Newcomer / Intro Different Servers and Instances?

I was under the impression when I got this game it was all one server. I press START and then OPEN PLAY, I don't see a server list or different "instances". How does this all work and why in the world would we need multiple servers and instances with such a large galaxy? What is the difference between servers and instances? I mean, I know the difference in computer terms, but how do they play into ED? How can I make sure that myself and a friend are playing the same instance on the same server? How can I pick a different one? Seems weird to me to have such a huge game that can accommodate seemingly unlimited population and need to have multiple servers..
 
It does it all automatically. Basically don't worry about it, there's nothing you can do manually to affect it.

The servers are supposed to try to put you in the same instance as friends if they can, that's worked with varying degrees of success through beta and gamma. Right now it's not working terribly well, so playng with friends is a bit tricky, but this is something I expect FD will be working on as a priority now. Certainly that's what a lot of folk on the forums are saying should be a priority, and FD are smart enough to know that.
 
ED effectively puts you in an island (which is like an instance) or if you like a bubble around your ship.
There is a max of 32 real people in any island at one time, so the same area of busy space will have multiple islands.

When you come into a system (playing in Open or Group) the server should be matching you to players in that island (not sure if the island is system wide or smaller) based on things like ping etc. If playing in Group mode it should be more likely to put you in the same island (though it's maybe not fully working).

However the actions in an island affect the whole server, for instance trading is server wide and not just within the instance.
 
I guess it's all over my head but if my instance affects yours, why not just have us all together? Wouldn't it take the same amount of resources to have one server versus having to have multiple servers running multiple instances?

So Say I spawn into my last saved location, which currently is Kremainn, and My friend spawns into a different system, how an we tell which server and instance we are in to meet up?
 
Having multiple instances divides the load of information and processing that has to be done at the same time. Instead of 1 thing trying to process 3000 people actions you have 100 processing 30 at the same time. The matchmaking software should recognise when you and your friend arrive in the same area and if there is space put the last to arrive in the same instance as the person who is there. It's automatic and not something you can influence so you don't need to know which one you or your friend are in.
This is all a much simpler description than how it actually works (and I'm sure some more techy people could explain /confuse us more) but it's the best plain english understanding I have of it.
 
I guess it's all over my head but if my instance affects yours, why not just have us all together? Wouldn't it take the same amount of resources to have one server versus having to have multiple servers running multiple instances?

So Say I spawn into my last saved location, which currently is Kremainn, and My friend spawns into a different system, how an we tell which server and instance we are in to meet up?

its p2p technology. the server only keeps track of the match making and background simulation.
while our islands use p2p to create direct connections between our computers whit no server between.
easy explained our islands works like a LAN party.

this puts minimum load on the main server and is how we can get away whit having 4 billion stars and no monthly subscription fees witch probably would be required to maintain the giant futuristic super computer we would otherwise need if this was a traditional server runned mmo
 
Having multiple instances divides the load of information and processing that has to be done at the same time. Instead of 1 thing trying to process 3000 people actions you have 100 processing 30 at the same time. The matchmaking software should recognise when you and your friend arrive in the same area and if there is space put the last to arrive in the same instance as the person who is there. It's automatic and not something you can influence so you don't need to know which one you or your friend are in.
This is all a much simpler description than how it actually works (and I'm sure some more techy people could explain /confuse us more) but it's the best plain english understanding I have of it.

I get what you're saying. Just disappointing to know I can never see more than 32 other players at once, coming from eve I'm used to being in one fleet with 256 people in it in a fight that has 1000+ people in it. Although that is obviously unrealistic for a game like this (it would be way too insane dog fighting in that type of fight) only hoping to ever see 30-ish people around me is kind of disappointing. I docked at pad 42 (FORTY TWO?!?!?!?!?) last night. Wonder why they would need more than 32 pads if you can't have more than 32 people near each other at once.
 
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I get what you're saying. Just disappointing to know I can never see more than 32 other players at once, coming from eve I'm used to being in one fleet with 256 people in it in a fight that has 1000+ people in it. Although that is obviously unrealistic for a game like this (it would be way too insane dog fighting in that type of fight) only hoping to ever see 30-ish people around me is kind of disappointing. I docked at pad 42 (FORTY TWO?!?!?!?!?) last night. Wonder why they would need more than 32 pads if you can't have more than 32 people near each other at once.

i think it will be expanded to 64 in the near future, and maybe more later on, but tbh (and im from eve to so get what your saying) im pretty happy whit 32.
having a fight whit more than 10 players i feel is already very intense and i am not sure i would handle one whit 32 players. (and neither would my graphics card i think)

oh and about the docking pads, the stations needs some space for npc's to.
 
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