Pretty much everyone on ICO is a paranoid bastard. There's isn't much you can do about it considering how small the community is.

Atmosfear and the Formidable Felines of Gaming fully support this endeavor to make the SOASER community more newbie friendly and make training accessible for the fresh player.

I'm gonna change my ICO name to iAmASmurf next time I play online, just to see what people say, as well as how many ICO players read the forums.

not the best idea, if there is another game with someone well known as the host, the poor casual can wait forever noone will join his game.. I saw it many times, there was a xVx game, 1-2 joined, someone opened another game of the same type and everyone joined that one.. just because the host was someone pro..

Mine will be UMShouldChainDmg

I thought of higher number of players (like 3v3 or 5v5), but yes, it can work with 1v1 or 2v2

There are a number of simple "rules" regarding how to build a dynamic and growing online community.  Unfortunately, the loudest voices in the multiplayer clique chose to stomp on all of them.  With predictable results.

This doesn't bother me too much, because my schedule pretty much requires that I play vs. the AI anyway (although it should bother the heck out of Ironclad/Stardock, because they chased away a lot of customers), but I do object to the idea that these folks are the best ones to determine what Sins "needs" to do to improve in the future. They are not.

They definitely have some "tricks and tips" for the early game that are useful to know, but their entire style of play is adapted to a very limited set of starting conditions geared to generating a short, fast game.  For the medium to long game, they really have nothing useful to say because they've probably never seen, or had the patience to play, a game that long.  Modifying game parameters and capabilities to suit their preferences would be like letting the ADHD flea on the tail wag the dog.

Ironclad/Stardock has probably sold 600,000+ copies of this game.  Their fine-tuning at this point should be aimed at the thousands to tens of thousands who still play it vs. the AI, as opposed to humoring the few who play a more limited game of their own devising and want tweaks to suit that highly idiosyncratic sub-genre.

see what I mean HLT? Responses like this is what we have come to expect from a Modder.

Its not Arch btw... Its Ach... as in Achilloraptor or Specter... or ME

and that game sucked. You guys should have railed me early with you being vas. 

lets arrange a forum game on the 25 of may at 11PM CST (that's GMT-6 for non eaglelandians)

My Story:

Joined ICO with 0 wins, 0 losses  maybe 2-3 months ago.

Now I have 221 hours play time (9.2 Days), Over 150 games played, Over 50 wins, 5 Losses (because I stopped surrendering and just quit when I get doubled or fail to scout the neighbor fleeting).

I have noob stats if you can tell but I'm ok for now

So what did I do right up to now?

"I listened and I also told the host what I know about the game. I'm no stranger to this game but the hosts never knew that so I had to tell them that I'm still a noob but know the mechanics of eco, fleeting & scouting etc."

The problem is those who have never played or beat the ai wanting to join a 5s, 3s or 2s with skilled players and not introducing themselves. 

If your getting accused of being a smurf its because your not introducing yourself and telling the host you know how to play. Your Guilty as charged.

Didn't realize people were still reading this.  A week or two after I posted this, I figured I could either gripe and bitch about it on here, or I could play the game more and learn better strategy, so I chose the latter.  In that time I've lost plenty but I was determined to become better at playing 5s.  I absolutely hate playing against the AI as its so predictable and just plain boring.  In that time I've become familiar with many of the regulars you can expect to find in a typical skilled 5s game and I've certainly learned better strategy. 

I've actually played a couple of games with you and I know you're a decent player.  I'm already familiar enough with some people that I know what sort of strategy or gaming style to expect from them, which has already helped me win a few matches. 

In fact one of the best games I've had in the last couple months was just last week.  I forget all the players, but myself, Doci, AeonX, Multiz, An4archy were there and we were almost too evenly matched that the game began to grind into a stalemate.  Now seriously, with such experienced and skilled people, how often does THAT happen?  I'll try to remember to upload a copy of the recorded game later.

Many people griped about this game going to Steam, but it's been the best thing that ever happened for the online multiplayer aspect of the game.