Crucial design elements that I believe can be improved for a more cohesive and complete multi-player experience:





Improved network code - I can't seem to play multi-player without having at least one player disconnect randomly. Not sure what causes it yet. I thought alt + tab could have been part of the issue but it seems to be entirely random. This also creates major issues with materials since there is no way to distribute them to other players before the disconnected player is booted or if a player quits randomly. Even one bad disconnect could cause a good team to wipe, but two disconnects is almost game over 100% of the time.





Save and load games - 5 to 7 hours is a long time to sit and play, even though we do it. We need a way to save our game if we would like to come back later and still be able to make use of any absent player's characters and materials) Note: Players that are dead before saving will not be revived upon loading your saved multi-player data. Dead players will however retain both their inventory and materials. Players that can not re-attend saved games will give attending players the option to recruit their character (with all of the previous players research and inventory available) or leave them behind.





Access to games in progress - Great for players that may get disconnected or who are returning to a saved game. This feature could be restricted to the players IP address that initially started the game to prevent quick last floor completions. (NO CHEATERS) Note: Players that were booted who re-load will retain their character and inventory upon rejoining an active game. Dead characters will remain dead in saved games.





Saved materials and research - Materials and research variables can be attach to a player's character so that if a player is permanently disconnected or quits the game those materials and research can be re-aqquired by re-recruiting the character. Dead characters research can be made available for acquisition upon looting their remains.





Shared research - Modules researched by any player could be made available to all players. This would effectively cut down the need to transfer industry back and forth but still make great use of the trading features in multi-player. Note: This could also be an exclusive feature for the Library pod.





Add item exchange feature - A way to trade items between players without selling them to the merchant first.



As a final note I would like to express how much I love this game with all my heart and want to see it prosper, entertain and excite fans for many years to come. I thank you, the devs, for making this game come to life and in turn providing us all with a truly unique, bad-ass, and epic endless experience.



Sincerely,



Sen

I haven't had any issues with disconnecting, but with people not being able to rejoin, that is definitely a bonus.



I'd add some manner of "let players trade items" because items from chests are all RNG, so it's pretty annoying when I get a weapon that is perfect for the other people.





Edit: Also, could you enable private game creation and/or player kicking during the setup?

Shared Resources - It's nonsensical that everyone has to retain their own resources, which also complicates the saving and loading of multiplayer games and leads to an effective loss of resources.



With a shared resource pool loading and saving games doesn't require you to have the same amount of people and theoretically enables you to "hot-invite" other players. Also, the effective loss of resources, due to the resource-split, makes multiplayer actually less desirable to play.

Hi,



Thanks for your feedback

As you can see in this list, most of your suggestions are on our to-do list!



Improved network code: we're working on that since the release. There are significantly less disconnections since the last patch (January 20th) but with Internet, it can't never be totally avoid...



Save and load games: yes, it's our current task



Access to games in progress: it's a big feature to implement but we will try to find a way to do it.



Saved materials and research: we plan to give at least a way to get the resources, the items and the heroes of disconnected players



Shared research AND Shared resources: we understand your remarks and we're already testing several configurations. The split of the resources and researches aren't perfect but allow to create more "active" choices and avoid some very selfish behaviours (particularly with Food). But we're still debating on the subject and will maybe add some options. We also want to work on better tools to exchange and communicate



Item exchange feature AND Private game: ones of our priority tasks!

My biggest concern is with the saving of multilayer games. As mentioned above, playing for 5-7 hours (9 in my case) in one sitting is a bit tasking. It'd be much smoother to have a safe feature to split up game sessions.



Very anxious to see the feature!

I'd like to also emphasize the importance of saving multiplayer games. I would be playing the game a lot more, and know that many others would as well. This is one of my favorite games, and I really want to see it get the most success / exposure it can, especially so that it develops a robust amount of active players. The faster you can implement multiplayer game saves, I think the quicker you will notice more consistent players, and it'll be easier to grab newcomers. Thanks again, I love this game!

Despite the age of this thread and the fact I know some of the things here have already been addressed I also want to chip in the fact that host migration should be possible. I know it's been a common request since Endless Space, but it's simply an important one. Even if it won't happen or is not possible I want to throw this out there again.