Captain_Hilts

Welcome - See you in the test tomorrow eh?

@ACarroll welcome friend. There are so many possibilities; it's gonna be great.

Welcome Mate. Good to have ya here.

They'll figure it out. It just ran out of gas, didn't have enough to slow down completely. That'll happen when it's the first time you've flown it and you're trying to have just enough to complete the mission and not a lb more of unneeded weight.

Hell yeaaa!

CoreVamore - thanks for your interest ; ) -- a ship like this is definitely a possibility -- just say when. Looking forward to seeing your designs. MookMcMook -- thanks for the input. A classy advertising campaign is being planned. But NDA and stuff. Let us know if we can build anything for you. Captain Twerkmotor - thanks for the input. As a practical guy myself I agree about the importance of function. This is why anyone wanting to order a custom ship should let us know what particular functions they desire. However we believe that Style, Beauty, and Form -- have very important functions themselves. We aim to provide functional and beautiful ships to our customers. Let us know if we can build anything for you. THE (one and only) Kool Banana -- flying Bananas are not out of the question -- Just say when. I'm betting we can make it pretty cool. ; )

Image - Flight of six Wraith's over Alioth, courtesy of NovaQuark. Get to the front of the line. Place an order now for a custom designed ship Tailored for your specific needs. Contact Hilts Independent Contracting and let us know what type of ship you want built for you. [HIC] Hilts Independent Contracting NOTE: all ships and constructs represented in this post by Hilts Independent Contracting are artistic representations of ships and constructs currently in game. Get yourself in the pre alpha to check it out. Artist rendering of a Dawn Class Multi Role Freighter in GLSU colors. Now flying in DU

@Mod-Mercutio could someone please delete this thread. Thank you.

Well I guess the Navy is ok too. Semper Fidelis.

@blazemonger did you serve in the Dutch Marines?

242 years - Oooraah! Semper Fidelis Devildogs. @GalloInfligo

Well I have a list of 58 things to test - then there are 9 ship design concepts I need to prototype - and then 30 different ship designs to start working on; yea - I'll be busy.

What's at the center? No Man's Sky ; )

On one hand I get what you're saying... all that stuff just vaporized in an instant. However, on the other hand - are you looking for a pick axe? This is a sci-fi space game after all. Just saying....

I’m not sure why you assume I have not read all of Novaquark’s articles and watched all the videos or use the search function for the forum. Indeed I have done all of those. Perhaps I fail to remember details I’ve read from time to time - or express similar ideas with different words (thus not finding them in the forum search), But I think that is largely irrelevant - these are my own ideas, thoughts and perspective not Novaquark’s, - other people may or may not have thought the same things. I merely desire to share my thoughts with you all. Actually that’s incorrect - if you would read this devblog post ; p https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2016/04/08/monetization-player-happiness-and-economic-viability/ You would see this. Possible (cosmetic only) Cash Shop. If deployed, we will make it in order that every month, players who have paid a subscription will be able to get some cash shop items for free. The argument that I am advocating concepts that have been tried before and failed therefore don’t advocate them anymore is invalid. The whole idea of this game is something that has never been accomplished before. Yes take a look at why it’s failed before. Yes take a look at what the real problems are with these ideas. But don’t assume that solutions to problems cannot be found. Yes that is the obvious hurdle to overcome for player created content. I guess where we differ is you are like ‘can’t be done ever’ -- I’m like what are the solutions to overcoming this hurdle. These same types of limitations are what would lead one to think DU could never actually be a thing - yet here we are. Now is the time to look for solutions to old problems not say -- the way they did it in the past is the only way and that didn’t work. Actually no - I mean to say some people buy a Starbucks 1 a week others 1 a day. Giving your customers different price point options gets you a wider customer base. It’s just common sense sales. Which I’m sure Novaquark has thought plenty about - they’re pretty smart guys; and know all the details of what it will take to make their business profitable in their context. I as an outsider am just offering my perspective as a customer. It’s a fact that there are a lot of people for whom this game is outside of their price point. It may be that the cost of servers for this tech is so high that this is the only choice. I’m merely suggesting possible solutions. Of course Novaquark needs to cover their costs and make a profit. Yep, yep that is totally what I said; you can read almost the exact same words here. Yep I agree. With the exception that - not everyone who enjoys playing COD falls into the trap of buying each repeat/expansion whatever; and thus can enjoy it for a one time cost. Pretty much what I said here. Great so we agree COD and DU have a similar price point at the high end. And we agree that DU cannot allow people to play a 3 year old version of the game like is possible with other games. So I’m just suggesting a possible way Novaquark could also offer lower price point options. When you offer a product at a lower price point you don’t just give the same thing for a cheaper price. Obviously you would loose money that way. No your lower price point products have less value to the customer and less cost to you - so you can still make a profit at the lower price. That’s why the cheaper options in my proposal have a limit to how much you can play. If you want unlimited hours you have to pay more. Now how much you would have to restrict cheaper options would have to be determined by Novaquark. That’s why I said. I haven’t seen Novaquark talk about these details. And I would be surprised if they did. I would be very interested to read it if that is around somewhere. Point me to it. I mean their annual taxes, salaries, business operating expenses, server costs, cost per offline player, cost per online player, forecasted number of players buying the game, forecasted number of offline and online players at any given time. Those are the things you need to know to figure how much to charge and make a profit. Maybe after all those calculations you get to where they are right now and determine that $10/month subscription is the only viable way. If that ends up being the case then I’ll dump my Eve subscription and pay $120 or whatever a year. And none of my friends will join me. Just the way it is - they’re not second class people for saying that is outside of their price point. And Novaquark is not evil for doing what it takes to be a successful business. Just calm down. I have no way of knowing these details so I’m just offering a concept as a possible solution from my perspective. Of course that is an option for people with lots of time to play; and their reward for building up the game universe. That could work for a kid living at home with nothing to do. Doesn’t work so well for people with families expenses and limited time for playing games. All in all good criticisms from smart people. And mostly I agree with the concerns brought up. Good on ya for not looking at ideas with rose colored glasses - but critically looking at the problems. Just don’t be negative nancy’s - critically looking at problems shouldn’t automatically lead to “it can’t be done” It should make you aware that there is a problem in the way - and help you see how to overcome it. It seems the one thing I disagree with a lot of you is the benefit of a large player base. Seems a lot of you have the perspective the cost level has the added benefit of keeping unwanted riff raff out. While I agree there are certain people you want to keep out. I think it would be better to rely on other methods to achieve that - not just cost. BECAUSE - I believe that a larger player base would improve what this game is trying to be and make for much deeper and more dynamic emergent gameplay. That is the primary reason I started thinking about these things. On a final note - I appreciate people who bluntly speak their minds and I get great enjoyment out of a good argument - so thanks and carry on. I apologize if my response is anything less then the appropriate level of tact - sometimes because the way I enjoy arguments people think I am offended - that is not my intent at all. Fly Wrecklessly, Semper Fidelis, Captain Hilts

I'm going to advocate totally hard-core. Your Avatar never leaves the game world. You can go to a safe zone, you can hide, you can have defenses, you can have alliances, but whatever can happen to you while online can happen while offline. BUT - you do get an offline player AI. You can set actions - run, hide, fight, call for help. You can set communication to initiate - and communication responses. If you don't log off or are disconnected in a place you don't want to be your Avatar basically autopilots itself to the place you have set it to go.

My thought behind all this nonsense is 1 to make Novaquark successful long term - meaning DU will stick around long term. 2 to make the game financially accessible to a larger player base - which I believe will make for a better game.

I am super excited for this game, and really want to see it succeed - we all know for that to happen Novaquark will need to be able to make enough money to continue to work on the game - pay their taxes, pay their expenses, pay their employees, and make a profit. So what are some creative ways Novaquark could generate more income from the game while making it more accessible to a larger player base? What’s my interest in this? Well making the game more affordable for me duh. But besides that I want to see this succeed long term. And I see a larger player base as really beneficial to the vision of the game. Emergent gameplay in a universe where players are working together to rebuild civilization. So here goes. 1 IRL integration into the VR game world. EG Amazon / Ebay ITunes Noisetrade Netflix - generic advertising - Social networking - online dating. Restrictions - it would have to be limited as to when and where it can appear (no pop up ads while I’m dog fighting) And everything would have to participate in a role playing way. In other words fitting into the story of the game world. For example, say I own a huge city - the DU equivalent of Jita. Now Logitech wants to advertise their products to the many people that live in or travel through my city. So they pay Novaquark to advertise in the game and get the ability to put their ads in the places I’ve set up in my city for advertising. They would then need to create ads that role play to the story of DU. And finally if I as a player get enough ad revenue going to Novaquark from my city I get some kind of in game rewards - like free play time / ship decals etc. I know JC has talked about the social networking part being a dream in the future; so maybe this could happen. The more I think about this - I have mixed feelings about it. It definitely needs to be done right - and if done wrong could definitely mess things up. 2 VR (in game) shopping. First off I am AGAINST buying game play advantage (other than play time) and gladly JC has said the same. So basically we are talking about in game decorative elements available to purchase. For example you could buy a new awesome gun model. It wouldn’t be more effective (the only way to do that would be upgrading your skills and tech by playing the game) but it would be way “cooler”. People like paying for pretty things and exclusive things. Other examples would be things to bling out your Avatar, Ship, or Base. I’m not sure what I think about people buying this stuff to sell in game for game play advantage. Maybe just make pricing such that that is a stupid strategy. I don’t know. Or just make it that purchased items cannot be sold in game. (ie my ship decal stays with me if I sell my ship) 3 Leveraging player created content. Here I’m not talking about things created in game; those kind of things would be sold in game with in game currency. I’m talking about things players create outside of the game and submit to Novaquark to have their cool thing added to the game. Novaquark would set up guidelines for compatibility with their system (format, data limit, bandwidth, creative vision etc) then I would create a cool decal that I want to put on my ship. I submit it to Novaquark for compatibility testing. (this part I don’t know how well this would work. Would Novaquark be able to do the work of testing all these submissions - and would it be worthwhile?) Anyway - it passes compatibility testing. Then I pay Novaquark to get to use it on my stuff in game. A higher price if I want it to be just exclusive to me - a lesser price if I want Novaquark to sell it to other players in game. This could potentially go so far as to include modders coming up with new features or even gameplay elements / mechanics. If it passes testing (technically / game play balance / and fits Novaquark’s vision for DU) then I would pay to have my “cool thing” added to the game. Basically you’re allowing the community to create bling and content to financially support the game and make things look “cooler” 4 A modification to the monthly subscription model. A way to get income from those who can’t handle the monthly subscription. There are so many people I know or have heard of that would be really into this game but can’t get around the monthly subscription idea. At $10/month that is $120/year. That’s a lot compared to other full price games at $60 that you can play for years. And for someone who is only able to play 2 hours/week ($1.16/hr) that’s too much to pay. While someone playing 200hrs/month is really getting their money’s worth ($0.05/hr over the course of a year). So my friends that I’m trying to get to play this game with me are saying - “Why should I be punished for not being able to play like a professional gamer 300 hours/month - even though I am willing to pay upfront for a ‘full-price’ game. And I can see their point. However I see Novaquark’s perspective too. DU is not like say COD where you can have people playing the same game 4 years later at no additional cost because COD has so many people buying their “new” version each year at full price plus DLC. DU may not have as much ‘mass appeal’ as COD and you won’t be able to play ‘the original version’ 3 years from now. Each new update will be the only option available. So here is my proposed solution - For $10 you get Unlimited hours and 1 month to use it = $120/yr (this is the baseline Novaquark has already announced) 6X hours and 2 month to use it = $60/yr (this seems to be somewhat a generic full price for a traditional game) 3X hours and 4 month to use it = $30/yr X hours and 6 month to use it = $20/yr Depending on Novaquark’s cost for maintaining data for an offline player + cost per hour of an online player + development and all other business costs; that will determine the value for X . I do not have such information. But perhaps it could look something like this. For $10 you get Unlimited hours and 1 month to use it = $120/yr (this is the baseline Novaquark has already announced) 300 hours and 2 month to use it = $60/yr 1800hr/yr 150 hours and 4 month to use it = $30/yr 450hr/yr 50 hours and 6 month to use it = $20/yr 100hr/yr If this setup doesn’t meet Novaquark’s income needs - I would propose adjusting the “hours” numbers not the price per month / price per year. (assuming of course that $10/month and unlimited hours is a good baseline) If you were to purchase the lowest tier and exceed it you would just be automatically bumped up to the next level. Such that once you spent $120 you would have unlimited hours and until the 1 year anniversary of your first purchase to use it. Hopefully you get the concept anyway. 5 VR(in game) space tourism. This idea would be different than the free trial period. This would be at some point when DU is famous and some casual outsider wants to see what’s up. So they sign up to be a virtual tourist. They pay Novaquark a small amount $1-$3/hr. Another player in game would need to be their tour guide. That player would show them around to all the famous places and creations - and help them experience various aspects of the game. They wouldn’t be allowed to roam around independently of their tour guide - but they could do things more at the tour guide’s skill level (with some restrictions). For example IRL I can pay to go to a gun range and shoot a .50 Cal or Minigun - but I can’t really own one myself. Other things to do in game would be additional charges (like tourist places do) The player who was the tour guide would promote / show off / try to get people interested in the game. If the tour guide is successful / popular they get in game rewards.

These are good ideas - I was thinking much more generically - how to introduce expansions in an immersive way. Not just one day an update and blam Star gates now exist in the game.

"You make good stuff Hilts" - Group Captain Ramsey Call sign "Cooler King" Organization info https://community.dualthegame.com/organization/hilts-independent-contracting I'll be building awesome ships and flying around. If you have a ship you would like built for you let me know. Or if you'd just like to fly together send me a message. Fly wrecklessly, Semper Fidelis, Captain Hilts

Here is another thread with some good ideas about this subject. https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/772-tech-research/&tab=comments#comment-6159

Good thoughts - Here are my thoughts https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/11655-research-and-development-game-mechanic/

So - file this under future “maybe” game mechanics. Proposed mechanic - players spend in game money on research this purchases a research “unit” Each “unit” equals a chance to develop a new technology. Game play balance - how much should they cost, how many should you be allowed to purchase. Blah, Blah, Blah, Something, something, balanced game play. Then when Novaquark develops and introduces to the game a new tech or element etc - a drawing takes place and the winner becomes the developer of the tech. For example when star gates are introduced - some player becomes the “discoverer” - they can then sell it - use it only themselves or choose to keep it hidden. Only for a certain period of time - then it becomes public domain. Another variation of this would be discovery of lost alien tech being introduced in a similar way. Another possible way to adjust game play balance of this mechanic would be to have multiple people become the developer. Or have the lost tech found in multiple locations.

How do you see Territory Claim working in this regard; given that Conquest and taking over someones territory by force is something we want to be a viable goal?