Crowd performance

So, I’m planning to create an arena with at least a couple of hundred spectators and would like to start gathering tips to improve performance. I’ve never done something like this before, but I anticipate it could be quite challenging. The first obvious step is to make them Pawns to avoid character overload. I’ve also read that removing bones can help. Do any of you have any other suggestions or experiences to share?

Thanks in advance.

Bump!

If you want any gameplay what so ever, then use alembic caches or shaders to make the characters and animations.

Thank you, probably out of my reach because I’m a programmer working with 3rd party models, but I’ll check it anyways.