bastanold

I'm very curious to know what the direction is for crewing ships in DU especially large ships. This will impact not only design and construction but also gaming experience. Will a single player be allowed to effectively manage a million tonne starship or will the construction of large ships result in a complexity that requires a requisite crew? I hope the physics of the game determines this rather than some sort of ad hoc rule that has been coded into the game.

If the hit bubble is somewhat complex then asymmetry could have advantages economically. Design a ship with armor on one side then roll it toward the enemy in combat. Cheaper construction and so long as you can maintain range and angle it could prove effective.

I find the whole idea of LUA programming and DPU-driven devices as part of player constructed objects fascinating. Given that a complex object like a vehicle or ship will be a collection of numerous, individually created components, a corollary thought popped in my head. How much of the universe will players be able to perceive or measure or manipulate? Will there be forms of radiation per se? Will we be able to measure vibrations? And will we be able to generate any of the above?
 
For example, we will have visual and audio for sure and be able to hear if someone is walking close by, or see them as they approach. Will we be able to create IR visors and detect people by infrared radiation?
 
And, true, this is basically an idea masquerading as a question.

Welp, I am all in for multi-spectrum detection. Have ship designs and angles factor into detection. Have detection be different from each spectrum with counter-plays to them, i.e. gravitational detection working via how fast a ship moves, therefore ships that remain still can be virtually undetected, while electromagnetic detection requires an object to be near, therefore cloaky ships have a "limited range" within which they can close to an enemy without being detected. Thermal is a no-brainer, ships with thermal cloaking have a limited use out of the cloak itself, because hey, heat that's not being vented is turning a ship into an oven. Same mechanics can be scaled down to people, but instead of a gravitational detector, have motion detector or shockwave sensor for people who move rapidly.
 
As for the Lua (yes, it's not an acronym, it's a single word, spanish for "moon") is going to be used for macro-commands and micro-management of certain asepcts. For example, you can manually set a ship to turn at a rate of 5,5,0 ( x, y, z) or, you can have it as a predetermined value, with the input being the velocity your ship has at the moment of issuing the pre-planed maneuver, and that in return, can be extended to do some flippy moves, as well as have grades of turns, not simply a set-in-stone rate of a ship's turning, as well as auto-pilots, because hey, space is big and more than that, is mostly empty and boring to navigate through . Think piloting in EVE, only much less of a cluster-F. Because hey, quality of life is expensive and should be paid for, and this is where the people who will tinker with the Lua scripts will come into play.
 
 
So far, JC Baillie has said that control units are the ones that host scripts, those being cockpits, screen units and possibly any form of control 3D-Mesh object that exists i nthe game, possibly, with different forms of commands tied to them, i.e. a screen unit may have access to engineering controls, while a ship driver's seat they can have access to steering controls for a ship, you know, otherwise it would be silly to drive a ship with a pad used to open a door

According to the interview with JC Baillie by Bicyclewalrus there will be cloaking technology, JC named it specificly.

Well I did it. 
 
I've punted some cash and got myself invested. 
 
I'm really looking forward to playing the game!
 
 

I've played several MMOs over the years, the most recent being EVE. Just went inactive in EVE but after almost three years straight of activity there. Something about a sandbox game that provides all you need to make a 'living' that has kept me there longer than any other game I've played. Well, the people too, the social aspect which is strong in EVE.
 
Looking forward to seeing what DU has to offer and what sort of 'living' I can make there as well. The DU story is interesting and it has my curiosity.