ThatAlex

The problem is based on the above assumption.  I do not see it as a problem since the server technology *has* to handle this number of players.  These are just player avatars and not complex constructs with crazy voxel creations.  So yes, this will definitely put the technology through it's paces, but it is not the biggest hurdle yet. 
 
Also as a side note the safe-zone will be big. 20 km big.  Relative to a 1.8 m (ish) avatar, that is quite a lot of space. Kudos to the person that walls that entire thing.
 
 
For those that have not seen it yet:
 

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.

NovaQuark (the game developers) have said that everything in Dual Universe will be erased at least at the conclusions of the alpha and beta phases. However, I believe that players will be able to keep any constructs in the form of blueprints, which they can then build in later stages of the game. So nothing physical within the game world will be kept.
 
The lore behind it is that all of the survivors from earth's destruction are in ships heading out into the galaxy to begin a new civilization. During the journey, select people (alpha and beta players) will be entering a virtual reality environment (alpha and beta phases) to test their skills and abilities in a simulation of the real world, to get them ready for the real thing (the game's release). Thus, by the lore, alpha and beta will not actually "happen", and only digital things (blueprints) will remain after the conclusion of the alpha and beta.
 
I cannot quote the specific reference where the developers state that the world will be wiped after (and possibly during, can't remember for sure) the alpha and beta, perhaps someone else can find that. As for the lore, that's in the Lore Bible here on the forums in the Novark Archives section.
 
Also, welcome to the forums!

Just messing around with iMovie before I shell out for Final Cut this week. 

Praise the Sun, building ships looks like an actual science <3

I put together this laptop skin template on DecalGirl, and it arrived this morning:
 

 
 

 

I would get it ASAP, but I use a desktop
 
Instead, I need a tower skin... which is more expensive.

You can be the first Non-Binary Vegan Coffee Mug for all anyone cares in DU, just don't be trynna serve me that latte.

Bear in mind,
 
This entire tread boils down to "Should we NERF LUA scripts because of the POSSIBILITY that they won't be balanced?"
 
It doesn't matter what the construct is.  Large ships,  multiplayer ships, territory defense, roulette tables, or a Coffee Maker... 
 
I'm coming to the defense of LUA. My concern is to not limit LUA until it has been demonstrated to be too powerful.  Otherwise we're responding in Hysteria, Ignorance, and Fear.
 
From my perspective, this game is interesting from a coding and building perspective.  When you talk about limiting LUA, you're making assumptions before all the facts are in, that will directly impact gameplay.  We ALL want balanced gameplay. 
 
 
Just don't start nerfing things before we have an opportunity to test it.  Who here has heard of "Interactive Mode" in Star Citizen?  Chris Roberts completely screwed up his game and pissed off a TON of backers because of the misperception that a joystick was more effective at flying a ship than a mouse.  There are tons of examples where the mouse can be just as effective as the joystick if modeled properly.  My point is...  Don't start limiting things until they prove to be a problem.
 
 
I'm not really interested in PvP, and my ship will most likely not have ANY weapons.  (I'd prefer to outrun, outsmart, and outmaneuver you) 

My thoughts are;
 
DU is very much focused on player driven mechanics and player interaction.
LUA scripts are limited as not to replace humans.
 
If you want to command The Enterprise you need a crew. I couldnt be more opposed to the idea of a 1 man army. Because thats what it boils down to, in my opinion.
 
The human factor is 1 of the reasons behind me following and backing the game, to explain my motivations behind this post.

Thank you, Novaquark team, for yet another highly informative DevBlog.
 
One item that was not mentioned (or I missed it) is whether an action taken by an individual will be added to an audit log of some kind. Whether there will be functionality to enable such audit logs or script our own using LUA. Of course, this is probably better as an opt in feature, but still immeasurably useful.

I think this new system is just another way to milk players. They want to get more money - that's all
 
To me a DAC system like the old Plex system is fine
 
- Your DACs are safe when you buy them with RL money
- You sell them in a safezone and the buyer can use that DAC with 0% Chance of losing it
- If you want to make huge profits with DAC (shipping them to the next safe zone), you take the risk of losing them
 
Easy, simple, good

No.  (for reasons already stated)
 
However I am all for a large organic life form that roams the stars that people can attack if they so wish but actually is not aggressive.. and have others frown on them because the creature is harmless. Like a whale.
 
A space whale.

Welcome to the forums!
 
The complete destruction of planets, by any means, is not something that the developers are interested in allowing to happen. NPCs and aliens, too, are something the developers are trying to stray away from. They want the game to be a civilization simulator, and throwing in a giant NPC creature that destroys the work of players goes against their aim. It would be fun for a typical game, but for what the developers are trying to do, I doubt something like this will make it in to the game.

The graphics are fantastic if a bit vague and surreal. I normally get pretty good fps but the game has a tendency to crash around 6 AM.

Dont worry the current pledge portal will run for atleast a few more months. 
After that we will get another pledge portal.
 
After that another that will run until release.
You dont have to stress out if you cant pledge today. You can save up some money and commit when you are able to.
 
I hope that helps.
This is what Nyzaltar said:

Yep, like others have stated, they have already addressed this issue. One of the really cool things about DU is how the game and the technology that runs it has been built from the ground up to handle all sorts of issues like this, so there are a lot less difficulties like this than are found in other games. 

I have no problems with an ingame VOIP system.
 
BUT it has to be set to 'push to talk' by default.
 
I'm tired of people breathing into the mic. Babies screaming in the background. People coughing, the random guy playing while talking or screaming to his friends oblivious to peoples request to mute himself.
 
In my experience it becomes very tiring to always having to manually mute people.
 
Sorry for the little rant but this topic brings up memories of many frustrating evenings.

Will there be an In-game voice? mechanic, and if not can there be a solid one?
 
An in-game voice mechanic which allows you to talk to players that are within a certain area near you. And they can hear you louder the closer you are? And also possibly a way to amplify your voice for example if you're giving a political speech? Or something like PA speakers so you can alert your crew to abandon ship? Even something else like using ships to contact another one of your ships to give them an order or even a motivational speech?. 
 
Without an in-game voice, people would be negotiating by typing or even using software such as discord and this can be long and complicated just to talk to someone you just met. And let's say you have a meeting with a high up official who just sent you a message to meet him. Would you rather click on a discord room with him in it and talk? Or would you rather stroll down to the hanger and enter a ship and flying to the officials command ship. To then proceed to walk into his office and sit down for a meeting.
 
This could be done similar to games like Dayz, Rust, and many others. It would really push forward how realistic cooperation between two people can go and the entire game in a whole. 


Update - (3/03/2018)
This suggestion was made a long while ago, and during the course of that time, some interesting questions and ideas have been brought to the discussion that I would like to touch on here.
 
This type of communication is a necessity for Dual Universe, for the scale of this game having a voice system really boosts its quality and can even make the game, Chance encounters are one of the most important and exciting moments you will experience, without a proper communication system they simply cannot be brought to their full potential. One of the largest reasons is that Dual Universe is a societal game, from nations to pirates and companies. You need a way to convey information that is easy and and connected to the game, some examples of this include traders trying to convince you to buy one of their products, a police officer asking for identification, a pirate asking for demands, a superior officer in the military giving you a quick order in an intense situation and the chance encounters that were mentioned earlier like someone who has managed to settle on the same asteroid as you or someone in the street of a large city. These examples show you why 3rd party services cannot be relied on, they take too long to configure and to hold one for an entire organisation would require a stupidly large amount of constant micro-management. 
 
A city is alive because information flows through it, cities are what keep organisations alive and if you cannot allow information to flow through a city then it results in the eventual collapse of that establishment and possibly the organisation. An in-game voice system perfectly fits into the city and maps it accordingly unlike 3rd party software.
 
[Further Explanation of above point]
For example, lets take discord and build up a small model area of a city, we have a marketplace with around 100 people trading and talking to each other, we have an area not too far away where there is a political candidate giving a speech and between them another area that is a residential building, some conversations are taking place between people looking to buy an apartment and neighbors talking to each other. Its possible at this point to create a setup in discord, you could have a voice room with everyone in it, but then you face difficulty hearing the person you are trying to listen too because everyone is the same volume, you could take the more obvious root and divide the channels into speech, market and residential but then each one has the same problem of not being able to hear the person they are talking too maybe directly calling someone is a better option but then no one can enter that conversation so you divide up the rooms again. In a sense an attempt to map the city to discord. The problem  with mapping in discord is that when a new instance is created discord cannot simply be updated, lets say there is an explosion or crash nearby, a new environment has been created, for in-game voice its a matter of walking into this area to hear the new environment and for the map to be updated, you would also globally hear the effect of the crash and how it affects the market, speech and residential area. Discord cannot have a new environment in this area unless you have someone online who can create a new channel in a hurry, and even then you would not get the connected experience you would with an integrated voice system. 
 
Some common problems/points:
 
This would put too much load on the server: 
It could, I'm sure if NQ puts there mind to it they can find a way around it, for example, it could become P2P.
 
This isn't what NQ should be focusing on right now: 
I agree they shouldn't even look at this feature until some time before launch, or even after launch, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be in the game.  
 
This would be an annoying feature: 
It might be in some places, but if you are in a nation it becomes there responsibility to moderate it, there could be some settings in-game which allow you to disable it, mute specific people, adjust your hearing range etc. 
 
 
Thank you, this has been an interesting discussion and I hope it continues to be. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Who doesn't want to build a ship out of wood just to see what happens?  Space Morgans anyone?

And it's more than just this. Travel in DU isn't as easy as Eve. Or at least as easy as other people have made it seem.
 
Getting to another system will involve:
1) Starship capable of warptravel
2) A crew for said ship (I doubt if you're going to get a lot of cargo that it will be a tiny soloable starfighter)
3) Stargates between the origin and target systems (especially relevant if you live in an isolated empire that restricts international travel)
 
You might want to buy the restricted gun from a foreign system, but it'll involve you getting out of your own system and smuggling the weapon back yourself. Isn't it just easier to pay someone else?

Because people are LAZY AS FUCK
 
I was the prime seller of drones in Dodixie (~3,5million isk) in eve online for some time. I squelched all other players, diminishing their profit and got my own drones sold. 5 Jumps away those drones were 2million isk cheaper (travel time ~5min). I charged them DOUBLE the price and they happily paid me.
 
In every game at a certain point when people stop caring about money because they have enough people get lazy. They don't want to waste gametime on getting a gun cheaper when they buy those in a nearby system. They want that gun NOW and they want to get on with it. That's why Black Markets will prosper if some org has a fierce grip on economy. Bring those goods to the players and they will pay you (because as you said: people are greedy little bastards and always want the best price) but yet again are lazy.

If engines have a damaging area it would make landing in a capital ship or landing pad fun.

Lol. nope. The 4 starting "races" of DU take care of the jumpstrating on a specific path. Alphas are the "race" that is combat oriented while the Emporium is the "Race" geared towards trading ( go figure? ).. Skillpoint rewards is what EVE shot in the head with a shotgun, cause it made the game grindy on levelling. The only real difference is on attribute allocation in a skillt-trainign system like DU's, where training is passive, but learning the game's mechanics is what the real expertise shows.
 
You can teach a person how and when to shoot at someone, what the benefit or rapid fire versus long-range weaponry is, how to fit their armor and - hopefully - guns in DU for being more effective at their role, but training them with "hold this gun, get SPs" won't teach them anything.
 
I learned how to play EVE by being taken by the hand and then thrust into a roaming fleet on day 3 in the game. Same deal goes for DU. Get newbros, give them guns and armor they can use, teach them what each module of the armor does and what the benefits of tanking an armor is versus making it a galss cannon and then take them out for live combat.
 
Their armors will cost you almost nothing (similar to starting ships for EVE) but the real value is on the newbro being taught HOW to play the game by PLAYING the game, not pretending to be in boot camp or being treated like a toddler with rewards for doing a simple thing like "hold a gun".
 
Just saying.
 
As an example, when I started EVE, I wanted to play a sniper class - sniper meaning engaging a target at distances they can't even lock-on to me, let alone shoot me. But I had zero clue. Then, a person explained to me what sensor boosters are, what scripts for boosters are, what tracking computers were and their scripts associated (specialised buffs, not actual scripts) and what kind of weapons should I fit on my ship to make it fire as well as WHAT ship I should use for my low Skillpoints.
 
Sensors in EVE, are like "Scopes" on a gun. They can be tuned for higher lock-on speeds with Scan Resolution, and Targeting Range scripts to well, exactly what it sounds, doubling the effect, while nullifying the other two effects. Tracking computers (pretty much the barrel type of a gun in conventional terms) had "tracking" and "optimal" range scripts, one makes the tracking computer turng the weapons faster to make the ship able to have a closer fight capability, while the other extended my damage ranges. There are also Supresssion Targeting systems that are no differnt than suppressors for a game like DU on a gun - doesn't allert the opponent of you locking them.
 
By the end of my "class" I knew how to fit the ship I wanted, as well as the difference between a carbide railgun, an acceleration scout cannon and a Gauss Gun was, as well as why certain ammo types were better for different jobs - oh yeah, one ammo may reach further, but also do less damage.
 
Then I went in Null-Sec with a seasoned group, was blown to bits and then I did the fitting of dirt-cheap ship all oever again. That way, I learned how to not die horribly . 
 
At no point the game told me "here, have 5000 SPs because you put on your own pampers! Good boy! ".
 
 
 
As for the OP's post, why have paintball battles, when you can have actual battles??

I know something like this is far from priorities but wouldn't it be great to have some kind of dummy gun? You can fire it, it make sounds and simulates the impact without hurting anyone. You could use it in training facilities built by your faction, mock battles and military drills in general. Maybe even for play like paintball if players are creative enough. 
 
What do you guys think about a training gun in general? I'd like to hear everyone's reasoning for why it's good/bad/whatever.