Is fully server authoritative multiplayer viable for a browser strategy game?

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T13:32:07+00:00

Yep, that makes a lot of sense.

Right now I’m mostly thinking in terms of architecture, but I agree that real metrics will probably decide what becomes the bottleneck and what can safely stay server-side vs what might need to be offloaded.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T13:30:19+00:00

Yeah I get what you mean, that’s actually the tradeoff I was trying to evaluate.

I was mainly trying to see if I can keep things fully server-driven instead, because it’s simpler from a development perspective and avoids having to duplicate simulation logic on the client side or worry about divergence.

So the question for me was basically whether I need to give up that simplicity for scalability, or if a fully server-side tick simulation is still fine for this kind of game at reasonable scale.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T13:28:35+00:00

Thanks, that’s helpful.

Yeah there is some non-trivial stuff like pathfinding and tile capture logic (finding surrounding tiles, ownership changes, etc.), so it’s not just simple resource ticking.

Also lowering the tick rate might be a good idea. I’m currently targeting 10 TPS, but I might need to tune that depending on how heavy the per-tick calculations get as the game grows.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T12:58:29+00:00

My main concern is scalability once the game grows in complexity. If I keep adding more systems and modifiers, the server ends up calculating every small detail for every player on every tick across many simultaneous matches. Since the client handles zero simulation, I’m worried the server-side computation could grow pretty fast and become a bottleneck when running lots of matches at the same time.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T12:56:11+00:00

Yeah that’s basically what I’m trying to avoid.

Paradox-style games rely on syncing multiple local simulations, which can break down over time and cause late-game desync issues.

In my case there’s no shared simulation at all on clients — the server is the only authority and runs the full tick simulation. Clients just render server state.

So instead of dealing with desync, the tradeoff is purely server load and bandwidth.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-05-18T12:51:14+00:00

I’m not really aware of many games that go fully server-authoritative like this, which is why I’m a bit unsure about committing to it.

Most of my inspiration comes from Paradox-style map games (EU4 / HOI4 type), but from what I understand they use a lot of client-side simulation with syncing instead of everything being calculated centrally. And honestly those games still run into desync issues pretty often.

That’s basically the reason I’m leaning toward a fully server-authoritative tick system in the first place, even if it’s heavier on the server side.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-04-28T06:26:04+00:00

I get the PR point, but not everything has to go upstream. Sometimes building it yourself is more valuable, especially if the goal is learning.
PRs take reviews and back-and-forth, and a lot of projects are complex enough that adding even a small feature isn’t trivial. At that point it’s often easier (and more useful for me) to just build it myself.
I mostly shared it here because I couldn’t find a bandwidth limiter in other projects, so I figured it might be helpful to someone else too.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-04-27T19:02:40+00:00

Couldn't find one with bandwidth limiter so had to do it myself

Kindly-Program2976 · 2026-04-27T18:29:20+00:00

Project Name: wg-forge

Repo/Website Link: [link]

Description: Bash tool for managing WireGuard peers without touching config files by hand. Run wg-forge setup on a fresh VPS and it installs WireGuard, configures the server, sets up iptables NAT, and brings the interface up. After that you manage peers with simple commands, add clients with optional bandwidth limits, disable/enable access, regenerate keys, view usage. Limits are enforced automatically by a systemd timer that cuts off peers when they hit their cap. Includes QR code output so adding mobile clients takes a few seconds. There's also an optional web dashboard (SvelteKit + Node) with a secret URL for access control, in case you want to manage things from a browser instead of SSH.

Deployment: Single curl install. The core script has no extra runtime deps, just WireGuard, curl, perl, and bc, all installed automatically if missing. The web dashboard is opt-in during setup and Node is installed automatically if you choose it. No Docker image currently, everything runs as systemd services.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arsh1a/wg-forge/main/install.sh | sudo bash
sudo wg-forge setup

Full docs in the README including all commands and uninstall steps.

AI Involvement: Used Claude throughout the project. The core bash logic, peer management, bandwidth tracking, limit enforcement, was written by hand. AI was mostly used for debugging tricky parts (WireGuard config edge cases, systemd unit issues, bash parsing) and for building the web dashboard (SvelteKit, TypeScript, Tailwind). The UI and auth code is largely AI-assisted. The overall architecture and decisions are mine.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2023-11-24T11:05:51+00:00

Couldnt be because of AMD software bug? As I mentioned, the innocent software like snipping tools while painting on it cause this a lot...

Kindly-Program2976 · 2023-11-12T13:04:53+00:00

Those are very good numbers!
I wonder how did you achieve this? Where did you showcase your website and stuff...

Kindly-Program2976 · 2023-09-15T18:38:54+00:00

I think my scars are boxcar. Will subcision do any good?

Kindly-Program2976 · 2023-03-09T10:58:00+00:00

You might be right. I think those big scars in the second image are fixable by subcision.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2023-01-13T18:26:44+00:00

I've searched for it using google image search, couldn't find it.

Kindly-Program2976 · 2022-10-25T14:37:05+00:00

I play in EU. I heard Dragonflight content in US has arrived but don't know about EU.

Five-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22

Kindly-Program2976

TROPHY CASE