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Metalmammoth

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  1. Lethak: Well done good sir, counterpoints, reason and logic. -Even if, true to your word, we don't agree. -To that, I'd say, the very point of a building game is to make your cosmetics as good as possible, otherwise you might as well play any static spacey-flighty-fighty game that doesn't have any kind of construction- not that those are bad, mid you, but without building fancy stuff it's just the same as any mmo; min-max your stats, crush opposition, done. And ... Blueprints happened. Since you can make a design and store it for replication upon destruction of the first prototype (or else). The PvPers will, too, make some efforts into building their ships; because nobody likes flying in a piece of junk and will now their effort is not truly lost after a fight (so as yours). I suspected that much, and wasn't worried about that. I'm saying it's not quite the height of the day to see a masterpiece gutted by something that shares it's aesthetics with that of a brick. Maybe you haven't seen "Doomcubes" first hand yet, but believe me their pilots do just that: No ornamentation, no nothing, just an actual, smooth-sided cube. They don't fret either about losing their "design", rather, are unwilling to spend more effort on it, and, at least some of them do it precisely because it's annoying, not just because it's the simplest way to win. That kind of people? No thank you. All they need is the chance to do so, and they'll work tirelessly -and find ways to cheat- to get to those who don't want them around, be it a game with a hundred wilderness maps or a hundred galaxies. I watched that kind if d!ckery too long, both in games and in the walking world. While I am able to deal with it, I do prefer to keep it as far away from me as possible, not unlike molten metal or other dangerous substances. At least when I'm looking for recreation. But wouldn't you rather choose a group whose rules you can agree with? I would. Wouldn't you rather filter potential friends- and enemies by interest, mentality, etc? Not unlinke how you go to a specific type of forum, or meeting place rather than approaching random strangers on the main street. And for Capn' Catmolester: you just keep assuming wild BS. I wonder how many people takes YOU seriously. There's some key differences here: I don't need to be right, yet I am. I don't, per se, need this game to turn out according to my wishes, even though if I'd like to nudge it a bit in the right direction. You however hiss and claw in true despair.
  2. Now we're going somewhere. Ultimately they'll make the game they want to make, and it'll either sell or it won't. But does it absolutely HAVE to be "Massively" multiplayer? I listed my reasons why I think there's virtue in smaller communities. A single large one, true enough, will offer more chances to meet more people, see more creations, and always run into someone..... Except, you can also do that simply by checking out another server and keep the benefits of a smaller group, and as for population density, I usually get deeper interactions out of the average NPC than the average player who's in a rush to do his daily farming and questing and whatever. I sure won't expect someone to drop his prioritiesfor my sake. As for creating a 3D mesh; No. Think the same voxel based construction as building the ship itself. That takes storage as well. In fact, this way a ship's file could become SMALLER by not having to build every repeating shape individually, rather calling on pre-made objects, which is the original goal of using prefabs.: Let's say there's a ship made of 100k polygons total. It has 4 big old thrusters, each made of 10k polygons. Since they are prefabs, you didn't have to build them four times individually; the ship's file actually only contains the data for 60k polys, and calls another file containing the other 10k; Instead of 4 times 10k coordinates, the system uses 4 coordinates for the 4 prefab units, and 10k coordinates once to determine the shape of that prefab. In no way does it create more data to be stored than in does to create a ship without using any prefabs. Naturally, no new texture is created, simply uses the same stuff anything you build from regular blocks does. And you're back to square one. Could YOU pull your head out of your furry rear and stop making wild assumptions? How is it not already an SE clone? There are obvious improvements, but the similarities are staggering. What's this about FPS? Do I also think mole people live beneath the surface? That Santa is real? Tell me, what else do I think that I didn't know I do? What did I write about WoW and EVE? That only those two still survive with that payment model. They too COULD be different, and the only thing stopping it is human greed. There is nothing to explain there. As I've written about why red's not blue: No private server because they patented their stuff? Well, duh. Don't fuss about it and it's suddenly not a problem.
  3. Meaning, there are no good reasons other than "well, it's not red because it's blue". The site's FAQ will have to do then. I'd also like to remind you I was kind enough to provide a TLDR of my own ramblings. Won't preach water while drinking wine, I am willing to read through anything of up to a similar length of what I unleashed if it doesn't completely suck, and isn't quite as jumbled as what you so smugly referred to. Well, at any rate the ideas are out there and they either take root or don't. Seen enough forums to hold no illusions, but here's hoping. Would have enjoyed some proper responses, counterpoints even, but as so often before, the first ones to strike were less than capable of that. Maybe someone still bumps in before this topic devolves into a comlete sh!tstorm.
  4. Well. Thanks for the welocme. With respect, what you linked is a worse textwall than mine with links to more textwalls. I'd appreciate if you'd name the specific reasons why do you think what I say is wrong. I've scanned it and the main site's FAQ BEFORE posting, and once more now. It wasn't thorough, but I see no good reasons, nor do I believe there is one. I can be proven wrong of course. Well. Did read on the main site. ... Skim the forum's one. Probably more thoroughly than you skimmed my post; I didn't ask for 40k themed cockpits. I asked for the ABILITY to BUILD a cockpit fitting of any theme. Because not everything is huge enough to be straight-out block built. I guess it's easier to be straight out dismissive? In no way did I imply I'd believe I'm seeing the features of the finished game. I merely mentioned one that haven't been seen so far, and declared it important. Right. I don't care about your attention. I care about a potential for a good game. To any who doubts my reasons, or which poster is a troll here, I ask you to think: Which one of us put more effort into his post? Do trolls offer valuable ideas often in your experience? Or do they attempt to discredit their perceived opponent by an off-hand remark that may or may not be slightly connected to their first impression or a snippet of information picked out of context? Worry not, I recognize that smell.
  5. That's good old Picard for you, helpfully indicating which posters are lacking in intelligence. I'd be making the same expression if I was forced to take part in a moron's post in order for him to appear witty. And don't forget, he's contributing to keep the topic alive, even if you have nothing of worth to say. Let's see how many we can get. Oh! The last one has words. So who said it has to be a carebear simulator? Yet what does it matter if someone wants to run such a server half a globe away and completely secluded from you? It wouldn't affect you any way, unless you're already planning on grand griefing sprees. And that's just one of the many reasons against a single centralized server. Can you imagine how confusing it is to find yourself surrounded by people who's language you don't understand? Can you find common ground with someone half, third, or quarter your age? What about those who'd prefer to play according to different rules, or those who would use the game as a platform for a themed environment? I'll be the first one to acknowledge Starmade does almost everything wrong, but they got this aspect right.
  6. Greetings. I'm fresh in after watching the gameplay video, and reading around a bit here - and digesting it for a couple of days for good measure. I'd like to share my impressions with you all, as probably everyone else does, since there's precious little else to do with this game as of yet. First off, what I liked: The scale. The sheer scale and the level of detail, with seemingly free curves, angles and block sizes, which leaves me to believe it's possible to build near-perfectly detailed smooth-surfaces, as opposed to what any other building game allows the player: Meaning, be stuck with 1 (or in an extreme case 3) meter sized blocks, and jagged slopes if you want a curve or a flat angle. That is amazing, and so is the thought of an eight kilometer long structure that doesn't wreck the game into 1FPS hell, especially since guess how long is an Imperial Retribution Class Battleship? You guessed it. Eight kilometers, plus ramming spike. And here I am stuck for the past couple of years, begrudgingly yet lovingly building a 1:7 scale bastardized mini-replica in Starmade, all the while wishing it was 1:1, better detailed, and not pixelated. However, for that to work, prefabricated blocks (a.k.a. cockpits, thrusters, weapons) NEED to change; So far the current system merely seems to be copyin what Space Engineers does, yet their method was faulty to beging with: No matter how well detailed and good looking prefabs you add to the game, and no matter how many varieties, they can't fit every design: Clearly, what tech we see now would have no place on a voidship from Warhammer: 40.000, or for that matter Stargate, Star Trek, Star Wars, or any other franchise, or any even partially talented builder's own designs. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What NEEDS to happen, is the ability to build custom prefabs in-game, just like building the ship itself, then assigning functions to them through some menu, marking attachment and animation points, etc, so everyone can have the perfect part that perfectly fits the vessel he likes, and not just one general, bland sci-fi design! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That one is important. If nothing else happens until release, it needs to be made a reality, unless you're fine simply aping Space Engineers. .... And with that done, we reach the cause of my wariness. The game's nature as an MMO, and it's planned payment mode-OHGODNOTANOTHERONEOFTHOSEPOSTS!!!!!!!!! Bear with me please. I'll try to make it entertaining. -MMOs lock everyone together. Smaller private servers allow for replicas of Different universes, different ways of playing, or gatherings of people with different mindsets. Lock all that together, and you unleash all the horror of every "which faction would win in a cross-franchise battle" forum flamewar ever written in the history of the internet, with all the grief attached to it. And, there'll be no way to avoid the kind of players you'd rather not mingle with; Did you spend 300 hours lovingly building a masterpiece? Tough luck when the powergamers fly in with their literally 8-polygon cubeships and manage to trash it because they didn't waste space on something as trivial as accurately replicated interiors. Does your six year old son enjoy flying the very first, and superest spaceship he ever built? It's like 20 blocks long, and looks like a clay dinosaur someone stepped on, but oh the innocent fun he's having! However, that smile will quickly turn into disappointment when cannon shells a thousand times larger than his ship start raining in from fifty-thousand meters, or just, more prosaically, encounters his first really sick griefer, (Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe we grow through pain, and no child should be pampered, but neither should we expect the little ones to face all the evils such an online community can throw at them all at once.) What I'm saying is: Smaller, dedicated servers are better, with closer communities, which in turn are closer to the people running the show, thus are better served, and better able to find a virtual home they can enjoy themselves the way they want. That was the reason against a centralized server. Now for the dirty financials: I personally think it's robbery to pay a monthly fee. I can buy the things I like, and then they'll be mine forever, or at least until they decompose. Buying a game once, then having to pay ANY fee just so I can keep accessing it is the definition of evil, and the lazy company's way of getting rich. -Some idiots who think they can act all cool and cinycal write stuff like "yeah, how dare they ask money for their product" Which is BS and makes you sound retarded. I'm perfectly fine paying for the product ONCE, as they deserve it. I'm also willing to pay for an expansion, as that has a fair amount of work put into it, and as such, has worth. What doesn't have worth, is not pulling the plug from the server, and waiting for your paycheck. -Some people say it takes money to run the servers. It does, but take the initial price of the game, say 60 Eur for an AAA title. Most companies go rich simply by selling a succesful game. Some companies even turn some of that money back into the game, and keep releasing patches and content for their game out of love, duty, and for making you interested in buying an expansion or a sequel. Take then, say 15 Eur a month sub fee. Sell just a million copies. That's ( 1KK x 60 ) + ( 1KK x 15 ) if everyone only ever just pays for a single month and quits. That's 75 million euros. That alone is enough to pay a decent salary for all your employees, cover your expenses, buy and maintain your own server park and keep a decent profit for the rest of all the lives of everyone involved. For the next 20 years, which is an extremely long time both for a game to still be played and for a studio that doesn't disband not to secure another round of income, these costs become less than trivial. There can be only two reasons for this amount not being enough: - Attempting to run a space program, or being greedy. But surely not everyone quits after one month? And the income keeps racking up. But, as I've said, I don't even want their servers. I'd run my own as long as I'm interested. As would countless others. Boom, no server costs, no maintenance for the company. Just keep patching for a year or two until things become solid enough to call truly finished. (Hells, a finished game on release day is a far off dream these days.......) That's all there is to it. They don't need your monthly payment to keep the operation running. They just want it. Take WoW for example: Their players pay their monthly sub fee, yet still have to pay full Tripple-A price for every expansion that comes out. Boom, double profits. Next point. Some of you believe, and even the dev blog claims, a P2P system with a monthly subscription fee protects the player more because..... reasons? In a truly F2P game, yeah, any moron can grief away with dozens of new accounts every day, true. But how does a monthly fee offer more deterrence from bannable behaviour than a buy once model? I already don't want to lose access to what I bought once, can I somehow don't want it more? I understand I would have spent more money on it, but in exchange for that money I received playtime, which I used up, and is impossible to take away without a brainwash, even if the account itself is lost forever. After a while you'll max out either way, and it can't take that long to start anew from scratch once you know how the game works. So I either care or I don't. There are no further magnitudes. And that's a true cause to worry about: Evil people write dev blogs like that, and stupid people believe them. Edit: Almost forgotten last point: In the end, it doesn't even matter what kind of payment model You, I, the next fellow, or the company want: Name a monthly-sub MMO that isn't WoW or EVE and didn't vanish or become F2P, because most of the people willing to be robbed monthly got hooked on those two way back when it was new and hip - And the only reason they won't quit, because that'd make a lie of their past 10 years and probably prompt some dark deeds now. Probably some fresh and sustainable MMOs exist out there with a P2P model, but I sure as hell am unaware of them. TLDR: -Exbawkshueg. Yay! -Let players build custom prefabs in-game! -Custom private servers cater to different needs and negate server costs for dev. company. Like Starmade. -P2P is bad 4 u, phat lewt for company. You stooooopid if you believe otherwise. -Buy once is decent, respectable. -Yer not WoW, yer not EVE, P2P ye won't succeed.
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