First of all, the game servers will be wiped before main launch.
As for the tutorials covering current politics and such, that's just not NQ's job. There will be plenty of things on the internet that will tell you everything you will need to know at the time. Same goes for travel time and distances, the most NQ needs to do for that imo is maybe a current distance between planets (Sorry guys, cant remember if they change or not) on a system / star map IF they implement that. Newspapers would also fall into the category of not NQ's job and a thing that will come about in various forms on the internet anyways.
You don't need an in game communications capable of coordinating ~3000 players, things like discord and teamspeak CAN be used for that through groups, roles and different channels, i would like to see you explain how they couldn't. If discord integration is supported, then you can change voice channels from in game as well. An in-game radio communication system would just add extra unneeded complexity, as well as meaning the devs have more stuff to work on that they don't 100% need. Also, there is no way that an empire would have no way of communicating with it's members if an in game comms system went down. Any organisation that has got as big as you are saying wouldn't be sane if they only relied on an in game thing that CAN be disrupted over an external thing that CAN'T (excluding alts and traitors/defectors here) be disrupted. That leads me on to how 'hacking' and spying to disrupt will exist anyways even if an in game thing wasn't implemented, through those alts and traitors and all that stuff.
Basically, this is something that is sort of a must have for a game that will be getting more and more complex as it develops.
Unless a huge game reset is planned when the game is released, it will be very important for new players to get their bearings, for this they will need some sort of tutorial, i'm not talking about game and interface tutorial, but a community tutorial, current political, economical and social landscapes explained in some degree.
For example, information about planets, cities, more powerful empires/organizations/corporations, explained basic stuff about procuring and selling resources, companies, but also information about jobs, since the economy is player driven, it means that a job board of sorts would have to be made available with information which organizations are hiring and what skills they require, that could be anything from pilots and soldiers, to miners or construction workers. Also information about distances and travel in-game would be a very welcome addition, so new players can better understand the game. Basically, an in-game wikipedia plus basic information about the current politics(this would require an algorithm or a human to write it as it changes).
Another thing that would be useful to new player when joining the game for the first time, would be newspapers. Written by players, for players. As the game develops, empires and politics will be established, newspapers will allow to inform people about current events in the galaxy, or a specific system, or a company, or even used as an Imperial propaganda machine.
Radios would be an addition to spaceships, bars, stations etc. allowing the owner to choose the station he wants to listen to. The range of said radio stations, that's what's tricky, it would require a specific architecture to be build, specific antennas, signal boosters, receivers in other systems etc. but it would also mean we can implement that into the in-game military forces.
For example, we have a Federation with a huge territory and a rival in the region, the radio system i'm proposing would allow a little laggy(the more stations and distance the signal goes through, the more signal lag you would get) all sensory data and positions would be sent to the sector command (i'm creating this structure while i'm writing this so don't go all "this is not how the game works now" on me, this is only an idea on new features in-game, which are not too hard to implement) and relayed to the high command for example, the in-game radio would mean that patrols can communicate with their higher-ups in the HQ by voice chat as well, or text if that's their policy.
Now, you want to start an attack, but there are enemy forces in the area, so you take out their comms relay, the Federation A looses it's contact with its forces in the region, and is virtually blind while Empire B is launching a full scale invasion. Before the word goes up the chain of command, Federation A can loose a lot of ground, or it can batter the Empire forces, no one knows, but being able to effectively knock out enemy comms and sensors is a vital part of waging war.
BEFORE some people point out that it can be substituted by discord, TeamSpeak, skype, whatever. It Can Not. Let's jump into the future, one year forward let's say, we have 1 000 000 players, and let's say there is an organization with 3000 people online on avg entire day, which is not really hard, good luck coordinating that by teamspeak. A military-like comm system is required in-game for the military fleets to function. This would also allow us a new aspect of game: hacking.
Hacking and spying to be exact, trying to infiltrate the enemy and get information from their systems, redirect some communication if you're attacking, making sure reports don't reach the main command for some time, or selling information to pirates about patrols in the region, so they can evade them, or getting blueprints and schematics for a military outpost you wish to invade, or hacking their comms and listening in, learning their secrets. It's natural that sooner or later, organizations will try to hide locations of some of their projects, bases, labs,(i'll write about developing new technologies some other day) mines, shipyards (take out those, the enemy can't replenish their numbers that easily) and hacking the enemy and infiltrating him will let you get the information. With hacking, we can actually base that on real life security and real life hacking, with improved graphics of course.
Jamming enemy comms would also be nice.
If we're trying to merge Space Engineers, EVE, Star Citizen, Stellaris (creating empires) and few other ideas, we need to have some sort of a system to introduce new players, and we need to expand the possibilities as much as we can, we need to make this game as realistic as it's possible, player-made radio stations and newspapers would certainly be an interesting addition, giving us dozens of new possibilities on what to do in Dual Universe world, this would allow to make kiosks with info, or radio stations, we would need people to speak on the radio, interview important people, and people would actually listen and read, because information is the key to many branches in economy, if there are reports of pirates in system A, people will react to that information, and move to system B where there are patrols established by some organization, or they will hire protection, so they can mine in that system or use it as a shipping lane. Flow of information is the key in establishing economy in space.
Soon i will follow with more ideas, this time about medical sciences in-game.
Also, i would love to hear what you guys think about my idea, i do like constructive criticism, so feel free to criticise.
And, this language is NOT my native language, so sorry for grammar and spelling errors, but it shouldn't be more than a little annoyance.
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.
• 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
Carrefour reacted to Evil_Porcupine in Fernix's idea box #1