diff --git a/include/ircd/db/descriptor.h b/include/ircd/db/descriptor.h
index ced68f5ff..a99cc23a7 100644
--- a/include/ircd/db/descriptor.h
+++ b/include/ircd/db/descriptor.h
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ struct ircd::db::descriptor
 	db::compactor compactor {};
 
 	/// Compaction priority algorithm
-	std::string compaction_pri {"kOldestLargestSeqFirst"};
+	std::string compaction_pri {};
 
 	/// Compaction related parameters. see: rocksdb/advanced_options.h
 	struct
diff --git a/ircd/db.cc b/ircd/db.cc
index 07de900a7..09f46614d 100644
--- a/ircd/db.cc
+++ b/ircd/db.cc
@@ -2078,10 +2078,10 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 
 	//TODO: descriptor / conf
 
-	this->options.write_buffer_size = 4_MiB;
-	this->options.max_write_buffer_number = 8;
-	this->options.min_write_buffer_number_to_merge = 4;
-	this->options.max_write_buffer_number_to_maintain = 0;
+	this->options.write_buffer_size = 1_MiB;
+	this->options.max_write_buffer_number = 16;
+	this->options.min_write_buffer_number_to_merge = 2;
+	this->options.max_write_buffer_number_to_maintain = 8;
 
 	// Conf item can be set to disable automatic compactions. For developers
 	// and debugging; good for valgrind.
@@ -2089,8 +2089,12 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 
 	// Set the compaction style; we don't override this in the descriptor yet.
 	//this->options.compaction_style = rocksdb::kCompactionStyleNone;
-	this->options.compaction_style = rocksdb::kCompactionStyleLevel;
+	//this->options.compaction_style = rocksdb::kCompactionStyleLevel;
 	//this->options.compaction_style = rocksdb::kCompactionStyleUniversal;
+	this->options.compaction_style =
+		this->descriptor->compaction_pri.empty() || this->descriptor->compaction_pri == "Universal"?
+			rocksdb::kCompactionStyleUniversal:
+			rocksdb::kCompactionStyleLevel;
 
 	// Set the compaction priority from string in the descriptor
 	this->options.compaction_pri =
@@ -2105,8 +2109,9 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 			rocksdb::CompactionPri::kOldestLargestSeqFirst;
 
 	this->options.num_levels = 7;
-	this->options.level0_file_num_compaction_trigger = 7;
 	this->options.level_compaction_dynamic_level_bytes = false;
+	this->options.level0_file_num_compaction_trigger = 8;
+
 	//this->options.ttl = -2U;
 	#ifdef IRCD_DB_HAS_PERIODIC_COMPACTIONS
 	this->options.periodic_compaction_seconds = this->descriptor->compaction_period.count();
@@ -2137,13 +2142,13 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 
 	// Universal compaction options; these are unused b/c we don't use this
 	// style; they are here for hacking an experimentation for now.
-	this->options.compaction_options_universal.size_ratio = 1;
-	this->options.compaction_options_universal.min_merge_width = 2;
-	this->options.compaction_options_universal.max_merge_width = UINT_MAX;
-	this->options.compaction_options_universal.max_size_amplification_percent = 200;
+	this->options.compaction_options_universal.size_ratio = 67;
+	this->options.compaction_options_universal.min_merge_width = 8;
+	this->options.compaction_options_universal.max_merge_width = 10;
+	this->options.compaction_options_universal.max_size_amplification_percent = 1000;
 	this->options.compaction_options_universal.compression_size_percent = -1;
 	this->options.compaction_options_universal.stop_style = rocksdb::kCompactionStopStyleTotalSize;
-	this->options.compaction_options_universal.allow_trivial_move = false;;
+	this->options.compaction_options_universal.allow_trivial_move = false;
 
 	//
 	// Table options
@@ -2156,7 +2161,7 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 		table_opts.format_version = 4; // RocksDB >= 5.16.x compat only; otherwise use 3.
 
 	table_opts.index_type = rocksdb::BlockBasedTableOptions::kTwoLevelIndexSearch;
-	table_opts.index_block_restart_interval = 16;
+	table_opts.index_block_restart_interval = 1;
 	table_opts.read_amp_bytes_per_bit = 8;
 
 	// Specify that index blocks should use the cache. If not, they will be
@@ -2186,7 +2191,7 @@ ircd::db::database::column::column(database &d,
 	table_opts.block_size = this->descriptor->block_size;
 	table_opts.metadata_block_size = this->descriptor->meta_block_size;
 	table_opts.block_size_deviation = 50;
-	table_opts.block_restart_interval = 32;
+	table_opts.block_restart_interval = 16;
 
 	//table_opts.data_block_index_type = rocksdb::BlockBasedTableOptions::kDataBlockBinaryAndHash;
 	//table_opts.data_block_hash_table_util_ratio = 0.75;
diff --git a/matrix/dbs_event_json.cc b/matrix/dbs_event_json.cc
index 6f0664501..28b82664f 100644
--- a/matrix/dbs_event_json.cc
+++ b/matrix/dbs_event_json.cc
@@ -113,25 +113,13 @@ ircd::m::dbs::desc::event_json
 	{},
 
 	// compaction priority algorithm
-	"kOldestLargestSeqFirst"s,
+	"Universal"s,
 
 	// target_file_size
 	{
 		2_GiB,   // base
 		1L,      // multiplier
 	},
-
-	// max_bytes_for_level[8]
-	{
-		{ 128_MiB,    1L }, // max_bytes_for_level_base
-		{      0L,    0L }, // max_bytes_for_level[0]
-		{      0L,    1L }, // max_bytes_for_level[1]
-		{      0L,    1L }, // max_bytes_for_level[2]
-		{      0L,    3L }, // max_bytes_for_level[3]
-		{      0L,    7L }, // max_bytes_for_level[4]
-		{      0L,   15L }, // max_bytes_for_level[5]
-		{      0L,   31L }, // max_bytes_for_level[6]
-	},
 };
 
 //
diff --git a/matrix/dbs_room_type.cc b/matrix/dbs_room_type.cc
index 309be76ea..2c5f83566 100644
--- a/matrix/dbs_room_type.cc
+++ b/matrix/dbs_room_type.cc
@@ -140,6 +140,15 @@ ircd::m::dbs::desc::room_type
 
 	// meta_block size
 	size_t(room_type__meta_block__size),
+
+	// compression
+	"kLZ4Compression;kSnappyCompression"s,
+
+	// compactor
+	{},
+
+	// compaction priority algorithm
+	"kOldestSmallestSeqFirst"s,
 };
 
 //