PlanetsCentral

I would also prefer to start a game with a full set of players. if there is one missing chances are good that it wont affect the game too much. but already two or more in the beginning changes the chances for the lucky ones to be close to an abandoned HW drastically. The whole game then will be out of balance.

So, for me it would be no problem to cancel such a game and try to restart with a fresh group of players.

ok, another wild suggestion to maybe find a solution for this problem please excuse if it's something which is technically not possible here on this site, I have no clue about these things, just trying to help.

what about you add a section in the player's profile here where they can save settings for taking part in a game, like which races they would like to play, which game setups they would choose (list available setups which you offer), maybe also how many games at a time they would play etc...

as soon as people fill in their preferences you would have some kind of database from which you can pick players. if there are enough players available to setup a new game you could send an invitation to them telling that a game will start which matches their chosen preferences and tells them to register for it within maybe 5 - 7 days.

After that the game could start right away.

if you give the players an additional button which can change the status between "available" or "not available" for games it should be easy for everyone to get along with it.

If you think this could be an interesting option please feel free to modify it the way you want.