Jump to content

LittleJoe

Alpha Team Vanguard
  • Posts

    69
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in (Fanart) Mission Control - Ambient w/ Radio   
    Just something I threw together from DU video and bits of space-related audio (Apollo 11, Soyuz, etc)  to create something ambient I could just leave on as background noise or have up as a background while I did other work. 
     
    The volume may be a bit loud, although I tried to pull it down a bit. 
  2. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in Anti-TU device   
    Actually it was a joke about the time that Terran Union's military defected  
  3. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in Anti-TU device   
    Anti-TU device... You mean like, their military? 
  4. Like
    LittleJoe got a reaction from Jinxed in Subscriptions and DAC's: Can You Afford Them?   
    TLDR: Nobody has an excuse to not be able to pay $10-20 a month for DU.
  5. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to DarkHorizon in Subscriptions and DAC's: Can You Afford Them?   
    In the time I've spent reading these forums, I see this topic come more than a handful of times on DAC's and DU's subscription system. It's something to be expected, a merchant goes "hey I got a nice product, pay me xyz dollars", then the consumer goes "how can I get this for the best value for my money?".
     
    This is a quite normal thought process. I think of it every time when looking at goods and their prices and especially before I check out my products. We value our money because we put time and effort into earning it, and want to maximize our potential with it.
     
    Our time on Earth is fairly limited. We'd much rather spend it doing the things we enjoy. Being among family and friends, playing a favorite game or watching a pleasurable TV show, producing something we know others will find value in, enjoying a good drink, or relaxing someplace nice.
     
    Our money is also fairly limited. Bills and utilities need to be paid, food stocked in the fridge, insurance for the car, books for the college student, the oldest child needs to borrow $20, again... the list goes on.
     
    The means with which we acquire said money is also relatively limited. Businesses are open certain hours, shifts are only so long, and our work is only so interesting before we must devote that remaining days time to the above mentioned.
     
    Insert Dual Universe.
     
    For those of you that are currently not in the Pre-Alpha tests, you've seen the videos (some more than once) and read the news, you're excited. Pre-Alpha testers are not only excited but are also able to experience this new game and bring some of their dreams to virtual life for others to enjoy.
     
    Mind, blown... Everything seems awesome until you meet "subscription" and "Dual Access Coupons". Upon closer inspection, this is, indeed, a subscription-based game... oh no...
     
    For those of us that have followed along for a while, we know that a subscription will fall somewhere around $10 to $13 a month, while DAC's will be a bit more expensive at $15 to $20 a month. Not a big deal right? For some, it isn't, but for others, it's a major hurdle. Maybe you've been a free2play player all your life and can't imagine the thought of paying, or perhaps you simply can't afford it.
     
    Well friends, hurdles are made for jumping over, sometimes three at a time. and jump we will...
     
    If you can't afford a months subscription time, let's dig into this thing called 'our life' and examine what we can do to afford a months worth of game time. 
     
    If you don't have time to read, I'll cut this all down to a paragraph for you at the very bottom of this post! 
     
    -------------------------------------------------------
     
    First off, what is the difference between a subscription and a Dual Access Coupon? What even are they, to begin with?
     
    Have you ever been to a fair? For those who haven't, the rides are fun, and the food is more than questionable. From sugar overload to dipped in oil to stuff you've never seen before and never will again...
     
    How do you get access to that fair though? You can do two things:
     
    Buy an all-day wristband at the gate. Unlimited rides from now until closing time. One person only, or... Buy tickets. The ferris wheel is one ticket, bumper cars are two, etc. You can split it among friends.  
    You go for the wristband and wander in. At the fair, there are those booths filled with games that are statistically near improbable to win but among the prizes, you notice that there are tickets, with a grand prize being a roll of 1000 tickets. With some time, you luck out and score that 1000 ticket roll but you have an all-day pass, what do you do with it?
     
    You sell it to the kids that need more tickets and make back what you paid for on your all-day pass.
     
    Short analogy, lets work with it...
     
    All new accounts will start with a free trial. Think of this as being outside the fair, yet still able to see all the rides that are inside. You can enter the game environment and get an idea of what you can do inside of it, but there are limits like skill restrictions, construct sizes and the number of elements that can be placed for example. You can see the rides, you just can't ride them.
     
    In Dual Universe, let's say that this all day wristband is the subscription that you buy from the gatekeeper, NovaQuark. It's yours and can not be taken from you in-game. You get thirty days to play, after which your subscription will end and you can either pay for another month or end up unable to play.
     
    Dual Access Coupons are like the tickets. You can also get them from NovaQuark and spend them in the game environment however you like. Be it hiring out another players services, using it to fund your own time, or you could give it to a friend. If you put in your own services into the in-game environment, you can get paid in DAC's as well. Since DAC's are not as secure as a subscription and present as an item in the game, you also run the risk of having them taken from you with force by another player.
     
    You can buy a subscription, pay for the game, and be perfectly fine. You can also buy Dual Access Coupons or earn them inside the game to also pay for your game. Both achieve the same goal, but what's the difference?
     
    A subscription is purchased from NovaQuark and tied to you, it can't be taken in-game, and it can't be sold in-game. A Dual Access Coupon can also be purchased from NovaQuark, unlike with a subscription, however, it is only associated with you. What this means is that the DAC can be stolen from you in the game since it is an in-game item. It can be purchased in-game from another player, and likewise sold as well.  
    Now that we've defined what a subscription and DAC is, as well as the differences between them, let's go about discussing how we can pay for our game time.
     
    Since DAC's are more versatile, in-game items, I will be referencing them in the place of subscriptions. Be sure to also keep in mind that DAC's are a few dollars more expensive than a subscription.
     
    -------------------------------------------------------
     
    Let's assume for simplicity sake that a single DAC is $15 and expand it over a years time.
    $15 x 12 = $180
     
    Starbucks ---
    Caffe Latte  -  Tall (Small)  -  $2.95
    $3 x 5 days = $15
    15 x 4 weeks = $60/month --- Not including saved gas money
    or
    1/3rd of a year's DACs
     
    Now that you lasted a month, maybe you want to cut Starbucks out of your life entirely?
     
    $60/month x 12 months = $720
    720/180 = ...
    4 years of DAC's
     
    Dropping your coffee habit alone could pay for a year of time playing Dual Universe, AND that of three friends! 
     
    Xbox Live ---
    12mo = $60 or 1mo x 12 = $120
    or
    1/3rd to 2/3rds of a years DACs
     
    No job ---
    If you don't want to give up your console gaming and aren't old enough to hold a job, go shovel snow, rake yards, mow lawns, wash cars, trim bushes etc. $60 is a good weekends worth of work, it's also good exercise too!
     
    Additionally, if you're still a kid and you get an allowance from your parents, you are now on my hit-list because I never got one and I'm super duper jealous of those that do. You can put that towards your subscription.
     
    If you get paid for doing chores around the house, you are also on my hit-list because I never got paid for doing chores, insanity I say! A roof over my head, food in my stomach, and clothes on my back were payment enough. 
     
    Now, if you can hold a job...
     
    Yes job ---
    How long would you have to work to fund a year's worth of gameplay? Not as much as you might think...
     
    Not including tips or lunch breaks ---
    180 / 7.25 (US federal minimum wage) = ~25 working hours or just over three days at eight hours/day
    180 / 10 = 18 working hours or a little over two days
    180 / 15 (some state-mandated minimum wages) = 12 working hours, a day and a half's work, or for some, an all-day shift 
     
    Phone plan ---
    If you have a phone payment plan through a major wireless carrier, you are messing up, hardcore! Consider looking at a non-major wireless carrier and you could save big.
    Verizon: 4 lines - Unlimited talk, text, data, high quality streaming for $160/mo = $1920/yr
    *MintSim: 1 line - Unlimited talk, text 10G high-speed data (per mo) then unlimited throttled - $25/mo (if purchasing 1yr bulk package = $300/yr) x 4 lines = $100/mo = $1200/yr
    4 lines on MintSim over 4 lines on Verizion makes for a savings of $720/year
    4 years of DACs
     
    *This is strictly for comparative purposes, I do advocate nor am I paid to on behalf of MintSim, this is strictly for comparison reasons, please don't hurt me.
    **MintSim runs on the T-Mobile network so you may or may not have coverage in your area.
     
    Cable TV ---
    I can only compare this to myself so bear with me.
     
    Basic Cable = 20 channels = $20/mo
    12mo = $300/yr
    TV antenna + coax cable = 9 channels + 6 sub-channels
    $40 - one time cost until something breaks
     
    Money saved on TV each month could easily pay for your DACs if you're on a limited TV plan or live in a metro area with lots of TV antennas.
     
    If you're interested in this, the US FCC has a barebones guide on antennas in your area with only a zip code needed. Of course, this all depends on your immediate controllable environment like the antenna location+height vs trees, other buildings, and things more or less out of your control like a mountain between you and the antennas or living down in a valley, even the weather can be against you. Renters might want to check their building codes when mounting an antenna on the roof or on a mast.
     
    College Books ---
    If you're buying them outright (from your college bookstore) and not renting them (also bookstore) that's also another issue... Get them, and rent them online, the savings can be massive!
     
    Abnormal Psychology 8thEd - Oltmanns and Emery
    College bookstore: $278
    Amazon: $247 (purchased, new)
    Amazon: $35 (rented)
    Amazon: $10 (purchased, new, international edition)
     
    Savings of $268 off one book for one semester 
    17.5 months of DAC 
     
    Bigwords is personally recommended for their comparison services.
     
    Transportation to and from college ---
    Let say you live in a modest town of and college is all the way across town so you drive five miles like I would have to do every weekday, then five miles back home.
    Your car gets 30mi/gal on an 8gal tank. 240 miles per tank.
    Gas = $2.55 for the state of North Dakota
    One tank = $20.40
    Your car can make 22 round-trips + 1 for stop/go + 1 for gas if it's strictly for this use. 
     
    Most colleges will offer students a free or discounted pass on public transportation. Let's say that isn't offered and you're stuck paying regular fares. My local bus service charges $1.50/ride for an adult without a student ID, and rides are free with their ID. In this case:
    $1.50 x 2 rides/day x 22 round-trips = $66
    One tank = $22.40
     
    In this case, driving yourself is more economical than riding the bus.  A trip to campus from home for me is 30 minutes so I spend an hour on transportation each day. So considering my student pass makes transportation free, it becomes a value question? What do you value more, your time, or your money?
     
    Don't forget that a vehicle needs to be insured so that costs additional money and there are so many variables I won't even bother spelling it out but it is worth remembering.
     
    Savings of $43.60 if you drive as opposed to riding the bus
    2.75 months of DACs
     
    $66 not spent if you can ride for free
    4 months of DACs
     
     
    Mobile Options ---
    Yes, you can use your phone to make money.
     
    Some will pay you for installing and trying out various apps. Maybe you have to install it and have a look around, or perhaps you have to achieve a particular objective or rise up to a specific level?
     
    Others will pay you to view ads. I'm only familiar with ones that show lock screen ads which only take a fraction of a second to slide away, but there might be other options available too.
     
    If you have an Android (not sure about iPhones) and haven't heard, Google Opinion Rewards is a great place to start. The only catch is that you can only spend your credit in the Google Play store.
     
     
    Digital Currency Mining ---
    I have absolutely no experience in this so forgive me if this is short.
     
    By now I'm pretty sure that everyone and their mum have heard of the Bitcoin. If you haven't, what kind of rock have you been living under and can I get one too?
     
    Aside from the Bitcoin, there are various other coins out there that hold "value" and are obtained through a process of "mining". Mining involves crunching numbers and verifying the results. This can be a slow process although it can be sped up with more powerful hardware that if bought for the sole purpose of mining, brings the process of Return on Investment (RoI) into play.
     
    For individuals, this could be a zero-sum game.
     
    While Bitcoin has increased in value over the years, so has the difficulty in mining. Basically, where you could score say once every hour a couple years ago, you'd be lucky today to do so every week, month, quarter, I really don't know. Additionally, more people are mining the currency so that ups the factor now that the Bitcoin pie is being split among more people.
     
    Aside from paying off your RoI which could take months, there is also the cost of electricity you need to consider. Sure you could be mining coins, but that money might just be going to your electric company in exchange for the additional power you are consuming from running your equipment 24/7. Not to mention any applicable wear and tear associated with the constant use or pushing your components beyond safe limits.
     
    Lets also not forget to talk about the climate that's around you. Since your components need to be kept cool in order for them to work, if you can pull in cool air and exhaust out hot air, you'll be peachy. If you're pulling in already warm air, however, your cooling setup will need to work a lot harder to keep your components from overheating which again you'll also need to consider your electric prices.
     
    Did I also mention that you are competing against warehouses of GPU's and CPUs (that sometimes catch fire)?
     
    It should also not need mentioning that digital currency is extremely volatile. Indeed, something that might be worth $20,000 one day, might easily be half that the next.
     
     
    Above all, digital currency is a gamble, not an investment.
     
    That said, there are various digital currencies that can be mined through CPU's and GPU's, although I recently (3/27) just heard about a new currency, Burstcoin, that can be mined using your digital storage devices. If you're so inclined, it might be something worth looking into.
     
     
    Work in-game ---
    If none of the above is an option and you have a good deal of spare time on your hands, do some work in the in-game economy. Let me explain how this works:
     
    There are often two types of people: Those who have a lot of money but not much time, and those who have a lot of time but not much money.
     
    Someone will buy a handful of DAC's and exchange them for Quanta, you put in some work and after being paid for your work, you can then use that Quanta to turn around purchase your DAC's in the game environment and be set for another 30 days.
     
    Mine, refine, haul, build, design.
     
    The only limit to the possibilities is you.
     
     
    Not enough in-game time, no outside money ---
     
    What kind of pickle are we in here? A big, juicy, fat one. Let it be known on the record, I hate pickles...
     
    You have plenty of online and mobile options to choose from but be wary, these can be fairly hit-and-miss. From having a minimum required balance to withdraw to not being able to withdraw in your desired method, these are only the start of your issues.
     
    "Get Paid To..." websites are exactly what they sound like. You'll be paid for various things like giving your opinion on surveys, watching videos, and completing tasks. The greatest source of income can be had through purchasing sample packs or getting an item for a discount on the basis that you get a few extra dollars in return (spend 5, get 7).
     
    Depending on the website and activity you choose, however, you could be fraught with risks. Are you comfortable with giving your demographics to surveys so they can confirm or deny your participation based on their desire to hear from a subset of people (male, 30s, part-time job, birthday, college educated, married, etc), do you trust your credit card details online in exchange for sample products? 
     
    A couple of other risks entail spam. Although I had received very little spam in my email inbox prior, that certainly ticked up after I started earning through this method. I haven't received any physical spam in the mailbox, but it's been years since I used this service so things may have changed.
     
    Additionally, if you truly value your time, this might not be the best option. While doing surveys, I can not tell you how many times I was booted at the very end because the survey reached their participation goal, my demographics were undesirable, or a question I answered had screened me out. Having spent, in some cases 30 minutes, it is very rage inducing. The fact that you may not even get a few cents in compensation for your time that is now wasted is one major reason why I would not endorse this, although being a teenager with no income, I muscled through.
     
    I could go at this activity all day and sometimes not even break a dollar, although, on a good day when I was blessed by the gods, $10 was mine for the taking. Of course, if you have a job then you'll be guaranteed payment for your time, whereas here, you obviously have no such thing which is one of the reasons why you won't find me doing this.
     
    All that said, I consider myself a personal success story, having earned almost $600 in the time I spent doing this which I think is no small feat, although there are some who have gone on to earn thousands (yes, plural) over an extended period of time.
    https://snag.gy/tbLmMC.jpg 
     
    If you recognize this website, please do not speak of it by name. I broke away after they implemented their 3-month timeout mechanism that locks your earnings which I wholly protest, so I can not, and will not endorse them. Yes, this is one such feature you might have to put up with...
     
    I won't promote any single site by name but if you google around, finding one should not be an issue.
     
    With all this in mind, this really is a last-ditch effort which is why I have moved this to the bottom of the stack.
     
    -------------------------------------------------------
     
    Now, this is all strictly an example, it obviously won't fit everyone.
     
    There are so many things you can either do without or adjust your spending on when it comes to saving money that it really is a no-brainer when it comes to paying for your game time. Sure when you look at $120 to $180, it can be a big number all by itself, but when you do a bunch of small things over the course of time, it really starts to add up. Hey, isn't that a saying somewhere? 
     
    Why do I bring this up when $10 isn't a big deal like I said in the intro? Because it is a big deal.
     
    Again, little savings do add up over time when compared to societies current habit of spend spend spend, swipe swipe swipe. 
     
    Do you really need to go out for dinner every other night at the corner restaurant when a homemade meal can cost a fraction of that and still take just as much time to prepare as it would driving to the restaurant and waiting?
     
    Do you really need that thousand dollar iPhone when your current model is just fine? Need more storage, buy an SD card or use the cloud. Need more battery life, buy a power pack. Need a faster phone, drop Apple and take a bite out of a $480 OnePlus5, it's got six gigs of ram and SD 435 for its CPU. Yeah, that's right, it's an android. Bite me you expensive fruit, cheap candy is the way to go! 
     
    Yeah, it's nice to splurge those savings on something once in a while when you feel like you deserve it, case-in-point, I'm a ruby founder.
     
    Also, pay with cash over using a credit card, it's an easy way to visualize how much you're actually spending in between paychecks.
     
    -------------------------------------------------------
     
    In closing, yes, you can afford a DAC, you can afford tons of them, you just don't know how to do so. Luckily now you do.
     
    These few examples are just ones I pulled off the top of my head that I have either seen or experience in my personal life, I'm sure folks can come up with so much more to add here so I'll just leave it at that to get you started! 
     
    Please suggest something and I'll add it to this post!
     
    Hope this helped!  
     
    -------------------------------------------------------
     
    If you skipped all the way to the bottom and didn't bother to read everything I laboriously took the time to write, here's what you can do to afford your Dual Universe subscription.
     
    Cut out Starbucks, stop playing on Xbox Live, mow lawns, wash cars, shovel driveways, re-evaluate your phone and cable TV plans, rent your college books online, consider using public transportation to and from college if your pass makes it free to do so, do some in-game work, or consider looking for ways to make money doing things online.
  6. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in Bot Pet Plushie!!   
    So I saw a comment on this tweet from Dual Universe where someone wanted a plushie made of the robot pet:
     


    And then I had one made


  7. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to Kurock in Delete item is a good thing ?   
    You want to buy best dirt in Galaxy? For you, very good price. Dirt cheap.
     
    (TLDR means "too long didn't read")
  8. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in If you are spamming DU, Cut that crap out now   
    I won't get into all of it right now, as I have dealt with the situation as delicately as possible to try and undo the damage, but it appears that not only was the community discord a target of spammers (people sending private messages to everyone in the user list to try and recruit for their org) but that several other communities were targeted as well. That all culminated in discussions about the game being banned in various places, someone trying to dox me, and a slew of other issues I've tried to fix today. Someone went so far as to accuse me of being JC himself even. 
     
    I'm not going to drop names here now, you know who you are, but if I find out you are continuing the spamming and harassing other communities about Dual Universe, I will definitely report it and let NovaQuark deal with the situation. I've heard reports of everything from sending mass private messages to people, to joining other discords and spamming links to the game over and over, to someone joining voice chats to spam the game and harass people.
     
    One person even had the audacity to go into discords and tell everyone they were the creator of Dual Universe and proceed to spam the game over and over. 
     
    You are doing anyone any favors by spamming the game, and you are doing harm to DU's name by doing it. It's not helping any of us, and it certainly isn't helping your own reputation for doing it. 
     
    99.999% of org's out there aren't doing it, but one or two org's in specific are, and they are going to ruin it for the rest of us if they keep it up. Nobody should be encouraging that type of behavior. 
     
    I'm posting this here in the hopes that it will keep others from attempting to do the same thing, and so that the parties responsible know what their actions did. 
     
  9. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to NQ-Nyzaltar in SUGGESTION to NQ about PACKS   
    Hi everyone,
     
    Despite the fact some seem to believe the contrary, it was never said that it will remain forever impossible to add a Supporter Pack to a Founder account.
    It's not possible, for the time being. It's not meant to stay that way. It's a huge work that has started before we released the Supporter Packs. Ideally we would have released this possibility at the same time as the Supporter Packs. However, as we saw it would never make it in time with the Supporter Packs schedule, we decided it will be implemented at a later time. We hear your concerns and yes, it was already planned, just delayed for now. We apologize for the inconvenience.
     
    We will keep you informed when we will have more details on this topic.

    Best Regards,
    Nyzaltar.
     
  10. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to Aaramore25202 in Dual Universe - What Is It Video   
    Hi all, I have made another video for you guys, it covers what Dual Universe is. As such it is really deigned for new players who have''t played in the pre-alpha yet, or players who are looking at getting into the game soon. Hope you guys enjoy xD
     
     
     
       
  11. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to NQ-Nyzaltar in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    - Yes, the one who claims a territory in an ASA or MSA first owns it for as long as the player is active.
    That would make no sense to give the ability to expulse a player from his safe territory if he's active and would lead to massive abuses / harassment. 
     
    - The Force Field Unit / Protection Bubble mechanics are meant to help players defend themselves in Unsecure Areas. Again, that would make no sense to implement this feature in Secure Areas where players are already permanently protected, and would lead to massive abuses.
     
    In any case if some unexpected abuses appear, the dev team will react with fixes accordingly.
    Game design isn't something graved into stone: It evolves with time, especially in MMORPGS.
     
    Best Regards,
    Nyzaltar.
  12. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to NQ-Nyzaltar in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    To give a clear image of what we have in mind, here is an example:
    Let's say you want to build a car.
    With low resources in an ASA, you will be able to build this:

     
    This will do the job as a car. 
    However, don't expect high performances in speed, security, comfort and such.
    Don't expect either to win a race, or any competition with it.
     
    However, with high value resources you will be able to build this:

     
    Now with this car, you will be able to compete with other players in a race.
    The car will have far better speed, better security and comfort, due to high quality Elements crafted and used in it.
     
    So with low value materials, you will be able to do things that you could with high value materials but with the minimal specs you could ever imagine, just to get started.
    We hope this give a clear idea of what we have in mind now
     
    Best Regards.
    Nyzaltar.
     
  13. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to NQ-Nyzaltar in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    Hi everyone! 
    Here are some answers to your questions and additional information to your feedback

    @FleetAdmiralCoke
    We are not sure to understand what you call "safe building zones to very small areas in very specific places". Moons having MSA will have thousands of territories each. Arkship Secure Areas will also contain thousands of safe territories. Those are not particularly "very small" areas. Planets will be huge, and safe areas, while limited, will be huge too.
     
    About choosing the location of a city outside the MSA and the ASA, it has never been confirmed that we will let players choose a place for a city, then make it officially invulnerable. The idea may have been mentioned somewhere, but it was just an idea and with this idea comes a lot of issues of game balance. The most obvious possible abuse is the following: 
     
    If we let players choose which location should become permanently safe, then you will have very big organizations, able to mobilize hundreds or even thousands of players installing invulnerable cities just next to their smaller opponents, giving endless possibilities of harassing theme easily. That would give an unfair advantage to big organizations. Abuses can be made by installing invulnerable cities on high value resources with no revert that once it has happened. Unless we find a reasonable way to prevent such issues, it's unlikely that the Secure Areas location could be decided by players.
     
    Now, all the explanations above are for MSA and ASA, for areas 100% safe with no exception.
    However, that won't prevent players to build heavily protected cities in Unsecure Areas. A city built in an Unsecure Area will still have a chance to be attacked and destroyed. We won't start to give details here of what could be reinforce defense for such cases (cities in Unsecure Areas) but it could be the topic of a new DevBlog in the future. The present DevBlog was released mainly to answer the recurrent questions of "Will Dual Universe be a complete Free For All game ?", the answer is "No, there will be room for very different player types, but it doesn't mean it will appeal to everyone either."

    @Lethys
    - If we were to use domes instead of bubbles, what would happen if an agressor starts to dig a tunnel under the dome?
    - About DPS saturation and the risk of player blobs, we will take that into consideration. For now, it's still too early to confirm how PvP Mechanics will work.
    - MSA can't be placed anywhere as those will be located on specific moons, decided by Novaquark.
     
    @Hades
    It's still too early to give details on the final mechanics for the Protection Bubble. As said to FleetAdmiralCoke, this Devblog was meant to address recurrent questions from newcomers. We won't give right now the details regarding the protection bubble.
     
    @AeonReign
    Well, for game balance reason, basic protection (protection bubble mechanics) should be affordable and not that expensive, otherwise playing in Unsecure Areas will be only viable for people that never disconnect from the game (and we don't want to encourage such behavior).
     
     
    @Takao
     
    Thanks for reporting the typos.
    1) In Arkship & Moon Secure Areas, you CAN'T claim an already claimed territory, for obvious reasons.
    2) If you install Forcefields in a certain manner, it may lead to a situation where you can prevent people to enter a territory.
    3) MSA won't be on every moon. There will be MSA only on moons decided by Novaquark.
    As said to Hades, we won't go into details for now.
     
    @PerksPlus
    Moons with MSA won't be next to planets with valuable resources.
    Or else, it would nullify the concept of "risk vs reward".
    Moons with MSA will be near planets with ASA, or with low valuable resources.
    That means that if some pirate want to ambush miners gathering valuable resources, he will need some time to go back to the safest area (and plenty of time to be intercepted). Moreover, we are considering also game mechanics that could discourage greatly the behavior "Go In/Go Out" from a Secure Area abusively, just to ambush people without taking any risk.
     
    @Shadow 
    @Ben Fargo
    We won't go into the details of the Protection Bubble mechanics yet.
    As said to Hades, this Devblog was meant to address recurrent questions from newcomers.
    There will be another Devblog later giving more details on that aspect, and it will most likely be when we will talk about PvP
     
    @Zamarus
    The difference between ASA and MSA:
    - ASA will get have basic, low-value material in the ground. Players who just want to build things without being bothered by PvP (and aren't interested to compete with other players in terms of construct optimization or combat) will be advised to stay in this type of safe area.
    - MSA are Safe Areas with no other perks than being a safe place. So yes, if you want to build in Sanctuary Areas, it will necessitate to bring resources from outside.
     
    @lethak
    @yamamushi
    @LittleJoe
    Of course, we have considered APIs.
    But as already said before, it means additional development time (far more than just an email alert) and we want to stay focus on the features promised during the Kickstarter first, for the official release. However, there is a high chance that the dev team plan something on this topic once the game will be launched (we prefer to take the proper time to develop one if we want to avoid issues)
     
    @mrjacobean
    @Kurock
    - There will be MSA only on moons decided by Novaquark, nowhere else.
    - If a moon has a MSA, it will cover the whole moon (unlike ASA, which will cover only a part of the planet where it's located).
    - No, "Sanctuary tile" can't be taken by military means, just like territories in an ASA.
    - Moons with a MSA will be always near a planet having an ASA (there might be reasons for that reccuring "coincidence") so only near no to low value resources, nowhere near high value resources.
    - Yes, We plan some means to gain ownership of a Sanctuary tile that is occupied by a owner inactive for a long time (and one of the current idea considered is that inactive user assets will be archived but not lost. The inactive user would just lose the ownership of the territory).
     
    @supermega
    Sending a notification to a Discord in case of agression has been added in the Feature Suggestion list and will be discussed with the developer team. However, depending of the feasibility and the amount of time to develop such a feature, it may or may not be implemented. If the idea is validated, it may also be implemented after the official release.  In any case, thanks for giving the idea!
     
    @Setzar
    the "Force Field" Unit doesn't create a "Safe Zone" (if we stick to our definition of Safe Zone in Dual Universe), it's indeed more like a barrier that prevents entry from unauthorized entity. 
     
    @CyberCrunch
    This is a bit too soon to talk advanced game mechanics regarding cities located in Unsecure Areas.
    Let's just say that the dev team is currently thinking of something that has similar points with what you suggested (not to the point to make permanent Safe Areas decided by the players though), but again, we will talk advanced mechanics in another DevBlog. This one was made to give only the basics
     
    @Fins_T
    We have several Ogame players among Novaquark staff so we know (and understand) what you're taking about
    We totally agree that needing to check regularly if you're attacked is tiring (even if there are fleetsaving strategies and the use of moons to temper that) and that's why Protection Bubble mechanics, with email alert/notification will be put in place: to inform you only when necessary without having to check constantly in-game if you're attacked or not, and giving you the opportunity to manage your real life without being permenanently worried of what's happening to your assets in-game.

    However, in terms of gameplay, combat mechanics will far more similar to EVE Online than Ogame: You can't just assume in advance what will be the strength of the defense, the number of player coming to defend a territory, etc. Moreover, one player can't have an overwhelming force built by himself alone. So, a combat result will be far less predictable than in Ogame. Player numbers, the involvement, and the skills of each of them are all factor that will impact victory or defeat, because no matter how much spaceships has... it can only use one at a time, and even a huge battleship with lots of weapon turret won't be used efficiently by a player alone.
     
    We don't plan to copy Ogame much in this regard, because in Dual Universe, you play a colonist, not a governor managing an empire with many planets and a whole fleet at your command from the start (unless you achieve the difficult goal of having many real players accepting your rulership to colonize planets and pilot the said fleet under your command, but even then, there will be natural limits of how much firepower you will be able to bring to take down opponent bases).
     
    Best Regards,
    Nyzaltar.
     
  14. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    - Particle Deflector Grid
  15. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    I'm talking about mail going to a spam folder. What will end up happening is that people will miss notifications because they don't check their spam folders 24/7. 
     
    I've had emails from the IRS, my Bank, my Auto Lender, etc. all end up in spam box from time to time. I even had a car payment get lost and found out about it the hard way because the email went to spam. I get hundreds of spam emails a day. 

    Email to your cell # isn't a suitable replacement for a true API service, and getting these kinds of notifications to pop on your phone will be a lot more noticeable. Not only that, but if they're going to add an API anyways at some point in time, this is the kind of stuff that would be extremely useful to have in it. 

     
  16. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in [DevBlog Feedback] Our thoughts on Territory Protection Mechanics   
    One suggestion here would be that this would be a great place where a Novaquark provided API would be handy to have. 
     
    Emails get lost for all sorts of reasons, and having a notification show up on my phone would be extremely useful in events like this. 
  17. Like
    LittleJoe got a reaction from Hades in Config Windows=Osx   
    I agree, just fyi'ing :)
  18. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to 0something0 in To Be Fair, You Have To Have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty   
    To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Dual Universe. The mechanics are extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of advanced programming most of the developer's decisions will go over a typical gamer’s head. There’s also Twerk’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his gaming philosophy draws heavily from EVE Online, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these game mechanics, to realise that they’re not just immersive- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Dual Universe truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the lack of automation tools and robotics, which itself points to the real life dilemma of potential mass unemployment caused by AI. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Novaquark's genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. ?

    And yes, by the way, i DO have a Dual Universe tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid ?
  19. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to NQ-Nunc in Dual Universe Volunteer Forum Moderator Guidelines   
    Dual Universe Volunteer Forum Moderator Guidelines

    The following are the guidelines for the Dual Universe volunteer moderators. They are written with the moderation team in mind, but have been posted in the spirit of transparency so that all community members can see the expectations we have for our volunteers.


    Moderators are Anonymous
    Moderators are given an account with a unique user name. Moderators are not permitted to reveal their real or forum identities to anyone for any reason. That includes friends and other community members. We take this very seriously.

    Moderators are Impartial
    All moderation is done fairly and impartially. Moderators are expected to treat all members of the community the same. This means you may be required to moderate posts and comments from your friends, maybe even your best friend. It’s a difficult thing to be impartial when dealing with friends, but it is imperative that you treat everyone the same and show absolutely no favoritism.

    Moderators Always Remain Calm and Respectful
    As a moderator, you may become the focus of a community member’s anger or frustration. Remember: Be nice. It’s not personal. Even if they are insulting you or making outrageous accusations, be nice. You are simply the target, not the cause (probably) of their anger/frustration. Never respond in kind and never, ever respond out of anger or frustration. This only leads to an endless spiral of anger and nothing is resolved. That said, please know you are not expected to take abuse or be subjected to mistreatment from the community. Abuse of moderators will be addressed by the Community Team.

    Moderators are Here to Help
    Moderators should be as helpful as possible. Even if a question has been asked a hundred times, understand that the person asking it might be new and this is their first interaction with the community. A helpful and welcoming response can turn a curious newbie into an outstanding community member. A curt or unkind response, could turn them away from the community and the game. Always offer the best answer you can, with links if possible. Of course, after answering their question or providing links to the answer, it’s perfectly acceptable to introduce them to the search feature and suggest they check it out the next time they have a question.

    Moderators are Proactive
    When a conflict arises between community members, a good moderator will step in and try to defuse the situation. Sometimes all that’s required is a friendly reminder that we all are passionate about the game and we should respect differing viewpoints. If things get out of hand, then locking or hiding specific posts or possibly the entire thread until a Community Manager can review it is a good option. If you do this, contact a community manager immediately so we can take appropriate action.

    Moderators are Volunteers Not Employees
    We consider our Moderators valuable assets and we are deeply appreciative of the time they dedicate to making the forums a better place. However, it is imperative that moderators, and all members of the community, keep in mind that moderators are not an official Novaquark employee. Moderators should never place themselves in a situation where their comments may be construed as an official statement or position.  Likewise, moderators should never post in a manner that suggests or implies they are a Novaquark employee. Doing so can create serious issues for the moderator and for us.

    Moderators are under NDA
    From time to time Moderators may be provided with information in advance of its public release. You are expected to keep this information in strict confidence and not share it until or unless otherwise instructed, in writing, by Novaquark.

    What can Moderators do?
    The following tools and abilities are available to Moderators:
    Able to see and read all reported posts. Access to the Moderation area and Tools Move threads between sections. Hide specific posts or entire threads. Merge threads.
     
  20. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to LeiFlux07 in A massive thank you to Novaquark   
    Hello fellow Noveans, I just wanted to write a short post to thank the PR deptartment at Novaquark. While I do not wish to go into details, I had to contact Novaquark recently in relation to my account. Their response was swift, polite, understanding and highly satisfactory.

    A special thank you to Gary, but to all at Novaquark, for assisting in my situation.

    Good customer service in gaming is rare nowadays, sadly, so something like this really makes a difference. I am honoured to say that I got the Gold Pledge, worth every penny.

    Thanks again!
    Lei07
  21. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in DUFM - Dual Universe Radio Online - Looking for Content Submissions and Recruiting Help   
    The iOS app is much better, but I have held off on posting a link to it until the version that supports 9.0+ is available in the app store because the current version only supports 11.1+ and people didn't want to update. 
  22. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to Warden in DUFM - Dual Universe Radio Online - Looking for Content Submissions and Recruiting Help   
    You know or see dedication when folks make a Radio station. Let's just underline that for a moment. 
     
    A radio station. 
     
    You just don't see this for any type of game and this has a lot of potential, but surely requires a "long breath" as we surely look for years of usage here.
     
    Regardless I hope that NQ realizes these community efforts and benefit through mentioning it at one point. Cross promotion, kinda? 
     
    At least I see "people creating radio stations" as good selling point for this sandbox game. Win/win. 
  23. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in DUFM - Dual Universe Radio Online - Looking for Content Submissions and Recruiting Help   
    After a bit of a hiatus for -reasons- I am pressing forward with continuing the development of a Dual Universe specific online radio station. 
     
    This is being done under the banner of the in-game organization, "Alioth Broadcasting Corporation"
     
    I am currently working with one other person making this a reality, and we currently have a radio stream running for demo purposes that has the following capabilities:
     
    24/7 Broadcasting AutoDJ'd playlists  Scheduled DJ's (where DJ's can login during their assigned timeslots for live broadcasting) Real-time Album Art Retrieval  
    The general things one would expect from an online radio stream.
     
    My wife, who is super awesome, is currently working on a website for people who want to listen live on the web as well. This should be ready within a few days, but ongoing modifications will be made to it to add features like album artwork refreshing in real-time and an interactive schedule for shows. I also plan on eventually adding archived shows automatically, though that may not be ready for some time. 
     
     
    All of that being said, the station is not ready for mass consumption, as we have several things we want to get in place before we give it out to the world. Which brings me to the purpose of this post.
     
    We are currently looking for people who would like to contribute, more specifically the following: 
     
    #1 priority at the moment for me is finding an artist who would like to help make logos (for the website, as well as the mobile apps) We are taking submissions of all types of content, and anyone who has music/shows/podcasts/commercials/whatever is welcome to submit content that will be broadcast on the station. This includes recruitment advertisements from ANY organizations (must be safe for work).  We are taking applications for people who would be interested in dj'ing live on the station, this is not limited to music but also anyone who might want to run a talk show or anything along those lines. Again, any organizations are welcome to take part in this. If you want an hour-long show talking about your org every week, you are more than welcome to do so.   
     
    I am currently working on an iOS application (DUFM) that will make its way into the App store where you can listen to the station live on your iOS devices. In conjunction with this work, an Android application is also being developed. When both applications are ready for distribution, I will work on getting them into their respective app stores for downloading. They will remain 100% free forever. I estimate they should be ready for distribution before the end of the month, perhaps sooner if we can get the artwork squared away. Honestly, the only thing holding them back at the moment is artwork that needs to be created or modified. 
     
     
    All of this is being done for the community for free, I will not charge for publishing content, nor will I charge anyone to listen to the station ever. I won't accept donations for this either. The purpose of this isn't to make money, it's to bring audio content to the community. I would like for this to be a community-driven thing, hence anyone being allowed to submit content for broadcasting. I will not charge money (real or in-game) for ads being published on the station either. I'm not here to make a quick buck off people in any form. 
     
    If you're interested in submitting content, have questions, or are wanting to help out in any way, please contact me on discord @ http://discord.me/dualuniverse . I most likely will not be responding to replies on this thread.
     
    Alternatively, applications for a spot on the schedule (talk show/dj) can be filled out here: https://goo.gl/forms/H3GIX9sJQH3f6r7n1 
     
     
     
  24. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to Captain_Hilts in Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps!   
    242 years - Oooraah!
    Semper Fidelis Devildogs.
     
    @GalloInfligo
  25. Like
    LittleJoe reacted to yamamushi in Third party authentication security   
    The fearmongering being spread through this thread is a bit disingenuous considering that nobody actually asked me how the authentication actually works or what is being collected (regardless of the fact that all of it is open source and available for anyone to look at).
     
    So I will break it down here.
     
    It doesn't matter if you know how the hash is generated, in fact, I'll tell you that it's an MD5 sum of the Discord User ID. Having a way of generating a users hash does absolutely nothing for you trying to authenticate as them against the forums because a hash is tied to a specific Discord ID. The auth tool generates the hash for a user (from their ID) entering a command and validates the hash on the forum against it. Even if you know another user's hashed ID, you're not going to be able to do anything with it. Many people have connected their discord accounts to their forum accounts and have left their hashes up publicly.  Again, a hash by itself is useless.  Unless you have access to the bot by changing its source code and somehow breaking into the container that it's being hosted from, you're not going to get the bot to accept someone else's hash against your own discord id. And if you were going to go to all those lengths, you may as well change the source code to just give you the roles without having to auth at all.  The only way someone is going to link to a profile that isn't theirs is if someone convinces another person to post that message on the forums on their behalf, which would be akin to sharing your password or account with someone.  Manual verification of ATV status and pledge statuses has been going on for far longer than any of the auth bots have been around for other Discord's that are out there. The only thing the auth bot does is makes it an automatic process. Someone could just have easily taken advantage of the manual verification by having someone else send a message on their behalf.  The only things being saved are the forum profile links and the pledge statuses (if made public on the forums). If you don't want your pledge status tracked (which only gives out colored roles to founder pack backers) then make your pledge status private on the forums. We're not saving anything that you're not already giving away by virtue of having a public profile on the forums. And this is only if you go through the account linking process. We are not scraping the forums collecting data on anyone who has not explicitly agreed to it by using the auth tool and running the ~linkprofile command.  If you're concerned about what is being stored, again the source code is all open for anyone to look at (and more importantly, submit patches) here https://github.com/yamamushi/du-discordbot  
    I've been working on a phone app for Dual Universe, but considering how much people complain (and it's always the same people) about everything else I get involved in for whatever reasons, I'm not really sure I want to continue at this point. 
×
×
  • Create New...