ZenBones

Hello all! Like many of you, I've really enjoyed some of the older open-world, sandbox MMOs. I dove hard into UO while it was still in beta, which whet my appetite for that sort of thing. I loved SWG, even though I didn't pick it up until the Jump to Lightspeed expansion was available. I became a successful shipwright for some time, before SWG went down in flames. Such dark times.
 
I played Earth and Beyond for a while, and I very much enjoyed the style (artistic aesthetic, music, etc), but the game was so closed, and not open-ended or sandboxy at all. Around that time I also got into EVE's beta, and played for a short while into its launch, but at the time I just couldn't bring myself to mine for hours upon hours, only to get ships that could be destroyed in seconds, and my only alternative was farming rats (pirate ships) in high security space. I'm too much of a lone wolf to join a mining corp, to do more of the same. The game probably is a lot better now, but I've had no desire to go back, which is ironic considering how much I wanted a game like that.
 
I do tend to get sucked into games more, when I can creatively make things. That's one of the things that kept me coming back to Kerbal Space Program as well. I even went on to be a modder for that one.
 
I also jumped into No Man's Sky. I had a good time with it, but as everyone knows, the gameplay is very superficial.
 
If DU can pull it off, the crafting, exploration, and economic aspects of this game could be right up my alley. I don't do this often, but I decided to bet hard on this, and upgraded my pledge to Ruby. I got the last digital early bird for that, yesterday. Since that one includes DACs and is a lifetime subscription, I figure it will pay for itself in the long run.
 
So, hello everyone!

Hi there,   Just a quick clarification about the safe zones:   The safe zones (and not only the one from the start) will be all 100% safe. This is one of the things that are non negotiable and this is a necessity for obvious reasons.   1) As the resources won't regenerate over time and with the community growing over the years, the Safe Zone from the start will not answer to the criteria Novaquark has in mind for the people who don't want to join the PvP. For many months, the communication has been "there will be zoneS for those not interested in PvP activities".    2) To help players spreading accross the galaxy, having safe relay point will be necessary. Why? you'll find the reasons below.   3) NPC space stations are the equivalent of Safe Zones 100% safe in EvE Online. You have NPC space stations everywhere in New Eden: HighSec, LowSec and NullSec. That's not a coincidence. It's an implicit protection from griefing. Without these NPC Stations, this would make trade absolutely impossible for freelance or small corporations outside highsec market hubs like Jita. Only huge alliances and/or coalitions that would roam in areas like the NullSec would survive: why trade with freelancers and small corporations when they can't find any safe haven in the nearest solar systems? It would be easier, faster and more lucrative to crush them with raw firepower then take what they want. Counting on the fact that big coalitions would have a reasonable approach of the problem would just be utopia.   @CaptainTwerkMotor:    
Well then, I encourage you to read how war declaration mechanics work in EVE Online.
Wars start, last a few weeks or months and end, despite having safe zones everywhere.    
Please, do not make such statement when the source you are referring to was just possible ideas, not even firmly confirmed.
There will be soon more information giving the clear differences between Safe Zones, Protection Bubbles and Shields in another topic.
 
 
Again, make the difference between what you would like and what is planned.
It was never planned to have a post-apocalyptic wasteland once you leave the Arkship Safe Zone.
There will be vast areas for PvP conflicts, large-scale battles and territory control. But there will be also many safe zones in order to give some space to the players not interested in PvP. Regarding the possible abuse of using Safe Zones to gain a PvP advantage, we have some ideas to discourage this, to make Safe Zones unappealing for PvP strategies. This topic will be developed later as well.
 
If it's not clear enough, Dual Universe has never been announced as a 100% PvP-oriented game.
The Arkship safe zone isn't meant to be just a newbie zone.
 
Best regards,
Nyzaltar.

I know I plan on spending most of my time in a hanger building things. 

As planned, we can now reveal the 8,000k backers reward:
Each Kickstarter backer will receive the blueprint of a single-player hovercraft with a design unique and specific to the Kickstarter! (players will still have to gather the materials to build it)
We will give more info very soon.
Thanks again for your support!
The Novaquark Team
 
 
How friggin cool is that!
Just wanted to post it here because not everyone looks at the KS page 24/7.

The EvE plex system was never pay to win either, it allows people who did have money to buy plex for i state a higher value than the regular monthly rate and then place it onto the in game market for ISK. This allowed players that have the time to make the ISK but not the real world currency to pay, to have access to a 1 month extension on their account on use of said plex.
 
This is not pay to win! It is simply an alternative service to those who can not afford or do not want to have to pay a monthly subscription with real world currency. 

Welcome my lost Star Wars Galaxies friend.
 
Its been a long time.

Greetings all. Just discovered this project when someone posted the link to the KS page on another KS project I've backed and been following called Crowfall. Really looking forward to that game BUT my roots are in sci-fi based games and sandbox MMOs and been looking for a new place to call home so to speak since SWG went belly up. Kind of a big sci-fi nerd in general whether its video games, movies or TV shows.
 
Haven't pulled the trigger on backing yet, still getting info and getting a feel for the Dev but so far I like what I'm seeing and hearing. I'm really liking the old school sandbox vibe with the Devs own personal touches to it. Adding their own flavor to stuff and not just rehashing cliché ideas and tropes. To me its the little details and things that makes a game really stand out above others.
 
So yeah looking forward to learning more about this project and maybe even becoming a backer.

TL;DR Give enough depth that building excellent ships is hard, but building good enough ships is easy.
 
I'm here to advocate for a ship design system that is complex and deep enough that it requires a certain level of skill to get the most out of your designs. I don't know how the Dev team plans to work out ship statistics, so I'll lay off the specifics and focus on the general concept of what I think would make interesting gameplay.
 
Key Concept: Functionality should be easy, Excellence should be hard
 
It shouldn't be hard for your average player to figure out how to put together the necessary parts for a space ship or building. A couple basic components and you should be good to go (I know the Devs want it to be relatively hard to get into space at first. I absolutely support that, this is just a comment on the general complexity of building things, not the easy of acquiring resources). It should be easy to make something that flies, because a space game (which is how 90% of people will look at DU) is about flying a space ship. So building your first space ship should be relatively easy. But that first space ship you make by yourself should suck. Like really suck. It should be 1 step above barely functional, and achieving anything better than that should require a decent amount of knowledge and expertise.
 
Like with fitting ships in EVE Online, there should be a clear performance difference between the people who know what they're doing and the people who just throw on things that seem good. Then there should be another clear difference between the people who know the basics, and the real Fit-Masters. But with DU, there's also the possibility for complexity in the actual ship hulls, not just what you put in them. So when it comes to building ships, it should be complex enough that only real masters of the craft can design ships with the best speed, or most HP, or most damage, etc. Then those people should be able to sell those superior designs for more money on the market.
 
To use another EVE example, it never ceases to surprise me how many people don't know how to fit their ships properly, because the system is deep and complex enough that it takes a great deal of knowledge to fit the best possible ship. Most people are acceptable, many people are terrible; but after 7 years of playing I still see fits every now and then and say "wow... that guy has a really nice fit that I've never thought of".
 
Ship building in DU should be like that. Simple enough that anyone can get by, but deep enough that quality takes real skill. Then extend that complexity where possible to buildings and space stations, etc. But especially to space ships.
 
Thoughts?