Jump to content

Woodsman

Member
  • Posts

    24
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Woodsman

  1. Guns make for great borders. Add some LUA scripting and viola, safety. If you want to be even safer, add even more guns!
  2. Yes. In a nutshell. I don't think travel between the stars should be an easy thing to do, but I do think it should be a realistic option. I really don't like the idea of telling people that they have to use player-made gates or their travel time will be measured in months. That doesn't really sound like a choice to me. More like a threat of punishment from the Devs for not bending the knee to some large player group.
  3. This is supposed to be a sandbox game, right? ...I will never understand people who think there is only one correct way to play in a sandbox. Small gang and solo players are the backbone of the economy in games like this. Large player orgs will have entire internal divisions devoted to logistics, and will have a reduced need for the wider marketplace. They'll have their own miners and builders. Small groups and solo players are going to be mostly reliant on the wider markets for almost everything they do. They will most likely be the largest force driving the creation of the very robust economy that the Devs say they want to see. These are also transitory states that most players will find themselves in at some point in their time in this game. Even players that prefer to be in large groups will likely find themselves flying solo at some point. What if a player gets booted from their group? Or finds that the group has taken on a toxic culture? What about alts? What if someone just wants to climb a mountain while taking screen shots and posting them to Reddit? What if a group of IRL friends just want to play a game together? ...I could go on. There are as many reasons for small groups and solo players as there are small groups and solo players, and all of those reasons are valid. My concern is that a mechanic that places access to the wider game world into the hands of huge wealthy player groups is a mechanic that is ripe for exploit. I don't think that groups like that, in games like this, shouldn't be handed any more power than they already have.
  4. Further down the development road, I could see at least cosmetic changes that could be done to one's character. It wouldn't be too difficult to skin a bionic arm onto someone, if they wanted it.
  5. @Cornflakes Your jumpgate idea sounds like a really nice recipe for a lot of confused (and stranded!) new players. Not that I think that's a bad thing. But really, why the hate on "freeform" easy travel? My concern is for the solo players and small groups. These players will likely not have the resources to own their own Stargate network, which means their very ability to even access more than 99.99% of this game would be entirely at the whim of large wealthy player organizations. These large groups will be the ones setting the tolls and the tags and the hoops that every other player would be forced to jump through if they want to see more than the starter system. That does not sound like fun to me.
  6. I kinda thought that I might hit a nerve. ...little did I know. First off: @Yamamushi, I have no problem with a subscription based pay model. I know that NQ has invested heavily in some new server tech, and that it will take resources to maintain the sort of server cluster (or whatever) that they're envisioning. I'm cool with that, and am more than willing to fork over the mula for a chance to explore this game. My criticism is in a miss-matched mechanic. Months-long-travel-time is a perfectly fine mechanic...in a certain type of game. I simply contend that it is a horrible mechanic for a subscription based game. Also @Yamamushi, I understand the concern of the devs that they might end up with a ghost-town of a game, and therefore they feel that they must control the speed of player-creep throughout the DU-Verse, it's just that I feel there is a better way to accomplish this goal. I think speed is the answer to the problem of player-creep, not the cause of it. Let me explain. There are two things that I feel will serve to concentrate the player-base in a natural and instinctive manner: the first is ease of travel, and the second is a dearth of safe spots. If NQ makes force-fields like the one provided by the Novark Arkship really (and I mean really) rare, and then combined that with a travel mechanic that allows every player a realistic shot of making a not-tortuous journey of exploration with a few of their close gamer-friends throughout the 'Verse (not just the rich and powerful)...well then, they might just strike that happy medium. I can't help but say that slow travel times would divide the player-base more surely than anything else. ...by definition, really. Whereas fast travel times would allow the players to concentrate in the safest place they know (ahem...Novark, on Alioth; AKA the first MegaTropolis), whilst simultaneously giving them an opportunity to venture out into the cosmos, at their peril, to do whatever they deem fit. All within a reasonable span of a play session. (e.g. pay some stargate tolls, engage ship FTL and head to star system of choice, engage in desired activities, fire up the FTL back to the stargate chain you traveled out on, pay some tolls, and back home in time for supper. ) Think of it...everyone would have the electrifying knowledge that exploring the universe is always at their fingertips, but that the only guaranteed safe place is Novark, on Alioth. Automatically, Novark becomes the first major player hub for habitation (the first mass-player homestead, if you will), and the first major trade hub at the same time. All while leaving the game wide open to everybody's play-style. IDK...just my thoughts.
  7. I know I'm setting myself up for some vitriol here, but I just have to say that I hate the idea of SG Probes being the "preferred" method of interstellar exploration and travel. Hear me out, because I love the idea of Stargate Probes in general, it's just that one little word that gets under my skin. Preferred. Seems benign, I know, but it's actually a pretty significant word that we will come back to shortly. To start with, let's look at what SG Probes are, because they're pretty dang cool. A Stargate Probe is a freaking automated factory attached to a powerful FTL drive that travels through deep space before entering a distant star system and building a giant stargate that will (presumably?) connect back to the stargate that had previously been built in the home system. Some sort of mechanic wherein we build a Stargate somewhere, and then build a probe and launch it, and then wait for the first Stargate to turn on. Which is really cool, no matter how you slice it. Especially when you add in the fact that they're probably going to make us LUA script the whole thing, all on our own. This will be an epic player achievement, make no mistake. ...now let's get back to that word, preferred. Especially in the context of a subscription-based sandbox MMO. I have to say that I am disappointed to hear that the developers of a subscription-based sandbox have a "preferred" method of travel for players that includes months-long waiting periods. And, yes, the devs have stated that these probe might take months to reach their destination. I know that it's a bit gauche to bring up something like this, but I've always had a fascination for elephants that are just sitting in the middle of the room, doing nothing in particular. Let's say this game costs $11.99USD per month, for argument's sake. Let's say, also for argument's sake, that you took on the challenge of a crewed interstellar ship. You've done the calculations on fuel and energy, and spent some time building the appropriate ship. You know the journey will take months (2 months=$23.98USD, 4 months=$47.96USD, 8 months=$95.92USD!), but the devs said it was possible, so you had to try. You point your ship at the star you want, and......what? Seriously though, what comes next? Do we just log off, pay our subscription for a few months, and hope we don't get the message that our characters have died and re-spawned back at the Arkship? Why does interstellar travel have to take months? Is it punishment for not playing the way the devs want? Every moment that I'm paying for a subscription to something, I'm asking myself why I'm paying for a subscription to something. And when it comes to subscription-based video games, that answer had better be "It's really fun and entertaining." There is nothing fun and/or entertaining about traveling through deep space for months. Also, what happens when one of these gates is destroyed? Everyone gets cut off from that star system for the next year of subscription time while new probes are constructed and sent? Talk about a divided player base. If this game was a one-time purchase, I wouldn't feel this way about such a mechanic.
  8. Don't forget that we will all be wearing those matter compression belts, so our inventories will most likely be quite large. The limitation would be how fast our build tool actually builds things. If it is as fast as the trailer indicates, I could really see the build tool turning into a cannon that has the capacity to rapid-fire launch bombs at will.
  9. @CosmicDragon I feel like it would be harder for NQ to code a pattern recognition algorithm than it would be for a player council to create a list of approved architectural "entities" (read: Architect Firms) based on player submitted, and perhaps player voted, designs. Not that your idea doesn't have a great deal of merit, provided they had the coding time. I would also like the council to worry about larger issues than the TTP.
  10. ...So I did a bad and started a thread about this very topic without being aware of this thread. Instead of linking to my thread (and thus getting "points" or something), I'll just sperg what I posted here. Feel free to lambaste me at your leisure... Thanks, sorry, you're welcome, oh wow,,,flowers!?! ...jeepers.
  11. I've been mulling this one over for a couple of days, and I really think we need to talk about a potentially controversial topic. I want you to understand that I mean no offense, and that I am fully cognizant of the sensitive nature of what I am about to propose. I simply see no alternative. You see, I'm worried about the Dickbutt. Not in any sort of moral or existential way, of course. I, too, can find humor in a classic meme. So, I should clarify: What I'm really worried about are Indestructible Dickbutts. Don't laugh, at least not yet. It's an entirely plausible exploit of the Novark force field. In fact, it even has an acronym to describe the phenomenon: TTP, or Time Till Penis. This is something that occurs in games that allow creative control and an ability to force potentially thousands of people to look at their penises creative endeavors. There is a certain subset of players that simply cannot help themselves. I defy you to deny it. Here's the rub. The crux of the matter is that all players will spawn at the same point, and that point is protected (rightfully so, IMHO) by a force field that prevents PVP. The goal of this force field is to allow both new players a safe spot to get their feet under themselves, and a place for those who simply want to build in peace, unmolested by griefers. The result of this force field may well be 20 kilometers (is that squared? I don't think it's been clarified.) of 60 meter tall penis sculptures that cannot be destroyed because we want an area for builders to be safe from griefing. Still laughing? I bet NQ isn't. This is an all-to-real scenario for a new player, logging in for the first time, two or three years after release...Dickbutts as far as the eye can see. "But wait," you say, "somebody might make BOOBS!" ...STFU, and pay attention, ya dingus, that's not the point! The point is there is going to have to be a mechanism to deal with prevent this, and I really only see two possibilities. The first is that the developers periodically comb the area of the Novark force field and delete the vulgar creations, which sounds really ham-handed and immersion-breaking. (Not to mention the fact that I would really need to have a heart-to-heart with myself if that was part of my job.) The second is that there is a player-driven mechanism to weed out the obvious trolls. Now doesn't that sounds nice? The cool thing is that there are two mechanics in place that could facilitate such a process, with a little help from Novaquark. The first is the territory control system, and the the second is the "tagging" system. https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2015/07/24/territory-control/ https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2015/05/21/rights-duties-management-system/ ...and then there is this magical third system, called Democracy, which we'll get to... The Idea is that NQ would sponsor a player council that would be democratically elected to be both a player advocacy group (a la, the "Council of Stellar Management" from Eve), and an in-game rule-making council of governance for the Novark force field protected area. It is this "Council of the Novark freeport" that would be responsible for the tagging system which would dictate who could build permanent structures within the protected zone. The council would either approve of a project, or approve of an architect, or neither, whatever was required/appropriate. This would allow for an aesthetic change in the player base over time by giving the players, as a whole, a chance to vote for their preferred aesthetic principles. Current councils would be endowed with the ability to mark for destruction any construct within the radius of the Novark force field, or something similar (perhaps subject to a player-wide referendum vote). The Pressure Release Valve in this system, as I see it, is the Dev's willingness to consider an in-game "VR" builder-mode. People could always have access to their own building mini-game for "blueprint" development. "Design your shit in a safe-zone, but build it elsewhere." Okay...I'm long-winded, sue me. I'm tired of my ideas...tell me yours! P.S. Like 'dis if you cry e'ry tyme...
  12. We know a couple of things that might help us divine an answer to the question of player ships and logging off. First, we know that there will be shields in the game and that there will be a timed invulnerability mechanic to go with some of those shields. From Nyzaltar (He's talking about dirtside territory control, but I'm assuming their thinking will be similar in space.) Second, we know that there is no difference (from the game engine's perspective) between a ship and a station. This raises the possibility of Eve-style space station defense, and a way for players to park a ship, set the shield to Everyone-Has-Cooties, and log off. Limitations apply...you remembered to fill the Special Fuel Bunkers, right? Just make sure you check in every couple of days, so that you don't find yourself blithely logging in to find out you're surrounded by The Bads with an Invuln timer ticking the seconds till your teeth-kicking. I hope it doesn't turn out that we have to LUA script a fight-or-flight response into our ships.
  13. It would be interesting to see how this could play out. Would the tech progression occur on an individual player level, or on a universal level? For instance, would I have to level up the Propulsion skill to a certain level before I could begin to level up Super Fast Propulsion? Or would we instead look back on xx/xx/xx as the date when MasteredRed discovered the trick to FTL?
  14. From Nyzaltar, in the thread on Territory Control: I hope they make it a super rare item that players will need to discover through exploration. The explorers that find them would be faced with a choice; head back to Jita Alioth and sell it on the market, or find themselves a little place in 'verse and plant some roots.
  15. @Fitorion Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like it would be next to impossible for a small group of players (say 2-5 people) to have the resources to build/buy a ship capable of traveling to another star system without using stargates. In MMOs, making something expensive doesn't necessarily mean it will be rare, it usually just means that only the rich get to play. I would rather see a system that allows small groups access to as much of the game as possible.
  16. Arkified areas, as a mechanic, are there specifically to protect individual players from those medium sized groups, not to give even more power to large organizations. The whole idea is to have a place where non-pvp play can occur without worrying about griefers.
  17. whoa...has it been said that we can breed different flora and fauna? If so, I may just flip my shnit about this game again! ...you know, for the umpteenth time this week.
  18. My question stands, because travel time in video games is a very important thing to do correctly. I don't care if it is a probe or a player that is traveling between the stars, it shouldn't take months. If a game wants to make me pay for months of subscription time every time I want to explore a new star system, then that is a game that will die on the vine. Travel time between star systems should be possible in a single play session. My choice should be between spending an hour, or maybe two, going the long way to another star; or using a player made stargate for fast travel. If you want to make me pay a company for months (without content) just so that the "lore" is pure...well, good luck getting those player densities you want. Again, what is the point of a procedurally generated universe if you are going to make people wait an exorbitant amount of time to explore it? If they don't want people to explore other star systems, then why put other star systems in the game?
  19. So let's say you want to be an explorer. You have a ship that has FTL capabilities that took you a long time to build. You now want to explore another star system. You point your ship at the star you want to travel to, engage your warp drive...and then walk away from the game for months (while you are still paying for it!) because that is how long it takes to get somewhere. Still think it is the same thing?
  20. The combat system seems to be "lock-on-target" based. I doubt that you would be able to lock on to a target in another star system.
  21. Woodsman

    Space Whales

    I know that it is completely ridiculous, but I want them!
  22. I, also, just listened to that interview. What stood out the most for me was the talk of travel times between stars. I have to say that the idea of non-stargate travel between stars taking months really sounds like a bad idea that discourages exploration and emergent gameplay. If you hate the idea of players exploring the cosmos you've created so much that you would make them pay for months of subscription time before they can even think about visiting the next star system, why even have a "next star system"? What is the point of a procedurally generated universe if it will take decades of real time just to get to the next constellation of stars? There have got to be better ways to concentrate player density without such a limitation on travel time!
×
×
  • Create New...