AccuNut

They might go an invitation route too. One of my brothers (not Starkontrast,) is an expansion/beta tester for a game that is currently in its 4th iteration.(Sorry, not allowed to give specifics. ) He had to be invited by another tester to get involved with it, then "meet" the head tester, then download the content, etc. They run their testing on a seperate server, and keep the content very hush-hush. I don't even know what they are up to! Hence the reason it is an invitation-only deal. If they go this route, even someone who was not a Kickstarter backer could be invited to test expansions. Again, to echo what has been said, we will have to wait and see.

This thread might be of interest to you, although it discusses the issue from a slightly different angle. https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/9843-contract-agreement-function/?hl=contract Also, here is one that was started in regards to the limitations/needs of a transport agency. https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/10152-how-to-deliver-merchandise/ Hope those answer at least some of your questions.

Good idea! In addition, what do you think of some kind of sound sensors? Different from microphones, since they pick up sound waves, which don't exist in the vacuum of space as you pointed out. Something that senses motion that would normally become sound, then recreates that into sound for the pilot. Also, some of what you are looking for was discussed in this forum: https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/user/2041-kytheum/ Try typing "voice", "chat" etc. into the forum search, a few threads came up when I did this, although I haven't read all of them yet. I realize you weren't necessarily looking for anything related to voices, but it does fall within the realm of sounds that would have a range limit.

Your bill is in the mail.

Hello everyone, I have been posting for a bit now, and never realized there was an "introduction" forum! So, this is just me officially introducing myself. I am AccuNut, brother of Starkontrast, and future partner in A.S.T.R.O.; AccuNut-Starkontrast Transportation and Resale Operations. Our goal is to build a neutral market and transportation service that does not engage in politics or conflicts unless they threaten our business. Time will tell if this is an effective strategy, but it is our goal for now. I am eager to meet you all, some of you in Beta, and some on full release!

I know this is a little off-topic, but what if a player who lives on a high-gravity planet starts to adjust to the gravity? In real life, they would eventually get stronger, and have denser bones as their bodies deal with the increased stress of the planet. This could mean that the best pilots come from high-gravity worlds because their bodies can handle the G-forces more easily! When a player first lands on one of these planets, they would experience the effects of the increased gravity; less stamina, unable to lift certain objects, etc. But after they have been there a while, they become basically immune to the difference, and life becomes normal. As soon as they leave the planet, the "adjustments" their bodies have made become above-average skills like player run speed, jump height, stamina, strength, and G-force toleration. They might also be a little harder to kill due to the increased density of their bodies! Just something to think about.

I know, I need to work on being more concise. But to clarify, pirates could easily catch any ship they would normally be able to run down without the mag station. The mag station is directional guidance, nothing more. If your concern was the fact that a ship would enter a, "passing loop," this is merely a series of mag plates. These "lanes" are not physical, and anyone can jump off the mag-station route at any point. So pirates would still have the ability to catch/loot ships in a "passing loop".

I am really liking the ideas proposed here! Inertial Dumpers, Auto-Orientation, Speed Matching...

A mag-station transportation network wouldn't make the ships travel any faster, just direct them to the intended location while the player is AFK. This is why it would be risky, since you could get waylaid at any point along the route.

Thanks Captain, that makes sense. I did do a quick search for "inertia dumpers" before I posted, but my search engine turned up nothing, hence the question. I do like the idea of inertia dumpers over inertia dampeners too, it makes more sense, since, as you said, it will keep the Titan ships from getting frisky! I can just imagine the added piloting that would be necessary to manage the dumpers too, you would have to watch the inertia meter, and maybe an alarm would go off if the dumper is at max capacity. Let's hope they include this in the game!

So...you're saying that even if I am in space, with no drag and no gravity, I have to keep my engines running to move? I can't just giving myself a good blast in the right direction and shut the engines down? I understand why that would be good, but I also kind of like the idea of just launching myself in a particular direction and letting inertia do the rest. Perhaps someone could explain to me the difference between Inertial Dumpers and Inertial Dampeners? I am not really familiar with how each would work (hypothetically, of course.) I like the G-force idea though, and agree it could add a bit to piloting. (Maybe that is​ the difference? Inertial Dampeners stop inertia for all objects including players, while Inertial Dumpers just stop the ​ship's ​inertia?) One caveat to the G-forces though...if you are piloting a ship with a crew,(which most people will,) all​ of your crew would need to be the same pilot level as you are to avoid getting stunned. You might be able to handle a 7G maneuver, but if your crew can't, you could end up in real trouble!

As far as AFK travel, it would be kind of neat to have an organized auto-loop at the destination. Imagine this: You choose a destination, and your ship is given some kind of physical identifier, maybe you have to get out and pilot a mini-craft to dock on/in your ship. This mini-craft has a specific signal beacon that it broadcasts to let each mag-station know where you are headed, you also have to grant it access to your energy/fuel system. This is so that it can calculate whether you have enough to make the trip. As you reach each station, it will detect the mini-craft signal and launch you in the direction of the next station on your route. Before you launch, however, you have to choose from a list of predetermined speeds. If you are not going the exact speed you chose when you attempt to launch, the station will not launch you. (More on this later.) There could be a different lane for each speed, or: If someone travelling at a high speed catches up with a slower speed craft, there would be a "passing loop" at each station. Each station would keep track of the speed of every ship. If one launches a ship going 1,000 mph, then receives one going 2,000 mph, it would hold the one going 2,000 mph in a loop until it had calculated the time for the 1,000 mph ship to reach the next station and the time for the 2,000 mph ship, and then re-launch the 2,000 mph ship at the right time so it arrives at the next station exactly 1 minute after the 1,000 mph ship. Meanwhile, it has sent a signal to the next station to hold the 1,000 mph ship in a loop until the 2,000mph ship has passed it. Once you reach your destination, the receiving station puts you into an auto-loop. It could hold multiple ships in this loop, since it would know where each one was due to the mini-craft beacon. (Oh yeah, the mini-craft would have to be able to scan the ship somehow to get its dimensions, a surface-pulse scan maybe?) There could be multiple loops, with ships that are travelling different speeds in each loop. This is why you would need to choose a specific speed at launch, so all the ships in your loop will be travelling the same speed. If your ship runs out of fuel while circling the receiving station, you would be moved out of the loop into a Mag-Lev bay. This would never happen between transport stations, since the mini-craft could calculate the fuel/energy cost to continue to the next station, and simply have you put in a holding loop if you don't have enough. (You could start to run low if you get put in a lot of "passing loops".) Each station would have a limited number of holding bays for fuel-drained craft. OR ​You could pay ahead of time to have a fuel-loaded mini-craft, or maybe have a way to refuel the ship en-route. It would also be cool if the mini-craft could access speed control, that would eliminate the need for so many passing loops, and once you arrive, it could shut down the engines and dock you, saving the station and you energy. If a receiving station gets full, it will have a short-term overflow station it will park incoming ships at. Meanwhile it will send a signal to all sending stations not to send any more ships. Every ship would be charged based on the number of stations on their route, plus refuel cost (if applicable), and then for ship storage. The longer you let a ship take up space at the receiving station, the more you have to pay. Your final charges will be calculated and your ship released when you dock the mini-craft at the receiving station. Also, if a station starts to run low on mini-craft, you might be required to take more than one mini-craft with you if you are headed to that station. You would of course receive some kind of incentive to do so. Sorry for the long post, but I just thought this would be a cool system.

It would be nice to have that feeling of actually being in a crowd. I also like the idea of being able to control things like music in your own structure. (Of course, the next question is; can you upload music or will you be stuck with their music Library?) Either way, I would hate to feel like I am walking through a Minecraft town where there is no ambient crowd sound when I go to the biggest market on the planet!

Ahh, I have never played Space Engineers, or EVE, or basically any other space games,(unless you count Fractured Space,) so I assumed you meant some sort of gravity-like inertia dampeners. My bad. It sure sounds like the players will have tons of creative options for building stuff, so I can't see them not including this.

I hope so too, but they may implement it by using boosters instead of dampeners. Just like in real life, reverse thrust stops forward motion, and as for as in-atmosphere, you should be able to stop/hover by having vertical boolsters.

Good idea! It could be like a last-ditch get-out-of-Dodge mode, sacrifice the cannon to save the ship! Also, it would mean that other ​ players might be able to overload your​ energy weapons by targeting them with some kind of super-charging shot. Even if your guns have super-capacitors to absorb the energy, you would have to make the choice to either use the extra energy against the opponent (the scene from Avengers where Iron Man fights Thor comes to mind,) and damage your weapons, or shut them down temporarily to re-route the energy elsewhere. But...the damage to the weapon would have to be pretty extensive, otherwise people would run them on Overload all the time and just have them being constantly repaired.

What you have described seems like a good idea. It opens the door for player-offline transactions as well.Example: Player A wants to sell a container of iron ore, and also buys some ship parts he wants delivered, but the transport pilot (Player B ) is offline. He could simply put his order for the ore pickup and parts dropoff in, along with the payment. Even if Player A logs off, his order remains on the delivery docket. As soon as Player B logs on, he will check the docket, organize his route, and perform the pickups/dropoffs that were ordered. The only problem I see is the amount of space that could potentially be taken by partially-filled containers. Consolidating all of the items into on-board storage units would be much more efficient, since there would be little to no wasted space, which means fewer trips to complete deliveries, which means less time spent, which means less fuel, which means.... On the flip-side, the player receiving the delivery would need a unit of their own to accept the shipment. Maybe some kind of "collapsible" storage units will be possible. They would fold up into relatively small packages, thereby taking up a limited amount of cargo space, but would open into temporary storage containers. That way, even if the player who is receiving the items doesn't have a storage unit, you can still deliver the goods and just add a charge for the storage unit that you dropped off with the order. Also, thanks for the link Schoff, that does answer several of the questions I had!

Well said DaSchiz. This is exactly the type of group I enjoy playing with as well.

I am thinking more along the lines of what Ripper just pointed out. However..your point would be valid if the only way to change fire-rate on a projectile weapon is by loading a DIFFERENT TYPE of ammo. This could actually be a cool way to boost the effect of your chosen "mode". For example, let's say you can choose any of the 3 fire-rates while using normal ammo, they would have the effects I mentioned, with damage the same across the board. BUT, you could also purchase/create "specialized" ammo for the Full-Auto and Marksman modes. If the Full-Auto fire rate is 100 rounds per minute, the Specialized Full-Auto ammunition could add, say a 20% increase in fire rate, at the expense of damage and possibly accuracy (in addition to the standard accuracy reduction). This ammo *could* be used in Normal fire mode, but typically as a last resort since it retains the low damage, while giving no speed boost. Specialized Marksman ammo could give an additional boost of accuracy and damage to the Marksman mode, at the expense of even slower than standard reload speed. (Hotter load, faster weapon overheat, requires extra bolt lock to handle higher pressure.) This ammo could not be used in Normal mode due to the high pressure/heat buildup. Also, switching between ammo types would take time, so you would want to set up for each battle ahead of time.

True, it could be useful, or frustratingly abused, depending on how it is implemented. Maybe they will make it so repair tools can't cause damage. Or, it will give rise to "certified" repair stations, where they are inspected by a well-known third party organization. (We'll call one "RepairCo) Maybe players could buy a list of certified stations from them, and it is updated regularly. Or it could be a subscription-based thing, where you keep the list you have, but it isn't updated unless you subscribe to the service. The list could be static or active; meaning you have to look up a station to see if it is RepairCo certified (static), or it is automatically displayed on your map as certified (active). This could also be a list price/subscription level option, with the active lists being more expensive. They could also implement a way for stations to display a certification claim on the map, with a link to the certifying organization's database. For a small fee, you can look up just one or two repair stations.

You are correct, however..from what I understand, you might miss if your targeting stats aren't as high as the opponent's evasion stats. I could be wrong, but that is how I understand it.

Nobody is stopping you. :-) Just try to be "considerate" pirates. A "gentleman" outlaw who only robs from the rich is far less shunned than one who targets the helpless. That's my view, anyway. Look at the legend of Jesse James, he was considered "the" gentleman outlaw. Also, there is quite a difference between "pirating" and "wanton destruction", which is what I belive this thread is aimed at.

This would be a player-driven system, where players who want to protect the appearance/resources of the area would actually have to get actively involved in doing so, I like it!

Some variable-fire-rate weapon systems would be cool. For certain weapons, you could choose between Full Auto, Normal Fire, or Marksman mode. Obviously, any wepon built specifically for one of these roles would perform much better at any one of the roles than these "flexible" systems, but it would be cool to have them. Energy Weapons: -Full Auto: faster fire rate, retains accuracy, reduced damage. (Less charge time between shots = less energy = less damage.) -Normal: well...normal fire rate, normal accuracy...etc. :-) -Marksman: slow fire rate, higher accuracy, higher damage(?). Projectile Weapons: -Full Auto: faster fire rate, reduced accuracy, normal damage. ( a bullet is a bullet, so no "charge time = damage" variable.) -Normal: umm..normal everything...I guess. :-P -Marksman: slow fire rate, higher accuracy (more accurate than energy marksman?),normal damage. (Again, a bullet is a bullet.) This could be a way for people and/or small ships to be versatile in their weapons even if they can't afford/don't have room for each of the weapon types.

Thanks for the replies guys! I will check out that blog as soon as I get back from vacation on Tuesday, but it is good to know at least some of this has been thought out already!