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Servers and Networks
- A server is where you sign in and find matches. Matches themselves run between the players' games; the server introduces you, and relays a match when a router can't be reached.
- A network is a group of servers that share friends, names and a server list, through a coordinator. You can type a network's address wherever you'd type a server's: the launcher then pings every server in it and puts you on the best one.
- Matches stay on one server. Two friends on different servers of a network see each other, but play together only on the same server.
Free public servers anyone can play on. It's the launcher's default: you don't need to type anything.
| Network address | scbl.jdevwebb.net |
| Europe |
eu1.scbl.jdevwebb.net: Falkenstein, Germany |
| North America |
na1.scbl.jdevwebb.net: Beauharnois, Canada |
| Oceania |
oceania.scbl.jdevwebb.net: Sydney, Australia |
| Friend lists | Friends only |
The servers are run by the project's maintainers. They're a free service with no guarantee: they can be down, reset or shut down at any time. The community servers list also lists public servers run by others.
Click the server card on the Play screen. The menu lists the network's servers, best first: the lowest ping, and among servers within 15 ms of it, the busiest. Pick one and you're moved there at once, with the same name and friends; if you've never played there, an account is made for you.
Quit the game before switching.
The one with the lowest ping, unless your friends are on another: you need to be on the same server to play together. A friend's server shows in the launcher's Friends card with Join.
On the Servers screen:
-
Use another network: type a group's network address (e.g.
play.mygroup.org) and press Look it up. Its servers then fill the server menu. A network address must work over HTTPS. Back to the community network switches back. - A server of your own: type a server's name or IP address and press Connect. Your friends and stats on the network stay there, and the server menu takes you back. Recent remembers your last five.
- On your network: Find on my network looks for a server on your local network, e.g. at a LAN party.
A server's name can be at most 27 characters (the game's own limit). For a longer one, use its IP address.
On a server outside the community network, the server card's caption says who runs it: Self-hosted for a server on no network (run by whoever hosts it: fine for your own or a friend's server), or the other network's name (run by its admins).
If the network's coordinator can't be reached, the launcher uses the last server list it saw, and knows the community's three servers, so you can still find and join one. Matches and sign-ins on each server carry on as normal; friends on other servers, the server list and new name reservations wait until it's back.
A network can also keep a standby coordinator on each of its servers: when the coordinator's machine is down for a few minutes, the next server in line takes over, under the same address, so launchers and servers don't notice the move.
Servers in a network update themselves when a new release comes out: one server first, then the rest. While that happens, a notice under the launch bar says when your server updates and is back, in your own time zone; you can keep playing until then. While it restarts, the launcher offers a server that's already on the new release.
If you see the overlay's Lost the 5th Echelon server banner during a match, it's usually a server restarting: it reconnects by itself.
Admins book maintenance ahead of time, for one server or the whole network. The launcher says when, for how long and why, in your own time, from the day it happens (or 12 hours before); from 30 minutes before, it offers the nearest server that stays up, and while yours is down, Play waits. The game warns you 10 minutes before. While the whole network is down for maintenance, friends on other servers, the server list and new names pause, and your games carry on. See The Launcher › Maintenance.
See Hosting a Server for one server, and Running a Network for several sharing friends. The community network itself takes no outside servers: run your own network instead, with your own coordinator.