Dracostan

Journal Entry: 0AA-03-8-11:14 (E.yr12478) Location: Helios system, Aloith ::pos{0,2,31.5092,109.2929,256.4138} Professor Draco F. Stan, Dragons Forge Research Institute The containment facility is going through final fitting out … and damn does it look creepy. I know we had to use the nano-tech material for the main structure, but it is so dark it’s like its sucking in the light from the surrounding area. And the overall form feels just as alien as the occurrence it’s meant to hold. I swear I’ve seen it in some holo. The techs are already worrying; during the primary shielding installation they say something happened - that the occurrence reacted. No-one knows for sure; no-one was allowed near the facility during the shield material deposition and all the sensor feeds blanked out just at the crucial moment. All we do know for sure is the surface of the primary shield has buckled, or been compressed after the deposition finished. The deformation is plainly visible on all eight quadrants. For now, it seems stable, as all embedded sensors show no further stress being imparted on the shield material. But given how little we actually know of this thing, I also have a sense of the same trepidation. The build schedule is being pushed by the Institute backers, eager to take advantage of the extra efficiency of manufacturing the quantum gravity manipulators used in warp cells. I know we need to fund this investigation, but utilising the strange emanation from the occurrence without knowing anything more about it sticks in my craw. I’m just glad we have access to automated industries, so there won’t be anyone in the facility so close behind the primary shield. So, the fitting out happening now is on that factory line – just a test line for now, but certain to be expanded if the expected efficiencies hold up to the real world. The facility secondary structures are complete, ahead of time is the surprise! The immediate landing pads have been placed, held with gravity anchors to counter the occurrences anti-gravity field. We also have some local storage; a side benefit of the industry being installed. The big shame is a beautiful piece of architecture had to be removed from the nearby shoreline, a local shipwrights build platform by accounts – but it was too close for comfort of both any civilian presence, and also for ships departing the facility. I hope it gets redeployed somewhere else. I may even ask for a blueprint for myself. We’ll see how this plays out. Tomorrow the primary shielding gets energised; For now, all is as we expect; I keep saying it, but knowing so little against that expectation feels …. Journal entry ends.

Journal Entry: 0AA-14-7-19:34 (E.yr12478) Location: Helios system, Aloith ::pos{0,2,31.5092,109.2929,256.4138} Professor Draco F. Stan, Dragons Forge Research Institute It’s returned… I say returned, but it is more the truth to say ‘It’s real’ – damn, two years of cryo-simulation it seems can have an effect on even the most aware of minds. But how could it have appeared in our cryo-sim? We were over a year out from landfall on Alioth and nothing in Aphelia’s records points to anything more anomalous than the ‘alien’ cores that pull high-grade resources out of the vacuum energy of the Helios system – even those were only discovered and added to the cryo-sim as the Novark made its final approach. Not that getting access to Aphelia’s records is easy – and who’s to say we get complete access to all the data it’s holding. Everything we can remember about the ‘first’ implies it’s the same (damn Aphelia for erasing our data stores, even if simulated) – it looks the same, certainly the same dimensions and form, though some have said it’s a slightly darker shade than before, more freshly smelted chromium than the aluminium we determined as the gauge of the previous one. But that could just be the time of year and the different location changing the ambient lighting conditions. As best to our recollections, it certainly presents to our instruments the same as the previous … I don’t know what to call it, occurrence, encounter … encroachment? – It’s completely reflective to our conventional equipment, no absorption even at the electron-volt level. And as for our quantum-based instruments, we might as well as left them at the Institute. The same shadow, or hole as we saw before. Nothing registering, literal nothing. And again, the strange emission pervading the immediate vicinity - a localised anti-gravity field, that also seems to affect any quantum gravity manipulators, with no apparent source; a completely even field then an abrupt edge just passed 250metres from the … ‘it’. All our ships warp engines are running above 100% efficiency, all warp cells slowly gaining extra charge (not that we can use them this far into a gravity well – if only this … device … would have had the courtesy of appearing in space!). Tests developed in the cryo-sim showed the same impact on warp cell production, a minute but undeniable increase in efficiency. No doubt we’ll take what small advantage it gives us - got to fund this infuriating, exhilarating venture somehow! I need to decide – ‘occurrence’ feels to fit best. Generalised enough that it can describe a singular, but indicative that this may not be the only. The direct and seemingly complete alignment of the occurrence in the cryo-sim and here in the ‘real’ is frankly disturbing. How can they be so alike, but there be no record in what data we can access from Aphelia – and why would it hide what it showed us whilst we slumbered? Speculation has started anew as well, due to the appearance of this occurrence so close to the emergence of the unknown alien ships through the Janus Gate – so closely mirroring the previous appearance, following the discovery and incorporation of the ‘alien’ cores to the cryo-sim over a year ago. Are they connected? Or merely a cosmic coincidence … with so little data we can’t even speculate. In my mind a small niggle speaks to something else outside of these events … watching. The local organisation holding the adjacent tiles has been amenable to us setting up a permanent facility, even transferred title of the immediate tile to the Institute – of extreme curiousness, it is the same org that the previous occurrence appeared next to. I have no answer to this. Work has started on the containment structure, an updated design supposedly, but with no way of actually knowing if it will perform that function. While the old facility seemed to be adequate, we can never be sure – Aphelia assures us the cryo-sim was physically accurate to the real world, even to the quantum level, but even in there, we barely had any time to design those tests, let alone conduct them, before we woke up, and had to start afresh….. Journal entry ends ….

PTS Build 1.3.0 Preview - Noticed all LUA srcript has dissapeared from my programming boards. Slot configuration remains, but no filters or code.

When you say 'your' do you mean those core BPs that we are named as Creator in the BP, or all core BPs we have in our Nanopacks or personal constructs, irrespective of who the Creator is?

Building materials should have 2 mass categories like the products - light and heavy, to have a more 'real world' feel to the materials. As the building materials are predominantly used in static builds, actual mass is not really an issue. So concrete, brick, marble should all be heavy mass honeycombs. Carbon-fibre and wood should be light mass, as they are far more likely to be used in dynamic builds and again would reflect real world feel to the materials. Lumi glass is a special case that could be heavy mass, because while it does feature in dynamic builds, it's not a predominant material, rather a highlighter, so it's overall mass contribution to a construct will be low, despite being a heavy mass honeycomb.

I'm sure I will be covering things mentioned before, but my 2cents: Removal of Schematics: Does this mean the full removal of schematics as a game item from the game, or just the wiping of the currently held schematics in players assets/factories? Removing schematics from the game entirely would be a poor choice, as they provide a progression gate through the industry gameplay. The removal of them would simply result in the situation we had early in Beta, that LEAD to the introduction of schematics, of players being able to easily set up 'omni-factories'. This will all but eliminate the need to interact with the game markets and would lead to an even more exaggerated situation of element hording, as this will be coupled to the now relative ease & rate of ore extraction. Fixing 'exploits': I agree that imbalances caused by errors in costing, or alt parallel missioning should be addressed. However, this could have been done on a case by case basis when it came to light and can still be addressed individually, rather than a heavy-handed approach across the game population. Beta-vet to Newbro advantage: This will always be present in a persistent MMO, as even with a full wipe, vets will have game knowledge that newbros don't and so will be able to progress more effectively. And then further down the line, as more new players join, the advantage of the 'earlier' new players will be above those just joined. A wipe will not effect this aspect of the game. Planet 'quality': This needs clarifying as to whether this is an asset update for the rocks, trees & biomes as was applied to Jago, Teoma etc, or is this the system-wide implementation of the new planet tech that has been talked about? If the latter, would this involve a re-distribution of ore pools as well? While the above may seem like I do not support a wipe, I actually do, but only if the reason for the wipe is a technical one on the server side, that cannot be done in any other way, or that would require significant manual dev involvement. I can see that the introduction of the new planet tech would require a wipe in the same manner as the geo-reset, and the complete removal of schematics is a significant recode of the game (though technically a roll-back), but otherwise the issues raised in the devblog are not sufficient to justify a hard reset of the game world. Should a wipe go ahead, then I would ask for the following : Talent points are refunded, not wiped - this is because talent points are the only thing in the game that cannot be gained through exploits and are gained through paid game subscription time, rather than in-game activity. An acceptable compromise would be either a significant portion of points are refunded, or an accrual multiplier be available to Beta-vets, as a concession to participation in the Beta period. Core Blueprints are retained - the principal activity of DU is creative building in a sandbox universe. The creative legacy of the Beta should be retained in some form, as it was from Alpha. Issues relating to bugs with older Constructs will be addressed with the forthcoming element collision and de-activation mechanics - should a builder want the particular construct in the game, and functional, they would have to rework it, as with any other existing constructs. Schematics should be retained in the game world - Schematics are a vital part of the game progression gating system and as such should remain. Otherwise DU will revert to the state it found itself in in early Beta, where players ran their own omni-factories and so had little incentive to buy from or sell to the game markets. Remember it was this situation that led to the introduction of schematics in the first place. All players would start with 50M Quanta - This would allow a bootstrapping of the game economy, without handing the Beta-vets an unfair advantage of wealth. What players decide to do with this start-up cash is then their decision of how to progress (the starting Quanta amount is obviously something that can be set dependant on review of the games current economy). Basic industry units are seeded at every market, including Haven - The principal factor in almost every game is how quickly a player feels they are 'into the game'. With a starting bank and seeded industries, a player can more quickly enter into the starting level of making their own stuff and setting up an income stream, outside of selling to ore bots. This will give new players a sense of involvement in the game world that surface mining and selling to bots simply cannot match. Coupled with the need to travel the system to purchase schematics to expand their industry, this will encourage the players to venture throughout the system, rather than stick to the inner planets, as this will introduce the game mechanic of flying through the system at a early stage of the game play. It will also boost the market interaction of new players, again setting up the interaction with the market mechanics early. Wipe or not, I will be sticking with DU, simply because the game world and its community in general are a fantastic place to be - the creative freedom and possibilities the game tech allows, as well as the support and encouragement of the community in response to the creations realised in this game, cannot be found anywhere else. I am eager to see what will come, both before and after launch, and look forward to adapting & working through all the new game loops and systems that may come. Draco

Welcome in !

I'm not saying a hauler should have the advantage over a dedicated PvP ship - that's not what I'm trying for here. I'm just trying to get game mechanics and systems that will give haulers a chance of getting away. At the moment, there is not this chance available to the defender - and with the proposed stasis weapon & changes to speed, this imbalance will only get worse.

This isn't Eve - if you like Eve mechanics because it favours you, then play Eve. I'm trying to advocate for balance that gives defenders a chance, for counters to game systems and mechanics that currently skew the balance too far in the attacker favour.

I'm not looking for a get out of Pvp button - I'm looking for balance between haulers and warships that enable a chance for the defender to escape - what NQ has handed to the PvPers with a stasis weapon (and potential speed changes) is a golden gun. There needs to be a counter for these mechanics, these additions make the balance worse for the defender.

"To better balance PvP, we are adding stasis weapons and altering the behavior around a constructs’ maximum speed. With these sweet guns, big armored ships with powerful rockets will no longer have an advantage that allowed them to escape more agile smaller designs." Another mechanic addition that benefits the attackers with NO counter for the defenders. All this does is shift the balance further to the advantage of aggressors. How does NQ not know it is the Pvp ships that have the more powerful engine configurations - not the haulers ?

I see that, and that is how orgs will have to deal with this system, but for large orgs or orgs that NEED large core counts, like creators for ship showrooms, or community projects like Utopia, IC - even Legion or NG - not using core slots will likely not be a viable option in order to keep functioning.

The problem that if this was pre-planned, then NQ are playing us for fools with their initial proposals, knowing that a supposed 'compromise' on the counts was always going to be the final offering and players would look at it as a 'better deal' and be thankful for NQ 'listening to the playerbase' - when in fact they are playing a dangerous game of tactical psychology that will eventually backfire.

Ppl don't need to joint your org to donate core allocation to it - they could be players in a completely antagonistic org, using the core allocation as a weapon to destabilise the orgs infrastructure. Having org core count limit controlled by players, rather than the specific org legates, is a fundamental breach in org stability that will punish ALL orgs.

This uptick in core count feels like a placation that was pre-planned. AND - It still doesn't address the fundamental issues raised in the other forum thread, namely nested orgs that allow access to potentially unlimited core. By removing nested orgs, then the original org core limit will be effective - Then NQ can look at the core number limits legitimately. Additionally, the proposed system is WIDE OPEN to exploitation by malicious groups to control and attack orgs core infrastructure. I simply cannot believe this was not envisioned by the devs when this system was being structured.