INT Servers Are Too Empty – Please Merge DE1 and INT1

[GreenCity]

 

Hello everyone,

I would like to bring attention to the current state of the INT servers and suggest merging DE1 and INT1, or implementing another solution to address the low player population.

At the moment, the INT servers are often nearly empty. Many players, including myself, play SimRail because of the interaction between real dispatchers and drivers. Unfortunately, when there are very few players online and most traffic is controlled by AI, the multiplayer experience loses much of what makes it enjoyable.

This is not only my opinion. I have seen many players express similar concerns. Empty servers can discourage both new and existing players from joining multiplayer sessions, which can further reduce activity over time.

I believe that merging DE1 and INT1 could:

• Increase player activity.

• Create a more realistic and lively railway environment.

• Improve communication and cooperation between players.

• Make multiplayer more attractive and enjoyable.

I understand that some players prefer language-specific servers, but server region does not necessarily have to determine the language used by players. A more active server would benefit everyone.

On a personal note, I enjoy SimRail so much that I have even started learning Polish just to communicate better with other players and enjoy the game more. That is how much I care about the multiplayer experience and the community around this game.

I kindly ask the developers to review this situation and consider a solution in the near future. The current state of the INT servers is having a noticeable impact on the multiplayer experience.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

[LeProblemo]

INT1 is the largest english-speaking server for european players, DE1 the same for the german community. By merging these servers you always would lose one of these groups just by forcing them to use a different language. Yes, playing together with players instead of AI is way more fun and entertaining. But your approach would hurt SimRail and many players.

However, I don't quite see the need for seven INT- and three DE-Servers. One or two DE-servers would be enough, and maybe three INT ones. Merging servers within their own language would be the better option than your suggestion.

[BigVern]

Problem is, the game got a bit stale. I haven't touched it for at least three months. Got a bit disillusioned with the CD163 and the "realistic" buzzing noise and the last route extension was just more of the same. In fact, it's currently uninstalled to make room on my HD for TSC. I had hoped more work would be forthcoming on the SP game, though I used to enjoy the odd bit of MP. Chicken and egg, because if the English language server is dead, other than the better timetable you might as well be running single player, at least (when the save game behaves) you can pick up where you left off.

I love the Polish routes and locos but that doesn't mean I don't crave to have something closer to home (UK) and until SimRail can scratch that itch, then TSW and TSC have the edge. And what happened to the US route which was supposed to be in development? Even a nice sleepy diesel worked branch line for SimRail would be more appealing than the relatively flat and straight main lines the game offers.

Frankly if the multiplayer side of things is dying, time they looked at buffing the SP game - like give us the full timetable to choose from.

Edited Monday at 08:14 PM by BigVern

[Zaubermuffin]

Besides the game getting stale, you have the issue of the community at large. Things I've witnessed myself:

• Insulting and belittling people, either because they don't speak the server's language, or because they disagree about how to "play" SimRail
• Griefing drivers by holding them in a station for much longer than necessary, citing "timetable reasons"
• Griefing drivers by shuffling trains around (e.g. letting a freight overtake a pendolino), for the same reasons
• Refusing any kind of non-standard dispatch action (read: something different than setting the same route you do every hour) that would improve the traffic flow (e.g. letting a train overtake on the left track, which is completely empty for the next hour, or re-scheduling a PT on a different station)
• Griefing other players by stopping between stations for no reason, or driving very slowly on purpose (i.e. not just an ETCS failure or something similar)
• Generally just being unresponsive to inquiries over chat or voice
• Entitled pricks that think they deserve to have priority, or deserve to be praised for their behaviour

I'm fairly certain I've been targeted multiple times on the Polish servers just because my language isn't set to Polish. I've been put aside at stations where I did not have a PT, was not delayed (was early, even), was not blocking traffic (neither before nor in front of me was any train), and several times for multiple hours. I've had the next-hour train pass me by more than I can count. There's this huge idea that "This is [LANG] server, we speak [LANG] here, go to [OTHER] server if you want to play" which seems widespread among... all the language servers I've tried out in the past.

The idea is absolutely great, and I loved the interactions between dispatchers and drivers in the first few months when it came out. However, it just degraded from there. There's no guidelines or rules for anything, which meant two things: One, moderators can kick, ban, or otherwise punish players as they see fit with little to no recourse or even idea about what went wrong (with later added vague statements about "not ruining the fun" and similar), and two, it's not clear what it's even meant to be.

Some people treat SimRail like a hobby model railway simulator, push button make train go stop. I've had people in Idizkowice try to fill all tracks because they felt it was "fun" (explicitly stated like that). There's another sub-group which may not treat it as a toy sim, but definitely doesn't care much about e.g. efficiency. So what if I've delayed all trains to Katowice by 40min by sending a freight train on the left track? It's fun to do and I couldn't know that, it's no big deal, it's just a game. Completely ignoring that there's people that would like to drive something rather than admire the beautiful scenery of Olszamowice.

Other people treat SimRail like it's a hyper-realistic Polish (or German/British/whatever server you're currently in) simulator. Proper and precise communication like in the real world is required, you're sometimes bugged to fill out forms, and god beware if you're diverging from any kind of script (including the timetable), whether on purpose or on accident.

The third group is probably somewhere in-between, and was originally the largest. People that liked to drive trains, were trying to stick to the timetable, but not stuck-up sticklers for the rules.

In the end, I think the lack of variation (e.g. moving the slow speed areas around a bit, having variations in the timetable more frequently, providing any kind of break from the monotony) would have helped a lot. Making sure to define what multiplayer is supposed to be like, and how to act, would have helped a lot. Making sure that people that actively harm other player's fun get punished would have helped a lot.

Having the world be less empty would have helped a lot, too. I've played some great singleplayer scenarios (and had to restart them often because apparently the game is super finicky when it comes to scripting), and having cars and trains standing around the sidings, having AI trains going by, shunting and all that made the world feel so more alive. Multiplayer, especially at the larger stations, just feels empty in comparison.

[BigVern]

It's a shame signalman mode hasn't extended to single player, throw in a few random delays to make life interesting and the ability to save and thus do a full 8 or 12 hour shift over several sessions.

Anyhow, as I type this, SimRail currently reinstalling. Going to be spending much more time playing it and less in TSW, following DTG's decision to remove large sections of their forum in particular General Discussion and I'm certainly not going to be buying much DLC from them. Roll on the next Simrail add on!