Allow joining already launched game. Engine feature

One thing that FA can not do and that has today wrecked hopes, is the possibility to add someone mid game.
the FA engine simply is built this way... for example the fact that the connection between players is done by torrent (if I'm not mistaken that is it's name, the connection type where every computer is connected to every other computer) is sufficient alone to rule out this possibility entirely. You could not have a "empty" player in the game that could be occupied by someone later on.
I understand that Galactic War and the week-long 40 player matches are built around this idea so they would support it for the "galactic map" but I am talking about having this as part of the game engine for the individual "matches" or "games"; not as a game mode, at least just there in the engine so that later modders could make a game mode requiring this.

the term you are looking for is peer-to-peer, and drop-in functionality could easily be supported by it - the problem is the hosts connection and upload speed only.

? there is no host in FA.

Because of the client-server architecture of PA, I don't see why this wouldn't be easy to implement, if it isn't already (is there any technical difference between this and re-joining a dropped game, for example?)

rejoining is pretty much exactly this. PA is designed to be able to do this.

What we are REALLY missing is an automatic pause function when a player crashes, so he can reconnect without the other player playing on without even noticing.

ya that's really what i was asking

Is it possible? I know you can rejoin a game, can this mechanic be used to add someone in?

Ohhh good point (and fixed a bit) pause is really usefull. I know you're going to say people are going to abuse of it but the community on FA is coudln't-be-more diligent about this and I've heard that on Dota2 as well people only ever use it for emergency cases.

Yeah, but this kind of feature will only be potentially useful for a galactic war esque game type. It's not applicable to standard games like 2v2 or n v n, as you expect your opponent to only have n commanders, and once they die you win the game.

as I said it could really be usefull in a mod. I'm thinking the real Galactic War style.

Well, if you're playing a big team match, say a 10v10 on a full sized system with 20+ large celestial bodies, it would be useful to be able to induct a new player to the match when one guy has to sleep or go get groceries or go offer a sacrifice to Khorne.

Just a thought but would the person joining spawn at one of the spawn zones originally designated? I can imagine a bit of spawn camping if that's the case.

Team A has pushed Team B off the planet with their spawn points. Team A sets up dozens of Lobbers around the spawn areas so that new players can't get in.

Might I suggest that new players have the option of spawning near the Commander of an Ally so as to prevent such a situation and ruin the game for whichever poor sods are trying to join?

Also when a Person leaves the game does their Commander stay there or does it disappear only to reappear when the player rejoins the battle? Just a thought but if it stays, and new ones appear every time someone joins the match, it would make assassination damn near impossible in major battles.

no I imagine the spawn point mechanic would be turned on again just for this player showing spawn points that were not shown to any other player.

And if they are all in the middle of the enemy base?

Summary: Influence Maps are fields of arbitrarily shaped polygons (similar to flowfields) which determine how well "controlled" an area is by a team or army. All units project an influence field, combat units having a heavier weight than non-combat units.

This could be used to place spawn points in open areas that are under heavy control by the team.

Still doing mostly pax stuff but yes adding a player in progress is definitely possible. The real challenge here is figuring out what options in the lobby make sense to make this work.

wow goodie goodi-o weeeeeeeeeeeee!

So what do you guys have to do to prepare for PAX? I'm curious.

I'd guess you'd have to get a new stable build up to show off to everyone, do some physical work for your booth (if you have one), and prepare some stuff to say if you're asked questions.