A server works in steps
A game server does not run the world as a smooth, continuous flow. It works in small, discrete steps. In each step it collects the inputs players have sent, applies the game’s rules, moves things, checks for collisions and hits, and works out the new state of the world. Each of these steps is called a tick.
Tick rate is how many of these steps happen per second, usually written in hertz or as “ticks per second.” A server running at 60 ticks per second performs a step roughly every sixteen or seventeen thousandths of a second. A server running at 30 does so about every thirty-three thousandths. Those figures follow from dividing one second by the rate. Doing that sum for 128 gives a little under eight thousandths of a second between ticks.
What a tick does and does not change
The tick rate sets how finely the server sees time. Between two ticks, the server’s version of the game does not change. If two things happen between ticks, the server treats them as happening in the same step, and the order in which it handles them can matter.
Higher rates generally bring:
- Finer timing. The server can distinguish events that are closer together.
- Smaller delay from the server’s own schedule. An input that arrives just after a tick must wait for the next one. At a higher rate, that wait is shorter on average.
- More frequent information. Clients can receive more updates about where things are, which gives smoother movement and gives lag compensation more precise positions to work with.
These are typically modest improvements, not dramatic ones. For many players the other delays in the chain are larger than the gap between ticks, and the differences between neighboring rates can be hard to feel.
Tick rate is not frame rate
These two numbers are often confused.
- Tick rate belongs to the server’s simulation.
- Frame rate is how many pictures your device draws per second.
A game can draw 144 frames per second while the server updates 30 times per second. In that case your screen will show many frames between each piece of new information, and the game fills the gap with smoothing and prediction. The reverse can also be true. A high server rate does not help if your device is struggling to draw the picture, and a fast device cannot create information that the server did not send. How frame rate relates to your screen is covered in refresh rate.
There is another distinction. A server may simulate at one rate but send updates to players at a lower one, because sending data costs bandwidth. Some games publish both figures, and others use a single number for everything, so the same words can describe different things from game to game.
Why not just set it as high as possible
A higher rate costs more.
- Processing. Each tick is a full pass over the match. Doubling the rate roughly doubles the work, so a company needs more or stronger machines to run the same number of matches.
- Bandwidth. More frequent updates mean more data for the server to send and for each player to receive. Players with limited connections may be unable to keep up, which can lead to the dropped data described in packet loss.
- Diminishing returns. Beyond a certain point, the extra precision is smaller than the variation caused by the players’ own connections.
Games therefore pick rates that suit their genre and budget. Fast shooters often favor higher rates, because timing matters so much. Slower-paced or very large games may use much lower rates, since players cannot tell the difference and the server has far more to calculate per step. Because of that, you cannot say that one number is good or bad across the board.
Tick rate and fairness
Tick rate affects fairness in a few ways.
First, it limits how accurately the server can tell who did something first. If two players act within the same tick, the server must use some rule to break the tie, and the outcome may feel arbitrary. Faster ticks reduce how often that happens.
Second, tick rate interacts with the rewinding methods in hit registration. The server can only rewind to the snapshots it has stored, so a low rate means coarser history, and a shot may be judged against a position that is slightly off.
Third, if the rate is low, then the same action may produce a slightly different result depending on where it falls relative to a tick. This variation is random from the player’s perspective, so it tends to even out over many matches rather than favoring anyone systematically.
Notably, tick rate does nothing to fix a poor connection. A player with a laggy or unstable link is still at a disadvantage on a fast server, and the quality of the link, which is partly captured by ping time, usually matters more than the difference between two nearby tick rates.
Reading claims about tick rate
Tick rate is a popular talking point, and caution is wise.
- Different games define the term differently, so comparing two numbers from two games is not reliable.
- Players often measure it using tools or community estimates, and the figures can be approximate.
- A game may change its rate between modes, or between patches, without much announcement.
- A higher number is not a guarantee of a better experience, since netcode design, lag compensation and server quality all contribute.
It is best seen as one setting among many that together determine how responsive a match feels.