GraXXoR

You say so because you have never been waterboarded .... I as a muslim though ...

Hey, that's not right.  They pick old people with medical and walking assistance devices 25% of the time regardless of skin color.
 
Edit:  Or was that just the TSA?

1000 hours since release?
it was released about 60 days ago. So you’ve played about 16.7 hours per day on average. 
 
Holy moly…. And I though *I* was an addicted to this dumpster fire. 

lore. that's a good one. This game's lore makes about as much sense as a knitted condom.

NQ: Build your new civilization... A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity... (hmm... maybe wrong franchise, but the gist is right 🤣)
 
Also NQ: But we're going to cripple the fcuk out of you with taxes on ABSOLUTELY EVERYFKKNTHING and there will be more bots than players.
And of course there are no player driven markets...  
 
But uh... civilization... so, yay?!?
 
Also, metaverse but no VR or wand support. 🤨
Heck, not even HOTAS support in a space game. ROFL.

Not very meta.

Later in NQ dev HQ;
 

lore. that's a good one. This game's lore makes about as much sense as a knitted condom.

NQ: Build your new civilization... A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity... (hmm... maybe wrong franchise, but the gist is right 🤣)
 
Also NQ: But we're going to cripple the fcuk out of you with taxes on ABSOLUTELY EVERYFKKNTHING and there will be more bots than players.
And of course there are no player driven markets...  
 
But uh... civilization... so, yay?!?
 
Also, metaverse but no VR or wand support. 🤨
Heck, not even HOTAS support in a space game. ROFL.

Not very meta.

Later in NQ dev HQ;
 

And the initial M for that matter. 

 
MMORPG clearly stands for:
 
“Marginally Multiplayer Overly Restricted Progression Game. “

Sorry but the DU water is dry, you can also not swim in it, Pie in it, drink it, make little submarines colored brown in it, and thats about it

This is a load of BS. If you want to talk risk vs reward, ganking an unarmed ship tops the list. You get the ship and the cargo with no risk, and the miner takes all the risk. That's not even PvP, it's PvE with an extra layer.
 
Cry me a river, ganker.

A sneek peak of r new engeneeering screen:
 

Yeah... stay 30 minutes after spending 4-6 hours finding the rock.  That was NOT a reward, it was Ganker fodder design.
 
Personally I'm thrilled they have recognized Solo players exist.  Can't recall the last time over the past 5 years when they have tried to balance for us a bit.  Maybe because they never really did?

And the initial M for that matter. 

 
MMORPG clearly stands for:
 
“Marginally Multiplayer Overly Restricted Progression Game. “

So did you hire some ex Elite devs, or just blatantly rip off their HUD? 

Well, experienced that..from the other side. And you're right.. it's easy enough to 'dodge a gank' by just tapping or stay max 30 mins..and that's the exact reason why this gameplay was bad. There was no risk..you exactly knew whats coming.
What we will get now is real risk vs reward..where you might risk to stay longer..with the increasing risk of encounter a random patrol.

But i understand why you're pissed...you're used to a broken game mechanic that allowed pvpers to gank and controll 99% of pvp space resources from a gui list, and i assume you liked that a lot.
It can hurt getting something taken away..get over it and see it as what it is, a fix to improve the game..even if it comes very late

That explains it! The reason they are making the game unplayable is to keep the player count low enough for the "Free" tier on Cloudfront. It all makes sense now!!

At any rate, no serious MMO can be profitable with like 300-400 concurrent accounts online (totally not even people in DU case), no matter what monetization model it uses.
 

1)  They are tracking how many thousands of individual MU timers?
 
2)  They are doing so to reduce server and DB load?
 
It isn't just us, the players, that are being hurt by the design choices.  Poor design isn't the only issue here.  The above questions clearly illustrate that NQ's apparent/stated goals do not match the actual results and MU nerfs are not alone in this. 

Yep. The UI is a mess. Basic definitions and standards seem to have been eschewed, or architecture decisions have been made which make adherence to expected conventions impracticable. How we could ever have expected an outfit that can't manage to fix these basic problems to effectively implement the "one shard, space-to-ground" vision that was one of the USPs of DU?

Playing this game since first alpha is like being that jaded barman who watches all the fresh young ladies turn up at the bar giddy with hope of finding their “man”…
 
Five Jack Daniels and Rufie later and he knows exactly how their “romance” is going to end. 
 
So he sighs and just polishes another glass, trying to turn a blind eye to the emotional carnage and heartache.  

Or just having "Enter" behave like everyone expects in dialog boxes...

Remove territory tax and schematics from pay to play players, make the game free to play and tax/schematics the free to play players.
Work on pvp arenas within vr surrogates so free to play player will be happy with small cash reward.
Your games player base will skyrocket, the game will succeed.
Currently your 6 months from a dead game under the current mechanics, current loop is log in use all my money, then log out because i cant do anything, due to taxes and schematics.
The positives on the other hand is the new player experience is much better than alpha version, but without any real pvp for non mega organization players, pvp being literal late game activity, which is stupid, the game will die.
 
Thanks for your time

Why on earth would NQ set an exact 24 HOUR TIMER for recalibrations and not allow skills to reduce the time other than to hurt the players of their game?
 
EVERY SINGLE DAY I'M HAVING TO STAY UP LATER AND LATER TO CALIBRATE MY MEAGRE T2 MINING UNITS....
 
Because on day 1 I set my mining units at 9:20pm after i finished work IRL and the next day, I wasn't able to set them until AFTER 9:20.
As it happened, it was about 9:30 by the time I finished calibrating them.
 
The next day, a client phoned me just before I could calibrate them and ended up calibrating them at 10:15...

Now the next day, I was unable to calibrate them until 10:15 finishing at about 10:30
 
The day before yesterday, I went out for a drink and got back at gone 11pm. Now last night I was unable to calibrate them before midnight. So I had to skip calibration until Saturday afternoon at 12;30pm...
 
I've used Hanlon's razor so much this last two years that the blade is duller than a taxman's suit. To the point where I could easily believe NQ chose 24 hour cooldown SPECIFICALLY TO IMPEDE their PLAYERS and INTERFERE with their PLAYSTYLE. There is no other reason why a GAME DESIGNER would PURPOSEFULLY choose such a PLAYER HOSTILE cooldown.
 
This means that once a week I am effectively either losing sleep or losing a day of calibrations.
 
Thanks for willfully and purposefully making your game a POORER EXPERIENCE at EVERY OPORTUNITY you get.
 
Wearily yours,
   Jinx.

The following is an examination of the various player lighting options in Dual Universe as of Update 1.1. Please keep in mind this is not my area of expertise and many of the conclusions drawn here are highly subjective. Hopefully you still find it useful and free of errors.
 
Summary of Findings (TLDR)
 
The Headlight XS is uniquely situated as the spotlight of Dual Universe and it does that job exceptionally well Long and Square lights are functionally equivalent and best suited for illuminating surfaces that need to be seen from a distance The Vertical light has the lowest effective range but being omni-directional with high intensity makes it ideal for indoor lighting of complex geometries. Luminescent Voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination. Physical properties of lighting elements are standardized but be aware that the Vertical light L has increased mass, volume, and health XS light elements are tier 1 + nanocraftable while S, M, and L sized lights are tier 2 with standardized recipes Current fabrication costs for light elements are primarily from schematics and manufacturers are fully capable of supplying consumer needs right now  
Introduction
 
There are 4 different types of craftable light elements Headlight XS, Long Light, Square Light, and Vertical Light with the last 3 having size variations XS, S, M, and L. Each of these elements can be configured to blink at a regular interval and/or output RGB colors through the right click menu. Note that the RGB values must be scaled between 0 and 1 so if you are referencing integer color values (ie: 1 to 255) simply divide it by 255 before inputting. In addition there are 11 different kinds of Luminescent Voxels creating a fairly diverse color palette that spans the visible spectrum. These lights as shown below are the primary focus of this post, but it is also worth noting there are a large number of alternative sources such as fireworks, deco-lamps, engine VFX, and of course the sun itself.
 

 
Lighting Characteristics
 
The main objective behind adding lights to a construct is to use them to illuminate surfaces. These are the key parameters that influence this.
 
Field of View (FOV) – The angle centered about an object’s normal within which light is cast Intensity Factor – The relative power of a light source measured in multiples of 100,000 lux Attenuation Distance – The distance between a light source and a surface, beyond which said surface is no longer illuminated Penumbra Factor – A measure of how fast projected/surface light intensity decreases from the epicenter  Visible Distance – The distance between an illuminated surface and an observer, beyond which the light on said surface begins to fade out  
When it comes to FOV all light elements have approximately the same value of 100 degrees with the exception of vertical lights which are omni-directional. The remaining stats are plotted below with reference to element size. Note that gaps in the bar graph represent break points on the y-axis which were added to prevent exceptionally large values from obscuring the rest of the dataset.
 

 
The headlight XS has the greatest light intensity and attenuation distance which makes it effective at illuminating distant surfaces, but the high penumbra factor causes that intensity to rapidly decrease as the light spreads outwards from the point of incidence. Consequently it functions as a powerful spotlight that is great for lighting up distance objects with a narrow beam. The long and square lights closely mirror each other with the larger variants exhibiting slightly longer range. These lights also have the highest visible distance making them well suited for general illumination of mission critical surfaces like runways and landing pads. Vertical lights on the other hand have the lowest overall range but being omni-directional, with moderate intensity, largely makes up for that. They are well suited for locations that require many nearby surfaces to be irradiated at once such as building interiors or complex voxel geometries. In order to further highlight the differences between these light sources, the following visual reference was created. It showcases the amount of light spread that would occur on a 32x32m (ie: S-core size) flat surface when illuminated by each source from the respective distances listed on the left side.
 

 
Physical Characteristics
 
When it comes to general properties all light elements are approximately equal with the exception of the vertical light L. It has over three times the mass, four times the storage volume, and triple the amount of functional surface area. It is also the only light with any meaningful amount of health although it is still not recommended that they be utilized for defensive purposes since these decorative type elements do not even have damage resistance. In terms of dimensions each increase in the size category roughly doubles the primary side length of each respective element.
 

 
Fabrication Costs
 
The production recipes for XS lighting elements are all Tier 1 and can be made in the nanocrafter. All other sizes are Tier 2 and must be crafted in industry units, specifically an Assembler XS for everything except the vertical light L which requires the S sized variant. An overview of the fabrication costs per individual element produced is provided below. From it we can see that if you neglect schematics the only differences between baseline unit costs are associated with an item's tier. However once again the vertical light L proves to be an exception as it also has a substantially longer crafting time, likely due to it being paired with with the Assembler S.
 

 
Under current market prices these schematics represent upwards of 50% the overall cost expenditure to manufacture said lights. Taking a brief look at public market orders it becomes clear that despite this, there is a moderate surplus of elements available for purchase (note that outliers with absurd +/-1000% prices have been removed). Smaller sized lights in particular appear to have been produced in excess of player demand and are now being listed at or below that of production costs. It is difficult to estimate when the existing supply will be exhausted as player demand for small lights is not easily quantified. However due to the low fabrication costs and crafting times, affluent manufactures will be able to quickly restock this market should the opportunity arise. The situation with larger sized lights is more dynamic right now. The low volume of units that are presently on the market have been listed with profit margins of about 20% which is indicative of a more limited supply and/or a greater demand.
 

 
To assess supply concerns, the following plot compares the fabrication costs for lights to that of atmospheric engines. From it we can see that the total schematic costs for engines is slightly higher while the requisite ore requirements are substantially higher, particularly for M and L sizes. Despite this, market sell volume for engines is much greater than that of lights while also maintaining above zero profit margins. Thus we can infer that player industries exist which are capable of meeting supply requirements for the large lighting sector but they are instead targeting other items like engines, likely due to even higher consumer demand and hence greater profits. 
 

 
Luminescent Voxels
 
Unlike lighting elements these voxels appear to operate solely as emissive surfaces and produce a highly localized glowing effect. In terms of the ore costs per m3 they are similar to the other Tier 2 light elements but only require about a fourth of the T1 ore (more specifically 11 and 30 litters of T1 and T2 respectively). Schematics cost per m3 is exceptionally low at 172.45 quanta. This would ordinarily make luminescent voxels the cheapest form of Tier 2 lighting but their more limited range also means that a substantial amount is needed to achieve the same level of illumination as the other light elements. They do however have the unique ability to be precisely shaped and seamlessly integrated into other voxel structures. Considering all of this I believe luminescent voxels are best suited for decorative highlighting rather than general illumination.
 
Conclusions and Recommendations
 
Based on the above, it is my determination that Dual Universe currently has adequate lighting options which when employed correctly, will handle the majority of scenarios. There is however plenty of room for expansion and/or further diversification down the road, when time permits. In terms of expansion I recommend adding a secondary element with omni-directional properties such as a sphereical light. Also consider decreasing the overall effectiveness of the headlight XS and instead utilizing its original properties on a larger sized variant (ie: headlight S). In terms of diversification, the most restricted parameter right now is FOV so assess the merits of adding that as a configurable variable or providing more FOV variation across the existing element set. 

Finally @Aaron Cain your original inquiry was with regards to crafting costs for L sized lights with respect to T2 engines, considering the associated player demand for both (static building vs dynamic construct). Based on market trends alone, it is safe to say that the demand for large engines is presently higher. From a practical standpoint this examination shows that it only takes a couple strategically placed L sized lights to fully illuminate an S core sized surface. I also reason that illuminating a dynamic construct of identical core size will typically require more lights than its static counterpart due to the need to handle both interior and exterior surfaces as well as the more complex geometries associated with piloting elements. So the question becomes why are large lights less popular then large engines? Rationally, it is either because the majority of players are less interested in them and/or are unwilling to invest into them. With regards to baseline costs these lights are already a fraction of the cost of said engines, primarily due to their sparser ore requirements. Perhaps that is still not sufficient, but with engines flying off the proverbial shelves it is difficult to say this conclusively. The only thing I can conclude is that the majority of players place low importance on lighting. The next step would be to reach out, ask why, then determine if anything should be done or if players are satisfied.