The Elite Dangerous Dream...lesson

[sutex]

Originally Posted by Tiamat
The decision to use p2p was almost certainly the only choice based on the cost of the alternative. If they followed the traditional model of zone servers like other MMOs they would need a LOT of them and due to the size of the universe most of those zone servers would be doing nothing as there are no players in the majority of systems so that model is out. The p2p method means FD can keep their running costs much lower which increases their longevity as a company and also looks much better to investors so it is the most sensible route in my opinion even if it still needs some fixes.

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Originally Posted by lefty1117
The network architecture for this game is its biggest flaw, no doubt a lot of the reason we're in this state is because it started as an offline game with some multiplayer capability, but then shifted focus while it was in development. P2P has put a cap on the game's potential, this game will never truly be an MMO with things the way they are.


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Ambitious is Elite Dangerous, in giving us 400 billion star universe to fly around in, and this is why I brought the game, to see the universe. The bonus was to do this with other players around, & there in lies the problem for me at least, the underlying tone of ED is one of conflict, this all traders explorers know , there is little to none of actual interaction with the space around you, and the inherent risk of been in space. All risk is primary human/npc based.
There are no communication bulletins , no sub space messages , no scanner saying strange object detected, beware dangerous radiation spike , super nova explosions ( rare but still happening) or space bug swam approaching. ED players only real concern in Space, is when jumping into a high gravity well star.

The above quotes are there too illustrate , that players are seeing ED as a player on player game with poor MMO capacity , having the universe do more may help players interaction with the space around them, and take the focus of player/npc conflict game, with the current network architecture , this will always be limited, and thus a source of complaint for many.

Fdev you have the Universe , let it live, what spacecraft & their Commanders should fear the most is the dreaded "space anomalies" use this, make Elite....dangerous , gives us the danger we crave , that's not human/Npc , let those elements become our saviors, to help our cripple craft , to save our lives & our cargo/ships in the depths of space.

 

[Surly_Badger]

The decision to use p2p was almost certainly the only choice based on the cost of the alternative. If they followed the traditional model of zone servers like other MMOs they would need a LOT of them and due to the size of the universe most of those zone servers would be doing nothing as there are no players in the majority of systems so that model is out.

That would actually be relatively straightforward using well-known load-spreading tricks that have been in use in distributed computing since the 70s. Assume N servers and an infinite number of zones. You take the zone-id and run it through a hash such as CRC-32 and then assign the processing to server # = CRC(zone-id) % N. It scales infinitely and is extremely reliable and fast. If you lose a server you have to reassign existing zones and change N. Or (more often the case) you just double-load one server. Whenever there's a server restart is when you add or subtract servers.

VAX clusters did this, and did it well (and even handled locking and concurrency, which is a bit complicated during cluster state transitions (cluster state transition is when N changes)

(Edit: I wasn't arguing against your excellent point. I just think it's silly that people are advancing such claims as if they are significant. Sigh, the people who consider themselves "programmers" nowadays....)