Map size is 20x20km
- 15% = 3km = 17x17km
- 20% = 4km = 16x16km
3 - 4 km from all sides would amount to 12 - 16 km reduction in total, which would be a 60 - 80% reduction. Which is not what I'm talking about. That is MO1 Myrland scale, which is too small for this, yes.
But 20% would be fine, and now that I'm thinking about things even more, moving upwards of 25-30% would be fine. The amount of players that each node and the server cluster overall can handle, is not enough to support the map size, let alone the content not being enough either. There's barely enough content in the map to support 8x8km. The pipe dream of many 1000s of players on a 20x20km map, filling all corners, is well out of SV's capabilities. Shit, it's even out of the capabilities of most AAA studios.
With the server only being able to handle 1800 - 2000 people roughly, before things go mega poopy, that's an average of like 1 person every 211 meters. With current population levels of around 950 - 1100, that's like 1 person every 392 meters. But with how big the world is and lack of filler in the barren lands, most people sit in and around towns because it's too tedious to do anything else. Wait until a second continent is added, which will probably be the same size or bigger. That 1 person every 211 - 392 meters, will turn to 1 person every 400 - 800+ meters.