Anonymous

I expect most people interested in this game are into building.
 
SOME of what people will want to build will be tools of war, many will have defense systems, but probably most of it will be to look cool and serve social/economic functions.
 
The game's slogan IS "rebuilding civilization together" after-all. That's got to attract much more of a cooperative mindset player than a murder-hobo style.

Well, if you add the ones who want some warmongering (both options) it's about even.  And that's considering the third option was added after 20 or so people already voted. 
 
I still think it will be a healthy mix of both types of players.  THAT is what is going to make this game good.  If all we have are builders, we have another Landmark on our hands with nothing to do but ooh and ahh at other folks builds.  If all we have are warmongers, then we have another Eve.  We need both to have an exciting universe with lots to do for different play-styles.  So if some players are offering safety in their Orgs, you better keep that promise or those folks will leave the game.  And if no one ever wants to fight anyone, then THOSE guys will leave the game.   We need both.

Option 4:
 
THE BEST DAMN COMMUNITY EVER!

Option 4:
 
THE BEST DAMN COMMUNITY EVER!

Pat answer - ours was the only one that hit a planet, the rest just kept going and going and going, forever ever.
 
(But non-pat answer - /shrug things could always change? The Aether backstory is a great example of where it's dangerously close to creating background that may not be in there (the "other" AI - Eidelon etc) because it is so damn cool and easy to use as a springboard in one's own stories).

None taken.
 
And you -> preaching, me -> choir. We're from the same world
 
(And nooooo - don't ever work SM in Gov - just last month got to watch one of the biggest Gov SM fail's I've ever seen... was absolutely appalling... Australia's #censusfail ... Gov's problem is that they DON'T consider it a full time thing that takes a lot of time and effort. That and building empty cathedrals and expecting people to just show up and talk rather than going where the action is.)

(@Kurock - it wasn't a competition but a wager - you should of put money down ;P )
 
Well, I for one am happy to have lost my bet.
 
Note that I'm not for a second saying that Reddit, Twitter and Facebook (inc. G+, LI, Insta, Snap etc) aren't appropriate places for CM's to hang out - I'm simply saying that too often businesses spread their comms too thin and end up with channels and content they lose visibility of - the active Discord community (as opposed to the "Official Subreddit Community" which died within days) being a prime example.
 
(I can also assure you that working CM and Social Media management in Government is more like being in an indie start up than a big enterprise, and in many cases, is more akin to being a sole trader. Alas in that space, dedicated communications managers for social tend to be rare, so it's often a labor of love job you fit in between other roles because someone has to do it.)
 
Having just scanned all your statistics across SM in terms of engagement rate, post rates etc, I assume that it's the Kickstarter and Customer Support elements that are taking up most of the time. So while I appreciate the workload you have (as I am certainly not suggesting that being a CM is at ALL easy - it certainly is not!!) and that you are already appointing secret community mods etc - please do consider reaching out to the community here for able assistants across a range of disciplines - I for one would be more than happy to volunteer (he says, kicking himself given he's under pressure already to harass my existing French work connections to offer me a job in Paris) my time and expertise across a range of disciplines to help the NQ vision be realised, as I am sure many of us are.
 
(If on the off chance that's something NQ would appreciate, DM me and I'll send back my LinkedIn /shrug) )
 
All said - we are ALL really happy that NQ ISN'T a black box of silence

kek - Do NOT get me started!!! Even Reddit wouldn't have the storage required for my rants on THAT topic...

I want both.  Some days I'll want to be left alone to build in peace and other days I'll want to do some good ole fashioned warmongering. 

kek - Do NOT get me started!!! Even Reddit wouldn't have the storage required for my rants on THAT topic...

Hi!
 
Does anyone know how and what kind of sensors might be included in the game? I've heard radar mentioned on youtube but that is a very general term. Furthermore, it would be interesting to know if the available sensors use anykind of physically motivated sensor model.
 
In more detail:
Will there be a difference between active (e.g. Radar) and passive (e.g. IR) sensors?
What about choosing frequencies? For example, can I build a medium frequency radar with 3 MHz for long range detection but low resolution (100 meters) and a higher frequency one for shorter range but higher resolution? That would enable the construction of tracking and fire-control radars to aim at specific parts of a construct.
Radar range is set by output power, gain of the antennae and the radar-cross-section of the target (ignoring pathloss and pattern propagation). Any chance this will be modelled...?
Active sensors like Radar are easily detected (roughly twice as far as the radar range), so radar warning receivers and electronic surveillance/support measures would come in handy.
Passive sensors only give the direction to the target, not the range. So one needs to do cross bearing, preferable with several ships.
And how about faster-than-light sensors? A radar with 1 lightyear range that gives me a target position from two years ago would be slightly useless.
 
So, are there any informations available on such topics?

Hehe, yeah, they never listen to us, do they?  Hire someone who knows what they are doing - BECAUSE they know what they are doing - and then ignore all of their advice. Typical.
 
That's how the government is with IT/Security as well. They don't want to spend the money on security since they can't actually SEE what the IT guys are doing.  Then when they get hacked, it's too late. 
 
I've never taken a govt contract for social or web dev I did once for some educational games and software that is used in our public schools nationwide though.  It was really great for a couple of years and it even got renewed for another grade level to do it all again.  Until the day our govt shut down the government for two weeks.  Lost the contract mid-project and almost went bankrupt over it since I didn't have any other clients booked.  Nothing I could do about it.  Never, ever will I take another government contract like that again. EVER!

None taken.
 
And you -> preaching, me -> choir. We're from the same world
 
(And nooooo - don't ever work SM in Gov - just last month got to watch one of the biggest Gov SM fail's I've ever seen... was absolutely appalling... Australia's #censusfail ... Gov's problem is that they DON'T consider it a full time thing that takes a lot of time and effort. That and building empty cathedrals and expecting people to just show up and talk rather than going where the action is.)

No offense, Anonymous, but I get paid a pretty penny for social media management and consultation.  It's not  a labor of love so much as it is a valid and important part of any marketing plan.  You simply MUST, in this day and age, attend to it with the same amount of effort as you would any other aspect your marketing endeavors.  And that's what it really is.  Social is more of a marketing tool than anything else. So I'm glad they are out there tending to what social they can.  It will be critical to the success (or failure) of this game  - and pretty much every other business these days too. 
 
As for the CS aspect of it, you also MUST tend to these channels for that as well.  We live in unique times. Young folks don't remember a time without social. A lot of them think forums are outdated and old-school (and they are).  So if you don't use social for such things you leave out many of the younger crowd.  The older crowd is more reluctant to use social but is also very active in the gaming community, more so than the younger crowd, IMO.  So, you must tend to both on-site and social equally to reach as wide of an audience as possible for both marketing and CS or you're leaving millions of people out of your demographic either way.  I could go on and on since I love this topic, but you get the idea.
 
I don't know, might be different working in government.  Those folks are not really using social in the same way.  But for business, if you ignore it or keep it on the back burner "until you get time", then you're dead in the water before you even get going.   It's not cheap, it's not easy, but it simply must be done.

Hi guys, 
 
We can understand your impatience. For Community Managers, it's as rewarding as it's frustrating. 
To be clear, we're amazed by the support and love you guys show everyday. And for that, we're truly grateful. 
 
As we already said in the past, it's normal that the communication activity is less intense, now that the Kickstarter roller coaster is "over". You'll notice the brackets for "over" as as Nyzaltar said, we're still very busy with the necessary "behind the curtain part" to manage, without even talking about all the daily duties we have. 
 
So that's where seeing you always eager for more is satisfying as you obviously like/backed our game and is also frustrating for us, because we can't do everything in a single day of work. 
 
As many of you know via the forum or our recent Twitter activity, we took very few rest and we do our best to be there for you. Like Nyzaltar just announced, we have some cool stuff for you. We hope you'll like it and we'll do our best to increase our presence here to exchange with you as much as possible 
 
Best, 
 
Nomad
 
PS: We're considering applying the DU theme to the mobile version of the forum. This being said, you can already switch from the white data-friendly default view to the full dark desktop version by scrolling down and by taping "Full version" (please see screenshots below). 
 

 

Hi everyone!   @ghoster:   Despite how you might feel, we are not going in radio silence mode.   A few points that we want to clarify here:   - We never expected either to have a success as large as Star Citizen for many obvious reasons: we started to really communicate about the game a few months ago, we had no celebrity in our team and no big brand to put in front. That alone were legitimate reasons to keep our expectations realistic. We are already amazed to see how far we went in a such short amount of time and we are not going to stop there! - As Pang_Dread mentioned it, we communicated in the last Kickstarter update that the communication now won't be as intense as it was during the Kickstarter.  - A few things are coming soon:
1) new forum sections will be opened on Wednesday 2nd of November 2) a newsletter for the end of the week (with some stuff that might interest more than one ) 3) a fan fiction contest that will take place from Tuesday 15th November to Thursday 15th of December! (more info very soon!)   @Anonymous:   We can understand that you are concerned about our current lack of presence. However, you should understand in return that you can't expect the same presence from a Community Manager in a big company or being a part of a big structure than one in a small company. Why? Because in small companies (like indie studios), people are generally brought to do more than the exact job written on their contract. If not, then the company might quickly run into some problems to work properly.    Just a few examples: - Apart the communication from JC, all the comm from the devs is handled by the CMs (who are doing the link between devs and the community). - Managing discussions on Facebook and Twitter is totally within the job of the CMs (it's really disturbing to say the contrary). - This might be shocking but yes, Customer Support can be something a CM has to do (and right now, this is also part of our job). - Internal, invisible tasks related to Kickstarter and hugely time consuming are also among the things we currently have to do. - Despite what you're saying, Reddit can also be an appropriate place where a CM might have to interact with people interested in the game.   All in all, we would love to interact a lot more with you guys than what we are currently doing. We will do our best to increase our presence in the coming months. A few replies are coming soon to some important topics.   Best regards, Nyzaltar.

I'm not at all worried about direct lack of comms from the Dev's themselves. Completely in line with what one would expect from people with work to do!
 
I AM however, concerned with the lack of community management and visibility on the forums, be it basic welcomes to new players, through to actively sourcing ideas and material from the community.
 
And I am concerned with this because a) NQ just put on a new community mod who has yet to even really post and there has always been a disturbing lack of community management. We don't get replies for even basic requests (still waiting on a yay/nay to my question of getting the DU theme applied to the mobile version which is so WHITE it's not funny).
 
The only reason I'm being actively critical is that I've managed online communities for well over a decade, in the trickiest of all social media spaces - getting people to talk to government. This is not how one goes about building a community unless the intention is to have a completely organic space reddit style. (I'll also go so far to say that Twitter and Reddit are NOT where a social media / community manager should be - those are broadcast and engagement channels which should be driving people here - THIS is the community.
 
End rant.
 
(Edit: To prove my point - 5 gets you 10 that there won't be a reply to this post from NQ, nor even a like. Really hoping I lose this bet with myself.)

I'm not at all worried about direct lack of comms from the Dev's themselves. Completely in line with what one would expect from people with work to do!
 
I AM however, concerned with the lack of community management and visibility on the forums, be it basic welcomes to new players, through to actively sourcing ideas and material from the community.
 
And I am concerned with this because a) NQ just put on a new community mod who has yet to even really post and there has always been a disturbing lack of community management. We don't get replies for even basic requests (still waiting on a yay/nay to my question of getting the DU theme applied to the mobile version which is so WHITE it's not funny).
 
The only reason I'm being actively critical is that I've managed online communities for well over a decade, in the trickiest of all social media spaces - getting people to talk to government. This is not how one goes about building a community unless the intention is to have a completely organic space reddit style. (I'll also go so far to say that Twitter and Reddit are NOT where a social media / community manager should be - those are broadcast and engagement channels which should be driving people here - THIS is the community.
 
End rant.
 
(Edit: To prove my point - 5 gets you 10 that there won't be a reply to this post from NQ, nor even a like. Really hoping I lose this bet with myself.)

FYI - our (Sohan Deckers) Arkship was built only two-three years before the Final Collision. If that helps.

No. We are not getting NPC aliens. That word has been said as final by the devs. We will see wildlife on different planets, types of flora, and so on but no actual NPC, factions, races, or so on will be implimented. 

Are there different day/night-cycles per planet or is it the same for all?

My, oh my. You forgot Australia.
 
Nah, i'm just kidding - good poll.

Please - before there's another round of forum bashing people for having opinions, concerns or otherwise - let @NQ-Nyaltzar sort it out.
 
Flaming every thread about the business model in know way helps the community grow, discourages dialogue, and suppresses the free and frank exchange of ideas.
 
The OP, and @EagleOne in another thread had either valid concerns (which Devs have addressed - they don't need our help) or suggestions (which were flamed down rather than being taken on-board and passed on to NQ with a thanks for the idea) - frankly, the Community response has been a little disappointing.
 
It's going to be a long and lonely 2 years if we're not welcoming and constructive. Yes - the threads frustrate you all, but you win more friends with honey than with vinegar.
 
2 cents.

I like how you made that reference to the book by mentioning a guy on the roof, also the whole thing is just as good as the book good job.
 
 
 
SPOILER ALERT FOR THE BOOK BELOW
 
 
 
For a second I thought the guy in this story was the one who killed the main character's friend in the book, maybe he is. Only you know that.

<< I don't know why you insist on this course of action. You are only going to die >>
 
"Fugoff." The words blended into one as I grunt, moving another rock.
 
<< You are reacting emotionally. You should accept that there is no place for you here. You are not listed. There is no record of you >>
 
"Fuck. Off." Two rocks are heaved, punctuating the words. The sentiment is lost on my tormentor. Programming kicks in and it corrects my semantics.
 
<< I am bound to the Novark. I cannot 'leave', per se >>
 
I stop, standing, stretching the kinks out of my muscles and joints. Is this the simulation? The endless-media feeds in the last days had said that colonists would be put through a simulation upon waking. I decide not to engage it. This was my reality - simulation or not - working out if it was real was pointless.
 
In silence I continue building, one rock, then another. For half an hour I am left alone to my own devices, but I can sense it, watching. When it speaks again, the voice in my ear has lost some of its irritation - replaced by... curiosity? Did it "feel" things like that? 10,000 years is a long time for an Artificial Intelligence to change in so many ways.
 
<< What are you doing? >>
 
"You don't know? That's funny. You act like God but you don't grok"
 
There is silence again in my ear as it processes this.
 
<< Stranger in a strange land. Heinlein. Nineteen hundred and sixty one in the old time. What else do you remember? >>
 
There is definite curiosity now. I answer it with a question, keeping it occupied, relying on it's programming - responding to queries is apparently a first order sub-routine, over-riding other activities.
 
"Who am I?"
 
<< Do you mean, you remember who you are? Or that you do not, and require this information? >>
 
Another few rocks, another few precious minutes and I answer, repeating myself. "Who am I?"
 
It responds again, inferring that I meant the former.
 
<< I can find no entry for you in the colonist register. This is... concerning. Perhaps planet-fall has affected the quantum integrity of my data stores. I will run a diag... >>
 
"5421135-2"
 
Again, minutes of silence.
 
<< I have a record of that string - it is the serial number I have against Environmental Test Unit 26 >>
 
I had once heard that a thousand years ago, well before drones existed, energy miners would take small animals in cages down underground because poisonous gasses would kill them before the miners. "Environmental Test Unit? Fancy name for throwing me off the Novark with nothing. Remember that?" It was a stupid thing to say. AI's didn't forget.
 
<< Standard operating procedure is to validate all environmental and atmospheric readings with a testing unit before allowing Alpha Teams to venture into the safe zone.>>
 
The curiosity it had shown briefly was replaced with cold machine logic again.
 
<< As there is no corresponding record - you are not slated to be re-purposed as a colonist and your function is therefore complete. You are no longer required in order for the wider mission parameters to be met >>
 
Was this some sort of cruel test? Probably. It was designed by humanity after all. "Well if you don't need me, all the most reason for you to fuck off and leave me alone then." My small bivouac of rocks and foliage is finally complete and I stand back, admiring it. "It's been fun. Goodbye". I remove the small bud from my ear and crush it underfoot.
 
Crawling into my shelter, I grunt with the pain of muscles getting used to working again. Can you feel pain in a simulation? I banish the thought. Perhaps it's the air, but I feel bold - the pain made anger, determination. 'Assume it's all real - why would it do more than it has to. Your mind isn't needed to test human suitability to a physical environment'.
 
I look out over the impact crater, as on the horizon, past the towering Novark casting it's long shadow over me, the first sun sets while lighting up the cloud filled sky. Summits covered in blue snow catch its last rays. It’s not exactly like on Earth; the geometry and the colors are inhuman; the temperature is warm enough to not worry about needing a fire (even with the tattered utility suit I wore - a garment for modesty more than usefulness) and the gravity a bit lighter than on what I was used to.
 
I can see small lights moving tentatively around the Novark's base - the structure is so large they don't even notice each others existence, seemingly having exited from a variety of locations - it is the Alpha Teams, starting to venture out. Kadpacks and morphers making them a soft herd, reliant on their new 'God'. I can barely make out a figure at the top of the Novark. I wonder what that person makes of all this? Do they notice the same things? Doesn't matter...
 
'Fuck 'em all and good luck to them - won't be long till reality sets in. Not me. I'll survive. Gotta survive...' I mumble to myself as I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep, exhausted. For the first time in 10,000 years, I dream.
 
---------------------------------------------
 
"NO!!" My eyes snap open, and I bolt upright in a sweat, before swearing, my head connecting with the roof of the bivouac. It is daylight - the sun, oddly tinged, seeps into my refuge.
 
<< Good morning. Do not be alarmed. Your cortical region indicates you were dreaming. Anamnesis is to be expected. What do you remember? >>
 
The voice is everywhere, in my head and without - my senses can't tell either way. "HOW THE... !?!"
 
<< The communication earpiece was required only to instill a feeling of comfort in you. As you have destroyed it, the need for pretense is removed >>
 
"How are you... I'm in the simulation, aren't I?"
 
<< Communicating? I infer that is what you mean. It would appear that you have been equipped with implanted communication and tracking functionality at some point in your existence. While those pieces of hardware are now otherwise redundant from their previous purpose, I can access it> >
 
It pauses again, processing the second question.
 
<< Be aware - colonists undertaking the simulation are only told it is a simulation if it is necessary >> the AI says, it's 'voice' taking on an almost comforting yet patronizing tone.
 
<< Now. What do you remember? >>