KlatuSatori

Welcome, I am not sure how much of the Dev blogs you have read to get an understanding of the overall game. 
 
While RPing is expected, and can take many forms, but I dont think you will get this. I'm sure for flat out harrassment there will be some sort of system in place, but I hope the take Eves viewpoint an are passive about most thing. I am sick of these games that cater to the 12 year old and must create a 'safe space' for evey time they get but hurt from something.
 If I cant attack someone just because they are RPing a scenario, then I would just always be RPing a scenario where no one kills me. Or maybe I was roleplaying a scenario where I attacked your escort, whos RP takes precedence then? The game will be a single persistent universe, meaning everyone is present in one world. While you can create what ever scenario you wish and RP it as you choose, you cannot expect others to follow along with it. Unless you have the military might to stop them, others can and will kill you or blow up your ships. 
 
Now there will be the pvp free zone around the Ark, here you will at least be free from someone killing you and blowing up your stuff. 

This is gonna be a long one probably so be ready. What if you could create an entire city or even bigger? Let's say you build yourself a nice guy in the middle of nowhere. A few days later someone stumbles upon it. They ask to stay the night and you accept. They say they want to live there but would need their own house. You build them a house and they begin spreading word. More people show up and you make more houses for them. You eventually grow into a small town with a marketplace and essential needs. Diverse people with different talents and abilities start working to let the town provide for itself. You slowly grow into a city with hundreds of people working their way to the top. You eventually grow large enough and make a safe town hall decked with guards and technology of security. You choose if your land is capitalistic communist etc. Hitmen begin showing giving needs for cops and other protective services. You control the laws of the land and immigration. Factories run and all is good or bad in your land, depending on how you run it. This was just a small idea I came up with while talking to my friend. She gave me the courage to actually write this as a suggestion so credit to her for that. Thanks for reading.

This is from very early on in development (earlier than the date shown) https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/39-props-generating-interaction-between-constructs-idea-from-estevan/:
 
 
I definitely recommend reading the devblogs to get a good idea of what they are doing with this game.  However on the building side, here's a very brief overview.
 
Voxel-based Elements (voxels for short) are basically shapes made of some material.
Mesh-based Elements (elements for short) are pre-designed, functional components.
Constructs are player-made designs made up of voxels and/or elements.
Distributed Processing Units (DPU's) are LUA programs that define what elements can do.  They are almost all pre-written, except...
Control Units are elements with a modifiable DPU.  You can write LUA functions to respond to other elements broadcasting events and then call functions from other elements.  As the name suggests, you can design a control system for your constructs.
 
We're not sure yet how the "anchors" mentioned in the quote will work, or even if they are still planned.  I imagine that something like that is still in the works but there's no info on it as far as I know.  I would be very surprised if there was no way to connect player constructs.

So I wanted to start a thread to discuss information gained from the trailer. I know it is a pre-alpha video, and they probably staged a few things in game just to show, but I still have questions from it as it is supposed to be in game video.  I will link the video again just so its here, besides I dont think you can link it eneough.   
        
 
Here are things I noticed right off and want more info on. 
 
1st: Fighter flight. 
When he gets in it immediately lifts off. This could be due to controls being active immediately when interacting with the cockpit, but the animation took longer. But how did it lift off? We know there is anti gravity, so that must be it since it only has rear thrusters. The 4 thrusters would allow you to bank and turn in an atmosphere, but not lift vertically like that. Also he turns in space with no thrusters to counter it and has slow speed banking in the atmosphere. 
 
I was under the impression we would need thrusters in all directions and they would also act about the center of mass of the ship. 
 
2nd: Hovering ships
The answer to the 1st may answer this one, but it is a bit different mechanic it seems to bring up. The large ships seem to hover there, some stationary some moving forward. I cant distinguish any downward thrusters or jets on them. We know we have anti grav technology, will we be able to use this to essentially make our craft float. I would think if thrusters were used it would be noticeable. Unless they are hidden with no thruster damage on. 
 
3rd: Exiting the planet. 
When he leaves the planet, turning upwards he enters space rapidly. There were no FF symbols as when he entered the second planet, but is that what happened? The video does seem to lurch forward indicating that is what happened. I assumed that the atmosphere would be at least a few KM thick, and you would have to climb in altitude before entering space. 
 
4th: Speed
While parts seem to be sped up, the ship in the beginning is moving pretty fast. Which leads me to wonder, will there be a max speed limit? Most games implement them for the sake of lag on servers, but will DU. If they do will it be sufficiently high enough so things like acceleration of craft play a more crucial role? In most voxel space games the limit is so low acceleration wasnt very crucial, since there wasnt much of a different, you take 10 or 20 seconds to get to max speed. But if it took 10 or 20 min, that would matter. 
 
5th: Building
When he places the blocks and cockpit, it instantly appears. No slow construction as the nanoformer assembles the pieces. Will all building be this fast? Is it just because it was small that it seemed to build instantaneously, and larger builds will have a delay? Or maybe there is only a build time when doing it from a blueprint or snapshot. 

nice trailer, makes me really happy that i'm in the alpha

While the game universe can be expanded indefinitely, it's not infinite, or at least shouldn't be, in a practical sense.  Taking the first six months after launch as an example again, no one will be able to expand beyond the starting planet, so essentially the universe will be a single planet for practical purposes.  Even then, right at launch, getting to the other side of the planet should not be something you enter into lightly.  Maybe it takes a month to build a vehicle that's fast enough to circumnavigate the globe in 5-10 hours.  Once building practices are established it becomes easier.  This progressive improvement should sit hand in hand with the expansion of inhabited areas and the expansion of the active player base.
 
To be honest, I wouldn't want to see resources becoming a non-issue in terms of warfare.  There are lots of reasons entities will fight - just for the fun of it being one - but the most interesting are over things like resources.  The fighting is all the more meaningful and fierce if it is over something that matters.  I think this is another point for the OP - resources should not be too evenly spread out such that you never need to fight over valuable territory.
 
At the same time, a determined group of people willing to explore beyond inhabited space for weeks, or even months, should be able to do so as well.  I think this is the advantage of a procedurally generated universe.  If a group of players can't get established because they lost an important war or can't get a foot in the door, they can find somewhere else to set up, as long as they are determined.
 
So I think a balance needs to be found between scarcity, abundance, and distribution of resources.  It's a very sensitive area and the algorithms used to generate the universe need to be finely tuned.  Not an easy job but I've got faith in NQ to get it right

I think there's getting to be a lot of overlap between this thread and the Hotspots for Empire Building thread.  Procedural generation allows the universe to be as large as necessary, not necessarily "infinite".  A virtually infinite universe would not be a good thing.  What we want is meaningful, emergent conflict between players and player organisations.  That is driven by putting players close together and forcing them to fight over resources and such.  Travelling far beyond inhabited space should be difficult, and something only the most dedicated explorers undertake.  Building an empire far beyond inhabited space is even more difficult, because you need a large group of players willing to travel a long way.
 
As the player base expands, new technologies can open up more of the universe.  What you don't want is 100 players spread across a huge planet, or 1000 spread across a massive solar system, etc, because no one will ever see each other!
 
EDIT:
What I am trying to say is that population density needs to be between a certain minimum and maximum value in order to drive emergent gameplay in a true MMO.  Density is dependent on the number of players in the game and size of the inhabited areas of the universe.  The size of the inhabited areas is directly dependent on the speed you can travel.  So the available techs is how you control population density.

@Saffi
I agree that planets and minerals are not the only things worth finding, and that "alien archaeology" may be a thing as well as good in-space plots for building a military or trading outposts.  I'd like to see exploration have many forms - not just the motivations as those are numerous and the extent of them cannot be foreseen - but the methods and the discoveries, from looking at whole solar systems down to exploring a single cave on a barely-colonised planet.
 
I take take or leave the naming of discoveries.  If first discoverers get to name the discovery, just let current territory owner rename it.
 
@nora
I don't see why you would want to force every organisation to constantly be on the move.  If an organisation of say 100 players can live on 2 territory tiles on a planet in a sustainable way, why would you want to limit their gameplay style?  Personally I wouldn't like to see planets getting strip-mined easily.  I want to see a dense universe that players can survive in, not a shallow one that gets eaten from the inside out and requires constant expansion to be sustainable.
 
I'd like to see all kinds of gameplay at the organisation level.  Some organisations could just live on an orbiting space station that they built and maintain as a trading outpost and base for passers by.  Others  might never leave the starting planet, with an aim of getting the largest piece of Alioth that they can.  Others might want small colonies on multiple planets across multiple star systems, others might be nomadic... or anything else you can think of.  This might be off topic, lol...

It's not about it being a cakewalk, it's about having the rock to break the scissors. It's about having balanced, well considered defences.
 
All I'm saying is there should be a vast array of choices for defences. Shields should be one of your choices, not necessarily the best or worst choice, just a choice.

I love the idea of organisation or player having a kind personal reputation "currency" which can be earned through any means deemed worthy by the organisation.  I think that is an excellent way for people to keep track of friends and enemies.  Obviously individual players will not have as detailed a system as big organisations, but nothing should stop them.
 
Remember though, that stargates are something for down the line, not something anyone is going to have for quite some time.  Let's say an organisation has a radar units on and around their territory and areas of operation.  Whenever they detect a player it checks if they have any organisation-issued tags.  Everything up to that point is possible from the information we have so far.  The act of giving tags to other entities (entity = player or organisation) has not been described beyond the word "give".  But I think it would be safe to assume that there will be automated way to give tags to entities, whether it is built in to the game, or preferably using some kind of element, say a Policy Unit (bad name, sorry).  So Radar Units are all set up with Policy Units and a simple Control Unit assigns tags to unknown players.  This tag could be anything the organisation wants it to be.  It could have a whole load of sub-tags within to it that deal with, as you say, donating credits or killing enemies of the empire, etc.
 
Another idea - a Broadcast Unit.  Something that issues automated messages to players like in the example you give (give us money in exchange for rep) but removed from stargates.  Similarly, very large, but welcoming, organisations can set up offices at entry points to their territory where they deal with visitors in person.
 
Regarding how tags will work, they will all be associated with powers, duties and warranties, if you recall.  Any tag can be created that grants a power to an entity given that certain duties are fulfilled, and the tag can be revoked subject to warranties being fulfilled.
 
Regarding Market Units, they haven't said anything about two Market Units needing to be at least a certain distance apart and I don't see why it should be that why.  What they have said is that you will only be able to see what is in a local Market Unit (one that you are actually standing next or that is within a certain radius? can't remember which is true).  But there will also be Information Units which can be networked together to get information on distant markets.  Beyond that we have little information.
 
Market Units will have a set of predefined powers associated with them.  I imagine one of them will be the power to trade at the market.  So the owner of the unit can grant or revoke this right as he/she sees fit (and hopefully automatically with a system like I outlined above).  It would be cool if you could dynamically assign tax rates to certain people depending on which tags they have or how much reputation they have.
 
I think I've waffled semi-coherently long enough for now  

Long have we waited, and longer still shall we continue to wait.
 
My friends, in this chaotic world we find ourselves in on Alioth there are no empires or factions left standing.
Due to certain events it seems that no force is capable of establishing itself as the leading directive over us humans.
And as such, there will be no NPC factions for us to join as you would in E.VE.
 
So all these independent guilds of any style, little corporations to giant factions, are going to be using market nodes. It hasn't been well defined how a market node will work exactly, if they are going to be regional, who decides the regions, if they just have a sphere of influence that makes some some sense but not entirely, for instance can multiple Market Units be placed inside of each others sphere of influence.
Will the market units communicate with each other prices, is that something players could link together if the Market Unit owners are friendly.
 
And on the Note of the market units, how could players from a different guild peacefully go and buy something from some other guild without just being blown up on sight for being an unknown.
 
I'd like to merge the ideas of E.VE and SW.G, with a reputation similar to the first, and a status declaration system similar to the second.
Leaving it to guilds to decide what a good reputation is, or even adjusting it by regions or specific Territory Units. Naturally pirates wouldn't care to obey the laws, but they'll also have to establish their own networks and way to get to any said system, Rogue Gates essentially.
 
Anyhow, allowing guilds to establish these settings, they can have tags automatically apply to players to come through their stargates.
Just for instance, you are this trader and you fly up to this other guilds Stargate and it asks you:
1.) Do you want to purchase faction reputation
2.) Turn in faction tokens for reputation
3.) Use gate (requires X reputation level)
 
So you go through the gate and are automatically declared a non-hostile player by whomever administrated that gate, because they have it setup to do so. Now that you have this non-hostile tag (akin to being a On-Leave player in SW.G) you can't be attacked by players unless you commit some sort of crime.
Now you are free to join up and do missions from their terminals.
Use their market units without fear of being murdered. etc.
 
By allowing players guild to use this variable that could be adjusted by region, or TU, and thus creating the allusion of Security Ratings throughout player empires.
(Stargate) <Any Player> <action (use)> <requirement> <reputation> <greater than or equal to (+-0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)>
 
A major benefit would be that Factions can organize the construction of the expensive stargates, and it grants access to a shared network.
The bonus of a Faction, or a Nation / Empire running the networks over just independent guilds, is the comfort of knowing there is a standard and uniform central authority running the gate networks. Not just some pirate group running a gate that's free on one side, and then charges a toll to go back.
 
------
An idea for distributing guild tokens
 
-Guilds be able to create a blanket tag for <Any Player> <Kill> <Target> <With> <Reputation> <Below> <Amount (+-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)> <Receives> <Item (Guild Token)> <By Mail>
-------
 
It would be really nice to have some real information on just how guilds are going to be able to function.
Do you intend to create a graphical user interface to easily manage the relations, hierarchy, legates, tags, and options of guilds. Will we really be able to use the tags and RDMS to create a guild that work akin to a Nation. Is it too early for NovaQuark to provide an Alpha example of the options in the RDMS, and if tags will be player made or chosen from a list of premade ones? Some of the things that are important to making these systems work, as I believe it, is to allow players to assemble all the building blocks themselves. Having no limit on the number of guilds and players in an organisation.
And creating a mix of the RDMS and Tags that allows players to assemble virtually any link they can come up with.
 
Before we players are able to finalize our ideas on what, might or might not be possible though. We need to know about those Tags.
If you are going to create the list of tags then can a NQ post be made on the options players would like to see in the RDMS and Tags.

It's not about it being a cakewalk, it's about having the rock to break the scissors. It's about having balanced, well considered defences.
 
All I'm saying is there should be a vast array of choices for defences. Shields should be one of your choices, not necessarily the best or worst choice, just a choice.

I think it's a nice opportunity for corporations and merchants.
 
Possibility of building and placing billboard in the selected location. For example close to a planetary base or city, near space station.
On billboards we could place texts and pictures advertising our business in DU. What is displayed on the billboard could change.

Force fields, yes, but none with absolute protection, damage should increase the energy consumption and thus be able to break the shields if the energy runs low.

At absolute minimum functionality a thruster might not need anything other than an attached power source to work.  But it depends on how power is supplied to units that need power... it might require a control unit.
 
So, more speculation but:
 
If thruster fuel is required, it is supplied by a fuel tank.
If power is required, it is supplied by a power source.
If the power source requires fuel then supplied by the same or a different fuel tank.
If overheating of elements is a thing, a coolant system should be attached to each element that might overheat.
In addition you'll want a sensing device to check the amount of fuel left, unless this functionality is provided by the tank itself.
Sensing devices to check the temperature of the elements.
 
I would guess that everything there is an element and has a DPU, so throw in a Control Unit with some functions that:
 
- listen for fuel below a certain capacity and react - maybe provide visual and/or audio cues to a HUD
- listen for temperature above a certain level and react - provide info as above, or automatically reduce speed in order to allow the elements to cool down, or increase coolant power or coolant levels if available
- listen for damage/health above/below certain levels and provide HUD feedback, or call defense system functions to increase power to shielding in that area
- functions for increasing/decreasing thrust and setting thrust levels
- functions for increasing and decreasing power/fuel supplied to the thruster in order to increase performance or divert power to other systems that need it more
- auto functions that make the above decisions themselves based on simple logic - maybe not the best option but if you're shorthanded or in a tight spot and need to focus attention elsewhere it could be useful.

Lots of agreement from me on Saffi's post.  That is exactly how I think overheating will be implemented assuming it is.  And the stuff on fuel as well - there might be some types of thruster that require a fuel source, others that only need a power source.  Then there's fuel for power sources - probably the same again here?
 
The atmospheric pressure and temperature thing was something I asked about a long while back.  This was the answer:
 
 

It might be useful to look at what subsystems real spacecraft have.
 
Structures and Mechanisms
Obviously needed for building.  Mechanisms aren't essential but useful in some cases, like docking.  NQ have mentioned moving parts, so if they've implemented them then they are surely controllable with a DPU.
 
Thermal Control Subsystem
Ambient temperature of the environment isn't going to be implemented but that doesn't mean there won't be overheating of powered constructs when they're left for too long or stressed.
 
Communication Subsystem
Probably not needed because teamspeak.  On the other hand remote communication with a receiver could be very cool, as DevisDevine points out.  Actually, maybe a comms system could also allow communication with nearby entities who you don't know, but it depends on what the in-game chat system will be like.
 
Propulsion Subsystem
Already confirmed.  Is fuel confirmed? Didn't think it was but I might have missed it.  Definitely lots of scripting potential here for auto-piloting and such.
 
Attitude Control Subsystem
Hopefully this will be included if the spaceflight model is some kind of Newtonian physics.  Lots of scripting potential for performing preset manoeuvres.
 
Power Subsystem
Already confirmed.  Whether diverting power to different systems to give them a boost or priority will be a thing, I don't know, but it would be really cool.  You could have Star Trek style "Red Alert" and "Yellow Alert" modes amongst others.
 
Command and Data Handling Subsystem
As Ripper says, there are DPUs but will it be necessary to have some kind of data storage device for stuff like exploration data?  Also, there might be some interesting architecture options here.  A central DPU that controls everything, or a decentralised system where each subsystem does its own thing, or an event driven architecture, and many more that I need to read up about...
 
Life Support
I don't think this will be implemented as all construct environments will be safe, unless that's changed.
 
 
Other things I can think of:
 
Anti-gravity Device
Depends on whether this will be automatic for construct environments. Might be cool to have the option to not include one, or to be able to turn it off. There's another recent thread that discusses this.  https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/528-zero-g-ship-interior/
 
Weapons
Projectiles, missiles, particle beams, etc, etc.  Same scripting options here as with any weapons, though you might be able to tie it in with manoeuvres mentioned above.  Ultimately though, I think manning guns will be the best option by far.  Scripting might useful for reloading in some instances or at least helping with it.
 
Defences
Shields, armour, cloaking devices, etc, etc.  Hard to say what kind of stuff you could do here as we have virtually zero info.
 
Sensors
I can imagine a whole vast array of sensing equipment.  Planetary mapping, territorial resource scanning, asteroid field composition scans, anti-cloaking scanners, ship scanners, etc.  Again, hard to say what can be done here.
 
Navigation
This was mentioned by DevisDevine and by NQ a while back.  Not really sure what this would be like.
 
FTL Drive
Again, hard to say what kind of stuff can be done here without knowing anything about the mechanics.
 
 

Sorry but no, definitively no.
Everybody want to get a reward or appreciation for his/her work and there is nothing wrong with it.
Like I already said they should be able to sell there scripts InGame.
 
And with our new knownledge we can say that they dont whould have an to big Advantage.

Valid concerns, but I think you're missing some pieces of the puzzle.
 
I think your real concern is that small bases of operations for solo players and small organisations will be repeatedly destroyed by raiders, thieves, pirates, privateers, and other, larger groups of settlers.  Let me just say first of all that I don't think your solution would help in that regard, first because it is not losing inventory that is the problem, it is losing buildings, and second because solo players and small groups are much less likely to claim territory, partly because TU's are rare and expensive, partly because there will be little need to.
 
So the answer to the problem of small groups getting bullied back into safe territory is to give them the tools to protect themselves.  "Protection" can come in many forms and a lot of it is built in to the game world.  For example, the game universe is massive and varied.  Small groups can travel far into the unknown and set up camp at a location where others are unlikely to find them.  They can choose a location that is hidden away such that passers by could come close without even noticing there is a settlement there.  Or choose a location that has great natural defenses and set up automated weaponry and shielding that fires at anyone who comes within range and doesn't have the correct tags (see the rights and duties blog for more on this).  But there are other options too.  You could ally yourself with other small groups and form a defensive pact.  Or just ally yourselves with a military organisation who do nothing but PvP, but fight for "good", protecting the weak, etc.  Or, hire mercenaries on a case by case basis, whenever trouble comes along.  Or use diplomacy and come to an agreement with the local bullies (read: protection money).  Or you can use some combination of two or more of all of those ideas.  The possibilities go on, and there are far more than I can think of here.
 
However, even with all of that there will be great losses in the game.  Without great losses there can be no great victories, no great stories; no cycle of creation/construction/destruction/reconstruction.
 
Check out this devblog that discusses PvP, it gives a good indication of where NQ are coming from.  https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2014/09/13/arkship-security-or-where-does-pvp-starts/
 

Hi everyone! 
 
This topic raises very important ideas and concerns.
 
We are perfectly aware that not every player that will be interested in Dual Universe will be a naturally talented voxel-based spaceship designer. or even interested to be one. That's why, right from the beginning, we plan to have generic blueprints available, to avoid that - even it's a very improbable scenario - some organizations recruit all the builders to build only for them.
 
We are planning to do the exact same thing for the LUA scripts: having some decent generic ones available to all players right from the beginning, to avoid any monopolistic situation, because not every player is a natural born developer.
 
That way, we expect each player to be able to build, buy and use decent static or mobile constructs.
 
We want to promote creativity freedom, not monopole. Monopole is not fun.
That being said, creativity freedom comes at a price: in order to remain fun on the long term, a game needs to be balanced.
We don't want to sacrifice everything on the creativity freedom's altar. There's a need to find the right balance. So as much as we don't want to intervene, it might happen that the dev team will implement some limits to LUA scripts at some point, if this is really necessary for the sake of the game and the global fun experienced by the community. Or maybe it won't be necessary. We'll see. The thing is the team can't anticipate all problems... but we can definitely react to them.
 
Will the organizations having talented coders in their ranks get an edge over others? Probably.
But the same could be said for organizations having pro-gamer level players, that can win fights on 1 vs 3.
The same could be said for organizations having 10, 20 times the number of people than others. There is strength in number as well.
This is part of the game too.
 
Best regards, 
Nyzaltar.

Some of the early screenshots suggest that ships will rely on artificial gravity, though I was hoping it would be practical to design a large ship with no artificial gravity.  I would imagine that artificial gravity generators would probably be pretty time and resource intensive; even if they are relatively cheap it would still be nice to have the style choice.  One thing that bugs me in Space Engineers is that you can't move around without either gravity or a jetpack, though using a jetpack inside a space ship is probably a bad idea.  Here are some of my ideas on this:
 
First thing's first, don't lock the player character in a standing position.  Space Engineers (among others) tend to keep the character in an upright position facing forward as if they were standing up even when there is nothing to stand on.  This tends to cause the character's legs to bump into door frames and things unless either the doors are oversize or the player lines up perfectly.  If the character were set to something closer to a swimming position it would be much easier to get around and the interior corridors could be made smaller.
 
Next up, handholds.  At a basic level they can be made to work like a ladder in most games, though it would also be nice to see something resembling a simplified variant of Assassin's Creed's free climbing system, possibly with other context-sensitive movements depending on how difficult this system would be to program.  With somewhat narrow corridors and regularly spaced handholds you should be able to pull yourself along fairly easily without having to use a jetpack.
 
Finally, magnetic boots.  This could be used as an easy way out, though they could also be used to interesting effect if you can switch them off and jump across the room at any time, with or without a jetpack.  Also, if someone tries to dictate which surface is the floor you do not have to agree with them.

Shhh... I was angling for a devblog

I agree with Saffi that there could be a whole lot of different roles for spaceship crew members, but not with his estimates of how many people will be manning said ships. From the above, they are definitely not going half way with multiplayer ship crews. A battleship, I mean real huge ship like 250+ metres (820+ft) long really would require dozens or maybe even hundreds of real players to fly at full strength. 
Automation will be relatively basic. Droids will be used primarily for simple repetitive tasks.
 
EDIT
There's a caveat to all that though. Players will design ships themselves. So you could build a ship the size of battleship which has limited functionality such that its full complement is just 5 players but could be piloted by even just a single player. Would this ship be able to compete with a 100 man ship of a similar size? Would you be better off with a much smaller 5 man corvette?

Hi AstroFerret,
 
Here are the answers I can give you at the moment:
a ) The research gameplay mechanics are in a stage too early to give you a proper answer. However, we have taken note of the ideas you mentioned
b ) If you build something in a safe zone, it won't be destructible by other players. We are also thinking of ways for player to not abuse the mechanics in a military way (an undestructible military fortress wouldn't be fun).
c ) That question is quite vague. Could you develop a bit more?
d ) Ideas of NPC: primitive creatures born on the planets you explore and NPCs helping bootstrapping the economy are the most certain types that will be implemented. We remain opened to discussion for other ideas, but keep in mind Dual in Universe is not a game where the main activity will to interact with NPCs. The goal is to incite to interact with other players.
 
Best regards,
Nyzaltar.

Hello. I just found out about this game, and immediately fell in love with the concept. There's a lot I wish to know that the FAQ does not cover, so I hope a couple of questions will be cleared up here.

(A): Will players be able to collect plant life, animals, or rare elements and geological markers to possibly put in containment systems, possibly cryo-stasis, or other forms of preservation as a means of showing off where they have been and what they explore? If so, will we also be able to "study" and develop new tech like medicine, armor, or better fuel from researching the things we find?

(: It says we can build basically anything we can imagine, and that there will be safe zones. Does this mean I can build a science and research facility as my home in a Safe Zone and it can't be destroyed by other players?

©: What type of flight mechanics will be used? I ask because I play everything from Kerbal Space Program (Orbital Mechanics), to Star Citizen. I'd like a good idea on what to expect, and what type of setup I need to best utilize the physics.

(D): From what I read, NPCs won't be in the early stages. Skip ahead, what are some of the ideas for NPCs and what will the encompass? Is it going to be the boring old pirates, traders, and military? Or will we see a far more diverse job list for NPCs?