A dedicated ARK server gives your tribe a persistent world with full control over rates, mods and rules — for ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) and Survival Evolved (ASE). Here is how to set one up and dial in the settings.
How much RAM and how many slots?
ASA: demanding — plan for 12–16 GB+ for a small tribe, more with mods.
ASE: 8–16 GB depending on mods and players.
Both scale with map size and mod count; start sized for your group and upgrade in one click.
Best starting server settings
The settings most groups change first (in GameUserSettings.ini, editable from the panel):
Harvest / XP / taming multipliers — bump to 2–3x for a faster, less grindy server.
Egg/mating/maturation rates — raise these for practical breeding.
Day/night cycle and structure decay to taste.
Mods and clusters
ASA uses CurseForge mods (added by mod ID); ASE uses the Steam Workshop. Running several maps? A cluster lets players transfer characters and dinos between them — fully supported on GGameHost.
