So what did a recent trip down to Moorcroft give me?
[quote]
2010/11/14 15:35:34:465 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=16777217, sceneId=94]
2010/11/14 15:45:12:069 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=33554432, sceneId=1073743494]
2010/11/14 15:45:15:532 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12298, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=1073743494/Clockwork Tunnels|Overgrown Path/1]
2010/11/14 15:58:44:654 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Moving at request of server [sceneId=1073743497]
2010/11/14 15:58:45:665 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12307, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=1073743497/Treasure Vault|Fortune Smiles on the Greedy/1]
2010/11/14 16:03:16:836 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Moving at request of server [sceneId=1073743500]
2010/11/14 16:03:18:459 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12316, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=1073743500/Treasure Vault|Fortune Smiles on the Greedy/1]
2010/11/14 16:07:55:824 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=33554464, sceneId=36]
2010/11/14 16:10:01:368 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=33554432, sceneId=1073743505]
2010/11/14 16:10:02:552 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12333, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=1073743505/Treasure Vault|Fortune Smiles on the Greedy/1]
2010/11/14 16:14:04:948 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=33554496, sceneId=68]
2010/11/14 16:14:06:397 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12340, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=68/Starlight Cradle|Shrine of Slumber/55]
2010/11/14 16:24:10:510 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=33554432, sceneId=1073743509]
2010/11/14 16:24:12:224 INFO com.threerings.whirled: Got updated scene model [placeId=12355, config=[type=data.LevelSceneConfig, spawnTypes=null], scene=1073743509/Clockwork Tunnels|Overgrown Path/1]
2010/11/14 16:34:07:766 INFO com.threerings.whirled.zone: Moving at request of server [zoneId=16777218, sceneId=3]
Kleiman-ibook:Spiral Knights michael$
[/quote]

Hmm. ZoneId and sceneId are not the same thing. SceneId is low for Starlight cradel, shrine of slumber, with a tag of 55. Overgrown path, despite always having a single tag (1), always has a different scene.

So initially, it looks like large scenes are the "random assemblies", while small scene numbers are "fixed" -- but with the potential for multiple tags, there may be more than one such fixed. In other words, levels like "Starlight cradel" might have multiple versions, but each version is premade, not randomly assembled.

Now, some time stamps ... Oh yea, this was with another person, so my system's speed was not the limiting factor in level speed.
15:35, party lobby
14:45 overgrown path (waited for it, I did not want haunted passages)
15:58 Treasure vault. (So CT/OP took 13 minutes)
16:03 TV (previous TV took 5 minutes)
16:07 Break point (previous CT took 4 minutes)
16:10 TV (so we talked to the vendor)
16:14 Shrine of slumber (another 4 minutes in TV)
16:24 CT/OP (10 minutes of sleeping on the job)
16:34 Moorcroft (and 10 minutes for CT)

What else do we see? Zone ID is not unique; the same zone ID was repeated, and it's not even increasing. I suspect it's a java pointer that's transmitted to the client and used as a long. Perhaps it's an address of an array element.

Scene ID, on the other hand, is either low for a fixed scene, or constantly increasing.
15:45: 494
15:58: 497
16:03: 500
16:10: 505
16:24 509

That's a good rate at which the random levels are being generated. Fixed levels -- Shrine of slumber, and the breaks -- are not in that list.

But over 40 minutes, about 15 levels were made. That's the play rate of the game on a sunday afternoon. Roughly one level every 2.5 minutes. About 4 parties.

So about 5-10 people playing.

Just some numbers.