Welcome to the forums @jrubz!
I’m not sure on the limits, but I’d say probably several dozen wouldn’t cause an issue and several hundred may depending on what is going on. I’d say it really depends on the project, how big everything is, how precise you need the Area3D detection to be, and how many nodes would be required to meet the goals. I think I’ve used around 80 with too much of a slow down.
Probably what you’d want to do though, if I understand the situation correctly, is spawn Area nodes as you need them in the rough direction and length of the “cast” and then delete them afterwards. That way, you could keep the Area3D count low while still getting everything affected by the cast. You might be able to use only a single Area3D node in this case, and just add collision shapes.
That said, if you are using chunks of Area3D nodes, then you can probably find the sweet spot in chunk size that’s allow you to get the nodes without using too many more Area3D nodes then needed.
But please take all this with a grain of salt, as I do not think I’ve done what you are looking to do and therefor I’m mostly speculating.
I personally haven’t had issues with using many Area3D nodes, so you may be fine. I’d recommend going with your gut and then refactor if needed. :smile:
