The complete guide · 6 min read
Reign of Kings Server Hosting Guide: Realms, Sieges and Admin
This guide explains how a hosted Reign of Kings island works, from picking slots and memory to writing rules for thrones, prisoners and sieges, and keeping the world safe. It is written for the person whose guild ends up running the server.
By Matthew Griffin, Owner, Gaming DeluxePublished · Updated
In this guide
- Why Run Your Own Reign of Kings Island
- The Ancient Throne, Taxes and the King's Guild
- Castles, Sieges and Raiding
- Prisoners, Punishment and Fair Play
- Slots and Memory for Your Realm
- Production, Collection and a Living Economy
- Running the Island Day to Day
- Backups, Wipes and New Seasons
- What to Compare Before You Rent a Reign of Kings Server
- Reign of Kings Server Glossary
- Reign of Kings Server Help and Next Steps
Why Run Your Own Reign of Kings Island
Reign of Kings drops players on a medieval island with nothing. You hunt, mine, build and craft weapons and armour, form a guild, and eventually go to war for the Ancient Throne that overlooks the map. Code}{atch says it drew on Rust and Chivalry, and it shows: survival crafting meets first person melee, with sieges on top.
A game like that only works when the island stays up. Castles take days to build, collection stations produce while you sleep, and the throne means nothing if the world disappears when its holder logs off. A dedicated server keeps the realm running around the clock, on hardware and a network made for it, with a support team behind it.
Your own server also gives you something public servers never did: control. You choose who plays, how harsh the rules are and when, if ever, the island is wiped.
The Ancient Throne, Taxes and the King's Guild
The throne is the heart of a Reign of Kings server. According to the Steam page, any player can claim it. Holding it gives dominion over the map, including the right to rename the realm, and taxation rights over every player who is not in the King's Guild. Ravens collect the tax and leave it in chests in the Ravens Treasure Tree, where the king collects it. The ruler also gets the Ancient Sword and the Ancient Crown.
- Small private server: the throne becomes a friendly trophy that passes around the group.
- Mixed server: one guild rules, others pay tax or plot a rebellion, and the politics carry the evenings.
- Large public server: expect constant fights over the throne room. Write rules on spawn camping and griefing first.
Castles, Sieges and Raiding
Once a guild builds stone walls and iron doors, nobody can simply bash their way in. Attackers need trebuchets, which must be loaded with a counterweight that matches the stone to reach the right range, and which can be rotated to line up a shot. Lock picks are the quiet option, but they are hard to craft and do not work on iron doors or iron gates. Defenders answer with their own trebuchets or a ballista.
| Tool | Who uses it | Server note |
|---|---|---|
| Trebuchet | Attackers and defenders | Agree whether sieges are allowed at any hour or only at set times |
| Lock pick | Stealthy raiders | Useless against iron doors, so new players should upgrade early |
| Ballista | Defenders | Strong against players at range |
| Iron doors and stone walls | Everyone | The line between a quick raid and a full siege |
R22, the latest update, also stopped blocks being removed from land owned by an enemy guild. Land ownership is part of the defence, so remind guilds to claim the ground they build on.
Prisoners, Punishment and Fair Play
Few survival games let you take players prisoner. In Reign of Kings, rope or iron shackles stop a captive using their inventory, except for one hidden slot, and the captor can search them and drag them on a rope. The punishments range from a cage or dungeon to the pillory or execution. To stop the worst griefing, a captive can hide a sharp stone or lock pick and try to escape.
It makes great stories and terrible arguments. On your own server, write a short rule set: how long a prisoner may be held, whether executions are allowed, and what happens to anyone who keeps a new player locked up all evening. Post it in your Discord and in the server description.
Slots and Memory for Your Realm
Slots cap how many people can be on the island at once. Ten is right for a guild of friends; twenty gives enough rivals for proper sieges; fifty or more turns the server into a community. The order form sells everything from 10 up to 200 slots, and our four plans cover the common sizes.
Code}{atch gives no memory figure for the server, so we size RAM ourselves. A busy island holds many structures, chests and stations in memory, and that load grows with the number of players. Our plans step up one tier at a time: 8GB on 10 slots, 12GB on 20, 16GB on 50 and 20GB on 100. If the memory graph in the panel sits near the top on war nights, move up a tier from the client area.
Production, Collection and a Living Economy
Progress in Reign of Kings runs through production and refining stations. Better gear needs better stations: the Steam page's own example is upgrading the anvil for a better sword. Stations keep working while there are resources to process, which is one more reason to run the world all day.
Collection stations for grain and water produce raw materials as long as they have fuel, and anyone can attack them if they are left unguarded. The developer spreads resources unevenly on purpose, to create envy. On a server you control, that design is your friend: it gives small guilds a reason to trade, ally or raid.
Running the Island Day to Day
- Set the server name and password in the Commandline Manager, then start it from the panel.
- Share the address shown in the panel with your players.
- Add a daily restart in Scheduled Tasks at the quietest hour.
- Take a snapshot before every planned siege, rule change or new season.
- Read the Log Viewer after restarts so problems are caught before players notice.
Because the game build has not changed since R22 in July 2019, there is no patch calendar to chase. That frees your time for what actually keeps a medieval server alive: events, fair rules and a throne worth fighting for.
Backups, Wipes and New Seasons
Three layers protect your island. The Backup Manager takes a snapshot whenever you ask. Scheduled Tasks can do it every night without you. And our offsite copies cover the last 7 days. Restoring is a few clicks in the panel.
When the official servers were active, Code}{atch wiped them on a regular schedule. On your own server, a wipe is a choice, not a rule. Many communities run a season for a few months, crown a final king, then keep a backup of that world and start a fresh island.
What to Compare Before You Rent a Reign of Kings Server
The details that decide how the realm feels after a month, not just on day one.
- Memory includedCheck how much RAM the base price includes. A cheap plan that struggles during sieges costs you players.
- Locations with a ping testMelee timing depends on latency. Test from your own PC and choose the closest site.
- Backups you restore yourselfLook for on-demand snapshots and offsite copies you can restore without waiting on a ticket.
- File accessA browser file manager and SFTP make it easy to keep configs and move worlds.
- DDoS protectionPvP servers draw grudges. Filtering should come as standard.
- Room to growMake sure you can add slots and memory later without moving the island.
- Billing termsCompare monthly against 3, 6 and 12 month prices, and check for setup fees or minimum terms.
Reign of Kings Server Glossary
- Ancient Throne
- The seat that grants its holder dominion over the realm and taxation rights.
- King's Guild
- The ruler's guild. Its members do not pay the resource tax.
- Ravens Treasure Tree
- Where the ravens store collected taxes for the king.
- Ancient Sword and Crown
- Items available to whoever holds the throne.
- Guild
- A group of players who build, own land and fight together.
- Freeman
- A player who stays out of politics and roams the land.
- Trebuchet
- A siege engine that needs a counterweight to throw stones at walls.
- Collection station
- A grain or water station that produces raw materials while fuelled.
- Community server
- Code}{atch's name for a server run by players rather than the developer.
- Slots
- How many players can be on the server at the same time.
Reign of Kings Server Help and Next Steps
Useful pages for running your realm.
How this guide was made: researched from Reign of Kings' Steam store page and Code}{atch's official update notes, drafted with AI assistance, checked against our live order form for every plan, price and location, and reviewed by Matthew Griffin before publishing. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
