Obikawa

After sleeping I came up with quite convincing FTL engine theory. Coming soon to a new topic!

This is exactly why I introduced the time compression. If the shorter time travel were to be achievied through smaller distances only, the planets and systems would get too close to each other. And please don't forget my last paragraph of the first post. A closest system in 40 minutes at exactly the "speed of light". If you had engine giving ten times "speed of light" you would reach the same system in 4 minutes. Nobody established what the speed limits on those engines are. Right now I am in a middle of thinking about possible theories how to build an FTL engine. Also keep in mind that star systems tend to have a spherical cloud of space matter where the gravity stops being strong enough to create protoplanets. These would be the perfect place for the "extra content" not related to established planetary organizations.

The 30 km radius was just an example in the Blog. Nowhere have I seen it described as "typical", though I may have missed it. The surface of such planet could house 180'000 people Earth-wise. I agree with you on both points about the feel of being inhabited and universe not being fully populated. The planets can surely have different radii and one such as in the Blog could be considered one of the big ones. What I am worried about is how a small planet (such as one with 5-6 km radius) would look like in space and on surface. Anyway, what do you think about the concept of compression on a macroscopic scale?

Nora, that was in one of the DevBlogs.

It is not really about a shape. I am just trying to give some theoretical frame to how vast the Dual Universe feels. And because the story presents our universe it cannot be something very different from what we know. This whole idea of compression is my solution to the problem of populating a galaxy with a small number of players while preserving the feel of vastness of space. I also factored in the fact that to build a stargate in a new distant system that system needs to be reached in timely manner. The excellency of those ratios lies in how you still need a lot of time to travel far without a gate, while it is not too much time either. A hitchhike through a galaxy would still be an epic adventure, while people jumping to neighboring stars would need just a few minutes with a good(?) FTL engine. I used our Solar System as a reference because this the only system we have a real comprehension of.

SzaryWilku, there is already an item described, that works exactly like that. A trading station that you stick on your warehouse (or box - whatever you have). Those stations can be linked into a system.

It took a lof of my time to actually flesh out my first idea, so the topic of death penalty is shelved for another time. Though I definitely will write about it sooner rather than later.

Here on Earth we have more than 6'000'000'000 people. This game wants to populate a galaxy. There is a problem here. With a 1:1 scale it would be impossible to "populate a galaxy" densely enough with a small fraction of the Earth's residents. It would also take an impossible amount of time. There are two different adjustments needed to solve the problem: Compress the spatial dimensions. Compress the time line. For the following calculations I make a simplification of assuming 6'000'000'000 people on spherical Earth, and radius of 6'000 km. Those numbers give an image of a planet slightly smaller and less populated than in reality. After thinking for a while I decided to go with a simple division of distances by 1'000. So one kilometer becomes one meter. This goes nicely with 6 million players (World of Warcraft topped at 11 million) being one thousandth of earthlings. After compression, the above, assumed planet becomes one with just 6 km radius. From 453'600'000 square km of surface down to just 453.6 square km. The surface actually decreased million-fold - that means the six million players would need to be scattered to a thousand planets to stay at the same density level! How does that sound as "populating a galaxy"? Realistically, six million players is a high target to clear and a thousand planets all packed with players is something mind blowing as well. When we consider a start with just one planet, six thousand new players sounds like a good success story for a well hyped game. Even if we start with less, that just means more free space. One thousand per arkship? Sounds like sensible, story compliant number. It also gives sense for existence of six times more planets. I may have pulled the ratio out of my ass as the saying goes, but it fits surprisingly well. However, even that shrunken universe would take a lot of time to traverse. The closest star to Sun in reality is 4.4 light years away from here. When divided by thousand, this distance shrinks to 38.5 light hours. That is still way too long for a short distance trip in a game. This is where the time compression comes in action. From the same place as before I hereby pull out another ratio - 1:60. Imagine the minute hand of a clock moving ahead every second. With just that a travel at "speed of light" to the Sun's Nearest Star would take 38 minutes 30 seconds. A jump from Sun to the end of the Solar System would take only 15 seconds. And that is not considering the Faster Than Light engines! What do you think of that?

Hello everyone. I have been reading the Dual Universe forums since a few weeks and decided to start contributing now. During that time I have slowly cooked up some ideas about the possible mechanics of the game. Those are inspired by a couple of things. First, the "Sword Art Online" anime. The concept of the ultimate price for death ( death in real life) makes survival the absolute priority. It completely changes the emotions involved. Ever since watching this series I find most games simply bland. The low penalties for deaths are making me feel no enjoyment or thrill. I also do not like the grinding for experience in games. While in some genres this is unavoidable, there are many other games where it could be replaced with different mechanics. And the last, biggest inspiration is my dislike of finding logical inconsistencies in a world or a story. So I had processed all I learned about Dual Universe with those negative feelings and decided I need to step in and share my ideas here in a series of posts. Hopefully my visions will be appreciated. With regards, Obikawa from Poland.