AlexWright

Thank you for the quick reply! Yes indeed having the ability to mirror shapes while designing (vehicles, ships, and especially superstructures) is something that would be amazingly helpful.

Alright, so this was asked as a question over in this thread, but I haven't been able to find any discussion on it as a whole. There's several ways to go about this, but if my time in Space Engineers has taught me anything (Granted, it was all of about 2 hours, the game lacked...much), it's that designing and building with the ability to build along axes of symmetry is a huge improvement on having to do it all by hand. I would love to see DU add in a feature that would allow us to turn on various axes of symmetry while designing ships, either in virtual space or in the living game world. Because I enjoy aesthetically pleasing ships, it would be much easier to build these using planes of symmetry than it would be to have to do every last step by hand. Yes, it lowers the time constraints on very large projects down a few notches. However, it doesn't stop the amount of resources required (another time constraint), nor the time for production (if it depends on the size of the object being built). If ship designers had to construct everything by hand, perfect symmetry in the game would be an impossibility. It would also ruin almost any chance at aesthetically pleasing (and yet still extremely functional) designs. Just my two cents on what will (hopefully) be a feature.

If you can build it, you can fly it. /shrug.

Welcome, Mr Talbot. Glad to have you, and indeed we're all excited to see how DU will turn out.

Or 'Known Player Entities'

Truthfully, the C.E.F. is not an empire. It is anot amalgamation of players and pilots whose sole duty is to explore the far flung reaches of space, searching for rare and valuable lost civilizations. I suppose if you wanted to list us, we'd be more a solitary scientific Fleet

Or, for that matter, pay the builder to make a one time blue print copy and build it where you like. Could be a neat thing.

Ah, thank you. Yes I apparently missed that part. I was more interested in the LUA development blog, tbh. Thanks for pointing that out.

Sorry, maybe I misspoke (I am on a cell atm) or am misunderstanding something. Being able to build from a blueprint is great, and I agreen with the concept. However, even with a blueprint things will take time to build. I believe the phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day' would fit adequately here. Now, obviously the size of the item on the blueprint would have to be taken into account for build time, even if it's an automated process. Building a small component? A few minutes to a half hour depending on materials used. Building a base? Couple of hours, again depending on size. Interstellar ship? Hours, maybe even days if you're going for a huge colony ship. Point is, it should take time to go from blueprint to a physical three dimensional build. You can't just exit from designing something in real life to *snaps fingers* and poof it's there. That takes away a lot of realism and would, at least I believe, be a detriment. I'd also like to watch as the engine builds the creation following the blueprint. Maybe that's just me? P.s. I didn't note anything about a virtual realm for designing in that article, but it was just a cursory glance.

Indeed! As I said earlier, depending on how these devices could be manipulated, it may even be possible to do certain...not so nice things to people, especially people you don't want using your gate.

Oh please, it's just a bit of fun. Moving on to the topic at hand, I do agree with Nora that a virtual reality inside the real virtual world would be an interesting concept, and one that would likely be able to correct the imbalanced ratio of builders to destroyers. However, we must also realize that there are other factors which we are probably unaware of at this time. For instance: You would still need materials to be able to build something. While you can design something in the virtual reality realm of the real-space within the game world, this would merely be a representation likely generating a blueprint for use afterwords. This allows you merely the option to design in peace, you still would not be able to build in peace unless you plan to build within the confines of arkified territory (including the territory surrounding the arkship). This then comes down to the size and scope of the project. How large is that vessel? Would it extend over multiple territories, making parts of the building process safe and parts not? You probably would not be able to build some megqstructures near a planets surface, and therefore must build in unsecured space around a planet. It really all comes down to the fact that while you might be able to design in peace, building in peace requires forethought and willingness to see that work through, regardless of the outcome.

I hate you so much right now. It's been 2 months, 9 days, 4 hours and 13 minutes since I last had to announce this but... Lost the game. Other then that, I agree with the rest of the statement.

Eh, this could happen on a gas giant too. Giant space whales notwithstanding.

Most excellent.

I think you missed the main point I was attempting to make. I wasn't discussing a network or prefab stargates. I was discussing how they might work once they're built. For instance, could I carry one Stargate aboard a ship, and have it linked to a gate on some planet elsewhere in the universe? This would allow easy transfer of personnel onto the ship at any time, as well as provide a logistics hub and exit for players who get bored of far flung exploration.

Alright, bear with me here for a minute. Of all of the forms of travel that are currently mentioned in DevBlogs or here on the forums from the devs themselves, Stargates most piqued my interest. As I will be leading an expeditionary fleet out into the far-flung regions of space, how could they not? My comments, and questions, are directed mainly at their functionality. In part, because to be functional is their main use, but also because I am attempting to sort all of this out in my head to have a plan to execute and go forward with. Or, at the very least, aspirations. So, there are a few ways that stargates could function in this game, let's go over that here. 1. Stationary Stargates, One Point to Many Points. This would basically function like the Stargates in the famous TV series (SG1, Atlantis, Universe). You attempt to dial in random sequences of numbers, letters, etc. This would mean that each stargate would have a unique "ID" or "Key" that would then link to the "network" of gates around the universe. Handy, true, but also impractical. Think about it, if this were the way stargates worked in DU, anyone could stage an entire fleet around a single stargate, and invade anywhere, at anytime, without notice at any gate within the network, so long as they knew the unique ID of that gate. This lacks security, unless there could be built in security measures (Shields, Irises, etc). Not only that, but this would be extremely complicated to pull off. 2. Stationary Stargates, One Point to One Point Essentially, stargate "pairs". Gate #13156 can only connect to Gate #25719, and only after the two gates have been paired together. These could be small installations for use by personnel (As a Normal Gate would be), as most are on the aforementioned show, or extremely large superstructures (Think Ori Supergates). This would mean you could plant one on a planet (and heavily fortify it), and have one on a command ship somewhere else for simple personnel transport; or you could build two massive superstructures to move your entire fleet around at once. 3. Mobile Stargates, One Point to Many or One Point The same as above, only mobile once placed and activated.

There's plenty of other options for this. Invision free and their ilk, guild works, enjin, etc, all free. No reason to clutter or muck up a decent forum to add a whole slew of guild subforums.

I don't mind if it is in the details or info part of the panel. But I do like the idea of "Hey, this person was the first one here, whether you care or not". Some of us like that kind of thing for the achievement, but I do get where you're coming from.

A neat concept from No Man's Sky: It would be nice to have a system that would either: 1. Allow a system whereby the player and/or group name which discovers a planet, solar system, or star to be displayed when that object is either neared or targetted. 2. Allow for the player and/or group which discovers a planet, solar system, or star to name that entity.

I agree. It's why I'm getting this thread started now. I would love to have a fleet dedicated to RP Exploration. I'm sure we'd run into our fair share of mishaps (Pirates and the like), which would add something beyond a "Well, we're four weeks out from Solar System Gamma-Epsilon-Two-Two, another day out here in the bleak emptiness". I am hoping for some NPC Pirates of some sort that would attack without warning (Similar to Eve, I suppose). Then again, because we're an exploration fleet, people might attack us for the resources we've got.

At the same time, I think there's a point to be made here. Even EVE-Online offers protection to player-built stations by going into "Reinforced Mode" (or at least, it used to) when the structure being attacked goes below a certain percentage on shields. Something like this system should be implemented here, that way you don't have to "Start Over" every time, and still allows an attacking force to deal damage and possibly destroy or take over territory.

Alright, so here's some ideas I've come up with (I'm still in the process of learning LUA scripting, you'll have to forgive me if I'm missing something). This is something I'm working on for members of the C.E.F. Essentially, it would be multiple scripts running throughout the fleet. My only concern, of course, is that they wouldn't allow scripts from multiple sources to call or contact each other, which is possible. This also assumes that IFF is going to be something you can reference while scripting, or from scanning the area. We already know that you will be able to have Eve-like ratings for other entities, such as neutral, unfriendly, or friendly. Assuming we can call to those functions, and output a vocal or text statement, then something like this should be possible: 1. Core.lua (I'm just using the .lua to represent different iterations of the script across multiple "devices"). This is the common core which prompts all other scripts to run, usually aboard the main fleet vessel. Alternatively, if you didn't want one single vessel in charge of all of your operations, this could be on a smaller support ship. 2. Member.lua This assigns the ship that this script is running from a "key". 3. Security.lua This script would be aboard the security part of your fleet, which would then call to approaching member.lua files, checking the "key" generated from that source against a list loaded in... 4. Syssec.lua Essentially just a database of allowed "keys". Security.lua would use this to check incoming keys to make sure they match accepted personnel. If you wanted, this could just be part of Core.lua. Then, when a check passes, it would allow the incoming ship/vehicle/vessel to dock/land/whatever without triggering a system wide alert. However, if the incoming check fails, you could move on to having a script send out an alert to all nearby allied vessels through the security script. It could also forward power to defenses such as shields, weapons, etc. Essentially, just an automated way to enter into "red alert" throughout a fleet. I'm still working on getting the Member lua working, Core should be working at this point, but testing it is proving difficult without the other parts. It executes just fun, but that's meaningless if it doesn't do much.

Thank you for the welcome! And that would depend on the goals of Union Cosmos. However, if you would like to contract C.E.F. to find new resources or territories, definitely do not hesitate to get in touch. Regards, Fleet Commander Wright

If you want to listen to some music while you browse the forums, might I suggest: https://soundcloud.com/dualuniverse (I'm hooked)...

I wouldn't mind a physical or digital OST. Or even a boxed collectors edition with some of the spaceship designs and concept art books. Just me, I suppose. I'm already hooked on the damned music.