Alpha dedicated servers?

When the Alpha comes out, are we going to be able to run our own dedicated servers?

If so, what are the specs looking like for a decent server experience? I've got a selection of machines to choose from (I run a hosting business on the side) and just wanted to know so I can figure out if I want to beef up one of the servers or just call up HP and get a new one in time for hot bot-on-bot action.

From all indications, the Alpha will most likely start out limited to Uber being the only one hosting servers. This will give them much better control & visibility into bugs & issues and keeping everyone on the same page with regards to patches etc.


So I wouldn't count on putting up some custom servers in June. Maybe September.

I too would like to see some early metrics on how intense this game is predicted to be. For example each player will consume about X resources (mem, cpu) on a map X size.

Not a definitive answer, just a general approximation on what the team is seeing thus far.

Also, I would love to see the alpha server released to backers that has an automatic reporting/patching feature. Why not allow users to host games even from the early stages? It is in the spirit of PA!

I'm hoping the alpha server code is sent out, just so people can get an idea of what it will take to host private galactic war setups.

I'm not demanding anything, just asking

Not allowing alpha users to host servers means no LAN/Single player (Server needed for these as well) so I doubt it would be restricted to Uber-only servers, since those aspects need testing too.

That does not mean they need testing at the beginning of Alpha however. Neutrino has said that he's keeping the training wheels on, at least for the first few Alpha releases.

I'd estimate dual core (probably 1.5GHz+) with 2GB RAM minimum for a couple of players, dedicated server-wise; as far as extra per-player requirements that's still to be determined. I'm intending to run the alpha on a ZBox (Atom D525 / 4GB RAM) in an effort to determine how well low spec machines handle it. Of course that assumes that Uber are ok with us running on more than one PC for the alpha; if I have to register a single PC I'll be using my main gaming rig for that.

My intent was eventually to run a dedicated host on the ZBox and just keep adding AI (or human) players until it crumbles, that should give me an idea of a reasonable limit for a dual core / 4GB setup, which would translate to a "reasonable" dedicated/hosted box :mrgreen:

Baseless speculation estimate: for 40+ players I think you're looking at a setup with 4+GB per core and probably 1 core per 2 players or thereabouts. I could however be massively over or under-estimating, so I certainly would not recommend getting quotes until we have actually been playing the alpha and can supply a better estimate. BL420c blades are not cheap, and you will probably need more than one to service a 40 player game

Regarding whether we get the server, I'd agree with raevn; the server component is vital for "offline" (skirmish vs AI) and LAN games. If we don't get it, we can't test either of those. While Uber may well have good reasons for running only hosted games for the alpha, and therefore distributing only the client for alpha, I would think it far more likely we get the full (if somewhat limited) package and would therefore be able to setup a dedicated box if we have one spare.

Worst case we may only get the client for the first few weeks, and then get the combined package later. I'd assume we'll have the "server" by the end of alpha / start of beta, if we don't get it immediately.

IMO it'll probably require a lot less ram, I doubt it'll ever need more than 16GB and more likely you'd probably get by just fine with 8gb even for massive 40+ player games, I'm also expecting to need ~2ghz per player for around 4 players (so 2 core 4ghz, or 4 core 2ghz), but also that scaling wont be perfectly linear so more like 3-4ghz per player in the 40+ player games. I'm basing my estimate on my experience in game development, though without looking at the PA code that's still not much better than baseless speculation .

It's procedural generation, it would need 32GB of ram to be safe. 40+ player battles will get insanely huge, have you seen the size of the planets? One planet will be able to easily host 4 player battles. More planets, faster expansion, more data generated.

Not sure there will be 40 player games right from the start of the Alpha.

Everybody is concerned about the server's spec, but i'm more concerned about their bandwith.
As everything will pass by their servers, we could get some pretty laggy games in some cases...

Yeah, it's pretty baseless on my part. I work in corporate support rather than game development

I was more basing it on the usual spec we look at for servers, rather than a proper estimation of game engine requirements. The only way we're going to be able to put proper numbers on it is via playtesting

For an internet hosted server, I agree, network bandwidth could well be an important consideration. For a local process running on your PC (i.e. single player skirmish), "bandwidth" is your memory bus, and for one running on a local LAN, the bandwidth is defined by your connectivity method (1GbE, 802.11n etc.)

Since most co-location sites have at least 100MbE links to the internets at large, it's only really peer to peer matches (e.g. you host locally, and someone from the other side of the world joins) that are going to be critically bandwidth limited, and that can still be mitigated by efficient netcode to a certain degree.

Again, the only way we're going to be able to put any proper numbers on it is through playtesting though.

Just to clarify we will *not* be releasing any server code during the alpha. This is mainly because once the server code gets out the game is effectively released and will be pirated out the wazoo when it's not even properly been on sale yet.

At some point before the testing period is up (test period being alpha/beta) the server will be released so we can test that stuff. It's *possible* this could be during the alpha period but it's more likely to occur during beta.

When you talk about server-code you mean the server-software?
Or the codebase? xD

Yes. server.exe which runs the game server.

I think there's an argument for a post release update or if at some point during the Kickstarter you promised it would be at launch, day zero release.

Makes sense... I would wait... so people have to buy and play on the uber net first...

Does this affect our ability to test mods during alpha/beta? I assume we can still test stuff locally at least?

It means you can't make server side mods until we release the server.

So does that mean there won't be any single player during alpha?

Single player skirmish maps will be possible. It's more predicated about when we have AI in game.