SCUM Easy AdminHow many enemies an encounter brings
Three values applied three times over: to regular encounters, to horde groups and to hordes.
What does this setting do?
The number of enemies in an encounter does not come from one figure but from three values working together – and they exist three times over, once for each kind of encounter.
The base amount is the starting point: that many enemies appear when a single player triggers the encounter. The extra per player is added for each further one, so a group does not find the same handful of enemies a lone player would. The cap on the extra says at what player count nothing more is added – it is the brake preventing twenty players in one place from producing an unmanageable crowd.
That third number is the one most often overlooked, and the most important for server performance. It is the only value that sets a hard ceiling. Raise the extra per player without checking the cap and you get trouble exactly where the most is already going on.
The three encounter types differ in weight. Regular encounters are the everyday case and decide how populated the map feels. Horde groups are the reservoir a horde draws from. The horde itself is the outbreak – here every increase bites hardest, because all the enemies are moving at once.
A practical order of work: set the base amount first, until the map feels right when you are out alone. Then choose the extra per player so groups meet a little more resistance. And only at the end set the cap, at the point where your server still runs smoothly.
All values at a glance
| Encounter type | Base amount | Extra per player | Cap on the extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horde | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Horde group | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Regular encounter | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Which value suits my server?
Base amount 0.75 to 1.0, extra 1.0, keep the cap low. Solo players should get through.
Defaults. They are tuned for mixed group sizes.
Base amount 1.5, extra 1.5, raise the cap only if the tick rate allows.
What to watch out for
It is the only value that hard-limits enemy numbers. If you raise it, watch the tick rate in busy places.
The same increase bites considerably harder on hordes than on regular encounters, because there every enemy is on the move at once.
The extra depends on the players relevant to the encounter – not on the server population. A full server with players spread out produces no larger encounters.