Tick rate is how many times a second your Squad server updates the game. Higher is smoother. The server never goes above the cap you set on Startup, which starts at 50. The number it really reaches is on the Matches page.
Two different numbers
- The cap is the most ticks a second the server may run. You set it. It is not a promise.
- The reading is what the server reports while it runs. It can sit below the cap when the server is under load.
Read the live tick rate
- Open Matches.
- Find the Tick rate section. It shows the latest reading and a chart of recent readings.
- The panel labels the reading Healthy, Below healthy or At risk. It treats above 35 as healthy and below 15 as at risk, the bands Offworld uses for a licensed server.
The server only reports its tick rate while players are on. With nobody on, the page says the server has not reported yet.
- Tick rate reading
Set the cap
- Open Startup.
- Change Tick rate (the box in the picture below). The panel accepts 10 to 50, and it starts at 50.
- Save and restart the server. The value is passed to the game when it starts, as
FIXEDMAXTICKRATE.
- Tick rate
Leave it at 50 unless you have a reason. Lowering the cap does not make a struggling server healthy. It only lowers what the server is allowed to reach, so the Matches reading will sit lower too.
What lowers the tick rate
Offworld ties server health to the machine the server runs on. Its licensing page names two causes: weak hardware, and hosting alongside too many other game servers. Its configuration page notes that a server can take so much of a machine that the rest lag, which is why it explains limiting a server to certain processor cores.
If the reading is low:
- Watch the chart during a full match, not an empty server.
- Lower Maximum players on Startup and see whether the reading recovers.
- If it stays low at any size, the machine is the limit. Ask your host about the node.
By hand
Add FIXEDMAXTICKRATE=50 to the start command next to the other options.
If it does not work
- The Tick rate section is empty. The server reports only while players are on. Join, or wait for players.
- I raised the cap and the reading did not rise. The cap is a ceiling. The reading is limited by the machine and the load.
- I changed the cap and nothing changed. The cap is read when the server starts. Restart the server.
Sources: squad.fandom.com: Server Configuration, squad.fandom.com: Server licensing, store.steampowered.com: 672881728134580384