HAPKOMAH

I think it's a great idea, it was all very nicely co-designed by the players. The final event was a great idea, unfortunately a bit disappointing due to the performance and lags, I didn't manage to find all of them in that time because I already had to go offline and each crate triggered what felt like 20-30 minutes of lag before you could open it. The buildings and theme were fantastic, too bad you couldn't really use any of it. I would have loved to ride the Ferris wheel or slide down the chutes, but unfortunately I got stuck.
Looking forward to the next event and really hope it will run more stable.

NQ made a very stupid move in marketing their product. They advertised PVP, the weakest mechanic in the game. And hid the strongest side - it's an amazing building system. As a result, the game got the completely wrong audience - people who were looking for battles and rivalry. And when they realized that they were deceived, then DU received negative reviews, and continues to receive it. At the same time, people who the game needed so much just passed by, thinking "why do I need PVP and wars, I'm a creative person with great artistic talents. I love to build and create beautiful things. So this game does not suit me."
I love DU but the developers their project and hurt me. It's a pity.

NQ made a very stupid move in marketing their product. They advertised PVP, the weakest mechanic in the game. And hid the strongest side - it's an amazing building system. As a result, the game got the completely wrong audience - people who were looking for battles and rivalry. And when they realized that they were deceived, then DU received negative reviews, and continues to receive it. At the same time, people who the game needed so much just passed by, thinking "why do I need PVP and wars, I'm a creative person with great artistic talents. I love to build and create beautiful things. So this game does not suit me."
I love DU but the developers their project and hurt me. It's a pity.

The lying started for me right at the start of beta. They had videos showing territory warfare and atmo-pvp. Both don't exist to this point in time. After several years. And that was under JC. They were just making things up without having anything to back it up. For me that is lying because they knew they had nothing but were still using it as an advertisment.

So for me, there were all sorts of small failures along the way (many in beta, some since) but they are all really just details next to the central problem.  One of the key features of the design for DU was that players would provide *all of the content*.  That meant that the game just needed to provide the mechanics and frameworks and literally everything else would be player driven.
 
Now players did actually try to do this.  There were people who created puzzles, etc for people to solve, created factions who fought each other, tried to build whole cities and many other interesting things.  The game and its developers seem to fight against content creators at every turn - recent examples being ship builders being put off because the stacked element checker means they have no way to know whether or not they are selling ships which will error 6 months later and warring factions being put off because nobody can shoot each other in battles.
 
Putting that aside though, I think that the one thing this game has proved beyond all doubt is that a game with solely player built content does not work.  You need to have some other content created by the game itself first in order to create gameplay loops that players can do when they aren't doing any group content.  A player needs to be able to just log in, play for 1/2 an hour, enjoy that time and profit from it.

So the one thing I would have done right away is add some background life to the game.  Put creatures in that might attack the player, make some basic challenges on the ground and in space, give players something to shoot at and reasons for doing so (protect base, get resources, whatever).  That would also give them a reason to team up, live in walled villages or space stations with a large shield, etc.  Some of this was in the original game design videos which were put out.  Then I would have built on it by adding more of a survival element to the game, adding PvE and NPCs to allow players to make their spaces more interesting.  I can build a huge space station but it has nobody in it at the moment, let me make it more interesting, make a bar where NPCs come and players I let in might be able to get missions from those NPCs.  I think that would have given players much more of a sense of shared purpose and struggle and a reason to come together into groups and play together.
 
As it is the game is, frankly, boring.  It's a game relying on player created content which literally deletes player created content on a regular basis made by a company which has no problem with breaking existing content and blaming that on the players trying to create it.  The world itself, and the constructs the game allows you to create, are fairly static and uninteresting too and it is difficult to come up with actual functions for many of the rooms in a construct.  I can add a bed but it has no use.  A lot of the cool stuff I see is just huge empty shell buildings with one or two rooms because people made them to look pretty rather than because they needed the space for things.

DEVBLOG: 1.4 LUA API UPDATE
 
Greetings, Noveans! This is NQ-Ligo again,
 
Some time ago, we redesigned the Lua API of Dual Universe, introducing new features and opening up many possibilities. Today, we’re launching the next major update to the game’s Lua, addressing the remaining fundamental issues and adding numerous new features.
 
In this post, I’ll present some upcoming 1.4 changes to give you ample time to adapt your creations. I’ll walk you through the changes we're making to the backend, as well as some cool additions to the game’s Lua API.
 
Fundamental Changes
 
Let’s start with the fundamental issues we had yet to address in the game’s Lua.
 
- Update of the Lua Environment
 
To leverage the optimizations and basic improvements in the Lua environment, we have updated it to version 5.4.4. You can review the changes on the official website of the language (https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/readme.html#changes. Still, please note the introduction of new features such as:
New generational mode for garbage collection
New attributes for variables (const and to-be-closed)
New implementation for math.random
New semantics for the integer 'for' loop
Optional 'init' argument to 'string.gmatch'
New function 'coroutine.close'
String-to-number coercions moved to the string library
New format '%p' in 'string.format'
 
- Replacement of the dkjson Library
 
For some time, we have been addressing performance issues with Lua systems. A significant factor related to these performance issues is the use of JSON. Thus, we reduced the use of JSON in favor of Lua tables. However, after consulting many of you, it appears that JSON is still widely used by our players. Hence, we decided to replace the dkjson library with the json.lua library (https://github.com/rxi/json.lua), a pure Lua library that is much more efficient.
 
We've added a compatibility patch to prevent your existing scripts from breaking.
 
- Boolean Type and Nil Support
 
Until now, booleans returned or used in the Lua API were treated as integers 0 or 1. While this may seem minor, it was crucial to resolve for several reasons, including performance and backend considerations.
 
Good news: we've now resolved this issue, allowing the Lua API to accept arguments and return real booleans! This will allow you to optimize your scripts.
 
Additionally, we've integrated nil. Until now, we could neither return nor accept nil as an argument. Again, while this may seem minor, resolving this issue allowed us to introduce the concept of optional arguments and optimize the Lua data stack. You will see its application in the additions we are introducing.
 
In addition to these visible fixes, we've made several backend improvements to the game's Lua binding. Consequently, we decided to use this opportunity to increase the instruction limit of the Lua environment (the limit that triggers the CPU OVERLOAD error). Starting from version 1.4, this limit will be increased from 2,000,000 to 10,000,000 instructions, accessible with the getInstructionCount and getInstructionLimit functions added to the Lua system API.
 
With this change in Boolean support, you will need to adapt your existing creations to ensure they continue to function as expected. We believe the benefits of these updates justify the effort and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we continue to improve the game's Lua environment.
 
Improvement of the Syntax Highlighting
 
We've enhanced the syntax highlighting in our code editor interface to simplify your coding experience. We understand that coding can be challenging, especially for beginners. That's why we took the time to create a straightforward syntax highlighting system to make coding in Dual Universe easier and more enjoyable.
 
While we've improved syntax highlighting, it isn't a full-fledged code analyzer. It's merely a tool to help you read and understand your code more easily. We aim to make coding more accessible and affordable for everyone, and we hope this update will contribute to that. The new system incorporates the coloring of APIs for system, unit, library, construct, player, and Lua operators.
 
Enrichment of the Lua Codex
 
We're thrilled to announce a new section in the Lua CODEX - the "Usage Example" section. This section provides detailed explanations and code examples to help you better understand how to use the functions within our API. It will be added to each function or event that requires further explanation.
 
We understand that learning to use a new API can sometimes be daunting, especially if you're new to coding. Therefore, we believe that providing examples, use cases, and deeper instructions on how to use the various functions in our API will help you better understand our game's API, making your coding experience more enjoyable.
 
 
Radar Data Pre-filtering
 
Despite our efforts to optimize and make the processing of radar data more flexible, particularly by integrating the getConstructs function to return the list of constructs in scope as a Lua table, we've considered and studied additional improvements.
 
Thanks to the integration of nil support in our Lua environment, we decided to improve the getConstructs function by adding the following optional pre-filters:
[bool] isMatching: True to filter out constructs with a matching transponder, false otherwise
[int] constructKind: The construct kind id to filter out constructs (Universe = 1, Planet = 2, Asteroid = 3, Static = 4, Dynamic = 5, Space = 6, Alien = 7)
[string] coreSize: The construct core unit size to filter out constructs ('XS', 'S', 'M', 'L', 'XL')
[bool] isAbandoned: True to filter out abandoned constructs, false otherwise
 
This filter is in the form of a table in the third argument of the getConstructs function. So you can, for example, filter:
{isMatching = true}, to list only constructs with a matching transponder
{isMatching = false, constructKind= 5}, to list only dynamic constructs with a non-matching transponder
As you can see, this filtering is combinable and optional, enabling you to filter the data you receive before processing it through Lua, allowing you to optimize your scripts.
 
Conclusion
 
We hope these updates and performance upgrades will improve your Lua experience in Dual Universe. There are still many other additions to the Lua API waiting to be discovered in this release. Happy exploring!

It might be fun to try to guess, but the prize is completely useless. Because it can not be converted back to Pure Gold.
In whole DU carefully avoiding of allowing players to get anything valuable from any shiny things they've found in the world. Be it lots of honeycombs, or abandoned factory with full crates of T1 components, there is no way to reprocess honeycombs or parts into basic resources or Pure metals.

Greetings Noveans!
 
February is here and love is in the air! 
We think it is a great time to show our love for our players by offering the chance to get some free goodies with the “Luv Me DU” event.

“Luv Me DU” Event Details:
 
Stop on by and get your free gifts from the “Luv ME DU” Event dispenser, which is located in the center of the Alioth Exchange, in front of the Red Hall, here:
 
::pos{0,2,24.3790,99.3714,123.9987}
 
The “Luv ME DU” dispenser will be available until Monday February 20th 2023 @ 18:00 UTC.
 
Along with the free loot, there will be the makings of your very own Luv ME DU Decoration construct.
 
We would really LUV to see your best screenshots, of you and your Luv Me DU construct, in your favorite location or interesting situation.

You can share your screenshots here in this thread, or send them along to the Community Spotlight.

We want to send our appreciation out to our players, and thank you all for being part of Dual Universe!
 

I know this idea has been thrown around a bit and there's older topics discussing the matter, but allow me to propose an argument before spamming this with messages about how annoying food mechanics are in games...
 
The core of this argument is simple: there's no reason to build anything except vehicles and factories, because they're the only things that serve a purpose in the game... none of which is even a real necessity that anyone has to do, it's simply done because there's nothing else to do (for the majority). Sure, we could build houses and cities and all this stuff we usually call "civilization", but we don't and we won't... because all that "civilization" stuff in real life mostly revolves around storing food, purchasing food, and places to consume food at. In history, the invention of agriculture is what really kick-started the rise of civilization as we know it since it created the need for things like trade, markets, and currency by virtue of having a growing supply that's in high demand (because you die if you don't have it).
 
Pros of introducing food into the game:
- More ways to play the game and things to do (e.g. agriculture, businesses serving food, businesses storing food, processing food, shipping food, etc)
- Reasons for factories that don't revolve around vehicles (e.g. processing raw food into products and a legit need for building supplies for storing food)
- Guaranteed essential supply chains when everybody needs food and not everywhere is capable of growing it
- A reason to build houses, cantinas, taverns, warehouses, grocery stores, and ultimately cities since survival elements like food create a demand for that stuff when people want to be close to where the needed supply is
- More social content and places to gather/hang at (e.g. I'm sure some of us would love to build some Mos Eisley-esque cantinas on not-so-habitable-planets for shady deals to go down at)
- Long voyages needing to be planned with food stocks in mind and supplying multi-crew vessels with enough food for everyone (yes this is a Pro because it adds to the complexity of travel which makes things more interesting... thus more "gameplay")
- Spaceships and buildings actually having a reason to have things like a mess halls, kitchens, dining rooms, bathrooms (makes more sense to roleplay bathrooms when there's consumeables), must-have storage that's not just for hauling shipments, or even something as simple as a table and chairs for people to congregate around for meals (more roleplaying stuff)
- Wars fought over soil rich planets/territories, because food has real value as a nessecity and thus is always high in demand... if you control the food supply, you control the people
- Pirates can disrupt food supply chains and cause a very noticeable effect on whoever the supply was intended for, which gives a reason for groups to form to protect the transporting of food and thus more gameplay
- "Food" doesn't even have to be limited to just things you eat and can easily be expanded to all sorts of consumeables once the basic "Consume Item" foundation code is there, which opens up all sorts of avenues for more content, gameplay, and roleplaying (e.g. beverages, healing items, poisons, etc, etc)
- Tons of things I'm sure I haven't even thought of yet that arise simply from a resource being a necessity and not merely in demand because players are bored
 
Cons of having food in the game:
- You occassionally have to consume an item and some people find that annoying
 
 
In Summary, DU is boring and lifeless compared to what it could be simply by adding food.
 

As strange as it may sound, immortality makes this game lifeless.  There is not enough survival mode. Production and storage of products. Oxygen is used both for growing food and for breathing. Refueling the power suit. An external environment that can kill. Game bots. Even decorative items could be useful. For example, storage cabinets.  Portable flowerbeds for growing a small amount of food on the ship. It is beautiful for interior decoration and practical. And many more similar little things would give the game life.

Some basic survival loops would be good. 

We really need more reasons for our base then looking pretty or working in the factory.  

Not a bad idea. The core makes plasma extraction with the least effort. The ability to make is also interesting, but I would add the ability to find plasma or high-level items at points of interest that drop out randomly in dangerous space, this will add meaning to look for abandoned objects that few people need now.  For large corporations, this will not provide interest, but for small ones it will.

Dear developers of the Dual Universe game!

What do you think about the resources that are owned by the two largest corporations?
Are there any plans to add a drop of justice for the rest of the community, which also needs rare resources? In particular, we are talking about plasma and the inability to build a warp beacon without this component. Or do you think that long flights add interest to the game?
Add the possibility of obtaining rare resources in other ways, even if with great risk, or exclude this resource from the components of the construction of a warp beacon.

Will we ever get the ability to see and compare what talents are applied to elements/constructs?  This is one of the most frustrating parts of the whole game. Other updates look great. 

(By TheBlender, Fringe Exoplanet Cartel)

Had fun with this project. Gotta show the haters who the OG RGB dude is 😎

More to come!

Step 1: Create A Standalone Client (Single Player):

This needs to be local client, that requires no login server from Dual Universe in the case Novaquark fails as a company.
This way players can continue to playing the game without having to stress on if their creative work and invested play time will evaporate.

Remove your broken economy from Single Player. Enable Creative mode like NQ-Ripley had on stream.
The fact that Ripley can access a stand isolated instance from test/live server, means a version of a stand alone client already exists.
 

Step 2: Export/Import our Construct Files into Standalone from Live or Test Server:
The files exist probably server side on your end, however, the ability to request the file if we have Core Blueprint would enable players to protect their past creations in single player client.


Step 3: Make VR Compatible: 
Make the game work with VR headsets, or at least have the configuration points for players to make their headset work with Dual Universe.
By this point you could market Dual Universe (Single Player) as a stand alone meditative 3D building experience.

This could be packaged as a standalone product, given to anyone who has subbed to DU for more than 3 months by Jan 1st 2023. 
You could then sell it to new players, for another cash injection. I think it would do way better, and players would love it, without the FORCED, BROKEN, RAGEWORTHY GRIND!
 

Step 4: Make Players Able to Host Small Servers:
This way players can play with friends or find people DU discord to play with, a lot like RUST, Valheim, Space Engineers, etc.
 

Step 5: Implement Cash Shop
So you have a survivable injection of cash so you can pay contract artist to develop more cosmetics players can purchase monthly.
 

Step 6:  Create Modding Tools for Single Player Client:
You have told a THOUSAND TIMES to give us tools! Get out of our way, you obviously no longer have the energy/gas in the tank to do better than weak right/click point systems. We can do better than that, give us the ability to prove it, show you what we as a community can do, and what could be done in this game in a fun way.

Most of the people didn't lose their love of the actual game or it's concept, the lost faith in Novaquark to deliver what Dual Universe could be.

This is probably my last post on these forums, and I doubt it will make a bit of difference or good, but YOU CAN'T SAY we didn't try to help you save yourself!

P.S. in the meantime you can even keep your "MMO" server online until you manage to run it into the ground. Just give us a chance to save our time/work.
 

So sad but so true. Many of us know it for years since NQ started the death spiral of limiting progression in order to save costs just to be forced to save even more costs because players are leaving. In a way I even admire NQ for keeping the game alive this way so long. But now the end is in sight. Given the current deflation I will not be able anymore to pay the tax for my tiles in two or three weeks. Than I will move my stuff to Heaven or Sanct and watch the game dying.
 
I really wish the game to survive, but I do not see how that should work. Who would invest the required cash into a project in such a desolate state? Looking at the company formerly known as Facebook it seems not even a good idea anymore to sell it as metaverse. What we need is a miracle and that's very unlikely.

Good post.
 
The concept of DU has so much potential. It is so frustrating with how it has been managed over the years and now. The arrogance of NQ is shocking.
 
I am still enjoying DU and agree the future seems bleak. Little communication and changes that make a challenging game more so for new players, solos, and small orgs. I get that NQ is trying to slow progression. Problem is they are strangling players out, who can’t or can just barely keep up.
 
For now I plan to enjoy DU while it lasts. 

I wasn't going to write this post. It was also a post I never actually thought I would have to write, but events since release two months ago led me to this point. 
 
I don't post a great deal on these forums, but I'm an avid reader and professional lurker since joining at the Alpha stage. I try to keep my finger on the community pulse and to keep up to date on updates and the general buzz. I've played since Alpha and mostly enjoyed all the time I've spent. There has been many times when DU has fought against me and attempted to break me down. However I was always sold, like many others, on that potential carrot on a stick of "What if?".
 
Over the DU development since 0.23 and beyond, the community was gutted due to the introduction of schematics. As updates and patches were introduced to the game, I've watched with dismay the amount of players with high standing in the community, slowly turn on NQ and Dual Universe when they get that stark realisation that this game is never going to live up to that perceived potential. Some go quietly into the night, others announce their vitriol for a few weeks before quitting with much fanfare. 

Being a player since Alpha affords me an ability to see the bigger picture of what I perceive has been going on:
 
If you look at all the updates since Beta started and outside of some balancing updates to PVP and visual upgrades, everything else has been implemented to cut costs due to what I believe as woeful inadequacies at the design and concept level. The vision of this game and what was perceived could be done, didn't match the budget available and the technology. In short, the game that NQ wanted to make didn't match what they could afford to do. Hence, I believe, this is why JC was ousted and the company is now ran by the main investment company (who I feel wants their investment back). The game has had its life and soul gutted out of it, and with every "improvement" it takes another little piece of itself away.
 
When the announcement came that this game was going to be released, I'm pretty sure we as the community, were in the unanimous agreement that it was way too soon. The game was undercooked and needed a lot more time before it was ready. Any development company who wanted their undercooked product to survive would of released it as an early access product. However, Novaquark is a business ran by an investment company who wants to recoup. Keeping the game in another few years of beta or early access wasn't going to make them anywhere near the money needed to recoup. With no new investment, there was only one possible course of action, throw it out the door and see if it sinks or swims. Unfortunately they forgot to teach it how to swim or provide any floatation aids.
 
I don't want to be one of those doomsayers who, when they're not happy with the state of the game will immediately declare "zomg, this game is dead!" But It saddens me to say that, that is what I now believe. It died sometime ago when Novaquark realised that under the budget they currently have that there was no way they could afford the server costs to make it work as intended. It just took some of us longer than it should to see it for what it is.
 
So what is the immediate future? If you look at the current lack of content and updates, all that we're really getting is the completion of the supporter goals that should of been ready on release. Beyond that, as of writing this, nothing, no road map, nothing. No enthusiasm from Novaquark, no excitement, nothing. 
 
Can the game be saved? In short, no. To do this, the game would need a large, fresh influx of money, coupled with a long protracted development time to essentially re-release and reinvent itself. We are at the point of no return though. NQ, I think are running on fumes and they know it. Releasing the game, wiping and increasing the subscription prices and then going essentially dark speaks volumes to their future plans. 
 
I do wish it wasn't this way, and I am kicking myself a little for having to write one of these posts, but I felt it needed to be said. I know this game will still have its staunch defenders (I was one of them) who will go down fighting to the very last day. But this week the game broke me. As I logged in and did my busywork and realised I was barely able to cover my costs to keep the lights on with no real goal of progression any more, my love, passion and perceived potential for the game melted away. 
 
I appreciate my rantings here are purely opinion and conjecture, but if you take the time to take a long hard look at the past few years of this games development, the clues are there. Many of us already know it and made their comments known on the various channels. The tone and overall feelings of the community are at an all time low right now and that should tell you everything as to what the community is currently feeling. 
 
I'd love to be proved wrong, I still want the game to succeed, but my joy and passion, like many others past and present in this community, is gone and it would take a truly Herculean effort on the part of NQ to get it back again. However, judging by recent efforts I won't be holding my breath.

Hello Noveans,

It has recently come to our attention that a number of static constructs have been deployed at an altitude above what we previously had defined as the vertical limit of around 1000m.  At this time we are unsure why this limit is not being applied as intended, and we are currently investigating this issue in order to resolve this.

As we are revisiting this limit while it is not currently functioning, we will be exploring our options to implement a more adjustable approach in order to have different limits for different planets. If successful we will also eventually be including this value at a later date in the shipped atlas.lua file, allowing Lua control units to also read this value for each planet and use it to fly above static constructs.

Why are you stifling my dream of building a tower that connects a moon to a planet!?
We also want to be clear about the reason for this limit, it is not here to stifle your dreams of building large towers and structures made of multiple static constructs. It is here, so we can ensure a reasonably safe boundary layer for atmospheric flight by all our players without the concern of encountering a random building in your flightpath while flying at high speeds. Chances are, the build limits will likely be slightly more accommodating than the previous system and allow for slightly more building height in the end, this however remains to be seen.

So what about the existing constructs that are not adhering to this restriction?
Well, as we are unsure why this build limit suddenly deactivated and we are refining it anyway. We will allow these constructs to remain for two weeks beyond the implementation of the new height restriction system. Two weeks after the new restrictions are in place, we will begin removing  or moving any static constructs beyond the defined altitude limit of each planet to ensure they are not inside the boundary layer. Keep an eye on the upcoming change logs for a list of the altitudes for each planet.

I hope this clears up any and all confusion on the topic, and thank you all for reading.
- NQ-Deckard

The game feels more empty without the additional planets. 

I think the game version on beta release was superior to current version overall. Even with all it's bugs and issues it felt more fun. 

I honestly feel the number one change that needs to happen is that the servers need to close, and people need refunded whatever % can be refunded. (unpopular opinion)
 
Why would I say such a horrendous thing?!
 
1. Novaquark intentionally released a game, not ready for full release.
2. Novaquark upped the price of subscription to prey on community FOMO (fear of missing out), so they could get a pre-launch cash injection.
3. Novaquark obviously seems to have other projects in the pipeline based on their CEO talking about the metaverse.

4. Novaquark isn't applying that cash injection for Dual Universe, instead it seems to be going to another project or worse directly into investor pockets.
(I say this because, customer support has been cut, development staff has been cut, upcoming updates are anemic at best.)

5. Novaquark "improvements" actually make gameplay less enjoyable, almost with every recent update. Essentially killing all fun in the last places fun hides.

Overall the game is dead/dying/zombified/self mutilating, something, but obviously has no sustainable future, and the Dev's should be honest about this, but the won't.
Instead I believe we are in the same waiting period, when rumors began of a wipe, then later an announcement about staff thinking very hard for 6 months about a wipe, and then a wipe.

☠️ Except, right now rumors of game death, in 3-6 months, an announcement of scaling back even more, deciding if they will leave server running and no longer update game, or just close server, and then another half year of them collecting subscriptions while they look for new jobs before announcing an unfortunate end to Dual Universe. ☠️

You don't have to trust me on this, I would love to be wrong, time will tell, but I say take the horse out to pasture and just get it over with, don't let it suffer.

From the unsubscribe survey it's like the game isn't in a release state......who would have thought?
 
Nice playing with you guys. Once subs run out, I'm out. Will only pop on to help org in interim. Will see what they do......but not looking good.
 

 

If you're a new player or someone who has been here since the early release of Kickstarter we have all had a lot of setbacks so far. Too many to honestly post in a single thread here. Let it be clear, I absolutely love the "concept" of this game. But honestly with their latest changes since release and lack of communication throughout the entire process of this game I am seriously giving thought to just dropping it. 
 
The main reason to my thought of quitting is simply this. 
NQ wants us as players to create the content of this game however every time we try and create things they get taken away or the time gates get extended because NQ simply doesn't think we should have X items or X number of quanta yet in a game where THEY placed the mechanics to acquire them in such time. These types of changes should have been worked out in beta that WE PAID FOR. Doing changes like this in a released version of the game is unacceptable and I will not continue to pay into this. 
 
Secondly, NQ simply cannot and for some reason refuses to establish proper communication within the community with no proper layout for future updates or planed releases. They haven't even given us things they would like to implement to retain some of their player base with sheer interest and at this point they have removed more than they have put in. Not sure how they think this will work but my goodness they really need to pay attention to what's going on around them and the status of their own community, and to be clear it seems their communication has gotten worse and not better.

Also, as a side note, I have seen several instances where players who have been banned due to part of their ban wave of people who were "exploiting" and buying things from other players. The players that had no idea they were being sent money from the exploiter were getting banned as well. Without the opportunity to contest the ban and additionally no longer have access to their account to REMOVE their subscription and the ban process NQ has does not automatically remove the subscription so if you're not paying attention they will go ahead and charge you money for an account you can't even access.......I would consider this to be theft.
 
As for the T1 bots. Well, heh this is a fun topic. 
Bots should always be in the game to purchase excess ore period. These could easily be regulated by limiting the amount of sell orders they are willing to give players at a time. This is done all the time with dispensers so don't see why a similar implementation could be setup for bots.  Missions just don't do enough unless you are part of the wealthy who can afford multiple accounts. To establish a proper economy the bots shouldn't have a static pricing but a dynamic pricing that increases and decreases depending on what the economy is actually doing.   
 
The actual point of this thread is to bring light to potential players who are thinking about quitting the game and to post their frustrations as to why they might end up quitting. NQs job at this point needs to be more focused on player retention and getting new players into the game to secure funding for the future as well as introducing fixes and new content for players to actually have something fun to do vs spending their entire time just trying to pay for their tiles so they can make things.