Vyz Ejstu

"Everyone wants everything to be for free, until they start creating things they want others to buy. Ahh...Sweet capitalism is coming to Dual Universe."

"Building for destruction."

"Or greed. Cold, merciless greed. Revenge. Emotionless, thoughtless revenge. Mischief. Stupid, silly mischief. Empires will last long enough as the leader knows who to trust, who not to annoy, who's good at what and knows how to dance the macabre diplomatic ballet extremely well."

"It's a tough game, that's why only the strong survive. Many a bright politician have lost more than a career, or a life. Suffice it to say, being the leader of a popular or influential alliance is the same as running into target practice with bull's eye on your back. Run from it, is my best advice. Unfortunately, I don't follow my own advice too well at times..."

"Thanks a lot!"

"You have nothing to fear and everything to be excited about. Welcome to the Dual Universe, information abounds on the forums and off it. Feel free to ask any questions, a lot of us are eager to answer."

"Much more like Rest in Pieces. Poor, poor enemies of PorcoCorp..."

"I have posted the first story of a series about the origin and truth about the Aether. You can find it here. I'd appreciate ideas and your feedback. Thanks in advance."

“They told us it was impossible…They were right.” The scorching sun, the blistering desert wind, the screams and shouts of the desperate people behind us. The images immediately switched to outer space. I saw the earth, a small blue sphere, seemingly insignificant against the backdrop of the celestial realm in all its glory. The image stayed there for a second shorter than I would have liked it. Again, I was teleported into the chaos I just escaped. The people were being held off by armoured guards. Somewhere in my confused mind, I sensed a tinge of acquaintance with them all. The crowd seemed grimly desperate to get to where I was standing. “Hisashi, we need to leave, now!” A voice screamed in my ear. As the view turned, my eyes caught Kyle standing in the crowd. He was wearing the same uniform the others were wearing. Standing beside him were Nora and little Jeane. The three of them waved frantically at me, smiling and cheering me on. Somehow, I knew that they were all just trying to be brave: the sadness beneath their eyes was way too evident. But, my brother seemed happy, almost ecstatic at my departure. The door closed and darkness enveloped me. I woke up with a dreadful headache, enough of it to kill every living human three times over. My entire body was stiff and ached with a pain that drove me to the edge of utter madness. The place was cold, as if I took a walk on a winter evening without so much as cloth on my back. Somewhere in my foggy mind I remember being told to stay still and wait the pain out. While I waited for the pain to subside, I strained to get my thoughts together. The thoughts that came were ones I didn’t ever want to remember. I slept off, the tiredness overcoming the terror of pain. Kyle, Nora, Jeane, Sonke, Tzu, Peretti, Karl… A pang of guilt stung me, hurting more than the pain my body had to endure. I killed them. I killed them all. The Arkship could only take so few people and it was no secret that to a large extent, the selection process was corrupted. What was to become of the people left behind? Death, famine, wars, disease and distress. Oethe Inc. had decided to change that. As the Arkship was being constructed, Oethe was busy building our light at the end of the tunnel. The masses sponsored the project: any alternative hope was worth the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars were poured in and still the people on this craft with me were the children and grandchildren of those that had started the project. What was the name again? I struggled to scratch my head, realising that I could move my hands. How long was I asleep? I craned my neck to the left all that was there was the white wall of the “Cocoon”. With a hiss, the transparent cover slid down, and the Cocoon tilted, patiently waiting, it seemed for me to make my first step. It was harder than I thought possible. My body was as stiff as a mountain. With great difficulty I put one foot out and adjusted my weight—I was floating within the moment. Slowly pulling myself along the cold metallic walls, I used the faint illumination provided by the electric blue phantom lights somewhere on the roof to guide myself along the dark corridor to the control centre. The pain was immense, nerve wracking at times, as my joints began to recover the fluidity of movement they once had. We had been warned, hadn’t we? The project we were undertaking was one that entire nations in a massive and surprisingly concerted effort struggled to finance and complete. Even if we did complete the project, what would happen if an error on the on-board computer wiped us out in space? What was going to stop space debris from destroying this fragile structure? Nonetheless, we pressed on. What hope did we have here on earth or with the corruption fraught selection system the United Nations hailed as fair and square? We had no hope on this planet. As I entered the massive control centre, Eidolon came online. “Hisashi, how are you feeling?” I loosened my tongue and tried to reply. All that came out was a grunt. “Is that how you thank me for keeping your sorry life intact?” I shook my head, half amused, half frightened. Eidolon was the on-board AI developed by Oethe. He was more human than computer, being based in part on the high output brain scan of the Oethe founder. That made him, above all else, dangerous. “I would have opened the air-lock to teach you manners, but the lot of you are still going to die anyway.” My neck snapped in the direction of his holographic image. “Ow! Whaa…do…say?!” “There is a catastrophic system failure in Section 53. The Instant On-board Error Analysis and Repair System (IO.EARS) has reported its inability to fix the problem.” Section 53 was the central propulsion hub. “How much…tume… we have?” I asked, sweating despite the cool breeze. Eidolon moved across the room to the windows. “Until we enter the gravitational field of the Arkship’s current home: one hour, fifty-four minutes and thirty-three seconds.” Panic kicked in faster than light. I could leave this ship and escape. There were enough emergency crafts to go round and I could at least save myself and carry the legacy of the Oethe with me. Eidolon could be deactivated or commanded, either way, I would need his help. “Thinking of leaving, aren’t we, Grand Architect?” I spun round and flew back in bewilderment as Eidolon closed in on me. “I’m disappointed.” Even as he said those words, the command centre lit up in a brilliant but, macabre show of red lights. Eidolon stood over me, looming and threatening even as the lights made his face seem dark, almost hellish. “You are—“ “Shut up.” I spat and assumed my standing position. He looked taken aback. “I said shut up, if you didn’t hear me the first time. I’m not leaving. Go make yourself useful somewhere.” Without so much as a word, the AI vanished into animated aurora that flew down the corridor and out of sight. Running away right now would make me a worse person than all the tyrants, dictators, cowards, deceivers and war mongers that made us leave in the first place. I slowly sat down in the Prime Seat and assessed our imminent death. The five hundred and fifty-seven people on this ship were my family and responsibility. The survival of Project Deliverance hung on my shoulders. From what the Argos’ computer was relaying to me, there was no chance of survival. The critics of this Project Deliverance had clearly told us: “It’s impossible.” They were right. The planet loomed ahead, embracing us with arms of death. At this speed, we would all be dead before we felt any pain. I whispered to myself, lost in fear, terror and desperation. “Hold on, Kyle. I’m coming.” Part Two will be released soon. Stay tuned for more. Find out more about the Aether here.

"The rules are simple: don't get scammed. It's not a question of what the developers are going to do about it. The fact is, they're going to do nothing. Is scamming going to be a thing? Yes. Is it going to be as bad as it is in other games, that's up to you and I to decide. Some people are always going to be smart, but the thing is, someone will always be smarter. We all have some bad side to ourselves: it's a matter of personal choice to exhibit it or not."

"I apologise. I was just quoting you as being too hard on the Pantydraco. The rest of the post was directed at him, not you. I forgot to use the multi-quote. I'll fix that now."

"I totally agree."

"A noble cause, I hope you can withstand the doggedness of rum intoxicated buccaneers."

"I played Eve, Project Spark, plenty of other games and have been accused of being too creative by mates on more than one occasion. I saw the E3 and knew it was love at first sight. It was hope and peace and all I'd ever wanted. Desperation led me to the light. Dual Universe is all I can hope for. I hope Novaquark doesn't let us down. I know they won't. "

"Sigh. Pirates, pirates. What will you leave of us poor citizens, but empty coffers and failed dreams?"

"You hit too hard, my friend. You are way too swift in attack and defence. I appreciate that Pantydraco dedicated his time and effort to this long post in an obvious bid to help others out and seek some clarification. Well done, draco, please keep up with it. Now, to Pantydraco Seeing that we've made peace on that, allow me a few thoughts of my mind: Your first point, dear comrade is great, but ultimately unnecessary. The psychology of negative outcome is subject to personal judgement except in extreme cases. I mean, why would I play a game that gives me constant failures? Answer: I have nothing else to do with my time, or I'm outright mad. Why would I play a game that makes me win every time? Answer: I'm an obnoxious narcissist, or the world gives me lemons every​ time ​or I'm outright lazy and scared. Your second point makes more sense. But, the fact remains that Dual Universe is a Sandbox game. The developers have no say in how the players should interact with each other or the environment. Breaking this rule would be unfair and destroy the very essence of Sandbox design and implementation. It's up to you to choose your suitable play style. I played Eve for a some time without really interacting, then I tried again in a wonderful alliance: the experience was the best I'd ever had in an online MMO. If you want to fly solo, by all means, go out on a leg, everyone admires some courage. If you want to join a team, give me a call, join others or form one yourself and invite your friends. Harassing NPCs or real players is up to you to decide. Your third point, great sage is the best of all to me. But, you should realise, we forum members are really keeping the developers on their toes. While PvP specific tokens or biases to larger rewards are generally acceptable, it's going to be tricky to reward PvP leaning players without making the PvE content players feel bad. Again, this is a Sandbox game, it is expected that the system rewards should be mostly neutral whether you engage in PvP or PvE. On the other hand, the large amount of spoil you get from a good PvP raid is matched only with the ease of fighting NPCs. Greater risk = greater reward. Besides, Dual Universe looks set to be majorly PvP. I'm sorry to burst your bubble. Your fourth point is largely verbose. Although, you did mention some interesting points like "offline invulnerability". It would be good to have, but unfortunately for you and I, it's not going to happen. The reason is simple: it would be outright unfair. All I'd have to do is log off in the middle of a battle and pop goes the weasel, I have rubbished all your effort to get through my defences and suffer casualties. The point is to keep people glued to the game, not provide some kind of dubious Insurance policy.(Someone should make an insurance company in game, though. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.) Safe zones already exist: the developers made that crystal clear. Strategy in attack and defence is open to you to choose. I suggest you read Sun Tsu's Art of War. It'll give you a upper hand in combat. Your fifth point could be done without. Segregation is largely impossible. It makes the game biased. Sandbox games are all about the freedom of choice, the danger of freedom and the choice of trust. I hope this doesn't put you off from posting, but certain corrections are necessary for your benefit and the benefit of others. Thank you for accepting that fact. "

"That's essentially all I said in a shorter version. The propeller is cosmetic, it's the barrel that does the work. I don't know if tweaking the visibility will be possible, but just imagine all the things that could possibly be done?"

"Another interesting weapon would be to get the propellers used for locomotion and scale them down. Fix a barrel to the side closest to the direction of rotation and script it so that it moves a certain distance to the left or right and back to the original starting point at a specified speed. Then, loop the function. Script the barrel so that the rpm matches the rate of firing of blades out of the barrel. Create another function that counts the seconds for which the propellers are actively turning. When the timer reaches a specified value (you can use the for loop for this), the propeller deactivates, starting another for loop timer that acts as the cool-down timer. Fix a circular frame of your liking to the propellers if there isn't one already and set the propulsion boolean to false. There you go, your very own blade thrower. (Patent pending, case 002398 by the Aether.) "

"Create, create, create. How many times, must I tell you children? Wars are fuelled on the inventions of smarter people. Invest, invest, invest. Children, children, I have said again and again, no army marches on empty pockets. You will be in dire trouble if your coffers are empty just as the tide turns in your favour. Manipulate, manipulate, manipulate. Economies thrive on market warfare. Of what use is mining for profit, children, if your rival sells everything dirt cheap? Protect, protect, protect. Sigh, you have forgotten already! A mighty nation with a weak military is a cataclysmic disaster waiting to happen. Children, don't you ever leave your holds unprotected. Always, always have a bigger stick than the neighbour next door: like a Star Killer base--that is peace. Befriend, befriend, befriend. Children, you need friends out there. You really want to start out alone, fight alone, enjoy alone? Fine, then you're ready to be exploited alone, bullied alone and die alone. Well, that sums it up, doesn't it? "

"We're glad you came!"

"First of all, a massive exodus as people try to find the best pieces of land for resources and defense. Next, would be a kind of cool period where people compete to produce the best inventions. After that will be daggers and knives hidden under friendly smiles and plain diplomacy. It would be like hanging from the edge of thousand foot cliff. Then, someone somewhere, flicks the switch, plunging the new born Dual Universe into a short lived, but significant war. Alliances are strengthened and bonds thickened as the perpetrators are led to the guillotine for daring to start an age of war and chaos. More tense peace follows, heralding the Age of Cold War. Major organizations begin to emerge and establish themselves as regional hegemons. Peace is nothing but a fleeting mist during dawn. A powerful alliance then decides that its interests are being threatened and launches a second round of appalling chaos. Players choose sides, preferring the stronger combatant for the sake of saving their dear skin. The war is long and dark..."Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false players. Take them and cast your plasma shield upon us. For the night is dark and full of terrors." The defending alliance is down, but not out for what is dead can never die. Players pick up the pieces and better themselves, some flee to edges of space. Grudges are borne and small wars escalate, all the while leading up to the second crescendo in this grand orchestral piece of pure wickedness and war. As it reaches a feverish pitch, a new weapon is created, bringing fear upon all those who oppose the wielder. Hear me roar! Lo, I have told you. Winter is coming. "

"I hope to see you in-game as well. Strict (but very friendly) policies are in place to protect players, not to shun them."

"I knew I should have gone with monochrome. Thank you a lot for the advice."

'Trust is' Trust is specific. Ploys are vague. We are an organisation with deep dreams and vested interests. Premium services are cardinal to our dominance in handpicked sectors. The HTX is committed to exotic industry, a network of effective logistics services, sterling trade hubs and lethal PvP. Through Outpost Zebra, we hope to provide players with prime, objective news coverage online. Trust is finite. Money is printed. Welcome to Dual Universe. We are here to serve you – not the organisation or alliance. We know trust is finite and hard to obtain. That’s why we’re always in for the long haul. Lifelong trust is lifelong gain. The HTX won’t sacrifice long term advantages for short-lived profits. To forfeit integrity is loss; to break neutrality is anathema. Your alignment in Dual Universe is inconsequential: we have a reputation for impartiality. Business with the HTX is Suisse banking. Trust has history. Lies die swiftly. Our arrival in 2016 as The Aether was little more than a whisper. We have since evolved. It’s hard to imagine now, but at one time, The Aether arguably had the largest network of alliances and agreements in Dual Universe. We are not the white knights of old. Alliances and memoranda; been there, done that. Time has shaped the HTX into a focused and observant group. We have shed ghosts to obviate inflating our numbers. We have avoided alliances to spurn partisanship. Join an organisation with an untainted history and famous members. We make only one promise: business is business. Trust is enlightened. Gullibility is uninformed. In 2017, we realised, ‘this isn’t going to work.’ The Aether had goals to offer services to Dual Universe. However, alliances would require compromise, sooner or later. Simultaneously, going solo was to paint a target on our backs. A bulb turned on: neutrality is not isolation; independence is not frailty. The options: stick to The Aether or do better. Two years later, we’ve never been prouder of our decision. Dual Universe is a world that can only grow from here, and along with it, so will we. Trust is industrious. Deception tires quickly. Maximising the minimum gain is a philosophy you will come to understand in the HTX. It is foolhardy to assume an organisation can be the best at everything. We decided instead to be the best at everything we do. Our focus on industry is limited to the dynamic production of high value items. Whether these are transferred to nefarious entities for further use or creative players for protecting themselves is none of our concern. However, we are interested in ensuring the purchased goods are delivered in pristine condition. To that effect, we are developing our haulier services to reach you wherever you might be in a timely fashion. To handle hostile interest in your consignment, the HTX intends to cultivate a small, skilled and specialised group of players. Their purpose is not to harass organisations or individuals. This arm exists to make sure no living being or plan comes between you and your delivery. As a secondary goal, our PvP members must be able to stall companies many times their size, or turn the tide if a delivery so requires it. Lastly, keeping people updated on the events in Dual Universe is important for their safe passage, information and entertainment. We need nothing more than a few objective reporters around the Universe to bring you the news you need to hear. Trust is patient. Failure is restless. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It will take time, careful planning and a long march to achieve our end-goal. The sniper waits for the right moment. The industrialist builds his conglomerate over decades. We are dedicated to achieving what we set out for. Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while waiting. In Dual Universe that means having fun, learning from setbacks and constantly working towards a goal. We short-change ourselves when we give in to impatience and laxity. Dual Universe is fun; we are fun – if you have the mind to welcome it. Trust is decisive. Hope wanders. Are you satisfied? If you think you have found a mutual fit in us, submit an application. We have clearly defined goals for decisive people. If that’s you, you’re more than welcome to join a premier organisation. If we have identified you as a promising candidate, you will hear from us soon. Trust is the HTX. The Heimera Trade Xchange is a unique name, formed from our values and learned members. ‘Heimera’ is a word taken from Icelandic ‘Heimana’ (worlds) and Greek ‘Meraki’ (to do something with soul, creativity or love; leaving a piece of yourself in your work). Together, they signify our dedication to making an impact in the best way we possibly can. Is there a more realistic way to signal commitment to excellence in our activities? Our members shine. The first ever community digest featured Aetherios (now known as Vyz Ejstu). The second one interviewed Falstaf for his excellent work in founding Outpost Zebra and his generally flawless character. Anonymous is an inconspicuous figure almost assuredly behind the largest projects in Dual Universe. Kael often runs both Outpost Zebra and the organisation with mechanical efficiency. We encourage our members to be active and build a respectable image for themselves and the organisation. A star filled night sky is beautiful, but nothing without individually shining stars. What else to expect of an organisation that draws inspiration from the best of history, philosophy and design? Visit our Discord Server to learn more: Heimera Trade Xchange Server Head to our Community Portal to submit an application: Community Portal Visit Outpost Zebra to keep up to date with Dual Universe: Outpost Zebra RECRUITING STATUS: [OPEN] © Copyright Published by TextBomb™ A subsidiary of the HTX. All Rights Blown Up.