Multiplayer

Updated to game version 0.027 as released 24 April 2014

Overview

• Multiplayer is currently included in Space Engineers. Players may host private, friends only or public servers.

• The browser function allows players to browse available servers. This list supports Steam match making.

• Players are currently able to influence anything in the game. Player 1 may create a ship, while there is nothing stopping player 2 from destroying it through any means. Therefore consider any server, public servers in particular open to griefing.

• Players are given as much freedom as possible when it comes to hosting their own worlds. When setting up the server, the owner may set who can join the server (Private/Friends/Public), limit the number of players, asteroids etc. He can also change the safety settings to turn meteors off.

• Due to worlds currently being ‘hosted’ by the owner of the save they are only available when the host is in (running) that saved world. I.E. if the host shuts down or changes worlds all other players are kicked out. This problem will be bypassed with the advent of dedicated servers.

• Worlds are persistent and can be loaded from save files at the server administrator’s discretion.^[1]

• LAN support is also being planned for future updates^[2]. This will allow players to bypass the Steam-based match-making system.

Dedicated Servers

As of Update 01.032 Dedicated servers are available for Space Engineers.

Please see Servers for a list of player-run dedicated servers.

Sim Speed

Dedicated Servers are also affected by the players on them. Pressing Alt + F11 will open the statistics window in the upper right part of your screen. From there you can see your location Sim (or Simulation) speed and the Sim speed of the Server you are playing on. A large number of players or players building very complex objects on a server can cause its Sim speed to drop below 1.0. When this happens the time it takes for things to happen in the server increases. An example of this would be the time it takes to charge a Jump Drive. Usually, it takes 7 minutes to charge to full. But if the SIM speed is at .80 then it will take longer for it to charge. The formula to find out the actual time is as follows:

Expected time = Y 1.0 – SIM = X ( Y x X ) + Y = Sim Modified Time

So in our Example Above of a Sim Speed of .80 and a jump drive charge time of 7 minutes. We can use the above equation as follows: 1.0 – .80 = .2 (7 x .2) + 7 = 8.4 Instead of the expected 7 minutes to charge it will take 8 minutes and 24 seconds. This is VERY important to know if you play on a PVP server and jump times are critical to your survival.

The above also affect things such as Refineries, Assemblers, O2/H2 Generators, and in general production blocks.

This drop-in SIM can also create rubberbanding effects on players. Sometimes even the death of a player can be attributed to sudden changes in sim speed. This phenomenon has been named Accelerated Momentum into Obstacle or AMO for short. Used in chat it can be said as “I just got Amo’ed” or “I keep Amo’ing”. When this happens it is best to not run around too fast and wait for the sim speed to improve or stabilize.

Gamemodes

Different supported gamemodes for multiplayer

• Creative multiplayer
• Survival multiplayer