Massively Multiplayer ? Server load

[nailsnchains]

Hi everyone,
i'm new on this board and mainly just lwent through the FAQ and stickies, so sorry if this has already been asked.

I've got questions concerning the Massive characteristic of this multiplayer game,
Considering how thousands of players can simultaneously interact on one server in MMORPG games, where you just control 1 character at a time, i'm guessing it would be impossible to reach the same number of players per server on a MMORTS, especially since NPC towns will have such a great importance in the game.

In one of the presentation videos, the narrator talks about fighting alongside "hundreds and hundreds" of players, even this number seems quite huge if you think of the map size of each player's instance that's needed, plus the npc cities...

Any details on the estimated number of players per server ?

[GPS51]

There will only be 1 server so everyone will be on the same server. Any more questions?

[gnoss]

anyone have any links etc on how this will all work?
is there any meeting grounds etc? will that play out in cities where u controll a character or via chat?

[nailsnchains]

Ok thanks for the reply

[Zorander]

Hmm well since its all in 1 server lag between asia and the US might be a little of a horror, question, if your fighting with someone and you lag out of the server or something will it be considered a loss?

[GPS51]

Hmm the dreaded OOS? I can't say as I haven't heard this specifically addressed. Take comfort that the devs are gamers and do understand how the MP side of a game works

[ceronor298]

This is the biggest problem. How will the server load work with masssive armies facing eachother all over the map at the same time.

[LiTos456]

EVE Online has one server. Usually has 30-50 thousand players online simultaneously.
In addition, the regions can be split to different servers. For instance, in EVE (sorry I'm using it as an example everywhere by the way, but I play it and it fits), a very popular solar system runs on its' own computer server but it coincides with the rest of the game.

So yes, we will have a single world. But it's an instance based world, so when you're battling someone, it is likely that your connection will just ignore whatever else is going on outside of your fight and update it later. Don't quote me on that though, I can't confirm it.

[Makis]

Originally Posted by LiTos456

EVE Online has one server. Usually has 30-50 thousand players online simultaneously.
In addition, the regions can be split to different servers. For instance, in EVE (sorry I'm using it as an example everywhere by the way, but I play it and it fits), a very popular solar system runs on its' own computer server but it coincides with the rest of the game.

So yes, we will have a single world. But it's an instance based world, so when you're battling someone, it is likely that your connection will just ignore whatever else is going on outside of your fight and update it later. Don't quote me on that though, I can't confirm it.

This is sort of a sub-question to the topic, but do we know how instancing will be used in terms of home cities, NPC cities, battles, and so forth?

I get the impression that cities and battlefields will be instanced almost like in the Total War series, where the involved combatants play on a map isolated from the rest of the game world, but this doesn't strike me as especially "persistent" or massive in the sense normally entailed by MMO games. There are also some other issues with this kind of system, e.g. can a battle that is in progress be interrupted by other players? Can a player's cite be attacked whil the player is offline? Does a player need to give consent to being attacked?

Any thoughts?

[LiTos456]

Originally Posted by Makis

This is sort of a sub-question to the topic, but do we know how instancing will be used in terms of home cities, NPC cities, battles, and so forth?

I get the impression that cities and battlefields will be instanced almost like in the Total War series, where the involved combatants play on a map isolated from the rest of the game world, but this doesn't strike me as especially "persistent" or massive in the sense normally entailed by MMO games. There are also some other issues with this kind of system, e.g. can a battle that is in progress be interrupted by other players? Can a player's cite be attacked whil the player is offline? Does a player need to give consent to being attacked?

Any thoughts?

Yes, maps will be instanced.
No, players cannot be attacked while offline.
While at this point I don't think there is a system in place for battle interruptions, but I think that you will eventually be able to call for backup from other players. Hell, I bet we could even make it so that you can call for help in local chat and invite anyone to your fight. Although there needs to be some significant penalty for that, to balance it out.

That said, you do realize that this is an RTS - which means that making an 100% open world like an MMORPG game is virtually impossible. Would also not work very well as griefing and such will be more common, etc.