5punk

I've been considering the pros and cons of a 5punky BEEF 3 server, and was wondering what you bummers thought. We don't need a server, we've done fine with BFBC2 on other peoples' and have found a few good ones, and our own server is only viable if we can get enough people on it to draw enough randoms to fill it. But it's the best way to attract new people, and it attracts new people that would come here because they're like us. With the correct use of the server of course, but reasonable, good humoured admins aren't that easy to find - even the Enemy Boat Spotted guys, who are very much like us, make a list of demands before they'll let you into their community.

So is anyone interested? Does anyone have any opinions, good or bad? I've priced up a few as a starter for 10:

Multiplay: £1/slot/month, min 12 months, also includes free servers for all other BF games.
i3D: Approx. £1/slot/month (priced in euros), min 1 month, also includes free 10 slot TS server.
Killer Creation: 96p/slot/month, min 1 month, includes free 10 slot TS server.
Game Servers: 84p/slot/month, min 1 month

Damn good idea - I'm more than willing to chip in.

I'll probably chip in some if you guys get a good plan together. I already donated $15 for Shacknews community run server, so I'd definitely chip in if I can secure a spot to play with you guys.

Would be great to have our own and I'd donate but surely there's a big but. I'm sure we all want to play 64 player maps. That's £64 a month. Can we really cover that?

Just to clarify, let's say there was 10 of us splitting the cost at £6/month I'd personally be fine with that.

Well, we've run servers before, and we don't normally have an issue covering costs. I'd happily chip in a fiver or so.

£64 a month isn't too bad *but* we need to really wait until it comes out first before we decide on that. I know DICE are claiming PC first, but I don't want to find like BC2 where 32 player servers are too chaotic because the maps were designed for 24 players only. That's a console cross development problem, but it might not be an issue if they copy BF2's expanding zones.

I'd be more than happy to do my bid. I say go for it as I miss having our own server.

Well we don't necessarily need a 64 player server, they're pretty expensive. But we could scale it by the amount of interest - maybe 32 or 48 for six months to keep it affordable.

I'm happy to donate. Assuming it's a good game of course, which I'm sure it will be.

I'd be surprised if a 32-player server doesn't serve us well enough. Sure, most of us are going to get it, but I can't imagine we'd fill 32 slots on our own

buzzmong wrote:I can't imagine we'd fill 32 slots on our own

Speak for yourself

Well obviously we want more than just 5punkers playing on it, but yes there's no point paying for slots that aren't used.

What we don't know is how well the game will play with only say 32. If people are always yearning to go off to a 64 player server then it begs the question of having one.

I may be way off the mark as I'm not familiar with the way you all usually work but it's just some thoughts.

I seem to remember what we did before was 32 slot servers for 3-6 months to get a decent discount.

64 slot ones were twice as pricey, and less fun to play as they were a little laggy.

I've played one map in the alpha, looks like the beta may be the same.

So I say get b3ef and work out a few map rotations on someone else's dollar first. Then get a server and plug in the crowd pleaser's, mixture of little/big/objective type/vehicles etc etc etc. That way we'll have a server that's more likely to get custom and get us good games.

I'll happily throw a few quid at a server. I think the cheap one, we've got TS and we're unlikely to play the other beefs.

I can't seem to muster any enthusiam for BF3 - not the game itself's fault, my interest in team-based shooters has just declined steadily since MW1. This sort of coincides with when we stopped hosting our own games and this massively expensive subscription model began.

Joose wrote:

buzzmong wrote:I can't imagine we'd fill 32 slots on our own

Speak for yourself

Joose alone has 6 cocks, how do you think he got his name?!

I'll drop some pennies to support this and I imagine a 32 slot server should be fine.

Bah! You city folk, not even knowing how many teats a cow has!

I'm really looking forward to this, and would be able to give a couple of quid every month towards a server

Righty then, a 32 slot server for 6 months with GameServers costs £147.70. Registered interest are:

Me - Confirmed
Roman - Confirmed
Deject - Confirmed
WereRabbit - Confirmed
Buzz - Confirmed
Mr J - Confirmed
Spoodie - Confirmed
Pete - Confirmed
Tezz
Ty - Confirmed
Pnut - Confirmed
KV - Confirmed
Anery - Confirmed

A convenient 10 people. Assuming it's an even split that's £14.77 each. I'm happy to front up a bit more if a few people can't stretch to that, or we could drop to a 30 player server (£138.36 or £13.84 each). Or we could drop to 3 months for £77.50 and £7.75 each, and decide whether we want to renew it when it expires. Obviously donators will be server admins and get a reserved slot.

£15 for 6 months? Rather cheap.

Logistics - put it all into a pot (one person nominated to deal with the payments), or send separate payments? I assume only the former is possible, so any volunteers?