CptLoRes

Without LUA and API's this game would be even worse of then it already is. Without LUA pretty much anything the community has been able to create that is actual enjoyable content in this game, would have been null and void. So the obvious logical conclusion is that more scripting features will translate into more community content and player interactions. Building and scripting is some of the few things NQ got right in this game. So it is kinda sad to see that NQ is actively hampering players access to those features.

Which makes no sense what so ever, since Sanctuary is this games equivalent of newb town where many players form their first impressions of this game.

One word, information. There are so many subsystems in this game. Crafting, trading, markets, tile scans, tiles, constructs, talents, MU's etc. And they are all their own master, with completely different interfaces and ways of presenting information. Take for example the MU's where you have to run around like a headless chicken directly interfacing with each and every MU separately just to check their status. That makes no sense what so ever in a sci-fi setting. So what we need is a simple and straightforwards way of gathering all this information from different systems in one place, so that we can compare and strategize.

I understand what you are saying, but this type of limitation is hamstringing a game like DU at a fundamental level. Basically the game is telling builders that the more effort they put into the game, there more they will also be forced to do regular chores at set intervals etc. just to maintain all the hard work. So where is the intensive for builders to continue playing like that? And when combined with MU grind just to get enough resources to build, it is turning builders into second class citizens compared to other types of players.

Which brings us to the part where NQ actually tells us what type of game we can expect going forwards, so that players can decide if this is a game they want to support and continue playing.

This constant 'play to keep' pressure is fundamentally wrong for a subscription game. DU is the type of game where players will play for long periods, but then want to take a brake for something else. But not being able to do so and continue where they left of (in a building focused game with subscription no less), only makes them quit instead. I would compare the DU subscription to cloud storage. Meaning as long as you keep paying the subscription you are also paying for NQ to maintain your current state in the game while you are away. And if this does not scale economically, then NQ should stop beating around the bush and put a hard cap on what and single account can actually do in the game. But this would be admitting that the entire premise for the game is broken, so...

I'll repost my suggestion for how to handle intersecting elements (the term stacking only leads to confusion) . One way to prevent gains from element intersection and not break old designs and some of the unintended partial intersects that sometimes happens while building without active exploits, would be to use % element intersection as a limit on elements effectiveness. Much the same as with obstruction. So if for example you have two engine elements intersecting you subtract the second elements intersection from the first, so that the combined output becomes the same a single normal element. This would allow old designs to continue working without exploit gains, and act as a 'catch all' for fringe cases that might happen while building normally.

That is the current trend for this game. DU the voxel based open world building MMO, that doesn't want you to use voxels.. @NQ persistent 'unlimited' building in a MMO, or to use your own words rebuilding an civilization with large cities and asteroid sized space stations was arguably the main premise of this game during the Kickstarter. And if you can't deliver on that you need to be very clear on why, and more importantly tell us exactly what type of game we can expect going forward.

In development there is this thing called dogfooding (people making dog food should be able to eat it themselfs), which for software means that devs have to use their own products. So DU devs should be required to maintain a tile cluster like any other player, and be restricted to use only resources gathered from those tiles what they play test to se how much they enjoy it. And if they did, it would seem obvious that the current TAX+MU system would never have made it to the live servers.

This is the root problem with DU. The game is far from finished and there is just not enough to do for players to have fun in general. But instead of focusing on adding more fun, NQ seem to have this idea that they can somehow enhance what little fun there is by making it harder to reach. But that it not how it works, so the result is that they are killing what little fun there is instead as demonstrated by 0.23 and Demeter. Especially for building which is supposed to be a creative process at the the opposite spectrum of grind.

You where not naive. Simple fact is that NQ straight up promised in the Kickstarter as one of the 'for sure' selling points of this game, that they would strive to be as open as possible and have a dialog with the community during the development. So it was not only you, but also all the Kickstarter sponsors who thought that. But we all know how that went..

Cautiously optimistic about NQ now listening to feedback and even more important having two-way communication with the community. But then again, this is far from the first time NQ makes that promise.. @NQ you will be surprised how much a community is willing to accept, if you only communicate and actually listen to feedback and explain why/why not things are done a certain way. And it is no secret that you are struggling. So be open about what the problems actually are in detail (remember there is a lot of technical know-how in this community), and what you realistically can do with the game going forward.

But instead of wing element, imagine if you had 'lift' voxels instead. They would just be normal voxels with an attribute so that the underside would generate lift. Meaning the larger 'lift' voxel surface area you have, the more lift you get. This would not require any advanced aerodynamic calculations, and yet give us much more creative freedom. And same concept could also be used for fuel tanks, where total area of connected 'tank' voxels would become the size of the fuel tank. Suddenly you have A LOT more creative freedom for a minimum amount of dev time. And this is just one more of the many ideas I and others suggested for NQ during pre-alpha, only to be totally ignored..

Hi. You must be new here..

Yes, but a big problem is that DU is a so called voxel based MMO where voxels on dynamic constructs has absolutely no function other then cosmetics and adding weight.

This was in the beginning one of the things I though DU would allow us to do, and what sold me on the game. But turns out LUA in DU is only for cosmetics, HUD's and casino slot machines, with no real creative freedom. And yes the argument is that allowing to much freedom in LUA would ruin the balance of the game. But with just a tiny bit of imagination from NQ, they could have tied LUA functionality to tile DRMS and voila players would be free do to what they wanted on their own tiles and create mini games etc without causing balancing issues in DU as a whole. Or to put it a bit more harshly. NQ is the least meta, meta-company I know of..

I actually agree about more realism to flying etc. But now is not the right time to add any more limitations to the game. This game is already tedious at best, with players being forced to do mindless tasks all day long. So before anything else, NQ has to add actual game play and ways to make income that does not suck the soul out of players. And it is only after that we can start talking about potentially slowing down some stuff to balancing out the game.

No, just please no.. The mining bots and ore collection is already tedious enough as it is.. And never mind when newbs get stranded out in nowhere on their beginner constructs. Not only newbs for that matter.. Honestly I cannot remember the last time I wanted to walk normally in this game, except for maybe when exploring the inside of some construct. Double tapping the forward key is second nature by now. And the last thing this game needs is more limitations and slowing things down to try and pretend that there is a game loop.. Another example would be that before 'beta' we used to collide with trees. And while great for immersion, it was devastating for playability.

Back when this game was in pre-alpha and I still believed in NQ, I proposed many workable solutions how they could implement more realistic aerodynamics into this game. The (in my opinion) best idea was that when you leave build mode the server/client would run a 2D fluid simulator (fast and efficient) on each voxel layer (previous calculations kept for unchanged layers) in the construct, and then combine all those layers for a semi-3D 'close enough' pre-calculated aerodynamic profile of the entire construct. Basically a data table where you would input a directional vector with speed and air density, and get drag and lift based on the aerodynamic profile in return. This would allow for real aerodynamic shapes and designs (voxels shaped like wings, would produce lift and make voxels serve a purpose) that would bring the design part of the game into the "easy to understand, hard to master" category. Which is the type of game play that brings real enjoyment for countless hours without needing artificial steps like talents etc. And the type of game play that makes it so that for example people can play sim racing games for years, racing the same tracks over and over again and never tire of them because of the realism and easy to understand, but hard to master factor. This would also have resulted in real worth in the market for well designed ships.

Sure is (some even close to District 6), but at current prices and tile yields it is better to just mine T1 and buy T2 and/or fuel from the market.

I am currently maintaining a tile cluster with 550+tiles that even has some T2, and it's less then 35km from District 6. And it wasn't like I had to look very hard to find those tiles, so indeed that sounds like a waste of time and just goes to shows how badly designed the entire tax and bots system is.

JC would say a lot of things (usually in interviews), but it was rarely what actually happened in the end. So compared to now there isn't that much difference with or without JC.

Regardless, by now there is a well known loop that happens with NQ and the community. NQ; We are very excited and have this cool new feature that nobody really asked for, ready to be tested on PTC! Community: Man, this is rough. So many bugs, and this will cause lots of balance issues. NQ: Great feedback! It is nice to hear that you are all as excited as we are! Community: Erhh. The bugs and balance issues? NQ: Rejoice! After a week of limited PTC availability and no changes we are now pushing the new feature live! Everybody not chased away by this patch can now look forwards to our next surprise in about 6 months time!

There is no official color palette or design manual that I know of.