DISCUSS! Sector sizes - what's the sweet spot?

[Matt_Bradock]

There have been debates about which sector size to set on servers. The smaller it is, the smaller the database, the less the server load, BUT at the same time there will be issues with overlapping structures, sector transition during battles, AI fleet movement and cross-sector hit detection on weapons.

So, server owners, players, anyone interested in sharing their thoughts: Which sector size is the sweet spot between server load and playability?

 

[AtraUnam]

I personally like 10km sectors.

 

[Batavium]

You take your servers max ship and fleet size and put that in the smallest possible box with a little room for movement.

Anything bigger and it becomes personal preference which is just set it at whatever your happy with.

If your experimenting then start small and work your way to bigger sectors. You can make sectors bigger. You can NOT make them smaller! You can but the map will get corrupted. So use caution.

 

[kulbolen]

8-12 seems to be the happy compromise

 

[Jojomo]

I find larger sector sizes changes the feel of the game - the "epicness" scales with size

But there are practical reasons for not going too big, so I find 10-15 km is good.

On server load, obviously larger sectors will eat more storage and more memory, and take longer to load, but, surely they mean fewer loads?
In practice, do larger sectors means less frequent loading, or are there other reasons why this isn't what happens?

 

[Mariux]

7-ish is best. 5 if you want thrusters to be a viable alternative to warp.

 

[Batavium]

On server load, obviously larger servers will eat more storage and more memory, and take longer to load, but, surely they mean fewer loads?
In practice, do larger sectors means less frequent loading, or are there other reasons why this isn't what happens?

A player exists in the center sector of a 27 sector box. 3 by 3 by 3 sectors. There are two sides to the coin.

One side is that the size of the box equals the contents of the box. The bigger the sector the more chunks are in it. The more server resource it takes to load them. Times 27!

There is also the clients maximum distance render setting. The higher you set that the harder your PC has to work. And the same goes for the server with larger sectors.

The other side is movement that goes over a sector border. Causing the next 9 sectors to load. Every time you do that there is some lag as stuff loads in and other sectors unloads. The server can get very busy if you do that one after the other in a short time frame. Think stuff like fights and high speed travel.

The maximum server speed setting is also important here as that helps to limit the frequencies of going from sector to sector.

The best way of travel from a server stand point is no movement of your own. Just jumps from your jump drive. Then the server has to only load the sectors and not your relative motion to the stuff within the sector.

Now i hear everybody scream yeah chain drives for the win. No sorry no tango. They enable repeated jumps in a short time frame. And there lays the problem. The jumps are way to fast after another. The server can not keep up with the loading and unloading of sectors and goes into desync. It chokes on it and keeps trying to process it all stalling the server CPU at 100% and causing a server crash.

There is no global sweet spot for sectors. It all depends on what your server CPU is capable of and how much you want to hurt it.

 

[aRottenKomquat]

I recently reset my server and increased sector size to 8km. So far we all agree that it's an improvement over 2km. Intra-system travel takes a bit of time now but it isn't too bad to fly a couple sectors at sublight. Overdrive and jump drives are important now, and there's even talk about trying to build a jump carrier that's just a big jump drive with USDs on it to tow other ships around. It's been an interesting change.

 

[Edymnion]

One side is that the size of the box equals the contents of the box. The bigger the sector the more chunks are in it. The more server resource it takes to load them. Times 27!

Must be noted however that the increased number of chunks will not come into play right away.

When sector size is increased, that is all that is increased. Everything in said sectors, like pirate stations, asteroids, and planets stay the same size, they just spread out more.

At the start, a 10km sector will have exactly as many chunks of blocks in it as a 2km sector. The change will only become apparent in terms of database issues as the server ages and people build bigger stations, bigger ships, and more ships to fill that space.

 

[Nickizzy]

Must be noted however that the increased number of chunks will not come into play right away.

When sector size is increased, that is all that is increased. Everything in said sectors, like pirate stations, asteroids, and planets stay the same size, they just spread out more.

At the start, a 10km sector will have exactly as many chunks of blocks in it as a 2km sector. The change will only become apparent in terms of database issues as the server ages and people build bigger stations, bigger ships, and more ships to fill that space.

Do more asteroids spawn, or is it the same amount just emptier? And is there a limit?

 

[KiloZulu]

Do more asteroids spawn, or is it the same amount just emptier? And is there a limit?

No, the number of asteroids remains the same. I don't know that the individual rocks within each group are spread out (never paid much attention,) but obviously the groups are farther apart.

 

[Edymnion]

No, the number of asteroids remains the same. I don't know that the individual rocks within each group are spread out (never paid much attention,) but obviously the groups are farther apart.

The individual asteroids are still grouped together closely in the center of the sector.

Everything spawns in the center of the sector, and sector size basically just increases/decreases the empty space around them.

 

[AtraUnam]

Now I want to set sectors to 500m just to see what happens?