Minimade baby-sized server [WILL CLOSE ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2017]

    Olxinos

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    [Edit: MINIMADE IS CLOSING
    Unfortunately, it seems I don't have enough time to manage the server, and the server is completely deserted by now. Therefore, the server will close on September 30th.
    Until then, I'll try to keep the server accessible. Of course, I've made a backup of the current state, in case you forgot a build or something on the server.]


    A week ago, I posted this Interested in a baby-sized server ?
    Now, here's the server!

    For those who didn't read that topic a very short presentation :
    Minimade is a server with an extremely low mass cap : each ship must weight at most 3000 mass, docked entities included.
    Why? Because small ships means faster build times, more opponents in your mass range, and accessorily more challenging pirates.
    Is it fun? Well, let's figure out!

    The server is accessible with the following address and runs the last release version: 151.80.47.156:4242
    (I've rented a dedicated server for a month, I'll extend the duration if necessary)

    Quick rules, basically, what the limits are and common sense.
    Code:
       Rules
    1° Each ship must be under 3k mass, docked entities included.¹
       1.1 A limitation to 100k blocks has also been added but you shouldn't reach that limit unless you're building weird things made of nothing but decorative blocks.
    2° Each station must be under 30k mass, docked entities included.¹²
       2.1 A limitation to 1000k blocks has also been added but you shouldn't reach that limit unless you're building weird things made of nothing but decorative blocks.
    3° Usual etiquette applies. Don't insult or harass people. Avoid offensive language.
    4° Don't prevent the server from working correctly (this includes lag inducing contraptions).
    
       Guidelines
    Basically, more flexible, questionable or controversial rules. You may break those to some extent, but it might be frowned upon depending on how much you abuse those guidelines (and if you go to far, you risk sanctions as well, c.f. guideline 3)
    
    1° Avoid exploits.
    Whether some clever use of slightly broken mechanics are considered an exploit in Starmade is controversial and that's one of the main reasons it's in the guidelines rather than the rules. As a rule of thumb, if you don't want to tell people what your trick is, then it's probably not fine.
    2° Think (at least a little) about your ship appearance.
    Everyone isn't an artist and those things are subjective, so I can't and won't blame you even if I feel like your ship looks terrible or super bland. But please, avoid plain literal bricks :p
    3° Be reasonable.
    Know that borderline behaviour isn't [i]fine[/i] and some things are implicit. You won't get away if you try to bypass the rules without explicitly breaking them or by repeatedly feigning ignorance.
    
    ¹ NPC factions and pirates aren't bound by this rule (have fun guys :D )
    ² Exceptions can be made for docked ships, but don't use that as an excuse to have perma-docked ships as disguised turret supports
    For those who are trying to be clever, I've written a script which teleports each ship with a mass above 3k (including docked entities) to a special sector with the peace, noentry, noexit, protected and nofploss modifiers. It won't kick in very regularly, but you've been warned. Currently, the only ways to exit the sector is to commit suicide or contact an admin (i.e. me).
    Unfortunately, for that reason, avoid docking ships together as that could cause you to be teleported to the prison sector (docking to stations should be fine as long as you're docking to the main station entity). Later, I'll improve my script to automatically free people under the mass cap.

    For now, the server is pretty much in a blank state. I tried to populate it a bit with NPCFactions made from community content fleets :
    AtraUnam's Iskir minifleet Iskir smallship collection (Iskir Clan)
    Tshara's first fleet submission Tshara Fleet Submission 1 (nicknamed Wildspace Wanderers)
    Nauvran's fleet submission Nauvran's fleet submission 1 (City-Gate Security)
    Napther's fleet submission Napther_Fleet_Submission_1 (Kaiju Design Initiative)
    SchnellBier's SBS Briar (added to pirates)
    Techpriest's second fleet submission Tech-priest_Fleet_Submission_2 (added to pirates)
    I also threw my lil' Proxima into the pirate mix (the one with the "pirate paintjob"). I think it's too cute not to be in there (and that'll give you something easy to kill). The basic isanths aren't part of the pirates though (I don't really like them).
    I quickly edited their configs and tried to give them slightly different behaviours (in particular, berserk buttons, avoid mining on KDI's turf for instance), we'll see if that works or if I need to tweak their values a bit more (I should be able to do it after a server restart).
    (by default, I assume that ships in CC are free to use and redistribute as long as you credit the builders, if someone cited here don't want me to use their ships or disagree with the way I use them, please tell me)

    Some of the ships in those fleets are far above 3k mass: the biggest ship (KDI's Trapezoid) is around 25k mass and the biggest pirate ship (Tech Priest's frigate) at 12k mass. Unless I can't make them rare enough or they prove troublesome for other reasons, they will stay on the server and I expect the NPCs to cheat and use them from time to time, see them as "boss battles" :p

    I'll also use a FactionConfig with quickly tweaked values for the time being, it probably has a lot of but I can also change that later if needed:
    Code:
    <Faction>
       <FactionActivity>
           <BasicValues>
               <SetInactiveAfterHours>168</SetInactiveAfterHours>
               <SetActiveAfterOnlineForMin>5</SetActiveAfterOnlineForMin>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionActivity>
       <FactionSystemOwnerBonus>
           <BasicValues>
               <MiningBonusOwner>12</MiningBonusOwner>
               <MiningBonusOthers>6</MiningBonusOthers>
               <MiningBonusUnowned>3</MiningBonusUnowned>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionSystemOwnerBonus>
       <FactionPointGeneral>
           <BasicValues>
               <FactionPointDeathProtectionMinutes>10</FactionPointDeathProtectionMinutes>
               <IncomeExpensePeriodMinutes>15</IncomeExpensePeriodMinutes>
               <InitialFactionPoints>100</InitialFactionPoints>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionPointGeneral>
       <FactionPointIncome>
           <BasicValues>
               <GainedPerMember>19</GainedPerMember>
               <GainedPerOnlineMember>32</GainedPerOnlineMember>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionPointIncome>
       <FactionPointSpending>
           <BasicValues>
               <BasicFlatCost>20</BasicFlatCost>
               <SpentAbsoluteForDeath>2</SpentAbsoluteForDeath>
               <SpentForDeathMultByMemberCount>2</SpentForDeathMultByMemberCount>
               <SpentPerControlledSystem>1</SpentPerControlledSystem>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionPointSpending>
       <FactionPointGalaxy>
           <BasicValues>
               <FreeHomeBase>true</FreeHomeBase>
               <PenaltyFromCenterMult>1</PenaltyFromCenterMult>
               <PenaltyPerDistanceUnitFromHomeBase>1</PenaltyPerDistanceUnitFromH
    omeBase>
               <ThresholdTakenRadiusForTradeGates>30</ThresholdTakenRadiusForTrad
    eGates>
           </BasicValues>
       </FactionPointGalaxy>
    </Faction>
    Basically:
    - faster turns (to better reflect players' online time)
    - slightly lower difference between online players and nonactive players (more predictable for me)
    - greatly increased flat cost, in particular, superior to the non-active gains of a single player (to prevent one-man factions from parasiting systems)
    - decreased cost per system and penalties per distance (to compensate the increased flat cost + allow medium faction to control a couple dozens of systems)
    Other changes include:
    - sector sizes (8km and weapon ranges have been decreased to mimic a 2km sized sector)
    - slightly more powerfull warheads for torpedoes afficionados out there (if I see people starting to abuse them to grief though, I may confiscate them)
    - AI precision set to 750
    - longest dock chain set to 10 (I don't remember whether that limitation is enforced though)
    - planet mean radius set 50, deviation to 0
    - asteroids respawn every 6 hours

    Feel free to use that topic (instead of the general discussion one) to discuss about the server rules and report me problems.
     
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    Olxinos

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    AtraUnam dammit, took the wrong link (actually, I could've added that fleet too, I'll think about it for later), correcting
     
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    This looks pretty interesting. Will this update today or over the next day or so. Would love to try it out if the ping is not too high. Most of my stuff is pretty small anyway so it should be fun.
     

    Olxinos

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    Give it a shot. Here's a VPS for $3.49 a month. I used to run a mini-starmade server on it which had a similar config option setup as you describe. (Expect frequent crashes though if anyone decides to make fleets - maybe turn off fleets.. and NPC factions - also set the RAM to be 1.4gb and make sure to run a light-weight linux)
    VPS SSD: The most affordable high performance VPS - OVH

    The $13.49/mo. option could actually run a normal, low-end server. Configure to 6gb RAM.
    Mmmh, currently I have far better specs but for a far higher price (intel core i7-4790K 16GB RAM 120G SSD, that was the cheapest dedicated server on soyoustart, I wish I could've reduced the RAM a bit or swapped the SSD for a bigger HDD but well, good enough and the cpu is nice at least). Maybe I'll downgrade next month.

    I saw you online not too long ago, you had a fairly high ping (300ms), that's annoying. I guess the server location is the issue here (Gravelines France) maybe I'll have to move it North America if that cause American players to have too high a ping... but then European players (and I'm one of them) may have similarly high pings ¬¬
     

    therimmer96

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    Mmmh, currently I have far better specs but for a far higher price (intel core i7-4790K 16GB RAM 120G SSD, that was the cheapest dedicated server on soyoustart, I wish I could've reduced the RAM a bit or swapped the SSD for a bigger HDD but well, good enough and the cpu is nice at least). Maybe I'll downgrade next month.

    I saw you online not too long ago, you had a fairly high ping (300ms), that's annoying. I guess the server location is the issue here (Gravelines France) maybe I'll have to move it North America if that cause American players to have too high a ping... but then European players (and I'm one of them) may have similarly high pings ¬¬
    Ping should not be an issue, you're using the same hosts as CBS, in *almost* the same location. It may be just him having the issue, see if anyone else in the area is having problems.
     

    Sachys

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    Some of the ships in those fleets are far above 3k mass: the biggest ship (KDI's Trapezoid) is around 25k mass and the biggest pirate ship (Tech Priest's frigate) at 12k mass. Unless I can't make them rare enough or they prove troublesome for other reasons, they will stay on the server and I expect the NPCs to cheat and use them from time to time, see them as "boss battles" :p
    A question then - where do server rules stand on the boarding and subsequent refactioning of these ships for resource gain? - and indeed players banding together to overheat and reclaim them in ship combat?! I'm a little tired today, but pretty sure its not covered on what you've written.
    obviously, during the decon process, players would be in posession of a ship exceeding the mass limit.
     

    Olxinos

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    A question then - where do server rules stand on the boarding and subsequent refactioning of these ships for resource gain? - and indeed players banding together to overhat and reclaim them in ship combat?! I'm a little tired today, but pretty sure its not covered on what you've written/
    I haven't mentioned it explicitly.
    You can try to capture those ships, but you won't be able to fly them (because of the mass cap, well you can empty it so that they drop below the mass cap though). Trying to bypass the limitation to fly those ships is also forbidden in my book. You can only salvage their stuff, brag about defeating one or having it staying around as a trophy :p
    (if there are too many such trophies though, they'll certainly end up deleted)
     

    The_Owl

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    Slight problem

    "Each station must be under 30k mass, docked entities included"

    The issue i have here is with the "docked entities" part. This is only because it means that there is a limit to the amount of ships you can dock to your homebase, or any base, thus making it pointless to have anymore than 8-9 3k mass ships, due to the inability to dock any others.

    I would prefer it if it was restricted to the station + docked turrets, rather than all docked entities.
     

    therimmer96

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    Slight problem

    "Each station must be under 30k mass, docked entities included"

    The issue i have here is with the "docked entities" part. This is only because it means that there is a limit to the amount of ships you can dock to your homebase, or any base, thus making it pointless to have anymore than 8-9 3k mass ships, due to the inability to dock any others.

    I would prefer it if it was restricted to the station + docked turrets, rather than all docked entities.
    The issue is likely because the game doesn't expose the numbers for just turrets.
     

    Olxinos

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    The issue is likely because the game doesn't expose the numbers for just turrets.
    ^this, and because you could perma-dock "ships" which are actually disguised turrets.

    That's also why I've included this note:
    "² Exceptions can be made for docked ships, but don't use that as an excuse to have perma-docked ships as disguised turret supports"
    But yes, that's a bit problematic, I'll see if I can improve that in the future.

    Also, there's currently a little bug on the server where all custom factions actually use Traders' assets, this was caused by an extraneous blueprints nested subdirectory, hopefully this'll be fixed once I restart the server (there are 5 players right now, so I'll wait a bit). If it doesn't, I'll back up the current world, create a fresh one, and bring your stuff over :p
     

    Olxinos

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    Sachys
    Yes, there's both a cap enforced by the game itself (a mass cap, docked entities excluded) and a cap enforced by a script I've written (a mass cap, docked entities included).
    Starmade's limitation only prevent players from flying the ship, my limitation doesn't prevent you from flying the ship but will teleport you into an isolated sector (666 666 666).
     

    Benevolent27

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    Mmmh, currently I have far better specs but for a far higher price (intel core i7-4790K 16GB RAM 120G SSD, that was the cheapest dedicated server on soyoustart, I wish I could've reduced the RAM a bit or swapped the SSD for a bigger HDD but well, good enough and the cpu is nice at least). Maybe I'll downgrade next month.

    I saw you online not too long ago, you had a fairly high ping (300ms), that's annoying. I guess the server location is the issue here (Gravelines France) maybe I'll have to move it North America if that cause American players to have too high a ping... but then European players (and I'm one of them) may have similarly high pings ¬¬
    Ah, I was being lazy and did not notice your post DIRECTLY above my reply. Sorry about that. lol. Yeah, I did a lookup on the address you provided there and noticed OVH as the provider (SoYouStart is the same company as OVH but offers slightly older servers for better prices). Good pick.

    Edit: My suggestion was more for if you wanted to run it as a test. As the world gets bigger, so too do the requirements. I would not downgrade if I were you if you decide to keep going with this.
     
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    Looks really interesting. I'll be sure to check it out. I've always wanted to try a server with limits like this.
     

    Benevolent27

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    Looks really interesting. I'll be sure to check it out. I've always wanted to try a server with limits like this.
    NaStral, we can run a server like this alongside LvD you know. Just with less RAM.
     
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    Slight problem
    while i find this somewhat annoying, i think it may end up being a good thing. forces ship management and if you want a large standing navy youll have to expose or attempt to hide some of it.
     

    Sachys

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    Starmade's limitation only prevent players from flying the ship, my limitation doesn't prevent you from flying the ship but will teleport you into an isolated sector (666 666 666).
    Okay, i understand the first part, but what ive quoted suggests theres no real way to salvage the ships - I'm assuming a buildblock would also trigger the script for piloting? ...at which point theres no point taking those ships on other than directly for defensive purposes - taking them apart in astro mode would be pretty fubar. Sorry again if im misunderstanding, but its really not clear to me.