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Hello, Noveans! Athena’s Lua changes bring many community-requested features into the game, and there is a lot to go over, so let's dive right in!
 
SIGNS REFORGED
 
We’re revising the resolution of opaque and transparent screens to 1024x513 pixels in order to better fit them into the real screen element dimensions and improve image resolution on screens.
 
Also, each sign will now have a resolution adapted to its actual size:
Horizontal Sign XS : 1024x512
Horizontal Sign S : 1024x1024
Horizontal Sign M : 1024x512
Horizontal Sign L : 1024x256
Vertical Sign XS : 512x1024
Vertical Sign M : 512x1024
Vertical Sign L : 256x1024
    These changes are also accompanied by new features and substantive changes.
 
NEW TEXT & COLORS RENDERING
 
With this update, we’re making a fundamental change in text rendering technology. Called, ‘Signed Distance Field,’ (SDF), this rendering method allows for cleaner rendering at any font size and also supports effects such as outlines and shadows.
 
As a result, here are some text-related changes in the Rendering Lua API:
[int] loadFont([string] fontName,[int] defaultSize) - The font size setting becomes the "default" font size and can be changed during script execution with the setFontSize function.
addText([int] layer,[int] font,[string] text,[float] x,[float] y) - Now supports the following properties : fillColor, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth.
 
And some additions:
[float] getFontSize([int] font): Return the currently-set size for the given font.
setFontSize([int] font,[int] size): Set the size at which a font will render.
setDefaultTextAlign([int] layer,[int] alignH,[int] alignV): Set the default text alignment of all subsequent text strings on the given layer.
 
But that's not all! As you may have seen from the image below, we have also added support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) colors which will let you add a glow effect on your colors.
 
To use the HDR colors, you just have to set color values higher than 1 in the colors you use; commonly multiply each color component by the same HDR coefficient.
 
As an example, here is the ‘PEGGED,’ screen from Bonusaben’s Underdun Arcade modified with HDR colors:
   
LET’S MOVE LAYERS
 
One of the most common requests for screen rendering has been the ability to apply transformations (translation, rotation and scaling) to text. Given that this is not strategically optimal for rendering, we’ve decided to apply transformations to layers instead with the following functions:
setLayerOrigin([int] layer,[float] x,[float] y): Set the transform origin of a layer; layer scaling and rotation are applied relative to this origin.
setLayerRotation([int] layer,[float] rotation): Set a rotation applied to the layer as a whole, relative to the layer's transform origin.
setLayerScale([int] layer,[float] sx,[float] sy): Set a scale factor applied to the layer as a whole, relative to the layer's transform origin.
setLayerTranslation([int] layer,[float] tx,[float] ty): Set a translation applied to the layer as a whole.
 
We’ve also added a clipping area! This allows you to define an area to limit rendering per zone, especially useful for making scrolling areas and so on.
setLayerClipRect([int] layer,[float] x,[float] y,[float] sx,[float] sy): Set a clipping rectangle applied to the layer as a whole.  
Please note that anything drawn outside of the clipping area will not be visible but will still be counted in the rendering budget.
 
THE MINING UNIT API
 
As already announced in Athena roadmap, we’ve decided to add a Lua API allowing players to take accurate information from Mining Units with the following functions:
[string] getStatus() : Returns the current status of the mining unit ("STOPPED", "STALLED", "RUNNING")
[float] getRemainingTime() : Returns the time remaining on the drilling process.
[int] getActiveOre() : Returns the ID of the current selected resource.
[table] getOrePools() : Returns the list of resources pool on the territory. Each resource pool object of the list contains ‘id’, ‘available’ and ‘maximum’ fields.
[float] getBaseRate() : Returns the base production rate of the mining unit.
[float] getEfficiency() : Returns the production efficiency of the mining unit.
[float] getAdjacencyBonus() : Returns the territory's production adjacency bonus factor. This value will only be updated when a new batch is started.
[float] getCalibrationRate() : Returns the current calibration rate of the mining unit.
[float] getOptimalRate() : Returns the optimal calibration rate of the mining unit.
[float] getProductionRate() : Returns the production rate of the mining unit.
[vec3] getLastExtractionPosition() : Returns the position of the extracted ore during the last calibration in world coordinates.
[int] getLastExtractingPlayerId() : Returns the ID of the last player who calibrated the mining unit.
[float] getLastExtractionTime() : Returns the time in seconds since the last calibration of the mining unit.
[float] getLastExtractedVolume() : Returns the amount of ore extracted during the last calibration.
[int] getLastExtractedOre() : Returns the ID of the extracted ore during the last calibration.
 
And with some events:
[event] statusChanged([string] status) : Emitted when the mining unit status is changed. Provide the new status.
[event] completed([int] oreId, [float] amount) : Emitted when the mining unit completes a batch. Provide the item ID of the mined ore and the amount mined in the batch.
[event] calibrated([int] oreId, [float] amount, [float] rate) : Emitted when the mining unit is calibrated. Provide the item ID of the extracted ore, the amount extracted and the new calibration rate.
 
THE ITEM API
 
We have chosen to integrate the notion of item-IDs in a more concrete way. This is the first API using this principle, which seems to us the most adapted. Some functions and events will provide you with an ID designating an item in the game.
 
We will then integrate the getItem function:
[table] getItem([int] id): Return the item table corresponding to the given item ID.
 
The returned table will then contain the following information:
[int] id : The ID of the item.
[string] name : The name used to define the item.
[string] displayName : The name of the item used in the game.
[string] locDisplayName : The name of the item used in the game in the language of your game.
[string] displayNameWithSize : The name of the item used in the game with the size (XS,S,M,L).
[string] locDisplayNameWithSize : The name of the item used in the game with the size (XS,S,M,L) in the language of your game.
[string] description : The description of the item in English.
[string] locDescription : The description of the item in the language of your game.
[string] type : The type of item.
[float] unitMass : The unit mass of the item.
[float] unitVolume : The unit volume of the item.
[int] tier : The tier of the item (1 to 5)
[string] size : The size of the item (xs, s, m, l)
[string] iconPath : The path of the item's icon in the game files (usable on the screens).
 
BONUS FEATURES
 
We’ve also decided to include several smaller features with this update:
 
The function allowing you to draw a quadratic Bézier curve:
addBezier([int] layer,[float] x1,[float] y1,[float] x2,[float] y2,[float] x3,[float] y3): Add a quadratic Bézier curve to the given layer. Supported properties: shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth.
 
Additional functionality for images:
addImageSub([int] layer,[int] image,[float] x,[float] y,[float] sx,[float] sy,[float] subX,[float] subY,[float] subSx,[float] subSy): Add a sub-region of an image to the given layer. Supported properties: fillColor, rotation.
[float],[float] getImageSize([int] image): Return the width and height of an image.
 
Finally, a function that lets you know the language setting of the rendering client:
[string] getLocale(): Return the locale in which the game is currently running (“en-EN”, “fr-FR”, “de-DE”).
 
CONCLUSION
 
Our goal is always to provide a larger and more feature-rich panel while maintaining rendering performance, and we hope that you will enjoy these Lua additions coming in Athena.
 
As always, we appreciate your feedback, so please share your thoughts and let us know your ideas on what Rendering Lua-related improvements and/or additions you would like to see in Dual Universe. Also, our API approach seems to be suitable and could potentially be applied to other API’s in-game, but we’d love to hear your feedback on that first.
 
NQ-Ligo is looking forward to discussing them with you 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.  
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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.
 

because blueprints are beautiful.
I can make the same ship withing 5 hours, the same functionality.
But beauty for it cost me 5 weeks.

because blueprints are beautiful.
I can make the same ship withing 5 hours, the same functionality.
But beauty for it cost me 5 weeks.

Game would benefit from a wipe.  However, the existing and committed player base will leave.
 
They would have to start from scratch to attract players.

Frankly, there are no gameplay loops here to attract players.  
 
Crafting is not necessary because only a few individuals can supply the community easily.
 
PvP is kind of a joke with no goals or reasons to fight.
 
Trading is a joke and doesn’t have any significant presence or impact.
 
Mining is at an ok spot I think.  Could use variation to spice up miner’s lives.
 
Building is horribly limited given what the game is capable of, and there is no incentive to build nice static structures for the average player.  And dynamic ships are very difficult to make not look like crap. Deterring new players
 
 
while I believe wipes are the best way to address fundamental issues with a persistent game, doing so will kill this game. Simply because there is nothing to attract players.  This game’s community in a lot of ways is limping on with the sunk cost fallacy.
 
The game still needs actual game development at this point.  A wipe can come later
 
 
 
 
 

@NQ-Wanderer dear, would you clarify,
what does it mean to 'remove schematics?
 
- remove them as part-of-the-game to pre-0.23 version?
- remove as existing content as part of wipe process?
 
There are a lot of comments, that without schematics nobody will come to market, and everyone will do their own elements on huge factories..
 

A full wipe is preferred option for me, and i don't need any veteran player "compensation".

Why do they want to remove the schematics again? That is one of the only reasons why we got trading in this game <.<

Hello, Noveans.
 
What are you thoughts regarding our SHEDDING LIGHT ON A NOVAQUARK INTERNAL DISCUSSION communication? Let us know below!

Following our policy of being as transparent as possible and to keep everyone informed, we want to give you some insight about the internal discussions the Novaquark team has on the delicate topic on whether we’re going to have a wipe or not, and under which form. The discussions are numerous, as there is no easy answer and we have to take into account all of the pros and cons for each possible solution. We also have been taking into account the players discussions which have happened - and for some, are still happening - on Discord and our official forum. On one hand we have you, our early backers and players, who supported us for quite some time now, and we want to renew our thanks for being so patient and passionate about Dual Universe. On the other hand, we have the constraints of making the game appealing to new players.
 
Please note: By “new players”, we mean players who’ve just heard about Dual Universe, but we also have many backers that have chosen not to participate during Alpha and Beta, so they can begin playing once the game has reached a polished enough state with game mechanics.
 
SO, WHAT ARE THE PARAMETERS WE HAVE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT?
 
We know that players have repeatedly asked for an answer to this question. It has been on the table for many months, if not since the Beta opened. The team has been discussing many options on the topic and we’ve gone back to the drawing board many times. Here is an overview of the factors that we are taking under consideration:
 
A reset would be an opportunity to remove things that have been deemed very unpopular by the already existing community, such as the schematics. The only way to remove them in a clean way without causing too many disturbances in the economy is clearly when the in-game economy has been just reset.
 
Many tests/adjustments during Beta have impacted the in-game economy, leading to have some players getting extremely rich way faster than intended, due to an intensive use of some features in their early stage, such as the mission system (and that's understandable, as the situation is part of a normal process in the development of a game). However, it's also common practice in the game development process to usually have some kind of reset when critical milestones are reached, and resetting the economy to have a healthy start once the game has been stabilized and the game features have become more balanced makes sense.
 
As you, our current experienced players, will have quite an advantage compared to the new players on many levels (game knowledge, talent points, wealth, constructs already owned), there's a need to make things a bit more balanced to give a fighting chance to the wave of new players that will join the Community later.
 
We also want to give all the players (new players as much as a big part of the early backers who have waited for the game to be in a fairly polished state) to have the opportunity of the right start.
 
In case of a wipe, finding a way for our veteran players to allow them to keep (or rebuild quickly) their favorite constructs, without creating any loophole for players to bypass the reset (and defeat the purpose of why it’s done).
 
Some planets currently do not have the quality and polished state the Novaquark team wants to give them. We also have seen that a part of the Community has the same opinion on the topic, and this is why the dev team has been planning a revamp for the planets which haven’t received one already.
 
WE CONSIDERED SEVERAL ALTERNATIVES SO FAR TO REACH THESE GOALS:
 
- Doing no wipe at all.
 
Pros:
Satisfying for some of our long-time builders and traders Cons:
Unsatisfying for players wanting to discover the game and start with a more polished version of the game. Does not allow to remove Schematics properly. Does not allow to revamp the old planets properly. Does not allow the rebalancing of the economy properly. Potentially keeping bugs related to very old Constructs.  
 
- Making a partial wipe where the economy would be wiped, but not the Constructs, which would keep all player-made creations intact, with also in mind to prevent some players from storing resources on said Constructs to circumvent the reset of the economy.
 
Pros:
Relatively satisfying for some of our long-time builders. Cons:
Extremely complex to put in place properly without the known loopholes interfering (such as piling up Resources and Elements on existing Constructs before a wipe and removing them after to sell them). Unknown loopholes could break the wanted healthy economic reset. Does not allow to revamp the old planets properly. Potentially keeping bugs related to very old Constructs.  
 
- Having a “legacy” live server and a new live server, where only the blueprints made before the new server opening would be transferred to the new live server.
 
Pros:
Could prevent any wipe with this solution while managing issues the dev team is trying to solve. Cons:
Opens a number of new issues server-side. Would split the Community.  
 
- Having a full wipe (except blueprints) with solutions to make old time players able to rebuild their favorite Constructs quickly through various means.
 
(Here are a few examples of discussed ideas to reach this goal: for our veteran backers, starting pool of talents points and/or quanta, resource multiplier event right after the reset, etc.).
 
Pros:
Prevents loopholes for an economic reset compared to a partial wipe. Most efficient, proper way to remove schematics. Most efficient, proper way to handle a planet revamp. Cons:
Some possibilities discussed could be seen as an unfair advantage.
Keep in mind, if the above solution is decided on, that an improved version of the Blueprint / Construct deployment tool available to all players will be implemented in-game at the time (or maybe even before) such a solution would be applied to the game.
Such improved version will enable players to have:
A preview of the Construct before deploying the said Construct from a blueprint (this feature should be available with Athena release). An ability to auto-align the preview of the Construct on an already deployed Construct (this feature should be available a bit later after Athena release).
   
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Though this may seem to be a long explanation, it’s a (very) short description of everything the Novaquark team has discussed so far on this topic. So stay tuned, and we thank you again for your patience and support. As mentioned before, our decision will not be made on a whim, but will be made considering and pondering all of the factors mentioned above.
 
Let us know your thoughts on all this here!

Greetings, Noveans.
 
Let us know your thoughts about our latest DEVBLOG: A MARKET IN SPACE!
 

At least people share the same opinion and are definitely sure on the fact that you don't like the poll 🙂
Sorry if anything, I definitely don't want to make fight on this, I wish just to know how people think ( without names, behind the poll ).

I do like the new market in space, it is good for players with warp-drive and space ships.
For new players, - no use.. I remember playing first 3 month without space, orbit max.
 
I wish there could be a solution for custom shops:
we really need to somehow make our dispensers prices to appear in public market window, so to attract players to visit our base / custom shops.
Why we need it? - we want to ear taxes instead of Aphelia, - we want people to visit our bases.
 
Or make the public markets to be owned by an org, and the let the org to set taxes? And make the game-play to conquer markets
 

Hi peeps, guys, gals, everyone,
 
Do you know how much people share your opinion?
Is your opinion the same as the upcoming official statement of DU makers?
 
 
I think we already can see the answer, so... here are the votes:
------
The most rich audience (Scrooge McDuck group ) ,
3 out of 9 votes said they want full wipe
 
Second rich group got 6 out of 19 votes to full wipe.
 
3rd group: got 5 out of 20 votes for full wipe.
 
1 of 4 newbies vote for full wipe.
-------
The interesting tendency is that, the more guys rich, the higher chance their desire to wipe this all.
-------
numbers are:
the richest (9), rich (19), medium rich (20), newbies(4)
no wipe(27), partial (11), full (14)
 
----------------------
Let's find out! - I have created a poll for this matter: https://forms.gle/wHwSrhSHtXWwvowQ7
Please vote and share with your friends to vote.
 
The results of the vote will be shared in this first post of this forum thread as soon as NQ will give us the answer.

I am the fish swimming here for more than a year, I am paying for the game since I started. I am making ~10kTon expensive ore a week spending 2h on it only, I am rich in the game. 
But I name things as they are, - the release is release, and now it is not yet 'launched'. We are in the test environment, I do not think this as a true game launch, why should it be? - I was warping ktons of missions in the past, do you think it is fare to others? I don't think so.

I am not familiar with your connotation, sorry on that. But answers are neutral. The assets question (with answers newbie/average/rich/extremally rich ) is just to give a brief understanding on the group that has voted in the 1st question. Sorry, in case you do not like scrooge mcduck cartoon.

Fix the game and wipe it out! Not wiping it out only maintains the terrible imbalance that is created by the broken game!
 
I am always open to coming back to DU, but that is only after they fixed it! I can say that this game have a potential to be a viable game after assessing the available and upcoming MMOs!
 
Right now, I am playing nothing because I am disappointed on the quality of MMOs (especially on their lack of contents). Due to the terrible and deteriorating state of our genre, DU stands a chance in the market, only if they will get the game fixed! A game that is fixed is worth a second go!

I totally agree with author, adding just few API calls would make like easier.
Do we have dispensers? - Yes, so why not to make it better?
 
If NQ is planning ( I hope to see this piece of plan in the upcoming RoadMap ), then It will be great for big player's shops.
Dispensers won't be replaced.
So, Why not to make our life comfortable by the most demanding few APIs?
 

Dear NQ,
 
We in SVEA run an element shop, recently featured in The Helios Bulletin. We've developed a system to centrally update the screens for each of the 600+ dispensers so that our customers can see the price and batch size without having to click on the dispenser, in addition to making the shopping experience nicer.
 
Although updating all screens centrally saves a lot of time, the dispensers still needs to be manually updated with price (and batch size if that is to be changed). We did get a nice update to the UI for the dispensers a while back but that only helps with the initial setup, not the long-term management of the only way a "player market" can be created in the game right now.
 
Can we please have a word on when a LUA API for dispensers will be a thing?
 
These are the most important API functionalities the dispensers are missing:
 
SetPrice(price) - sets the price. GetPrice() - Returns the currently set price  
These are extras I thought would be nice to have
Activate() - Disables purchases from a container without having to go through the RDMS system, much like the VR Pod station needs to be activated via RMB. Deactivate() - Opposite of Activate(), obviously GetContainerId() - returns the ID of the connected container, or 0 if not yet connected. HasBatchContents() - returns true if the dispenser has any configured batch contents. BatchesAvailable() - returns the number of batches available in the connected container.  
At first I thought that a function like SetBatchSize() would be good, but instead of that, lets change the dispenser such that the buyer can enter the number of batches they want to buy (up to whatever total the seller has configured)
 
You already know that there are other similar shops out there and while I don't speak for them, I think they too would appreciate the above proposed improvements.
 
Br,
 
Yoarii
 
PS: Not sure if tagging NQ like this actually helps in getting their attention, but here goes. @NQ-Deckard
 
 
 

Guys, Dont be disrespectful. The devs are doing what their told to do, and will tweak things as they go.  besides  after all we are just beta testers  we are here to test the content that they put out.
 
However I will say, Ive really been looking forward to this patch and after waiting all day to log in and play and see the patch. Im way disappointed
Normally in a patch we get content,  this is going to take content away and really hurt someone trying to start out in this game.
 
The ore amounts are embarrassing to say the least.
 
I could mine more ore in 10 mins of being in game compared to what the autominers are going to do in 24 hours.
I knew it was going to be bad by PTS numbers but i had no clue it would be this bad...
Because not only do we have LOW ore amounts of auto miners, now that the planet seeds have been redistributed we have SPEND ore that were not making much of to go get higher tier ore in low quantities.   or we have to spend even MORE ore that we are making less of to go to asteroids that might not have the ore we need.  and on top of all this now we have a territory tax. that we have to maintain based off of this low ore amount..   
 
At this point I'm done scanning its absolutely pointless at this current time,   Hopefully the building materials i have will keep me building for a little while, cause there's no point in doing anything else, maybe in a week or so ill have enough ore from the autominers to produce enough fuel to make a market run       

It is necessary to add the ability to remove the core from the structure with the installed elements. During removal, the question will be asked: "Do you really want to remove the core? All structural elements will be destroyed!" This will remove the core if there are very small voxel pieces left in the structure that cannot be visually detected.

The problem is this would make them into invincible PVP shields.
 
But i would like to think there is some way NQ could make this work.  It really is a shame having all those nice decorative elements and basically not being able to use them on ships.
 
I honestly think they should just make the repair process nearly instant, when the damage is from a collision.  There's no reason to punish people for crashing a ship, beyond the repair bill.
 
Repairs only need to be slowed down when there's PVP involved.

For those of you who are unclear on this, the "Repair Unit" doesn't repair a damn thing. All it does is replace. Meaning it will trash/destroy any damaged element and replace it with a fresh one that is in its inventory container. The same goes for voxels.
 
Absolutely no scrap is involved, so no actual repairs, despite its name. 

uhhhhhh.... you have heard of the repair unit, right?

In my experience,  the best practice, at least for the time being, is to build your ship like a russian cold war era, no bells, no wistles, no heating, no cushions, mugholders, fancy radars and chairs. 
 
Once you have the hull, engines, airfoils, tanks ,adjustors and brakes laid out, test it and adjust the hell out of it untill the flight characteristics are rock solid. Make a conscious decision early between naturaly stable ( but less maneuvrable) or naturally unstable ( more maneuvrables) design.
 
Once your design behaves consistently with your design goals, than start adding all the windows, switches, force field ramps.. etc  And even re-fly the ship often after adding any major element so you can backtrack effect of each change on design. 
 
And last but not least, at all stages of tuning your design, always test with various sized dummy loads of cargo ( containers fill uniformely, rather they always fill as first linked first, last linked last) . This is particularly important when tanks and cargo containers are not placed along the center of  lift/gravity.   When using multipe fuel tanks, watch the changes in weight distribution as tanks are emptied. Not a huge concern on XS cores, but get more profound as the sizes increase.
 
 
And remember, first few ships you design will very likely get off the ground, they might even manage get out of atmosphere, but that doesn't mean they're not crap,
and that's okay, nobody get its right the first few times