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bastanold

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  1. I understand the need to keep botting in check. EVE has shown what's possible when bots run awry. On the other hand, it's a weak argument that an MMO will have so many players it will rarely feel empty. This is an MMO of space, and just like EVE it's going to be one shard. There are some really lonely places in EVE to be sure even with tens of thousands of players. DU will definitely be an empty place for many players. Aside from large battles, I'm guessing the norm could be 1-15 people average on any occupied local grid. Having NPCs that are bound to a player's active login could be a way to limit the huge effect of botting. I can think of a few ways to market the NPC idea. Besides, players are going to want PvE at some level even if it's just picking off odd pirates. You could limit all activity to players but in a space MMO that could likely break the immersion due to lack of numbers or complexity. One way to look at NPC is as personally assigned or group assigned. A person logs into DU and can activate their NPCs as crew or assistants or whatever. An org hires NPCs and they can all be active so long as one eligible org member is logged in. Maybe an org can assign a 'subsistence' crew/staff to keep a very basic operation running but make sure there are costs to having NPCs. I don't want it to turn into a means of making a botting empire like some players in EVE have done, but it's a little daunting to imagine a space MMO with nothing going on if there's no player behind it. Not even EVE does that and it's very player driven. DU will be treading on new ground for sure in that respect. Just ideas that aren't well thought out, but ideas.
  2. For all the infinite space of Dual Universe, one has to reflect on mmo player activity. The reason many people play MMO's is to play with others especially in groups. Even among those not within groups the allure of a market dictates distance of operation. Some may very well head out as explorers, but given the need for content--and in variety at that--most players will find it advantageous to be reasonably close to everybody else. If it does turn out that Dual Universe is 'infinite' I'll be very excited to see how the ebb and flow of player residency in that universe shifts. Will we find 'ghost towns' from a decade ago? Will membership be wide enough that some groups become widely separated? What will this do to each player culture in terms of political, economical and military? Interesting stuff to be sure.
  3. Yeah, the idea is for those briliant unknowns that invariably spring up from players from time to time. My own thinking on it is if NQ find the player proposal a good one and it doesn't stray too much from the list of class/objects coded into the game, then NQ would provide a formula for researching it. This formula would comprise of time periods, success rolls if necessary, materials required and prototype stages, as well as whatever else NQ deemed necessary. It would not be easy and simple. I assumed all this, of course, but it makes more sense to spell it out here. The reason I leave out examples is because this sort of thing always comes from 'left field' and conventional ideas would be handled the usual way (conventional research of known devices as part of the game). These would not be conventional ideas. They would be excellent or brilliant ones. Hence, rare.
  4. NQ would yea or nay the proposals like you point out. No sense making a variation on a given theme. But if EVE has taught me anything it's that you never know what sort of things players can come up with that is revolutionary or original. Hence, WOR. I don't expect it to be implemented much but when it is the reason is one NQ agrees with. So, the final decision would be with them. No harm done. And I'm not going to assume I know how they feel about the idea presented. That's for NQ to decide, right? Right.
  5. I was remembering the old paper and pencil RPG games and how some of them had mechanics for researching technology and inventions. There was a difficulty level that had to be determined from the rulebook's outline and what followed was a series of rolls over a set amount of time. The tech or device would be completed after all the rolls had been successful through all the steps. How could that work in DU? Well, Novaquark would have a team/person who would evaluate player proposals for research or invention. Interesting(and possible) submissions would be reviewed by the Novaquark team in terms of code and game impact. If the item could be added with an existing class/object and the idea added to gameplay in an interesting way, the proposal would be approved and the player would be given the requirements to successfully research the tech/device. That player would own the recipe as well which could end up being quite lucrative in-game. Granted, this means of open ended research in the game might be a rare occurrence, but knowing that there were things out there that could be player-designed would add to the whole voxel-building theme.
  6. SC's money and DU's dev team. Sounds good to me.
  7. Any player can institute a DU religion. They're great to add justification to just about any policy including murder and mayhem. I want to destroy all life in the galaxy? Found an org based on a DU religion! Works every time.
  8. Sure, space is infinite, but space is governed by the laws of physics and largely expressed within 3-dimensions as well as time. Thus, locality and proximity will have meaning in terms of interaction among players and their subsequent orgs. You are certainly free to go off to distant systems(when the opportunity presents itself) but be aware that your prosperity or success will only be a great as your capacity to build and develop.
  9. American here and I'm fine with metric. In fact, it was about 4C this morning in Seattle and ended up around 11C by the time I was off work. We could really use a little 20C heat around here.
  10. Got no problem with non-regenerating resources. That leaves the decision of what to do with the player. The only other thing is I'd also make sure that asteroids were just as lucrative(if not more) as mining a planet. Planets have gravity wells too, which should mean something in terms of payload and thrust and fuel. This way players have more content too. An org decides whether they really need to mine the crap out of a 'pretty' planet. NQ adds animals and that only adds more content with which to weigh ones decision. Maybe an org gets so attached to a habitable planet they put policy that limits planetary exploitation. Maybe it turns into a causus belli when another org decides to 'deface' a planet in a system with a perfectly good asteroid belt. But planets are not all equal. Some are little more than really big rock, others have a smidgen of atmo and a few are habitable gems between the black. A tangential would be to mine gases from gas giants. Off the top of my head would be ships that are designed to 'skim' off the surface of gas giants to collect various gases to be processed into fuel or whatnot.
  11. Klatu, there was some discussion about tractor beams and targeting to disable systems as well. Engaging other ships while in warp (ala ST) is another possibility but would likely require an environment/interface different from normal space.
  12. The context of all this is to provide content. Definitely. In EVE I can choose to take the long route on a haul that keeps me in very safe space. Still requires some situational awareness for suicide gankers at gates, but mostly safe so long as I stay on my toes. But what if I want, or need, to shave some time going from point A to B? Or what if safe space is not a good place for my character at the moment? Then it means taking the dubious route. Faster, but far from safe. If I pull it off it's a rush beating the odds. If I get nailed by pirates or otherwise hostile forces, well, I'll wake up in a clone and start putting the pieces together again. Either way it was an event that far surpassed a mindless journey. On the other hand, there are days I don't want to have to worry about all this and so I'll do whatever it takes to keep it safe, including blowing it off for the moment in hopes the situation improves. It all depends, but knowing I have those kinds of choices is all the difference in the world called EVE. Wouldn't want it any other way in Dual Universe.
  13. We could have devices that are deployed that induce a large mass signature. It would be like a manufactured mini black hole in effect. Any ship traveling near enough to it--especially via wormhole or warped space--would be severely impacted by it, resulting in the ship dropping out of its 'FTL' travel. Any ships around it in normal space would react to it the same way a car reacts to going down a hill. It will be a gravity well basically. A powered ship can work its way out of it, but should power be lost and such a ship goes adrift, it'll explode or be 'totalled' prior to it reaching the device at center. I prefer exploded as it cleans up the 'what happens if a ship actually hits the device' scenario.
  14. I would say that a game like Dual Universe should actually start with less than more. Put enough in there for the basics of survival gameplay: research, crafting, exploration, conflict and communication. See where the players go and adjust the field to comply with that direction. NQ would be wise to etch in stone those qualities it sees as essential to their vision of the game, then let the game loose. With an ear to the ground on emergent player gameplay development and a defined list of what the game is meant to be, NQ will have a model of success already proven by EVE Online. From what I've heard JC say in his numerous videos this is already the direction NQ have chosen. Therefore, I believe this game and its future is currently in good hands.
  15. From what I've read on NQ's propulsion schemes for Dual Universe, it looks like they'll have similar propulsion types as EVE Online. There will be a basic maneuver drive/s, a warp drive to more quickly traverse a star system and then an interstellar drive either depending on an external gate or installed internally in a ship. The interstellar drive types are not going to be available at first, and it won't be an issue with initial game play being focused on exploring Alioth then its system. What will have more significance are the forms of propulsion within a system. Combat may be possible while warping from one system location to another but I'm betting it probably won't be. That leaves basic maneuver speeds for combat with warp being the means of absolutely disengaging from combat. Of course, with a higher basic velocity(in EVE this is modified with the use of an 'afterburner' or 'microwarpdrive') a ship can eventually disengage from combat as well. Personally, when it comes to disengagement I'd be more inclined to handling this area with devices or methods that are specialized rather than the norm. For example, any device that can tractor another ship should be specialized with some requirements that require compromise. Maybe allow tractor beams but make it only as effective as the ship's mass the tractor beam is mounted on. Or allow weapons to target specific systems on a ship in order to either bring them offline or damage them outright. This would be cool because it would require a response in terms of repair from the affected ship's crew, adding more elements to game play. The same thing for devices that might dampen a target ship's propulsion drives.
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