Eco is a co-op survival and civilization simulation game developed by Strange Loop Games, first released into Early Access in 2018 and fully launched in 2022. Players share a procedurally generated planet threatened by an incoming meteor, and must build a civilization capable of stopping it before time runs out.
The core tension in Eco is unique among survival games. Building the technology needed to deflect the meteor requires industry, crafting, and resource extraction. Each of those activities pollutes the ecosystem. Push the ecosystem past a threshold and the planet dies before the meteor arrives. Every decision your group makes on the server has a measurable effect on the world, tracked by a live ecosystem simulation that includes soil nutrients, water quality, air pollution, and wildlife populations.
Sessions in Eco typically run for weeks, not hours. Players specialize in skills, build government systems with actual laws and elections, create economies with shops, contracts, and currency, and divide labor across hunters, farmers, engineers, and traders. A private Eco server lets your group set the meteor timer, configure starting conditions, choose mods, and run the world by your own rules without interference from a public server admin.
Eco supports server-side mods via an official Mod Kit, and the community has produced a range of popular additions. Frequently installed mods include EM Transportation (electric and advanced vehicles), More Stockpiles (expanded storage options), EM Framework and EM Industries (new crafting chains and production buildings), and various custom map mods. Modded servers can substantially expand the late-game tech tree and add new specialization paths beyond the vanilla game.
Eco runs a persistent simulation of an entire world continuously. The ecosystem engine tracks population changes, pollution spread, soil quality, and weather even between play sessions. This means server load is more consistent than most survival games but also more constant. High-frequency CPUs handle the simulation tick reliably at scale, NVMe SSD storage keeps world saves and log writes fast, and DDR5 RAM ensures that large player counts with active economies and many logged buildings stay responsive.
| Server type | RAM needed | Players | Recommended plan |
|---|
| Small world / new start | 4 GB | 1–59 | 4 GB plan |
| Active world (mods + economy) | 6 GB | 20–169 | 6 GB plan |
| Large server / heavy modding | 10 GB+ | 50–390+ | 10 GB plan |
A private dedicated Eco server gives your group complete control over the run: meteor timer length, starting resource density, skill gain rates, pollution thresholds, tax rates and government starting conditions, which mods are installed, and whether the server runs in a full simulation mode or a more forgiving sandbox. Unlike a public server where an admin sets those parameters for hundreds of players, your private server is your civilization to configure.
PingPlayers hosting keeps your Eco world running 24/7 so the ecosystem simulation, economy, and government systems stay active whether anyone is logged in or not. The server includes high-performance hardware, automated backups to protect your world before major updates or player-caused disasters, full configuration access, 24/7 real human support, and Ping AI to help install mods, adjust server parameters, and troubleshoot connection issues faster than any forum thread.
