Late starts - a bug that should become a feature?

[heavy gyro]

Some team mates and I noticed that sometimes we end up spawning into maps somewhere between 18:00 and 22:00 instead of at 25 minutes minus our load times. A player came on to Discord earlier to ask about it and it was apparently confirmed by [SIG]Mett that it was a bug.

While I'm not a fan of being delayed by 20-30 seconds just because of loading times I actually like loading in several minutes late, and having other players load in late. It means you might encounter a fresh team when you've been in a few fights. It means you may encounter player ships on your way out of the map. You might also end up running into someone trying to exit an airlock AI ship, or sub-raid location just as you're coming into the map or just as you enter those locations. It adds variety, and tension, because even if you think you have ended up in a raid, ship, or sub-raid alone someone else could come in 3 to 5 minutes later.

This might be a Starsiege Tribes moment for Marauders, and just like skiing was a bug that was so popular that they kept it maybe the late starts are, too.

[oblique ocean]

This would be a massive disadvantage for players loading in late. It would probably just turn into players seeing that they loaded late and going to extract because it's not worth the risk

[deft lark]

Being several minutes late isn't as much of a disadvantage as being a few seconds late because the chance of being accidentally doorcamped by earlier arrivals is severely reduced. The main disadvantage would be (a) contending with pistol runners who have had time to acquire better gear through combat and (b) losing out on any loot that was somehow "rushable", but I think if only delayed by a few minutes, in the worst case you'd still be able to cash "rushers" as they attempted to extract (both in space and in station).

There's already some inherent/natural balance, in that late arrivals don't have to contend with as many player marauders. It's like being later in a battle royale; less dangerous enemies and crossfires. You could also add some manual balancing - maybe your character spawns silently in the station, as if they were already docked there before the raid began

[green halo]

I Like being late, most times i get bags full of loot when i kill other players (did the hard work for me), but sometimes it is frustrating because i don't find anyone and all the stashs/vault are empty. Maybe there could be a way to balance it?