ZarTaen

Dear Noveans,
 
Earlier this year, we announced that JC was transitioning to a new role as a board member and board advisor and that Nicolas Granatino, a long-standing backer of Novaquark via Andurance Venture, had been appointed chairman of the board. 
 
We’re happy to share with you today that Nouredine Abboud has joined the company as CEO of Novaquark. Nouredine has more than 15 years of experience in the industry and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise with an impressive catalog of work that includes Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon games. 
 
As CEO, his primary focus is on the business side of things, so you probably won’t see him participating on the forums much. As we reach the final stretch leading to the launch of the game, the team already in place will continue to work on improving Dual Universe with NQ-Kyrios continuing his work as creative director.
 
We can’t wait to share with you the exciting things that are cooking for the game and for the company in 2022. Stay tuned!

Welcome thread is here if you'd like to say hello to Nouredine. 
 

NQ, with this editor you got a winner. This will be easy to use and straightforward for new players, while still allowing all the shenanigans (up to the complexity limit in the future) and gives blocky ships no excuses anymore. Feels like christmas to see this video and cant wait to build ships with it

ALL ABOUT ASTEROIDS 
Ahh, those crunchy little rock nuggets, filled with fabulous sweet surprises. *nom nom nom* Okay, so they aren’t so little, and they probably aren’t all that delicious, but those sweet surprises are very, very real. Some say they smell like quanta.
 
Let’s take a look at asteroids, one of the key features coming in Apollo (0.26), now available on the public test server. What are they? What’s in them? How do you find them? How will they impact the gameplay of Dual Universe?
 
WHAT ASTEROIDS ARE, WHAT THEY HOLD
Asteroids are small, temporary celestial bodies. You will be able to track, discover, and mine them. They respawn in dispersed batches weekly, and asteroids in each batch will initially spawn over the first 24 hours.  
 
The addition of asteroids will bring some spicy elements to gameplay as they provide a real incentive for PvP other than mere pirating (not that there’s anything wrong with that if that’s your thing). Another upside is that locating and mining asteroids, along with transporting their bounty, will encourage cooperation and interaction between different groups of players. One can never have too many friends, right? 
 

 
At the end of the life cycle of these asteroids, they will be despawned, to make way for a new batch to spawn. For testing purposes, this is set to one week but is subject to change based on community feedback. 
 
And, last but not least, it’s always good to have another way to acquire resources. Asteroids are also more resource-rich than your average mining territory. The ore they contain is of varying tiers, depending on the area in which they are discovered. Higher tier ore will be found in the more dangerous PvP zones. The greater the risk, the higher the reward. 
 
HOW TO FIND THEM
Although it is technically possible to discover an asteroid as you’re roaming around in space, it’s more likely that you’ll need some mechanical assistance. 
 
Say hello to the deep space asteroid tracker (DSAT). It serves two general purposes: to display all existing asteroids in the system, regardless of their state, and to track undiscovered asteroids. Once an asteroid is discovered, you’ll use the DSAT to set a series of waypoints to it. 
 

 
The DSAT display panel shows: 
Rumored: Asteroids that exist but have not been discovered. Discovered: Asteroids that have been successfully discovered. Broadcast: The shared location of discovered asteroids.  Discovered countdown timer: The length of time remaining before broadcasting the location of a discovered asteroid. Scan: Click to begin scanning for an asteroid’s location.   

 
Information about the specific asteroid being scanned is displayed in the box above. The Rarity field shows the type of ore you will find there, ranging from Basic, Uncommon, Advanced, Rare and Exotic. 
 
From there, you can select an asteroid to track. The DSAT will ask you to scan several information points in the target area in order to zero in on the final location of the asteroid. These information points are unique for each player; sharing them won’t enable anyone else to speed through the scanning process. Once you have reached and scanned all the information points, the location of the asteroid will be revealed.
 
When someone touches down on the asteroid, the time starts ticking. In four hours, the location will be revealed in the Broadcast section of the DSAT display, visible to anyone with a DSAT unit.  
 
(Important note: The four-hour time limit is subject to change based on testing results and player feedback.) 
 
DIG IN
Good news for the lone wolves of the world: Single-player asteroid-hunting is completely feasible. It is about picking the right amount of risk and having a well-designed ship for dig-and-run action. A major perk of being the first to discover and begin mining an asteroid is that you’re pretty much guaranteed to pull out a few nodes of higher-tier-ore from the get-go. A tier-3 asteroid might contain a couple of tier-5 veins.
 
How long it will take to fully deplete all of the asteroid’s resources depends on a wide range of variables. How large is the crew? How good are they at working together? What equipment are they using? A well-oiled machine of a team with top-line equipment has the potential to complete the task before the four-hour broadcast timer dings. (Potential being the operative word there.) 
 
A more likely scenario is that you’ll have competition. Being the first to successfully locate the asteroid doesn’t give you exclusive rights to it. Anyone else can scan and locate it, too, or stumble upon it out of sheer luck. 
 
SWITCHING THINGS UP 
Although the basic mining gameplay and mechanics are in place, a big change for miners is that asteroids have extremely low gravity and no atmosphere to speak of, giving you the option to mine and dig entirely in jetpack mode if you so choose. 
 
Another significant departure is that with asteroids having the potential to spawn in PvP zones, this will also be the first time players can mine and fight in the same general area.
 
CHOICES
With plenty of options related to asteroids, you’ve got some important choices to make. 
Is your sole business to find asteroids and sell the location information to others before they are publicly broadcasted? Will you stick to the safe zones and leave the dangerous resource gathering to others? Do you use the Job Forum to hire help to mine and transport ore? Will you scour the skies looking for miners to loot?   These are simply a few possibilities. There are countless more, and endless stories of victory and defeat waiting to be told. 
 
What will your asteroid glory story be? Share it in the forums. 
 

Dear Noveans,
 
We would like to address the recent speculations that have arisen in our community, and openly disclose some changes that are happening at Novaquark.
 
First and foremost, Novaquark continues to be supported by its long term investors to allow it to launch Dual Universe in line with its original vision. It also puts us in a position to attract experienced talent to complement the team that’s already in place so that we can continue to improve the game.
 
Next week, we will share with you what we think our priorities should be for Dual Universe and how we hope to approach the development of the game with improved processes going forward.
 
An important change to note is that Jean-Christophe, the founder of Novaquark, has transitioned from the day-to-day management of the team to better focus on his position as a board member. Over the years since the creation of Novaquark, JC designed and set the standards for the structural and conceptual foundation of the game, and he feels now that a solid base is there for him to move forward as a strategic advisor. The recent changes in the administrative presidency of the company only reflect the transition of JC to his new role. We’re excited to have the team he has built deliver on his vision for the game.
 
Rest assured that Novaquark’s future is in good hands, and there is a strong partnership between our long-term investors and our team. We believe that the future is bright for the game and for the company, and we cannot wait to tell you where we want to take Dual Universe.
 
With our warmest regards,
The Novaquark team

That is a lot of tinfoil hat right there. It is more likely that demand for space cores spiked because of the safezone confirmation (before that it wasn't even clear whether Alioth is staying safe) and the insane megaprojects some people plan on doing with over 100 cores for a single spacestation (I know of at least 5 of those from the top of my head, there are likely a lot more).

So people bought those up, as well as some "investors" who try to make bank with it and profit off the situation. Everything else is supply and demand.
 
But this is just another theory, just with a bit less "out there" 1+1..

Hello Noveans, 
 
By now, some of you may be aware that unlucky number Market 15 has been stripped bare and left to create ugly memes for generations to come. We’re trying to look at this in good humour as, from the front, it appears to be an issue that was created when we moved the markets, making it editable by players. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (though we know there are a few of you out there) to understand that the markets are not a community construction, and as such not intended to be handled by players on this level. The destruction of the build isn’t a quick fix, and was clearly done knowing it shouldn't be. 
 
An important aspect we are considering in all cases and investigations is intention. The intention behind this destruction is very clear to us. The players involved did not report this bug to us, but instead simply filled their pockets. Had this stopped with a single voxel removed it would be a different story.  This is, at its core, a violation of the EULA and against the intentions of beta. We have been as understanding as we can until this point, but there must be a line.
 
Let us be clear, we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour during any phase of the development of Dual Universe.
 
The players responsible for the destruction of the market have been permanently banned from Dual Universe, and all salvaged materials and assets gained will be removed without compensation.
 
Sincerely,
The Novaquark Team
 
Follow up statement: 
 

"A 28x16 block of gold that is then covered by an 8 voxel deep shell of steel"
I think you mean 28x16x6 gold with a 1 voxel layer thick hull of steel, which makes sense.
 
Well, I'm gonna go with that as measurements in voxels, not meters, so here we go:
 
At 28x16x6 gold we have a volume of 42m³, which totals at an effective health of worst case, antimatter, 648.480 eHP (the point representing thousand, not decimals), and the hull of steel around it at 30x18x8 minus the goldblock inside is 25,5m³ with 145.962 eHP in the worst case, kinetic. As reference: The total weight of this alone would be 8106kg of gold, translating to 8,106t and 2025,75kg of steel, or 2,026~t, totaling at around 10,1~ish tons with 794.442 total effective HP. Doesnt sound too shabby.

Now, you arent gonna shoot every voxel around it, only a portion, and that you ideally do from one direction. So lets go with the worst case of the shallow side, which is around 3 voxel layers of gold and 1 voxel layer of steel till it hits the core. Okay, so we can already straight up ignore half the volume if we ignore the spread range of the damage. Now, lets take a spread of, say, 10x10, which is awfully small generally and probably on the pessimistic side, and the enemy coincidently also somehow has heavy ammo.

So for the math you roughly have a gold block of 10x10x3voxels per side, + 1 10x10x1 layer of steel at the front, with a fully skilled enemy with the worst case ammo for your armor, as well as worst case ammo type of heavy, with the worst case of every shot hitting exactly center and erasing all 10x10 voxels per layer (in actuality the radius is more like 15x15, but less total erasure, but youd also have spread, etc). Im also gonna choose the weapon with the most damage per volley, so its the worst of every conceivable worst case.
This means you have 72.375 eHP of Gold, and 8943,75 eHP for Steel totalling at 81.318,75 eHP.

Okay, so xs cannons can at least be in a group of 3 simultanously, so for simplicities sake im gonna go with 3. One cannon does 60k damage in 1 minute unskilled with 1 magazine, in the best case scenario. So 180k as base, for one full magazine of each cannon in this scenario with all skills and stars aligned: 556.875 damage. So yes, from the shallow side, the armor is gone in a moment, and the total armor is gone in around 2ish minutes for that block, if stars align of course. Stars aligning include being in sufficient range, and not being an xs core, both would otherwise be detrimental to cannons. For that you need to be at around 5000ish meters, with skills you can be further away, but the neighborhood for *xs* cannons is around that.

But in reality, you have a hull of unknown size and material around that, you have elements that could soak up damage, you arent hit straight up from one direction with one shot on top of each other, you arent always in perfect range or at a perfect angle for the weapon, you arent always aligned with all weapons equally.

While I went in to see whether you have a point or not, I realised that, realistically speaking, 10 tons of armor is nothing, but the measurements it takes up is quite something for so little effect. What defeats xs weapons is cross section, the bigger the better. Because of the low initial damage per xs weapon, regardless of type, and the nature of randomness, xs weapons are notoriously poor at "drilling" into enemy ships, minus some very skilled specific circumstances.
 
NQ was aiming for armored ships to be really heavy, and 10 tons is microfighter territory armor, you know, those variations of it that have enough armor to last a few shots but are thrown away because they are so cheap. Of course I know you had more armor than that, but the hull would probably have lasted around 4-8 times as long, unless you got really unlucky, and coincidently, had a few shots that drilled in.
 
In the end its the following tradeoff for voxel balance: Do you want 10 minute+ constant fire and constant hits required in a 30 min dogfight between microfighters, and have bigger size ships take many hours of constant fire to take down? Or do you rather want to have bigger thips that can actually be taken down in a reasonable timeframe, and require a lot more armor for smaller ships to feel armored. Remember how volume and cross section relate to each other if the size increases, essentially you cant balance it to one side and have the other side not be totally broken to hell and back.
This is what I hope shields are for. While it doesnt sound like I agree with you, I actually do, but I also see weight as being a huge factor in all of this, as well as the randomness of the shots actually landing at a similar spot and think that what is off is the balance of health to volume, not weight. If focused fire ever becomes a thing, it needs to be balanced around small vs big weapons and the health of voxels need to be adjusted accordingly. (I imagine small weapons becoming better at drilling and bigger weapons being a bit less precise would be neat and give small weapons some purpose against well armored big ships)

-------------------

Now to the wear and tear. Yes, we need it, we need it badly. I disagree with it being a fixed count of repairs, but I agree with it losing performance and it being a "soft" loss.
My idea is as follows:
Light damage would reduce performance almost to no degree but more than everyday usage without damage would. Usage would wear the elements very very lightly, think weeks of 24/7 use to see some effect on its performance. Being destroyed completely would more drastically reduce the performance, think 1-3% of the original total per total destruction, at some point the engine would barely work at full throttle, but this would happen regardless of pvp or impact damage. You could even make a maintenance minigame, that restores some max performance for the elements, up to a limit and with according material usage.

This way you have a few effects: One, you wouldn't be immediately punished for being shot at a few times (its not always easy to place some engines exactly the same way), but over time you would feel the effects, and at some point think of replacing it. Two, you would have wear without being reliant on PvP. Three, you would end up with a "used ship" market with drastically reduced values, vastly easing the entrance for new players to get a ship that may be much more capable, albeit not like new.

-----------------------

What Megaddd brought up is something that I think needs to come as well at some point, it would vastly increase the depth of how damage feels for each side, but it would also need to be *very* carefully balanced, otherwise railguns would oneshot everything. Essentially, every change of a fundamental mechanic like this needs complete rebalancing, so realistically it wont happen anytime soon, and if, then it happens with other changes at the same time.


 

Dear ladies and gentlemen,
this offer is for German speaking players only, please respect that.
 
 


Hyperion - gegründet mit dem Ziel ein Wirtschafts-Imperium aufzubauen,
dessen Name, Produkte und Entwicklungen auch in den entlegenen Winkeln
des Dual Universe bekannt sind.
 
Als Teil starker Allianzen bietet Hyperion den Rahmen, um in Sicherheit und
mit Rückhalt Neues zu kreieren und wirtschaftlich zu handeln.
 
Die derzeit größte und aktivste deutschsprachige Community sammelt, erforscht und
baut bereits heute - gemeinsam - Großes.
 
Werde auch du Teil dieser Gemeinschaft und lerne uns kennen:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ÜBER UNS
Hyperion bietet euch das größte deutschsprachige Netzwerk in Dual Universe von Handel, Missionen, Kopfgeldjagd bis zu Rettungsmissionen. 
Mit der Mitgliedschaft bei Hyperion erhältst du Zugang zu allen Einrichtungen von Hyperion, ein eigenes vQuanta Konto, Lehrgänge mit Betreuung und vieles mehr!
 
 
WAS IST UNSER ZIEL?
Mittelfristig möchten wir gemeinsam eine Heimat aufbauen, um weitere, spannende Projekte voranzutreiben. In mehreren Teams aufgeteilt, realisieren wir Raumschiffe, Stadtkonstrukte und diverse, andere Bauprojekte. Die Möglichkeiten für andere Geschäftszweige sind schier grenzenlos und somit liegt es auch an Dir, welchen Weg du beschreiten wirst. 
 
 
WAS BIETEN WIR?
Eine freundliche Gemeinschaft deutschsprachiger Spieler und den Zugang zum Hyperion Netzwerk. Erhalte die Möglichkeit an großen und spannenden Projekten teilzunehmen. Hol dir Aufträge vom schwarzen Brett oder nutze unseren eigenen Markt. Bei uns kann sich jeder frei entfalten und seiner Kreativität freien Lauf lassen, solange es dem Wohl der Gemeinschaft nicht schadet und die Gesetze/Richtlinien von Hyperion, sowie auch der Ascendancy eingehalten werden. Des Weiteren bieten wir Sicherheit und Territorium durch die Ascendancy. Dies ist die größte Allianz im Spiel.
 
 
WAS SUCHEN WIR?
Jeder deutschsprachige Spieler von Dual Universe der keine Augenklappe trägt und sich Pirat schimpfen lässt ist bei uns willkommen. Wir fordern lediglich eine geistige Reife und die Einhaltung einiger Regeln. Solltest du bei der Hyperion Corporation mitmachen wollen, dann solltest du vor allem teamfähig sein. Ein gutes Betriebsklima ist uns sehr wichtig. Wir haben uns außerdem für ein Mindestaufnahmealter von 16 Jahren entschieden.
 
 
WAS MUSS ICH TUN, UM BEIZUTRETEN?
Du kannst dich förmlich auf unserer Homepage bei uns bewerben oder besuche uns auf unserem Discord und schreib uns persönlich! Dort kannst du uns weitere Fragen stellen, gerne auch im Voice.
 
Wir freuen uns auf dich!