Msoul

Territory Mechanics
If you have no existing territories on a given planet/moon then when you go to deploy your territory unit on that body, the deployment fee will be set to zero. If you already have claims then it will cost you a flat fee of 500,000 quanta regardless of how many claims you have. The only restriction applied to inactive territories is that they will be unable to start mining units. You can run industry units on inactive tiles as of Panacea update 0.28 Currently a territory marked as headquarters (HQ) can be left inactive indefinitely. As long as your territory is marked as HQ that red payment reminder can be ignored and will periodically reset itself. Now the reason why you have heard conflicting information here is because concerns have been raised regarding the permanence of HQ tiles for accounts who have unsubscribed and are unlikely to return. Players have proposed that the 90 day inactive asset requisitioning (IAR) rules should apply to HQ territories as well, which would mean they would become abandoned should the owner's account remain unsubscribed for more than 90 days. Please note that this has not actually been implemented by the game designers but it is possible that they could make alterations so be sure to keep up with the news. Gyroscope Control
 
There is no default hotkey for toggling the gyroscope while piloting a construct but you can easily create one by editing the default lua script. The function call required for engaging the gyroscope is slotname.activate() and it can be subsequently deactivated with slotname.deactivate() or directly toggled via slotname.toggle(). Simply link your gyroscope to your control unit (ie: pilot chair) and keep track of which slot number it occupies as you will need to replace slotname in the function call with the exact name given to said slot (note you can also rename them for convenience). Next open the lua editor and click on the predefined system slot. Press add filter at the bottom, then select the onActionStart() event by hovering over the 3 dots. Next click on the blank field within the brackets and choose which hotkey you want to use (note that option 1 = Alt+1 by default but you can also change that under your client settings). Then with your new onActionStart("hotkey") event selected, type slotname.toggle() into the lua editor field and press apply.
Now whenever you press that hotkey while piloting, your gyroscope will toggle on and off.
 
Here is a visual of what you need to achieve. Note I am using lshift (ie: left shift) as my hotkey and my gyroscope is plugged into the slot8 which I renamed as gyroscopeSlot. 
 

 

The following is an examination of the various player lighting options in Dual Universe as of Update 1.1. Please keep in mind this is not my area of expertise and many of the conclusions drawn here are highly subjective. Hopefully you still find it useful and free of errors.
 
Summary of Findings (TLDR)
 
The Headlight XS is uniquely situated as the spotlight of Dual Universe and it does that job exceptionally well Long and Square lights are functionally equivalent and best suited for illuminating surfaces that need to be seen from a distance The Vertical light has the lowest effective range but being omni-directional with high intensity makes it ideal for indoor lighting of complex geometries. Luminescent Voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination. Physical properties of lighting elements are standardized but be aware that the Vertical light L has increased mass, volume, and health XS light elements are tier 1 + nanocraftable while S, M, and L sized lights are tier 2 with standardized recipes Current fabrication costs for light elements are primarily from schematics and manufacturers are fully capable of supplying consumer needs right now  
Introduction
 
There are 4 different types of craftable light elements Headlight XS, Long Light, Square Light, and Vertical Light with the last 3 having size variations XS, S, M, and L. Each of these elements can be configured to blink at a regular interval and/or output RGB colors through the right click menu. Note that the RGB values must be scaled between 0 and 1 so if you are referencing integer color values (ie: 1 to 255) simply divide it by 255 before inputting. In addition there are 11 different kinds of Luminescent Voxels creating a fairly diverse color palette that spans the visible spectrum. These lights as shown below are the primary focus of this post, but it is also worth noting there are a large number of alternative sources such as fireworks, deco-lamps, engine VFX, and of course the sun itself.
 

 
Lighting Characteristics
 
The main objective behind adding lights to a construct is to use them to illuminate surfaces. These are the key parameters that influence this.
 
Field of View (FOV) – The angle centered about an object’s normal within which light is cast Intensity Factor – The relative power of a light source measured in multiples of 100,000 lux Attenuation Distance – The distance between a light source and a surface, beyond which said surface is no longer illuminated Penumbra Factor – A measure of how fast projected/surface light intensity decreases from the epicenter  Visible Distance – The distance between an illuminated surface and an observer, beyond which the light on said surface begins to fade out  
When it comes to FOV all light elements have approximately the same value of 100 degrees with the exception of vertical lights which are omni-directional. The remaining stats are plotted below with reference to element size. Note that gaps in the bar graph represent break points on the y-axis which were added to prevent exceptionally large values from obscuring the rest of the dataset.
 

 
The headlight XS has the greatest light intensity and attenuation distance which makes it effective at illuminating distant surfaces, but the high penumbra factor causes that intensity to rapidly decrease as the light spreads outwards from the point of incidence. Consequently it functions as a powerful spotlight that is great for lighting up distance objects with a narrow beam. The long and square lights closely mirror each other with the larger variants exhibiting slightly longer range. These lights also have the highest visible distance making them well suited for general illumination of mission critical surfaces like runways and landing pads. Vertical lights on the other hand have the lowest overall range but being omni-directional, with moderate intensity, largely makes up for that. They are well suited for locations that require many nearby surfaces to be irradiated at once such as building interiors or complex voxel geometries. In order to further highlight the differences between these light sources, the following visual reference was created. It showcases the amount of light spread that would occur on a 32x32m (ie: S-core size) flat surface when illuminated by each source from the respective distances listed on the left side.
 

 
Physical Characteristics
 
When it comes to general properties all light elements are approximately equal with the exception of the vertical light L. It has over three times the mass, four times the storage volume, and triple the amount of functional surface area. It is also the only light with any meaningful amount of health although it is still not recommended that they be utilized for defensive purposes since these decorative type elements do not even have damage resistance. In terms of dimensions each increase in the size category roughly doubles the primary side length of each respective element.
 

 
Fabrication Costs
 
The production recipes for XS lighting elements are all Tier 1 and can be made in the nanocrafter. All other sizes are Tier 2 and must be crafted in industry units, specifically an Assembler XS for everything except the vertical light L which requires the S sized variant. An overview of the fabrication costs per individual element produced is provided below. From it we can see that if you neglect schematics the only differences between baseline unit costs are associated with an item's tier. However once again the vertical light L proves to be an exception as it also has a substantially longer crafting time, likely due to it being paired with with the Assembler S.
 

 
Under current market prices these schematics represent upwards of 50% the overall cost expenditure to manufacture said lights. Taking a brief look at public market orders it becomes clear that despite this, there is a moderate surplus of elements available for purchase (note that outliers with absurd +/-1000% prices have been removed). Smaller sized lights in particular appear to have been produced in excess of player demand and are now being listed at or below that of production costs. It is difficult to estimate when the existing supply will be exhausted as player demand for small lights is not easily quantified. However due to the low fabrication costs and crafting times, affluent manufactures will be able to quickly restock this market should the opportunity arise. The situation with larger sized lights is more dynamic right now. The low volume of units that are presently on the market have been listed with profit margins of about 20% which is indicative of a more limited supply and/or a greater demand.
 

 
To assess supply concerns, the following plot compares the fabrication costs for lights to that of atmospheric engines. From it we can see that the total schematic costs for engines is slightly higher while the requisite ore requirements are substantially higher, particularly for M and L sizes. Despite this, market sell volume for engines is much greater than that of lights while also maintaining above zero profit margins. Thus we can infer that player industries exist which are capable of meeting supply requirements for the large lighting sector but they are instead targeting other items like engines, likely due to even higher consumer demand and hence greater profits. 
 

 
Luminescent Voxels
 
Unlike lighting elements these voxels appear to operate solely as emissive surfaces and produce a highly localized glowing effect. In terms of the ore costs per m3 they are similar to the other Tier 2 light elements but only require about a fourth of the T1 ore (more specifically 11 and 30 litters of T1 and T2 respectively). Schematics cost per m3 is exceptionally low at 172.45 quanta. This would ordinarily make luminescent voxels the cheapest form of Tier 2 lighting but their more limited range also means that a substantial amount is needed to achieve the same level of illumination as the other light elements. They do however have the unique ability to be precisely shaped and seamlessly integrated into other voxel structures. Considering all of this I believe luminescent voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination.
 
Conclusions and Recommendations
 
Based on the above, it is my determination that Dual Universe currently has adequate lighting options which when employed correctly, will handle the majority of scenarios. There is however plenty of room for expansion and/or further diversification down the road, when time permits. In terms of expansion I recommend adding a secondary element with omni-directional properties such as a sphereical light. Also consider decreasing the overall effectiveness of the headlight XS and instead utilizing its original properties on a larger sized variant (ie: headlight S). In terms of diversification, the most restricted parameter right now is FOV so assess the merits of adding that as a configurable variable or providing more FOV variation across the existing element set. 

Finally @Aaron Cain your original inquiry was with regards to crafting costs for L sized lights with respect to T2 engines, considering the associated player demand for both (static building vs dynamic construct). Based on market trends alone, it is safe to say that the demand for large engines is presently higher. From a practical standpoint this examination shows that it only takes a couple strategically placed L sized lights to fully illuminate an S core sized surface. I also reason that illuminating a dynamic construct of identical core size will typically require more lights than its static counterpart due to the need to handle both interior and exterior surfaces as well as the more complex geometries associated with piloting elements. So the question becomes why are large lights less popular then large engines? Rationally, it is either because the majority of players are less interested in them and/or are unwilling to invest into them. With regards to baseline costs these lights are already a fraction of the cost of said engines, primarily due to their sparser ore requirements. Perhaps that is still not sufficient, but with engines flying off the proverbial shelves it is difficult to say this conclusively. The only thing I can conclude is that the majority of players place low importance on lighting. The next step would be to reach out, ask why, then determine if anything should be done or if players are satisfied.
 

The following is an examination of the various player lighting options in Dual Universe as of Update 1.1. Please keep in mind this is not my area of expertise and many of the conclusions drawn here are highly subjective. Hopefully you still find it useful and free of errors.
 
Summary of Findings (TLDR)
 
The Headlight XS is uniquely situated as the spotlight of Dual Universe and it does that job exceptionally well Long and Square lights are functionally equivalent and best suited for illuminating surfaces that need to be seen from a distance The Vertical light has the lowest effective range but being omni-directional with high intensity makes it ideal for indoor lighting of complex geometries. Luminescent Voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination. Physical properties of lighting elements are standardized but be aware that the Vertical light L has increased mass, volume, and health XS light elements are tier 1 + nanocraftable while S, M, and L sized lights are tier 2 with standardized recipes Current fabrication costs for light elements are primarily from schematics and manufacturers are fully capable of supplying consumer needs right now  
Introduction
 
There are 4 different types of craftable light elements Headlight XS, Long Light, Square Light, and Vertical Light with the last 3 having size variations XS, S, M, and L. Each of these elements can be configured to blink at a regular interval and/or output RGB colors through the right click menu. Note that the RGB values must be scaled between 0 and 1 so if you are referencing integer color values (ie: 1 to 255) simply divide it by 255 before inputting. In addition there are 11 different kinds of Luminescent Voxels creating a fairly diverse color palette that spans the visible spectrum. These lights as shown below are the primary focus of this post, but it is also worth noting there are a large number of alternative sources such as fireworks, deco-lamps, engine VFX, and of course the sun itself.
 

 
Lighting Characteristics
 
The main objective behind adding lights to a construct is to use them to illuminate surfaces. These are the key parameters that influence this.
 
Field of View (FOV) – The angle centered about an object’s normal within which light is cast Intensity Factor – The relative power of a light source measured in multiples of 100,000 lux Attenuation Distance – The distance between a light source and a surface, beyond which said surface is no longer illuminated Penumbra Factor – A measure of how fast projected/surface light intensity decreases from the epicenter  Visible Distance – The distance between an illuminated surface and an observer, beyond which the light on said surface begins to fade out  
When it comes to FOV all light elements have approximately the same value of 100 degrees with the exception of vertical lights which are omni-directional. The remaining stats are plotted below with reference to element size. Note that gaps in the bar graph represent break points on the y-axis which were added to prevent exceptionally large values from obscuring the rest of the dataset.
 

 
The headlight XS has the greatest light intensity and attenuation distance which makes it effective at illuminating distant surfaces, but the high penumbra factor causes that intensity to rapidly decrease as the light spreads outwards from the point of incidence. Consequently it functions as a powerful spotlight that is great for lighting up distance objects with a narrow beam. The long and square lights closely mirror each other with the larger variants exhibiting slightly longer range. These lights also have the highest visible distance making them well suited for general illumination of mission critical surfaces like runways and landing pads. Vertical lights on the other hand have the lowest overall range but being omni-directional, with moderate intensity, largely makes up for that. They are well suited for locations that require many nearby surfaces to be irradiated at once such as building interiors or complex voxel geometries. In order to further highlight the differences between these light sources, the following visual reference was created. It showcases the amount of light spread that would occur on a 32x32m (ie: S-core size) flat surface when illuminated by each source from the respective distances listed on the left side.
 

 
Physical Characteristics
 
When it comes to general properties all light elements are approximately equal with the exception of the vertical light L. It has over three times the mass, four times the storage volume, and triple the amount of functional surface area. It is also the only light with any meaningful amount of health although it is still not recommended that they be utilized for defensive purposes since these decorative type elements do not even have damage resistance. In terms of dimensions each increase in the size category roughly doubles the primary side length of each respective element.
 

 
Fabrication Costs
 
The production recipes for XS lighting elements are all Tier 1 and can be made in the nanocrafter. All other sizes are Tier 2 and must be crafted in industry units, specifically an Assembler XS for everything except the vertical light L which requires the S sized variant. An overview of the fabrication costs per individual element produced is provided below. From it we can see that if you neglect schematics the only differences between baseline unit costs are associated with an item's tier. However once again the vertical light L proves to be an exception as it also has a substantially longer crafting time, likely due to it being paired with with the Assembler S.
 

 
Under current market prices these schematics represent upwards of 50% the overall cost expenditure to manufacture said lights. Taking a brief look at public market orders it becomes clear that despite this, there is a moderate surplus of elements available for purchase (note that outliers with absurd +/-1000% prices have been removed). Smaller sized lights in particular appear to have been produced in excess of player demand and are now being listed at or below that of production costs. It is difficult to estimate when the existing supply will be exhausted as player demand for small lights is not easily quantified. However due to the low fabrication costs and crafting times, affluent manufactures will be able to quickly restock this market should the opportunity arise. The situation with larger sized lights is more dynamic right now. The low volume of units that are presently on the market have been listed with profit margins of about 20% which is indicative of a more limited supply and/or a greater demand.
 

 
To assess supply concerns, the following plot compares the fabrication costs for lights to that of atmospheric engines. From it we can see that the total schematic costs for engines is slightly higher while the requisite ore requirements are substantially higher, particularly for M and L sizes. Despite this, market sell volume for engines is much greater than that of lights while also maintaining above zero profit margins. Thus we can infer that player industries exist which are capable of meeting supply requirements for the large lighting sector but they are instead targeting other items like engines, likely due to even higher consumer demand and hence greater profits. 
 

 
Luminescent Voxels
 
Unlike lighting elements these voxels appear to operate solely as emissive surfaces and produce a highly localized glowing effect. In terms of the ore costs per m3 they are similar to the other Tier 2 light elements but only require about a fourth of the T1 ore (more specifically 11 and 30 litters of T1 and T2 respectively). Schematics cost per m3 is exceptionally low at 172.45 quanta. This would ordinarily make luminescent voxels the cheapest form of Tier 2 lighting but their more limited range also means that a substantial amount is needed to achieve the same level of illumination as the other light elements. They do however have the unique ability to be precisely shaped and seamlessly integrated into other voxel structures. Considering all of this I believe luminescent voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination.
 
Conclusions and Recommendations
 
Based on the above, it is my determination that Dual Universe currently has adequate lighting options which when employed correctly, will handle the majority of scenarios. There is however plenty of room for expansion and/or further diversification down the road, when time permits. In terms of expansion I recommend adding a secondary element with omni-directional properties such as a sphereical light. Also consider decreasing the overall effectiveness of the headlight XS and instead utilizing its original properties on a larger sized variant (ie: headlight S). In terms of diversification, the most restricted parameter right now is FOV so assess the merits of adding that as a configurable variable or providing more FOV variation across the existing element set. 

Finally @Aaron Cain your original inquiry was with regards to crafting costs for L sized lights with respect to T2 engines, considering the associated player demand for both (static building vs dynamic construct). Based on market trends alone, it is safe to say that the demand for large engines is presently higher. From a practical standpoint this examination shows that it only takes a couple strategically placed L sized lights to fully illuminate an S core sized surface. I also reason that illuminating a dynamic construct of identical core size will typically require more lights than its static counterpart due to the need to handle both interior and exterior surfaces as well as the more complex geometries associated with piloting elements. So the question becomes why are large lights less popular then large engines? Rationally, it is either because the majority of players are less interested in them and/or are unwilling to invest into them. With regards to baseline costs these lights are already a fraction of the cost of said engines, primarily due to their sparser ore requirements. Perhaps that is still not sufficient, but with engines flying off the proverbial shelves it is difficult to say this conclusively. The only thing I can conclude is that the majority of players place low importance on lighting. The next step would be to reach out, ask why, then determine if anything should be done or if players are satisfied.
 

Territory Mechanics
If you have no existing territories on a given planet/moon then when you go to deploy your territory unit on that body, the deployment fee will be set to zero. If you already have claims then it will cost you a flat fee of 500,000 quanta regardless of how many claims you have. The only restriction applied to inactive territories is that they will be unable to start mining units. You can run industry units on inactive tiles as of Panacea update 0.28 Currently a territory marked as headquarters (HQ) can be left inactive indefinitely. As long as your territory is marked as HQ that red payment reminder can be ignored and will periodically reset itself. Now the reason why you have heard conflicting information here is because concerns have been raised regarding the permanence of HQ tiles for accounts who have unsubscribed and are unlikely to return. Players have proposed that the 90 day inactive asset requisitioning (IAR) rules should apply to HQ territories as well, which would mean they would become abandoned should the owner's account remain unsubscribed for more than 90 days. Please note that this has not actually been implemented by the game designers but it is possible that they could make alterations so be sure to keep up with the news. Gyroscope Control
 
There is no default hotkey for toggling the gyroscope while piloting a construct but you can easily create one by editing the default lua script. The function call required for engaging the gyroscope is slotname.activate() and it can be subsequently deactivated with slotname.deactivate() or directly toggled via slotname.toggle(). Simply link your gyroscope to your control unit (ie: pilot chair) and keep track of which slot number it occupies as you will need to replace slotname in the function call with the exact name given to said slot (note you can also rename them for convenience). Next open the lua editor and click on the predefined system slot. Press add filter at the bottom, then select the onActionStart() event by hovering over the 3 dots. Next click on the blank field within the brackets and choose which hotkey you want to use (note that option 1 = Alt+1 by default but you can also change that under your client settings). Then with your new onActionStart("hotkey") event selected, type slotname.toggle() into the lua editor field and press apply.
Now whenever you press that hotkey while piloting, your gyroscope will toggle on and off.
 
Here is a visual of what you need to achieve. Note I am using lshift (ie: left shift) as my hotkey and my gyroscope is plugged into the slot8 which I renamed as gyroscopeSlot. 
 

 

Territory Mechanics
If you have no existing territories on a given planet/moon then when you go to deploy your territory unit on that body, the deployment fee will be set to zero. If you already have claims then it will cost you a flat fee of 500,000 quanta regardless of how many claims you have. The only restriction applied to inactive territories is that they will be unable to start mining units. You can run industry units on inactive tiles as of Panacea update 0.28 Currently a territory marked as headquarters (HQ) can be left inactive indefinitely. As long as your territory is marked as HQ that red payment reminder can be ignored and will periodically reset itself. Now the reason why you have heard conflicting information here is because concerns have been raised regarding the permanence of HQ tiles for accounts who have unsubscribed and are unlikely to return. Players have proposed that the 90 day inactive asset requisitioning (IAR) rules should apply to HQ territories as well, which would mean they would become abandoned should the owner's account remain unsubscribed for more than 90 days. Please note that this has not actually been implemented by the game designers but it is possible that they could make alterations so be sure to keep up with the news. Gyroscope Control
 
There is no default hotkey for toggling the gyroscope while piloting a construct but you can easily create one by editing the default lua script. The function call required for engaging the gyroscope is slotname.activate() and it can be subsequently deactivated with slotname.deactivate() or directly toggled via slotname.toggle(). Simply link your gyroscope to your control unit (ie: pilot chair) and keep track of which slot number it occupies as you will need to replace slotname in the function call with the exact name given to said slot (note you can also rename them for convenience). Next open the lua editor and click on the predefined system slot. Press add filter at the bottom, then select the onActionStart() event by hovering over the 3 dots. Next click on the blank field within the brackets and choose which hotkey you want to use (note that option 1 = Alt+1 by default but you can also change that under your client settings). Then with your new onActionStart("hotkey") event selected, type slotname.toggle() into the lua editor field and press apply.
Now whenever you press that hotkey while piloting, your gyroscope will toggle on and off.
 
Here is a visual of what you need to achieve. Note I am using lshift (ie: left shift) as my hotkey and my gyroscope is plugged into the slot8 which I renamed as gyroscopeSlot. 
 

 

Something I got showed the other day is that the scaling goes up to 5. Higher values increase the brightness/intensity of ths source. They don't seem to have any effect on range, but the light level is higher where the light has any effect at all.

No I am not NQ and as I said in the opening, lighting is not my area of expertise. However I would like to obtain a high level understanding of all aspects of DU and hence decided to dive in and try to figure out how this all works. After awhile I had collected a bunch of interesting data so I figured I might as well share it here in the hopes someone would find it useful.
 
I was unable to find any instances of a Square Light L in the market building. It appears that most of the lights being used there are actually white luminescent voxels which as I pointed out in my post have the lowest range and are poorly suited for general illumination. I did however manage to find a pair of Square Light M near the entrance elevator and they seemed to be doing a fine job in my opinion.

 
Perhaps it could be improved but once again this is not because lighting is broken, it is just not being used effectively here. The landing pad only has 4 light elements and they are placed in the far corner. Everything else is once again luminescent voxels.

 
As I said in my post they appear best suited for short range interior lighting. The vertical light L will only illuminate things within ~20m and those illuminated things will only be seen as illuminated from up to 300m away. The long and square lights have less intensity but surfaces illuminated by them will be visible from much further.
 
It seems that I am not able to reproduce this. The ground directly beneath my ship has the same light level as the rest of the terrain. There is however a very faint glow coming from the nearby district which makes sense because there are 4x square light L on that platform.

 
I do agree with you that water has seemingly no impact on lighting. Not sure if that is something that can be easily added but I am certainly not opposed to the idea.
 
Yes the amount of light present during the night was increased and yes that does have a negative impact on immersion but I was there during this period in time and the heavy darkness was often quoted as an major issue by players. Personally I think it is better now but that is just my opinion. Perhaps your right and the majority of players feel it was turned up too high. I would love to hear more people comment on this.
 
Ah the avatar's flashlight. I actually investigated that too but it was an entirely different class of lighting object which was far more complicated. To be honest I still don't fully understand how it works, something about cubemaps and box projections. I will have to look into again when I have time. Personally I find the flashlight works well but I will admit there are times I wish it had a wider FOV.

That is very fair. Apart from the third party kickstarter page, most of the remaining information pages were archived after several years, likely to avoid confusing newcomers with unobtainable reward packs offering "alpha access". Since there seems to be questions regarding what rewards to expect I will write up a more detailed overview on everything soon and post it here on the forums.

The following is an examination of the various player lighting options in Dual Universe as of Update 1.1. Please keep in mind this is not my area of expertise and many of the conclusions drawn here are highly subjective. Hopefully you still find it useful and free of errors.
 
Summary of Findings (TLDR)
 
The Headlight XS is uniquely situated as the spotlight of Dual Universe and it does that job exceptionally well Long and Square lights are functionally equivalent and best suited for illuminating surfaces that need to be seen from a distance The Vertical light has the lowest effective range but being omni-directional with high intensity makes it ideal for indoor lighting of complex geometries. Luminescent Voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination. Physical properties of lighting elements are standardized but be aware that the Vertical light L has increased mass, volume, and health XS light elements are tier 1 + nanocraftable while S, M, and L sized lights are tier 2 with standardized recipes Current fabrication costs for light elements are primarily from schematics and manufacturers are fully capable of supplying consumer needs right now  
Introduction
 
There are 4 different types of craftable light elements Headlight XS, Long Light, Square Light, and Vertical Light with the last 3 having size variations XS, S, M, and L. Each of these elements can be configured to blink at a regular interval and/or output RGB colors through the right click menu. Note that the RGB values must be scaled between 0 and 1 so if you are referencing integer color values (ie: 1 to 255) simply divide it by 255 before inputting. In addition there are 11 different kinds of Luminescent Voxels creating a fairly diverse color palette that spans the visible spectrum. These lights as shown below are the primary focus of this post, but it is also worth noting there are a large number of alternative sources such as fireworks, deco-lamps, engine VFX, and of course the sun itself.
 

 
Lighting Characteristics
 
The main objective behind adding lights to a construct is to use them to illuminate surfaces. These are the key parameters that influence this.
 
Field of View (FOV) – The angle centered about an object’s normal within which light is cast Intensity Factor – The relative power of a light source measured in multiples of 100,000 lux Attenuation Distance – The distance between a light source and a surface, beyond which said surface is no longer illuminated Penumbra Factor – A measure of how fast projected/surface light intensity decreases from the epicenter  Visible Distance – The distance between an illuminated surface and an observer, beyond which the light on said surface begins to fade out  
When it comes to FOV all light elements have approximately the same value of 100 degrees with the exception of vertical lights which are omni-directional. The remaining stats are plotted below with reference to element size. Note that gaps in the bar graph represent break points on the y-axis which were added to prevent exceptionally large values from obscuring the rest of the dataset.
 

 
The headlight XS has the greatest light intensity and attenuation distance which makes it effective at illuminating distant surfaces, but the high penumbra factor causes that intensity to rapidly decrease as the light spreads outwards from the point of incidence. Consequently it functions as a powerful spotlight that is great for lighting up distance objects with a narrow beam. The long and square lights closely mirror each other with the larger variants exhibiting slightly longer range. These lights also have the highest visible distance making them well suited for general illumination of mission critical surfaces like runways and landing pads. Vertical lights on the other hand have the lowest overall range but being omni-directional, with moderate intensity, largely makes up for that. They are well suited for locations that require many nearby surfaces to be irradiated at once such as building interiors or complex voxel geometries. In order to further highlight the differences between these light sources, the following visual reference was created. It showcases the amount of light spread that would occur on a 32x32m (ie: S-core size) flat surface when illuminated by each source from the respective distances listed on the left side.
 

 
Physical Characteristics
 
When it comes to general properties all light elements are approximately equal with the exception of the vertical light L. It has over three times the mass, four times the storage volume, and triple the amount of functional surface area. It is also the only light with any meaningful amount of health although it is still not recommended that they be utilized for defensive purposes since these decorative type elements do not even have damage resistance. In terms of dimensions each increase in the size category roughly doubles the primary side length of each respective element.
 

 
Fabrication Costs
 
The production recipes for XS lighting elements are all Tier 1 and can be made in the nanocrafter. All other sizes are Tier 2 and must be crafted in industry units, specifically an Assembler XS for everything except the vertical light L which requires the S sized variant. An overview of the fabrication costs per individual element produced is provided below. From it we can see that if you neglect schematics the only differences between baseline unit costs are associated with an item's tier. However once again the vertical light L proves to be an exception as it also has a substantially longer crafting time, likely due to it being paired with with the Assembler S.
 

 
Under current market prices these schematics represent upwards of 50% the overall cost expenditure to manufacture said lights. Taking a brief look at public market orders it becomes clear that despite this, there is a moderate surplus of elements available for purchase (note that outliers with absurd +/-1000% prices have been removed). Smaller sized lights in particular appear to have been produced in excess of player demand and are now being listed at or below that of production costs. It is difficult to estimate when the existing supply will be exhausted as player demand for small lights is not easily quantified. However due to the low fabrication costs and crafting times, affluent manufactures will be able to quickly restock this market should the opportunity arise. The situation with larger sized lights is more dynamic right now. The low volume of units that are presently on the market have been listed with profit margins of about 20% which is indicative of a more limited supply and/or a greater demand.
 

 
To assess supply concerns, the following plot compares the fabrication costs for lights to that of atmospheric engines. From it we can see that the total schematic costs for engines is slightly higher while the requisite ore requirements are substantially higher, particularly for M and L sizes. Despite this, market sell volume for engines is much greater than that of lights while also maintaining above zero profit margins. Thus we can infer that player industries exist which are capable of meeting supply requirements for the large lighting sector but they are instead targeting other items like engines, likely due to even higher consumer demand and hence greater profits. 
 

 
Luminescent Voxels
 
Unlike lighting elements these voxels appear to operate solely as emissive surfaces and produce a highly localized glowing effect. In terms of the ore costs per m3 they are similar to the other Tier 2 light elements but only require about a fourth of the T1 ore (more specifically 11 and 30 litters of T1 and T2 respectively). Schematics cost per m3 is exceptionally low at 172.45 quanta. This would ordinarily make luminescent voxels the cheapest form of Tier 2 lighting but their more limited range also means that a substantial amount is needed to achieve the same level of illumination as the other light elements. They do however have the unique ability to be precisely shaped and seamlessly integrated into other voxel structures. Considering all of this I believe luminescent voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination.
 
Conclusions and Recommendations
 
Based on the above, it is my determination that Dual Universe currently has adequate lighting options which when employed correctly, will handle the majority of scenarios. There is however plenty of room for expansion and/or further diversification down the road, when time permits. In terms of expansion I recommend adding a secondary element with omni-directional properties such as a sphereical light. Also consider decreasing the overall effectiveness of the headlight XS and instead utilizing its original properties on a larger sized variant (ie: headlight S). In terms of diversification, the most restricted parameter right now is FOV so assess the merits of adding that as a configurable variable or providing more FOV variation across the existing element set. 

Finally @Aaron Cain your original inquiry was with regards to crafting costs for L sized lights with respect to T2 engines, considering the associated player demand for both (static building vs dynamic construct). Based on market trends alone, it is safe to say that the demand for large engines is presently higher. From a practical standpoint this examination shows that it only takes a couple strategically placed L sized lights to fully illuminate an S core sized surface. I also reason that illuminating a dynamic construct of identical core size will typically require more lights than its static counterpart due to the need to handle both interior and exterior surfaces as well as the more complex geometries associated with piloting elements. So the question becomes why are large lights less popular then large engines? Rationally, it is either because the majority of players are less interested in them and/or are unwilling to invest into them. With regards to baseline costs these lights are already a fraction of the cost of said engines, primarily due to their sparser ore requirements. Perhaps that is still not sufficient, but with engines flying off the proverbial shelves it is difficult to say this conclusively. The only thing I can conclude is that the majority of players place low importance on lighting. The next step would be to reach out, ask why, then determine if anything should be done or if players are satisfied.
 

The following is an examination of the various player lighting options in Dual Universe as of Update 1.1. Please keep in mind this is not my area of expertise and many of the conclusions drawn here are highly subjective. Hopefully you still find it useful and free of errors.
 
Summary of Findings (TLDR)
 
The Headlight XS is uniquely situated as the spotlight of Dual Universe and it does that job exceptionally well Long and Square lights are functionally equivalent and best suited for illuminating surfaces that need to be seen from a distance The Vertical light has the lowest effective range but being omni-directional with high intensity makes it ideal for indoor lighting of complex geometries. Luminescent Voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination. Physical properties of lighting elements are standardized but be aware that the Vertical light L has increased mass, volume, and health XS light elements are tier 1 + nanocraftable while S, M, and L sized lights are tier 2 with standardized recipes Current fabrication costs for light elements are primarily from schematics and manufacturers are fully capable of supplying consumer needs right now  
Introduction
 
There are 4 different types of craftable light elements Headlight XS, Long Light, Square Light, and Vertical Light with the last 3 having size variations XS, S, M, and L. Each of these elements can be configured to blink at a regular interval and/or output RGB colors through the right click menu. Note that the RGB values must be scaled between 0 and 1 so if you are referencing integer color values (ie: 1 to 255) simply divide it by 255 before inputting. In addition there are 11 different kinds of Luminescent Voxels creating a fairly diverse color palette that spans the visible spectrum. These lights as shown below are the primary focus of this post, but it is also worth noting there are a large number of alternative sources such as fireworks, deco-lamps, engine VFX, and of course the sun itself.
 

 
Lighting Characteristics
 
The main objective behind adding lights to a construct is to use them to illuminate surfaces. These are the key parameters that influence this.
 
Field of View (FOV) – The angle centered about an object’s normal within which light is cast Intensity Factor – The relative power of a light source measured in multiples of 100,000 lux Attenuation Distance – The distance between a light source and a surface, beyond which said surface is no longer illuminated Penumbra Factor – A measure of how fast projected/surface light intensity decreases from the epicenter  Visible Distance – The distance between an illuminated surface and an observer, beyond which the light on said surface begins to fade out  
When it comes to FOV all light elements have approximately the same value of 100 degrees with the exception of vertical lights which are omni-directional. The remaining stats are plotted below with reference to element size. Note that gaps in the bar graph represent break points on the y-axis which were added to prevent exceptionally large values from obscuring the rest of the dataset.
 

 
The headlight XS has the greatest light intensity and attenuation distance which makes it effective at illuminating distant surfaces, but the high penumbra factor causes that intensity to rapidly decrease as the light spreads outwards from the point of incidence. Consequently it functions as a powerful spotlight that is great for lighting up distance objects with a narrow beam. The long and square lights closely mirror each other with the larger variants exhibiting slightly longer range. These lights also have the highest visible distance making them well suited for general illumination of mission critical surfaces like runways and landing pads. Vertical lights on the other hand have the lowest overall range but being omni-directional, with moderate intensity, largely makes up for that. They are well suited for locations that require many nearby surfaces to be irradiated at once such as building interiors or complex voxel geometries. In order to further highlight the differences between these light sources, the following visual reference was created. It showcases the amount of light spread that would occur on a 32x32m (ie: S-core size) flat surface when illuminated by each source from the respective distances listed on the left side.
 

 
Physical Characteristics
 
When it comes to general properties all light elements are approximately equal with the exception of the vertical light L. It has over three times the mass, four times the storage volume, and triple the amount of functional surface area. It is also the only light with any meaningful amount of health although it is still not recommended that they be utilized for defensive purposes since these decorative type elements do not even have damage resistance. In terms of dimensions each increase in the size category roughly doubles the primary side length of each respective element.
 

 
Fabrication Costs
 
The production recipes for XS lighting elements are all Tier 1 and can be made in the nanocrafter. All other sizes are Tier 2 and must be crafted in industry units, specifically an Assembler XS for everything except the vertical light L which requires the S sized variant. An overview of the fabrication costs per individual element produced is provided below. From it we can see that if you neglect schematics the only differences between baseline unit costs are associated with an item's tier. However once again the vertical light L proves to be an exception as it also has a substantially longer crafting time, likely due to it being paired with with the Assembler S.
 

 
Under current market prices these schematics represent upwards of 50% the overall cost expenditure to manufacture said lights. Taking a brief look at public market orders it becomes clear that despite this, there is a moderate surplus of elements available for purchase (note that outliers with absurd +/-1000% prices have been removed). Smaller sized lights in particular appear to have been produced in excess of player demand and are now being listed at or below that of production costs. It is difficult to estimate when the existing supply will be exhausted as player demand for small lights is not easily quantified. However due to the low fabrication costs and crafting times, affluent manufactures will be able to quickly restock this market should the opportunity arise. The situation with larger sized lights is more dynamic right now. The low volume of units that are presently on the market have been listed with profit margins of about 20% which is indicative of a more limited supply and/or a greater demand.
 

 
To assess supply concerns, the following plot compares the fabrication costs for lights to that of atmospheric engines. From it we can see that the total schematic costs for engines is slightly higher while the requisite ore requirements are substantially higher, particularly for M and L sizes. Despite this, market sell volume for engines is much greater than that of lights while also maintaining above zero profit margins. Thus we can infer that player industries exist which are capable of meeting supply requirements for the large lighting sector but they are instead targeting other items like engines, likely due to even higher consumer demand and hence greater profits. 
 

 
Luminescent Voxels
 
Unlike lighting elements these voxels appear to operate solely as emissive surfaces and produce a highly localized glowing effect. In terms of the ore costs per m3 they are similar to the other Tier 2 light elements but only require about a fourth of the T1 ore (more specifically 11 and 30 litters of T1 and T2 respectively). Schematics cost per m3 is exceptionally low at 172.45 quanta. This would ordinarily make luminescent voxels the cheapest form of Tier 2 lighting but their more limited range also means that a substantial amount is needed to achieve the same level of illumination as the other light elements. They do however have the unique ability to be precisely shaped and seamlessly integrated into other voxel structures. Considering all of this I believe luminescent voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination.
 
Conclusions and Recommendations
 
Based on the above, it is my determination that Dual Universe currently has adequate lighting options which when employed correctly, will handle the majority of scenarios. There is however plenty of room for expansion and/or further diversification down the road, when time permits. In terms of expansion I recommend adding a secondary element with omni-directional properties such as a sphereical light. Also consider decreasing the overall effectiveness of the headlight XS and instead utilizing its original properties on a larger sized variant (ie: headlight S). In terms of diversification, the most restricted parameter right now is FOV so assess the merits of adding that as a configurable variable or providing more FOV variation across the existing element set. 

Finally @Aaron Cain your original inquiry was with regards to crafting costs for L sized lights with respect to T2 engines, considering the associated player demand for both (static building vs dynamic construct). Based on market trends alone, it is safe to say that the demand for large engines is presently higher. From a practical standpoint this examination shows that it only takes a couple strategically placed L sized lights to fully illuminate an S core sized surface. I also reason that illuminating a dynamic construct of identical core size will typically require more lights than its static counterpart due to the need to handle both interior and exterior surfaces as well as the more complex geometries associated with piloting elements. So the question becomes why are large lights less popular then large engines? Rationally, it is either because the majority of players are less interested in them and/or are unwilling to invest into them. With regards to baseline costs these lights are already a fraction of the cost of said engines, primarily due to their sparser ore requirements. Perhaps that is still not sufficient, but with engines flying off the proverbial shelves it is difficult to say this conclusively. The only thing I can conclude is that the majority of players place low importance on lighting. The next step would be to reach out, ask why, then determine if anything should be done or if players are satisfied.
 

I’ll pile on here: nothing bad to say about Rocketman. He’s on top of it.

Agreed, NQ Rocketman has always been kind and fast to respond to my support requests.

Amidst all the negative if valid feedback wanted to call out NQ Rocketman.. fast effective responses to both in game and technical issues. Impressed dude, thank you.

Here is the simplified breakdown. Note that some overlaps are possible whereby an account can belong to more than one category.
Kickstarters are those who supported directly during the kickstarter campaign (ie: Iron/Silver/Bronze/Gold/Sapphire/Ruby/Emerald/Diamond/Kyrium) Founders are those who purchased one of the equivalent kickstarter packs directly from NQ when they made the decision to extend said campaign. The rewards being offered were not modified in any way so suffice to say Founders = Kickstarters when it comes to rewards. Supporters are those who purchased the pledge/supporter packs that were made available in late Alpha (ie: Contributor/Sponsor/Patron) Pioneers are those who purchased some form of gametime prior to official release and subsequently logged in at least once during the first 6 months of said release. @DarkmatterShips Since you paid during beta you have a Pioneer account. There are no exclusive rewards being offered to Pioneers in this update but it would not surprise me if NQ provides more opportunities to obtain special rewards via future events/contests. Also don't forget there are quite a few gameplay features and improvements packed into this update with many more planned for update 1.2.

Thanks, I had no idea I qualified for a pet at all and the game didn't bother to tell me I had one (unlike the outfits where it showed me them when I logged in).

Turns out when I hit 'P' I can turn it on and this thing is flying around behind me now.

If I force respawn, will the pet die too?  I feel bad about that ...

Greetings Noveans,

With more submissions every week, The Exchange lots are filling up fast and we’re happy to announce that we will now be opening the Blue Hall!
 
                         

We are also putting out the call to any players with an Exchange lot that was reserved from Beta that have not yet returned their shop to the Exchange since launch. You now have 30 days to submit your construct to The Exchange in order to maintain your lot reservation.

Any empty “Reserved Lot” will be released in 30 days on January 1st 2023 unless claimed by the current reservation holder and the shop submitted prior to this date.

The Exchange is available to all players interested in having a lot to advertise, recruit, sell, or any other creative endeavor you may want to share with the community. It’s easy to get to and is available as a Point of Interest (PoI). You can fly on over or VR in and see all of the new player-made shops for yourself. We hope you find the attractions, goods, and services you’re looking for!

If you’re interested in opening your own lot in The Exchange, please follow these steps:
Step 1: Read  this document carefully to learn our rules, build guidelines and requirements.
Step 2: Build your construct to a completed state, ready for review by NQ.
Step 3: With your XS core construct complete, fill and submit your application form.
If you’ve been thinking about having a lot in The Exchange, this would be a great time to get your submissions in!!

NQ-Nicodemus
Keeper of The Exchange

I run a multi tier factory producing corners

Im the lurking presence behind the void

Its actually not that complicated. The Automata pet has 5 variants while the Anicham has 3 thus the later is the kickstarter pet and the former is from the supporter packs. Here is a quick breakdown of what to expect.
Silver Founder = Automata Tier 1 & Anicham Tier 1 Gold Founder = Automata Tier 2 & Anicham Tier 2 Sapphire Founder = Automata Tier 3 & Anicham Tier 3 Ruby Founder = Automata Tier 4 & Anicham Tier 3 Emerald/Diamond/Kyrium Founders = Automata Tier 5 & Anicham Tier 3 Contributor Supporter = Anicham Tier 1 Sponsor Supporter = Anicham Tier 2 Patron Supporter = Anicham Tier 3 Note the reason that founders are receiving some of the supporter pets is because NQ decided to gift them certain parts of the supporter packs back in March 2018 as per this graphic.

The pets provided in this update are specifically for backers who supported the game early on and which ones you get is dependent on the backer pack purchased. Once again there will likely be more opportunities to obtain/purchase pets in the future so be sure to keep an eye out for DU announcements. If you did receive pets in this update they will be added to your Novean Overview Screen (hotkey = P) where you can also selectively activate/deactivate them.

I seem to recall seeing something about having some difficulties with getting all the core blueprints.  I suggest you open a ticket if you have not already.

First, welcome to the DU community This game can definitely be daunting, and after the intro tutorial there is a lot to unpack and learn. It can certainly seem overwhelming, or you might not be sure what to tackle next. This video guide lays out some of the fundamental things you can do to get started in your first weeks of Dual Universe.
 
 

Update it got fixed by the dev team! 😮

I start building lots of things and hardly ever finish.
 
I'm a leaf on the wind.

Just to follow up on this, the Air Delivery Challenge was re-enabled in the last update. Best of luck out there improving on your time and earning that quanta.

Hello PaddyBaptiste and welcome to the forums.
 
Steam requires that a singular, non-reoccurring, purchase for at least 1 month of gametime be made through them to unlock the ability to play on the persistent server via said steam client. If you browse to the steam store page you should see an option to buy 1 month of gametime listed there. After making that purchase another option will then appear on steam for launching the non-demo version of Dual Universe. Please note if you do make said purchase, there will be a new Redeem Gametime button added to your My Products page which you will need to press to add the gametime purchased via steam to your Dual Universe account (see here for more details).
 
Since you gifted your friend a DAC they most likely have not made their first steam purchase and thus do not currently have the non-demo version unlocked on steam. Thankfully Novaquark does not impose this kind of stringent requirement on their own launcher so if you friend wants to play on the persistent server using your DAC then they can procced to this DAC page to redeem it and then download the Novaquark launcher via the button at the bottom left.
 
Hope that helps. Please let me know if anything is unclear or if you have further questions.