Speaking from experience... at one point there was over 50 ppl on Nizgard yesterday (14 rooms), however cpu usage oscillated near 10-15%, I don't think it ever exceeded 20%. Well, the point is, you don't need powerful PC to host KaM server, if the lag is an issue then polishing networking code should be enough.
It's not just about cpu, it's more about lag and internet connection, probably the biggest problem with actual servers.
They propose a mirroir, what's the use?
Imagine a player in Australia with and average internet connection,
he'll just synchronise with the mirroir wich will synchronise way faster with the master server in Europe than he would actualy do.
Hopefully the lag won't be a problem now because more servers are updated. Having 60 players all on one server isn't ideal, our network system needs to be better designed to work like that (there's no reason why it shouldn't work, there are just flaws in our system like delay adjustment, lack of threads, etc.)
If lag is still an issue today please let us know, I am interested in improving the network code to run better.
Well everything runs smooth indeed but response time is slow sometimes,
wich can realy ruin the game. (You sometimes just loose because of that.)
Also servers sometimes stop responding for a few seconds. (Happens almost every game.)
Maybe if the servers are more powerfull, they could calculate more, decreasing the needed connection for some things?
Like for example giving an order to soldiers or placing buildings.
Idea is good, maybe we could even move KaM Master server to that place, but whats the price of it and how do you plan to keep it funded for at least 1-2 years? Who will dedicate his time to maintain it function at 24/7 ?
I had
verygames in mind, I bought servers there before and I believe me, great quality.
Prices variate from 40 to 200 euros a month,
depending on the amount of cores and additional disc space.
(We get 5 giga for free and it's 80 cent for each additional gigabyte.)
but if we take for a long time we can have massive reductions.
I can also try to get the server for free, in exchange for advertising of course.
Still what I had in mind was to find enough people who want to help to pay every month.
(I could give 20 euors every month for exmple)
I agree donations just won't work.
I think the community is big enough for that but it could be a problem indeed.
When I played Starcraft 2 I didn't had any issues, even against people with slower connections so I know it has to be possible for kam too.
Kick fast, think Bo.