Did we hit a ceiling for # of players in a server?

[WelshZeCorgi]

So... I'm no magic light box wizard, so forgive me if I get something wrong or make the wrong assumptions.

 

Have we hit a limit to the # of players in a server before it starts running like a snail?

I guess sort of not, cause that "knockout" game can get like, 100 people in a server? But I guess that's mainly because of the low overhead required to run the game. 

 

I guess what I'm getting at is, is DCS forever stuck with 32-64 player sized servers or as the tech develops, will we see 100+ player servers sometime in the (hopefully near) future?

[Mars Exulte]

It's not just a matter of ''development''.

 

The quality of the server and distance from players is the main determinate. The difference between a rented dual core server with 8gb of ram on the opposite side of the world and a high spec dedicated rig less than 1000 miles away can't be overstated. A lot of folks cheap on the server or connect to one far away then unsurprisingly have issues.

 

The next main thing is mission complexity and script intensity (as well as how efficient those scripts are written, is it pinging every .001 seconds or every 5 seconds, for example). The more complex the mission, the less people you'll be able to have while maintaining good performance, that's just a matter of course.

 

There will always be a soft cap on the maximum number of feasible players in any game, more so one like DCS. As global internet infrastructure and overall PC power improves, that will have more effect than anything else.