choxie

I can perceive that as being rude and uncalled for. Have we asked him to apologize and take down the post?
 
Also, this guy is in NQ and definitely a representative, but he is only a single guy and not the whole company! Maybe he was in a bad mood too? Or maybe he is actually a jerk? Who can say for sure right now?

@Archaegeo 
 
All I see is hatred here. Are you telling me that a few discrepancies has caused so much hatred in you that now you must leave the game? Do you not care for all the time you spent here? What about all the people you have met. DU is not a perfect game, I don't think any game will ever be a perfect game. But why can't we enjoy it for what it is? NQ surely has some stuff to take care of, but man they are human too trying their best to live and make cool games, surely we can cut them a little slack? Bwaha 

Take a break bro, but don't leave forever. Come back and enjoy the game again when you are ready to.

Dear Noveans,
 
We have a brief update on the upcoming changes to the blueprint deployment tool.

We had hoped to implement the grid-snapping feature at launch or in the first update after launch, but we’ve encountered a delay. We recognize that this is an essential tool for players to rebuild their multi-core constructs, and we’re working hard to implement it. You can expect it in one of the first updates after launch.

The voxel swapping and element omission features are still arriving with the launch.

Thank you for bearing with us. Rest assured that this is one of our top priorities.
 

Dear Noveans,
 
We’re going to launch Dual Universe! If you missed our launch announcement live stream, you can watch the replay here, and you can also read on for all the details below.
 
Dual Universe has spent eight years in development, with the past two of those in beta. Our team has delivered industry-leading voxel technology, enabling players to build amazing worlds in a single-shard MMO like no other. We’ve advanced by leaps and bounds, adding systems like asteroid and territory mining, missions, new PvP mechanics, and more reasons to fight, as well as creation systems like the Vertex Precision Tool, new Lua API, and the Exchange for our creators to exhibit their works.
 
In short, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and are excited for what is yet to come.

Thank you for walking this road with us so far, and it is with great pleasure that we can finally release the details of the launch with you here today:
Dual Universe is launching on September 27, 2022. To enable the launch, we will close all servers on September 22, 2022, and keep them closed until the launch. All active subscriptions (excluding beta keys and full beta access) will receive 6 days of subscription at launch to compensate for this downtime.
 
Here’s a message from Novaquark’s CEO, Nouredine Abboud, on the launch:
 
STEAM
 

 
We’re launching Dual Universe on Steam! It’s an exciting time for us at NQ as we bring our game to as many players who may enjoy it as possible and give those who prefer it the option to purchase the game on Steam.
 
Our Steam page is already live! You can support us by wishlisting Dual Universe on steam and recommending it to your friends, even if you already have the game!
 
The game will also continue to be available to buy on our website, as well as from our official reseller. And of course, you can still play it on almost any computer via the NVIDIA cloud-based platform, Geforce NOW.
 
FREE TRIAL
 
We will implement a free trial of Dual Universe with the game’s launch, which will be available exclusively on Steam. We’ll have more details on this in future communications, but for those who want to try the game's mechanics without committing to a subscription, we’ve got you covered!
We will be opening a separate server for the free trial to allow anyone the chance to try the game for free without impacting the persistent server. This separate server will be regularly reset.
 

 
The game has come a long way during these two years of beta. We want to give every player, including those of you who stopped playing before the game’s new systems and gameplay loops were introduced, a chance to try them.
 
If you were subscribed to the game at any point during the beta, and your subscription has lapsed, we’re adding two weeks of game time on your account from the 27th of September. These two weeks will give you full access to the main universe. Come see what the game has to offer at launch; it’s on us! 
 
A NEW HELIOS
 
The launch will come with some welcome additions to the game. A major one is that we’re upgrading planets. The launch is a great chance for us to bring the game's worlds to life more and to breathe more identity into them. As NQ-Sirg has described before in Ask Aphelia, we had built the Helios system for the launch of Beta and didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to make fleshed-out, living worlds. 
 
If you want a sneak peek at some of these changes, you can see them in the replay of our launch announcement live stream. 
 
This upgrade means you will see new biomes that feel more vibrant and alive. Players will initially have access to:
 
Alioth + Sanctuary + Haven (+ Moon 1 + Moon 4) Jago Teoma Madis (+ Moons 1, 2, and 3)
 
Thades (+ Moons 1 and 2)  

 
 
We’ll add more improved worlds back into the game in several phases. Please note that the release order below is still subject to change.
 

 
We are also adding more planetary body types into the game! The asteroid belts of Thades will be replaced with new, bigger asteroids which can now be claimed by players. We hope to introduce more claimable rocks around Helios after the launch.

BLUEPRINTS
 
Whether you’ve got a small holding or a sprawling, multi-core space station, rebuilding after the reset will be easier with better blueprint deployment tools. As a reminder, you will keep your core blueprints after the reset, so we wanted to make your life easier when deploying them at launch. We have already added pre-visualization to blueprints with the ability to finely move their placement using keyboard controls. We’re also adding three new features at launch and in the first patch after the launch:
 
 
SNAPPING - When deploying a blueprint, you can snap to the grid of another, already placed core, like when placing a Space Core Unit. Along with pre-visualization and keyboard controls, this will allow you to perfectly align cores with one another while deploying blueprints. HONEYCOMB SWAPS - You can now change any honeycomb type inside of a blueprint with any other of your choosing. ELEMENT OMISSION - You can now opt to deploy blueprints with elements missing should you lack them or to simply choose different elements to omit from deployment by choice.  
COSMETICS
 
Another addition to the launch is better cosmetics. We’re adding the much-requested purple plastic and colored luminescent honeycomb. Our newly announced Pioneer Packs will reward beta players and backers with collectible items only available to them as a thank you for helping to bring the game to life. We’re also building on the NOVEAN OVERVIEW to help players better manage their customizations and skins, with much more cosmetic and quality of life improvements to come!
 
KICKSTARTER REWARDS
 
In-game Kickstarter rewards will start being rolled out at launch, and we will share details about them in a dedicated communication. It will include topics such as how to update your physical-reward delivery address and how to claim your in-game rewards.
 
However, there is one piece of news that we want to share with you here. It’s an exciting time for any game developer when the project you have devoted years of your life to comes to fruition. We can already confirm that our Crowdfunding backers will be able to finally see their names in the credits at launch. 
 
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Launching Dual Universe is the start of a new chapter in the game’s story, a story that we as developers and you, our community, are writing together. We still have much to do, and we’re more excited now than ever to deliver a game that can live up to Dual Universe’s incredible potential.
 
If you have questions about the launch, please send them to us here so that we can answer them in a dedicated episode of Ask Aphelia.
You can also share your thoughts and feedback with us in this dedicated forum thread.
 
Thanks again to our players for an incredible journey so far. We can't wait to continue it with you.

Dear Noveans,
 
This is Cyrille Fontaine (NQ-Kyrios) again. I’m writing to follow up on our announcement video released earlier today. I’d encourage you to watch it if you haven’t already as it presents our decision to reset Dual Universe when we launch.
 
In this letter, I want to walk you through some of our reasons and give you precise answers on what you will keep after the server reset, as well as how we plan to reward Beta players for their investment in the game.
 
Deciding whether to reset the server of a persistent, single-shard game like Dual Universe is an enormous and challenging decision. It impacts many departments in the company, such as game design, server, live operations, production, community management, and well, pretty much everyone. But most importantly, it impacts our players. Players who have dedicated time, money, and passion to the game during beta.
 
But before we go any further, I want to address the elephant in the room: we started sharing information about the reset before we had solid answers because we wanted to give you clarity on our internal dialogues. Though this gave rise to many fantastic protest constructs, such as Vampskull’s intricate toilet paper ship, it also caused uncertainty for our community. I want to extend to you all a truly heartfelt apology for that and to thank you for your patience.
 
I’ll go through some of the factors we had to weigh below, but what lay at the heart of the decision for us was how we would reward the efforts, support, and contributions of our players during beta while still allowing new players the same opportunity to experience a fresh new solar system to settle at launch. 
 
With that, let’s get into the details.
 

 
WHY RESET?
 
THE ECONOMY
Betas tend to have bugs and exploits, and Dual Universe has had its share of those. We’ve dealt with issues from item duplication and system exploits to our own missteps. We have improved our monitoring systems throughout the beta, but in order to balance our player-run economy for launch, we have to reset it.
 
PERFORMANCE
It’s a technical necessity for us. The game has an extreme quantity of leftover and unused constructs. With changes to maximum construct slots and the Inactive Asset Requisition (IAR) system, the situation has improved, but a full reset will allow us to manage the data load well from the start without the burden of abandoned legacy constructs. With the new systems that we added during beta, data load should not become an issue again.
 
BALANCE
The game’s launch will be a fresh start with every player on the same starting line. We want to give every player, whether a veteran or new, the same opportunity to experience the thrill of colonizing Helios during the first days and weeks after launch. 
 
NEW WORLDS
It’s also an opportunity to improve our planetary bodies in Helios. We want to give planets more identity, to implement what we didn’t have time to do when we launched the beta. We cannot do that while players are building and terraforming the planets. We also want to experiment with new types of planetary bodies, and a reset allows us to achieve these goals. More information on that will follow soon.
 
WHAT WILL WE RESET?
Almost the whole game, with a few exceptions that I’ll cover below. 
 
This means that everything from planets and territories to items and constructs will be reset. The game’s economy and player progression will also be reset, but we will give beta players back some of their talent points and other items through the Pioneer Packs detailed below.
 
 
WHAT WILL PLAYERS KEEP?
 

 
As beta players, you will keep your name and contact list on the new server.
 
You’ll also keep your Core Blueprints after reset. Whether in a container aboard one of your constructs or inside a package, all of your Core Blueprints will be transferred to your nanopack. However, we’d recommend that you organize your Core Blueprints in your nanopack and create Core Blueprints of constructs that you would like to keep ready for the reset at launch.
 
You’ll also keep your organizations. Membership will be reset, but the superlegate will remain as the leader to carry the organization into launch with its name, logo, and manifesto intact. However, organizations belonging to other organizations will be erased.
 
Core Blueprints belonging to organizations, including those housed in containers and packages belonging to the organization will be transferred to the superlegate.
 
Your Two-Factor Authentication rewards will be reallocated to you after the reset. Your Recruit-a-Friend rewards will also be reallocated, with the exception of any game time rewards that you’ve already consumed.
 
PIONEER PACK REWARDS
We’ve also put together three tiers of Pioneer Packs to reward our beta players and give them back some progression, such as a portion of their talent points. They are a thank you from all of us here at Novaquark for the support you’ve shown us during the beta and the time you invested in the game.
 
We’ll deliver these packages during our six-month launch event in a way that preserves balance at launch and allows new players the same opportunity to compete in the game’s economy. At the start, beta veterans will be in almost the same position as new players, but by the end of these six months, beta players and backers will have one of the three packages outlined below.
 

 
 
PIONEER PACK - ADVANCED
This package is available to players who have purchased up to three months of subscription for the Dual Universe beta.
 
Up to 40,992,000 extra talent points, including the server-wide accelerator event and the beta talent point awards, by the end of the 6-month launch event.
6 monthly payments of 100,000 quanta.
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit S
Tier 1 Rare Item - 1 Whirlpool collectible statue
1 exclusive decorative item: Deco potted plant white
 
PIONEER PACK - RARE
This package is available to players who have purchased up to twelve months of subscription for the Dual Universe beta. Please note that it’s not necessary to have used the game time by this date to qualify.
 
This package is also available to Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Contributor backers from our crowdfunding packages.
 
Up to 46,992,000 extra talent points, including the server-wide accelerator event and the beta talent point awards, by the end of the 6-month launch event.
6 monthly payments of 200,000 quanta.
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit S
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit M
Tier 2 Rare Item - 1 Triangulum collectible statue
2 exclusive decorative items: Deco potted plant white | Deco carpet
 
PIONEER PACK - EXOTIC
This package is available to players who have purchased at least thirteen months of subscription for the Dual Universe beta. Please note that it’s not necessary to have used the game time by this date to qualify for this bracket.
 
This package is also available to our Gold backers and above from our crowdfunding campaigns, as well as Sponsors and Patrons.
 
Up to 52,992,000 extra talent points, including the server-wide accelerator event and the beta talent point awards, by the end of the 6-month launch event.
6 monthly payments of 400,000 quanta.
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit S
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit M
5 Schematic copies of Dynamic Core Unit L
Tier 3 Rare Item - 1 Circinus collectible statue
3 exclusive decorative items: Deco potted plant white | Deco carpet | Deco potted plant black
 
To receive your Pioneer Packs, you’ll need an active subscription. Item rewards are also only available in the first month after release, and you’ll need to log into the game during this time to receive them. We’ll share more information soon on the server-wide talent point accelerator event, and the extra talent point awards for beta players and backers will be delivered on the last day of each month.
 
I want to thank all of you again for bearing with us while we resolved the reset question. We hope that the opportunity to relive the thrill of settling Helios is appealing to you. From the new first-time user experience to a whole canvas ready to be recalled to life, Dual Universe is waiting for you.

We ask that you please use this thread for discussion about this reset announcement.
 
We’re also creating a special episode of Ask Aphelia about the reset. If you have questions from our announcement video or this letter, please send them to us here.
 
Stay tuned for more news on the future of Dual Universe, and look for our next major announcement very soon.
 
Cyrille Fontaine (NQ-Kyrios)

Hello, Noveans,
 
This is NQ-Entropy here to talk about our upcoming honeycomb HP and mass rebalance.
 
We know that our current system doesn’t serve the game well and we want to improve it. We are changing the way that honeycomb masses work, specifically, we are detaching them from their base material mass and unifying honeycomb masses into categories. We will also change how honeycomb HP is calculated and rebalance resistances across the board.
We also want to invite your thoughts on the proposed changes. The honeycomb mass and hp system impacts almost every area of Dual Universe, from shipbuilding to piloting and PvP. There’ll be an image at the end outlining the details of our proposed changes and a feedback thread where we want to hear your thoughts.
 
Now, let’s dive into the details.
 
SEPARATING HONEYCOMB MASS FROM ITS BASE MATERIAL 
 
In the past, our baseline for the weight of our honeycomb materials was directly based on their base pure and product materials. While a calculation was made to transform it into “honeycomb mass”, it was a straight transformation. 
 
For example: currently, the unit mass for a liter of Pure aluminum is 2.7kg, making its honeycomb mass 27kg for 1m3 (1000L). If a material weighs 2.2kg, its honeycomb mass would be 22kg/1m3.
 
This will no longer be the case, and we will take some liberties when transforming pure and product materials into honeycomb. This will allow us a wider range of weights, with a better distribution of weights at all tiers.
 
While we are taking precautions, this will have an effect on existing constructs. There are certain materials that will relatively drastically change in weight, and that could have an effect on existing constructs. We are actively trying to match the new and old masses as closely as possible, but there will be some outliers. It's worth noting that some materials will also benefit from weight reductions.
 
UNIFYING HONEYCOMB MASSES
 
To summarize, each pure honeycomb tier can access four mass classes: very light, light, heavy, and very heavy. Each existing pure material will take one of these 4 mass slots per tier.
 
Each product honeycomb will have 2 weight classes: light and heavy, with the addition of a special very light honeycomb at tier 1 for plastic. Similarly, each existing product honeycomb will take a light or heavy slot per tier.
 
Finally, we will have building materials such as Concrete, Brick, Wood, Carbon-Fiber, Marble, and Luminescent. These will have exceptionally light weights and are designed to be used explicitly for building with minimal mass.
 
Currently, our proposed values go as low as 2-3kg/m3 for the lightest building honeycomb and up to 100kg/m3 for Very Heavy Pures, which are now the heaviest honeycomb in the game.
 
HEALTHPOINT CALCULATIONS
 
Pre-combat core stress and pre-Shields, we had linear honeycomb HP based on mass. At that time, the meta was huge blocks of indestructible gold capable of absorbing massive amounts of punishment. This was possible in high part due to our poor initial voxel balancing, which specifically made gold a significant outlier. In an effort to curb that strategy, we made a number of changes to voxel health, firstly drastically reducing honeycomb HP and eventually introducing CCS. By the time that was done, Shields had taken over, and voxels were sparsely used on PvP constructs. Additionally, we now also have to consider the new speed limitations in the mass vs HP choice when it comes to honeycomb.
 
Now, with unified masses that we can better control and with CCS to control the extreme upper end, we are bringing back linear calculation of honeycomb HP based on mass. Simply put, a multiplier is applied to the voxel mass, which defines the HP of that material.
 
This will allow players to select light and heavy materials without feeling like there is a bad tradeoff in regards to their mass and their HP.
 
Currently, the mass to HP multiplier is set to 45. For the aforementioned very heavy materials of 100kg/L, that will give you 4500 raw HP.
 
REBALANCING RESISTANCE
 
We are not fundamentally changing how resistances work but are adjusting their values across the board. Resistances are generally increasing to provide better absorption and superior effective HP compared to previous iterations.
 
Resistances will still go up on a tier-by-tier basis, with building materials having the lowest resistances, then pures, and finally, high-tier products, which will have the best resistances.
 
We paid attention to two numbers in particular: Effective Healthpoints and Effective Healthpoints per unit of mass.
 
First, we wanted effective health points to make sense. We wanted honeycomb bulkheads to be capable of absorbing real firepower, and we wanted honeycomb to be good enough to protect elements inside a construct. While the final values and balancing may not be perfect, this is currently something that is starting to work. We’ve run tests with honeycomb bulkheads about a meter thick, roughly representing the armor on a medium-sized ship, and it was more than capable of absorbing multiple hits from max talented L weapons and protecting the elements we had placed behind them. Only after a good amount of shots did holes appear and elements behind start being vulnerable.
 
We ran multiple tests and generally found that they aligned with our expectations. Lower EHP materials were relevant vs xs and s weaponry but rapidly fell to larger weapons, medium EHP honeycomb was relevant versus medium-sized weapons, while high EHP honeycomb was capable of taking hits from large weapons.
 
Secondly, we wanted an EHP/mass curve that made sense as you progress up the material tiers. As of right now, going up a tier of a pure or a product guarantees a superior EHP/mass ratio with high-tier products having the best ratio on offer. This should ensure that going up a tier and upgrading your construct to a superior material is never a bad choice.
 
Finally, a small note on Core Combat Stress. It is currently unchanged as the tests we made noted the new honeycomb values lined up well with the old CCS settings. In view of that it is also a case of not wanting to change too many parameters at once so that in case of further iterations, it is easier to identify issues for tweaking.
 
FEEDBACK
 
It’s important to us that we get this rebalance right. Honeycomb’s role in PvP has impacted players significantly from the beta’s start. These changes will also impact many other areas of gameplay such as shipbuilding by altering honeycomb mass. Before implementing these changes, we want to invite your thoughts, especially on the numbers. If you have opinions on how we’re rebalancing honeycomb, please share them with us in this forum thread.
 
Here is the full breakdown of the proposed changes:
 

 
We look forward to hearing from you, Noveans.
 
Until next time, thank you for your attention.
 
- NQ Entropy

The graphics of Dual Universe have taken many strides forward since the beta started, and they continue to be an area of focus for us here at Novaquark as we keep working on improving immersion in the game.
 
In previous updates, we’ve tackled visual effects upgrades to water, warp effects, the skybox, entire planet revamps, and much more. In this devblog we want to talk about the various art upgrades coming to Dual Universe with Mercury.
 
GLOBAL ILLUMINATION
 
We’re implementing Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI) in Dual Universe to improve lighting and the overall look of the game. SSGI is a method to simulate light-bounce to achieve more realistic lighting. Much of the lighting detail in the real world comes from light which has bounced many times from different surfaces. However, calculating all of the different light paths in a real-time digital setting such as a computer game is difficult. Standard rendering provides only the first bounce of light, but SSGI is a way to approximate complex light interactions without taking a heavy toll on framerates. SSGI will be available as an optional setting in Dual Universe with Mercury.
 
We’re also improving our Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) to enhance how objects and surfaces are lit in the game, and therefore their visual quality. SSAO efficiently approximates the brightness of light on different parts of visible surfaces. It considers factors such as the game environment, the position of light sources, and shadows created by different surfaces to add a more realistic look to 3D game environments.
 

 
VISUAL EFFECTS UPGRADES
 
As shown in the screenshot below, there will also be graphical improvements to vegetation as we implement asset fixes that significantly improve their look in the game. 
 

 
We’re also adding three new explosion visual effects with the destruction of core units which you can see in this video 👇
 
The color variation is chosen at random when your core explodes.
 
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There are many more upgrades included in Mercury that will improve the look and feel of Dual Universe. We’d recommend you turn up the volume too: we're also polishing the sound design in order to enhance the game’s performance.
 
Mercury is arriving very soon, and your feedback is essential. If you have any thoughts on our art improvements, we’d like to hear them. Let us know in this forum thread. 

Summer approaches and with it comes Mercury, our next update to Dual Universe.

As Cyrille Fontaine, our Creative Director, mentioned in his letter, our focus is currently on polish, and Mercury is no exception. This update also brings new features such as The Alioth Exchange, better lighting to improve visuals, Summer DACs, and more.

Read on for an overview.
 
THE ALIOTH EXCHANGE

We’re about to deploy a new installation in the heart of Alioth where players can apply to build a display to advertise and sell their creations. Applications will be open to all players who want to advertise their ship shops, markets, Lua Scripts, organizations, voxel libraries, or anything else that they create.
More details about, ‘The Alioth Exchange,’ will be available in an upcoming dedicated post.
 

 Note: constructs featured are samples only.

CONTINUED GRAPHICAL UPGRADES
 
We’re tackling illumination, vegetation, and explosion visual effects with the Mercury Update. You’ll find that the game world will be more radiant and realistic with our new global illumination, vegetation asset fixes will improve the look of foliage in the game, and whether you’re fighting or simply crashing a ship, you can enjoy more vibrant explosions.
 

 
SUMMER DACs
 
We’re implementing a separate, test version of DACs, allowing every active player to invite a friend to try Dual Universe free for one month. 
These Summer DACs are separate from real DACs, and will not impact your accrued pool of DACs from crowdfunding packages when gifted. 
One Summer DAC will be given to every active player and can only be redeemed by new accounts not yet subscribed to the game. They will expire by the end of the summer if not used. Summer DACs should allow us to test our web-based DAC system before the game’s release while offering your friends a chance to try the game for free!

NOVEAN OVERVIEW

We're adding an in-game interface which provides an overview of your general account information and unlocked possessions. We’ll expand this feature moving forward, but in Mercury, you’ll be able to see your unlocked cosmetic skins in a dedicated tab.
 

 
LUA API
 
Our vision for Lua has evolved over the years and with the new directions we’ve taken, it’s become necessary to entirely revamp our Lua API. These changes will future-proof the API and make it better serve the game by improving and tidying the system. We’re starting this process in Mercury. 
 
Naturally, such a major change will come with an enormous changelog, but to give you a brief overview of what’s coming ahead, we’re going to:
 
Restructure the entire Lua API Prepare an object-oriented approach to be ready for future evolutions. Reduce the use of JSON in the API to favor the use of real Lua tables. Rely more on event-driven code to reduce player loops and server requests. Reduce the complexity and size of scripts Add some of the, ‘nice to have,’ features Add further points of interest to some elements such as the telemeter.  
To summarize, our goal with this update is to reset the API and prepare it for future evolutions. Rest assured that your codes will still work in Mercury and that we’ll give you ample time to adapt your creations.
 
TALENT POINT RESET

Every character will have their talent points refunded back to their pool with the Mercury Update. While we must perform this reset for technical reasons related to upgrading our systems, this is also an opportunity for players to refocus talents into different areas and try new ‘builds’, or to simply correct training away from unwanted talents.
 
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As always, we’ll publish a series of articles delving deeper into Mercury’s features, but for now, thank you for reading, Noveans! We’re excited to move forward with Mercury and are eager to hear your thoughts in this forum thread.
 
 

Our new system map overhaul gives powerful new tools to players in visualizing the Helios system. You can read about this new Athena update feature below!

OVERVIEW
 
Players can now see and navigate around the entire system map laid out to scale in three dimensions.  

 
Setting a Warp Point will no longer replace your current destination. Players may now set a destination waypoint separately to a warp-specific waypoint.  
Space resources such as the Alien Core Units are accessible through the map.   
We’ve added a better organized menu that opens quicker and has a more useful filter system in the top-left menu, allowing players to filter items on the map by name, owner, or construct type.  

 
Players can see coordinates displayed in real time as they move the target around the map, allowing for precise copying of coordinates, position input and bookmark creation.  
THE CONTROLS
 
You can freely move around the map, rotate it by holding left click, pan around horizontally by holding left + right click and pan vertically by holding right click. You can zoom by scrolling your mouse wheel. You can also reset your view back to default with a button in the top menu.  
You can toggle display settings using the associated button in the top panel, such as the target plane or the safe zones. This will let you choose the amount of elements visible on the map at all times.  

 
You can select any item with left click, select and move to any item with double-left click, and select, move to and reorient the camera with middle click.  
You will also see an exact distance indicator between your avatar and any location (or your current selection and any location, if there is one), by mousing over them. Distances can also be quickly gauged using the grid size indicator at the top.  
Players may set destinations, warp points, open planet maps and more from the menu on the top-right of the map when selected. These actions are also served through contextual menus displayed on bodies in the map.  
----------------------------------------

As always, we’d like to hear from you. How do you like the new map? Will it have an impact on your game? Please let us know here.
 

The upcoming 0.29 Athena update is about more than just PvP and improved visuals. Among the many features this update brings is the Aegis Market.
Read on to learn more about this new commercial hub in space.
 

 
  SPACE ECONOMY  
With the introduction of The Aegis Market, players may now directly access a bot-free market housed in the void of space. Located in a zero-gravity environment, the Market station provides a new dynamic in the transport of cargo, in that merchandise can be bought and sold without the need to make planetfall.
 
Players can now transport resources, including from the new Alien Core Units, and sell them at a market using craft designed purely to function in space. This, along with the updates to our Space Warfare feature can provide new design routes to the next generation of player designed spaceships in Dual Universe.
 
NEW PATHS AND AVENUES TO EXPLORE

 
The Aegis Market is a vast place and it’s surrounded by landing pads for ships to dock. These pads have teleporters which can then take the players straight to the core of the market. The landing pads are all named after the planet nearest to them, and are only about 1KM away from the Aegis. 
 
A landing pad where ships can dock.

 
Teleporters leading players to the market.
 
The market is located at the very center point of the safe zone, at roughly equal distance from Alioth, Madis and Thades. There is also a public warp beacon to the Aegis Market available.
 
Please note that the Aegis Market has an interdiction zone surrounding it. You can't deploy a space core within 50KM of its location. You can however, deploy a dynamic core in this surrounding zone - just like in Aphelia territories on the planets.
 
SPACE MARKETS – SYSTEM EXPANSION
 
While we study the impact and player reactions to the addition of the Aegis Market, we will only be implementing this single new space market. If we can determine that the implementation of this feature is a positive addition to our game, we will explore the option of adding more of them in the future.
 
We’d like to invite you to share your thoughts with us on this feature. Would you like to see more space markets in Dual Universe? What is your initial reaction to their implementation? Please Let us know your feedback here!
 

We would like to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to visit our Public Test Server (PTS) and that tried our new Athena update. A special thanks to those who were able to attend our Fools Defense PvP event on April 1st, we hope you enjoyed it!
 
We recognize a good number of players were unable to attend the PTS event due to other engagements. As with any test, we had to make sure that our development teams were able to actively monitor and be present as the event took place. Thanks to your participation though, we have been able to identify some areas in need of improvements or adjustments - and thanks to your feedback, we will be working on improving them.
 
In addition, we are excited to announce that we will be bringing the PTS up for a couple of additional days, before heading into the next portion of our PTS test for Athena.
 
ATHENA ON PTS - SCHEDULE
 
- Wednesday 6th April 13:00 UTC to Friday 8th 09:00 UTC
We have finished adding more of the late stage game items, such as the schematics for the new Relic Plasma Harvester and Space Mining Unit, along with the variants of elements that have been introduced. We have also applied some fixes for added performance and stability for players to test out.
 
- Friday 8th April 11:00 UTC to Monday 11st April 09:00 UTC
Moving into the second part of our planned PTS testing for Athena, we’ll be focusing on the First Time User Experience (FTUE) beginner introduction guide. More information on this will be released very soon, so keep your eyes open for the upcoming devblog with all the details!
In order to fully test the new FTUE, the PTS will be completely reset on Friday, April 8th (hence the two hours maintenance between the two sessions). Please note that said maintenance might be a bit longer. But once it is done, everyone that connects to the PTS will be able to experience the new FTUE in detail. Of course, there will still be dispenser towers providing many in-game items for free, so players are able to continue to test other features that they are interested in as well.
 
Regarding the FTUE itself, brace yourselves for an upcoming devblog on this topic! The FTUE devblog will be available by the end of this week, so keep on the lookout for it. There will be many details to help you get ready for the FTUE PTS session!

As always, we would like to remind players that this is a Public Test Server and as such, many unforeseen issues can arise; this can include performance and stability issues. In the event that issues do arise, we will do our best to remedy them as soon as possible.
 
Get out to the PTS and test when the time comes! We look forward to reading your feedback for our Athena update in our Forum thread here.
 

Can you hear that low rumble tumbling across the sky? It’s the goddess of war and wisdom, and she’s bringing the heat.
 
Slated for the end of Spring, the Dual Universe Athena update heralds a new tidal wave of conflict that will set Helios ablaze.
 
For peace-loving Noveans uninterested in warfare, Athena also includes a completely overhauled First Time User Experience (FTUE), a Space Market, and a variety of visual upgrades to the game.
 

 
 
WHAT’S IN IT
 
Space warfare hits a new stratosphere with the introduction of alien core units that will spawn in PvP zones. Think of them as resource-generating facilities, like space mining points. Players and organizations can claim these points to accumulate resources. But nothing comes free or easy in space. Alien core units must be defended. Do you have the mettle to get this metal?
 
These alien core units also serve additional purposes. The first is to provide fresh new PvP challenges for fighter types, and the second is to reduce the pressure on players who wish to avoid PvP side of DU but still find themselves ambushed by pirates when they step out of the safe zone.
 
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 space engines will no longer have an advantage that allowed them to escape more agile smaller designs.
 
Last but not least on the topic of PvP, our voxel team has improved the performances near combat-related explosions, especially the destruction of voxels. We aren’t losing focus on keeping improving our players’ experience in Helios!
 
Shifting gears away from the pew pew pew features in Athena, we have also revamped the FTUE to provide a better, more easily comprehensible starting experience for new players. We want to give new players all the information they need to settle into DU with a solid foundation.
 
Among other features, you can look forward to the following:
New space map New skybox and stars rendering improvements Improved water visuals Improved flashlight visuals  Mining Units Lua API Space market Element stacking exploit fix  
The best news of all is that we plan to release a smaller update between now and Athena release to introduce some quality of life improvements.
 
WHAT’S NEXT
 
As usual, we’ll publish a series of devblogs to provide deeper insight into the new Athena features. We hope that you’ll like what you see!
 
Thanks to your constructive feedback, we have fine-tuned and balanced the content of Panacea with overall good results. We hope to see more of the same, so we encourage you to continue engaging with us as you read the upcoming articles. Your ideas and feedback are what will make Dual Universe better.
 
Head over to this thread and let’s chat!
 

Dear Noveans, 
 
We took the time to look at all the feedback you gave us during this weekend and the past few days. We understand there are still concerns and that the second version is not the perfect solution to all potential problems. That doesn’t mean we are just going to deploy this version and be done with it. As mentioned previously, our goal has never been to punish players and we don’t want you to feel pressured to destroy/abandon/remove some of your current constructs.
 
Therefore, while monitoring how things will evolve (reminder: we are still in Beta, and things are bound to change or to be tweaked. Nothing is set in stone yet), we are going to act on two aspects when we will deploy the core units limitation with the Panacea release:
 
Extending the time period during which the automatic abandonment feature for core units in excess will remain inactive (1 month was previously announced but we now aim at 2-3 months at least). This is  to make sure everyone has enough time to reach the amount of core slots needed through queued talent training focused on specifically construct slots.  
In rare cases where it wouldn’t be enough, the Novaquark team is willing to help players who have large community projects, assuming they don’t gain any particular profit from them, and they’ve been in the limit of “one player personal cores + organization cores limit of one organization (which is 275 pre-Panacea)” and for whom the limit of 200 cores per player is not enough. We know those cases will be quite rare as there are currently less than 40 organizations going beyond the 200 Core limitation.  
If you are a player in charge of an organization with more than 200 constructs and you have a genuine issue about keeping all your Constructs, please reach out to NQ-Deckard or NQ-Nyzaltar on Discord or on the forum by private message and we will see how we can assist.
 
Again, the goal is not to frustrate you, our players, nor put you in panic mode to reduce the amount of core units you may currently have in your organization(s). We are not applying limitations with a light heart, without caring for players. We do know that these measures are frustrating for many of you, but at some point, we have to think also about the long-term sustainability of the game. All the restrictive measures already deployed, going to be deployed or activated in the coming months, have been all decided with this main goal in mind.
 
We do acknowledge the first version of the core units limitation was way too low and too much based on metrics that weren't detailed enough, not taking into account many edge cases. To show our good will, we decided to approach the problem from another angle: what could be the highest limitation of core units we could give to the players without endangering long-term sustainability? The answer is what has been suggested in the second version. Even if we wanted to go further, it would be unreasonable.  What would be the point of keeping the "no limit" policy if we find ourselves unable to sustain the model one year after its release? Dual Universe is meant to become a MMORPG and as such we have to do our best to design it for the long term.
 
You might ask:
Why didn't you set the limitations sooner?
Why is it just now you talk about long term sustainability?
 
Those are legitimate questions and here is the explanation: 
We had, of course, from the beginning, some rough estimation regarding long term sustainability. But as you can imagine, estimation on paper (or even simulations with a massive amount of bots) can vary quite significantly from actual metrics we get from running a live server with a massive amount of real players. To have accurate numbers, we needed to have two things: having all the main gameplay mechanics implemented in game, and enough metrics about player habits once all the main gameplay mechanics have been implemented. Those are things we didn't have yet before Beta launch and we could only guess before for some of them. Player habits are, for example, a parameter no one can predict perfectly in advance. Even after reaching the Beta stage, it required quite a few months to accumulate enough data to have an accurate idea of what could be the real cost per player. So yes, ideally, we should have set the limitations much earlier, to prevent players from going wild in creativity beyond what was technically reasonable and sustainable. However, this would have been a decision with just "gut feeling" (which is always very risky) and not based on relevant metrics.
 
Now to reply to the many suggestions and concerns you’ve mentioned in past few days:
 
Isn't there a risk of seeing the organization slots weaponized by opponents infiltrated in the organization through Alts?

Weaponizing organization slots - if someone ever does that - will have a very limited impact. There will be no way of catching by surprise the legates of an organization:
- Legates of the organization are all notified when a construct check has failed for the first time (opening the two-week period before random abandonment), in order to check what happened, take immediate action and handle the situation before the next check.
- Once lent, construct slots cannot be taken back for 30 days, which limits the possibilities for immediate negative actions and allows for anticipation.
- Organization legates can know from the list of active slots whether a donator is part of the organization or not (and how many slots are lent), therefore caution should be taken not to rely too much on 'external' slots to deploy new constructs, especially to the point where it becomes critical to pass the construct checks.
- Deploying a construct is restricted to legates and via RDMS, so people actually using the slots are assumed to be trustworthy.
- The log keeps track of every movement in the slot count (who gave/took back slots, how many and when, what happens to the amount lent by this player, what happens to the total amount for the organization)
  Will you give us more control ( show the values ) of : 
 - how many cores do you have free?
 - how many org slots cores do you have free?
 - what is YOUR org potential limit?

The org related numbers are visible in the new UI elements, we will look into creating better insight into your personal construct counts however this will not be available in the initial release of Panacea.  
Why chosing core units abandonment randomly?

We understand it might seem a strange decision at first glance, but we think it's a necessary measure to prevent some players to abuse the system (like inflating temporarily the number of core unit slots before a war and fill them with junk or "can afford to lose" ships). We did consider ways of selecting which type of constructs should be abandoned first, but in the end we found none exempt from loophole.   
Why not go with “constructs are not abandoned when the limit is not high enough? You just can't place new ones (otherwise many constructs will be abandoned long before the players will have leveled the skills for that)

This would in fact result in a situation where an organization could get players to temporarily increase their slots, deploy a very large amount of constructs, and then remove the slots to leave the constructs in place. This in fact does not meet our requirements.  
Suggestion: assigning automatically 10 organization core slots to each organization the player is joining? If he joins the organization, he must participate in the group effort.

While we definitely agree on the idea (each member of an organization should participate a minimum to help an organization to achieve its goal(s)), there are a lot of edge cases if we enforce a hardcoded assignment. What happens if the member doesn’t have 10 organization core slots available? Can he still join the organization? What happens to those who are already in organizations and don’t have the required slots? Moreover, if someone really doesn’t want to share some organization slots, he might just quit an organization if we try to force to assign organization slots to a player. In every case, whether it’s enforced or not, it’s up to an organization leader to convince their members to assign some organization slots to the said organization. Last but not least, enforcing an organization core slot assignment shouldn’t be a prerequisite: not all organizations have a purpose of sharing constructs, and we want to let the organization system be flexible in this regard.
  Suggestion: putting a maximum amount of organization core slots being assigned per member to one specifically organization? (beyond the 10 automatically assigned, like 25 max)

Limiting organization slots assigned per organization will just have the same effect as the suggestion above: if a player wants to keep organization slots for personal use, they will still find a way to do so by creating several organizations for personal use. Beside, as some of you may be wary of potential opponents infiltrating an org, letting the option of having the maximum amount of organization core slots assigned to one organization should be useful to make sure that even in big organizations,  you might have a significant amount of organization core slots with just a small team of trusted people.
 
Will we have a way to disassemble or deactivate easily and quickly a Construct to avoid taking hours to just remove the Constructs in excess of the Core slot limitation? (for example, an ability to compactify a larger variety of constructs in a way that retains their mass and volume, so you can basically box away ships - or even buildings - not currently in use to avoid the core count cost)

This kind of feature is on the roadmap. While we’ll try our best, we cannot guarantee it will be delivered before the activation of the automatic abandonment feature for core units in excess owned by an organization.  
Will there be in-game assistance from GMs in deleting or dismantling the constructs?
 
As we plan to extend beyond 1 month for the inactivity of the automatic abandonment feature as mentioned above, we aim at developing a tool to make it easier to disassemble or deactivate Constructs using the Core Units in excess. We’ll keep you informed on the topic once we’ll have more information about it.
 
What do you think about limiting to each player to be a member of 5 orgs maximum?

That could be an idea, but being aware of how frustration is accumulating after many limitations, we don’t want to push more limitations than the ones really needed.
  How long would it take to train all the talents to max them and reach the maximum limitation?
 
Currently we estimate to maximise all the talents from nothing, will take approximately 6 to 7 months.
However there is a curve, the last few talents take the longest:
- In 30 days, you should be able to reach around 60 slots total.
- In 60 days, you should be able to reach around 90 slots total.
- In 90 days, you should be able to reach around 130 slots total.
- In 120 days, you should be able to reach around 170 slots total.
The remaining slots will take considerable time.
Remember you will also have a partial refund of talent points, which should speed up quite significantly your training in the new talents.
 
If cores were tokenized will they count towards the cap? So if I was to tokenize 90% of a HUGE station? that might save it? Technically they wouldn't be my core right? Might be a legit way to save larger projects. Then hand out tokens to people who buy / already own... These tokens expire after 3 months or something. Tokens are always inactive, so server wise not as much load? Boom, in game tradable property token market aka NFT's (without being able to buy these with USD but they would be considered as "Non-Fungible Tokens"). 
 
While tokenized, constructs still count towards the organization they belong to until the token is claimed. And transferred ownership is to another owner.
 
 
That's all for now, but if you have additional feedback on the upcoming changes, let us know in this discussion thread!
 
The Novaquark team.

Following the discussion around yesterday’s devblog, the community asked us to look over our figures to see what we can reliably sustain in terms of construct limits. In this communication we want to take the opportunity to outline what we have decided to change from the previous devblog as well as to explain some decisions such as the mechanics of construct abandonment and our reasons for arriving at our previous figures. These proposed changes are still being developed by our design team and we welcome your continued feedback on this major update.
 
Organization Constructs Slots versus Personal Construct Slots
 
There appeared to be some confusion in yesterday’s devblog between organization and personal construct slots. Personal construct slots are always independent of organization construct slots. 
 
Before outlining the details of the construct slots, it’s important to note that our position on excess construct abandoning mechanics. For the avoidance of doubt, when this change is implemented in the Panacea release. No construct will be subject to abandonment through the following mechanics for at least the first month after release.
 
This is to ensure as smooth a release as possible, and to allow our players who want to specialize in the architectural gameplay loop or the collecting of wonderful constructs, some time to accrue talent points and to adapt.
 
Personal construct slots:
 
Can only be used for constructs in the player’s ownership. Can not be assigned to organizations. Are non-transferable to other players. Are gained through talents independently of organization construct slots.  
Organization construct slots:
 
Can be assigned to any organization, regardless of membership. Can not be assigned to players. Once assigned to an organization, can not be repealed from that organization for 30 days. Once repealed, the organization will have until the next bi-weekly construct check to ensure that it meets its construct slot requirements. If that bi-weekly construct check determines that the organization has more constructs than it has slots, the organization will receive a warning and be required to ensure the constructs count is brought down to its capacity. If the next bi-weekly construct check following that warning determines that the organization still has more constructs than it has slots, random constructs from that organization will be abandoned until the organization is back in compliance with its slot capacity. All this means that even if you go over the available slot count, you have at the very minimum 14 days to correct it.  
We are keeping the random nature of selection for construct abandonment. This is because as game developers we know that if there exists a way for a game system to be broken, our players will find it. In this particular instance, given the gravity of the impact, we feel that it’s important to protect the game and our community from abuse, and the randomization is an effort to do that.
 
We hope this clears up some of the lingering questions that were remaining yesterday.
 
Player allocated slot amounts, why so low?
 
Following internal research, we determined that currently per active player there are approximately 25 constructs in the game at the present time.
 
Therefore we believed that having a total of 42 slots per player would have been enough to provide an overhead for the community to be able to distribute the available slots amongst each other and support each other's projects.
 
We do value our players and recognise that some of you own considerably more constructs than that average, and though we want to encourage collaboration and community, we don’t want to constrain those players that prefer to go it alone.
 
And, we’ve heard you. 
 
We are looking into an alternative approach that we feel will meet the majority of the community needs while also meeting our requirements for the long term sustainability and balancing of Dual Universe.
 
Talent Changes
 
We are going to increase the core allowances. In yesterday's devblog we proposed a figure of 42 total constructs. We are going to increase that through the introduction of talent changes that will require considerable time investment but keep the door open to players that wish to own many constructs.
 
The new talents are separated into three tiers, increasing in expense significantly per tier.
 
The new figures are (subject to change)

For personal construct slots:
 
The base personal construct slots will be increased from 2 to 10 slots without any talents. The first tier personal construct talent will grant 3 slots per level (up from 2), for a total of 15. The second tier personal construct talent will grant 5 slots per level (up from 1), for a total of 25. The new third tier personal construct talent will grant 10 slots per level, for a total of 50.  
This will allow for a maximum personal construct limit of 100, once all the talents are fully acquired.
 
For organization construct slots:
 
The base organization construct slots will grant 10 slots without any talents. The new first tier organization construct talent will grant 3 slots per level, for a total of 15. The new second tier organization construct talent will grant 5 slots per level, for a total of 25. The new third tier organization construct talent will grant 10 slots per level, for a total of 50.  
This will allow for a maximum organization construct limit of 100, once all the talents are fully acquired.
 
The combination of the two will allow a determined player to reach the maximum number of construct slots that we can reasonably maintain. This will take substantial time investment in order to be a specialization within the game. 
 
We will still be refunding the following Legate based talents:
 
Organization Construct Management Organization Construct Management Specialization Advanced Organization Construct Management Specialization  
These talents will be buffed to collectively increase the maximum ceiling for the organization's construct limit to 1625.
 
If you have already trained Advanced Organization Construct Management Specialization to level 5, by reinvesting the refunded talent points, we estimate that you will be able to reach at least a construct slot capacity total of 80. Further, given the grace period of at least 1 month following the Panacea release, we hope that those amongst our players who value their construct capacity can increase it to a comfortable level of approximately 125 construct slots before needing to make decisions on which constructs to keep.
 
We want to thank you all for your feedback and take this opportunity to recognize the passion you our community have for the future of this game. We would love to hear how you feel about the new changes outlined above in this forum.
 

Dual Universe’s Panacea update is right around the corner, bringing with it a sizable variety of changes based on feedback from our community. 
Ahead of the update, however, we are immediately introducing revisions to territory upkeep and mining units. 
 
Read on for the full scoop! 
 
GOING INTO EFFECT ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th
 
Taxes will be effective again starting Wednesday, January 26th.
The day before, we are going to deploy three adjustments to address the issues mentioned in the Community Feedback regarding Territory Upkeep.
 
Territory Upkeep Reduction: 1 MM --> 500k.

Territory Upkeep was first introduced in the November 2021 Demeter update. After reviewing community feedback, we announced that territory upkeep payments would be postponed for two weeks to allow the Design team time to dig deep into the metrics and fine-tune the system accordingly. 

The upkeep rate per territory will be reduced by 50%, from 1MM to 500k quanta. Player feedback indicated that people felt they were having to sell ore too frequently to generate the funds needed to pay upkeep. In halving the upkeep costs, we will relieve the pressure to make frequent trips to the market as well as the need to sell large quantities of ore.
  Calibrations Charges:
Base calibration charge slots increase : 5 --> 25.
Talent calibration charge slots increase : 1/level --> 5/level.

Also introduced in the Demeter update, mining units were designed as an alternative to digging endless tunnels underground for ore. To keep them producing at their peak capacity requires occasional calibration; however, initial feedback from the community told us that further tweaks were needed for the calibration process. To this end, we’ve made the two changes mentioned above.

This will change the total amount of stored charges from 10 (5 base + 5 max talents) to 50 (25 base + 25 max talents).

The intention behind the charge cap was not to force a behavior in which you felt like you needed to spend charges in order not to “lose out” on charges by hitting the cap and wasting your recharge. 

In view of that, both the base and the talent bonus are drastically going up. This will not only allow you to store more charges in general, but specifically allow you to store a much longer period of time in charge recharge time, giving you much more breathing room to store charges and not waste charge recharge time.
  Calibration grace period: 48h --> 72h
  The calibration grace period is the amount of time during which a mining unit does not lose calibration. Similarly to charge slots, the intention was not to aggressively require you to calibrate mining units every 2-3 days. In our initial calculations our goal was more to hit the 5 to 6 day mark depending on what efficiency curve the player selected, and how many mining units the player was trying to maintain.
 
We are changing the calibration grace period from 48-hours to 72-hours. 
 
This change should bring us closer to the initial values we were looking for and give players more breathing room to calibrate when their mining units seem to be producing less than usual, indicating that calibration is needed.
 
CHANGES COMING WITH PANACEA UPATE (0.28) LAUNCH
 
Using industry units on offline tiles

The intention of requiring online territories for industry units was not to negatively impact industry units on planets. We initially saw it as further incentive to pay for taxes, but it was not a core requirement. This is also why industry units on Ssanctuary and space cores were left untouched.

We understand from player feedback that requiring you to operate mining units on a territory in order to not run industry units at a loss on that territory was an annoyance and many players did not want to run their industry units on the same territories as their mining units.

In view of the preferences expressed, we have decided to allow the operation of industry units on all offline territories. In combination with HQ territories, this will allow you to effectively run industry units on offline territories for extended periods of time.
  Faster extraction animations
  We are also addressing the feedback we’ve received regarding the time it takes to complete a calibration minigame, specifically the frustration from the long loading animations when calibrating a number of mining units.
 
An option has been added in the mining unit UI (tick box) that will let you significantly reduce the time these animations take, drastically reducing the period of time the animations run.
 
Additionally, a number of mining unit mini-game animations have been slightly reduced in duration, thus allowing a faster minigame completion.
 
New talents for surface harvesting
  In order to further incentivize harvesting surface rocks, and to be able to specialize in it, we are adding four talents linked to surface harvesting that will touch on harvesting speed and output.
 
The main goal is to create some surface harvesting specialization for those players who enjoy it, giving them the capability to harvest better and faster, and for longer periods of time.
 
CHANGES COMING POST-PANACEA
 
New surface harvesting controls
  To further address surface harvesting issues, we are working on quality of life-type improvements that will allow a degree of auto-harvesting similar to normal mining as well as other changes to reduce control and UX-based frustrations during surface harvesting. 
Watch for additional details as we refine our plans!
 
 New mining unit surface harvesting, rocks spawning behavior
 
Lastly, we are looking for a solution to simplify the process of gathering rocks. This is in direct response to player requests to eliminate the hassle of having to comb their territories after calibrating a number of mining units. 
 
While this is still in relatively early stages, the solution we are looking at is to spawn the rocks right under the mining unit beam, where the beam hits the ground. Players would then be able to rapidly harvest surface rocks. 
 
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE
 
Don’t forget that there’s a lot more to Panacea than the changes and tweaks discussed above. It’s also got some cool new stuff, like the Vertex Precision Tool which we’ll be talking about in the next devblog! 
 
Meanwhile, please join the conversation on the forum here to tell us what you think about revisions we’ve presented in this Devblog.
We’d love to hear from you! 
 
---

The Novaquark team

The Dual Universe roadmap has been expanded with the Panacea update, which is currently in production and brings with it a plethora of new features, tools, and improvements that will be particularly interesting for builders, scavengers, and Lua aficionados.
 
WHAT’S IN IT
 
A follow-up to the changes introduced in the Selene and Demeter updates, the Vertex Precision Tool will provide a powerful, intuitive way to fine-tune your builds. Particularly for those who are new to voxelmancy, this tool will be invaluable. Watch this video to get a taste of what it can do.
 
The introduction of shipwrecks in space will open a variety of lucrative opportunities for players who seek them out. Sell them as-is, salvage them for parts, create missions for other players to bring you the ship or its parts, or simply fetch a handsome price by selling the location information.
 
Other new features and improvements include: 
Camera Lua API: get access to information about the in-game camera Talents UI improvements: a more efficient way to view Talents RDMS UI polish: a cleaner interface for the management of RDMS  
To reduce clutter and keep Alioth beautiful, we are implementing inactive constructs requisitioning, an automated system for the abandonment of constructs owned by unsubscribed players and organizations to aid in keeping overcrowded public market areas clear.
Organization construct ownership (construct slots): a new way of assigning available construct limits to organizations. Disabling element stacking or overlapping: the final step in preventing the element stacking exploit.  
WHAT’S IN A NAME
 
Choosing the name for this update, Panacea, the goddess of remedy, is a reference to our renewed dedication to taking player feedback into greater consideration.
 
In reflecting on the aftermath of the Demeter release, we recognized that we fell short in this area. We read your feedback but did not make the adjustments we could and should have. We pledge to be better about working hand-in-hand with the community by implementing a plan to increase two-way communication and making some important tweaks and balancing to the game that will address some of the pain points as much as we’re able.
 
As a first step, beginning January 12th, we will postpone the next territory upkeep pay period for two weeks. This will allow the Design team time to revisit the tax rate, which many community members said was too steep. The purpose and functions of the upkeep system go beyond limiting “landgrabbing” and are more complex than they may appear on the surface. Many factors and interdependencies need to be taken into consideration.
 
WHAT’S NEXT
 
A series of devblogs will be published soon to reveal more information about the Panacea update. Additionally, we will be sharing a new roadmap soon. We hope that you’ll like what you see, and we encourage you to share your constructive feedback about our ideas as you read each article. 
Let’s chat! 

Mining units are one of the key features that will be introduced in the upcoming Demeter update. What are they? How do they work? How will they impact the gameplay of Dual Universe? Read on for the answers to those questions and learn more about these handy-dandy little ore vacuums. 
 
HOW DO MINING UNITS WORK?
Let’s start with the basics. 
 
Mining units are new elements that you can deploy on your static constructs on the surface of planets. They need to be linked to an output container and, once started, they will autonomously dispense ore at regular intervals into this container without the need for you to be connected to the game. 
 
There is one mining unit for each tier and they are large elements. Each tier of mining unit is able to mine ores of the same tier. In addition to these five large mining units, there is also a small one for tier 1 only. This special small mining unit is intended for beginners.
 
Let’s have a look at these beautiful beasts in action.
 

A minimalist mining building with an active mining unit and its best friend, the container
 
These mining units work only if the mining ray you see in the screenshot above is not obstructed and can reach the ground. The mining ray has a maximum range of 50m.
 
Once the mining unit is deployed, linked to an output container, and in range of the ground, you can select what ore it will mine and start the machine. Once calibrated (more on that below), It will then mine regularly and deliver a batch of ore in the output container every hour. To further automate the process, the output container can be designated as the entry point of an industry line. (Note: If the container is full; the mining unit will no longer collect ore, so you’ll need to empty the output containers from time to time or have them feed directly into an industry line.)
 
There are two primary considerations when deploying mining units. First, you need to make sure the territory where they are deployed actually holds enough ore underground and the units will need to be calibrated before they will begin collecting ore.

TERRITORY POOLS
Various types and tiers of ore are dispersed with limited availability across Dual Universe. You won’t find them all grouped together in a particular place. 
 
To represent that, each territory in the game can provide up to a certain volume of ore each hour. That’s what we call the ‘ore pool’. A territory scan can show the kinds of ore present on a territory tile and their yield rates in liters per hour.
 

This territory is capable of providing a variety of tier 1 ore
 
The image above illustrates the territory-based maximum rate for each ore on this territory. Since there’s a maximum yield per hour, adding more and more mining units becomes useless past a certain point. Each active mining unit “consumes” a part of these available resources. These territory pools represent mining rates, not a total volume of available ore. For example, if a territory has a pool of 100 l/h of a given ore and each mining unit is capable of extracting 50 l/h, then you need two mining units to maximize your extraction capacity, and any additional mining unit beyond two won't give you more yield.
 
Unlike the previous ‘manual mining’ system, the new ore pools are infinite. You will always be able to mine these ores at this rate for as long as you have a calibrated mining unit running here.
 
These territory ore pools are varied and different. On a planetary basis, this new repartition should match more or less the previous allotment for manual underground mining. There are a few changes, but basically a planet that used to contain some tier 3 ore will still contain some tile-wise though, the issuance is very different between low and high tier ores, even from territory tile to territory tile. Typically, you should find tier 1 ore in abundance on nearly every territory tile in the system, but tier 5 ores are only on a few small spots on the most distant planets.

ACTIVE TERRITORIES
For mining units to work, the territory must be active. That simply means that the territory tax for it must be paid. That’s right, if you want the shiny rocks, you gotta pay your taxes. You can learn more about territory upkeep in an upcoming devlog. 

MINING RIGHTS
If you share your territory tile with your friends or organization, you might want to keep the precious underground ores for yourself or, conversely, allow only specific people the ability to operate mining units on your territories. For this purpose, we’re adding the Mining Unit Right. Without this, mining units belonging to other players are unable to access the ore pool and cannot mine on your territories. 

ADJACENCY BONUS
Mining units are social. They like to be around friends. That’s why if you own several active territories near each other, the mining units working on them get an ‘adjacency bonus’ to yield a greater amount of ore beyond the ore pool in each batch. Note that the territories must be owned by the same entity. If you find a great tile with precious ore under it, it might be worth it to own and maintain a few adjacent territories.

EXTRACTING AND CALIBRATION
As explained above, mining units are fully autonomous, doing their appointed duties regardless of where you are and what you’re doing, including when you’re offline having real-world adventures (which you should be enjoying from time to time). The reality is just a bit more complex as mining units need to be calibrated to work efficiently.
 
Each mining unit has a ‘calibration score’ and slowly loses calibration over time if kept unchecked. When the calibration score is below 100%, the mining unit will produce less ore; at 0%, it won’t produce anything at all. To remedy that, it must be calibrated.
 
To calibrate, you will need to enter a specific interface where you will manually probe the territory in search of underground ore. This is ‘extracting’.
 

Manually extracting ore and calibrating the mining unit
 
In this extracting session, you will use several tools to probe the territory tile, but you will need to keep a look at the probe battery at the same time. The goal is to find the optimal point with the best ore density that you’ll select at the end of the process. Depending on the quality of the location, this will have two effects:
It will increase the calibration score so that the mining unit can continue to do its job. It will also extract a few ore rocks in the process and those will pop to the surface of the tile at the selected location. These may be harvested manually at your convenience; they don’t expire.   
Calibration is not unlimited. Each player generates calibration charges at the rate of one charge every few hours. You can use your charges on the mining units owned by other players or organizations as long as you have the rights needed to access them.
 
Finally, a single mining unit cannot be extracted twice in a row. There’s a 24-hour cooldown period before calibrating it again. The upside is that mining units will not lose calibration for two days after being calibrated.

MINING UNIT TALENTS
Since mining units are a big new thing for Dual Universe, they come with a variety of new talents to complement their use.
 
You will have talents that improve the:
mining unit efficiency, on element deploy base mining rate, on element deploy speed at which your character will regenerate calibration charges  maximum mining charges your character can hold amount of ore extracted when calibrating  
GETTING TO THE CORE OF TERRAFORMING
One change we do want to make you all aware of comes as part of the terraforming changes where previously a number of players had dug down to the center of certain planets or moons. Each planet or moon will now have an impenetrable core at the center that forms about 80% of the planet's radius with a minimum digable depth of 5 km below its “sea” level.
 

 
As such, some constructs may be located below this line after the incoming terrain changes. In these cases, we will raise those constructs up to the relevant planet’s surface. (See this article about preparing for the geometry reset for directions on how to request assistance.) 

A CHANGE OF HEART, THE REMOVAL OF SCAN RESULTS
We received a considerable amount of feedback from players who were opposed to keeping old scan results relevant. And following some internal discussions on the topic, we feel that it is indeed in the best interest of the game to provide a clean slate when it comes to mining data to prevent the hottest of hotspots from being immediately taken. As such, we will be clearing all scan results from the game when Demeter goes live. 
 
We realise that this will inconvenience some of the players who have large amounts of scan data; however, we do believe it is the right thing to do.

DO YOU ‘DIG’ THE MINING CHANGES?
Mining units are a significant departure in how mining is done in Dual Universe. The old underground mining system is gone, replaced by mining units and asteroid mining. We hope that you will appreciate the new feature, from territory management and optimization to the extracting sessions. We really think that the new state of mining in DU is more sustainable and hope you’ll agree. Share your feedback here. 
 

Update 10-20-21 - REMINDER: These rules are still in effect and are now extended to mission hubs. 

In an effort to improve the experience of visiting some of our most popular markets, we will be implementing a new set of rules for constructs left at markets. Enforcement of these rules will begin on the 3rd of September at 6pm UTC. (That’s one week from the date of this notification.)
 
We want to encourage a free and open game environment for all to enjoy. It’s in the spirit of that goal that these measures are being put into place.
 
Only ships are allowed on the market landing platform. Constructs must be parked outside the green perimeter line surrounding the main market building and the access ramp to the market. One container construct per entity (player or organization) will be allowed for the purpose of storage below the landing pads. Shop constructs, advertisements, and dispensers are not permitted at any markets. These should be placed on your own tiles or at districts instead. We would like to remind you that you now have the ability to place a “Welcome Visitors” marker on your territory.  Under no circumstances may player constructs intersect with the Aphelia constructs. Constructs at the Aphelia markets must be parked either on the landing platform or the ground around the Aphelia markets. Airspace within 2km of the market building must remain clear. XL screens and screen arrays are not permitted within 2km of the market building Constructs that violate these rules may be hidden, removed, or abandoned without warning. Novaquark reserves the right to move, hide, or delete constructs at its discretion, for example if they are designed to circumvent these rules or if they impact marketplace performance or usability.  
To safeguard the performance of everyone visiting these locations, we strongly encourage players to adapt any screens and advertisements to use Lua based Render Script instead of SVG/HTML even if that is in the form of uploading an image of your SVG and then loading that into the Render Script.

Join the conversation here.
 

DUAL UNIVERSE APOLLO (0.26) UPDATE LAUNCHED
 
Billionaires blasting into space has recently been a hot topic in the news. Luckily, for the rest of us whose bank balance doesn’t have a pretty little chorus line of zeros before the decimal, there’s Dual Universe to make our space exploration dreams come true. And those flights of fancy are even fancier with today’s launch of the Apollo (0.26) release. 
 
The update’s big-ticket items introduce new gameplay elements that will help scratch that itch for more quanta, resources, and pew-pew possibilities
 
ASTEROIDS
Using the new deep space asteroid tracker (DSAT), players will discover the locations of asteroids that can be mined for resources.  Higher-tier, more valuable ore will spawn in dangerous PvP zones, increasing the chances for an exciting throwdown as players fight for ownership of the asteroid’s bounty. 
 
SHIELD GENERATORS
Shields are the cornerstone in our first wave of PvP-related changes. Providing the first layer of protection during combat, shield generators are designed to absorb damage levied against dynamic constructs (i.e. ships). Future plans will bring shields into play for space core units (as found in static constructs), as well.
 
Apollo also brings a cracking compendium of new gameplay elements and refinements including the first pass at weapons balancing and map improvements. 
 
Here’s a top-view of additional quality of life and beautification highlights within the update.
 

 
NEW ASSETS 
Apollo (0.26) holds a builder’s bonanza with new elements and skins, including a chair surface element that will transform your construct’s aesthetically pleasing accent chairs into fully functioning ones. We’ve also added numerous weapon models and skins in a selection of different looks and sizes, some of which are pictured above. (From left to right: Missile Launcher M - Precision, Shield Generator S, Gunner Seat L, Missile Launcher L - Defense.) 
 
Many of these new features and improvements were pledged in The Future of DU, Part 3: Finding the Fun. This is our second major update in the three months since the blog series. Our commitment to following through will continue with our next release, Demeter, currently in development. Watch for more news and devblogs about Demeter in the coming weeks. 
 
For now, we hope our fellow Noveans will enjoy all that Apollo has to offer. Join the conversation and share your feedback with us on the forum. 
 

Hello Noveans,

The upcoming 0.24 Update includes a plethora of enhancements to elevate the look and playability of Dual Universe. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at two of these: biomes improvements and new voxel features.
 
BIOMES IMPROVEMENTS

In this first phase of a significant, ongoing graphics update, we are improving the biomes of our planets to make them more visually diversified. Combining Speedtree, a procedural generation software, with the Quixel Megascans assets library for the textures and meshes, we now have many new tree models!
 
The Quixel Megascans library also provided many new rock models, which our artist team has then reworked.
 
Moreover, to achieve maximum realism, our ground textures now utilize scans of authentic terrestrial soils. In addition, we have improved the rendering to increase the textures’ visual quality and performances even further.
 

 

Rendered models from our Engine Editor.


These new rock assets will replace all the previous ones and add variety to the environments.
 

 

We have a new night lighting! To offer a better visual by nighttime, the tree models have been calibrated in order to fit the new night lighting.
 

 

All tree and rock assets are placed in the game world using procedural generation spawning.
 

These scans ground textures are the materials from Quixel Megascans used to replace previous ground textures.
 
NEW VOXEL FEATURES

One of the most compelling aspects of Dual Universe is its fully editable world. Through the art of manipulating voxel structures known as voxelmancy, the possibilities for channeling your creativity are endless. Our goal is to provide the players with as many tools as possible to edit voxel shapes, and we want these tools to be user-friendly and efficient.
 
 
The suite of voxel tool shapes is now even sweeter with the addition of the cone shape. Using it is similar to making cylinders. Use the mousewheel to increase the size of the base, and drag up or down to increase or decrease the height.
 
 
The new line tool allows you to select an area using any of the available voxel shapes and then hit the Alt key to delete them. Hopefully, you will now find it less tedious to remove voxels than with the previous system!
 
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Are you looking forward to being surrounded by the luscious new sights and textures of the graphics update? How will the new voxel tools compliment your constructs? Let us know in this discussion thread. ?
 
 

Dear Noveans,
 
With the opening of the Public Test Server (PTS) available to all DU players come a few guidelines, if you want to give some feedback.
We wanted - for a long time - to give the opportunity to anyone among you to give your opinion on features before they hit the Live Server.
However, as the time window to give feedback on new features deployed on the PTS will be usually limited, it's important to get structured feedback to be taken into account by the Devs, in order to make possible changes before deploying the said features on the Live Server. Note: having a new or modified feature deployed on the PTS doesn't necessarily mean that the same will be deployed on the Live Server. Community feedback may change the Dev Team course of action.
 
In order to facilitate the follow-up of your feedback by the Dev Team, it's really important to talk about one topic/feature per forum thread.
Additionally it's highly advised to follow the template below when giving feedback on a specific topic/feature deployed on the PTS:
 
Naming clearly the feature / game mechanics involved. Your feedback on the deployed feature (what you like / what you don't like about it (in this case, please give an explanation why you don't like it)). What kind of improvement you would see for such feature.  
If your feedback is about a bug report, please follow this template:
 
Subject: [BUG] <Issue name here> Current Version Number: <Can be seen when closing the client> Impact: <Game breaking / Crash / Corruption / Item/Data loss / Inconvenience / Cosmetic> Summary: <Short outline of the issue> Description: <Description of the issue> Reproduction: <Steps taken to make this bug happen>  
Reminder: there will be no official support for the PTS.
This means you can report bugs you found/experienced on the PTS (preferably in this forum section).
It's encouraged to report bugs found on the PTS, to make sure they won't be replicated once the involved feature will be deployed on the Live Server.
However, do not send tickets to the Customer Support to fix issues you encountered on the PTS.
Why no support? The reason is quite simple: in their experimental state, things may be broken.
The Novaquark Team prefer to allocate 100% of the Customer Support resources to the Live Server, where the "real game" happens.
 
We hope you'll understand our stance on the matter.
 
Best Regards,
The Novaquark Team.
 

Of course nothing is ever good enough for you entitled little brats

You know what to do.  Share your thoughts about today's DevBlog here!
 

Don't forget to respond to the call to action at the end: Which do you anticipate doing the most: creating missions, doing missions, or pirating missions?

Hey there, Noveans!

As we ramp up for the next Dual Universe update, we wanted to begin sharing information about some of the interesting new features you can look forward to with the arrival of 0.24.
 
One of the key highlights of 0.24 is the Mission system, affording the movers and shakers an opportunity to, well, move and shake their way to a wealthier DU lifestyle. And who doesn’t love the delicious sound of quanta cascading in their coffers? ?
 
OUR MISSION

In listening to player feedback, we know that players have been looking for more ways to make money. The Mission system will provide those opportunities in a number of ways that suits a wide swath of playstyles and experience.
 
The intent of Mission system is to:
 
Offer new ways for players, especially new players, to make money. Allow merchants to focus on creating goods rather than spending time traveling to markets to sell their wares. Give those who enjoy traveling more than making things a lucrative reason to take to those beautiful, wide-open skies. Create more traffic in space, hence more opportunities for pirates. Help organizations to coordinate internal work.
  The long-term goal is to enrich the Mission system with more mission types, starting with “taxi” missions, SoS, and later adding PvP and various other “formalizable” activities. For now, we’re introducing the Mission system with transport-type hauling missions.

It all starts with the Mission Panel, a dedicated dashboard tab for job and hauling missions. It is equivalent to other dashboard tabs such as the organization dashboard tab. Within the Mission Panel, you’ll find the "Job Forum" section and the "Hauling" section. Each of these contains a similar page: a home page, a search page, a creation modal, etc.

THE JOB FORUM

The Job Forum allows players to create jobs with various specifications. (Please note that the UI for the Mission system is still in progress. The images below are samples of what it will look like.)


 
The upper part of the interface lists “Aphelia” jobs, which are created by Novaquark to provide information about game events, like discovering new wreck ships, etc.
Players can inspect job details in a dedicated window and engage in a conversation with the job issuer in a mini-chat integrated to the mission.


 
You will also find Aphelia (NPC) missions that will provide new ways of making money. And, lastly, issuers can limit their missions to fellow org members only as a way to keep transactions and missions in-house.

HAULING MISSIONS

These come with formal guarantees on the rewards, collaterals, time, etc. It is tightly-coupled with the possibility to create sell orders so that you can express your intention to sell a good on a distant market and simultaneously create a transport mission to arrange transport of the goods to the said market.
The definition of a hauling mission includes:
 
Start/end point + indication if this is in PvP zone or not. Collateral (lost by the mission responder if the mission is not completed). Time limit. Reward.
The game enforces these, picking the rewards and putting collateral in escrow when the mission is created. The content of the mission is to be retrieved either from a “mission container” (a new type of container dedicated to hauling missions, think of it as a mailbox) or from a market container. It is then stored as a package with the content hidden for the mission responder. (Opening the package voids the mission and the collateral is paid.) The package can be retrieved or delivered by interacting directly with the associated container (via context-menu entries) or within a 2km range by using the controls on the interface.

Failing a mission can occur if:
 
The responder does not deliver within the given time frame (including if the package is destroyed). The package is opened by either the responder or someone else (i.e. pirates). The destruction of the destination container does not fail the mission. Instead, the mission responder can keep the package and open it without penalty; however, this means the mission cannot be completed anymore.
  CAVEAT EMPTOR

What is important to remember is that negotiations about rewards, or even the job description and purpose, are entirely declarative and non-binding. It is there as a statement, made clear with various warnings and “Are you sure?” windows.
 
There’s often an element of danger involved when doing business. For some, the lure of pulling one over on an unsuspecting stranger has an even larger allure than the money to be made. Sure, you can scam sweet, trusting little lambs for a time, but eventually you’ll be the one to pay the price. Both the Job Forum and the Mission system have the possibility to rate the interaction for the issuer and the responder. Scores between 0 and 5 are attached to players as responders or issuers of missions (both formal and jobs), which will help to identify and potentially weed out scammers.
 
YOUR FIRST MISSION STARTS HERE

Your mission now, should you choose to accept it, is to head over to this section of the forums to share your thoughts about this devblog. Which do you anticipate doing the most: creating missions, doing missions, or pirating missions?

Hello again Noveans,
 
While this year may be winding down, the Dual Universe team is winding up for all the great things players can look forward to 2021.
 
 In this video, Creative Director J.C. Baillie highlights a number of upcoming features and improvements that will take DU to the next level, including: 
 
Beautiful graphics enhancements A mission system that will create more emergent gameplay Wallets for organizations let you share (and protect) your organization’s financial assets Territory warfare to entice more gritty player-versus-player action  
Watch now to hear more about all of this and much, much more! ❤️