Star Citizen Server & Instances explained | Showcase [German; core info translated]

[AstroSam]

Very interesting vid imho, but (currently?) only available in German language:

To put it in short words:

• Universe Server - the mother of all servers, the Master Mind. Will save all account related data, current mission, char stats and further basic information of every star citizen as well as markets, buying and selling markets and the transfer of ingame data.
• Hyve Mind: the network of all servers which central server is the Universe Server. So to say the cloud of which every (local) server hosts a "room" like for Port Olisar and/or a bunch of ships. Current status: up to 100 ships per local cloud server; yes, they are calculating "per ship", not "per user". Background: when you are flying through the verse and a, for instance, a Carrack comes in sight, in the first step it doesn´t matter what the scientists or mechanics or everybody else onboard this ship are doing.
• Local (cloud) servers: When it comes to close action, pvp or trading actions or else, the corresponding local servers begin to communicate, exchange information. They are using the character specific information which is sent by the Universe Server via the Hyve Mind. As soon as the action is finalized/ended, the local servers sent back the char related data (or related basic data) to the Universe Server.
• The ship (aka the players in the ship) can always "look" into the next "room" (aka next local cloud server). Thus it should not come to a noticable "change-lag" at the moment the ship is going into the next room. Which means that for instance the local cloud server "Port Olisar" can "see" what happens at Yela/Grimhex and at Kareah, but can not see what happens at ArcCorp in Area18 - which is not necessary, because the relevant basic data is stored and managed by the Universe Server.
• Will it be possible to force shortage of goods, famines etc. like in EVE? No, because 90%(!!) of all activities will be operated by NPCs which are again managed by the Master Mind, the Universe Server.
• What happens when there are more than 100 ships in a room? If the 101st ship gets into a room the Universe Server will give the order to the local server to copy this room above the first one, thus there will be several rooms in parallel like a multi-dimensional universe. CIG calculates that, using this logic, it will be possible to realize up to 2k ships in parallel.

It is again pointed out that this vision of CIG is absolutely breathtaking because never has been tried such system ever before. And they bascally are saying: keep calm, stay tuned - this will again take some time. ;)

 

[maynard]

One of my biggest [CONCERN]s all along has been, how will SC coordinate multiple instances to allow epic space battles?

Another is, if we can't monopolize resources, what will we fight over?

I will be following these developments closely

because I want to engage in massive battles for high stakes

 

[Daak Seed]

I think it is one of the most interesting pieces of info on instancing I have read this year. Thanks for summing it up @Sam K Macer ! I am sure lots of people at reddit would like to read it as well.

@maynard : I am planning to run "big" business in the verse... I need to know how to screw NPCs than! )

 

[Lythan]

Thanks for the write-up @Sam K Macer ! Can't watch these so it helps a bunch :D

The network tech is interesting. Something that is clear though: Giant space battles like those in EVE online will not happen (maybe faraway in the future with better tech).
But I think thats good, in EVE its "relatively" easy to maintain oversight of the situation as your not in direct control of everything. Because we are in SC and actually already occupied with flying our ships or rather, crashing them into stuff I think the feel of 100 man battles will be quite large anyway!

Does the 100 man count include NPC's?

 

[AstroSam]

100 ships. They didn't say something about a limit for the numbers of characters - I think. Have to watch the vid again.

That said, we are talking about a max limit - theoretically! - of 2.000 ships. Hence there will be at least minor giant space battles ;)

[edit]AND I want to point out, by using this Universe Server Hive Mind Structure, it won't result in annoying cheater waves like in GTA online.

 

[chrizz]

Ever been on a 64 man server in Battlefield? It is a lot that is going on around you.

Now imagine a space battle with 64 ships, shooting from all directions.

My Point: 100 ships in one "room" meeting for a battle is already too much that you can handle in your brain. It's just chaos. So a limit seems fine.

However: How will they handle who's in your instance with you? Luck? Friendslists? First come first serve?
Can i just try to fill up my "room" with 99 testies and get my valuable cargo safely from point A to point B ? Can I in case of a space battle with a certain "we love certifications"-corp fill up the instance and everyone else stays out?

Can someone from the "we love certifications"-corp, in case we decide to intercept and redistribute their assets, change the intance and be gone?

These are the questions that are the interesting ones imho.

When you're playing alone instancing doesn't matter. When you're playing as a group things get more complicated.

 

[Varku]

Very interesting vid imho, but (currently?) only available in German language:

To put it in short words:

• Universe Server - the mother of all servers, the Master Mind. Will save all account related data, current mission, char stats and further basic information of every star citizen as well as markets, buying and selling markets and the transfer of ingame data.
• Hyve Mind: the network of all servers which central server is the Universe Server. So to say the cloud of which every (local) server hosts a "room" like for Port Olisar and/or a bunch of ships. Current status: up to 100 ships per local cloud server; yes, they are calculating "per ship", not "per user". Background: when you are flying through the verse and a, for instance, a Carrack comes in sight, in the first step it doesn´t matter what the scientists or mechanics or everybody else onboard this ship are doing.
• Local (cloud) servers: When it comes to close action, pvp or trading actions or else, the corresponding local servers begin to communicate, exchange information. They are using the character specific information which is sent by the Universe Server via the Hyve Mind. As soon as the action is finalized/ended, the local servers sent back the char related data (or related basic data) to the Universe Server.
• The ship (aka the players in the ship) can always "look" into the next "room" (aka next local cloud server). Thus it should not come to a noticable "change-lag" at the moment the ship is going into the next room. Which means that for instance the local cloud server "Port Olisar" can "see" what happens at Yela/Grimhex and at Kareah, but can not see what happens at ArcCorp in Area18 - which is not necessary, because the relevant basic data is stored and managed by the Universe Server.
• Will it be possible to force shortage of goods, famines etc. like in EVE? No, because 90%(!!) of all activities will be operated by NPCs which are again managed by the Master Mind, the Universe Server.
• What happens when there are more than 100 ships in a room? If the 101st ship gets into a room the Universe Server will give the order to the local server to copy this room above the first one, thus there will be several rooms in parallel like a multi-dimensional universe. CIG calculates that, using this logic, it will be possible to realize up to 2k ships in parallel.

It is again pointed out that this vision of CIG is absolutely breathtaking because never has been tried such system ever before. And they bascally are saying: keep calm, stay tuned - this will again take some time. ;)

Based on the Infos in this Stream, here a little guide how to make money as a Pirate:

Buy huge amounts of high value stuff in a low security system.(because you don't want to deal with the police)
The Server will send a bunch of NPC's with this high value thing to the System you're in now.
Rob the arriving ships. (Over time they will come with more and more guards, to protect them)
Before you end you're blockade (because you run out of time or can't handle the amount of guards anymore)
sell back the high value stuff to that system as the value of that good in that system ahs risen over the time of the blockade.

 

[supitza]

Does the 100 man count include NPC's?

100 ships. They didn't say something about a limit for the numbers of characters - I think. Have to watch the vid again.

That said, we are talking about a max limit - theoretically! - of 2.000 ships. Hence there will be at least minor giant space battles ;)

If I understand correctly, the server hosting the 100 ships won't care what's inside every ship. There's one server hosting the ships themselves and other servers hosting what's inside each ship.
At least, that's what would make the most sense to me.

 

[AstroSam]

Exactly this.

 

[Lythan]

If I understand correctly, the server hosting the 100 ships won't care what's inside every ship. There's one server hosting the ships themselves and other servers hosting what's inside each ship.
At least, that's what would make the most sense to me.

Cool! That'll be a strain on systems I'm sure... wouldn't be SC otherrwise :joy: