Scruggs

Oh and btw in DU it's not about content in the way a wow player sees it.... It's about development of deeper and deeper mechanics of the game (ressources like breathing, food, life support on ships, ramming, new modules, new techiques for building, new meshes for using in constructs, new .....)

Modern Cities are built around the exploitation of Private Cars, It's why cities in the USA are unnecessarily large and population density is low. It makes a lot of problems, One being that people are forced into a lifestyle of owning cars to be able to live happily. Public transport also suffers etc.
 
In DU however, I wouldn't be surprised if cities are very dense, Because of the readily available use of space ships and easy access to energy exploitation, Most of the efforts of a city would be to design around the concept of Arcology Construction 
 

 
A single large, monolithic Construction for the purpose of housing peoples in the many hundreds of millions, In essence, the building behaves sort of like a Central Processing chip, Where you have inputs of raw materials and goods that may be required and an Output of Export materials depending on the Skill set of the population and the careers players might choose to specialize in. 
 
Arcology Construction is extremely Efficient in the amount of room taken, compared to the amount of commute time needed. Rather than needing to travel 1 and 1/2 hours to your work, just take an elevator down to the industrial complex, or IT department.  
 
Or at least that's the philosophy an industrially minded person like me would chose to design cities.

So here's a question that has been on my mind recently. Do we have any information on how resource needs will play out in the long run? In other resource-gathering games (Minecraft, Factorio, Space Engineers), resources (iron, for example) are permanently gone when mined. Makes sense. In DU, we can leave permanent changes in worlds, so it only follows that resources will be permanently harvested as well.
 
This is well and good for singleplayer/small server games because there's virtually no chance that the area will be mined out to the point of excessive travel to find resources. The only real possible problem is if a new player joins and there's nothing for miles to harvest. Which rolls nicely into my real point.
 
I have to guess that as resources are depleted and spent, assuming resources don't respawn, the player activity bubble will expand as a hollow shell. Players will mine out a planet until the scraps left are not worth retrieving, and then expand the bubble of human influence as they jump to the next system. Past the ”skin” of the bubble where most of human interaction is, will be the dead and barren discarded planets, possibly dotted with the HQs of corporations that decide against periodically moving and rebuilding their main base on the frontlines. And somewhere in the center of the resource wasteland is the starting planet. So what will new players log into, a year down the road? Will it be an early game devoid of much if the playerbase; a newbie island of sorts? Will there be anything worth mining, to help them get on their feet? Perhaps periodically-spawning asteroids? And what of their trip to the bubble's edge, that would presumably hold most players, especially with destroyable warp gates?
 
Perhaps, if "Safe Zone" planets are peppered in throughout the galaxy, the game could just choose such a planet near other players as the current newbie spawn zone. This could ensure that new players are spawned where everyone else is. But a returning player could face the same issues, if they had last played months ago and the bubble has expanded without them. Returning players might have enough stock to keep going, and players on board their corporation vessel would be dragged along to the frontlines even while logged out, but neither of these can be assumed.

This is a "General Knowledge" thread to help provide newcomers with a list of hot topics, answers, FAQs, videos, and other miscellaneous information that pertains to Dual Universe. This thread will not contain everything about DU, but merely help to point you in the right direction. I have done my best over the years to keep this thread up to date for newcomers, so if there is something you think is missing and should be added, just private message me with the information and sourcing.
 
You are also encouraged to join the Official Community Discord for Dual Universe if you have questions, or just want to be involved in the community. 
 
PSA: Use the SEARCH FUNCTION in the forums before making a thread if you are new. Chances are, it has already been discussed and beaten to death.  
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
-> Release Roadmap & Alpha Announcement <-
 
Official Links:
 
• FAQ from the Main Website
 
• Trello Community Suggestions
 
• DU Gamepedia (wiki)
 
• Developer Blog
 
• Kickstarter Page
 
• Youtube Page
 
          • DU Community Discord
                • Official Discord FAQ (Forum Link)
 
          • Soundcloud/Soundtracks
 
          • DU Reddit
 
 
Forum Links:
 
• "Ask Us Anything" Thread by NQ-Nyzaltar
 
• Forum Rules thread by NQ-Nyzaltar
 
• Pre-Alpha FAQ and Rules by NQ-Nyzaltar
 
• DU DevDiary Video Guide by Shockeray
 
 
Other (Non-Official) Media:
 
• Dual Universe Explorers (Podcast)
 
• Ark Central (Community News)
 
• Dual Insider (Community News)
 
• Dual Universe Sleepers (Fansite/Blog)
 
• Outpost Zebra (Blog)
 
• Community Org/Player Map (Community Tool)
 
 
Common Topics: (NOTE: All information below is subject to change at any time. Official responses from the developers, and sources, have been linked to each subject.)
 
• Price Model will be Pay To Play
 
 
 
• "Virtual Simulator" for builders to build in peace
 
 
• "The Economy"
 
 
• "Scripting" Dual Universe will utilize LUA Scripting and Distributed Processing Units  
 
• "FTL Travel" answered by NQ-Nyzaltar in the Ask Us Anything thread
 
  • "Unigine 2" Dual Universe will be running off of the Unigine 2 Game Engine
 
 
• "Single Shard Server" In Dual Universe, all players will be playing in the same server
• (Video) Server Technology review by JC Baillie
 
 
• "Active Lock On Targeting" In Dual Universe, combat will not be twitched base
 
 
• "Character Progression" There will be no character levels in Dual Universe
 
 
• "Survival Gameplay" Currently NovaQuark are still considering adding survival elements
 
 
• "Territory Control" In Dual Universe, you will be able to own pieces of land
 
 
• "Rights And Duties Management System" Sophisticated system for managed roles in your organization
 
 
• "Stealth Technology" Stealth tech is currently being considered by NovaQuark
 

Any system designed by the devs that limits a player's ability and the right to play, will not go well in general. When a player pays X dollars a monthly sub, everyone will expect access to the whole game 24x7, aside from normal maint downtimes.
 
We need to have other forms of punishment that doesn't prevent one from playing the game.

Just make sure to build them less than 1 kilometer off the ground because territory control won't help you protect it any higher than that.
 
DevBlog: Territory Control
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/296-devblog-territory-control/?hl=territory

I'm sorry that I have actual speakers in front of me, but wouldn't that kind of also be on you for playing it at maximum volume? 

No Mans Sky encourages exploring and never staying in one spot for too long.
 
Dual Universe encourages building, and finding a location to call your own. While it does encourage some exploration, that isn't the primary focus. 
 
That said, I am itching to play No Mans Sky. Why can't it come out sooner.

Yes in real life you can't really escape wage slavery easily, but that's one of many, many reasons for playing a game. In Game, unless the entire planet is claimed there will be places to go to make your own way. I don't absolutely have to rely on anyone else for anything, sure it may be faster as a team, but it would need to be a mutually beneficial team. At least for those of us that start playing in the beginning.
 
People that start playing later may end up working for shit pay on the starting planet, until they find a way off to another planet.

Yes in real life you can't really escape wage slavery easily, but that's one of many, many reasons for playing a game. In Game, unless the entire planet is claimed there will be places to go to make your own way. I don't absolutely have to rely on anyone else for anything, sure it may be faster as a team, but it would need to be a mutually beneficial team. At least for those of us that start playing in the beginning.
 
People that start playing later may end up working for shit pay on the starting planet, until they find a way off to another planet.

Wage slavery is possible when you aren't born naturally owning your own land. And you need permission from a government to hunt your own food.
What circumstances do you foresee in DU that can lead to wage-slavery?
 
I suppose if I'm in space on a multi-crew ship, I could suddenly find myself trapped on the ship without permissions to access food.
So, ostensibly, the owner of the ship would try to force me into "slave" labor... but, what else would I be doing on the ship? Sleeping?
If I'm sent down to a planet to harvest, I would probably be able to live off the land away from the slavers.
Worst case scenario, I kill myself and respawn at an Arkship - away from the slavers.
And hang out with friends who aren't slavers.
I don't see how it's possible to enforce wage-slavery in Dual Universe.

If this would be implemented, I would take whatever penalty there was for suicide to not be a slave. If I couldn't attempt to kill my captor then I would suicide. Being a slave in a game would be about as fun as bolting my sack to concrete. I don't play games that aren't fun; for very long anyway.
 
I'm good with the illusion of choice. I'll mine, just pay me. Shit.

Both Nietoperek and Captain summarised what I was attempting to outline. If slavery is hard coded there are gameplay complexities to consider, such as enjoyability: how fun will that be for the slaves? Restrictions: for how long can someone be a slave? What can they or can they not do as a slave? Can they be forced to do certain things, and if they don't comply what are the penalties? Cost: What will it cost the slave master in terms of resources? What kind of technology would a slave master need in order to keep slaves? Freedom and capture: how would you capture people to be slaves and how do they free themselves?
 
I think slavery is better for roleplayers rather than a hard coded feature.
 
As I said earlier I'd like to see the ability to kidnap other players for ransom. Perhaps even keep them as prisoners of war and their organization will either have to barter for their return or fight to retrieve them. Could make for interesting sceneries.

The concepts of "slavery" in this thread are interesting but seem to be extremely broad.
 
I am not a voxelmancer, so I don't expect to do much building of constructs.
I expect to do quite a bit of harvesting and crafting - in addition to exploring.
I'm a hippie/commie/socialist at heart... so my hope is to share my surplus with others for free or barter for trade.
 
In Landmark, many of us had treasure chests on our claims filled with extra resources and gear for newbies to pick up for free.
Also, many of us handed surplus resources over to Builders simply to help them build cool-looking stuff.
 
In a game with Arkships and safe zones and a free personal TU, I don't think you can make players into true slaves.
I think it will be easy to find players willing to provide you with free labor - if you're friendly and also willing to lend them a hand when they ask for help.
Should also be interesting to see how relationships develop on multi-crew ships.

I don't think that's true.
 
I would bet that at any point in history no matter what level of technology is available, it would probably cost more to buy a human and keep them healthy and alive, then it would to acquire available technology that is capable of doing the same job.  If there isn't any technology available then there's nothing to compare.
 
And as a game mechanic it's just a bad idea for obvious reasons.

I have never understood people who pay to subscribe to an MMO game just to play by themselves. It is counter-intuitive to break game features built for players who actually want to work and play together just to accommodate people who want to never interact with anyone else in the game.  
      They've said that the idea of having "billions of planets" is a nice marketing term but that's not really the point. They are more interested in having populated planets than they are giving everyone their own planet.
 
The idea of getting your own planet is for the people who made the effort to come together and put in the work necessary to get to one, either for resources or whatever number of possible reasons. And really, if they put in all that effort, they should get the fruits of their work. 
 
Coupled with the recent AMA response about how the skill system will work, time based like Eve Online, it doesn't really sound like new players will even have the exploration option open up immediately to them without first training the appropriate skills.
 
 
 
The "hate" on "freeform" travel is because it doesn't align at all with what we've been told about the plans for the game. What we've been told makes it unlike like any construction based space exploration game on the market right now, and it being different is why we're here.
 
There are already plenty of games out there that offer solo play and the ability to travel quickly around space and build whatever they want. Why try to change DU to be just like all of those games? I don't want more of the same thing, I want something new. Many of us do.

That is an easy answer. I have come across countless numbers of people who prefer to play solo in MMO's. The reason they like the MMO atmosphere is because the MMO worlds feel alive with real people running around. Single player games do not offer this. People essentially want to be around other people even if they are not interacting with them. Essentially it bolsters immersion.
 
It's no different than going out on a Friday night to a dinner and movie with a significant other or a buddy.

I think this time-based skill system works for the concept of this game. It encourages playing with other people who are specializing in skills you may not want to prioritize.

I think this time-based skill system works for the concept of this game. It encourages playing with other people who are specializing in skills you may not want to prioritize.

They never said anything about making it easier for later players to reach new stars (outside of stargates), what they said was:
 

"Flying from a planet to another should be a real achievement in our game vision. So it would not be available on the first day of the official release. If a player is here from day 1, it might be weeks, maybe a few months before the travel from planet to planet becomes possible. This is still a topic heavily discussed in the team. However, later on in the game, when the global tech level of civilizations built by the players will have reached a certain point, it will be possible for a new comer to simply buy or be given a ship to fly with as soon as he arrives in game (he will still need to learn a few skills to be able to fly it however, but the basic levels should be reachable between a few minutes and a few hours, according to the flying construct complexity). In short, the game experience for a player present from day 1 might be very different from the game experience of a player coming several months after the game has launched, also different from the game experience of a player entering the game one year after official launch (where many solar systems will be, without a doubt, already discovered and colonized)."
 
 
And on the topic of Stargates and travelling to distant stars they've stated it will take months for probes to reach their destinations before players can travel to them and construct the other end of their stargate, there was nothing stated about making it easier for new players to just immediately travel to distant stars without stargates.
 
 
 
Also, those "unfun" RP mechanics are the reason many of us are here, and have been so active on the forums, and why we've gone out of our way to make player organizations based on the little we know about the game.
 
How could you possibly say they'd be "really bad for the game if implemented" without knowing anything about the game as it is? You're applying that logic in the hopes that the game will be like Eve Online, which aside from some basic mechanics and the world being a sandbox, DU is going to be anything but Eve Online. 
 
Those of us who have been most vocal in our support of DU are the ones hoping for a feature rich game that is both difficult and rewarding, not a theme park playground where everything is given to us without much effort or patience. I can't see how having to work towards something and needing patience is "unfun", especially in a game where they expect it to take us weeks or months to even reach space in the first place. 
 
If I wanted a game where I could just jump into a ship and fly anywhere I wanted immediately without any effort or survival mechanics, I'd just play No Man's Sky. 
 
I want a game where people have to work together to create amazing structures in space, where trade and the economy are a core part of the game dictated by players, where establishing a new planetary colony is something to be proud of and not something anyone can do overnight, where going to war involves more than just throwing manpower and ships into battle, where every choice a player makes has an impact on the world around them.
 
I want a game that has a living breathing world, and you can't really do that without survival mechanics of some type, otherwise we'll just end up with Everquest Landmark in space.

@Scruggs,
If i remember right it was said, they make a jump point to jump to, and then you construct the gate... Where are you getting the idea that they are making the gate???

A journey worthy of being considered a real pilgrimage, maybe to searching for salvation among the stars...

Then why are you here?

I'm a pve player, I enjoy building kickass defense and waiting for pvp players to wreck themselves on my defense, while I continue building what I want.
 
@SledgeHammer
you make an excellent point, that is the only thing that can be frustrating. I cannot adjust my defense if I'm not home while somebody is attacking me 5 to 6 times a night just to get through my defense.
 
I was hoping that for smaller factions they may consider some form of invulnerability for the area if All the of the faction members are offline.
Not away from the base, only offline.

As much as I am for a full sandbox game.  I can live without a group of players who's sole purpose is to grief others and try and break the game.  I hope the devs feel the same way.