Multiplayer...I know..but bear with me...

[Rage097]

Okay people, I've had it. THERE WILL BE NO MULTIPLAYER! There is one major hole in everyone's theories that i've seen, and it is: they fail to think about how it can be exploited

I'm talking about the whole warping business people! When you take it into account, you have to put your warmonger hat on. If someone wanted your space station gone, how would he/she exploit the suggested multiplayer mechanic? It's always about the same. He time warps to your station. Blows it up, and Time warps it outta there. That is the huge flaw in the suggested time-warp workarounds. it can be easily exploited and make other players minds implode form paradoxes.

That said. the only reasonable workaround for time warp is to get rid of it. What will it be replaced by? well, as much as i hate to say it. Warp/FTL drives. Basically time warp, except it has slightly different mechanics:

1. You it Seems to be the exact same interface as time warp. this is to ensure player familiarity.

2. It doesn't altar your velocity. It only accelerates your craft along it's current orbit.

3.It can only be activated if you are a certain distance away from celestial bodies and player-made craft. this is to stop people from exploiting it to launch a sort of sneak attack on other players ships. let's say you're orbiting kerbin and you want to warp to periapsis. If there is another ship too close or will be too close, you cannot warp. If a ship will become too close during the warp, The warp drive will stop when you reach a certain distance from it.

Now this presents a problem if Kerbin is cluttered with satellites, ships and debris as you will almost never be able to warp away from Kerbin. The only way to get to a place where you can warp is to get on a highly elliptical orbit. Now you may say: That'll take too long! true, but take it into Real world issues: Would you REALLY want to warp if you were unsure whether or not there is or could be something in the way? Of course not! What you would do is you would get into an elliptical orbit to get some distance between you and other bodies, Then warp.

I'm done here. Peace.

Edited June 2, 2013 by KasperVld

[DisarmingBaton5]

Ok, here is an idea I had a few weeks ago:

What if we could have a "confirm" dialog box that goes out server-wide when somebody wants to time warp? Also, to prevent trolls from launching an attack on your station, allow anyone on the server to stop the warp. It is certainly not bulletproof, but would work quite well on private servers!

[Rage097]

Ok, here is an idea I had a few weeks ago:

What if we could have a "confirm" dialog box that goes out server-wide when somebody wants to time warp? Also, to prevent trolls from launching an attack on your station, allow anyone on the server to stop the warp. It is certainly not bulletproof, but would work quite well on private servers!

You ever played Halo? You know that ONE guy who keeps canceling the countdown until start and swears it's not him.

Think about that for a minute or two. and apply it to the situation. And also allowing anyone to stop the warp could be bad when...In the same ol' scenario...One guy's going to the moon, and another's going to Jool.

[Nicoli]

You ever played Halo? You know that ONE guy who keeps canceling the countdown until start and swears it's not him.

Think about that for a minute or two. and apply it to the situation. And also allowing anyone to stop the warp could be bad when...In the same ol' scenario...One guy's going to the moon, and another's going to Jool.

Which is why with the single body gravity physics that doing time warp based around what SOI you are in would help significantly. Ass the ability for you to adjust the Solar Systems Time warp for the purpose of planet angles from any position/SOI. With that there will be minimum issues with the time warp.

Also there shouldn't be a Match-making software besides maybe just a way to list games. All MP games should be invite only with the "Host" able to boot players from the game.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

How about a single server for each person is created when they log in, if two players get near each other (within physics loading distance) then time automatically goes to x1.

This is because you will usually only need x1 when your near something for docking or synchronized landing. I thinks

Could this work?

[Piv]

We should getting ideas from this mod.

[OdinYggd]

This has been discussed countless times. Squad has already stated they will not be adding it any time soon, so if it happens it will be through a plugin.

There are two competing approaches to the time warp problem.

The first is a voting system, where everyone is prompted for parameters regarding their maximum warp capability and how long they can safely warp. After a set period of time anyone who has not answered is assumed to be afk, and maximum warp with infinite duration is entered. Lowest common denominator then rules for when the warp takes place, with a cooldown in between to prevent abuse.

Second approach is to allow everyone to warp independantly. For this approach the server must also keep track of timestamps on a per player basis, and you can only see the real position of players who are situated at the same time as you are. Otherwise you can only see a 'ghost' indicator showing where they are at in their timeframe. This approach has the disadvantage of complexity, and could quickly become confusing for people because they now have to keep track of their time relative to the rest of the universe.

Ultimately none of these approaches will be tested for two simple reasons:

There is currently no known method of controlling multiple vessels simultaneously outside of physics range, and in physics range it is still clunky and unstable.

The sheer volume of code required to do this is immense, quite possibly more than any single plugin has amassed to date. Most skilled plugin developers already know the complications and problems likely to be encountered, and choose to not attempt this because of the sheer amount of time that would be spent getting even a basic system to work.

And there's still the problem of you almost certainly can't have more than 2-4 people on a server at a time without all of the calculations you would be doing griding the clients to a standstill.

[Uncle Mort]

I really fail see how KSP is a multiplayer type of game. Exactly how and why you need to interact with any other player? especially in a meaningful way. The beauty of this game is doing your own thing, in your own way, in your own time.

[DylanTurn]

You ever played Halo? You know that ONE guy who keeps canceling the countdown until start and swears it's not him.

Think about that for a minute or two. and apply it to the situation. And also allowing anyone to stop the warp could be bad when...In the same ol' scenario...One guy's going to the moon, and another's going to Jool.

Please forgive my ignorance as I have only been playing for a weekend, but the first thing I thought when my coworker told me about this game is, damn that would be good as a multiplayer. I have now read almost this entire thread and have my own idea to add.

1. Dedicated servers with persistent universes.

A. Servers can be password protected

B. Max server size is 8 players concurrently(Having more could be possible, but logistically nightmarish).

2. Time Warps are requested by a player.

A. Requested Duration needs to be specified.

A. Max time warp speed reduced slightly.

B. All crafts need to be eligible.

C. Any player can cancel the time warp at any given time.

D. Once the time warp has been approved the server will calculate all craft and celestial body trajectories and display the projected trajectories.

E. If a craft is currently on a planet and ineligible for time warp, the player controlling the craft will have to bring the craft to a stop and lock the craft into a static position before time warp will be allowed.

F. If the time warp request is denied or cancelled the denial or cancellation will be displayed in global chat.

I have an issue with an orbiting satellite which at it lowest altitude is only abut 50,000m above sea level. In a multiplayer game this would have the effect of canceling time warp. That however is an issue that the player would have to fix by correcting the orbit. Finally, in the event you are trying to get to a distant planet and would need a substantial amount of time spent in time warp; playing with only a few people in a multiplayer setting would would make it much easier to ask them to pause what they are doing so you can time warp. In addition to that, it will lower the occurrence of tolls.

[Rage097]

Amen, sir. Amen.

[CalculusWarrior]

Can't believe that this thread hasn't been locked yet! Anyways, here's my 'theory' for how multiplayer could work: each planet/moon is on its own server (or even separate servers for orbit and ground level), and so different time warp levels would be entirely possible for different planets. To get from one planet to another, you would simply get into an elliptical orbit, then click a button to 'transfer' to your destination, with the required delta-v being subtracted from your fuel tanks. Of course, this would take away the whole phase angles and celestial alignment system that is currently in KSP, but as Uncle Mort said, the game isn't really designed for multiplayer, and in order to make it so you would have to majorly change the way it works, from a cosmic exploration simulator to building space stations in orbit with other players. I personally would never use multiplayer (none of my friends would want to play KSP with me ) but here's a possible solution to those who would want to.

[rodion_herrera]

Can't believe that this thread hasn't been locked yet! Anyways, here's my 'theory' for how multiplayer could work: each planet/moon is on its own server (or even separate servers for orbit and ground level), and so different time warp levels would be entirely possible for different planets. To get from one planet to another, you would simply get into an elliptical orbit, then click a button to 'transfer' to your destination, with the required delta-v being subtracted from your fuel tanks. Of course, this would take away the whole phase angles and celestial alignment system that is currently in KSP, but as Uncle Mort said, the game isn't really designed for multiplayer, and in order to make it so you would have to majorly change the way it works, from a cosmic exploration simulator to building space stations in orbit with other players. I personally would never use multiplayer (none of my friends would want to play KSP with me ) but here's a possible solution to those who would want to.

This is how persistent virtual worlds work, a good example being Second Life or OpenSIM. So yes, I like this idea.

[KasperVld]

I think it has been well established by now that Multiplayer is no easy thing to implement. When and if it will happen is up to Squad and I'm sure that by the time they require ideas for multiplayer they'll go through the countless threads that have been created on this topic. Thread locked.