Confused About Online Play Now

I'll be honest, I don't play on-line.  I don't mainly because I play at a rather slow pace, reinforcing each system as I go, slowly building my fleet creds until I have enought for a large fleet, then taking and rebuild each planet completely before I move on.  I'm not much into the lightning raids and fast gameplay.  On large maps, I can easily spend 20 or 30 hours.  For me lightning just doesn't fit my play style for this game.

I'm not an expert on online play either, but I expect even if the multiplayer community is lacking, the new expansion, which seems to have alot of new game modes, would bring alot of new and old people to multiplayer. I'd say get this game anyways, sense you don't want to have to learn everything while everyone else who already had sins gets to try the new modes as soon as they're out.

...Anyone have any idea what the population is? Rough estimate? Im kinda pissed right now after reading that thread. I need to know I can at least play...even if I lose every damn game I just like battles. Dont get me wrong tho - I want there to be a big population before I step near this.

Also - for those who do play online - do you know which game(other game) has a big population? I know Dawn of War 2 is big on Steam and that Empire Total War has a huge number of people playing(not necessarily online but still). I also hear that Warcraft 3 still has a population. I didnt think that was the case before but people dont stop recommending it (that and freaking starcraft). I mean I like Warcraft online but I know Id get thoroughly raped. It also doesnt really have the variety Id like. Let me know people. This is really starting to be a big, was obsessed before, dissappointment.

It depends on the time of day you play. Prime time US has enough people to get a game going with only a short wait. If I log on after work, there are often not enough players online (I'm in Australia - Europe and US are asleep unless it is a saturday/sunday night here - people are playing into the early hours there...)

At peak times...North American evenings and weekends, it is around 150-200 people.  It is pretty easy to find a game during these times.  It is pretty dead in the middle of the night though, and can take a while.

It can be a little harder to find an equally skilled opponent.  There are still new players trying online play, but there are also a lot of skilled players.  If you can get some games in with the skilled players, watch the replays after the game to see how they play.  You will learn fast while you take your lumps.

I think the main reason the online community is smaller is the length of games.  A regular Sins game takes about 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the map and number of players.  An Entrenchment game can take about 1-3 hours, though occasionally I have had some that went 4 or 5 hours because all the new defensive options make it extremely difficult to crush an opponent who has fortified his position.

Some people play with friends and save the game and resume play at a later time, or play large games cooperatively online.  While there is a dedicated multiplayer community, a lot of people like to play this game on epic size maps against many computer opponents offline, and that seems to be the direction the game went with the current expansion.

Sins is a pretty awesome game, but if you only like shorter multiplayer games that only take 30 minutes, you might want to wait for Starcraft.

Ive decided to go for Warcraft 3 for now. I dont know what else to do. The population is still 60k at least. There has to be some noobs in there and some people willing to help improve. Hopefully anyway. Its sad that my obsessions for the last 3 days are all going to waste tho...thats $30 saved tho. God it still sucks ass. Is there any way to deactivate this account? Like deactivate this here forum account?

If all else fails, the psychiatric community will be there for you.

Guilty as charged - I've had a few games with Cykur that have gone a long time due to this....

lol alright now. I dont see anything wrong with going for Warcraft 3. Unless of course you have an opinion to share which I am open to.

Nothing wrong with it at all...it is a different kind of game.  I was just commenting on you trying to figure out how to get back the 3 days of your life you lost researching this game.  You just lost another 5 minutes reading these posts!!!

Epic space RTS will still be here when you are ready for it. 

double post..oopps

lol Alright. Whatever you say .