Since we're not a huge community, could we not potentially look at sourcing a benefactor? It might sound like a horrid idea at first, but in reality a tron server needs next to no resources and can happily chug away on a machine built 15 years ago. Given that a single machine could host a number of servers without the overhead of a typical VPS, I can't imagine there's not someone out there who might be willing to plug in an old, retired appserver and plonk it on the internet.
Hell, if I manage to pull off an office this year, I'll do it myself.
Donations
Re: Donations
I like this idea. We should easily be able to muster one dedi to start it off. While Agility's NY dedi is currently doing a fine job handling the US side, there's a little bit of a void on the EU side. As for servers, I'd recommend simple, clean, established game modes from the past**. The branding can be up for debate, of course, but I envision something likesinewav wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2020 6:18 pm Here is an idea: How about a Patreon account for Armagetron? Does anyone use Patreon? I would gladly add this game to the other projects I support. If the monthly income is sufficient, the lead team (Z-Man, Tank, Lucifer) could "hire" someone to manage official dedicated servers using the budget. We have no shortage of talent in that department.
- ArmagetronAd Fortress (8v8; 16 slots)
- ArmagetronAd Classic Sumo (12 slots)
- ArmagetronAd Team Sumo (12 slots)
- ArmagetronAd Sumo Bar (8 slots)
- etc*.
*non-sumo suggestions welcome of course! Why not one classic deathmatch with nearly default settings (scoring could be refined imho). I'm sure it's weird for someone starting in local game and then seeing absolutely none of the same in the multiplayer list. Whenever I spot makeshift "noob servers", they're having a good time with the default settings.
**Why from the past? Well, modern modes, especially in sumo, have a high skill threshold. Why not look back at what worked when most players were new? The "Fortress Café" style of fort (2v2 conq) was more fast-paced and better suited for casual fort than our ladle settings. The 'classic sumo' with 4 players in each zone automatically sorts players into zones based on score, and there's more space to go around.
If the EU dedi works, adding a US counterpart should be rather easy.
Patrons could be made mods (why donate only to then destroy?) until they do bad things.
Re: Donations
Gaaah! I would really prefer if the max_clients number on the server list could instead be made to show the maximum number of players in the server, but I don't know how that would really be handled. Maybe instead of clients and max clients, it could be players / max players and spectators / max spectators (which could be max_clients - players)? That would require more work and might be more confusing...
Or maybe some other visual feedback from within the server browser and/or when connecting that the server is currently full of players and that they'll have to wait in spectator until someone leaves?
Re: Donations
Haha! Forgot you love hanging out in spec. I could be fine with +1 spec slot by default, because (when Nelg isn't hogging it) it kinda makes sense to wait if you're the first in line, it's when there's 3+ specs that potential other games are being prevented.
Re: Donations
You can spec regardless of the number of Max Clients. It should never be above the max number of players on an officially supported Armagetron server.
Re: Donations
Not sure about the max_players suggestions, but yeah: You should definitely be able to see from the server browser whether you're going to be able to play when you enter a server.
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Re: Donations
I've put up both NY and GER dedicated servers similar to what was discussed in this thread, with some of the classic fort/sumo modes. As of today, both the pickup servers and megaforts / sumobars are regularly hosted on these, along with tournament donations, as needed. Feel free to donate to help alleviate the cost of these at the paypal link below. Next, I will work to make these more "community-driven", accepting input from donators / putting up test configurations if people would be interested in that kind of thing.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zbigretro
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/zbigretro