Inter-server jump network
Okay, preface: I'm no software/game developer, but I know this suggestion is fairly out-there, so do understand I have no unrealistic expectations of this being added any time in the immediate future. However, I want to put this out here for consideration nonetheless. Now, on to the suggestion itself.
Some time ago, there was a mod on the workshop called "Server-Link". All it did was allow ships to be moved back and forth between two servers with the same mod list. Impressive, though limited. Now, while the mod has since vanished, it did give me an idea. Since that mod proved the networking software to move ships between servers was completely possible, I found myself thinking - "What if this could be done on a larger scale?" This concept is the end result of that brainstorm. Individual Space Engineers servers are limited to 30 players at once, and for good reason. This does restrict the size of the universe one can play in, and the scale of player organizations, conflicts, and so on that can form. However, with the Server-Link mod providing its signature server-bridging netcode, what if servers could house some kind of large structures - call them "Jumpgates" or whatever. These structures, presumably made using specific functional blocks requiring power, would basically allow players to travel to other servers with Jumpgates, with their ships, inventory, Space Credit balance and all. Naturally, Gates would only allow jumps between servers with compatible mod lists. Furthermore, I imagine Gates being able to whitelist or blacklist servers, or require a password to jump to, to regulate travel. This could possibly be expanded by allowing players to bring their factions onto other servers, with a shared reputation and so on across all servers said faction has a presence on. I envision the interface for a Jumpgate as being a sort of star map, where every "solar system" is a server. Ultimately, the idea would be to expand the scale of the Space Engineers universe while simultaneously sidestepping the limitations of individual servers, and thus allow much larger scales of player organizations, conflicts, community interaction, and emergent play in general, without most of the hassle of typical MMO-type games. In essence, every server linked to the public would become a shard within a massive multiplayer universe.
Once again, I don't expect this to be added any time soon even if it is feasible, but I think it was worth sharing this idea. The technology is definitely there on some level, though doubtless it would need significant expansion to make anything resembling this possible. I hope this attracts some consideration at the least. In the meanwhile, thank you so much for your excellent game and continued development thereof, Keen. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for the future.
Attached file is a loose concept of how I imagined the "star map" Jumpgate server-select UI could look.
I like this feedback 
Id imagine this would be possible for going from one private/offline world to another one.
Id imagine this would be possible for going from one private/offline world to another one.
I agree, and ironically another VERY SIMILAR game already does this exact thing, with it's own multi-server voxel host
Empyrion: Galactic survival
it hosts each planet+orbit as a separate "playfield", and functions by simply attaching the datafiles for each ship by random ID to a new playfield
it lacks some aspects that make space engineers great, like pistons and hinges and rotors and conveyors and programmable blocks, but it was only a few years ago it even hit release, I played it back in pre-alpha, before we had the suit constructor+survival constructor to recover from death and destruction of all our stuff
I suspect with the very similar nature of both games, and the nature of how Klang is when you reach a server PCU limit, you could mitigate the issues by using an orbital transfer
once you get past 0g by around another ~25% distance(like each planet has a small orbit band of asteroids or something) you then reach the edge of the orbit, the ship then sends a warning, "you must set a destination to jump to and have a jump drive ready to activate to travel further", and if it isn't a warp-capable ship, it simply has you wrap back to the other side of the map
then you simply select a second "server" world the server owner set up(with the ability to whitelist a secondary server if you need to wipe the starter one rather than just individual world saves)
granted sometimes Klang will simply drop the ship on fail-to-load instances, but that can be coded to have ships with invalid destinations be teleported to a "ship graveyard", where they are left to be salvaged by anyone after a grace period the admin can set
and as connectors actually seem to link things permanently, that can simply have each ship linked to a parent ID with a sub-id for which connector is linked on each ship
load in the parent ship, then check if it has a "connected" flag on any ports, and then load teh linked ID+Sub-ID of the file containing your ship
this also allows easy anti-Klang recovery, all you have to do is backup the ship file regularly, and then you can replace the file
though it would be bad for docked ships that have colliding parts, so maybe have a "last edited" datapoint that makes it so docking checks are aborted if the edit values do not match the expected date+time, instead spawning it a few km away
I agree, and ironically another VERY SIMILAR game already does this exact thing, with it's own multi-server voxel host
Empyrion: Galactic survival
it hosts each planet+orbit as a separate "playfield", and functions by simply attaching the datafiles for each ship by random ID to a new playfield
it lacks some aspects that make space engineers great, like pistons and hinges and rotors and conveyors and programmable blocks, but it was only a few years ago it even hit release, I played it back in pre-alpha, before we had the suit constructor+survival constructor to recover from death and destruction of all our stuff
I suspect with the very similar nature of both games, and the nature of how Klang is when you reach a server PCU limit, you could mitigate the issues by using an orbital transfer
once you get past 0g by around another ~25% distance(like each planet has a small orbit band of asteroids or something) you then reach the edge of the orbit, the ship then sends a warning, "you must set a destination to jump to and have a jump drive ready to activate to travel further", and if it isn't a warp-capable ship, it simply has you wrap back to the other side of the map
then you simply select a second "server" world the server owner set up(with the ability to whitelist a secondary server if you need to wipe the starter one rather than just individual world saves)
granted sometimes Klang will simply drop the ship on fail-to-load instances, but that can be coded to have ships with invalid destinations be teleported to a "ship graveyard", where they are left to be salvaged by anyone after a grace period the admin can set
and as connectors actually seem to link things permanently, that can simply have each ship linked to a parent ID with a sub-id for which connector is linked on each ship
load in the parent ship, then check if it has a "connected" flag on any ports, and then load teh linked ID+Sub-ID of the file containing your ship
this also allows easy anti-Klang recovery, all you have to do is backup the ship file regularly, and then you can replace the file
though it would be bad for docked ships that have colliding parts, so maybe have a "last edited" datapoint that makes it so docking checks are aborted if the edit values do not match the expected date+time, instead spawning it a few km away
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