djthekiller

Any game that includes space battles can't use entirely real world physics and still be fun to play.  For ground and air combat, the physics could be quite realistic, but when it comes to space, there needs to be some sort of compensation in order to keep things in control.  I believe the best way to achieve this is by doing space battle physics similar to how it's done in Star Citizen and Elite.  The ship has inertial dampeners that can make it fly in a vacuum the same way it would fly in atmosphere.   This doesn't necessarily go against the laws of physics, it just uses thrusters that are way more powerful than could be normally achieved (that would also be the case for FTL drives).

We make our own laws and our decide our own rules. I won't be playing by your rules. I, for one, will be playing by my own.
 
That's the essence of a free spirit. We break away from the 'mould' and forge our own path. 

"because science" and as of yet unknown limitations are bad reasons not to include things in a game
 
why not include some form of boarding grapple / tractor beam / whatever?
 
have it have a limit on the force it can transmit and make it so that the ship which wants to stop another one have to overcome the targets engine power with its own.
 
has uses as a crane, has its uses for hangar management, has its usage for docking.
 
make it as general as possible and somewhat internally consistent

Hopefully there'll be torpedoes that can be build with voxels.

I believe we'll be getting 4 types of weapons with their short and long range variants, in all ship sizes. S, M, L, XL.
 
Plasma
Laser
Projectile
Rocket/Missile
 
This covers most, if not all, types of weapons you can come up with that make sense, barring special cases like bombs.

How about mines? You can put minefields on orbit, or you can use mines when you are escaping from enemy.
There also should be a lot of types of personal weapons for ground wars. I also think about explosive devices. So you can get it on enemy ship or base and sabotage it.

I will build Giant Space Kraken.....  No seriously! 
 

 

 

 
RAAAAWWWRRR!!!!

So I have been wondering about wreckage. It seems clear that battles are going to take place, so it's very probable that wreckage will be left behind. Wreckage that perhaps the previous owner will come to reclaim, but perhaps not.
How will salvaging wreckage work? It should be balanced enough that either the salvage shop or the previous owner will have a fair chance to claim it.

So here is my suggestion. Whoever wishes to salvage the wreckage will have to "claim" it. The wreckage will remain in a "claiming" state for X amount of time. After that, all rights within the wreckage will transfer to the claiming player. Should another player interrupt the claim with a competing claim, the countdown will restart with a new claim in the name of the interrupting player. The amount of time X would depend on the amount of voxels in the construct: bigger constructs take longer to claim.

This shouldn't be limited to wreckage. An abandoned, but functional construct should be a valid target for a claiming system. It's a naval tradition. You found it first, crew's gone or dead, so it's yours.

This would allow for interesting interactions. Either the two opposing players could sit next to the wreckage, claiming it back and forth until one player loses patience and abandons the wreck. One player could initiate combat to either scare away or kill the other player.

But what about abusing this claiming system on an occupied or fully functional construct? The owners/right-holders could put an anti-claim on the construct for Y time that prevents claims from finishing, starting, or continuing.

"But what about griefers abusing this system too?" Well first, it should only work outside the Arkship safety area. Second, claiming should have to be done in very close proximity to the construct. Third, the entire construct should glow or do something to let anyone in the surroundings know that it's being claimed. Fourth, if you don't want to be bothered, weapons are ideal. Constructs that aren't protected are easy targets.

While on the topic of wreckage, wrecks tend to be adrift. So what about some sort of tractor beam device and/or a magnetic harpoon which would allow wreckage to be towed out of dangerous areas. Other things could be towed too, like mostly intact ships with missing thrusters, or a modular piece of construction for a space station. A towing mechanism would go hand in hand with the role of a salvage yard.

There's also the issue of servers and load. A huge wreck after a big battle might leave wrecks and pieces floating everywhere, so after a certain time, the server should delete them. It should be a fairly long timer to allow players to recover/salvage what's left.

But this presents the problem of what is a wreckage and what isn't? It might be easy to say as a human, but not so much for a server. An abandoned or unpowered ship might simply be awaiting repairs in the shipyard. Or a strangely shaped construct might be doing what it was intended to do. Or a base might just be so simple that it has no elements to speak of. A completely functional ship could be treated as garbage if the owner decided to quit playing the game and leave it floating in space.

So what do you guys think?

I really really hope they will add wheel suspension. Flying is great but I like to keep myself on the ground whenever I can. That's true, wheels could affect server performance if you look into KSH game, however nobody expects physics MMO simulator, right? Physics needs to be at high level, that's true, but it don't have to be super advanced performance consuming feature. Impression in that case is more important than mirroring reality.
 
For and advantage of wheel set there should be extremely low energy consumption. Energy is everything, saving it could be really fun part of the game. We will see what NQ will bring to us, I believe they have been testing other let say 'competetive' titles, they are aware of fun coming from one of the oldest human invention :-D.

On the official website, there is concept art for Hover engines
 

Bricks and boxes lol i suck at things that actually look good but my stuff will be extremely effeicent.

Certainly something very streamlined and beautiful. Think big massive ships peacefully floating through space, and capable of unloading hell if need be. Something like a Beluga Liner loaded with guns and missiles.
 

 
Or Majestic-Class Interdictors, but more powerful mayhaps.
 

I don't mean functionally but aesthetically what would be your particular flavor of choice? 
 
For me i would favor ships that would be kind of like rat rods, junkers, minmatar like ships, ones that look like rickety pieces of junk that manage to do a job with minimal excess 
 
I'd also be really excited to see ones inspired by but not direct copies of romulan ships from star trek tng, they always looked the coolest 
 

Absolutely. There is something highly enjoyable and aesthetic about true Newtonian physics that is hard to explan - I guess nature came up with something our brain instantly recognizes as "the way it shouold be". Fire the main trrusters, turn them off, drift alongside the space station due to inertia, spin the ship while drifting to have a better view on the station - just beautiful, as it could be experienced in great space simulation games like Jumpgate. Ridiculously powerful maneuvering thrusters as in some games do indeed destroy the beauty of it. For quick breaking I want to see maneuvers like turning 180 degrees and firing the main thrusters, as it was common in Jumpgate or as it was depicted in the Battlestar Galactica remake series.
 
I'm not sure if something like a restricting "vertigo simulator" is necessary to avoid stupid movement patterns. Overpowered maneuvering thrusters play a part here, and also another factor: Smooth movements were happily in place in games for a while already, but then people became to stingy to purchase a joystick and started playing even flight or space sims using only keyboard and mouse. Steering a space craft with a mouse is immersion breaking for me. And it results in unpleassant, sharp zig zag movements in all sorts of games, which also makes most game videos on Youtube ugly. First person view where the camera moves like a mouse cursor is outright disgusting. So the flight mechanics should be optimized for joystick use, then mouse steering should be tweaked to achieve similarly smooth movements as with the joystick.

On the topic of physics, I hope their ballpark for 30 days until space was for the technology that allows interplanetary travel by just pointing at the planet desired. Whereas more Newtonian-aware players, especially those who have played KSP would be able to use chemical rockets to get themselves off planet much earlier using, much more crude in comparison, chemical rockets, proper orbital mechanics and a concept of deltaV.
 
I feel like this would cater to both player bases - ones who come for an EVE-like game, and those who come for a space sim.

I cant offer much on the speed limit of the game be it light or FTL, or Warp (folding space).

What I can say thought is that I prefer the ability to travel FAST and or DISTANT to scale with ship size. Meaning a small fighter should not be able to jump or go as far as a large ship with more resources, reserves and capacity. 
 
 
Small ships should not be able to warp or FTL, should have limited range but be quick or agile. 
 
Medium ships should have a mild jump capability and have a farther reach
 
Larger ships should be able to warp or FTL due to fuel capacity and engine size. 

Capitol ships should be able to freely roam the universe with an entire ecosystem on board, only stopping for raw materials from time to time.

Those are my 'quick thought's' on travel.




 

We expect visitors to come from various places and have different player backgrounds.
That's why we opened this section, to know (and understand) each other better.
If you want to introduce yourself, your organization (guild/clan) or just say "Hi", this is the right place to do so!