DarkHorizon

Mate, he played the uno reverse card on you. I was about to do the same to him but luckily I scrolled up a little and saved myself the embarrassment. ?
 
Also, you know there's the quote button right? Just thought I'd ask. Quoting others directly sends them a notification that such has happened and is a great way to carry a discussion of sorts.

Correction, you knew it was a problem for over a year and continued taking advantage with no foresight of the future.
 
If you know exactly what you're doing, then I find it rich that yall are going to complain when NQ finally decides to do something about it.
 
While I would agree that it would be nice to have something in-game that allows us to detect and correct the problem on our own along with destruction of the element upon pilot activation instead of wholesale deletion of the construct, NQ is going to do what NQ is going to do, even if it frustrates us all to high heaven.
 
For people who purchased ships with elements that aren't readily visible, okay you have my actual sympathies on this. If you purchased a ship from someone in the past and you can't make the checks yourself, then I recommend you'd check with the seller to see if your ship falls into spec. If it does, great, no further action. If it doesn't, ask if they creator can exchange your construct for something similar that is in spec, if they do, great, write their name down. If they don't, great, also write their name down then tear that ship down (if you can, I don't know how this drm works since I've never bought a ship from someone else before...) before NQ does.
 
Finally, if you really just don't know what to do and are pulling out your hair in frustration, ask NQ. Find a gm in-game (@GM in the help channel) and ask them if they can determine if your ship runs afoul of the rules, because believe it or not, NQ is likely going to want to help people now ahead of wholesale deletion later. This could result in a public relations issue and I'm sure they don't want that. By interacting with the players this way, NQ can also build a list of popular ships where this issue is present in, then (hopefully, DING-DONG NQ here's a suggestion) release a list of ships to the community with at least a weeks lead time, and the community can pick up the rest.

Correction, you knew it was a problem for over a year and continued taking advantage with no foresight of the future.
 
If you know exactly what you're doing, then I find it rich that yall are going to complain when NQ finally decides to do something about it.
 
While I would agree that it would be nice to have something in-game that allows us to detect and correct the problem on our own along with destruction of the element upon pilot activation instead of wholesale deletion of the construct, NQ is going to do what NQ is going to do, even if it frustrates us all to high heaven.
 
For people who purchased ships with elements that aren't readily visible, okay you have my actual sympathies on this. If you purchased a ship from someone in the past and you can't make the checks yourself, then I recommend you'd check with the seller to see if your ship falls into spec. If it does, great, no further action. If it doesn't, ask if they creator can exchange your construct for something similar that is in spec, if they do, great, write their name down. If they don't, great, also write their name down then tear that ship down (if you can, I don't know how this drm works since I've never bought a ship from someone else before...) before NQ does.
 
Finally, if you really just don't know what to do and are pulling out your hair in frustration, ask NQ. Find a gm in-game (@GM in the help channel) and ask them if they can determine if your ship runs afoul of the rules, because believe it or not, NQ is likely going to want to help people now ahead of wholesale deletion later. This could result in a public relations issue and I'm sure they don't want that. By interacting with the players this way, NQ can also build a list of popular ships where this issue is present in, then (hopefully, DING-DONG NQ here's a suggestion) release a list of ships to the community with at least a weeks lead time, and the community can pick up the rest.

Interesting for sure. If planets needed to be explored in this fashion and were not waypoints until we visited them, or actually weren't even waypoints unless they were scanned because their position changed since the last time you scanned because the planets orbit their star and... oh wait I'm getting ahead of myself.
 
I'm sure this would help fill in the 'explore' aspects of the game.

Monthly Update - September 1st, 2021
 
Nine rescues were made over the month of August, 112 for Beta 1 and 250 overall!
 

 
On August 30th Eyes & Ears secured its 250th official rescue. 16 months after we celebrated our first hundred rescues. It would appear that my prediction on this milestone being achieved did occur during Beta, even though we are celebrating our one year anniversary.
 
To say that Beta has been slow, especially if you’ve kept up with my updates here, well that's the usual understatement. Compared to Alpha, it feels like Beta has massively under performed, especially in the rescue department. While various competitors have since appeared and broken into the space, I’m of the opinion that we’re seeing traffic far below expectations and that’s including the prospect of our competitors.
 
Advertising hasn’t changed too much since Alpha. As the marketplaces have shifted I’ve since moved our advertisements from static screens into advertising kiosks, so perhaps we’re getting less eyes running across, but the solution of the kiosk has attracted more curious eyes. The recruitment post has gone through a few minor changes but it still pops up in the DU Discords org recruitment section, we even have a new spot in the discord where our service is displayed in the utilities channel.
 
The forums, we’re basically on page one and that’s with only monthly updates where I used to do weekly updates! Why do I do these updates, hey people, we're alive and stuff is happening! In the past, weekly updates were just barely keeping us on page one at all. Now having switched to monthly updates, we're still at the top of page one which, is kind of shocking just thinking about it.
 
 Just looking at the numbers, we’re about in line with New Genesis, a PVP organization where you shoot people and take their stuff, or at the very least on a surface level. On the contrary, we show up after the shooting is done, and how many people do you think find that fun compared to the looting and shooting part?
 
Then there’s word of mouth, and I’m sure we’ve only spread further since then of the little rescue group that could.
 
I don’t think it’s so much a matter of getting the word out that hey we exist and we’re a thing, but it’s that activity has fallen over the course of Beta as I'm sure everyone reading this knows. Sure, it was a buggy, fun, exciting launch, but that’s it, it’s been downhill since. Think it’s pretty obvious in myself and how much I’ve been playing hands off for a good four to five months or so now. It’s been years now that I’ve been testing and the engagement just isn’t there anymore.
 
It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of people hanging around, everybody is either in standby, or they’re off playing something else. Even my own rescuers are largely inactive aside from less than a handful, and we’re just shy of forty members. It wouldn’t be surprising if they attributed it to a lack of rescues, and there’s likely to be a lack of rescues because there’s a lack of players needing said rescues.
 
I’ve again reached out some feelers to many whom I know in the rescue field and the sentiment is largely the same. That of disinterest, and inactivity.

@Starsz the leader of Special Tactics and Rescue Service shared with me the following graph illustrating their logged rescues on a monthly basis. Keep in mind that STARS is tight knit with Empire, they mentioned that 90% of the above stems solely from Empire alone.
 

 
In the above nine months that transpired there were:
44 SOS
46 Transports
2 Other
92 total.
 
Something that was particularly noted was the decline after January, Starz took the helm of Empire as its leader.
 
Curious, I looked through Eyes & Ears' own logs and formulated the following graphs:
 


 
Late 2018, still starting out, I'm getting word around, it's pretty much just me. Alpha 1 sees slow growth as word spreads. Come the middle of Alpha 2, October of 2019, 25 rescues and just over a dozen members and we're building reputation. Following the 2019 holidays, people are returning to work and whatnot, but things kick back up again once Alpha 3 arrives. They hover around the mid-teens as the world wide lockdown takes effect until Beta drops. Yup, for those wondering, the 33 rescues in September 2020 were attributed to the Beta launch on August 27th.
 
October sees another crash to single digits for the first time since May (which tbh feels like an anomaly, if not then we'd have to go back a year) but it picks up again due to the holidays.
 
Finally, the first half of 2021 has been largely depressed. The beta hype has worn off, small spike in June probably because of summer but overall things are largely flat. The only reason in the last month we've picked up more than a handful was because Starz mentioned they were redirecting them to us since they had no one themselves available.
 
It's interesting seeing all those logs put into data that we can now see and explain away. The change from DU's small closed NDA-Alpha community to public-Beta where new players seem to not be retained (or not getting into accidents more often) while alphas are becoming burned out.
 
Never would I have thought we’d be here 150 rescues ago. I was expecting a complete HQ, right now it’s just walls, and a roof. Outposts on each planet, which are right now non-existent. We should have branded ships in those outposts, but as of now it's still ideas on paper.
 
We’re a year into Beta, and it feels like DU is behind the curve I thought it’d be on. Am I disappointed, yes, do I feel disappointed, no.
 
-----
 
Congrats to @Tonvor for the 250th rescue!
 
-----
 
No major changes to report for the month of September. Aside from some work on the invoicing calculator.
 
With still no inspiration to continue work on the HQ, I’m back on Alioth and had zoomed around the markets collecting data in preparation for the great market cleanup, which is currently in progress, and switching focus largely to DU Classifieds. Don't worry, I'll still be connected to Eyes & Ears, if something comes up, I'm not far behind!
 
In less game related news, I underwent a surgical operation earlier in the month and have largely spent time healing but that doesn’t mean I’m not still active on Discord. A post op check by the doc last week says everything is doing well, and I’ll be going in for another check in a week or two. Another minor operation will hopefully be commencing next week to take care of a separate inherited condition from my mothers side of the family.
 
Not looking forward to it, I'm actually quiet panicky internally since its to do with my toes, but both of these operations really should have been done years ago.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon

I feel conflicted about this.
Make no mistake, it is really, really, really great that market spam is finally getting the attention it needs.
But at the same time I cannot help thinking about how this has been mostly ignored by NQ for years (plural) despite probably being the number one most requested thing, and how much damage this has caused for the game during this time. NQ really are their own worst enemy at times.

It stands for air conditioning.  Eternal's conked out again.

Dude quickly check your forum account it literally states U have received the backer title/are a "patron". I hope RL politics don't cause u as much stress as the game does.

Monthly Update - August 1st, 2021
 
Three rescues were made over the month of August, 104 for Beta 1 and 242 overall!
 
-----
 
As expected, we’ve returned to what appears to be a nominal amount of monthly rescues so far for Beta. Activity is remaining down all across the board in our partner organizations as well. This slump over the past few months is bearing all the reminders of the tail end of pre-alpha in how depressed things were feeling. A small surge was seen with the release of the job board, I anticipate similar will happen once the PVP rebalancing and shields drop along with the awaited asteroid mining.
 
Aside from my occasional appearance in-game for a rescue or to tinker with my ship and check the jobs board and markets, I’ve had another largely hands off month. We did add another member to our roster though:
 
@StarByrne - Pilot
 
For anyone that hasn’t noticed, I’ve also pushed an update to our invoicing calculator that adds two new features in particular:
 
Calc EZ: A question/answer version of the more mechanical calculator we’ve always worked with. Input an answer here and it will fill in the other calculator which will spit out the final bill.
 
Scrap & Fuel Calc: Using in-game scripts, if a victim can estimate the amount of HP damaged, we can take that amount and the tier of scrap they’re requesting and get the amount of scrap required and its weight.
 
I'll be working on these over time and pushing out further updates to both in addition to the main calculator. All those updates will be listed on the updates page.
 
-----
 
I’ve been on Alioth since my burnout first started. Pondering a return to Madis to work on our headquarters some more, sadly I still don’t have the inspiration or motivation in that department. There are also no rescues in that area and with much of my team in standby waiting for DU to pick up again, it’s not really the most enticing prospect either.
 
Putting a lot of hope that asteroids and at least the first pass on PVP balancing will at least fire up some attention. To be honest though, I’m expecting a similar wave like what we got when the job board was new. Things peak for a week or two as people jump in to check out the new feature, then disappear again until the next patch.
 
It really sucks, this up and down. I eagerly await the day where we hit a critical mass and the world reaches a true consistency and carries itself along instead of this constant starting and stopping we're seeing in tune with the dev cycle. It doesn't seem like it will end until closer to the conclusion of Beta which feels ever further over the horizon. Yes, its coming, but is it really?
 
-----
 
The long awaited game StarBase has also come out at the tail end of the month. While many appeared to be expecting a nosedive in activity, things seem to have remained pretty much unchanged as far as the DU Discord server is concerned. It appears to have its own fans and detractors much in the way Dual Universe did after the launch of the pre-alpha. This time however, I got to act as an outsider and watched as things developed without the ability to play until now.
 
What do I think? It’s a new game, that’s great. I love the idea of having choices without being shoehorned by one game because it’s the only game in the market. In a previous update I said I’d be keeping a close eye on StarBase, still am, and eagerly awaiting my first real taste from some youtube videos in the coming weeks and months. Will I buy in, who's to say right now. While many allege the performance is vastly better which is something I’m keen about, I’ll be the final judge of that.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon

Hey everybody,

We've been getting increasing reports of non-game-related scams through the DU Discord server. While in-game scamming is permissible (here's looking at you people putting requests and buying ore at 0.1h/L) these types of scams are not. 

The two we’re seeing most frequently on the DU Discord and Discord in general are along the lines of:

"I accidentally reported your Steam account"
"Straight to the point--NO BS" with Wall Street War

At almost 2000 words, I’m told this is a fairly lengthy post so I’ll split it into two parts. The first will have to do with what these scams are, and how to deal with them. The second part will feature some of my own tips and advice to improve your account security and general account security on the web. Part One, Part Two.
 
TLDR at the end for those of you that need it. Let’s get to it!
 
 
Part One: The Scams

The steam account scam is the most concerning so I'll touch on this first.

It starts with someone asking if a Steam profile is yours, usually because you have your Steam profile linked in your Discord profile. If you confirm it, then they'll say that they accidentally reported your Steam profile for illegal purchases and that your account will be suspended if no action is taken. They'll then try and connect you with a "support agent" to resolve the issue and clear your name. Seems innocent enough, but hang with me.

The "support agent" will ask you to log out of your account everywhere so they can run a "validation" process that would be supposedly interrupted by a login. They’ll then ask you for your login details as a part of the verification process. This should be the first red flag.

If you have Steam Guard enabled as your 2FA option, they’ll mention that your phone should have sent you a notification just now, and to provide them with that code. This should be a second red flag and tantamount to a bat light up in the sky.

Since most of us have a purchase history associated with our account, an excuse will usually be given about the above "validation" exposing errors due to “black-market purchases with stolen accounts”. You'll be asked to purchase crypto and send it to their wallet as proof that you're the cardholder. This should be the third red flag, but by now your steam account is already compromised since you provided your login details and 2FA code.
 
With your account now up for ransom, they'll start asking for money to get it back and bring you through a whole long process to ‘unlock’ or ‘unblock’ your account. A way to unscrew yourself, notice how I’m saying ‘un-’ a lot?
 
However, the end result, is always the same, "a fool and his money are soon parted." In the particular instance that was brought to our attention, the individual’s bank intervened which left them out only $270 as opposed to the $1,000 that they were being lined up for.
 
For support-related things like Steam, Amazon, DU support tickets, etc, they'll all use some form of an official means of communication. Since DU makes a prime example, all support tickets are handled on their support website. If something like an email seems suspicious even though it looks official, don't hesitate to sign into your account and handle it on their website directly, email support scams happen too!
 
Additionally, support will never ask for your login details, and you should never ever-ever-ever-ever-ever give out your 2FA codes. Never, got it? I could say that until I'm blue in the face. If they needed to, I'd bet a ham sandwich with good mustard that an authentic support person would easily bypass that since they're already an employee of the company, verified and all. That, and they would never ask you to pay them since usually you'll just be banned anyways.
 
NQ threw in this extra bit but just so things are crystal clear: No support agent of any company (especially Steam) should ask you any login details. If a support agent does, it's obviously a scam or an agent breaking security protocol. In both cases NEVER gave such information. Support agents are not supposed to ask you any login details for the simple reason that they don't need to: if they are what they're pretending they are, they have other means to access your account for technical problems or punishment topics.
 
These are malicious because these types of scams depend on our anxieties. Naturally, no one wants to be in trouble and it’s something commonly pulled on senior citizens as they’re usually an easier target since we’re still at the start of the digital age and computers weren’t something they grew up with. Have your grandparents console with other trusted persons if something seems fishy.
 
A final red flag and something I’m hesitant to get into because it involves stereotyping, but folks that pull these kinds of scams in my experience don’t often have the best English skills, and it’s pretty easy to tell that they are non-native speakers since they come from a very particular part of the world. I’m not going to spotlight any group in particular, but Steam would never ask for you to share your screen, make a crypto transaction, or inquire about your banking details. And I’m equally sure that a prince in some distant land wouldn’t transfer you a great sum of his wealth to help him with some health expenses. Yes, they have a solid grip and can hold an understandable conversation, but it’s not as fluid as more experienced speakers like with NovaQuarks support for example.
 
I’m not saying that everyone offering some form of tech support is out to get you, especially if you are aware of a real problem, tech support is an easily outsourced job and I’m sure at some point you’ve experienced robots and automated machines in these roles already. No doubt many non-native speakers have excellent skills as I'm sure many have shown on these very forums, but again my personal experience has dictated that more often than not, a weak grasp of English should serve as caution in these types of situations.
 
 
 
Finally, someone or multiple someones has been making alternate accounts, pushing a 'no bs' crypto server very aggressively. Not only does this break the unsolicited advertising policy, but you're potentially pushing away people from the idea of crypto which hurts the whole thing in general.
 
Us moderators and NQ discussed briefly boosting the server moderation level from high (server member for 10m) to maximum (verified phone linked to the account) but this was seen as too extreme. For now, if you get one of these messages, send a link to the message (‘copy message link’ in the right-click menu) and a screenshot to the mods via ModMail and we’ll take care of them. NovaQuark is attempting to work with Discord on this issue and those DM links are needed as a part of Discords investigations. Links are no longer required, scroll down a bit for further guidance.
 
When I started writing, ten separate accounts were banned, plus one more while I wrote, for their “no-bs” activity. Since then another 9 have fallen between NQ reviewing and approving this and my own goings-on getting in the way. They’re persistent, these lads, but rest assured they’re not as persistent as a dragon, or my fellow moderators on the community discord team! While I've taken a step back for some Halo in the past week, I'm looking at 11 modmails that I haven't read yet that I suspect run along similar lines... Yes, a potential 30 accounts.
 
Not much to say here since they're just pushing a discord invite and its nothing more malicious in general chat. Just letting you guys know that we’re aware of these events, along with what actions to take, so I'll leave it at that.
 
 
Update 7/22: NQ has advised me that since Discord is not taking action, that all logging on Wall Street War has ended. Please send further incidents to Discords Trust and Safety team as this falls under the Self-botting category of spam.
https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000029731
 
 
 
Part Two: Security

Strong passwords, you knew this was coming right? "Blaarg I can't reeeee-member", enough with the excuses. There are plenty of solutions out there that allow you to create long, complex, and secure passwords that you don't have to remember or type in manually. In years past I used and recommended LastPass but they had to go and ruin a good thing and separate computers and mobile devices for free account holders. If you can afford their $3/month premium plan, I'd still recommend them since they're very well known and have a lot of great features, but I'm cheap so I dropped them. With the hundreds of online accounts some of us might have, my replacement is Zoho Vault. For all my uses, it has the features I require on both desktop and mobile devices in the form of autofill and password generation.
 
If sticking all your passwords in some online database sounds like a bad idea, there are also solutions for building and managing your own homebrewed vault, just be sure to stick it somewhere greedy little hands and pets can't find it. If the hamsters aren't running on their wheels, they're destroying your hardware.
 
2 Factor Authentication, if it’s an option, use it. It will take a little bit longer to log in since it’s an extra step, but it can make a lot of difference if your username and password are compromised. Is it foolproof, no. Is something better than nothing, absolutely. Setting up 2FA is easy, just find a specific app for it, scan a QR code, verify it by entering the string of numbers (usually six but I've encountered no more than nine), then once it’s confirmed, you're all set up. Now after you enter your username and password, you'll need to check the app you downloaded and enter in that string of numbers before the timer expires to fully log in.
 
While the extra security is great, it comes with some extra caveats:

An online database can be breached. The database can fail and the data become lost. Your master password can be breached or forgotten.
Your hardware can be stolen, misplaced, lost, or even destroyed. If you read this far, you get a cookie.
You can forget to transfer your 2FA app data to your new phone before deleting your old phone’s data.
 
Should any of that happen, you can be well and truly screwed, especially when you're excited about getting a new phone like I was a few years back. At least if you mess up, you know your accounts are still protected, it's just a big time kill resetting everything. Don't let that scare you though, better to be safe than sorry with your account partly out of your hands because you forgot your strong password, versus in someone elses hands entirely.
 
Above all, use common sense. It's in pretty short supply these days but I'm sure you can activate enough neurons to tell the difference between your coworker’s email that comes from a familiar email (or physical) address versus something about some guys relative in the hospital and he needs $500 for the bills and wants you to wire them money and... oh hey, is that gold? OwO
 
This isn't a defacto guide, just some easy things you can do right now to get started and have an immediate impact on your online security. There's a lot more reading and videos (even physical hardware you can purchase) out on the internet if you care to look which I would encourage you to do.
 
 
 
Again, if you get a message from anyone using either of these methods of unsolicited advertising or anything else, be it related to Dual Universe or not, please send them to us community mods via Modmail (works just like sending a DM to anyone else) and we'll handle things.
 
 
 
TLDR: Firstly, the Discord community mods are aware of the scammers going around. Send us a modmail with a screenshot and we'll handle things.
Secondly; password hygine, 2FA, if it looks sketchy it probably is.
 
That's all I wanted to say, thanks for reading.

Hey everybody,

We've been getting increasing reports of non-game-related scams through the DU Discord server. While in-game scamming is permissible (here's looking at you people putting requests and buying ore at 0.1h/L) these types of scams are not. 

The two we’re seeing most frequently on the DU Discord and Discord in general are along the lines of:

"I accidentally reported your Steam account"
"Straight to the point--NO BS" with Wall Street War

At almost 2000 words, I’m told this is a fairly lengthy post so I’ll split it into two parts. The first will have to do with what these scams are, and how to deal with them. The second part will feature some of my own tips and advice to improve your account security and general account security on the web. Part One, Part Two.
 
TLDR at the end for those of you that need it. Let’s get to it!
 
 
Part One: The Scams

The steam account scam is the most concerning so I'll touch on this first.

It starts with someone asking if a Steam profile is yours, usually because you have your Steam profile linked in your Discord profile. If you confirm it, then they'll say that they accidentally reported your Steam profile for illegal purchases and that your account will be suspended if no action is taken. They'll then try and connect you with a "support agent" to resolve the issue and clear your name. Seems innocent enough, but hang with me.

The "support agent" will ask you to log out of your account everywhere so they can run a "validation" process that would be supposedly interrupted by a login. They’ll then ask you for your login details as a part of the verification process. This should be the first red flag.

If you have Steam Guard enabled as your 2FA option, they’ll mention that your phone should have sent you a notification just now, and to provide them with that code. This should be a second red flag and tantamount to a bat light up in the sky.

Since most of us have a purchase history associated with our account, an excuse will usually be given about the above "validation" exposing errors due to “black-market purchases with stolen accounts”. You'll be asked to purchase crypto and send it to their wallet as proof that you're the cardholder. This should be the third red flag, but by now your steam account is already compromised since you provided your login details and 2FA code.
 
With your account now up for ransom, they'll start asking for money to get it back and bring you through a whole long process to ‘unlock’ or ‘unblock’ your account. A way to unscrew yourself, notice how I’m saying ‘un-’ a lot?
 
However, the end result, is always the same, "a fool and his money are soon parted." In the particular instance that was brought to our attention, the individual’s bank intervened which left them out only $270 as opposed to the $1,000 that they were being lined up for.
 
For support-related things like Steam, Amazon, DU support tickets, etc, they'll all use some form of an official means of communication. Since DU makes a prime example, all support tickets are handled on their support website. If something like an email seems suspicious even though it looks official, don't hesitate to sign into your account and handle it on their website directly, email support scams happen too!
 
Additionally, support will never ask for your login details, and you should never ever-ever-ever-ever-ever give out your 2FA codes. Never, got it? I could say that until I'm blue in the face. If they needed to, I'd bet a ham sandwich with good mustard that an authentic support person would easily bypass that since they're already an employee of the company, verified and all. That, and they would never ask you to pay them since usually you'll just be banned anyways.
 
NQ threw in this extra bit but just so things are crystal clear: No support agent of any company (especially Steam) should ask you any login details. If a support agent does, it's obviously a scam or an agent breaking security protocol. In both cases NEVER gave such information. Support agents are not supposed to ask you any login details for the simple reason that they don't need to: if they are what they're pretending they are, they have other means to access your account for technical problems or punishment topics.
 
These are malicious because these types of scams depend on our anxieties. Naturally, no one wants to be in trouble and it’s something commonly pulled on senior citizens as they’re usually an easier target since we’re still at the start of the digital age and computers weren’t something they grew up with. Have your grandparents console with other trusted persons if something seems fishy.
 
A final red flag and something I’m hesitant to get into because it involves stereotyping, but folks that pull these kinds of scams in my experience don’t often have the best English skills, and it’s pretty easy to tell that they are non-native speakers since they come from a very particular part of the world. I’m not going to spotlight any group in particular, but Steam would never ask for you to share your screen, make a crypto transaction, or inquire about your banking details. And I’m equally sure that a prince in some distant land wouldn’t transfer you a great sum of his wealth to help him with some health expenses. Yes, they have a solid grip and can hold an understandable conversation, but it’s not as fluid as more experienced speakers like with NovaQuarks support for example.
 
I’m not saying that everyone offering some form of tech support is out to get you, especially if you are aware of a real problem, tech support is an easily outsourced job and I’m sure at some point you’ve experienced robots and automated machines in these roles already. No doubt many non-native speakers have excellent skills as I'm sure many have shown on these very forums, but again my personal experience has dictated that more often than not, a weak grasp of English should serve as caution in these types of situations.
 
 
 
Finally, someone or multiple someones has been making alternate accounts, pushing a 'no bs' crypto server very aggressively. Not only does this break the unsolicited advertising policy, but you're potentially pushing away people from the idea of crypto which hurts the whole thing in general.
 
Us moderators and NQ discussed briefly boosting the server moderation level from high (server member for 10m) to maximum (verified phone linked to the account) but this was seen as too extreme. For now, if you get one of these messages, send a link to the message (‘copy message link’ in the right-click menu) and a screenshot to the mods via ModMail and we’ll take care of them. NovaQuark is attempting to work with Discord on this issue and those DM links are needed as a part of Discords investigations. Links are no longer required, scroll down a bit for further guidance.
 
When I started writing, ten separate accounts were banned, plus one more while I wrote, for their “no-bs” activity. Since then another 9 have fallen between NQ reviewing and approving this and my own goings-on getting in the way. They’re persistent, these lads, but rest assured they’re not as persistent as a dragon, or my fellow moderators on the community discord team! While I've taken a step back for some Halo in the past week, I'm looking at 11 modmails that I haven't read yet that I suspect run along similar lines... Yes, a potential 30 accounts.
 
Not much to say here since they're just pushing a discord invite and its nothing more malicious in general chat. Just letting you guys know that we’re aware of these events, along with what actions to take, so I'll leave it at that.
 
 
Update 7/22: NQ has advised me that since Discord is not taking action, that all logging on Wall Street War has ended. Please send further incidents to Discords Trust and Safety team as this falls under the Self-botting category of spam.
https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000029731
 
 
 
Part Two: Security

Strong passwords, you knew this was coming right? "Blaarg I can't reeeee-member", enough with the excuses. There are plenty of solutions out there that allow you to create long, complex, and secure passwords that you don't have to remember or type in manually. In years past I used and recommended LastPass but they had to go and ruin a good thing and separate computers and mobile devices for free account holders. If you can afford their $3/month premium plan, I'd still recommend them since they're very well known and have a lot of great features, but I'm cheap so I dropped them. With the hundreds of online accounts some of us might have, my replacement is Zoho Vault. For all my uses, it has the features I require on both desktop and mobile devices in the form of autofill and password generation.
 
If sticking all your passwords in some online database sounds like a bad idea, there are also solutions for building and managing your own homebrewed vault, just be sure to stick it somewhere greedy little hands and pets can't find it. If the hamsters aren't running on their wheels, they're destroying your hardware.
 
2 Factor Authentication, if it’s an option, use it. It will take a little bit longer to log in since it’s an extra step, but it can make a lot of difference if your username and password are compromised. Is it foolproof, no. Is something better than nothing, absolutely. Setting up 2FA is easy, just find a specific app for it, scan a QR code, verify it by entering the string of numbers (usually six but I've encountered no more than nine), then once it’s confirmed, you're all set up. Now after you enter your username and password, you'll need to check the app you downloaded and enter in that string of numbers before the timer expires to fully log in.
 
While the extra security is great, it comes with some extra caveats:

An online database can be breached. The database can fail and the data become lost. Your master password can be breached or forgotten.
Your hardware can be stolen, misplaced, lost, or even destroyed. If you read this far, you get a cookie.
You can forget to transfer your 2FA app data to your new phone before deleting your old phone’s data.
 
Should any of that happen, you can be well and truly screwed, especially when you're excited about getting a new phone like I was a few years back. At least if you mess up, you know your accounts are still protected, it's just a big time kill resetting everything. Don't let that scare you though, better to be safe than sorry with your account partly out of your hands because you forgot your strong password, versus in someone elses hands entirely.
 
Above all, use common sense. It's in pretty short supply these days but I'm sure you can activate enough neurons to tell the difference between your coworker’s email that comes from a familiar email (or physical) address versus something about some guys relative in the hospital and he needs $500 for the bills and wants you to wire them money and... oh hey, is that gold? OwO
 
This isn't a defacto guide, just some easy things you can do right now to get started and have an immediate impact on your online security. There's a lot more reading and videos (even physical hardware you can purchase) out on the internet if you care to look which I would encourage you to do.
 
 
 
Again, if you get a message from anyone using either of these methods of unsolicited advertising or anything else, be it related to Dual Universe or not, please send them to us community mods via Modmail (works just like sending a DM to anyone else) and we'll handle things.
 
 
 
TLDR: Firstly, the Discord community mods are aware of the scammers going around. Send us a modmail with a screenshot and we'll handle things.
Secondly; password hygine, 2FA, if it looks sketchy it probably is.
 
That's all I wanted to say, thanks for reading.

Hey everybody,

We've been getting increasing reports of non-game-related scams through the DU Discord server. While in-game scamming is permissible (here's looking at you people putting requests and buying ore at 0.1h/L) these types of scams are not. 

The two we’re seeing most frequently on the DU Discord and Discord in general are along the lines of:

"I accidentally reported your Steam account"
"Straight to the point--NO BS" with Wall Street War

At almost 2000 words, I’m told this is a fairly lengthy post so I’ll split it into two parts. The first will have to do with what these scams are, and how to deal with them. The second part will feature some of my own tips and advice to improve your account security and general account security on the web. Part One, Part Two.
 
TLDR at the end for those of you that need it. Let’s get to it!
 
 
Part One: The Scams

The steam account scam is the most concerning so I'll touch on this first.

It starts with someone asking if a Steam profile is yours, usually because you have your Steam profile linked in your Discord profile. If you confirm it, then they'll say that they accidentally reported your Steam profile for illegal purchases and that your account will be suspended if no action is taken. They'll then try and connect you with a "support agent" to resolve the issue and clear your name. Seems innocent enough, but hang with me.

The "support agent" will ask you to log out of your account everywhere so they can run a "validation" process that would be supposedly interrupted by a login. They’ll then ask you for your login details as a part of the verification process. This should be the first red flag.

If you have Steam Guard enabled as your 2FA option, they’ll mention that your phone should have sent you a notification just now, and to provide them with that code. This should be a second red flag and tantamount to a bat light up in the sky.

Since most of us have a purchase history associated with our account, an excuse will usually be given about the above "validation" exposing errors due to “black-market purchases with stolen accounts”. You'll be asked to purchase crypto and send it to their wallet as proof that you're the cardholder. This should be the third red flag, but by now your steam account is already compromised since you provided your login details and 2FA code.
 
With your account now up for ransom, they'll start asking for money to get it back and bring you through a whole long process to ‘unlock’ or ‘unblock’ your account. A way to unscrew yourself, notice how I’m saying ‘un-’ a lot?
 
However, the end result, is always the same, "a fool and his money are soon parted." In the particular instance that was brought to our attention, the individual’s bank intervened which left them out only $270 as opposed to the $1,000 that they were being lined up for.
 
For support-related things like Steam, Amazon, DU support tickets, etc, they'll all use some form of an official means of communication. Since DU makes a prime example, all support tickets are handled on their support website. If something like an email seems suspicious even though it looks official, don't hesitate to sign into your account and handle it on their website directly, email support scams happen too!
 
Additionally, support will never ask for your login details, and you should never ever-ever-ever-ever-ever give out your 2FA codes. Never, got it? I could say that until I'm blue in the face. If they needed to, I'd bet a ham sandwich with good mustard that an authentic support person would easily bypass that since they're already an employee of the company, verified and all. That, and they would never ask you to pay them since usually you'll just be banned anyways.
 
NQ threw in this extra bit but just so things are crystal clear: No support agent of any company (especially Steam) should ask you any login details. If a support agent does, it's obviously a scam or an agent breaking security protocol. In both cases NEVER gave such information. Support agents are not supposed to ask you any login details for the simple reason that they don't need to: if they are what they're pretending they are, they have other means to access your account for technical problems or punishment topics.
 
These are malicious because these types of scams depend on our anxieties. Naturally, no one wants to be in trouble and it’s something commonly pulled on senior citizens as they’re usually an easier target since we’re still at the start of the digital age and computers weren’t something they grew up with. Have your grandparents console with other trusted persons if something seems fishy.
 
A final red flag and something I’m hesitant to get into because it involves stereotyping, but folks that pull these kinds of scams in my experience don’t often have the best English skills, and it’s pretty easy to tell that they are non-native speakers since they come from a very particular part of the world. I’m not going to spotlight any group in particular, but Steam would never ask for you to share your screen, make a crypto transaction, or inquire about your banking details. And I’m equally sure that a prince in some distant land wouldn’t transfer you a great sum of his wealth to help him with some health expenses. Yes, they have a solid grip and can hold an understandable conversation, but it’s not as fluid as more experienced speakers like with NovaQuarks support for example.
 
I’m not saying that everyone offering some form of tech support is out to get you, especially if you are aware of a real problem, tech support is an easily outsourced job and I’m sure at some point you’ve experienced robots and automated machines in these roles already. No doubt many non-native speakers have excellent skills as I'm sure many have shown on these very forums, but again my personal experience has dictated that more often than not, a weak grasp of English should serve as caution in these types of situations.
 
 
 
Finally, someone or multiple someones has been making alternate accounts, pushing a 'no bs' crypto server very aggressively. Not only does this break the unsolicited advertising policy, but you're potentially pushing away people from the idea of crypto which hurts the whole thing in general.
 
Us moderators and NQ discussed briefly boosting the server moderation level from high (server member for 10m) to maximum (verified phone linked to the account) but this was seen as too extreme. For now, if you get one of these messages, send a link to the message (‘copy message link’ in the right-click menu) and a screenshot to the mods via ModMail and we’ll take care of them. NovaQuark is attempting to work with Discord on this issue and those DM links are needed as a part of Discords investigations. Links are no longer required, scroll down a bit for further guidance.
 
When I started writing, ten separate accounts were banned, plus one more while I wrote, for their “no-bs” activity. Since then another 9 have fallen between NQ reviewing and approving this and my own goings-on getting in the way. They’re persistent, these lads, but rest assured they’re not as persistent as a dragon, or my fellow moderators on the community discord team! While I've taken a step back for some Halo in the past week, I'm looking at 11 modmails that I haven't read yet that I suspect run along similar lines... Yes, a potential 30 accounts.
 
Not much to say here since they're just pushing a discord invite and its nothing more malicious in general chat. Just letting you guys know that we’re aware of these events, along with what actions to take, so I'll leave it at that.
 
 
Update 7/22: NQ has advised me that since Discord is not taking action, that all logging on Wall Street War has ended. Please send further incidents to Discords Trust and Safety team as this falls under the Self-botting category of spam.
https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000029731
 
 
 
Part Two: Security

Strong passwords, you knew this was coming right? "Blaarg I can't reeeee-member", enough with the excuses. There are plenty of solutions out there that allow you to create long, complex, and secure passwords that you don't have to remember or type in manually. In years past I used and recommended LastPass but they had to go and ruin a good thing and separate computers and mobile devices for free account holders. If you can afford their $3/month premium plan, I'd still recommend them since they're very well known and have a lot of great features, but I'm cheap so I dropped them. With the hundreds of online accounts some of us might have, my replacement is Zoho Vault. For all my uses, it has the features I require on both desktop and mobile devices in the form of autofill and password generation.
 
If sticking all your passwords in some online database sounds like a bad idea, there are also solutions for building and managing your own homebrewed vault, just be sure to stick it somewhere greedy little hands and pets can't find it. If the hamsters aren't running on their wheels, they're destroying your hardware.
 
2 Factor Authentication, if it’s an option, use it. It will take a little bit longer to log in since it’s an extra step, but it can make a lot of difference if your username and password are compromised. Is it foolproof, no. Is something better than nothing, absolutely. Setting up 2FA is easy, just find a specific app for it, scan a QR code, verify it by entering the string of numbers (usually six but I've encountered no more than nine), then once it’s confirmed, you're all set up. Now after you enter your username and password, you'll need to check the app you downloaded and enter in that string of numbers before the timer expires to fully log in.
 
While the extra security is great, it comes with some extra caveats:

An online database can be breached. The database can fail and the data become lost. Your master password can be breached or forgotten.
Your hardware can be stolen, misplaced, lost, or even destroyed. If you read this far, you get a cookie.
You can forget to transfer your 2FA app data to your new phone before deleting your old phone’s data.
 
Should any of that happen, you can be well and truly screwed, especially when you're excited about getting a new phone like I was a few years back. At least if you mess up, you know your accounts are still protected, it's just a big time kill resetting everything. Don't let that scare you though, better to be safe than sorry with your account partly out of your hands because you forgot your strong password, versus in someone elses hands entirely.
 
Above all, use common sense. It's in pretty short supply these days but I'm sure you can activate enough neurons to tell the difference between your coworker’s email that comes from a familiar email (or physical) address versus something about some guys relative in the hospital and he needs $500 for the bills and wants you to wire them money and... oh hey, is that gold? OwO
 
This isn't a defacto guide, just some easy things you can do right now to get started and have an immediate impact on your online security. There's a lot more reading and videos (even physical hardware you can purchase) out on the internet if you care to look which I would encourage you to do.
 
 
 
Again, if you get a message from anyone using either of these methods of unsolicited advertising or anything else, be it related to Dual Universe or not, please send them to us community mods via Modmail (works just like sending a DM to anyone else) and we'll handle things.
 
 
 
TLDR: Firstly, the Discord community mods are aware of the scammers going around. Send us a modmail with a screenshot and we'll handle things.
Secondly; password hygine, 2FA, if it looks sketchy it probably is.
 
That's all I wanted to say, thanks for reading.

Emergency Update - June 17th, 2021
 
For members that didn’t keep up to date with my at-everyone pings in the member announcements section, I have pushed those announcements here so they are public:
 
TLDR at the bottom.
 
---
 
Yesterday, 2:12PM CST
In case you haven't heard about the changes to organizations, please read up:
 
This probably won't affect many of you, be grateful, because these are riveting changes for me as an organization leader.
 
First off, these changes were not run by the community in any shape or form prior to their announcement. If they were, I would have heard and provided some very negative feedback against the idea.
 
Ultra-simplifying things, an account can only lead one organization at a time. Not character, account. This to me speaks of NQ trying to push for multiple accounts and with everything that's happened as of late, my confidence going forward has endured a tremendous earthquake.
 
I am leaving all options on the table, in protest of these changes, up to and including refunding from the game.
 
---
 
Where does this leave you? If things continue on their current path, then two major things could happen, either we move to another game, or I'll quit entirely:
 
If we move to another game, or expand into a multi-gaming community focused on our current service and offerings, I'll take a look around other games and be holding some polls so we can decide on where we'd like to move to next. Some of you will not want to make the move and that's perfectly okay, no one is forcing you to jump ship after all the time that's been invested. A new director for the DU branch will be voted on, and I'll ascend to community director as we set forth into other games. Me and the DU Director will coordinate all happenings DU.
 
If I decide to quit entirely, I'll be holding a vote on a new Director. Once the results are in, all assets including super legate status, ownership of google drive materials, and ownership of the eyesandearsrescue.org domain will be transferred over. In essence, I will release complete and total control over everything related to E&E to the new Director.
 
I apologize for heaping this on all of you after so much calm these past few months. I did not anticipate this for the future and it pains me so, but drastic circumstances require drastic action.
More will be provided about all this and I will keep you up to date with at-everyone pings as I receive the news.
 
Take care
 
---
 
Today, 4:40PM CST
After some in-game work, a rescue and 9 hours of sleep that I got last night, I'm trying to come back from the edge.
 
I'm canceling a couple of projects I hoped to do presently and for the future, one of which was a massive tribute to all the pre-alpha, alpha, and beta testers that would have been constructed after launch.
 
If you've also seen the advertising platforms running bulk selectable ads at the ten major marketplaces around the arkship, I'm also looking at closing up that if my partner doesn't reply within the month.
 
Make no mistake, this change has left me absolutely livid to the point where I want to pound sand into glass right now. Eyes & Ears will become my singular focus as I absolutely refuse to pay a subscription for a second account.
 
Keep in mind however that this has me on a knifes edge because the way I see things, NQ is acting very desperate for money, and this is a ploy to get people to run more than one account. In light of JC stepping down from his leadership position and all that's happened since, my confidence in NQ's ability to prosper has been greatly shaken. I'm not one to scream doom and gloom, but I won't hesitate to let you know how I feel.
 
Should further issues arise that cause me to question NQ's ability to maintain financial solvency, I am still leaving the afore mentioned options open in the previous announcement. For the moment, nothing will happen, but you know what will should it come to that.
 
I will still be looking to expand elsewhere in the event that DU ever closes up shop.
 
Thank you.
 
---
 
TLDR:
I’m abandoning a post-launch community tribute project and likely to abandon a currently running consolidated advertising project since these new changes will simply make it impossible to accomplish as either all members involved are either a super legate already, or it’s a private passion project that I don’t want to delegate 100% ownership to. All of this while still leaving room for Eyes & Ears to expand and grow as the game proceeds into the future.
 
This does not make me a happy person having to abandon my projects as NQ is now taking an aggressive posture and telling me to either give them money, which I already did and you can see it in the sidebar, or have faith and trust in someone else.
 
It’s difficult to have faith though, Lord JC is gone, and I refuse to part with more money than I already have for a company that I’m losing faith in, if it’s not completely lost already. I've been with NovaQuark through some silly thicc highs, and some nearly 'I quit' lows. While this is just another one of those lows, it's different because this isn't just a mechanic I can work around as I have in the past. All it will take is one more push, you’ll know it when it happens, you can find me in the StarBase discord as of yesterday.
 
I'll end this by saying that Eyes & Ears is under no threat of disbanding, and will otherwise continue onwards unaffected by this change.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone! I'll be back with your regular announcements on July 1st.
- DarkHorizon

I'm sure you recognize this little guy.
 
This is a TLDR version of two announcements I made to the members of Eyes & Ears over the past 48 hours that I am making publicly, check our thread in the novark registry for the full details.
 
I’m abandoning a post-launch community tribute project and likely to abandon a currently running consolidated advertising project since these new changes will simply make it impossible to accomplish as either all members involved are either a super legate already, or it’s a private passion project that I don’t want to delegate 100% ownership to. All of this while still leaving room for Eyes & Ears to expand and grow as the game proceeds into the future.
 
This does not make me a happy person having to abandon my projects as NQ is now taking an aggressive posture and telling me to either give them money, which I already did and you can see it in the sidebar, or have faith and trust in someone else.
 
It’s difficult to have faith though, Lord JC is gone, and I refuse to part with more money than I already have for a company that I’m losing faith in, if it’s not completely lost already. I've been with NovaQuark through some silly thicc highs, and some nearly 'I quit' lows. While this is just another one of those lows, it's different because this isn't just a mechanic I can work around as I have in the past. All it will take is one more push, you’ll know it when it happens, you can find me in the StarBase discord as of yesterday.
 
I'll end this by saying that Eyes & Ears is under no threat of disbanding, and will otherwise continue onwards unaffected by this change.

I'm sure you recognize this little guy.
 
This is a TLDR version of two announcements I made to the members of Eyes & Ears over the past 48 hours that I am making publicly, check our thread in the novark registry for the full details.
 
I’m abandoning a post-launch community tribute project and likely to abandon a currently running consolidated advertising project since these new changes will simply make it impossible to accomplish as either all members involved are either a super legate already, or it’s a private passion project that I don’t want to delegate 100% ownership to. All of this while still leaving room for Eyes & Ears to expand and grow as the game proceeds into the future.
 
This does not make me a happy person having to abandon my projects as NQ is now taking an aggressive posture and telling me to either give them money, which I already did and you can see it in the sidebar, or have faith and trust in someone else.
 
It’s difficult to have faith though, Lord JC is gone, and I refuse to part with more money than I already have for a company that I’m losing faith in, if it’s not completely lost already. I've been with NovaQuark through some silly thicc highs, and some nearly 'I quit' lows. While this is just another one of those lows, it's different because this isn't just a mechanic I can work around as I have in the past. All it will take is one more push, you’ll know it when it happens, you can find me in the StarBase discord as of yesterday.
 
I'll end this by saying that Eyes & Ears is under no threat of disbanding, and will otherwise continue onwards unaffected by this change.

Imagine having a lifetime sub and you have to pay for an alt because you want a community org.

Monthly Update - June 1st, 2021
 
Two rescues were made over the last four weeks, 91 for Beta 1 and 229 overall!
 
-----
 
Aside from some recent side work I’ve picked up as a financial benefactor of Securion, nothing much of real merit aside from the second rescue that happened since the last update.
 
Rescue 229 consisted of a new player by the name of Diresheep, some 50 SU away from Feli and in need of some fuel. After some back and forth, I coordinated efforts with Securion who provided a secure escort aboard their vessel. Normally I would have flown my own construct alongside theirs, but some staffing issues left the gunboat understaffed.
 
Willing to ride along, I assumed position watching the scopes for any ships that appeared on our 50 SU journey after warping from Alioth to Feli, of which there were thankfully none.
 
With the recipient being only a few hours old, they were covered by the New Player Protection Program even though the warp alone would have run their bill way beyond the program’s limits for people that usually get stuck either on Alioth or its sanctuary moon.
 
All things considered, our first official rescue in the PVP zone, while uneventful and with a few speedbumps that need ironing out, was largely a success.
 
This aside, I’m still finding myself largely uninterested in Dual Universe and only giving it a cursory glance every now and then. The patchnotes provide bursts of excitement, but the high quickly wears off. My Halo fanfiction writing is progressing, finally done outlining, the first rough draft of chapter one is a quick 5k read, all in all I think the story will be a quick 30k after-work read. I suppose digging into Halo is where all my fun has gone. Hmm…
 
Tidbits:
Have I heard bits and pieces of info from around DU or is something brewing in Eyes & Ears ripe for teasing? I’ll post it here in my ‘Tidbits’ section. I hope readers find it a curious bit of information to wrap up these posts. If you’ve heard something you want shared, let me know!
 
With everything quiet in Eyes & Ears, the DU discord server being mostly ho-hum, and the DU Meme server… well… being a meme server, I almost didn’t have a tidbits section because there was nothing on my radar! Having pulled back from bi-weekly to monthly updates, it would have left me a touch worried if there was no content for this section that occurred in the past month that was worth my commenting on, so I pulled something out of a hat:
 
Every now and again after I’ve made my moderator round in the official discord, I sometimes come across a small group of very unhappy people.
 
Now, I obviously won’t put NovaQuark up on a pedestal as I have my own share of misgivings with them, perhaps one of the most prominent that I’d be known for is my stance on their idea of a so-called ‘soft launch’ and the morphing of Beta from a true testing phase into what amounts to in many eyes, early access. For anyone that’s been testing the game and knows what’s going on and how things just don’t seem to be picking up in a positive direction, well I think back to the movie Monsters Inc and the garbage compactor. You don’t want to look, but can’t help but peek.
 
 
 
Now, do I think we’re crashing and burning, no, not at the present at least. Was I taken aback when news reached me through community sleuths that JC stepped down and not an official announcement, you bet. While I can look beyond changes in management as stuff like this does happen in the business world and not see it as doomsday, what does get me in a twist is when I hear from people saying just that, the end is nigh, or at least that is the impression I get.
 
No one wants to see NovaQuark go under. I don’t want to see Star Base fail, nor Star Citizen, heck, I’m even happy that No Mans Sky is still kicking no matter how vivid the video of two people meeting in-game but not seeing each other remains in my mind. Choice is good, and so is the spirit of competition. Its a part of why capitalism is so kick ass, minimal government interference, may the best man win. Not everyone will win, there will be losers, that’s just the cost of doing business.
 
There are those, however, that seem to want the game to fail. Were these people wronged in some way? Did things not turn out how they expected? Is development taking too long for their liking?
 
I don’t know what their reasons are for not liking the present state of things and I bet there are plenty of reasons to boot. I’m not sure if their active displeasure is because they genuinely do want to see the game fail, or if they still honestly care. You know you’ve really done it when people stop complaining and don’t give a rip anymore. No, this isn't @blazemonger I'm talking about, we're beyond that, and I think that's saying something.
 
Perhaps its this negativity that is what’s brought down my mood these past few months. If you really don’t like the game anymore, no one is forcing you to stay so why are you still hanging around the community? Remember all the people who said back in 2016 that they'd leave the country if a certain person became president? Some did, but they were well off, the rest were just empty threats and complaining about a looming end time sparking a mass exodus that never came.
 
Does misery like company?
 
My tidbits section has made up the main body of this work, imagine that, and summer has only just begun.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon
 

Monthly Update - June 1st, 2021
 
Two rescues were made over the last four weeks, 91 for Beta 1 and 229 overall!
 
-----
 
Aside from some recent side work I’ve picked up as a financial benefactor of Securion, nothing much of real merit aside from the second rescue that happened since the last update.
 
Rescue 229 consisted of a new player by the name of Diresheep, some 50 SU away from Feli and in need of some fuel. After some back and forth, I coordinated efforts with Securion who provided a secure escort aboard their vessel. Normally I would have flown my own construct alongside theirs, but some staffing issues left the gunboat understaffed.
 
Willing to ride along, I assumed position watching the scopes for any ships that appeared on our 50 SU journey after warping from Alioth to Feli, of which there were thankfully none.
 
With the recipient being only a few hours old, they were covered by the New Player Protection Program even though the warp alone would have run their bill way beyond the program’s limits for people that usually get stuck either on Alioth or its sanctuary moon.
 
All things considered, our first official rescue in the PVP zone, while uneventful and with a few speedbumps that need ironing out, was largely a success.
 
This aside, I’m still finding myself largely uninterested in Dual Universe and only giving it a cursory glance every now and then. The patchnotes provide bursts of excitement, but the high quickly wears off. My Halo fanfiction writing is progressing, finally done outlining, the first rough draft of chapter one is a quick 5k read, all in all I think the story will be a quick 30k after-work read. I suppose digging into Halo is where all my fun has gone. Hmm…
 
Tidbits:
Have I heard bits and pieces of info from around DU or is something brewing in Eyes & Ears ripe for teasing? I’ll post it here in my ‘Tidbits’ section. I hope readers find it a curious bit of information to wrap up these posts. If you’ve heard something you want shared, let me know!
 
With everything quiet in Eyes & Ears, the DU discord server being mostly ho-hum, and the DU Meme server… well… being a meme server, I almost didn’t have a tidbits section because there was nothing on my radar! Having pulled back from bi-weekly to monthly updates, it would have left me a touch worried if there was no content for this section that occurred in the past month that was worth my commenting on, so I pulled something out of a hat:
 
Every now and again after I’ve made my moderator round in the official discord, I sometimes come across a small group of very unhappy people.
 
Now, I obviously won’t put NovaQuark up on a pedestal as I have my own share of misgivings with them, perhaps one of the most prominent that I’d be known for is my stance on their idea of a so-called ‘soft launch’ and the morphing of Beta from a true testing phase into what amounts to in many eyes, early access. For anyone that’s been testing the game and knows what’s going on and how things just don’t seem to be picking up in a positive direction, well I think back to the movie Monsters Inc and the garbage compactor. You don’t want to look, but can’t help but peek.
 
 
 
Now, do I think we’re crashing and burning, no, not at the present at least. Was I taken aback when news reached me through community sleuths that JC stepped down and not an official announcement, you bet. While I can look beyond changes in management as stuff like this does happen in the business world and not see it as doomsday, what does get me in a twist is when I hear from people saying just that, the end is nigh, or at least that is the impression I get.
 
No one wants to see NovaQuark go under. I don’t want to see Star Base fail, nor Star Citizen, heck, I’m even happy that No Mans Sky is still kicking no matter how vivid the video of two people meeting in-game but not seeing each other remains in my mind. Choice is good, and so is the spirit of competition. Its a part of why capitalism is so kick ass, minimal government interference, may the best man win. Not everyone will win, there will be losers, that’s just the cost of doing business.
 
There are those, however, that seem to want the game to fail. Were these people wronged in some way? Did things not turn out how they expected? Is development taking too long for their liking?
 
I don’t know what their reasons are for not liking the present state of things and I bet there are plenty of reasons to boot. I’m not sure if their active displeasure is because they genuinely do want to see the game fail, or if they still honestly care. You know you’ve really done it when people stop complaining and don’t give a rip anymore. No, this isn't @blazemonger I'm talking about, we're beyond that, and I think that's saying something.
 
Perhaps its this negativity that is what’s brought down my mood these past few months. If you really don’t like the game anymore, no one is forcing you to stay so why are you still hanging around the community? Remember all the people who said back in 2016 that they'd leave the country if a certain person became president? Some did, but they were well off, the rest were just empty threats and complaining about a looming end time sparking a mass exodus that never came.
 
Does misery like company?
 
My tidbits section has made up the main body of this work, imagine that, and summer has only just begun.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon
 

Monthly Update - May 1st, 2021
 
Two rescues were made over the last four weeks, 89 for Beta 1 and 227 overall!
 
-----
 
Very little has happened over the past month, emphasizing how complete the burnout is in myself, the organization, and from my impressions, the game overall. Things are still happening and plans are still being made, but the silence is absolutely deafening.
 
To fill the void left by DU, I’ve taken to writing fanfiction and making some forrays into the Halo franchise. I’ve seen videos and its stirred memories of my early teens. On my old Xbox 360 there was a Halo 3 ad that was factory installed, this was from the time when I didn’t have the internet at the home. Things were so easier a decade ago, don’t you remember?
 
-----
 
HQ Work:
Most of the roofing is done with only a small hole that needs filling. I’ve been doing some mining and refining but its been tepid and slow. Sometimes I look around and visualize what I want things to look like in the future, where constructs will be parked, how elements will be placed, ‘paint’ on the floors.
 
The sun is getting higher in Madis so I’ll be placing windows ‘soon’ and seeing how things look. I don’t want to say that I regret my choice in Tortuga, but I’m really wishing that we’d built upon one of Alioths moons like I was initially sold on. If there’s a wipe in the future as NQ recently made a hot topic about, I hope the move is made.
 
-----
 
Tidbits:
Have I heard bits and pieces of info from around DU or is something brewing in Eyes & Ears ripe for teasing? I’ll post it here in my ‘Tidbits’ section. I hope readers find it a curious bit of information to wrap up these posts. If you’ve heard something you want shared, let me know!
 
Is a wipe on launch really in the cards or is NQ just stirring the pot? The further we progress into beta, the more I seem to want one. With everything that’s happened since then regarding bugs, exploits, everything that is ‘unintended gameplay’ and the likes that NQ should have corrected, it rubs me the wrong way and sets a bad precedent.
 
At a minimum, magic blueprints for all deployed constructs should be in players’ inventories afterward alongside retaining talents, talent points, and queues. Retaining quanta as well as container and nanopack inventories might be a massive stretch due to ill-gotten gains but it would be appreciated from the perspective of myself who never took advantage of unintended play.
 
Many suggest it would be a way to help boost the launch population by pulling in new players who didn’t buy for the purposes of testing an incomplete game or don’t want to be left behind, as well as allowing old players who may have stepped aside a chance at a fresh start.
 
I’m optimistic as always but tempered in my expectations.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon
 

Dear Noveans, 
 
We’d like to take a moment to talk about the communication on the forums and in Discord. We appreciate the passion each of you bring to our community and don’t want to diminish it; however, we’ve seen an increase in negativity, specifically attacks, unconstructive complaints, and disrespect to fellow players and our team. This is not okay. 
 
We’ve always invited community members to speak their minds. We’d like to remind everyone that we require a certain level of decorum and respect. Participants in our community areas (forums, Discord, and our social media accounts) are expected to voice criticism and concern constructively and communicate with courtesy and respect.
 
This is a warning that we won’t tolerate attacks on staff, volunteers, or members of this community. If you can’t play nice, and with respect, then this isn’t the community for you. 
 
With love,
SpaceMom
 

Monthly Update - May 1st, 2021
 
Two rescues were made over the last four weeks, 89 for Beta 1 and 227 overall!
 
-----
 
Very little has happened over the past month, emphasizing how complete the burnout is in myself, the organization, and from my impressions, the game overall. Things are still happening and plans are still being made, but the silence is absolutely deafening.
 
To fill the void left by DU, I’ve taken to writing fanfiction and making some forrays into the Halo franchise. I’ve seen videos and its stirred memories of my early teens. On my old Xbox 360 there was a Halo 3 ad that was factory installed, this was from the time when I didn’t have the internet at the home. Things were so easier a decade ago, don’t you remember?
 
-----
 
HQ Work:
Most of the roofing is done with only a small hole that needs filling. I’ve been doing some mining and refining but its been tepid and slow. Sometimes I look around and visualize what I want things to look like in the future, where constructs will be parked, how elements will be placed, ‘paint’ on the floors.
 
The sun is getting higher in Madis so I’ll be placing windows ‘soon’ and seeing how things look. I don’t want to say that I regret my choice in Tortuga, but I’m really wishing that we’d built upon one of Alioths moons like I was initially sold on. If there’s a wipe in the future as NQ recently made a hot topic about, I hope the move is made.
 
-----
 
Tidbits:
Have I heard bits and pieces of info from around DU or is something brewing in Eyes & Ears ripe for teasing? I’ll post it here in my ‘Tidbits’ section. I hope readers find it a curious bit of information to wrap up these posts. If you’ve heard something you want shared, let me know!
 
Is a wipe on launch really in the cards or is NQ just stirring the pot? The further we progress into beta, the more I seem to want one. With everything that’s happened since then regarding bugs, exploits, everything that is ‘unintended gameplay’ and the likes that NQ should have corrected, it rubs me the wrong way and sets a bad precedent.
 
At a minimum, magic blueprints for all deployed constructs should be in players’ inventories afterward alongside retaining talents, talent points, and queues. Retaining quanta as well as container and nanopack inventories might be a massive stretch due to ill-gotten gains but it would be appreciated from the perspective of myself who never took advantage of unintended play.
 
Many suggest it would be a way to help boost the launch population by pulling in new players who didn’t buy for the purposes of testing an incomplete game or don’t want to be left behind, as well as allowing old players who may have stepped aside a chance at a fresh start.
 
I’m optimistic as always but tempered in my expectations.
 
-----
 
That's all for now, until next time, take care and fly safe everyone!
- DarkHorizon
 

Space can be lonely, and, if some adages are to be believed, no one can hear you scream out there. You may want to bring along some friends, maybe not so much for the screaming but for sharing fuel and good times. That’s where docking and boarding comes in. 
 
Previously referred to with the blanket term “parenting”, breaking them off as boarding and docking clarifies what they are and what they do. Just as the name implies, boarding allows passengers to come aboard your ship. Docking makes it possible to have ships connected to other ships, even when both are moving. This boarding/docking relationship basically has the same functionality and behaviour as before but with the added benefit of rights management.
 
In its original design, boarding or docking a construct was not consensual. Neither the player who owned the construct being boarded/docked nor the player whose construct was being attached to another could decline. They may not have even been aware it had happened in some cases, it simply occurred due to their proximity. 
 
This was a problem for a few reasons, most notably that it opened the door for bugs and exploits. In addition to negating those, revisiting the feature also gives us the opportunity to make it more intuitive and purposeful. 
 
ASSIGNING RIGHTS
Owners can use the Rights & Duties Management System (RDMS) to assign Right to Board or Right to Dock to their constructs that will let others board or dock, or to forbid such requests. 
 
Dynamic constructs have the ability to move, as opposed to static constructs - like buildings - that are immobile. With the necessary rights, avatars will be able to board dynamic constructs, and smaller dynamic constructs (let’s call them shuttles) will be able to dock with bigger ones (aka carriers). When boarded or docked, the player or the shuttle moves with the carrier, and their mass is added to the carrier’s physics. 
 
A player or a shuttle will need to be near the carrier in order to board or dock, it can’t be done from a distance. The distance is commiserate with the size of the target vessel, the minimum distance being 32m and 128m being the maximum. 
 
BOARDING
Players are able to board any inactive dynamic construct. This makes it possible for them to tour constructs on display in a marketplace or the like. The construct will go into the “active” state when the owner or someone else with piloting rights jumps into the driver’s seat, and unauthorized passengers will be automatically ejected.
 
If a player enters a dynamic construct with the proper rights or when the construct is inactive, they will become boarded and can move freely around the construct. 
 
The UI display may look something like this: 

This is a sample of the UI that is still in progress 
 
If the construct is active and the player attempting to board does not have the necessary right to board, they will be repulsed. The effect is similar to hitting an impassable barrier with no damage taken. The UI display may look something like this:

 
DOCKING
Once shuttle pilots with the necessary rights are within range, they can manually dock to a carrier. This is done through a contextual menu that is accessed via right-click. The shuttle will then be invisibly tethered to the exterior of the carrier. 

 
Without that clearance, the shuttle will be repulsed.

 
Authorized shuttle pilots will receive an opt-in confirmation to signal when they are within docking range. 

 
The “Docking” widget in the piloting UI informs the pilot of the shuttle when they are in docking range through this small open chain link icon.
 

This is a sample of the UI report to show a shuttle’s docking status.
 
PARENTING ADVICE
The owner of the carrier is considered the parent, and those who are granted boarding or docking rights are children.   
Just as real-world moms and dads, construct owners can give their “kids” the old heave-ho when it’s time for them to leave the nest and fly solo. This is done in a Build Helper’s submenu where all boarded players and docked shuttles are listed.
 

 
Buh-bye! Boarded avatars can be ejected at any time directly through the carrier’s Build Helper interface. 
 
This results in ejected players suddenly finding themselves adrift, possibly in deep space. Here, they have two options. Jetpack to a safe place. Depending on the distance, this could take quite a while; however, it’s safe (they can’t be attacked) and they will arrive with the inventory in their nanopack. The second option, suicide, will get them on terra firma faster, but they will lose whatever they were carrying. Probably a good idea to stay on the good side of the carrier captain to avoid being in this predicament. 
 

 
With a few simple clicks, the carrier pilot can easily de-dock shuttles, too. 
 

 
TAKE IT FOR A SPIN
These changes will be featured in an upcoming release on the public test server (PTS). We highly encourage our community to explore it when it’s available, then let us know what you think about the ease of use and convenience. Until then, feel free to join the discussion on our forums.
 

THE FUTURE OF DU
We’ve seen a lot of positive feedback following the release of our devblog series on the future of DU. We’re  thankful to our community for the great feedback and encouragement. We’ve collected what seem to be the most burning questions following the publication of the blogs and wanted to do a follow-up to address them the best we can. Not all questions have an answer at this point, and we’ll try to fill in the gaps as we’re able in future communications. 
 
Are you going to launch the game in 2021? 
Realistically speaking, we have too much to do with the time that’s left  this year to get to a state where we feel the game is ready for launch. Our current plan is “at some point in 2022”, and we’re targeting mid-year. That projection is tentative, depending largely on our progress and  the feedback we get from our community, so please don’t hold this as a commitment. It could be sooner, it could be a bit later. The state of the game will dictate the date.
 
Why is the game not working on Shadow (cloud gaming platform) and do you plan to support it?
We believe cloud gaming platforms are a great way to enjoy DU if you want to play the game but don’t meet the proper PC specs or want to benefit from the latest hardware improvements without investing in upgrades for your gaming rig; however, we need to clarify that we are not yet officially supporting cloud gaming platforms, including Shadow. Our releases are not tested on these platforms or Windows emulations on Mac and Linux, and we can’t guarantee compatibility at this point. The game is still in beta, and we are focusing our efforts on native Windows PC support.
 
We plan to officially support these platforms at some point, and would like to ensure that when we do we are able to offer ongoing compatibility with adequate testing and collaboration with the platform holders to make a long-term commitment. 
 
We recently started working with a cloud gaming platform in an official manner, and we are hopeful to announce our official support of that platform soon. In the meantime, compatibility with cloud gaming platforms can’t be guaranteed. We log bugs and look at potential quick wins, but we can’t commit to a timeframe for fixing them. Please also note that there is a waiting list of one year to have access to one of the machines of Shadow, which makes debugging all the more difficult.
 
Will there be an updated roadmap?
At the moment, there is no plan to release an official roadmap with dates. We tried to explain why in the three devblogs. We’re changing many things in the way we develop DU, and it’s hard right now to have a clear idea of our future velocity. We don’t want to give you dates that we might not hold. We think it’s more important to have the freedom to adapt to your feedback rather than trying to hit the dates on a public roadmap. We hope you will see this as a sign that things are changing for the better and that we’re being more realistic in our approach.
 
Why don’t we have more frequent releases?
Dual Universe is an extremely complex game to develop. Many of the systems we have already in place are interdependent, and changing or adding a feature has ripple effects on other features and systems both in terms of code and in terms of feature design. For example, RDMS has to be carefully considered in many things we do, as does  the role of organizations in the introduction of new features, etc. Most of the tech we use is custom and not off-the-shelf. It’s one of the secret sauces of the game, and it also makes features much more difficult to work on because we develop the tech AND the features at the same time.
 
Now, with the introduction of the PTS, we hope to make more frequent releases, including releases of prototypes, such as the Lua technology for screen units. How frequently will depend on what goes in these releases and how much work needs to be done after we receive feedback from the PTS. We estimate that you can expect three to four additional major releases in 2021, and smaller releases in-between, but that’s only a ballpark estimate for now.
 
What’s going on with long-standing beta bugs? Are you going to fix them?
Yes we will fix them as quickly as possible although we aren’t able to pinpoint an exact date. Some bugs are easier to squash than others, and some even require a rework of an entire complete backend system to resolve. These processes need to be scheduled accordingly, also taking into account that we want to avoid reworking the same thing multiple times if we suspect that the development of an upcoming feature will force us to rework the same system again. The more critical the bug, the higher the priority. When we’re focused on fixing bugs,  that means we’re not working on the plan we presented to you, so it’s a balancing act. We wish we could give you a list of bugs and a timeframe for each one, but that would be highly unrealistic. These bugs are not being forgotten, that’s the best we can tell you right now.
 
Can we expect a more frequent communication from Novaquark?
We’d love to, just understand that the frequency of our communications really depends on the cadence of the game releases. The way it works is that as soon as the content of a new release is established (at least a content draft), we sit down and make a plan for how and when we’re going to talk about these features/this content. Often we have to wait until a feature is stable enough in terms of game design and/or coding to be able to talk about it or show it, as a feature can evolve a lot along the development process and the unfolding of our sprints. We simply want to ensure that the information we give you isn't misleading, as early communication means the end result may differ significantly once development is complete and the feature is released.
So between releases, there is indeed a communication gap. 
 
There are different general topics we could discuss between releases, but they wouldn’t really bring anything concrete to the table and that communication could be seen as shallow and vague. It’s actually an interesting topic we’d like to explore with you: what is it exactly that you expect in terms of communication? How can we balance having meaningful content to present with what seems to be the need of our players to see ongoing communication? Based on reactions we’ve seen in the past, we  believe that communicating simply for the sake of it when we have nothing really new to talk about is never well-received.
 
What about PvE? Are you planning to add PvE features to make the game more varied?
Our current focus is on enabling emergent content between players. PvE is not one of our priorities at the moment. This doesn’t mean that it won’t ever come to the game, but it is not going to be added before the official release of the game. That said, one could potentially consider the challenges that we’re currently working on as some form of PvE, though not in the sense that you’ll be shooting NPCs or wildlife.
 
Will we see a return of NQ employee Interviews and AMAs?
We would love to do things like livestreams and AMAs again when the time is right. We feel like these formats are better suited when there is a clearly defined topic to focus the discussion, such as a major release for instance. It is duly noted that these interactions with the community are appreciated, and we will include them whenever possible.
 
You mentioned the changes in the industry gameplay, but it wasn’t clear if schematics will stay or go?
The honest answer is that we don’t know yet. When we introduced schematics, it was a major disturbance in the forc… in the economy of the game.  We don’t want to rush into more changes after that, especially given that players invested a lot of hard-earned quanta in buying them. Removing schematics is ONE of the options we’re looking at, as well as changing their prices or adding more recipes. Reverting to the way it was before the introduction of schematics is also on the table. We know we want to do something with the current state of the industry to add back some of the fun that was taken away with 0.23, but how exactly we’ll do it is yet to be decided.  
 
Is there going to be a wipe?
We see that the debate on the topic has been pretty hot in the community for a while, and it’s about the same at Novaquark. We’re uncertain if the changes we are planning to introduce will require a wipe or not, and we’ve started (intense) internal discussions on the topic. Our priority is to try to preserve the time and effort that our players have put in the game since the beta started. Once we’ve got a better idea of how much the changes we discussed in the third  “Future of DU” devblog will impact the game’s economy, we’ll make a decision. If there is a wipe (and it’s a big IF), it may be a partial one only affecting certain aspects of the universe. Our  priority will be to mitigate the impact for long-time players.

Join us in our feedback thread here!
 

No support in game. No support on weekends. Dev blogs about jetpack toggle button that would only be a footnote in ANY other game. High turnover rate at NQ. And last but definitely not least, literally MONTHS where you can log in without paying the sub, and NQ radio silent on it. I'm rarely a doomsday sayer but jesus fucking christ it couldn't look any worse if they tried.

Not to drag this off topic but I think this is what a lot of us, especially kickstarters have started to loose sight of.
 
When I plonked my fifteen freedom bucks down it was like a convergence of everything I wanted that I didn't know I wanted to begin with. Now, years later, I see all these other games that have picked up steam and powered on by while DU seems stuck in dev hell. Sure things are coming out, but I don't feel the same excitement as I did in early pre-alpha. Now we're in that one phase where an update didn't come out for a couple months then before we knew it A1 had arrived and things were rolling.
 
Maybe that's why beta isn't proving nearly as exciting as I thought it'd be. Probably all the bug fixing that's going on, I wonder how much better things are than when beta started. Maybe that's why the end of PA was so long. Stuff like this takes time and while it seems like we're going nowhere, we're only players seeing the surface of what's happening.
 
For now, color me skeptically optimistic.