I'm going to ignore Aythreuk's arguments here and just pretend I'm the OP of this thread.
What's been said in this thread against Aythreuk can apply to any other game, but as this game has such a low population team stacking has a more pronounced effect. Oftentimes a teamstacked game is the ONLY game with any people in it and slots still open, there are not enough games for people to just leave and join a new one. When things go bad on the losing side of a teamstacked game, you're not just getting angry by yourself, there's people there blaming others for the loss (typically the poor sod who took Captain to get the game going).
This is a small community. Games with small communities do not survive without certain key players acting as leaders for that community. I'm not talking about moderators or CA's or any of that nonsense, I mean anyone who would consider themselves a "veteran" at all needs to be able to fill that role in such a small group. If that core group is perceived as hostile, it will not grow and could eventually cause the game to die out. I've seen this happen on other games I've played and it pisses me off tremendously every time.
I'm not pissed, however, because this game has an exceptionally welcoming community for the most part. Unlike other truly team-based games like DOTA-likes, there is a clear leader role that can function very well even with inexperienced teammates so long he acts as a leader and his teammates are willing to cooperate. If you're NOT friendly towards your crew in this game, you will suck horribly, ragequit, and thereby remove yourself from the community. I really think the game is small because of its bugginess negatively impacting its metacritic score and pissing off new players.
However, a portion of the community that doens't fall into the exceptionally welcoming category will often bitch (or joke, still bad) about preferring AI teammates to real ones or that their crew is just bad even though they're trying. I can tell you right now that if you think you'd be better off with AI than a "bad" crew that's trying and listening, I will take them and I will kick your ass with them, I have never had a human player that listened to me (even if he's stayed silent) function worse than an AI. Seriously, that AI comment, even jokingly, has caused quite a few ragequits in my short time here, if you actually care about the community cut that out.
For those of you who had a knack for the game early on, going against a stacked team does not equate to a learning experience for anyone. An intelligent teammate coaching you is going to do you worlds better than finding it out for yourself, it's pretty much why I'm doing well right now despite my relative inexperience. A flat-out curbstomp will not educate someone like a near loss will, oddly enough most people dislike being beaten mercilessly and are not going to devote non-fun time to reading the manual when it's smarter to just play another game in the bundle. It's just time management on their part. That does not mean we should just resign to being a niche game, this game does not have to remain niche. All of my friends who've played the game with me have had a blast on my ship, they can learn the mechanics and gameplay just fine (even though it'd be better if sandbox had more direction in it so it could function as a proper tutorial), it's when there's no hope for victory that they decide to stop playing until I get on. Not everyone wants to be the best, nor should that attitude be a requirement to enjoy the game. Low-skill matches have their place too.
That brings me back to the point about the size of the community, though. In a larger community it's fairly easy to find another game without pubstompers, here not so much. The part of the community that's really good at the game is constantly rubbing elbows with those that aren't, and it's up to those experienced players to make that elbow rubbing as enjoyable as possible for both parties. Muse and moderators and CA's can help with mechanics and good common sense moderation, but that can only do so much. Saying that it's not your responsibilty doesn't change that the game will grow smaller if you don't help the game, there isn't enough people here to pass that responsibility onto someone else.
Phoebe made a very excellent post about the "advice" some captains give their new players, don't assume everyone has Aspergers and wants to know absolutely everything about this game at once. I'm actually interested in making a guide on how to teach new players quickly and efficiently while entertaining everyone involved, Phoebe if you have some spare time do you working together on that?
I know no good captain wants to abandon the crew that's served them so loyally, but I know for a fact Candlehax would betray a fellow captain for a Klondike bar. As soon as a game goes 5-0, switch sides and bring your crew with you. If you can't get everyone, leave behind the understanding crewmate and add him to FL, or try to con him into captaining the other ship and coaching him. You're already hooked on this game, you can handle a loss here and there. I do this whenever possible myself and I highly encourage everyone else here to do the same, don't wait for the other side to ask.
Again, I'm really impressed by this community in general, it's just that you're being a bit too quick to provide an excuse for the teamstacking rather than being proactive about a solution. I know the OP was a bit accusatory so of course that stuff's going to be brought up, but that doesn't mean we can't take matters into our own hands to fix it anyways. Trust me, you'll still be having plenty of fun.
