online population?

Sadly, it's very anemic for a game that must have sold about 700,000 copies, which is a shame because it's a great game for online multiplayer and it deserves to have far more players.  Apparently most of the buyers are single-player only people for various reasons.

(Note--all times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time, which I think is GMT -5)

I would say that the player population is about 70-80 people during European prime time (3 pm to 6 pm) and about 100 people during North American prime time (7 pm to Midnight).  After Midnight (U.S. EST) the player counts start dropping so that at about 3:00 am you'll probably find 50 people with the player counts dropping off to about 20-25 at 6:00 am.  It starts to climb steadily after about 10:00 am.  Player counts are slightly higher on the weekends.

Now, that's not as bad as it sounds if you play during European and/or North American evenings because you'll be able to find games and you'll probably want to play in the 5v5 pickup games (pug) matches anyway (where two team captains pick the other 8 players, resulting in balanced teams and intense, competitive games).  You will have to purchase the Entrenchment expansion for $10 (download with Impulse) if you want to play online since most of the regulars have it, but it won't bother you.

What you do need to consider is, what happens when Starcraft-2 comes out?  Will the player counts drop to levels where it will be difficult to find games during North American prime time, resulting in a further reduction in online player counts?  I think that the game will be fine for online multiplayer for the next couple of months, but it's hard to make projections after that.

On that note, let me reiterate that it's a great game for online multiplayer and you'll really enjoy it.  You should be aware that your average game runs for about 1.5-2 hours with most being decided around 1:15-1:30 and that a few games can last for over 2 hours with some epic games lasting longer.  (It's possible that game length has cut into the player counts some.)  I hope that you'll come join us.

I go on and see about 100 people on with a lot of games running but the problem is there are never any other servers up when I go on and msut be the same for others and that's what puts them off.

I wish this game was able to be more like World in Conflict where you can join any game at any time even after it launced but I don't think it would work so well for Sins.

Sadly, the online player count is small. But, the amount of players makes it much easier to form a community feel because you know everyone.

yup i agree very small player count, not too suprising given the scale of the game it can be a real chore of organisation to keep a game going unless you have friends who play.

Though that saif I font threat about it too much, single player is an absolute blast

a large number of MP players use hamachi. I know I use it because its easier than trying to get ICO to work for me.

There is no server in the game - once the game launches, it is independent of ICO other then using ICO for chat and recording your stats. Hence the "server" is the lobby only.

It is unreaslistic to join once a game has started for a number of reasons including

1) The game is simulated on every PC at the same time - the host just syncs the game to ensure everyone is at the same point of the simulation.

2) You give me a 10 minute head start and my econ and/or fleet will be such that you have no hope of winning. This isn't a game where you can run in with a gun and make a difference to the fire fight. Imagine joining Civilisation part way into the game, but you are starting off without the tech research of the middle ages, and instead haven't even got phalanx yet...

ICO is NOT hard to get going - you just need to ensure that you are not blocking certain ports (which are listed in your config file). You need to forward ONE port if you want to host and are not using the alloy option...

To the OP - come and play online. There IS a learning curver from playing SP, but that is why you want to come and play MP right? For the extra challange, and the interaction with human allies you can work with, rather then an AI that may or may not attack/defent the planet you asked it to..

Wow 700,000 copies and yet only a few hundred every play online. I don't play online cause I don't have the time, nor do I want to, sure MP is probably the biggest attraction to which people buy a game. But I guess most people just have a life and they don't feel like playing 3 -4 hours a week online or they have a limited bandwidth space.