think it's a shame, surely I'd choose solo play if I didn't want to interact, or just go off to some remote corner ;-) but going to Sol or some forum led rendezvous such as the Lugh case should bring me into contact with the humans if they're there.
I really like the Elite games and wish I had more time to play this incarnation... and when I do, if I choose to go to high pop places such as Sol, it should reward me with the human contact and randomness they provide!
Sadly JosefEk seems correct.
Anyway, looking forward to the further development and improvements which hopefully will come.
cheers all

 

[Wotthe Dickens]

Hmm, I doubt anyone will read further of this thread, but I'm beginning to suspect that I have an issue with my isp / or my upnp settings, - I've just been to the newbie stations, over 30k visitors in the stats, yet I only ever get a max of 3 humans to perhaps 15 npcs on my scanner - I'm in the uk using a virgin media superhub with upnp enabled, is it that my ping connections are just too high to connect me to anyone? How many human players do you guys get at one time? Am I in the minority or is it the norm?
I do hope someone reads this!
Having fun anyway
Cheers all

 

[Black Ops]

dunno. I was just at Volta station, and I saw about 7-8 actual commanders trying to dock. no one talked, but based on the "hollow box" icon on my radar,those were real players. I tried messaging 2 of them, with no reply I wonder if people really just can't figure out the chat. It sucks, but it's there.

 

[CMDR Carbo]

The matchmaking that puts humans together into the same instance likely does consider the ping times they have to each other, else the ships would lag behind, or jump around.
So it not only depends on how many human players are in the same system, but also whether they have compatible ping times (e.g. if the are from the same area/continent).

 

[Moritasgus]

Another player was asking about the same thing, have you logged into your router and checked upnp is enabled?
He did found it wasn't and after enabling it his scanner lit up like a Christmas tree.

 

[Wotthe Dickens]

Thanks for your replies / help guys - yep I did check my virgin media 'super'hub upnp settings and it's setup ok methinks - and yep I guess ping is very relevant - but I'm in a major city in uk, and ping generally is ok, so I thought maybe the way some isp's allocate ip could be the issue.
Hmmm, lol, ok, still enjoying the game though. Cheers all and any other advice appreciated