Ravenskysong

excuse me but did they just casually say they will change how hq tiles work and they won't protect our builds forever at like 2:40. like the hq tiles are the ONLY reason territory taxes are ok. I can stop playing for a month or two without stressing out about loosing progress
 
I have been playing since alpha. Even though I can store tax money for weeks at a time it doesn't change the fact that before my vacations or times I am too busy to play I literally panic. I HAVE to log in and check I have enough money, and that's not fun. Having my tiles as HQ tiles is the cure to that. I can have my creative build on hq tiles and industry on taxed tiles. but if they are going to one day make it so that HQ tiles are eventually up for grabs it is a deal breaker. not just for me as a player. but to know that other creators can make a city or a cool puzzle on a tile and leave and that history will slowly dissolve. It would make the game feel like creative endeavors are hopeless and have no chance to be timeless. people might fight to claim the tiles before they are griefed or stripped but I don't think the games goal is to be 2b2t minecraft in space with people litterally fighting to preserve its history from grifers and the games mechanics. 
 
also I wanted to say I like the current ore spawning from calibrating, like the ore seems to spawn closer to the mining unit and it is very satisfying to harvest a large pile in one go, I'm into it
 
the only other thing I want to say is the sooner we get in depth date/time and exact specifications for how the final wipe will behave the better. we have all expressed that we want things like keeping our talent points but at the end of the day I just want to know exactly how and when, even if it means the wipe choice is one that makes us mad or screws over alpha and beta players at least we can prepare. there should probably be info/updates in every podcast at the end as well letting people be reminded of how the wipe will go and how to prepare 
 
we also like info on what the developers are working on and what they are excited about/looking forward to doing in their own words
 

Well an HQ tile is something personal for that player/account. It makes sense that this HQ status would be lost if the player is no longer a subscriber. We have seen through the beta that some people will only keep their attention on the game for a short while, but their mark on the landscape lasting forever is quite the nuisance. 
 
That being said, there are some really awesome player creations that I would not like to see lost if the original owner leaves. Perhaps we could one day get landmark feature, where a player or org contribution to the game is able to be preserved long-term, because it adds significant value to the game world (something that could be applied before the territory expires and it is first come as far as who gets control over it).

Yes, the more I think about it...the more I believe that DU's lack of customization fits perfectly with the new lore of the game. Your job is not to explore. It is not to build civilization. It is not to build orgs. 
 
Your job is to monitor machines, pay taxes, and serve Aphelia. Did humanity really survive the neutron star? Or are we now little more than meat puppets working for the benefit of an omnipotent AI...? 🤷‍♂️

thank you for headquarter tiles, that removes most of my worries.
 
my only suggestion is to allow a high talent point needed skill that lets us store more money in the territory wallet. that way if you have subscribed and played for a long time you can also leave the game for longer if something happens. like oh this talent takes 6 months, but gets me x amount of extra months of wallet stashing
beucase the money is still leaving the economy 
 
also please make sure that people / guests can contribute to the tax directly. so organization members can interact with the territory and help pay taxes
with a log
or an ability to script a log
maybe one day be able to script taxes paid x amount can be a trigger for lua/dispensers/ signs etc
 
you know?
so like you could have a message board showing like Territory taxes: unit 1 13 mill full unit 2 11 mill full unit 3 etc
and then people could vr over to those units and top them up for their org

I agree on all points! Logging in often should be an advantage for players, not logging in often should not be a punishment for players. 
The taxes need to be low enough to not punish players for which game loop they have picked.
 
taxes should be part quanta sink, part restoring hexes of players that have been gone for very long amounts of time. if you leave for 8-12 months it makes sense to loose tiles. and it could make the sanctuary moon more viable, beucase people can move things there and not worry about loosing that tile if they are gone too long 
 
there is inflation in dual universe, for instance a piece or ore might be 50 instead of 5. but its only one extra zero right now
but if they arent careful they will hit deflation even harder than new world did 

IF I have to go mine an asteroid to work on my base and ships.. fine
but if i am sitting around waiting for an autominer. or honestly
if at any point a player logs in
and is like..
i need to wait before i can do X
and so they log off
you've lost 

my nightmare is people having to grind up savings for many months before they can safely expand 
oh I better save X amount before I claim tiles or ill be stuck in the mining loop to support the tiles

but I do not mind the core concept of... x% of your tile's profits go into taxes
since some tiles will have more profit than others 
but it should probably start with a very low tax and increase with more tiles

right now making a lot of money doesnt hurt the game, it means you can make huge things and people can actually buy them 

oh I know I don't get any bonuses from people that subscribed BEFORE the program went live. 
 
not like.. recursively.
 
I mean like do i need to be paying a monthly subscription in order for my recruit a friend link to work with someone that doesnt pay for the game yet. since i have an alpha package I'm not subscribing to the game. and the info says 'active subscribers'

Image a huge asteroid belt running through the entire universe, slowly rotating so that freshly spawned asteroids starts at one end and finally despawn when leaving the universe at the other end. And then you angle the plane of this asteroid belt so that all asteroids first have to travel through PvP space before entering the safezone.
 
Voila. You now have a realistic meta where people get first pick at the good stuff by traveling to the PvP zones with hotter and hotter zones as you get closer to the initial spawn point of the asteroid belt in the universe (at the cost of a very long travel distances). And the asteroids that are not mined in the PVP zone are left as "scraps" for the safe zone miners with some hidden gems here and there that PvP miners have missed. And how much "scrap" that is left for the safe zone, is simply balanced by the total amount of asteroids spawned.

I agree on all points! Logging in often should be an advantage for players, not logging in often should not be a punishment for players. 
The taxes need to be low enough to not punish players for which game loop they have picked.
 
taxes should be part quanta sink, part restoring hexes of players that have been gone for very long amounts of time. if you leave for 8-12 months it makes sense to loose tiles. and it could make the sanctuary moon more viable, beucase people can move things there and not worry about loosing that tile if they are gone too long 
 
there is inflation in dual universe, for instance a piece or ore might be 50 instead of 5. but its only one extra zero right now
but if they arent careful they will hit deflation even harder than new world did 

IF I have to go mine an asteroid to work on my base and ships.. fine
but if i am sitting around waiting for an autominer. or honestly
if at any point a player logs in
and is like..
i need to wait before i can do X
and so they log off
you've lost 

my nightmare is people having to grind up savings for many months before they can safely expand 
oh I better save X amount before I claim tiles or ill be stuck in the mining loop to support the tiles

but I do not mind the core concept of... x% of your tile's profits go into taxes
since some tiles will have more profit than others 
but it should probably start with a very low tax and increase with more tiles

right now making a lot of money doesnt hurt the game, it means you can make huge things and people can actually buy them 

Been on PTS now for 15 hours testing while collecting my thoughts. A lot of these changes will force players to /work/ to keep what they own in game... right now with rough calculations it looks like about /half/ of the ore dug may have to go back to paying taxes on the tiles, and thus players will need to work... to keep their land... to keep working to keep their land.

I say work, because these new loops, for many- will turn it into active work/tedium to manage. Plus, potentially half of your ore income is spent on the hexes... now you'll need to take a cut for fuel to transport/logistics. After the end of it, you're left with very little to build/expand with. For new players, it will be muuuuch harder to solo while getting a foot-hold.

So I ask, is this a move to slow players down and reduce overall server costs? As it stands this a soft-wipe of sorts, as many with "fun" projects people work on a few hours a week may now be forced into grinding to keep it going- or loose it... and if players don't come back, as it stands... you loose a tile, as it is on PTS... you also loose all the static constructs owned on that tile. 

So is this a change to reduce quanta/inflation? if so than look at the source, missions-alt runners to curb it vs creating a huge sink via land. Is this change for... data inflation? as more ore enters the game, more constructs are made- and in live(more data due to tunnels on top of that)  so more ore = data costs.  And I dare say this is the real reason for these changes, otherwise NQ will let up on them as player outrage seams to be more so than 0.23, and it hasn't fully sunk in yet for most players what these changes even mean... and while this post covers some core issues, it does not cover the ninja-changes to ship elements/flight mechanics or other core complaints.
 
Give us more ore via auto-mining - more charges, more ore to pull from per hex and... some way to skip the lame mini game.. please? minimum efficiency of 25% vs 0? Nobody wants to login once/twice a day to hop around auto-mining fields to play a stupid mini game. Least while mining traditionally I can tune out and watch Netflix, with autominers- it requires just enough attention you cant let your mind easily wander... but not enough satisfaction to make it.... enjoyable. 2x more ore may not be enough, 3-4x may hit a sweet spot for most. More Roids - All safe zone roids get mined out within an hour of discovery already. fix discovery timer of 20 minutes/middle Colum! Likewise, PTS seemingly won't spawn in asteroids in time for us to check the new spawn rates.... This change will /encourage/ more people into PVP space. Lower the taxes for tiles. This is a game that people pay monthly for- not a second job. 
  So say we all.

BlindingBright
-MTI Superlegate, Lodestar Chancellor

I would be so excited for a rail system. the one in starmade lets me do everything from move my ship into the hangar, to move cargo containers, to moving turrets to making transport systems. I think I would enjoy that more than the scripting, because you can do all the behaviors with blocks like in minecraft redstone. It is a bit easier to learn and extrapolate. You have a few blocks that each do one thing, a rail, an end rail, a turn around rail, connect, release, a signal detector etc. 
 
in starmade weight slowed rails to a crawl if you didn't do it properly, would magnetic rails care about weight? since it is really hard to get magnets to touch would it ever be possibly for a magnetic rail system to be overweight? possibly have gear/tread based rails with friction as the entry point, and magnetic don't get slowed by weight rails as more end game?

considering how much trouble I've head with wheeled vehicles in scifi games I am in no hurry to have them in another game. 

Derelict ships will become even more fun if you are able to save text logs in items or in containers, giving you a ship log or similar. Or if this can be some integrated component of the ship systems like a black box.
 
Especially explorers will likely keep an in-game log others can read in case things go wrong or to have a shareable journey for others regardless of that. 
 
Of course you could also apply this to the other scenarios such as the remote faction wars and so on, on the ground. 

In games like EVE, you are bound to one day encounter an enemy, it takes 30 minutes or so to cross 4000 light years or so in the world.

DU's speeds are not EVE's speeds of 5 AU/s of course, so the "get there to fight" prospect ,does mean that further apart playerbases wlll eventually never meet. 10 years post launch Plaet Dodge will probably never come in contact with the MemeSwarm Conglamerate. Why? Cause it's tiresome to travel the vast nothingness of space and having to stop, cause fuel is also a factor in DU.

In general, I find it interesting that two communities in different parts of the server may encounter far different scenarios in the long run - something EVE has to implement PVE to achieve, while in DU, it's probably going to go down like in the real world. One part of the server in the "far far off systems" may be an Empire, and in another corner the palyers may - somehow - make a Republiic happen - notice, a Republic and a Democracy is not the same thing. This is no different than EVE's PVE carebear things like the Amarr Empire and the Gallente Republic, two very different ideologies in the Lore.

It's just in DU, an actual player will eventually go like "yeah, I am an Emperor now, I own 300 planets and have 20000 people under me and I have wars witth 30 different orgs I can take on easily". Good luck fighting inflated egos like that xD

Which I think is what terrifies people and they ask "how big can the universe go?".

Well, it's going to go BIG enough for you to hide, but also big enough for you to make it harder on yourself. After all, nobody is going to be an Uberman like in Empyrion. You will need to train up skills to make , I don't know, a HEATING unit for example, if yo uend up ina star system with no Goldilocks planet (that's earth-like planets).

So the proper answer would be "the further you go from the rest of the playerbase, the less the chance to encounter other people, but also, the less the chance of rescue coming if you die and got no power on your ship aka Fuel, you will respawn back on the Arkship... a long way's off of where you were". Which also means, another person in the future, will find a derelict ship, with no crew on board, long abandonded. Spoopy.
 
Which eventually ties back to the original arguement you made good sir.
 
Rome and the Han Dynasty in China co-existed at the same time period. They never met - and thank the Spaghetti Monster they didn't, I live in Greece,  the Chinese would have obliterated us with their ancient rockets :V. But in-between Rome and China, a variety of cities, cultures and wars errupted, than were minor footnotes in global history, but interesting to study nonetheless. Rome wass a Republic back then, China was a Dynastic Monarchy that is was of the mindset "Absolute Power". They would have viewed Rome at first like "oh, good, great allies" but once Rome got a wiff of them golden statues, Rome would go "BRING DEMOCRACY TO THEM! WITH ALL OF OUR LEGIONS! :V " .

It's like history's repeating itself, don't you think?
 
I personally will be looking for the day some giant organisation will have its own version of the Persians' side of the Battle of Marathon, or the victorious version of the same scenario on Operation Overlord (Normandy beach for any 11 year old who doesn't know what Operation Overlord was xD ).

"I know its infinite"
 
"How big can it get?"
 
I think you answered it yourself already
Realistically though people will only get so far over the years until theres no game anymore or no servers. But it has potential to be pretty god damn big.
I also hope to see some space nomads that decide to aim in one direction from Alioth and just keep moving further and further out for as many years as they can (only residing on planets and asteroids on the way in periods) just to challenge the thought

"
As part of the many steps this organisation has taken since its inception more than a year ago, we have finally narrowed our goals and vision to suit realism. Many of you are already aware of a few of the recent changes: the first of them was the rebranding from The Aether to the Heimera Trade Xchange. The name itself was not easy to come by, and the amount of stress the search for a single unique name can birth is not something a select few are willing to go through again...for the foreseeable future.
 
Secondly, the decision to join the Band of Outlaws (BOO) as a Special Interest Group (SIG) was more of a strategic decision than one made out of pure emotion. For a very long while, BOO has proven itself to be a stable and dynamic group. We have seen the recent changes in organisations, and drama - as always - has never been in short supply. Troublesome as they may be, we have known a substantial number of their members on an individual level - and they have proven themselves capable of quietly handling as much trouble as they loudly cause. In recent months, BOO has taken a more 'mature' turn even as they touch up their image as a gaming community, not mere pirates. We are immensely proud of our decision to join BOO and look towards a future of great gameplay, not only within the alliance but with the rest of Dual Universe. 
 
Thirdly, we have changed our logo. We are very fond of the hexagons, that for a long while, were synonymous with the Aether via artworks and lore, but we have found that it is not fitting with the new image and aligned goals of the organisation. The hexagons are expected to surface from time to time in artworks and future lore. We might no longer be Aether purely in name, but we are still Aether within. 
 
Certain members of the Dual Universe Community have expressed their concerns about the impact of our 'supposed' neutrality within an alliance like BOO. To be clear once and for all, 'neutrality' will do no one any good when their lands and houses are being ransacked by the enemy. We have seen Dual Universe mature with time and with that, the concept of neutrality without a big stick has become quite laughable. For us, we will operate by our means, and avoid trouble wherever we see it. At the same time, we will give our all to having a capable and true deterrent - with or without BOO. 
 
TRANCE will remain neutral, as long as we can keep it so. We have received various expressions of good gesture and support from various organisations, all of which we are thankful for. However, stargates are still a long way off from being a major concern for any organisation keeping its internal capability and strategic environment in view. While we continue to add a little bit here and there to our concept of the stargates, we are open to working with credible and mature organisations to make TRANCE what it what meant to be: a tool for the Community. 
 
Heimera Trade Xchange (HTX) is also on very friendly terms with ODY, and we hope to make an announcement by the weekend. 
 
 
Cheers, all.
"

Here it is... finally had a chance to get my hands on professional orchestral sound library ( and some spare time )and remade the main theme piece with it.
Sounds way better than synthesiser hope you enjoy it too.
 
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-wasilewski-4/homeless-march-of-giants-1
 
Will leave old versions for a while but ultimately will replace entire album with new flavour

this is the exact sort of thing I was hoping for, I will most likely be a customer. think of how much more the average novean can contribute if they don't all have to worry about going down the expert ship builder path. it would be amazing to have scheduled trips.

"Don't distress, call wayward express"
 
Have you lost your way?
 
Perhaps you simply overshot your destination, perhaps you flipped your fighter, or perhaps you got caught in cross fire of some battle - no matter. Whatever you reasons, we'll get you where you have to go.
 
Where do you fly?
 
We fly everywhere permitted, all public stations and cities, or as close as permitted, for a fee. We cater to your needs, and attempt to give everyone a cheap and affordable method of space travel should you be unable to purchase/build a ship, or simply lack the desire.
 
How do you handle politics and safety?
 
Wayward Express is intended to be a fully neutral transportation business and will not get involved in any conflicts. Since WE fully intends to provide indiscriminate services to everyone regardless of their ideology or political affiliation, there is little incentive attack WE. We will very obviously benefit all those locations we travel to, with bringing tourists and their money to your locations, pay taxes to cities and stations, and indiscriminate employment and travel options.
 
Its very easy to remove  such boons and benefits if and where need be
Are you hiring?
 
Wayward Express offers employment to everyone seeking to make extra income, regardless of their ideology or political affiliation. It matters not what org you're apart of, so long as you intend to follow our policies and not endanger any of our travelers.
 
What are your requirements?
 
For travelers:
Listen to all safety instructions. Pay your tickets prior to boarding. Find your seat, and do not disturb or otherwise interrupt the flight Do not attempt using our services as a way to ambush or attack travelers or other Noveans at destinations. (you will be blacklisted along with other possible consequences...)  
For pilots:
Know your destinations and how to get there safely. Get there in a timely fashion, reporting any problems to your superiors. Do not make any changes to your flight plan mid-flight, unless you are in immediate danger, this can greatly inconvenience other travelers. Return your WE shuttle at the end of your shift. (stealing WE shuttles will result in blacklisting and other consequences) For Gatekeepers:
Process payments and board travelers. Actively check blacklist. Report problems to superiors.  
Interesed in other services and employment opportunities?
 
Other employment opportunities such as security, construction/maintenance of shuttles, etc will be provided by FEC, and IAI.
 
Wayward Express is a joint venture by FEC, and IAI
 
TO APPLY- Wayward Express

I feel like every sandbox I have played has found, or tried to find a different balance. I think dual universe's territory system, organizations and safe zone balanced against pvp is going to work out really well for me, 
 
When I first started playing in sandboxes I would have my fort and all my saved up materials and I would focus on building something neat. I was destroyed, over and over in multiple games. I tried being nice, I tried putting all my valuables in someplace they could just take and leave like a ransom. It didn't matter. The game existed for people to have fun, and for some people that fun was destruction. Not just being mean, but destroying months of hard work that I had to redo. 
 
It took me a long time to realize that my concept of fun does not mean another's concept of fun is wrong. I learned to hide secret stashes of everything I would need to start over, or find powerful friends in game to shelter under. If I wanted to build something awesome and be praised for it I needed people not just that were willing to protect what I made, but that were grateful I had built it. In prime conditions I was able to have my fun making my build, the other members worked with were able to enjoy having something to protect, and the other players had something they enjoyed trying to destroy. 
 
My days spent building something were not intrinsically more valuable than the days someone spent figuring out how to destroy it. 
 
I still would prefer to build in safezones when possible, and I will prefer not being bothered, but I've learned to be as least bitter as possible about destructive play styles xD 
Still get a bit bitter though xD 
Some players are not going to recover from having something they treasured destroyed and are either going to quit. The real winners of the game will  adapt, get smarter, join an organization, stay in the safezone or some combination.

I feel like every sandbox I have played has found, or tried to find a different balance. I think dual universe's territory system, organizations and safe zone balanced against pvp is going to work out really well for me, 
 
When I first started playing in sandboxes I would have my fort and all my saved up materials and I would focus on building something neat. I was destroyed, over and over in multiple games. I tried being nice, I tried putting all my valuables in someplace they could just take and leave like a ransom. It didn't matter. The game existed for people to have fun, and for some people that fun was destruction. Not just being mean, but destroying months of hard work that I had to redo. 
 
It took me a long time to realize that my concept of fun does not mean another's concept of fun is wrong. I learned to hide secret stashes of everything I would need to start over, or find powerful friends in game to shelter under. If I wanted to build something awesome and be praised for it I needed people not just that were willing to protect what I made, but that were grateful I had built it. In prime conditions I was able to have my fun making my build, the other members worked with were able to enjoy having something to protect, and the other players had something they enjoyed trying to destroy. 
 
My days spent building something were not intrinsically more valuable than the days someone spent figuring out how to destroy it. 
 
I still would prefer to build in safezones when possible, and I will prefer not being bothered, but I've learned to be as least bitter as possible about destructive play styles xD 
Still get a bit bitter though xD 
Some players are not going to recover from having something they treasured destroyed and are either going to quit. The real winners of the game will  adapt, get smarter, join an organization, stay in the safezone or some combination.

that would be really cool. like guild tabards in wow, have a set uniform that you buy and it switches to the guilds design. altho I feel like character customization is not going to be a huge deal in a game with no 3rd person. 

yamamushi
I, take it your not FAMILIAR with a Voxel base building game, check out Everquest Landmark video archive on youtube. EQ was the first true Voxel building game made.
here is the link to show just a Sample of what we built in EQ landmark in other words what your showing here is just the tip of the iceburg as far as what Can and Will be built in DU.
 

Greetings, Aether family. As we get closer to our chance to stake a claim in the universe for real I just wanted to say how excited I am. Outpost Zebra looks amazing. I am really looking forward to seeing what we can all create together. 

I would be so excited for a rail system. the one in starmade lets me do everything from move my ship into the hangar, to move cargo containers, to moving turrets to making transport systems. I think I would enjoy that more than the scripting, because you can do all the behaviors with blocks like in minecraft redstone. It is a bit easier to learn and extrapolate. You have a few blocks that each do one thing, a rail, an end rail, a turn around rail, connect, release, a signal detector etc. 
 
in starmade weight slowed rails to a crawl if you didn't do it properly, would magnetic rails care about weight? since it is really hard to get magnets to touch would it ever be possibly for a magnetic rail system to be overweight? possibly have gear/tread based rails with friction as the entry point, and magnetic don't get slowed by weight rails as more end game?

Greetings, Aether family. As we get closer to our chance to stake a claim in the universe for real I just wanted to say how excited I am. Outpost Zebra looks amazing. I am really looking forward to seeing what we can all create together.