FrozenFace

Dear Noveans,
 
It has been quite some time that the Discord Moderation team and the Novaquark Community team have discussed changes internally to make the Discord up-to-date. Today, the changes have been deployed, to make the Discord ready for the upcoming update (Demeter) and the ones that will follow in the near future.
 
Changes: >Welcome
?-server-information name changed to ?-discord-info
Improved the information in this channel to be clearer along with updating some of the posts. ?-dual-universe-faq name changed to ?-game-faq
Updated this section which includes improving the answers to some of the questions to be clearer along with removing some of the questions that were no longer required to be in the channel.
  Changes: >News
Most of this section has had their name changed along with most additions to the tab.
#NEWS tab changed to #Official News ?-official-news name changed to ?-du-news Removal of ?-duscord-news, #reddit-feed and #forum-feed Addition of new channel named ?-du-feed here you will now find all the social feeds from Dual Universe which will include Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and the Official Forum (Controlled by a new bot) Moved ?-server-announcements from Dual Universe beta tab to #Official News ?-server-announcements name changed to ?-server-maintenance Moved ?-release-notes from Dual Universe beta tab to #Official News
Changes: >Dual Universe beta section deleted
Moved ?-community-help to Community section.
Changes: >Community
This channel has had major changes across the board.
?-duscussion embed permission has been turned off ?-duscussion banned word list has been updated to clean up the channel ?-community-help name changed to ?-community-help ?-trade removed from tab to be replaced with new >Trading Hub section ?-gallery name changed to ?-construct-gallery ?-construct-gallery removed from tab and moved to new >Creative section ?-lfg removed from tab and moved to new >Community Ads section ?-agora name changed to ?-community-creations ?-community-creations moved to new >Creative section ?-creators name changed to ?-streamers-corner ?-utilities name changed to ?-services ?-services removed from tab and moved to >Trading Hub section ©-adverts removed to be replaced with >Community Ads section ?-news-stand moved to new >Creative section ?Newcomer Help Voice have been removed, more on this later.  
Changes: New >Trading Hub section
This section of channels will now be the main place for all official trading for Dual Universe. We now have four separate channels listed below:
?-commodities: This channel is for commodities only. This channel will have no links or embeds and will be in the correct format which can be found via pinned posts. If posts do not meet this requirement they are removed without notice. There is also a 6 hour slow mode on this channel ?-ship-adverts: This channel is for ship constructs only. Embeds have been removed along with a 6 hour slow mode on this channel. ?-building-adverts:This channel is for static constructs and voxel libraries only. Embeds have been removed along with a 6 hour slow mode on this channel. ?-services: This channel will still function the same way ?-utilities functions at the moment details will be on the pinned posts for instructions.  
Changes: New >Community Ads section
This channel has been added to organize all of the adverts that the community would like to put out for people to see along with some new rules on how these work.
?-events: Nothing has changed to this channel apart from the addition of 6 hour slow mode ?-org-recruitment: this channel will no longer be accessed through the Recruiter role. The channel will be controlled via Dynobot itself. To post on this channel, members will need to put a request in via @modmail in this format which then be added to dyno and put on a 24hr repeat.
TITLE: ORG ADVERT
NAME: (enter org here)
Description: (...)
LINKS: (DISCORD , Community Org page , LOGO)
Embeds will be disabled as well on this channel. ?-lfg: This channel has been placed on on 6 hour slow mode with the addition of a format that must be followed (Experience)(Amount)(Location)(Language) if any post does not meet this requirement it will be deleted without notice.  
Changes: New >Creative section
This channel you will find anything that is related to either pictures or videos of Dual Universe.
?-streamers-corner:This is where people that have requested the Creators role via @modmail can post links to streams on the discord. 6 hour slow mode enabled. ?-community-creations:  Renamed from ?-agora this channel will still contain videos that the community have made. 6 hour slow mode enabled. ?-construct-gallery: Renamed ?-gallery. This channel will now be Dual Universe pictures only. ?-news-stand: no changes  
Changes: new >DUVoice section
?Newcomer Help Voice no changes NEW #DU-voice-creator channel: (Controlled by new bot) This channel is a new addition to the discord and will be replacing the existing DU voice channel. This channel, once accessed by the community, will create a personal channel for people to go into. No longer will you have just one channel to talk in, you can have multiple channels at the same time. The channels will auto delete when everyone has left the channel requiring no input from Moderators to create new channels etc. All logs are recorded; anyone found abusing the system will receive warnings for doing so. AFK: no changes
Changes: >DU LOCAL CHATS
>DU LOCAL CHATS Name changed to >Localized Chats
Changes: >Novean Plaza section deleted
Correct removal on channels and tab including #?-hardware,?-resort and ?-nitro
 
Best Regards,
The Discord Moderation team & the Novaquark Community team
 

We invited you to ask questions about 0.25 and 0.26 for a Q&A, and you did not disappoint! Here are the responses to some of the most commonly asked questions. 
 
The community also expressed curiosity about issues related to schematics and voxels. Those are both important topics that we think would be better served in separate, focused discussions. We’ll hit those for you soon. 
 
Big thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Let’s keep the conversation going! 
 
1. Will the PTS receive a newer image when the next iteration comes through?
Our most important consideration is to ensure better, smoother releases. (Can we agree that Hermes went pretty well?) Unfortunately, that means that migration to PTS is not on the priority list. Migrating the database from the live environment to the PTS requires a lot of work from our DevOps and Production teams, among others. These resources are scarce in the company, and, as usual, it’s about choices. 
 
We’d like to remind you, though, that playing on PTS comes with a lot of perks, such as dispensers with infinite resources, the ability to change skills at-will, millions of quanta, etc. 
 
2. Are there going to be any changes to nerf the ability to use multiple alts with the hauling missions?
We don’t currently have plans for that. We consider the cost of moving a package being the movement of the mass. You still need a bigger ship to move a larger amount of cargo. That said, we will consider the question of alts carefully for future mission types.

3. Will you be adding a way to identify which packages belong to which mission?
This is a great suggestion! We definitely see how it would bring quality of life for mission-takers out there. It seems quite doable although it’s unlikely we can include it with Apollo (0.26) since that’s already underway internally and should come to the PTS soon; however, we’re in the process of discussing how we can add it to a future release.
 
4. Are org changes coming with 0.26?
Following feedback from the community and discussions with some of the major org leaders, we announced this week that the org changes have been postponed. While we still need to address issues caused by nested organizations, we also want to make sure that we approach the changes in a collaborative manner with the players. With more options to consider and more conversations needed, it’s highly unlikely that these changes will come with the next major version, Apollo (0.26).

5. Will you please elaborate on what you mean by "PvP balance changes"? Will you be improving combat with smaller cores/stopping cube designs, etc., or just adding shields?
We’ll share more details as the Apollo release date gets closer. To give you a little sneak peek now, we can say that overall it will feature weapons changes (including cosmetics), PvP-related bug fixes, the introduction of shields, and quite a few changes to the overall balancing of PvP. We would like to manage expectations by stating that this will be the first wave of changes and that we will have more heavy PvP-focused releases in the future.
 
6. Is passive mining coming before asteroid mining?
Planet/passive mining is planned for the release after Apollo, codenamed Demeter. With Apollo, we are focusing on the introduction of asteroid hunting and mining gameplay. We’ll communicate more about it once Apollo is out of the way, but rest assured that these changes to mining are not too far in the future.
 
7. Do we get to have mining elements for ships?
With Apollo, we will introduce one new element called the DSat scanner, which will be used to hunt down asteroids and discover their location. Mining itself will work as it currently does on planets though. More info on Apollo features coming soon. 

8. Will asteroid mechanics still put a huge red arrow over your head by broadcasting the position through the universe, removing any need for PvPers to put effort into finding those who go out and find asteroids?
To clarify, some asteroids will be in the PvP zone and some won’t. Asteroids in the PvP zone will have higher chances of including higher-tier ore and, as such, will be more valuable. But asteroids in safe zones should be worth your while, too. 
 
There will be a countdown between the time an asteroid is discovered by a player and the moment when its location is broadcast to other players. (Currently, the gap is four hours but this may change once we get feedback from players.) It shouldn’t be enough to completely deplete an asteroid of all its ore, but it should be enough to mine all the good stuff first. Once the location is publicized, it’s up to you if you want to stick around to finish mining the asteroid or move away before the pirates show up. 
 
We think this will provide interesting collaboration mechanics (mining while others protect the miners, for example) and, yes, additional PvP opportunities. We don’t think it will become an easy targeting system for pirates, though, as there’s no guarantee miners will still be on site by the time they arrive after learning of an asteroid location. 
 
9. Will the asteroid system use the current land mining system, 400m manual scanner and hand-operated vein or will it be blocks of pure ore?
Yes, asteroid mining will use mechanics similar to the current on-planet mining gameplay. Think of them as mini-planets with valuable ores.
 

Nice addition.
 
And i know some of you will argue that this should not be a priority. 
But remember programers are not all equal. 
The ppl skilled to do this are not necessarily skilled to program what you consider a "priority" 

As a programmer, who worked with many game engines, i have to say that game have good optimizing, as game with voxel and that world scale.  I hope they will improve work of servers, and i wish them luck and good final results?

Gordon Bennet, lad! You've been saying "done with this game" for over six months. Can I haz your stuff already? Don't let the door hit you on the way out. LOL.
I don't see the point of hanging around dissing something you don't like. Kind of feels like you're suffering from Stockholm syndrome... Just move on... There are other games out there... Life is short, etc. etc...

As a major crowdfunding supporter over the last decade or so, I got here just after the kickstarter and picked up one of the supporter packs.

I pretty much got what I expected. I really enjoyed the freedom and ability to shape my imagination in-game....  Much more so than Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen, which I also backed and also have 1500 and 500 hours play time in respectively. The newtonian physics and the Lua programmable elements hooked me since the other two games have neither (No, ED doesn't have pure newtonian physics.... ED's physics is severely gimped (yaw, anyone?)  and their ships are stacks of kludges on top of kludges).
 
0.23 put a clamp on that for a few months, but four or so of our remaining active org mates restarted the factories and doubled down and they got NovaX pretty much back to where we had been a few months earlier (proof that schematics absolutely don't work as intended and are completely useless as implemented)... 

maybe 800 to 1000 hours of gameplay later, I still love flying around on the craft I made and designing new structures in game... but as the players left, the social aspect of the game sort of disappeared, which for me, was the main draw.

DU was is close to brilliance but has missed the target a few too many times for some players (like our tazerboy above).

Good for NQ to officially say something which players pointed out months ago. 
 
Third blog will be more interesting tho and we will see if they keep communicating or let it die again

I have been trying to figure out how to say what needs to be said without sounding toxic or doomsday-esque.  I don't know how to fully do that so I am going to preface this post by saying I want good things for DU and NQ and the people that make up the NQ staff.  With NQs current trajectory you are in a death spiral.  If you stay the course you are on it is my fear that DU will not survive and all of the NQ staff that has poured heart and soul into DU will be unemployed.  I get the impression that NQ looks at DU and gets caught up with jubilation of the technical marvel that is DU.  To that I agree it is a masterpiece and you all deserve a thousands applauses.  However applause doesn't keep the lights on.  It is my firm belief that NQ needs to let go of the methodical roadmap you are using to develop DU.  Yes if you continue on the course you are on you will eventually make a masterful product.  The problem is you do not have the funding to do that.  

NQ needs to increase revenue. The best way IMHO to get more users interested in the game is to prioritize gameplay loops.  NPC Pirates that players can kill to get things.  Asteroid belts to explore and fight over. Gameplay loops these are the things that will bring users to DU and more importantly retain them.  These foundational pillars NQ are working on to set itself up for a more robust world down the road so you can then add gameplay loops is a recipe of your undoing.  Give the people what they want so that they will give you money to do the things you actually want to do.  Basically this is a long winded post saying " you are putting the cart before the horse" and "it will be your undoing if you do not beware".  Us users will be sad if DU fails but we can go play another game.  Sorry for being the asshole who said it.
 
Edit- it is anecdotal but all my friends in DU have been doing there best to give NQ the benefit of doubt but faith is running low and many have said this is the last billing cycle (3 month sub) that they will pay without seeing some signs that NQ is actually making progress and adding actual game play loops to the game.  I must admit I am more hard headed but I have asked myself "at what point in time do I cut and run". I invest large amounts of time into the main game I play which is DU but I do that to build up for a future.  If there won't be a future (game death) why am I investing for that future? 

Hope dies last xD

As a programmer, who worked with many game engines, i have to say that game have good optimizing, as game with voxel and that world scale.  I hope they will improve work of servers, and i wish them luck and good final results?

Hope dies last xD

Hope 3rd part not about bankruption...

As a programmer, who worked with many game engines, i have to say that game have good optimizing, as game with voxel and that world scale.  I hope they will improve work of servers, and i wish them luck and good final results?

There is no denying that the server tech NQ is using is not common at best and unique to them in the context of a persistent world for a MMO.
 
While it has been clear to many of us that the provisioning that the needs was always underestimated and undervalued by NQ from pretty much the start, that NQ tries to now spin this as if it was new to them from the start of Beta is really admitting they truly have no idea about the amount of work they bit of and it was way more than they could chew. NQ started of with the pitch that their tech could support millions of players, they wisely toned that down but still mentioned massive numbers, yet the peak concurrent logins in the week(s) after "beta" start was never more than little under 4K logins. We know this as we had access to an open API which told us this which NQ promptly closed as the number were already coming down.
 
This also ties into the financial struggles that led to NQ opening up "beta" and ending closed development. JC literally said several times that they needed the revenue to be able to progress and proceed. Problem is/was that this brought in more players than they accounted for and so the spiral started of needing to put in more budget into operating cost while doing that required more subs to start rolling in, which would cause more players and hence higher requirements for the server provisioning which would then lead to an increase in needed budget for operating cost and back to the top ..
 
If NQ did not correctly budget and foresee this happening then that says a lot about their ability to understand what the are/were doing beyond having a vision of grand things happening. And having your visionary also being the business lead in that regard generally will not end well even with the best of intentions.
 
So yes, I am really happy to see JC removed from that position and hopefully be able to be what he is, the one to provide the vision for the game. More proficient people can then both drive the business side, finances and manage the project itself to the extend the vision meets the technical and financial possibilities. And that is a lot of words for what I really think is a positive change for the company.
 

So what's next?
 
Well, we may find out in part 3 of this saga but I think it will be a bit premature to expect a new roadmap. Maybe a broad outline.
 
I still hope for a period of several months where NQ will restructure their core tech, rework the server and backend as well as find the balance between what they want to achieve and what's possible. I also think it is now inevitable that the planned release for end of the year is off the table which actually will be good. And yes, I see all this lead to the one thing many do not want to go but wil be impossible to go around.. a full wipe.
 

To go full speculation mode, here's my prediction:
3-6 months for NQ to regroup, restructure and get the core (server) tech reworked 2-3 months to get the existing game code fixed and balanced as far as it can be 6-12 months to bring in the remaining core game play features, being the mission system, player market, revamp on PVP, TW (with AVA, ACV and CVA), planet tech update (with partial wipe), pets, character optimization and all the remaining KS promises from the (stretch) goals  
By this time we're deep in the second half of 2022 at least and an actual beta can start with all core game loops implemented. This is where we wil see a full wipe and the arrival of the cash shop. A release would then be possible 2nd half 2023
 
And yes, if the above were to happen I'd be perfectly fine with it

Space Mom always said "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

So to NQ: Keep the communications coming.  I am loving them.

To the players, I have nothing to say. 

Hope dies last xD

Here you can post your favorite space music.
 

Hello everyone, 
 
Ign just posted a new trailer for DU. I admit being biased but I think it looks great. 
 
 
 

then just wait until it's released. If you can't afford it - tough luck but you can't change that fact.
Get a job. Stop smoking. Stop drinking. Don't eat at MCD every week. Stop going out for 3 months and BOOM - you can buy into beta

We need Station of Braavos!

I don't know by IMO it should be locked to prevent stealing ship projects. If not, someone could buy interesting project, add one voxel and create his own blueprint to sell it as his own project. It would be unfair.

If I buy a ship blueprint copy from another player and build that ship, what are the copyright protections going to be ?
 
Can I customize the ship I built from the BPC ? Can I add voxels and swap out elements, for instance ?
 
And once I've modified that construct, am I now the new "creator" of the modified construct ?
 
Can I now create a new master blueprint and start selling BPC's of my "improved design" ? I'd certainly hope not...
 
Or is a construct "locked" against voxel or element changes by the new owner ?
 
Lua scripts should probably be exempted from construct locks, but changing those shouldn't give you the option of creating a new blueprint of the construct itself.

Hope I'm the first one! 
 
 
 
This months DevDiary includes info on the (Pre-) Alpha, a view at the game menu, a glimpse at the inventory system, redesign of the cockpit widgets and several things about building and scripting!

At gamescom NQ said, they will try to implement a bug reporting feature in DU. In the lastest Dev Diary you can see a button for that at the bottom right of the main menu. So I think they will get it in DU until the pre-alpha starts. But they also said, if they can't make it to that date, they will make a dedicated forum thread for bug reporting.

Hello let me introduce my self! No puns intended! =) 
 
I think profits will be great for weapons smith like my self because people and organizations will need the weapons to keep themselves safe! There will probably be average weapons on the market for people or organizations that my not have the skills or art to make them, but I am planning to make special orders that will be blueprinted and only sold for that organization's or person's own exclusive use.
 
As of being a pirate I thought about it but I will not be doing any fighting because : I'm more of the lover type than fighter type!  =) 

If you have questions I maybe able to point you in the right direction but some of the larger pirate groups have all ready ben named. There are smaller organizations out there if that's what your looking for but you will probably need to send there leaders a message to set up a contract! So keep in mind if the larger orgs or too pricey there are smaller and cheaper orgs out there you just need to contact them.   =)

Depends on whose trade routes gets plundered :^)