So we now have a good server platform, with a good flexibility, performances are good, and we are having more and more players, which is nice. We will have to do some maintenance, like moving to another server, we might even deploy the platform between several servers (we use docker, which is great for that), and thus we could also take some time to think on what kind of servers we want at the same time.

Right now we have :

• Quest servers (#1 and #2)
• Cash server (#3)
• Classic 3 hour CityBuilder servers (#4, #5, #6)
• Classic blitz CityBuilder server (#7)
• Event server (#9)
• FIRS CityBuilder server (#12)
• GameScript CityBuilder servers (#14, #16, #17)
• Test server (#0)

We might get rid of the gamescripts servers as it doesn't add lots of value and it cost us some time to maintain.

I would like to try to have some more cash servers, maybe another quest server, and maybe a bunch of freetoplay server (which mean you can decide with the awesome reset feature, what you want to play). I also liked the old goal servers from nova, and I wold like to try some long goal servers.

So yeah, let us hear what you would like to have in there.

For long goals I first wanted to do per-company introduction of new vehicles, but it turned out to be impossible, so nothing holding it anymore.

Also I have some ideas for GS servers and mb some other but won't be implementing them any soon, so, I guess, will stick with what we have for now.

I wouldn't like to see "GameScript CityBuilder servers (#14, #16, #17)" disappear, we get enjoy playing on them. Though if it's too much effort to keep them going we'd understand.

How about an ECS CityBuilder? Or does FIRS cover that. Perhaps another FIRS server, it can be pretty hard to get going if one person has already got hold of the coal mines (they all seem to spawn in a big clump)

A double firs server seems a bit overkill to me. You are right that primair industries spawn in a group. Maybe we can make them available from !restart at server 4(should be doable because server 0 can do it too). Please note firs has more ways to start a game, for example oil or passengers/mail instead of coal.

Maybe we can do some games with another grf(I was thinking about a vehicles or industries) too, I don't know what our grf policy is(guess we don't have one so maybe make one). I know a lot of big goal servers playing with the default trains. Maybe we can attract some be players by some other train set.

Lol

lol wrote:

A double firs server seems a bit overkill to me. You are right that primair industries spawn in a group. Maybe we can make them available from !restart at server 4(should be doable because server 0 can do it too). Please note firs has more ways to start a game, for example oil or passengers/mail instead of coal.

Maybe we can do some games with another grf(I was thinking about a vehicles or industries) too, I don't know what our grf policy is(guess we don't have one so maybe make one). I know a lot of big goal servers playing with the default trains. Maybe we can attract some be players by some other train set.

Lol

Perhaps it's a bit overkill.

I understand what you mean about Firs start ups. I just tend to favour coal as a start up with only just starting to play the set, I'm sure I'll try the others as I move up.

What sort of trainset GRFs did you have in mind?

What sort of trainset GRFs did you have in mind?

i had a few grf's in mind. For the trainsets i thought of the most played:

• nars (you don't get fast and strong trains for cargo compared to ice and tgv)
• 2cc ( you too don't get fast and strong trains for cargo compared to ice and tgv)
• ukrs (in this one you don't get strong and fast trains for cargo compared to ice and tgv either)
• nuts (you need some time to understand how to use the trains in the best way)

for toyland we can run games with a default graphics replacement too( event had temperate replacement but mars replacement looks nice too)

lol

FIRS cb is all about using the "correct" strategy. If you do that you can build huge cities using just a quarter of the map. And passenger lines are definitely the best for start. Oil might work too because of the high production and easily produced petrol/chemicals which pays well.

I think I vote for a return of the ECS cb. Maybe some tuning can be done to the requirements, as far as i remember everything wasn't very logical. I also think it should be 6 hour rounds so it's more an exercise in strategy than high intensity building.

I would like to see ecs back. I won't play six hours for ecs citybuilder but I don't mind if it will be 6 hours.

Lol

Couldnt gamescript ones be replaced with easier timed ones?

Which would utilize the settings/limitations classic has except with lower RC, higher starting cash, gs grow rate (easy mode). This should even have an own highscore row named easy mode cb scores.

Reasoning being GS mode adds very little to improving skill, the 30k one is ok but still you are able to do stuff not possible on classic, making you somewhat bad on that cb once you know this one, also you arent able to beat your past record on GS which also limits your skill learning and further improvement towards higher scores.

Another idea i had was the possibility to restart easy mode maps with your own set of time, I.E 1h,2h,3h, depending on how much time you have to play, not having to quit mid game to miss out on scoring.

The restart ability is really unique imo, being able to choose the map you want to play whenever you have the time to play, even being able to choose the length of the game makes it worth money :D

About the Quest server i had the idea of spawning some new quests, more of each difficulty. Quest server is also unique to openttd, no one have a similiar great one and should by that be improved even further.

Some 50 cents thrown :) discuss! :D

If you replace gamescript with normal cb you aren't able to bridge the roads in the start of the game (quite some people use it at the gs server).

I don't like the idea to choose at some servers how long you want to play, but maybe we can run the 2h cb instead. (1h we have already in blitz, so then you would have the same idea)

lol

PS I didn't really edit sabers post, that was only a misclick

Bridge trick is a vague statement to keep GS, its also not allowed on btpro so not a good thing to learn to become good at CB. Its a cool trick but not that useful at all. You are allowed to spread here which more than make up for not needing houses further out.

Let's sum up :

• Some people want some more cash goals, per company introduction is not working, so we can go right now with cash servers, and the testing we did on server0 was good.
• gamescript server might die, but we could keep them as is for now as there are some fans. Can we make our classic citybuilder work with goal like first to 30k pop ?
• quest servers are indeed unique to us, and is quite entertaining. I have however no idea how it is done and how hard it could be to be improved. I would like to have some goals with FIRS also (dP do you think it could be doable and not too complex ?)
• Improved newgrf graphics : I saw that thread on reddit http://imgur.com/a/PDgZV, and I was wondering if would of interest to have a sexy citybuilder mode
• I think the restart command is golden, and I don't see the point of timetabled game anymore. This is related to the fact we don't have too much users, so it's always doable to restart a already started game. But still what do you think shall we keep the timetabled game ? I think this part of the code could be put on holidays. So I would propose to make all servers restartable within the available modes
• We could have some more settings on the length of games, I guess this would be not so hard to implement but again, dP has the answer.

Here is a proposal for the new server mapping :

• Quest servers (#1,#2,#3): Available Modes : quest (6h) [normal|ecs|firs?] [temp|tropic] [1980,1985]
• Classic 3 hour CityBuilder servers (#4, #5, #6) : Available Modes : citybuilder [2h|3h] [temp|tropic|arctic?] [1950,1970,1980,1985,1990]
• Classic blitz CityBuilder server (#7,#8) : Available Modes : blitz (1h) [temp|tropic|arctic|toyland] [1980?,1990]
• Cash server (#9,#10,#11) : Available Modes : cash [15M|50M|100M|500M|1B|2B|15B| [temp|tropic?|arctic?]
• ECS/FIRS CityBuilder server (#12,#13) : Available Modes : cb [3h|4h|6h] [firs?|ecs] [temp] [1980,1990?]
• GameScript CityBuilder servers (#14, #15,#16) : Available Modes : cbgs [2h|3h] [5k|10k|30k] [temp|tropic?] [1980,1990]
• Event server (#20)
• Test server (#0)

All options with question mark are just ideas, some might not be worth it. I think our ranking system can handle any kind of settings, so it will just make a bigger page for best scores, but with some design improvements it should be fine.

Oh well, I guess I should stop being lazy and ignoring this topic xD

I'd say we need to divide servers in two categories: for pro's and, well, not-so-pro's xD Because usually requirements for those condradict each other. For example, the reason why town growth area isn't limited on GS servers is because it requires a newgrf (at least untill my patch for FS#6381 gets accepted) and servers with newgrfs are less attractive for new players. That said it's more of a guideline, not strict separation, so there are three categories actually:

• "Newbie" servers. Focusing on attracting new people, easier to join and play. But sacrificing some competitiveness and gameplay mechanics that aren't just possible to do. So these servers will have no grf, fixed goals (15m cash, 30k cb, etc), mb multiple goals when I finally implement them.
• "Pro" servers. Focusing on gameplay and competitiveness. Obviously grfs, fixed game length (1h, 3h, 6h, etc.). Also mb I'll eventually do smth for ingame-type competition game modes (like events), not just highscore-type as we have now.
• Mixed-type servers. Quest server have grfs but aren't exactly "pro" ones. Also eyecandy grfs don't fit "pro" servers imo, if someone has CPU cycles to spare he can add them statically xD Also FIRS or ECS probably falls in this category too. Btw, while FIRS quests are possible and even there are some already (but disabled for some reason), I don't want to do them just yet as I plan to rework whole underlying goal mechanics eventually.

As for server ordering I think they shoud go from "newbie" to "pro". Meaning smth like cash goals first, nogrf(aka GS) cb next, then quest, firs cb and ending with classic 3h cb.

Some timetabled servers may be better if we'll have more players (and we plan to grow eventually, right? ;) Rigth now I think #6 is the only one with timetable, but idk, don't see any particular reason to switch it just yet. Mb I do if I use s4 for 1 bil (3 cb 3h servers are too much atm imo).

For game length settings I did't get what you ask for. There is game_length_years already, what else do you want?

So now we have the new server, we can keep it up with this reorganisation. Based on dP's advices, something like this ?

• Cash server (#1,#2,#3,#4) : Available Modes : cash [15M|50M|100M|500M|1B|2B|15B| [temp|tropic?|arctic?]
• GameScript CityBuilder servers (#5, #6, #7) : Available Modes : cbgs [2h|3h] [5k|10k|30k] [temp|tropic?] [1980,1990]
• Quest servers (#8,#9,#10): Available Modes : quest (6h) [normal|ecs|firs?] [temp|tropic] [1980,1985]
• ECS[/FIRS] CityBuilder server (#11,#12) : Available Modes : cb [3h|4h|6h] [firs?|ecs] [temp] [1980,1990?]
• Classic blitz CityBuilder server (#13,#14) : Available Modes : blitz (1h) [temp|tropic|arctic|toyland] [1980?,1990]
• Classic 3 hour CityBuilder servers (#15, #16, #17) : Available Modes : citybuilder [2h|3h] [temp|tropic|arctic?] [1950,1970,1980,1985,1990]
• Full custom server on demand (#18, #19) : Available Modes : most of them
• Event server (#20)
• Test server (#0)

Also, I'm wondering, but do we need to have the server number shown ? It's mainly internal, so we could have just citybuilder server 1 2 3, cash server 1 2 3 4, or even other names like server gloubiboulda etc ?

Can i ask whats the big difference of the current GS servers compared to the 3h ones?

Why couldnt the GS become like the 3h ones without a timer? Not possible?

You surely make it sound like GS is very bad for servers, but still not doable to implement the 3h server system on GS without having a time? Or a timer that is very long? Restart ability?

Asking for some knowledge/enlightenment xD

Ok, so I did something ^^ It's not exactly as we discussed here, but a good first step I guess, so we'll see how it goes.

In short, moved quest servers to #10 and #11, goal ones to #1 and #2, new multigoal cb to #3, #4. Also shut down GS CB servers as that mode is replaced by new CB.

Also, turns out, I forgot to answer Saber here (replied in irc, but mb someone else is interested). I don't think GS as a good platform for game modification. It's very limited in ways it can influence gameplay and its game awareness, also has some technical issues. Many of our unique features are not possible to do with just GS. For example, you can't prevent other company from destroying buildings in your town with GS, only can ban them afterwards. And at the pace OpenTTD development is currently going I don't see any of it changing in this century :p

Also I have no intention of learning Squirrel (GS language), I'd rather spend time on something useful. Like new CB I made in last few months (much C++ such wow).

Where did the 30K CB server 2010 startyear go.... i loved doing that one.... and can i have the password of the test sever? its also a CB..., right?

ciasniper wrote:

Where did the 30K CB server 2010 startyear go.... i loved doing that one.... and can i have the password of the test sever? its also a CB..., right?

30k was replaced by new CB servers #3, #4. They all have 3 goals: 5k, 10k and 30k and server doesn't restart or anything when goal is reached, so you can complete them one by one with single company (and town).

Password for test server is "test" but it runs same new CB by default. However if you really want you can probably use !restart command to select old 30k GS CB. Not sure why would you though.