wizardoftrash

Precisely. We may even see some "design standards" emerge for different ship classes, so that players that have built scripts for one ship, will still operate for a ship of the same class (same mass, equivalent thruster placement, different design).

Probably because of malicious scripts? this is why we can't have nice things... I think they will have better luck with a cosmetic items shop than with ad revenue. Think of it. Alternate skins for ship shielding? Cosmetic vapor/energy trails? Org-branded logo stamps? good stuff! (though I'm in the process of re-designing my org logos that they will be paintable using the voxel paint tools, alchemists were the first to get their new one )

They discussed there being a few different weapon damage types, and shield types to corresponds with the weapons. We are talking some kind of odd rock-paper-scissors system, where one weapon type is innefective vs one type of shield, normal effectiveness against another, and very efffective against the 3rd. For weapon types we might be looking at... Concussive - gatling guns, railguns, flak guns, shotguns, etc Explosive - missiles, torpedoes, mines, grenades, etc Energy - lazers, pulse weapons, beam weapons, tazers, etc For shield types we might be looking at... Hardened Shields - Effective vs concussive, weak vs Explosive Reactive Shields - Effective vs explosive. weak vs Energy Refracting Shields - Effective vs energy, weak vs Concussive Edit: Each damage type and shield type will likely have unique properties as well. For example, Concussive weapons might have a smaller damage sphere, but causes more intense damage in that sphere. Explosive will likely have the largest damage sphere. Energy may be the most accurate, and will not require ammo (uses power instead). Hardened shields might be the hardest to collapse, but recovers the slowest if disabled. Reactive shields might drop easily, but recovers easily when dropped. Refracting shields may take the least energy to run, freeing up more energy for other systems, etc.

As the main focus for the game is building, flight mechanics will take 2nd fiddle most likely. We might see some cool stuff post-launch however, since the addition of Construct vs Construct pvp would make ship building change pretty dramatically. The most exciting aspects of flying a ship will probably come from Scripting. Players may be able to script complex maneuvers and keybind them, so your barrel rolls and bucket spins that would require engines and adjusters to be turned on and off at specific times could be executed quite easily (after the painstaking process of writing the needed scripts, and building a ship that can execute the scripts). We will find some ship designs can be built for specific stunts, possibly even different ship configuration archetypes that perform specific sets of maneuvers.

I'm in favor of something like this, but not entirely sure how effective it would be. Worth a try!

For the novelty of what I'm doing I actually have very very few members across the 4 orgs. Also this who convo was pretty off-topic.

What if towing was a server-side function. Lets say i'm playing, and I get disconnected. My ship lands in a no park zone, and a player reports it illegally parked. Game checks to see how long it is there, and at lets say 12 hours POP, ship vanishes. When I reconnect, i can pay a fine at the Arkship to get my ship back. A but emersion breaking, but solves the illegally parked ship problem in a way that isn't crippling for someone who loses their connection.

That's the goal, but another way to think about it would be 4 symbiotc companies. Each cators to a different playstyle, each part helps the other parts.

Spaceship towing company.

I don't drag that out until I start seeing the same users repeat or reatate their own opinions.

Ships are most likely going to stick around after a player logs off. In a safe zone, that ship is probably going to hang out there. Anywhere else, it can probably be damaged/destroyed (but not edited, reduced, taken apart, etc). There is a chance that ships might be safe if they are in the jurisdiction of a Territory Unit, and certain protections are turned on. There is a chance ships will have a temporary shield when its owner logs off. We probably won't get to see any of this in action until after Alpha, well into Beta.

EXCELLENT also FANTASTIC engagement here on the part of the devs.

This topic has already been discussed in great detail in several threads. I would recommend taking a good look at it in the existing threads. In short, they are basing their business model off of Eve Onile's model, which was quite successful. There is a way for players to play without paying a monthly subscription. Players will be able to buy a one month subscription (called a DAC) and sell it on the in-game market place for in-game money. If a player works hard enough in-game, they will be able to cover their monthly subscriptions that way. Players who are willing to put in the time to grind will be able to buy DAC's off of players who have IRL money but don't have that much time to play. neat tradeoff right? Similarly, one of my Orgs is designed to provide players with DAC's in exchange for raw/refined material. It all comes down to this: their business model is pretty much set in stone. It isn't up for debate, players backing the project should all be on the same page on this one. There are plenty of F2P games out there, many of them are garbage, and this won't be one of them.

Thanks! I'm in the process of re-branding my other orgs as well now that I'm comfortable making vector images. I wanted to start with the Alchemists because they are likely to be more active during the Alpha than the other orgs (no need for squires during alpha without DAC's for example).

They deff aren't going full-space engineers with this game, since it isn't reallllyyy a survival game. As others have said, its a possibility down the line, but the build and MMO aspects are much higher on their priority list than survival mechanics, which are off-genre

Plus you could say that the "scrap" object relies on a skill to refine (the same skill it would take to refine ore). A character with higher skills would get a better ratio of the raw materials back.

Stealing something seems like a very impactful mechanic. Virtually all of the game's other mechanics will rely in part on the character's skills, it would seem very unusual for Hacking not to be a skill. Consider this, a player would need a wide variety of skills to construct an advanced ship, it should take AT LEAST ONE skill to take that ship away from them. It could be a skill that ALSO puts you into a mingame however, not unlike Fallout 4's system. I wouldn't particularly care for this however, since that would be yet another thing that the devs would have to do.

I'm guessing you will have to hack a construct's core unit to "steal" it. This will probably involve a skill, and might require a high skill level to do reliably.

We just got an official heads-up that built ships cannot be taken back apart, and that purchased ships cannot be modified (but can be repaired). Before people simply assume that the prospect of Salvaging ships is dead, lets consider for a moment the following proposed mechanic. Destroyed Constructs drop some of the materials and items used to build them, plus "scrap" which must be re-refined. For one, this gives players something to do with that cheap jump-ship they used to reach the next planet after it has become totally obsolete. You won't be able to pull apart the jump ship, and unless you built it, you won't be able to upgrade it. Being able to destroy it for some portion of what it took to build (maybe 1/4th of its materials? perhaps a skill could increase your efficiency here) would prevent players from abandoning old ships or cluttering the market with them. Pirates will love this, since killed players drop some of their items, why wouldn't a destroyed ship drop some of its cargo? Why wouldn't a destroyed ship be worth SOMETHING?

Any idea of if a destroyed construct drops some of its parts? or if raw materials can be refined from scrap from a destroyed construct?

Depending on how sold-construct protection works, a player MIIIIGHT be able to exploit that a little bit. I'll sell these thin walls that happen to be adjacent to my pvp bunker on all sides to.... a member of my org! They are now invulnerable until he picks them up, which is never. Oh I know, I'll take this dome-shaped ship, and I'll land it so that it is engulfing another ship, then sell it. Now my big dome ship will trap the smaller ship (with a player still in there maybe) until the buyer picks it up which is never. The'll probably have to set a timer on the "safety bubble" for sold constructs.

From what I gathered, Landmark was a game that was part of what should have been Everquest Next. That Landmark would allow players to build content that would eventually be the game world for the following Everquest title. Everquest Next got canceled, and Landmark got released as-is without its main selling point -> that eventually the world they built in Landmark would be the game world for an RPG. Landmark as it is now is still interesting to me, so I'm trying to figure out what exactly people do there now.

They will probably have enough people playing during beta to have an idea as to what player behavior is going to be like at launch, especially if they have an open beta period for stress testing.

T h e A l c h e m i s t s -A Profession-Level Org -Not a Government -Does NOT require loyalty or Sovereignty -Not a Mutually-Exclusive Org -Not a bunch of jerks! If you consider yourself mainly a builder, then you belong in the Alchemists. We are a profession-level org, that means memberships indicate to potential employers that you are a specialist. I will be managing contracts with other orgs to craft and design Blueprints for military or civilian tech, and members of the guild will be welcome to collaborate on these contracts or form contracts of their own. In essence this is more like a Crafting Guild. There will be some shared resources, some shared workspaces, and every opportunity to cooperate. There will be a bank of org-owned blueprints and elements that each member of the guild can use and incorporate into their own designs. As the Legate of 4 interconnected orgs, the Alchemists will benefit from the protection of the Free Lancers (Mercenary guild), the resources of the Squires (resources-for-DAC's guild), and will have bases of operation located safely within Terran Union space and Cinderfall. And we will start in Alpha. Yep, blueprints for constructs and elements that a player creates in Alpha and Beta will all transfer over to the actual release. It will be essential for Builder's guilds like the Alchemists to have access to the earlier builds of the game, and I'll have that access. I will make ALL of my Blueprints available to the Alchemists, including the ones I develop during Alpha and Beta, and if curious Alchemists don't have access to those earlier builds of the game, I will be happy to test out and draft constructs based on notes and sketches by request. You have nothing to lose, build with us!

Just the way that the economy system is slated to work will encourage city-like clusters to form. TU's will allow laws to protect people that dwell there. Those two alone will be a big help for city construction.