vertex

Intel from the videos: you have a tool to select, copy and paste sections of voxels, so you should be able to nanoform/create such a section without the need of a projector - given that you created it before. I'm confident this will consume materials as if you were building it voxel by voxel. I don't know tho how or if blueprints will be able to transfer Section A from Construct A to Construct B - but I've read somewhere that you could create a blueprint from "just voxel parts" to have someone else fit in the elements - sounds kinda like it. My guess is that the current concept already provides similar possibilities

I don't know either if artificial gravity has been idea'ed before - but in principle I like the option to manipulate gravity. My first reaction was similar to that of Miamato - to have gravity generators for which we could configure the size, strength and shape of the generated field. But I guess if one can connect plating to a DPU to define the height of the field effect, plating should work too. It's just that a voxel, meaning the plating that can span/fill a certain area, would act like an element in that case - my guess would be that this would imply some difficulties, as (as far as I know) they're using voxels purely for shape and only elements to provide functionality. Nonetheless, I like the idea of defining my own gravity fields. Have a like By the way: have you seen the video where JC comments on running around on the station? Maybe it's just a placeholder mechanic for this station, or the gravity from the planet, but walking around a station implies artificial gravity. You never know with pre-alpha footage, but I think we'll have "some kind" of artificial gravity, because their own control room is built in a way that just looks like it. Without further ado, here's the video: [edit] as it has just been linked, I'll just paste the link now, not embed the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dPmVdMU434[/edit] And you can see people running around in that control room in the Dual Universe Pre-Alpha Teaser 2017. Of course, nothing of this is final - but if they had the vision to let people float around on space stations, I guess they would incorporate it into the demonstration videos. Just wildfire guessing, as always. Maybe for a start they will just define "up and down" for each construct and have every avatar in proximity linked to that. /edit/ps Here are some blog posts that mention gravity: DUAL UNIVERSE (PART 3) LUA SCRIPT AND DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING UNITS DUAL UNIVERSE (PART 4) Not much tho - use [Ctrl]+[F] to quickly find the place. The last one even mentiones anti-gravity technology - their solution to the problem of players constructing with "real materials" and "real masses" while avoiding to run a billion times between storage and construction site in order to carry all the material there.

Hehe, an exchangeable blueprint floppy disc! ...srsly, I like that. Ok, a floppy data crystal then.

@Lethys Please keep calm and don't shout at me. My opinion about the building experience being great and something to look forward to originates from all the DevBlogs/-Diaries and video footage they provided so far. It's the very reason I pledged in the first place and got nothing to do with pre-alpha state. By now I'd think you could know me well enough to trust in the fact that I am very aware of the NDA. Please consider this before you make assumptions and raise your voice like that. Thank you. @Miamato I don't have any idea of production or mass production yet. For me the atelier just refers to the planning phase and I consider it an option about how blueprint creation could be implemented within the higher skilled / professional design branches of gameplay. I think for the construction side of things (and maybe mass producing), we should create a new idea thread

Yup, I'm with you on the "no freecam" part. Regarding DU not being about "building" but "rebuilding" I get your point - but I was scared at the first and relieved at the second. I think, to a degree, one implies the other. Building is an essential part and should be as convenient as it can be within character and reason. Like everything else the building experience needs to be balanced to be neither tedious nor too fast paced The part "having a hard time building" could easily be misunderstood - I guess you refer to the overall building process, including materials and elements? Because when you've got everything you need, the actual planning and/or direct construction, maybe should not be like CAD, but it should not be a pain either. As we all already know however: it isn't! Because (even disregarding my projector idea) the building experience already is awesome!

Ah, now I get it - you mean options like "rotate the camera around a certain point", where with a flying character you'd need to strafe around while looking at the same point. Yeah, but "flying in build mode" comes very close to this Nah, not referring to the state of the Alpha - regarding the "no-clip mode" for the projector I was referring to my atelier suggestion. I would not discuss the state of the Alpha in this forum. Reasons 'n stuff Well, hm, if I want to avoid the freecam - maybe the projector could react to key presses and have the projection move in a way that simulates free cam? Your character would look at a point and on [AssignedKey] you'd rotate and zoom the projection, while [Shift]+[AssignedKey] could move the projection around. I am looking for an alternative to freecam, because I would prefer to stay in character for the building experience. I fear if building becomes too much like an external software, there would be no point of doing it in-game. That's why I try to find blievable, immersion-friendly solutions that would work fine in the game "as if it were real". Having a huge projection of my model? Yeah, I'd like to have that in the future. In fact Microsoft just showcased what they call "mixed virtual reality" and it already comes pretty close to this experience. Creators at Ford walk around their projection overlay nowadays (look it up here or on YouTube) rather than using the CAD software freecam... doesn't need to be exclusive tho.

About truth.. This is the 10th post on page 21. The next post will invalidate me as winning candidate. The 15th post after this will win the round of last post on page 21. Captain Obvious is in da house, yo. Make yourself useful and find the error

Nice addition - tho I think it's already possible if the projection is 1:1 and you can fly in build mode with clipping disabled - ain't that the same thing?

Yep, exactly I imagine the first officer announcing "Enemy at 4 - lost our primary starboard shield - turn 120 to port - ready banks and welcome charlie at 7." (lol) Could you go into detail about what you consider an "overcharged/overloaded" shield generator, please? It sounds as if one would have the option to "not overload" it and be safe from such explosions? I might agree to the option of boosting the shields with the downside that failure implies extra damage - but as long as a shield generator operates within default parameters, it should not cause an additional risk for reasons: 1. it negates the very idea of having a shield in the first place and 2. you'd be better off just filling the room with one layer of armor over the other, because a: armor doesn't explode, b: still provides protection and c: would probably be way cheaper anyways. Building armor on the inside of your ship may be a good idea in case you sustain heavy damage on the outer layer (shield corridors) but that armor should be like a drivers' capsule (safety cage?) - not a container for dangerous equipment that you just installed to protect yourself. Exploding security measures are like holding a gun to your head announcing "You can't shoot me, because I'll shoot me first!" ... If, through tactical reasoning, you decide to overcharge a shield because you being at 10% shield and your enemy down to 15% hull, you could finish him without taking damage if your shield holds an additional 10%... fine. But other than that (at least to me) it really doesn't make sense. I'd rather introduce shield balancers to distribute load between different generators at the cost of (again) added weight and an overall tactical disatvantage to weaken your entire shield compared to just an area of it that you could turn away from the enemy once it breaks. Balancing loads between shields could even become a player role.

Cool, have a like! Travel Regarding stargates: there probably won't be stargates on release. We'll have our system and... was it 12 planets plus moons or celestial bodies including moons? This is from memory and I'm not sure. As I understood it there might be stargates in a later addon, when players have put a crazy amount of time into exploration and expansion. Maybe at that time a stargate will be more like a gate connecting two different worlds? Maybe an option to make room for new players to experience again, what old players experienced when dropping with the Arkship? But I want to stress that this is just wildfire guessing. I think, given the starting planets, there will be so much space to build and discover that your concerns regarding such progressions might not really apply in the end. Planets alone might be so far apart that your main concern is to pack enough fuel. I share your concerns regarding EVE-likeness - I didn't leave EVE because there were too few flowers, but because the game design itself favored certain economic and social developments I really didn't enjoy. I very much hope that DU will give just as much reason and chance to successfully play in a smaller, "family-clan-like" guild (or the often mentioned hermit on asteroid ME-772-6A in field G53-CTN ) as it does to organize in huge numbers. If it ever gets crowded to a point where smaller groups can't really enjoy the game anymore, stargates might(!?) be the way out to let these people thrive in a new system full of possibilities. No idea - maybe the amount you can carry with you will be limited as you travel through a stargate? What's their diameter anyways? I'd say: don't fret - we shall c - waaay to go Big ships Kinda like that one! With exceptions: shield generators should not explode by overloading. Anyone designing such a device would incorporate appropriate countermeasures to power off the element before it becomes the nuke in your bathtub. Having a security device to be a major security risk feels wrong... let them fail and add a cool-down when they overcharge/overheat - that even adds a time window to destroy the generator and if that happens, yeah, boom, a bit, okay. Apart from that: there are better elements you could let explode and cause havoc - like fusion generators or fuel tanks perhaps? Shield size and shield discs: means you'd need more development to go into disc orientation - or sacrifice design options by having players mount shield generators in a certain orientation. The idea is nice however and I think you can achieve it by having shield generators create a bubble that is just limited in size. You'd still need to place multiple of them - but the orientation doesn't matter, no need to set disc location. Downside: super-sized battlecruiser shields would look like grapes, so maybe shields could "merge" to one big surface and get holes when generators in a certain location overload/overheat. Are shields planned anyways? Idktbh, hehe. Anyhow, I like to think of shield generators as "translucent copy of the ship" (or like hull polarization) with a scale factor of 1.05 or 1.1, so the shield is like an extrusion from the ships hull. Also feels like this could be simple to realize regarding development - not sure tho. To get full coverage of this extrusion (and have multiple generators+equipment), shield generators could have a limited area of effect to produce said "hull overlay". The outcome would be the same and solve your issue just as well... what do you think? Feels good? <edit type="ps"> Regarding shield bubble size: could configure shield generators through LUA to create an elliptic bubble to better fit an area or increase the size while reducing the total strength. Freighters that don't want 20 shield generators could use a single one in the center and modulate the shield to be large, but a bit weak - then add an additional shield around the engines... etcpp... could go on forever with stuff like this. Only question is: "What possibilities or limits will there be?" </edit> Blueprints Again, I agree with your concerns, but I don't see the blueprints being the source of afeared symptoms. First: people will want to build their own designs and fly them. Second: some affordable VW Käfer for the masses ain't too bad. Third: the real issue would be if every voxel adds a considerable amount of mass, so designers opt-out from design, in favor to crate flying cores with everything attached directly to the core first and thenceforth to the already added elements. I sincerely hope we may use plastic (or something else that is almost irrelevant to structure and mass) that we can use to optimize the looks of our ships, after we've built the necessary supportive and rigid structure/backbone to hold and protect our elements. This way there might be the one layout/backbone that all use as reference to build a mass- and performance-optimized ship/plane/glider (for a certain task) - but on the outside there will be many different surface designs made in plastic, carbon, aluminum sheets. As cars drive on the road, all having wheels, windows, seats and catalysts nowadays - but there are uncountable forms, colors, sounds, sizes and designs too. Let them blueprint and mass-produce. Once everyone got a VW Käfer, people will opt for their individual design - let alone to stick out of the mass - and then crash their old vehicle at the destruction derby. #edprotestgoat is gonna ram you anyways! (we definitely should do that... srsly) We need freedom in design - the option to add vanity to our constructs, without compromising performance, integrity or mass. Then all will be good By the way: nobody keeps you from err... "copying" a design by hand. Meaning to build something similar and blueprint it. But I really doubt that will be an issue, because I believe people want to diverse.

I like that scene. Heeey, which reminds me of voice commands! It'd be cool if we could interface LUA scripts through an external console (separate task in the background) to send/parse basic commands/calls from third party software like VoiceAttack or AutoHotkey. Then just set a name for the element/DPU in game (self.interfaceName('vxProjector')) and assign a function/eventListener (like self.interfaceListener(vxModifyLocation = function (x, y, z) self.setPosition(self.getPosition().x+x, self.getPosition().y+y, self.getPosition().z+z) end) for the DPU to address some element by. From then on, we'd have a pretty straight forward way of controlling stuff through voice commands. Like... "Aphelia, please raise projection by 2 meters" executes action: "send string command du.vxProjector.vxModifyLocation(0, 2, 0)" to du-lua-interface.exe task. Maybe some day ...until then we'll have to assign keys and trigger them through VoiceAttack. Same result, but a waste of key assignments (and less pr0n) Btw: please don't slap me for the LUA examples - they're probably wrong - I've just opened the syntax reference for the first time ever... crazy stuff, that.

Just stumbled upon the cloaking question in an interview: https://youtu.be/supFNqs-IpA?t=43m11s Sound quality is very very bad tho - almost inaudible - but as I catched it JC said that cloaking is one of the obvious features that should to be in the game at some point - but if it will be in at release... uuh ääh humm...

Regarding smart: since they're going to simulate physics of mass, thrust, atmosphere - and it's important where/how you place elements - the "smart" will not just in part come from the designer's "real life" skills. That's just what I like most of all. Please don't stone me to death for this, but personally I'd vote for "no in-game skills or restrictions at all" (apart from resources), tho I fear most people won't agree on that - which probably is a good thing, considering this being an MMO and the havoc people (without the need to think about what they're doing) might cause otherwise Alas... I'm not the only player and I guess we'll have to grind through skills anyways (or wait ages for them to be learned like in EVE (mega-yaaaawn)) - so yeah, I agree with you regarding the question of where to apply skills and for what For now I'll just trust them to find a solution we all can live with regarding such game progression mechanics - and I agree that a purely money based system is problematic, especially where people can just buy ISK... *cough* eerrrr.... CR? Heck, what's the currency in DU called? Will there be Alioth Dollars and Theseus Moon Crowns? Or JCB-Coins? /edit/ps Thanks Lethys! Danke für die Blumen =) /edit/ps/2 Oh, just found the name of the currency, quote: "Quanta (plural quantum)"? So 1 quanta, 2 quantum? At least it's what it reads here. Singular/plural sound kinda inversed tho. Shouldn't it be 1 quantum and 2 quanta?

Please, could you provide a link? I'm scanning through the content at devblog.dualthegame.com but I seem to miss that bit of information. I found this article about LUA and distributed processing units, where radar is addressed as an example - but nothing in the latest dev diary. Am I just blind or am I looking in the wrong place perchance?

Thanks to all so far - glad to see the basic idea coming across and being welcomed! @Oije oh yes, I think stuff like that could scale with the quality/size/level of the projectors used? I'm not very familiar with the different elements yet but there are differently sized cores - maybe have the projector only be able to simulate cores at its own level/size? I was just thinking about "own size +1 or below" but that might not even be necessary as I don't see why one should not just use multiple projectors with different sizes in different sized ateliers. Core size limits construct size I believe? Maybe larger cores will be way more expensive, or not usable from the start through lack of skill? Whatever they might introduce - I've got a hunch that the same quality/size/level principles they introduce for different elements could be carried over to the projectors too. Same goes in case they decide to use a skill system to limit what engineers can build with their current skill - designers could have a similar skill tree. No idea, but so far it feels compatible, modular and scalable If anyone knows a resource where I could read about the current concept outline regarding these questions I'd greatly appreciate it - if such a resource even exists yet, hehe.

Huh, good question. If you can scan for ships tho - what happens to my ship when I'm offline? As it's part of the consistent world it will probably remain in space - but can players attack constructs of offline players? If yes: ugh, at least let me hide my ship somewhere. If not: there needs to be something to prevent combat-logging. Btw: cloaking device anyone?

Pretty sure it will feature at least the most common display settings. Personally I hope for advanced position and size settings for a borderless window The real questions is: will your hardware specs allow you to run at that resolution and still get decent performance? I just hope they'll include over- and undersampling. So rendering a smaller resolution and stretch it on a larger display (undersampling without fullscreen mode messing up the whole desktop) or rendering 4k and squeeze it on a 1440p display to get the most beautiful of antialiasing if your hardware is able to push out 4k but you lack the 4k display (oversampling). As far as I know they currently use the UNIGINE 2 Engine for rendering - if you want to entertain yourself, maybe you'll be able to find some intel about the capabilities that already come with this engine. Searching Google and... here you go: DevBlog DUAL UNIVERSE SWITCHES TO UNIGINE 2! - Posted on 29/04/2016 by jcbaillie What I see on the u2e website looks promising, as they mention (quote) "Oculus Rift / HTC Vive, curved screens, monitor walls, CAVEs, multi-channel image generation" right on the linked page. But I haven't read on yet - have fun exploring!

First I want to gather distance from what has been raised already: creative mode and the like. I have searched and found the "Creative Mode" thread and while it kinda addresses the same issue, I consider it another "game mode" that would be separate from the "real" universe (ehem... just let me use the term "real" without quotes from now on - don't slap me). Atelier? Holo Deck? Holo Dock? Holo Shipyard? I guess I don't need to describe the atelier (holo deck) in detail - you all know the Star Trek Holo Deck, where people can create a holographic illusion that they can even interact with, or take damage from if security protocols have been disabled - it looks and feels real, but really is just an illusion/projection within a limited area. What makes this different from Creative Mode? Applied to Dual Universe and the role of ship designer it would mean that the designer could start by building a first atelier (static construct) which may be rather small, but lets him create concepts of dynamic constructs that fit into the room. I think the Star Trek Holo Deck is infinitely large when switched on, but this would create a "seperate world/instance" within the real world of DU and I think that would imply many issues and players hiding in a tiny spot that inside might be huge. Don't know. Second reason why I think the atelier should be just as big as the inside of the construct: designers would start small and work their way up. As this is a game and you probably aim for some kind of progression, it would be sensible to not have the one week old player design a Star Destroyer (executor- or eclipse-class, hehe) in his tiny 3x3m atelier. Third reason: it's a building in the real world, visible by other players. It adds prestige, too. It's where your company works and where other players (friends, clients) may be granted access and look at your progress. But how on Alioth would one fit an executor class star destroyer into a building that has to fit into a TCU tile!? Good thing you ask! Because you don't and because you shouldn't. Two reasons: You don't really want to have ships of this size equipped with atmospheric thrusters to launch from a planet. Once the designer progresses to a point where he could build something like this, he'd have his own space dock - he'd have his own "holo atelier shipyard", where giant rails run along starboard/backboard, topside/keel, bow/stern, which mount projector equipment to get the planning phase done. Resources/Maintenance? You'd have to feed the atelier with power to run the projectors - but those projections don't need material as you can't take them away anyways. You might want to secure your endeavours tho as you leave the safe zone to create bigger stuff. More benefits? you could configure the projector to disable clipping and or reduce opacity you could switch to wireframe, which would be bliss (if you ever created a 3d model using design software, you know it can be hard to track down hidden surfaces that don't serve any purpose, but just bloat your model) you could switch voxels on/off as well as components on/off (easier to link fully enclosed components if no voxels are in the way) you could move, raise or lower the construct without having to worry about gravity you could switch to simulation mode in order to enter a projected cockpit and move some meters around within your atelier - speed off and your character will smash into the wall, while your construct swooshes through it and is gone (so you need to reset relative projection position) you could have guides (lines/planes) projected to your workspace - lines to align stuff and planes to view cross sections or set a mirror plane, without having to calculate double/triple/quad resource cost (as there are no resource costs) everything this device can do for you would neither break the consistent universe, nor have people vanishing into thin air, because they suddenly are in "a different game mode" of course you could still just start building - trial and error, get that thing in the air and all that - but you'd be lacking some tools and it would have the full cost in resources Freedom of Choice! This would be an option to excel at something you love - at the same time it would not be mandatory. Your choice, mate! immersion, immersion, immersion.. Modularity of design and construction All holographic constructs would be just that - hollow projections. They would not take up real space. This means you would place your projector/-s, start designing your construct and at the same time you could in fact place the core unit where you just planned it and start building the real thing as if you did a colour by numbers ("Malen nach Zahlen" in German). Your company/organization could take in someone specialized on construction/building, who helps on this process. Projectors would be an asset just like doors or cores or engines - they would need players to build them, they would need resources to be built, they could have limited projection capacities in "supported construct dimension and/or volume" - again this means scalability - this means progressing through the game - this means having something to achieve, to work for. The largest stuff doesn't come cheap, but the biggest XXL of projectors coult have clustering capability, so you could connect it with other XXL projectors to create the giant holo shipyard atelier I mentioned above. Final statement I'm not 100% sure if I thought of everything - but seeing the threads around creative mode, offline mode, single player stuff, creators needs, clients needs, freelancers needs, and the polarization it sometimes causes, I think this is a direction that could serve the needs of all sides. Designers could create blueprints while they wouldn't vanish from the rest of the world, but be an essential part of it. I did the search - maybe this has been here already? I hope I didn't miss it. Yeah, I've seen the note in the "Creative Mode" thread, that something like this "might" come as an addon after release. No problem with that! It's just an idea and open for discussion. Please, add your thoughts - I'm craving for feedback, as I've got a hunch this could be awesome. Merci pour votre considération.

Exactly my thought and I don't see why it would be different this time hence I'll wait for those who find application in the real world and connect with other companies providing open interfaces.

Cool, I'll get it later when people at Google or Github did it right

Update: Sent the inquiry and got turned down. It's not possible to mix and rewards will be sent as a whole, not piece by piece. My guess is they could have made it possible, but maybe they fear having to deal with 10k backers wanting to trade and exchange pledge rewards *sigh* too bad its over - otherwise I could've just pledged a second time for silver physical, hehe. Well, bummer, at least a tiny one. But https://youtu.be/ybXrrTX3LuI?t=38s

Okies, thanks you I think to pick it up you need to be used to the concept of German word compositions - meaning to make up new words all the time and recognize them instantly. German is a bit like a sandbox game

TehWardy: durr, thanks! =) yamamushi: wanted to - but I seem to have missed the after sales support link? The contact page felt a bit weird, not being connected to my login, having to enter my credentials anew. Did not find a dedicated support inquiry form tho You think I should just use that and let them sort it out through my mail address? Your name is kinda funny in German btw (scnr)

Maybe we should've not hit that stretch goal. With that bounty hunting business I fear ending up lifeless as well. Tho if I do, I'll let you know if celestial bodies do in fact affect opacity. Was macht dieser Translator eigentlich, wenn die Nachricht zwei Sprachen enthält?

Hey there. Bon jour. First posting! Sooo... hugsies? On topic Since the rewards will be updated soon: the only difference between silver digital and silver physical is/was, that the physical reward loses 1 DAC (10 instead of 11), but gains the "Arkship Passenger ID Card (Silver)". So I've pledged on kickstarter for the silver physical reward, because I felt that the fun of having this "Arkship Passenger ID Card (Silver)" could be well worth 1 DAC. Even tho I have no idea what exactly that is or how it will look. But - Yay! Next: I followed you on your dev diary and one topic after the other, my impression that you made all the right decisions so far, was confirmed. Now I'm pretty convinced that you create a very solid base and given this, I've upgraded to ruby. Yay! Tho... one drop of bitter in my sweets: I went for ruby digital. Not because of the few € difference, but because I don't know where I should cram all that stuff. I'm not into collectors boxes, statues, art books... and I'm sure I can buy a Dual Universe shirt if I ever want one. The DACs sound like the way better deal here. Only issue: I don't get that shiny card, eh? Sooo... is there any way I could trade one DAC and get the card? Like I could with silver physical reward? Doesn't hurt asking, me thinkers... Alors, merci beaucoup regardless of the outcome!