Battle Cry of Freedom Server Hosting

What Battle Cry of Freedom Is

Battle Cry of Freedom is a first and third-person multiplayer game set in the American Civil War, where you fight for the Union or the Confederacy. It came to Steam on 1 March 2022 from Flying Squirrel Entertainment, a small studio whose Steam page talks about up to 600 players fighting on the same battlefield in a destructible environment.

It is built around the way those battles were fought. Infantry stand in line and volley, sharpshooters pick targets, musicians relay orders, gunners work the artillery, cavalry charge the flanks, engineers build defences and pontoon bridges, and surgeons patch up the wounded. Melee is directional, inspired by Mount and Blade: Warband, and the bullet physics model velocity, twist rate, humidity, temperature, air density and wind.

• Arsenal: more than 120 weapons, 70 types of ammunition and more than 20 artillery pieces, according to the Steam page.
• Vehicles: armoured trains, steamboats and wooden launches since the 2.0 Update.
• Destruction: bridges, trees, walls and fences can be destroyed, and since 2.0 the terrain itself deforms.

Hosting a Game That Is No Longer Developed

On 20 February 2024 the studio announced it was discontinuing development for the foreseeable future. Its reasons were plain: players declined after launch, and again after the 2.0 Update, and operating costs exceeded income. It thanked the community, especially players in China, and promised to keep hosting its European and North American servers as long as the game has players.

For a server owner this is less alarming than it sounds. The game is still sold, still runs and still has organised communities. What changes is that nothing will break or improve in a future patch, so the configuration you settle on today will keep working. The flip side is that bugs you find now are yours to work around with settings and rules, not something to wait out.

Sizing a Server for Line Battles and Commander Battles

Two numbers matter: how many people turn up, and how many bots you add. Line battles are about players, and the Steam page mentions up to 600 of them. Commander Battles hand each player a company of AI soldiers, with up to 800 bots per server, so a night with 60 players can still put hundreds of soldiers on the field.

The order form goes all the way to 555 slots, one at a time, so you can match an unusual size exactly. Flying Squirrel publishes no memory figure for the server, so our tiers are a suggestion; if you run very large bot counts or heavy custom maps, choose a bigger tier at checkout or upgrade later from the client area.

Maps, Modes and Server Settings

Patch notes over the game's life name its main modes: Battle, Commander Battle, Conquest and free-for-all. Steam lists Workshop support and an included level editor, so communities can build their own battlefields, and the April 2023 patch added new maps to the official servers. Most regiments keep a short rotation they know well and save special maps for events.

Server settings shape the battle as much as the map. The April 2023 patch alone added a random chance of rogue bots spawning as zombies, a buck-shot setting separate from buck and ball, flag spawning for more modes, and a setting that shows distance on orders and capture points.

1. Back up the server from the panel.
2. Edit the config in the File Manager, or upload a prepared config set over SFTP.
3. Set the mode, maps and any event-specific options.
4. Restart and join as an admin to check spawns and orders.
5. Open the server to the regiment.

Admins, Officers and Keeping Order

Large battles need several admins, but not everyone needs every power. The config lets you hide admin commands from regular players and decide which admin level may spawn bots with admin keybinds. Give officers the level they need for an event, and keep the highest level to the people responsible for the server.

Outside the game, use panel sub users rather than sharing your login. An event organiser can restart the server or swap a config without seeing your billing details, and you can remove their access when they step down.

Running Events That Bring Players Back

The developers singled out community members who kept hosting events despite the lack of updates, and that is the lesson for any server owner: regular, well-run events are what keep a game like this alive. Publish a schedule, keep the rules short, and restart the server before each event so the battle starts on a clean slate.

Mix the format. A line battle one week and a Commander Battle the next gives both drill-minded players and newcomers a reason to come. After each event, note what slowed things down, such as long spawns, confusing orders or a map that favoured one side, and fix it in the config before the next one.

Moving From Another Host

Download your config files and any custom maps from the old server, upload them here with SFTP, and check the settings before the first event. We keep offsite backups of the last 7 days that you can restore yourself, and our support team can help if something does not carry over cleanly.

What to Compare Before You Rent a Battle Cry of Freedom Server

A regiment's server needs more than a low headline price.

1. Slot flexibilityPer-slot pricing lets you pay for 120 players rather than jumping to the next big package.
2. Memory for crowdsCheck what RAM comes with large plans; hundreds of soldiers and bots need headroom.
3. Config accessYou need the real config files for admin levels and event settings, not only a few toggles.
4. LocationMixed EU and US regiments should test ping from both sides before choosing.
5. BackupsRestoring your own backup after an event should take minutes.
6. TermsMonthly billing with no setup fee lets you try the server before committing.

Battle Cry of Freedom Glossary

Line battle

An organised player-versus-player battle fought in formation, the heart of most regiment events.

Commander Battle

A mode in which each player leads a company of AI-controlled soldiers.

Bot Commander

An AI officer, added in April 2023, that commands bots in Commander Battle and Conquest.

Conquest

A mode the patch notes list alongside Commander Battle; Bot Commanders were added to both in April 2023.

Buck and ball

A musket load of a ball plus buckshot; servers can toggle it and buck-shot separately.

Engineer

A specialist class that builds defences and pontoon bridges and resupplies ammunition.

Regiment

A player community that drills and fights together, usually with its own server and events.

Workshop

Steam's content hub, where the game's community shares maps.

Battle Cry of Freedom Server Help and Next Steps

Useful pages for setting up and running the server.

• Battle Cry of Freedom on SteamThe store page, Workshop and announcements.
• Flying Squirrel EntertainmentThe developer's site.
• Mount and Blade: Warband server hostingThe melee game that inspired its combat.
• Gaming Deluxe control panelLogging in and finding your way.
• Our server locations
• Contact support24/7 help with configs and events.