SHSelfHostIndex

Curse of War vs Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CU Curse of War Fast-paced real-time strategy game for the Linux terminal VS CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike
FeatureCurse of WarCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0CC-BY-SA-3.0
LanguageCC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM32 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarybare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 361★ 12,896
First released20132013
Replacescommercial RTS gamesNetHack

Why pick each one

Choose Curse of War if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Curse of War details

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

  • Enormous depth
  • Active development
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead details

Frequently asked questions

Is Curse of War or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead better?

Neither is universally better. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has the larger community, while Curse of War is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Curse of War and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead free and open-source?

Yes. Curse of War is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead under CC-BY-SA-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Curse of War and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead with Docker?

Curse of War: check the project docs for container support. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons