Farquaar's thoughts on super-highpop

[Farquaar]

Putting lag issues aside, I really love crowded stations. I love seeing crowds of spacemen moving through the hallways, sitting in the cafeteria, and bustling around medbay. Seeing people interact, even if you're not directly participating, really makes the station come alive. And when the station finally falls to pieces, you feel the emptiness all the more.

Heck, it's not even just a population thing; map design plays a big role too. Smaller stations like Kilo have issues with being easily sabotaged due to their size, but it's really comfy because of how jam-packed everybody is. I feel that as a rule, most rooms should be small enough for people to stand on one end of the room and see what's happening on other end.

That's not to say that empty space doesn't have its place. Make halls/rooms too crowded, and movement/building becomes incredibly frustrating. Force people into close proximity too much, and stealing/murdering/antagging becomes incredibly difficult unless people are occupied with another threat.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts, /tg/station forumites.

[Misdoubtful]

I've always vibed with this. Every experience I've had has always been better when there were more people, on a map sized well for the population playing.

Always got bored when it could be five minutes and I wouldn't see/interact with a single person, just killed the mood for me and made me want to do something else.

Its a shame its so difficult to get the size / pop formula just right, especially when there are only so many maps and so many people to maintain them.

[Mothblocks]

50-70 pop is my favorite, it's a good blend of chaos and order. Past that it feels like I never have the ability to actually get anything done, whether because anything important is already taken or just because of the general chaos.

[wesoda25]

Bagil would regularly hit the 90s and triple digits were not uncommon when I started playing this game. 40-60 is my favorite now, blows my mind that pop not only got that high but that I preferred it.

That said I love, and I mean love, the chaos that comes with highpop stations. I think there’s a beauty in it that’s so ss13.

[cacogen]

Yeah, the game is way more fun with a tonne of people playing. It’s a shame the populations don’t get up to what they used to.

[WineAllWine]

Yeah! Full-pop is the best! Every staff job staffed every department working, a good amount of antagonists. What's not to love?

[Jonathan Gupta]

I like highpop, I wait for bagil's return as king.