Devilish

Just once I would like to see NQ add something fun to the game instead of taking things away.

Just once I would like to see NQ add something fun to the game instead of taking things away.

One of the reasons we wiped your progress, because you were progressing, and it was bad.

 
Shame on you for using the Mining Units to generate the income you need to play, we should have been taxing you MORE!

 
Just go buy resources with your 100k allowance, until we decide to take that away, or learn how to purchase ore when you don't have any money. Cause we allow people with alts to mission run billions of quanta a month.

 
How dare new players have a way to make income without any barriers! Especially to get started in only a few days!

 

Not our fault you can accidentally sell to people that buy ore for zero quanta, and we refuse to fix this for you.

NQ is punishing and placing the burden on players playing the game as it was intended!

Yet they fail to deal with the quanta faucet of alt-mission running, that concentrates BILLIONS OF QUANTA into a small number of people's hands. Besides can't remove that, or else who would have the money to buy your ore? 
 
So ALT UP if you want to play DU and have money to enjoy it or Leave!


 

I got the free week of Omega the other day. Aside from the HAC changes and the new UI, not much has changed; but I'm still glad I didn't give all of my stuff away because I might have to go back after all. Even though I've paid for a year on 3 characters, it's a constant struggle. I'm not sure I want to keep wasting time on a game where I can barely keep my operations afloat - never mind actually progress - without a agreeing to massive time commitment and/or joining one of the largest orgs.
 
I just don't understand the logic behind the direction NQ seems to be taking this game. I keep hearing that they want to slow progress to the end game; but this is a sandbox MMO. The only end game is what players make of it. All these changes have done is empower large, organized groups at the expense of everyone else. It was already going to be nearly impossible to challenge the larger orgs, but now it's going to be all but impossible. They're sitting on so many resources that no one else has any chance of accessing that they'll never be dislodged from their place at the top of the pile. The game isn't even 2 months old and there's already almost no room for growth for a new player. It's infuriating, it didn't have to be this way and it's all due to poor decisions on the part of NQ. There are so many relatively easy changes NQ could make to improve quality of life, but they only seem interested in going the opposite direction. CCP took decades to lose touch with what players wanted; and they're starting to come around on that. NQ took months and they're only getting worse.

I wasn't going to write this post. It was also a post I never actually thought I would have to write, but events since release two months ago led me to this point. 
 
I don't post a great deal on these forums, but I'm an avid reader and professional lurker since joining at the Alpha stage. I try to keep my finger on the community pulse and to keep up to date on updates and the general buzz. I've played since Alpha and mostly enjoyed all the time I've spent. There has been many times when DU has fought against me and attempted to break me down. However I was always sold, like many others, on that potential carrot on a stick of "What if?".
 
Over the DU development since 0.23 and beyond, the community was gutted due to the introduction of schematics. As updates and patches were introduced to the game, I've watched with dismay the amount of players with high standing in the community, slowly turn on NQ and Dual Universe when they get that stark realisation that this game is never going to live up to that perceived potential. Some go quietly into the night, others announce their vitriol for a few weeks before quitting with much fanfare. 

Being a player since Alpha affords me an ability to see the bigger picture of what I perceive has been going on:
 
If you look at all the updates since Beta started and outside of some balancing updates to PVP and visual upgrades, everything else has been implemented to cut costs due to what I believe as woeful inadequacies at the design and concept level. The vision of this game and what was perceived could be done, didn't match the budget available and the technology. In short, the game that NQ wanted to make didn't match what they could afford to do. Hence, I believe, this is why JC was ousted and the company is now ran by the main investment company (who I feel wants their investment back). The game has had its life and soul gutted out of it, and with every "improvement" it takes another little piece of itself away.
 
When the announcement came that this game was going to be released, I'm pretty sure we as the community, were in the unanimous agreement that it was way too soon. The game was undercooked and needed a lot more time before it was ready. Any development company who wanted their undercooked product to survive would of released it as an early access product. However, Novaquark is a business ran by an investment company who wants to recoup. Keeping the game in another few years of beta or early access wasn't going to make them anywhere near the money needed to recoup. With no new investment, there was only one possible course of action, throw it out the door and see if it sinks or swims. Unfortunately they forgot to teach it how to swim or provide any floatation aids.
 
I don't want to be one of those doomsayers who, when they're not happy with the state of the game will immediately declare "zomg, this game is dead!" But It saddens me to say that, that is what I now believe. It died sometime ago when Novaquark realised that under the budget they currently have that there was no way they could afford the server costs to make it work as intended. It just took some of us longer than it should to see it for what it is.
 
So what is the immediate future? If you look at the current lack of content and updates, all that we're really getting is the completion of the supporter goals that should of been ready on release. Beyond that, as of writing this, nothing, no road map, nothing. No enthusiasm from Novaquark, no excitement, nothing. 
 
Can the game be saved? In short, no. To do this, the game would need a large, fresh influx of money, coupled with a long protracted development time to essentially re-release and reinvent itself. We are at the point of no return though. NQ, I think are running on fumes and they know it. Releasing the game, wiping and increasing the subscription prices and then going essentially dark speaks volumes to their future plans. 
 
I do wish it wasn't this way, and I am kicking myself a little for having to write one of these posts, but I felt it needed to be said. I know this game will still have its staunch defenders (I was one of them) who will go down fighting to the very last day. But this week the game broke me. As I logged in and did my busywork and realised I was barely able to cover my costs to keep the lights on with no real goal of progression any more, my love, passion and perceived potential for the game melted away. 
 
I appreciate my rantings here are purely opinion and conjecture, but if you take the time to take a long hard look at the past few years of this games development, the clues are there. Many of us already know it and made their comments known on the various channels. The tone and overall feelings of the community are at an all time low right now and that should tell you everything as to what the community is currently feeling. 
 
I'd love to be proved wrong, I still want the game to succeed, but my joy and passion, like many others past and present in this community, is gone and it would take a truly Herculean effort on the part of NQ to get it back again. However, judging by recent efforts I won't be holding my breath.

I will never understand the immature, self-defeating logic of running a long, long beta program only to get annoyed at all the feedback you receive, then decide that your customers are useless idiots with no opinions worth reading. 
 
It's becoming impossible to have sympathy for DU's train wreck of a release...they truly don't respect their own customers.
 
It shows in how they've developed the game these past few years especially, but also in how they do the bare minimum in customer support and service (even now in release!) 
 
NQ's CEO keeps talking about how great DU is and how players can "build without limits" (his post yesterday literally said "But there are absolutely no limits to your imagination" in describing DU's building)...
 
Yet he sure isn't interesting in talking with actual customers or engaging with the game at all...he's a lot more interested in his scammy blockchain pals. I'm not sure that he's ever actually done a post, "podcast", or announcement other than an introduction. 
 
NQ has no leadership...no ability to in building, supporting, or selling a product, and no interest in interacting with customers.
 
It's like they've emerged from a cave with no understanding of how business works in general, never mind building and supporting an MMO. 

Just leaving this here, cause I think it is Critical for NQ to see.

https://www.mmorpg.com/reviews/dual-universe-review-flawed-ambition-2000126634

It comes from the perspective of basically any potential new blood to the game, (those not already locked into years of investment like the rest of us.)
It isn't just us as a community being toxic, unconstructive, giving unbalanced feedback, our points are both valid and real, and should not be dismissed.

Even people outside the game, giving it a shot have very similar questions, and conclusions about the game's current state.


In case NQ can't be arsed to click the link: Here is the summary:
 
 
SEEMS RESOUNDINGLY FAMILIAR TO ALL OUR "UNBALANCED FEEDBACK" OVER THE YEARS...

What someone else said, you shouldn't, unless you want to.
 
I've been struggling with that myself. I have four accounts, my main's subscription is lapsing on Monday and I'm considering not extending. The other three have longer (already paid for) subscriptions due to beta subscription issues on my main...
 
The last couple of weeks, constructing more stuff I just wasn't motivated for it. I was trying to keep my ~40 mining tiles up and running and have let that slip the last couple of weeks as well a few times... DU is a grindy time pit, that I'm redoing the same thing I already did the last couple of years in beta (a few times), rebuilding industry and infrastructure. It is boring and quickly losses my interest. And EVE Online (and other projects) have been gaining my interest...
 
What I've considered the last few weeks:
- Giving up completely on DU, it's a timesink that's not very fun a lot of the time and not very fulfilling. It's uncertain future also does not help.
- Just not extending my characters after the current subscription expires and just dip in once in a while when I feel the 'itch'. But that isn't a good idea because my unsubscriped characters will eventually go POOF(tm) and I would have to start from scratch again...
- Extend the subscription for a month and see if we have a good Blackfriday/Cybermonday/Holiday sale in the meantime. Where extending the accounts doesn't feel like throwing a lot of money in a pit, just a little money in a pit...
 
Ingame:
- Deconstruct the 40 mining tiles and put it all in storage.
- But what if they fix the mining pricing just or a few weeks after I put it all in storage?
- Rebuild the factory line again for more efficiency and expand what I build, but it's such a chore...
- Build a couple of ships and do something different in DU
 
Meanwhile it's not as if I have nothing else to do...
- EVE Online seems interesting again...
- I bought a ton of games during the sales that are actual fun to play...
- I have a very fun 3D printer kit (Voron 2.4 350) that takes 30-40 hours to build and would be actually interesting to build vs. redoing the DU factory again...
- Some other fun and interesting tech projects...
 
So yeah, it's actually difficult to let go of DU and in my case that might or might not happen shortly...
 
As for your specific issues:
a.) NEVER run pvp space missions during the weekend! Depending on your timezone, I already stopped running missions Friday afternoon (during beta) as some people pirates in other timezones already started playing. With the current player population, pirate population and only two pvp space planets I'm not even sure how safe pvp space is during the rest of the week, maybe I'll find out...
b.) Currently you can sell your ore at M6 for 13+q/L, all your 450k coal. Also, the weekend might not be the best time to sell as many people want to do the same.
c.) Why are you using 3 accounts to mine just a coal flower? My 4 accounts can optimally (and that might be something different from what you think it is) 'service' 225 auto miners (at max skills), with 3 per tile, that is 75 tiles. Trust me, that's a lot of work!
d.) Always check downtime announcements in the discord if you are doing time sensitive stuff, especially if you're cutting it close. They often do announce late, so you might be buggered either way... 😉
e.) If you're short on cash, do the 180k Alioth mission with you three accounts at the same time (540k per run). You can do that pretty cheaply in an expanded Apex (UEF ship), someone is/was also selling an lvl5 BPC version for it which helps immensely. Add a couple of containers to the hub to get the 30k storage you need for 3 accounts. You can fly the 'cheap' way through atmo, takes about 45 minutes to and from. Or you can do it way faster through low orbit, but that does consume T2 space fuel...
f.) You can mine the 'old' way, but only in asteroids. Might not be your thing, but I wanted to do that eventually as well.

Talk about top notch DEV work! Imagine how much effort they must have put in for this alone. Hundreds of man-hours, at least. I bet they can hardly sleep at night with all the dev-crunch needed to squeeze out a complete steamer this massive.
 
Updated the ingame credits.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

NQ is again demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of player psychology. You can't force people into PVP zones when they don't have the tools to make a proper evaluation of the risks and rewards. People will always try to minimize their risk and maximize the reward, but PVP is such a black box for most players that few are willing to risk what is probably the only mining ship they have against a threat they don't understand for a potential reward they cannot estimate. Why would someone go out solo in a ship that is probably completely helpless against pirates, spend up to an hour hunting down an asteroid only to find that the aforementioned pirates have been waiting there to pick them off the moment they get within range? What are the odds of that happening? I don't know! That's the whole point! I don't have enough information to calculate the risks or the rewards and the cost of a miscalculation is my whole ship being destroyed in an instant.
 
A basic asteroid in the safe zone might not make you rich, but it won't cost you your new ship unless you're a bad pilot. I'm aware that there are tricks players use (which I will not describe here) to find asteroids without quite as much risk. However, pirates will eventually adapt to that and once they do, the only rational choice players will be able to make is to join an org with mining ops well protected enough to run off or destroy any pirates that come by. Before long, large orgs will have it so that they're in a PVP zone but are at no risk of actual PVP (losses anyway) while small orgs and solo players are largely stuck sucking overcrowded rocks in horrific lag for what will soon become a chump change reward until they finally get sick of it and either join a larger org or quit entirely.
 
And don't get me wrong: large, organized orgs were always going to get access to the best content anyway, but joining up with them shouldn't be the ONLY way to do it; not in a game that's advertised as allowing people to play however they want.

We're a small org of 7 people, of which 5 are playing activly. 
Anyway, since release I've been building up the Org-Industry, and oh my.... It IS a full time job, make no mistake on that!
 
Specialy as I'm new to the game, having no clue how to set things up properly, with best connections and so on (you know, production-LINE) - I've had to 'rebuild' the industry multiple times, 3-4 times at least, each time getting headaches of different issues - but every time wit those connection limit of 8, or 10.. idk.. too few for sure! (EDIT: and no, those transfer units dont help (enough))
 
Err.. back to topic.... schematics...
Its insane, I feel like a "disk jockey" (DJ)....  The schematics are "eaten" faster than we're able to 'craft' them, with 2-3 people doing so... (200 schematics per machine overnight (6-8hrs), but used 8-12 hrs 'crafting time') The only way to get some money for the Org (or buy a ship to gather ores) is when we stop producing anything - thus not using any schematics, which we would need to get the industry going. Yes, as an Org, we want/need our own industry. There are not multiple approaches to an industry, there is just one, and its very limited and complex. I'm constantly broke, and have to use the Org money to buy schematics while 2-4 people are farming ores on a daily basis (selling 50% and keeping 50% for production) - which now is "becoming" difficult since the "scittles" no longer respawn, which I think is a VERY HUGHE mistake for the game (by NQ) in the long run. Players that might join in 1-2 years will find NO ores on the surface, anywhere (outside of Haven).. not at this rate/pace. I get it, NQ wants that we use the economy, but those few missions wont be enough to get those new players started. I also understand that NQ wants the schematics as a money and time sink, but heck, production time is already SLOW - and the micro-managment required is a PITA! At the very least, please let us assign a 'schematic-box' (similar to a PB, aka not using a regular input slot) so we could distribute the schematics 'evenly' and would only need to check a handfull of boxes, rather than EVERY SINGLE MACHINE, of which there are dozens hundreds.... I'm thinking of something like, link to active linked container of a player - permamently, until changed. Ok, those are my 2 quantas....

Again: if they make automation tools for schematics, they instantly remove half the intended point of them. Not that I think the mechanic actually works: those organised mega-engineers whose awesome, monstrous hyperfactories running 24/7/52 are the ones really beating the heck out of the servers will be organised and driven enough to manage their schematic needs. It's the mere humans who'd never collect enough machines to trouble the servers who will suffer.

It would be cool to have an override rather then lifting it each other. That is unneeded taxation on the server anyways tbh. Just a random idea anyways  Or if you are like me you are just too lazy to be bothered by it period haha.

to add to this is the desync issues where you think your mining a node but it isn't really there and you have to relog to see that your just in a big empty hole!

I haven't posted a lot here but I feel the need to vent!
 It is nearly impossible to get valuable ores off of safe zone asteroids now due to the 20 or more players on each roid competing for the resources.
Only way to get them is to wait for one to NEWLY pop up in RUMOURED and be quick about getting there. NQ turned this into a waiting game followed by a race to the rock! Popping out one roid every hour is NOT a good way to limit ore. Please reconsider this change. It would be much better if 5 to 10 were released at a time so that it would thin the heard!
This is not fun and I have lost the will to even play. 
 

Schematics are just stupid. Remove them already and fire the person that came up with that idea, thanks. 

1. Way too expensive to be considered a "useful" game loop
2. Only being craftable in inventory is beyond frustrating for your smaller/casual audience.

It will kill your game in the long run. How is money distributed to players? By selling ores to bots? *Insert big brain .jpg here*
So the entire goal of this game is to grind T1 ore to sell it to bots, to be able to afford schematics for their production. Buying stuff/parts from other players in the markets isnt worth it since they will put the schematic price on top.

I quit during alpha/beta when schematics were introduced and came back to review this on release. This system is still beyond garbage, considering I have to manually look up all the schematics needed for a product. Should at least give people the option to "Que up all required schematics for this element" button.

Cheers

I get that NQ thought they were doing a good thing by changing how schematics were done, because it got more money out of the system more consistently and time gated industry for anyone without a fortune and a zillion alts, but...well, they do a lot of things that run 180 away from the whole "player driven" etc concept, and reject the most sane solutions and ideas in favor of the dumbest. That's kind of expected at this point (the mass exoduses from the game didn't happen for no reason, and a lot of people are still waiting for serious improvements and NQ to make good on their promises before coming back), so all anyone can hope for is mitigation. So mitigation. Schematics are trash, but it's what we have.
 
Get rid of schematics for pure, product and fuel production, regardless of tier. You DO NOT need all that much complexity in production to melt stuff, which is exactly what pure/product production is, nor do you need much complexity in fuel production, since the machines aren't doing much beyond catalyzing a reaction or distilling a substance. You need more complexity to produce a screw, a pipe, an injector, a power system, or any number of parts, yet there are no schematics for those things. There should be some sanity and consistency to how a system is implemented, even if it's blatantly to slow people down and get money out of the system. For the schematics that remain, balance their costs so that what they ultimately produce isn't so expensive that people will intentionally avoid all PVP just to protect their huge investment. The costs associated with T2+ voxels alone makes them a luxury for bling, rather than viable armor for PVP. The pure ore schematics cost too much for what they produce (especially at higher tiers); the product schematics cost too much for both the inputs and outputs; and the cost to output ratio of voxels is just sickening. If you want T5 armor plating (like pure titanium), you will end up with a cost of ~148,000,000 quanta for 10m^3 of voxels if you do buy the raw ore on the MP (because we're all supposed to specialize so that the economy functions as NQ wants). Most ships require a LOT more than 10m^3 of voxels, even if we're just looking at armor plating and not all the interior work (which will also probably be really expensive). Now put that into perspective: you're not just taking a voxel shell out into combat, but expensive elements. A ship designed for combat, with the best armor plating, will likely use higher-tiered elements, which themselves can run from hundreds to around 1.2 million quanta (space radar L is no joke, and you only need one of those), bringing the total element cost into the hundreds of millions (cost of schematics to make pure + product + element + the cost of the ores themselves). And that doesn't even look at ammo costs from schematics + ore. How often does NQ think that PVP will happen? On what scale do they want it to happen? Any org that invests that kind of time and money into a combat ship, only to lose a fortune every time their voxels get evaporated, would have to be ludicrously rich...which means that the only viable PVP for PVPers is to either a) get that apex ship and only hunt helpless people, or b) make a bunch of weaker ships that only cost a tiny fortune. PVP battles (not counting pirate activity, because that's not battle) will be predictably rare to the point of being an event, if at all. Because you need a fortune to do it, and throwing all of that money (and time) away for a spectacle is just insane. The time required to produce schematics is just bonkers, so reduce their production times drastically. If you don't have a large org or a zillion alts, you'll be stuck with a small factory. If you do have those things, you'll be stuck with constantly feeding schematics into each unit, because there's no system to distribute them via a central hub.  
There have been a ton of good alternatives to the schematic system suggested, even before the schematic system was decided on. NQ, as usual, ignored all of those more reasonable ideas proposed by people who still believed that NQ intended to keep its promises about "player-driven" etc, and instead went with this craptastic system. So these are my balancing suggestions to a system that never should have been implemented in a player-driven game. Especially not since we're talking about digital schematics being essentially uploaded into machines that, for some unknown reason the machine's developers decided would delete its database every time produced something, and then load the next digital schematic to be used and deleted. @NQ, tell us how often you load a function in your coding, and then delete it from your computer after every time it gets called, forcing you to re-write it and re-load it into the computer. Seriously, that's how stupid this system is. You would fire anyone who came up with that method for coding, and you would be right to do it. Using time gating and draining resources as an excuse to implement it, when you would fire someone for exactly those reasons, says that you don't respect the community just as loudly as ignoring the many alternatives that were more reasonable (like requiring regular industry maintenance because of machine degradation from use, or player-created schematics that don't get deleted but require talents to "research," or any number of others).

Hi.
 
I'm a returning player from beta, and decided to emigrate to Jago as soon as possible in release, because it sounded like a fun idea, being a pioneer building the restaurant at the end of the universe.
 
And now, the money sinks become a serious issue: Weekly tile tax. 500k a week is not too bad, but the current mechanics to get the money is "collect ore, sell to NPC". Since other settlers are arriving, I already make the occasional money on selling T2 ores from asteroids and static M cores, but this is not regular income I could depend on.
 
I pondered if selling M engines would be another viable source of income, but those are available for a relatively low price from the market NPCs. Same for fuel. Meh.
 
I'm not running NPC missions, because again, this is pure grind, and I have no clue if Jago even offers NPC missions (didn't check before they were disabled).
 
Then, the quanta barrier on L and XL schematics also is quite steep. I don't even complain about the time-gate to develop those schematics, but the quanta cost on L element schematics is crippling.
 
Life on Jago is hard enough already, with Copper not being available locally, and Iron only available in surface rocks. This is not a complaint, though, this is the challenge I was looking for. But upon accepting this challenge, I wouldn't know tax-free life isn't even possible in the remotest areas of the known universe.
 
Imagine if Columbus discovered America and was hit with a huge property tax from day three. 😉
 
Suggestions:
 
- Make the first HQ tile tax-free, maybe limited to non-safe zone planets.
- Reduce or abolish T1 schematic prices
 
/edit: After reading the schematics bank post, maybe it would even better if schematics would be completely removed, and instead wear & tear is added to industry. Like after a given number of batches, the element starts acting up (starts producing slower) and eventually completely breaks down. This would be an actual element sink on the game, and would be quite balanced - for a megafactory producing 24/7, regular maintenance is in order, but for a small backyard factory that's only producing for a small demand, it would last much longer. Bonus points, if a broken element can be exchanged with a new one in-place, keeping configuration and links (i.e. consume inventory element to reset placed element to pristine state).