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Seveen

Alpha Tester
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    Seveen reacted to vertex in Ship Design Atelier (Holo Deck)   
    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.
  2. Like
    Seveen reacted to KlatuSatori in Research and Development game Mechanic   
    I think a distinction needs to be made between tech advancement and skill training.  Skill training is character specific and will be time based.  It will unlock certain abilities and/or provide small % improvements in a character's performance of those abilities.  It will be a lot like the skill training system in Eve.  This has been NQ's plan since the early days and hasn't changed as far as I'm aware.  
     
    Tech advancement is the discovery of new elements and materials which have the potential to shake up the status quo.  For example in the first couple of months, the discovery of an engine that can make it possible for ships to reach space.  This is something that everyone will eventually benefit from.  New tech will start out being available to a select few, but then more organisations will unconver the secret, some will sell it on for a profit, and eventually it will be become the norm, so that any new player might have access to it in their first week.  This kind of tech advancement, I believe is vaguely planned, but the exact mechanisms are not, as far as I know.
     
    Tech advancement is a far more interesting aspect of the game than skill training (i.e. levelling up) if you ask me.
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