How many hops from tastyspleen.net are you?

[Punk_FAS]

At a DOS prompt (type cmd in the Windows run box, or in search, then click the "command prompt" app), type the following:

tracert -d tastyspleen.net

How many hops is it for you?

[Punk_FAS]

Also, other than ping, does the number of hops have an affect on how the game feels? Like, if someone has 75 ping, and me 50, but they're like 6 hops away, and I'm 18 hops... would that give them any priority advantage? Is ping the only thing that matters as far as who the server sees getting to an item first, etc.?

[Admin]

Also, other than ping, does the number of hops have an affect on how the game feels?

Number of hops does not matter in and of itself. What matters is latency and consistency (lack of jitter.)

Given equivalent ping, 8 hops over a jittery connection is worse than 20 hops over a consistent/smooth connection.

Is ping the only thing that matters as far as who the server sees getting to an item first, etc.?

Generally what matters is which packet arrives at the server first. (It's a little more complicated in the details: Q2 servers have a 10Hz tick rate. And they probably iterate over the array of connected clients in order of client number. If so, then perhaps lower-numbered clients would have a priority in terms of evaluating which packets had been received for the current server tick. I'd need to go examine the code to verify that, however.)

[Punk_FAS]

If so, then perhaps lower-numbered clients would have a priority in terms of evaluating which packets had been received for the current server tick.

Is client number determined by who loads the map up quickest? When I think to check, sometimes I notice that people with higher ping than me are able to load into the game quicker than I can. My computer is no slouch (was high-end for 2016), but I suppose that can still play a part in 2021 with a 1997 game (as far as loading the next map a little faster).

[Admin]

Is client number determined by who loads the map up quickest?

Client numbers carry over between maps (unless server restarts or reinitializes.)

(Which is why WallFly tends to be client 0 on most servers.)

So once you join the game, you'll tend to stick with that assigned client number, over subsequent maps.

sometimes I notice that people with higher ping than me are able to load into the game quicker than I can.

Assuming equally-fast computers, Q2 is biased toward lower ping on load time. (Due to faster server-client handshakes.)

  ^ Caveat: This is my current mental model, but I haven't looked at the code in awhile.

In short: all else being equal, one should expect lower-ping players to enter the game faster.

[Serial Pest]

Yeah I generally have a ping of around 250 and I definitely seem to load up faster than other players with lower pings. When the server is busy I regularly get initial spawn kills.