blazemonger

While eventual requirements are as of yet unknown, it would be safe to assume intel built in GPU will not do. i3 may also be on the light side.

This has been discussed to death in several threads here and there will always be those who feel they can't afford/think it will not work/need something different. Point is that for a game such as DU a subscription model is simply the most efficient. If you can't afford to pay roughly $4/week to pay for a sub you can choose to put in the effort to make the money in game and sub that way. This is not a 'play the loop, solve the game, move on' kind of experience.. There is no real endgame here and you will get many, many hours of ongoing playtime out of the game which more justify the subscription fee IMO. While my backer package will give me well over 4 years of playtime I doubt I will need the DAC for that after maybe a few months at most and make enough in game to pay for playtime. It's how I run all my accounts in EVE (about 7 right now) which is similar in that regard although EVE is probably easier to fund in-game subs due to the amount of NPC/PVE content with a good to excellent payout. Part of the fun will be to build a business model in game which will make it profitable to the point where the game characters can sustain themselves. And like myself I'm sure there's a good number of players already developing these plans.

If I can pay with casino chips almost anywhere in Vegas an Org in DU can think up their own currency. As long as it has a relatively stable link to the 'main' currency it would work just fine. What would be interesting is when an Org could create and introduce a specific item as currency to the DU economy.. Now there's a recipe for disaster Needless to say, once upon a time our RL money was related to the stockpile of Gold a nation had and the paper was just a representation of a bit of said gold.. These days it's mostly just hot air

Navy..

Youngsters.. Royal Netherlands Marine Corps will turn 352 in two weeks

@Lethys That's a great quote, thanks! It certainly clears up a lot.. Seems you are good at collecting and archiving these.. we may need to talk

Well, I can only speak for myself when I say I never made any such claim and in fact I can agree with that. That said, as an example these two would not in fall under your statement in my opinion; I feel that not having tracking or targeting mechanics and forcing manual firing only would be a mistake. Not being able to secure a perimeter with automated systems will be a mistake as it is simply unworkable when you require a complex to be secured by actual players 24/7 across time zones. These are just two points I believe should be addressed and for now I think some here misunderstand what NQ's intentions are in this as it would simply not make sense. But we'l l see how this develops.

Not by intention IMO, Obviously there can and will be those who abuse this potential but that does not define it as P2W to me. It's the same as in EVE where there is many people coming in from other MMO like WOW where having bigger guns is basically what controls the game. EVE is not like that and often bigger guns are actually not at all beneficial or helpful. I believe that, like in EVE, DU will see some think they can buy their way to being OP but fall flat on their face as experience and yes, social connections and teamwork, will play a vastly more important role in how you establish yourself. I just hope that weapon and combat mechanics in DU are not just about point and shoot but will take all the mechanics into consideration that would apply. Big guns should not be able to track a small target as easy as smaller guns, what is the falloff of accuracy, how does the angular velocity of the target impact tracking or hitpoint effectiveness? All these should come into play to make this interesting. The people thinking that EVE is like Orbit .. Lock .. Hit F1 should have a rude awakening like they will in EVE when they come across a pilot or group of pilots who know better. Go check out Clarion Call videos by Rooks & Kings on Youtube to see EVE tactics in action (not some prefab hype demo reel but actual real action).. IF DU will be able to develop even close to these mechanics and possibilities in combat we will have a winner.. a huge one. Oh, and if you check these videos, pay attention to how this is anything but 'fully automated hit a button tactics'.. It's co-operation and collaboration as well as sacrifice and quick strategic thinking all rolled into one. There is automation in that people press buttons to make stuff happen, but just pressing buttons will not get them anywhere but deleted, it's the thought and preparation that goes into how and when to press the button that makes it work. This pretty much is the mechanic I have been talking about here and frankly, complex and interesting tactics and game play will be near impossible to achieve without it, in fact you will be stuck with 'point and shoot'. Being able to buy the big guns outright should not mean you buy yourself into winning, if it does then yes, that would be bad and P2W .. I expect this will not be the case especially as we know how much JR and his team look upto/at EVE for it's depth and complexity.

How this has anything to do with P2W I do not get. It seems quite a few here seem to think that this will cause an imbalance where players with RL money can pay their way to OP game play which I feel is just nonsense. Developing scripting to assist in maintaining control of (a ships) subsystems would for me actually be an interesting and potentially very profitable mechanic in game. I could see a whole industry develop around it which is, for me, to a reasonable extent what his game is about. I am not and never have been an advocate of one person being able to control a huge and powerful ship, that is not what this is about. I do feel that the sense some seem to have, that we should basically be bound by medieval mechanics of having to put a body at every gun or other component of a ship to be archaic and not sensible, it will also not work and I do not believe this is actually what NQ is looking to achieve/drive. In fact, this actually tips balance towards those able to muster, and by definition control, a large group of players and put a lot of in game power in the hands of a those capable of (potentially) bullying and aggressing their way to the top. It's a power trip basically and so far a number of those who tout the 'social' component of this really display all the signs of tyrants and despots only abusing the term to try and establish/enforce their ideas of control. Already we are seeing some organizations starting to display signs of this behaviour and members advocating this as they think/believe that the group they are with/part of will back them in their illusions of control and power. Hypothetically speaking (as personally I have zero interest in any of this), If it is the way you want to apparently approach this it will be this exact mechanic that will promote P2W as those with RL money can quickly buy/create in game conditions to bind others to them which will give them the edge over those who don't/can't. I will simply spend enough $$ to be able to buy loyalty and cooperation with perks and commodities in game or just buy mercs to enforce my ideas onto others. I just throw free game time around and I'll get plenty of players to do whatever I ask of them, I will win by spending $$.

Again, I never said anything to contradict what you are saying although I fail to see the relation with wealth here. As portrayed now I would in fact say those advocating this are looking to balance these things in favour of (large) group activities and thus eliminating the opportunity or chances for smaller groups or individuals. I fail to see how I should not be able to navigate and control a small agile fighter or ship in general on my own or with one other person.

I never said anything that conflicts with this comment. Negating basic and even modern day mechanics to force specific game play is IMO not the right way to go and I doubt it will turn out as black and white as some here seem to want/believe it to be.

I would not agree. To me, automation means that when I do a flip and burn I get aided by a (scripted) process which will allow me to do this in a smooth and safe way without having to do most of the compensation going into the movement.. Much like Fly By Wire in your average modern aircraft. Or are you implying that it's a bad idea a pilot can just bank into a turn and not having to worry about a great many variables that would prevent him from flying in the first place otherwise? I agree that it's good when the game will require people working together to get things done and go places. I think it's silly that you would expect that everything is still done by hand in a time when we fly a ship full of survivors into space landing on a far away world. JC made a comment that in a (big) ship each individual gun would need to be manned. Frankly it made me chuckle as it's just a silly idea in the time the game is set in and I really hope that he either misspoke or could not find the right way to express his ideas about this at the time. Combat vessels have had automated, if not fully automated, armament (sub)systems for decades and there is no reason to enforce such mechanic onto a futuristic game setting. And that goes for many more areas the game allows..

All this is my applying common sense and what I know of other development cycles, it is 100% speculation and making assumptions on my end but IMO it is sensible; Currently the game is in Pre-Alpha, it was originally expected the game would go into Alpha1 in September which puts development roughly 6 months behind the original schedule. If you have any understanding of game development you will know that beta is at least 10-12 months away at this time. NQ has stated that the next round of backing packs (Supporter Packs) will give access to Alpha2 stage, we are not at Alpha1 yet Since it is 8 weeks to 2018 it would be optimistic to expect Alpha1 to start this year let alone Alpha2 which I'd guess is at least 6-8 months out. There is nothing wrong with that as (again) this is normal and to be expected as it aligns with the 6 month delay they ran into this year. While NQ may decide to open up the funding pages and offer packs to gain access at Alpha2 in the next 8 weeks, it would IMO make more sense for that to happen shortly after Alpha1 starts so they have a good idea of when they will be able to start Alpha2 as normally progress will become more predictable once you wrap up pre-Alpha. A full game loop, playable game in beta should be available by this time next year. I see no reason to expect DU to turn into a CIG production as far as ever expanding features and development which will basically push out actual release indefinitely. While I do not see NQ release the game in 2018 I can see it happen around Q2 2019.. which basically means that they can stick to the current 6 month delay. As a result I would expect the initial idea of having Alpha2 access packs out by Q4 2017 to be available around the end of Q1 2018 instead. Again, speculation and assumptions, but IMO very reasonable ones. I am not part of the NQ team, have no actual insight in to where they are or what they plan so yes, all mine..

NQ really need to review and update their announcement posts. If only to stop people from having incorrect expectations and/or using outdated info to misinform others. The Q4 timeline for the packs was discussed and reverted in a later post iirc and it would only make sense at this time. As development is at least 6 months behind schedule right now and the availability of supporter packs should be more aligned with the actual development cycle and access start point this date should be pushed back. Again, all IMO and not based on anything else but. It's fully up to NQ to do as they want/need to and still hoping to be surprised. Also where we are now is really to be expected in a development cycle of this scale and nothing bad or out of the ordinary, just needs to have expectations set/adjusted correctly. I'm sure Lethys will want to get he last word in, but I've said my piece..

Pretty sure @NQ-Nyzaltar posted on this not too long ago as it is basically a FAQ.

New support packs won't be out until we're (well) into Alpha as they will grant access at Alpha2.. We're still in pre-Alpha

We're about 8 weeks from the end of 2017 and in pre-alpha. The planning you quote was based on being in Alpha two months ago and even then that would have been optimistic. It's safe to say it will be quite a while for the game to get to beta under normal game development cycle expectations. Suggesting a Q4 2017 timeline is simply unrealistic, add 10-12 months to that at least. Personally I'd be surprised if we get to beta in 2018, that said, this is not unexpected nor should it deter anyone as it is a perfectly normal development cycle.. I just feel NQ may have been too optimistic on their projections and it may be good if they come out and correct this with a more realistic expected timeline I do believe we will have a playable game with full game loop by this time next year though which will fulfil the original Kickstarter timeline (expected December 2018)

We already know the lifetime subscription will not return on the new packages.

In all honesty, if you would be interested in a single player game like DU, check out Space Engineers. In fact IMO Space Engineers is an excellent way to get some experience in building. For a service based game such as DU there really is no way around monthly fees. That said, the game will allow you to put the effort in and buy your game time using in game currency. The backer packages included a good number of monthly playtime tokes or DACs as they are called for DU. I'd expect the coming supporter packages to offer something similar. For me, I have a gold and sapphire character with many years of 'free' playtime between them...

Maybe, maybe not. While I would hope and expect as much, at this point we simply do not know how this will work From one of your last link: Voxel Elements (or Voxel-based Elements): Put simply, a Voxel Element is a complex, predefined voxel-based shape constituted of one (or more) material(s). A spiral staircase is a good example of a Voxel Element. Voxel Elements will be gathered in a library. We plan to include more and more complex shapes in this library. The feedback from the community will be essential to know which complex shapes will be the most useful to builders. In the long term, builders will also have the ability to create Voxel Elements themselves, and to save them to their Voxel Element Library. They will also be able to modify the materials used by the Voxel Elements, so if you want a metal stair with a wooden handrail, or vice versa, you will have to simply update the materials attached to the Voxel Element. Mesh-based Elements (or ?Elements?): As well as Voxel Tools and Voxel Elements there are also predefined game Elements like Cockpits, Engines, Boosters, etc? They bring functionalities to your Construct, and can be attached to your voxel-based creations, setting up their anchor point and orientation. Some Elements will be required to build certain things. A basic flying craft will require a Core Unit, a Control Unit, a Gyroscope, and a few propulsors (adjustors to orient, rockets to fly), but the voxel-made chassis, hull and design of the craft is entirely left to the builder. -- -- -- The first clearly mentions it is constructed from materials that can be changed to alter the appearance of the element. The latter does not and frankly tells me these are predefined and can't be altered nor do they require you to have specific materials available. It would appear these are also not voxels which further (IMO) confirm they are not constructed by the player from resources. Now all of this is guessing since, as I mentioned earlier, we simply do not know yet. To get back to the OP, I'll probably carry either resources or elements with me in storage/dispensers while going on (exploration) roams to be able to build out a simple/basic base when needed. This is pretty much the same mechanic as used in Space Engineers and works quite well, especially combined with automated builder tools.

Overcomplicated at best, and designed to generate $$ for CIG. Last I checked these (will) sell for around $750 in actual US$. I like the Space Engineers mechanic much better the way DU seems to build is even more simplified as you do not need to actually build elements, they are just there/can be bought, at least at this time there really is no information on whether we'd need to build the elements from resources (like in Space Engineers) or they are bought ready made.

LOL.. PL.. I guess things are getting more clear now if that is your idea of PL.. .. They are more like Oh look, a fancy destroyer.. Let's drop 4 capitals on him just in case he would maybe able to kill on of ours. Or drop ECM from 150KM out to make it a one man game. Fortunately none of those will work in DU and if you try I will probably just ram my ship down one of your throats.. If I don't bounce off

Actually as a Signal Cartel Member I can attest to 'Reputation Tank best Tank'

Very true, just remember that when at EVE Vegas or FanFest, we all party and drink together. Red and Blue don't matter.. we'll all be yellowish green in the morning Actually some of my best in game 'friends' are very red to me .. In the end it is all about 'FriendShip Best Ship'.

From what I have seen most comments about PVP (for and against) do not apply as they are often based on another game's mechanics which are vastly different. IMO and from what I have seen and read 'If you are not my friend you are my enemy' can and will not apply in DU where interaction will be much more focused on how to find ways to collaborate. The NRSI crowd will be isolated and fenced off quicker than you can make a grilled cheese sandwich. NRSI is based on anarchy and top down thinking in a military style. DU seems to me will me much more horizontal than vertical where as long as you can and will take your responsibilities and do your part you will be fine. EVE is about the four big empires and the free for all alliances military organization. While this is part of DU yes, it is also very much about the people down on the planets living their lives and doing there business. You can choose a military/combat/piracy career but you can also choose a civilian or science oriented path. There is some of that in EVE but it is very limited and I believe it will be much more prominent in DU..