Configuring Laws
Laws are Eco’s main governance engine, and clear legal configuration is essential for balancing resource control, player autonomy, and long-term social stability.
Standard Laws
Most servers start with basic protection laws:
- No Logging without Replanting: Taxes wood harvesting to fund forestry projects.
- Pollution Limits: Restricts tailpipes near residential areas.
- Public Land Use: Sets rules for building on shared territory.
Managing Laws as Admin
Admins can bypass the voting process in emergencies using:
Law Config (Civics.eco)
Advanced users can tweak the civics configuration file to change voting durations and quorum requirements.
Legal Framework Architecture
Design your legal framework in layers: anti-grief protections, market safeguards, and environmental constraints. Layered policy is easier to evolve mid-season than monolithic rule sets that try to solve every scenario with one law package.
- Foundational laws: Start with property and public infrastructure protection.
- Economic laws: Add tax and trade rules only after baseline cooperation is stable.
- Change control: Timebox legal revisions and publish rationale to avoid policy fatigue.
Operational Checklist
Treat this topic as a repeatable server operation, not a one-time change. Schedule changes during lower traffic, announce maintenance windows, and keep a rollback snapshot before each update. If your server is modded, validate changes on a staging copy first so startup logs, world loading, and player joins are confirmed before production rollout.
Validation Steps
- Capture baseline metrics: Record CPU, RAM, and average player ping before changes.
- Apply one change at a time: Avoid batch edits that make root-cause analysis difficult.
- Review logs after restart: Check for version mismatch and dependency warnings immediately.
- Run a real join test: Confirm fresh clients can connect and complete core gameplay actions.
- Observe for at least 24 hours: Validate behavior under peak load, not only right after reboot.
Performance and Stability Notes
Most hosting incidents come from resource spikes combined with configuration drift. Keep restart cadence predictable, review world/save growth weekly, and cap optional systems that generate extreme entity counts. When performance drops, compare with your last known-good baseline and revert recent high-risk changes quickly to reduce downtime.
Backup and Rollback Policy
Use automated daily backups plus pre-change snapshots for risky operations. Keep at least one off-node copy and test restore procedures routinely. A practical retention strategy is 7 daily, 4 weekly, and 2 monthly restore points. If a change causes instability, roll back first, stabilize service, and then reattempt with a narrower test scope.
Game-Specific Hosting Notes
- Simulation tuning: Law, meteor, and economy settings should be tested together to avoid destabilizing progression.
- Admin policy transparency: Publish governance rules clearly so law changes do not feel arbitrary.
- World lifecycle: Plan season length and wipe criteria before launch to prevent mid-cycle conflict.