Tir Anferth · server tuning · 3 Oct 2026

Where would Hard Mode put us among 46 Wurm Unlimited servers?

Public server adverts and settings pages, reduced to the eight numbers that define the grind. Rows are sorted by skill-gain multiplier. Two rows are ours: what Tir Anferth runs today and the decided Hard Mode (D-012): skill 0.2×, action speed 1.2×, characteristics 5, no starter tools, CR 1.0. Cell colour is magnitude on a log scale; hover any cell for the source.

Skill 0.2 ×

Joint slowest of 46

Ties Wilderness of Rin (0.2×), the only sub‑0.5× server that has lasted. WO is 1×; live Tir Anferth is 10×. A 50× cut.

Action 1.2 ×

In the survivor band

Actions 20 % quicker than Wurm Online. Every low‑rate server that kept players pairs slow gain with 1.5–2× actions; 1.2 sits just under that band.

Attributes at 5

Playable, punishing

≈35 kg carry (one log is 24 kg), no riding until body control 21, one or two queued actions, no cart until mind logic ~20. At 0.2× those gains take months.

Precedent

Rin is the comparable

0.2/1.5, no starting items, random spawn, running since 2021 on a handful of players. Your v2 is harder on every axis than the hardest server that survived.

Heatmap · 46 servers × 8 settings

active servers only sort by ◆ = Tir Anferth rows

Multipliers (log) 0.2× → 150× Start values 1 → 30 active unknown closed — = not published

Skill gain vs action speed · log–log · dot size = population signal

Decided settings against the field

Setting	Live now	Decided	Field says
Skill gain	10	0.2 = Rin	median 3; survivors 0.2–0.5 only with faster actions
Action speed	10	1.2 ok	low‑rate survivors run 1.5–2; 1.2 is close
Characteristics	20	5 unique	min 19 anywhere; ≈35 kg carry at 5
Body control	25	5	riding 21; servers often raise to 21
Mind logic	25	5	queue ≈ ML/10; carts need ~20
Fighting	10	1	1 on every vanilla‑style server fine
All other skills	1	1	1 almost everywhere fine
Starter tools	default kit	none	Rin, Subsistence do this mod
Combat rating mod	3.0	1.0	1.0 = PvP default; Terra Nullius, Bora Bora fine

Decided 3 Oct 15:15. Two knobs sit outside anything the field has tried: attributes at 5 and 0.2× gain stacked together. The first week is: carry one log, walk everywhere, queue one or two actions, 1/50th of the current gain — with actions 20 % quicker to keep hands busy. Rin (0.2/1.5, no kit) is the closest precedent and has lasted four years. The Herald mission chain, the arrival text and Albion's furnished public buildings ship in the same stop to make the first hour legible.

What the field says

Action speed caps out. The engine divides the base time by the multiplier and then adds ~3 s, so anything above ~5× is nearly identical in play. Our live 10× is already at the ceiling; 150× (Nirvana) is the same experience.
Low rate, faster hands. Almost every low‑rate server that kept players pairs sub‑1× or 1× skill with 1.5–3× action (Ardmagh 1/2, Alyria 1/2, Hells Gate 1/3, Subsistence 0.5/1.5). Strict 1×/1× servers persist for years on 0–1 concurrent players.
Nobody lowers attributes. The hard‑mode servers keep characteristics at 19.5–20 and often lift body control to 21 (the riding threshold). "Hard" is delivered through skills at 1, no starter kit, paid deeds + upkeep, denser and angrier mobs (50–85 % aggressive), and 11–23 h crop ticks. Attributes at 5 is new ground; Lane 1 (T1‑11) is pulling the exact carry / riding / queue formulas from the engine so the numbers above are checked, not estimated.
1.2× action speed trims every timer by about 17 %; the engine's fixed ~3 s tail is unaffected, so short actions feel the same and long ones (mining, felling, digging) get a little quicker. Combined with 0.2× gain, time‑to‑skill‑20 is roughly 4× Wurm Online's.
One low‑rate server reversed course. Ghosts of Yakushima launched at 0.5/2 in Feb 2025 and raised to 5/5 by Dec 2025. Skill curves (5×→2×, 4×→1.5×) are the common hedge: fast early, slow late.
Existing characters keep their 10× skills. Changing the multiplier does not touch stored skills; anything already levelled on Tir Anferth would be out of step with new players. A wipe of non‑admin characters at the same stop is the honest option.
Where the knobs live. wurmlogin.db → SERVERS: SKILLGAINRATE, ACTIONTIMER, SKILLBASICSTART, SKILLBODYCONTROLSTART, SKILLMINDLOGICSTART, SKILLFIGHTINGSTART, SKILLOVERALLSTART, CRMOD.