I have checked the forum but could not find anyone that asked this. Could we change the number of players after creating a new game? I find frustrating that I create a game for 10 friends, then a couple of them do not join and I need to make a new game for 8. Maybe there is a way to change it and I do not know?
There are a few ways to handle this.
1
Keep the game. Find more friends to join your game. Share the password & URL.
You can post here on the forum in the category for NP Games or on reddit community of Neptune’s Pride to ask players to join.
2
The premium player who created the game is also the administrator of the game.
Shortcut key “O” goes to the Options menu, where you can “Force Start” the game.
Any empires not controlled by a human player will be controlled by AI.
3
Create a new game. Send email to your friends to join the new game.
You can wait a while before deleting the current game.
Thank you xjgdexter. I knew about these options, but they don’t really solve the issue. If someone wants to keep their game private (e.g. all your friends are newbies and you do not want them getting obliterated by any of the skilled players of the community), or you don’t want to add a lot of AI controlled players that won’t make the game any more fun, then the only option you have left is to makes new game and ask all your friends to join a new one. That’s not the smoothest landing for new users.
I believe having the option to change the game setup before the game starts should be possible for the admin. Of course, the 3 workarounds you proposed can be seen as more straightforward because they do not require changes in the code.