Hey all. I used to play GSF casually, but I haven't recently, primarily because PoT5's space community isn't what it used to be. I would like to start playing again on a more active server, and preferably one that has even/high competition. Obviously, there isn't a definitive answer to this question, but any input would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Shadowlands has a healthy queue pop rate when I play (9pm CST and after). When I have had a chance to play during weekdays, pops will be going intermittently until noon CST, then it'll a be fairly regular 1-2 matches until primetime with not that long a downtime (couple of minutes wait usually). Weekends tend to be decent most of the day.

As for competition, I would roll two toons. The really good imperial pilots largely don't play till later afternoon, and dominate primetime. Before that, you'll see more pub veterans on. Carrying bad imperial teams during this time can be fun . As for primetime, I'm starting to become worried the crew I tend to play with Imp side are breaking the pub queue in a more long term way... Unless you are grouped, you're may have a hard time winning as a pub in the evenings, depending on the matchups.

<Insert BRING US CROSS SERVER plug>

Well, if you want to fight bads that like to whine and quit play TEH. But, their community is healthy as long as you do exactly what they want, which is to try your best to do your worst.

I like how you compliment our community and insult the means by which we keep it healthy in the same breath.

The Ebon Hawk has a healthy GSF community because many aces work to keep the game accessible and enjoyable, especially for new pilots. That means recognizing when you outmatch your opponent and choosing to be less ruthless when winning.

It doesn't mean letting the other team win--but it does mean giving them some room to play, learn and get better. Most of the time, if Ebon Hawk aces realize they outmatch their opponents, they will do things like:

1) Not 3-cap in Domination

2) Not spawn-camp in TDM

3) Fly less powerful ships (like a Dustmaker with two torpedoes)

4) Switch to alts on the other side to balance faction strength at that moment

Why do we do this? Because we know that we are not a PvP server. We are an RP PvE server, which means our player base are generally less resilient to getting roflstomped--if they get utterly destroyed each round, they will stop queuing for the night, or perhaps they will give up on GSF altogether.

This is how the GSF population has dwindled on other servers, and the long-time aces on The Ebon Hawk don't want that to happen on our server too. We'd prefer fast queues with lots of players of varying skill, even if it means some matches we don't fly at our most optimal/ruthless.

On PvP servers, you will likely find more intense and consistent competition, though perhaps slower queues and less people flying GSF overall. I can't say.

But if you're an ace, and you can't handle putting on the kid gloves from time to time, then you probably won't enjoy The Ebon Hawk.

But if that kind of community sounds more engaging, then by all means come join us If you're going to fly Imperial, be sure to check out my guild--it's the largest GSF guild on any server, I believe.

Also keep in mind that on Mondays we have Strike Night! That's when we try to get everyone flying exclusively Strikes. It creates a very different sort of game, and has so far been very popular and enjoyable by all accounts.

Haven't tried harbinger, but TEH and Bastion have largish GSF populations and reasonably large numbers of aces. Depending on the times they can also have full premade vs premade battles where both side are using VOIP, which in a lot of ways is when GSF is at it's best.

In terms of people complaining about lopsided matches, and people who have egos based on a solid foundation of skill but are greatly inflated by crushing undergeared newbs that don't stand a chance, well, you get that on every server.

It's worth spending some time on your home server too. If you make an effort sometimes "dead" or "dying" GSF queues can be revived if you try to build a bit of community. Be friendly, get people to group up, help them learn the game, and you can get brisk pop growth in the queue sometimes.

I agree with Shayd, if you want a tough, hard-core, elitist game & enjoy getting curb-stomped by bomber/gunship pre-mades day & night then by all means roll on those servers. But if you want a more "fair" & playable environment with a growing community then you can roll with us on Ebon Hawk. Do we have elitists? some & we have rage quitters too but overall I think our community is more laid back & casual. We don't pigeon hole everyone into rolling bombers & gunships to be more "competitive". I can attest many of our vet players will roll in stock ships to handicap themselves while staying competitive. We try to keep it fun and most of us aren't all after that 20/10/1 kill ratio. Matches can get lop-sided but those are getting more rare. I'm not seeing the 1000-2 matches in domination or the 50-3 TDM like we used to. We're not pvp, we're pve but if the Ebon Hawk sux then why are the pre-mades coming over from other servers? 'Cause they're tired of rofl-stomping noobs into cosmic dust or waiting 2 or 3 hours for another competitive pre-made to show up. I'm a casual player and I play GSF on my terms not someone else's and the Ebon Hawk fosters that.

-J'exx (republic privateer) 55'slinger THE Ebon Hawk

-Stalker (imperial Intellegence) 35 agent THE Ebon Hawk

if the Ebon Hawk sux then why are the pre-mades coming over from other servers? 'Cause they're tired of rofl-stomping noobs into cosmic dust or waiting 2 or 3 hours for another competitive pre-made to show up.

I would submit that there are other, more obvious reasons to play on Ebon Hawk, that definitely don't involve some issue with the main server.

To answer OP: Bastion has a very active GSF community. Harbinger is probably MORE active by a bit, but I wouldn't recommend it to the same degree. Ebon Hawk is certainly fun too, but I doubt it would be as enjoyable without the rest of my team, so I don't know if I want to recommend it to a transfer.

But, it's easy enough to try: just make characters on every server and play each one a few times at different times of day. Ideally, ask for the aces on each server and see if you have a good time with them.

Haven't tried harbinger, but TEH and Bastion have largish GSF populations and reasonably large numbers of aces.

All three of these servers have fairly large GSF populations, if that's all you're looking for choose from these three (TB, TH, TEH).

I've found that since 2.8 The Bastion's had large numbers of excellent players returning (there's a ridiculous amount of veterans compared to what I've seen elsewhere), giving me tough match after tough match during prime time (7-10PM Pacific) but also at pretty much any time of day (I've played over 3,000 games on The Bastion at this point). Games have gotten extremely competitive, but like any other server you'll queue into roflstomps where the matchmaker couldn't figure out the word "balance." The Bastion's community forms premades often, some with VOIP, some without; many of us tend to group up with whoever is around and wants to play (with or against). If you don't like premades, hate playing against all types of ships and easily give up, I encourage you to not come to The Bastion. It's a PvP server, it's competitive (although interestingly that appears to make players more tolerant of each other's actions). If competition is what you want, you're more than welcome.

I've played over 300 games on TEH now and mastered a number of ships (just recently bought the last one with fleet req.). I didn't find anything remotely resembling serious competition on TEH save one premade group from Jung Ma. I haven't seen anything else I'd call interesting other than two or three good players from other servers - but they seem to play multiple servers the same way many veterans do. Their server does seem to have different priorities though (RPing, gentlemanly games, strike night). The Harbinger seems to field premades, though they play at different times and are of greatly varying skill. It's hard to judge, but I'd say The Harbinger has the largest amount of pilots playing of all the servers (not by much, though).

Depending on the times they can also have full premade vs premade battles where both side are using VOIP, which in a lot of ways is when GSF is at it's best.

Agreed. I prefer the competition scale upwards instead of placing handicaps on myself. I can see how softer individuals (especially those who dislike PvP) would prefer differently, though!

Most servers also have a [Gsf] custom chat channel. Be sure to /cjoin Gsf on both factions on every server.

Make sure to do this on any server you join. Check out my signature if you need help starting up again, I have a helpful player list, guild list and other useful information that may come in handy.

TL;DR: All you'll find here are differing opinions. Select a server and have fun based on what you're looking for (though you did mention competition). Fun is the bottom line.

I think stasie hit the nail on the head so far as Bastion is concerned. Healthy GSF population with frequent queue pops all day, though generally a high level of competition. The nifty part is that we don't all hate eachother after the match, a lot of people play both sides and manage to still be nice to one another.

On other servers we have had people join TS to scream at us or roll a toon on our side to call us hackers, jerks etc. To my knowledge this has never happened on Bastion.

Yesterday after a series of matches where I pressed another player hard, I came across him @ Oricon completing dalies. I waved, he stopped and looked.... and there were about 20 seconds of silence where I thought it was about to go wrong.... then he moved along and I helped him clear some baddies before waving goodbye..... I doubt that would have happened on another server

For American GSF players: Ebon Hawk, definitely. Great level of average skill, competitive scene, healthy queues, and some real gentleman knights of the sky. Downside is that said community can be a bit cliquey and elitist, but guess that's the price you pay.

For European GSF players: The Progenitor, more gloves-off and a lot of intense rivalry between the factions, as a result of both possessing pretty awesome teams of regular players who are always happy to bring new people into groups. When the matchmaker allows those premades to line up against each other, you get some truly Gudfites (spectacular 1000-995 Doms, 50-49 TDMs, etc.)

For American GSF players: Ebon Hawk, definitely. Great level of average skill, competitive scene, healthy queues, and some real gentleman knights of the sky. Downside is that said community can be a bit cliquey and elitist, but guess that's the price you pay.

Eclipse Squadron, which accepts any and all pilots of all skill levels, is about as far from cliquey and elitist as you can get. At least by any definitions of those words I'm familiar with

That being said, the natives (of which I am one) definitely look upon new server transfers with a wary eye. There have been a couple of instances where people come to our server expecting some grand arena of ultimate GSF competition. They stomp a couple of less skilled pilots, then they immediately begin trolling/gloating/boasting on [Gsf]. On a PvP server, that attitude is expected and accepted. On The Ebon Hawk it tends to create social friction, especially when it's a first impression.

But there have also been an equal number of transfers who have done well, both in terms of performance and integrating socially. It's all about the attitude you bring--are you looking for targets / victims or are you looking for friends?

As for the rest of The Ebon Hawk's communities (PvE, Ground PvP, RP), I can't say how insular or accepting of new people they are, since I pretty much GSF exclusively these days.

We are Elitist with a capital E and have a great time The only true competition on TEH (at least for my group) comes when Callem has his good pilots on and we face off and the bastion boys (who I've seen less of lately ).

Playing solo is always a challenge everywhere because you never know who is gonna be grouped on the other side. Harbinger has a lot of games at one time, but they range drastically in terms of competition. From 8 man full bomber premades at 3am EST to having nothing but two ship non-pew pewers, you're gonna get a variety of players.

I have a toon on Pot5 but don't play it :/ Jung'Ma is fun, but only has 1 game at a time usually. Haven't tried Bastion or the European servers either.

Does any server have a regular night and time of the week when 8 vs 8 premades queue against each other? I would be more than willing to role a character and master 5 ships solely to play one or two times a week in premade vs premade. If one server can organize a night and time that is dependable and post it here in the forum, people would go there. I doubt people will go there for the purpose of organizing a new premade night.

The last time someone tried to organize such an event on Begeren it did not work. I have no desire to leave Begeren permanently, but one or two nights a week for a premade night: definitely.

Does anyone have a successful premade night up and running already?

Does any server have a regular night and time of the week when 8 vs 8 premades queue against each other? I would be more than willing to role a character and master 5 ships solely to play one or two times a week in premade vs premade. If one server can organize a night and time that is dependable and post it here in the forum, people would go there. I doubt people will go there for the purpose of organizing a new premade night.

 

The last time someone tried to organize such an event on Begeren it did not work. I have no desire to leave Begeren permanently, but one or two nights a week for a premade night: definitely.

 

Does anyone have a successful premade night up and running already?

I think there have been attempts here and there, and yet despite people's best efforts, matchmaking made such ridiculous matches that it didn't work. Instead of putting the premades against each other, it'd put each of them vs. a team of newbs--sometimes even creating two wargames to do so!

The most even competition I've seen is on Strike Night on The Ebon Hawk. Lots of people are logged on, and the preponderance of Strikes tends to slow down matches enough to create some even match-ups. But that's pretty contrived.

I think there have been attempts here and there, and yet despite people's best efforts, matchmaking made such ridiculous matches that it didn't work. Instead of putting the premades against each other, it'd put each of them vs. a team of newbs--sometimes even creating two wargames to do so!

 

The most even competition I've seen is on Strike Night on The Ebon Hawk. Lots of people are logged on, and the preponderance of Strikes tends to slow down matches enough to create some even match-ups. But that's pretty contrived.

That totally happened on the bastion the one time we had a server event, something like 24 veteran pilots..... all grouped into 4 mans getting their own little group of noobs to squash .

An idea of premades that I've heard bounced around a bit is to get a bunch of pilots (ideally 24) online on the same faction at the same time ungrouped and see how the chips fall. Obviously that's dicey, but I feel like that has potential, especially if matchmaking keeps screwing with things.

Anyway, to my OP, thanks for all the postings all! I expect and appreciate the differing opinions listed, and I plan to at least try out all 3 servers. I just wanted to get an idea of which ones were active, and you all answered that question very well haha.

Anyway, if I could get a confirmation on which channel is the GSF channel for each of those 3 servers (unless it's just "gsf" for all 3 - I'll try that first), that would be great!

Thanks again! See you all out there!

The Ebon Hawk has a healthy GSF community because many aces work to keep the game accessible and enjoyable, especially for new pilots. That means recognizing when you outmatch your opponent and choosing to be less ruthless when winning.

 

It doesn't mean letting the other team win--but it does mean giving them some room to play, learn and get better. Most of the time, if Ebon Hawk aces realize they outmatch their opponents, they will do things like:

 

1) Not 3-cap in Domination

2) Not spawn-camp in TDM

3) Fly less powerful ships (like a Dustmaker with two torpedoes)

4) Switch to alts on the other side to balance faction strength at that moment

 

Why do we do this? Because we know that we are not a PvP server. We are an RP PvE server, which means our player base are generally less resilient to getting roflstomped--if they get utterly destroyed each round, they will stop queuing for the night, or perhaps they will give up on GSF altogether.

I haven't found this to be the case. I've been playing around on different servers lately because, like the OP, I want to find a good one for GSF. First four games on TEH were half a dozen fully upgraded bombers and T2 scouts utterly destroying 7 brand new players and one with a third ship. They capped all three satellites and then started killing us at the spawn points. None of the games since then were any better.

Mainly, what I've found playing on Bastion, Harbinger, Begeren Colony, and Ebon Hawke is that none of them are actually any different in this respect. You're either on the team that's stomping noobs, or you're on the team with all the noobs getting stomped. Then in late afternoon you're either on the team with the premade stomping everyone, or you're on the team getting stomped by the premade.

I haven't found this to be the case. I've been playing around on different servers lately because, like the OP, I want to find a good one for GSF. First four games on TEH were half a dozen fully upgraded bombers and T2 scouts utterly destroying 7 brand new players and one with a third ship. They capped all three satellites and then started killing us at the spawn points. None of the games since then were any better.

 

Mainly, what I've found playing on Bastion, Harbinger, Begeren Colony, and Ebon Hawke is that none of them are actually any different in this respect. You're either on the team that's stomping noobs, or you're on the team with all the noobs getting stomped. Then in late afternoon you're either on the team with the premade stomping everyone, or you're on the team getting stomped by the premade.

No one can guarantee the behavior of an entire server's population at all hours. All I can say is that on TEH, there is a rather large contingent of veterans, on both sides, who will pull punches against lesser foes. Some due it out of some sense of sportsmanship--some do it just so that the queues keep popping (think of it as sustainable farming). Even in a single match, defending a 2-cap has a higher chance of giving you more req per minute than defending a 3-cap (since there's a 50% chance your node will get attacked, rather than a 33% chance).

That being said, sometimes if an enemy team is so bad, they straight up can't take a node even if it's not defended.

Often times, we won't know how skilled a team is going to be, and we'll send out Scouts to all three nodes. If we use Tensor Field, then that often means we'll have an initial three cap right off the bat. And yet even after we abandon the defenses of one node, the enemy team will fail to capture it... sometimes they won't even attack it. They just keep streaming toward one of the two nodes we are defending.

All that being said, if someone 3-capped and then camped your spawn, they're jerks. Feel free to call out that kinda crap in [Gsf].