Subcultures

Subcultures

Note, all of this is new for upcoming 0.2.8.3 clients and current SVN versions.

What are they?

Subcultures are communities of servers that want to stick together and stay separate from the regular servers listed on the master servers. Some servers can only be reached via subcultures or direct connection, others may be in subcultures and on the main list. Some servers may even be in several subcultures. Possible examples for subcultures are

• Competition servers for clan wars or tournaments. You don't want them listed on the master servers to keep non-participating players from pouring in without realizing they are entering an important game. (As of this writing, this is the only really existing subculture, with just one server. Hey, it's a start :) )
• Servers for expert players. Sick of n00bs messing up your fortress startup? Play on subculture servers.
• Incam only servers.
• Servers with moronically high rubber. WE DON'T WANT THEM ON THE MAIN MASTERS. :)
• Servers for players that don't trust the official master server system.

How do I connect to one as a player?

Enter the menu Game -> Network Game -> Subcultures. There may already be default official subcultures defined (which kind of defeats the purpose), for them, just move the cursor over them and hit Enter. You'll enter a master server browser menu with servers just from that subculture.

If your desired subculture is not listed, hit the Edit item. You'll get a chance to edit your subcultures. The menu works exactly like the server bookmarks menu. You'll have to find out the address and port of the master server managing your subculture and enter them in one of the bookmarks and pick a name for the subculture.

How do I add my server to a subculture?

You'll need to edit the configuration file masters.cfg for that purpose. Again, you need to find out the address and port of your subculture's master server, then add the lines

ServerBegin
connection  <address>
port        <port>
name        <subculture name>
ServerEnd

To be listed on several subcultures, just add several of these blocks.

If you want your server to be removed from the main master server list, you need to delete the entries for the master servers that were there before you started editing, and switch your server to listen on another port. (the last step is important, the master servers will keep your server listed as long as they notice it is still running.) You should probably note the connection info of your server somewhere to the prospective players that are not using a version with subculture support yet.

List

Currently active subcultures are:

Competition

Servers reserved for competitions. Address: master1.armagetronad.net, port: 4532