I personally do not want to have the distraction of having to acquire things like food, Oxygen or water. I hope to just be able to explore and build without such inconveniences.
Today, Lord JC hosted an Ask Me Anything event in the official community discord. Below is a transcript of the questions and answers for those of you that missed it. ?
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NQ-SophonToday at 11:01 AM
hi guys! This is JC, the creative director of Dual Universe! Just wanted to come here and spend a moment with you, to celebrate the fact we now have an official discord!
NQ-SophonToday at 11:03 AM
hey, no big announcement today, but a chance to chat, so let's go! I met some of you guys at Gamescom but I wanted to have the opportunity to talk to all of you guys online
NQ-SophonToday at 11:05 AM
a huge thank you to the community and the discord moderators too, by the way! This discord is just amazing!
[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:05 AM
What about Alpha 1 starting in november, will you be able to stick to the roadmap?
Timing wise?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:06 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox so far, we are on track for the alpha in the second half of November, as planned
DreamcatcherToday at 11:04 AM
Well always bugged me, how long did it take for you guys to build that giant space station above alioth ?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:06 AM
@Dreamcatcher a long time!
ZetamanToday at 11:07 AM
can you tell us if it will be along the same format as pre alpha or will the sessions be longer?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:09 AM
@Zetaman no big changes in the access times so far, expect still the usual weekly access
vonboyToday at 11:07 AM
What's some random bug that's made you laugh out loud the most at it happening?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:10 AM
@vonboy no bug makes me laugh ?
[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:08 AM
Short question: What happened to the group picture we took at the gamescom meetup? I really wanna have a copy of that!
NQ-SophonToday at 11:12 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox we... lost the camera in the train. Sorry about that, no pic!
[HYP] z0KngToday at 11:10 AM
Are Astreoids planned in deep space? And if so will they have ressources?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:14 AM
@[HYP] z0Kng too soon for the asteroids in Nov, but definitely will be a thing at some point. Well actually, there are some asteroids already around Thades, but nothing to mine yet.
Masc™ of AvacynToday at 11:12 AM
@NQ-Sophon Hey JC, is there any plans for collision physics in space? (ships colliding with each other and causing voxel destruction, etc)
NQ-SophonToday at 11:16 AM
@Masc™ of Avacyn no destructive collision is planned. This would lead to problematic gameplay side effects.
AgecomToday at 11:12 AM
Is it going to be possible to create his own currency?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:17 AM
@Agecom no, there is only one official currency (quanta). Stabilizing a currency that would work for commerce would be to slow a process otherwise, and we need a fully functional economy right from the start.
NQ-SophonToday at 11:20 AM
about PvP: it's a bit too soon to go into details, we are working on the precise game mechanics.
[HYP] SkeletmasterToday at 11:18 AM
what can you say about that we get in the near future except from crafting
NQ-SophonToday at 11:22 AM
@[HYP] Skeletmaster the crafting will most likely come as a first iteration that "gets the job done", but it still far from the integrated gameplay we have in mind.
hdparmToday at 11:19 AM
@JC some players are investigating atmospheric drag. Does DU use this equation https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/drageq.html , or some other?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:23 AM
@hdparm we use both quadratic and linear drag, but otherwise yes, it's based on this equation (for the quadratic side at least)
Einu VeiToday at 11:19 AM
@NQ-Sophon Will market units be synchronised with a central system/cache of resources, or will each one have an individual storage limit and market forces dictated by that storage limit?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:24 AM
@Einu Vei markets will have their own containers attached, so how much you can trade on them will depend on the aggregated size of these containers
wakamaToday at 11:21 AM
Is ground combat actually going to be a thing to for example take over zones on planets?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:25 AM
@wakama yes, territory units will be attackable, if they are not deployed at a safe zone/sanctuary moon.
[N.C] Infinite GamerToday at 11:17 AM
so what are the main goals you are hoping to achieve by Alpha 1?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:28 AM
@[N.C] Infinite Gamer so far, the development is on check, but we can NEVER be sure there will be no unforeseen problem, because we are doing very innovative stuffs.
ChronoToday at 11:25 AM
will be there tool for mining that help to find ores over 400m ? or tool crafting for mining ?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:28 AM
@Chrono yes, there will be more tools for mining added, at least ways to inform you better about what's in a given region.
Einu VeiToday at 11:26 AM
@NQ-Sophon Does that mean the prices of those items will vary from market unit to market unit, depending on how much is stored in the containers, or will the market price system be centralised while the inventory system is distributed, aka a hybrid system?(edited)
NQ-SophonToday at 11:30 AM
@Einu Vei the market system is very similar to Eve Online, so no fixed prices, and local market equilibrium are possible
wakamaToday at 11:26 AM
Also if all players spawn at one planet how will you make sure the terrain won’t end up totally messed up. Will it respawn or something?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:30 AM
@wakama the areas around the Arkship spawn point will not be editable (up to a distance we are still discussing)
[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:27 AM
@NQ-Sophon , will there be renewable energy? Can you make a base self-sufficient?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:31 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox too soon to talk about energy, but energy will be a thing, yes
DestrinToday at 11:29 AM
@NQ-Sophon any ETA on anti-grav
NQ-SophonToday at 11:32 AM
@Destrin antigrav for Alpha!
[HYP] meigrafdToday at 11:31 AM
JC when your planning to add organisations into the game itself?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:33 AM
@[HYP] meigrafd https://www.dualthegame.com/en/news/2018/08/08/release-roadmap-alpha-launch-announcement/
hdparmToday at 11:32 AM
@NQ-Sophon last week's patch broke a few lua scripts (due to some functions being moved from one element to another). In the future, could changes like these be announced in advance, so that we can prepare our scripts before the test?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:35 AM
@hdparm sorry about the LUA change, it should not really happen again, or else we will add a retrocompatibility layer. We mostly add stuff now.
CostaniusToday at 11:30 AM
@NQ-Sophon JC, what tech or feature or accomplishment are You especially proud of so far?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:36 AM
@Costanius I'm extremely proud of our server tech and voxel tech, and especially proud of our team!
[HYP] meigrafdToday at 11:36 AM
JC how tall is the chance to get any kind of move-/rotate- able elements controlled over lua, after release?
NQ-SophonToday at 11:38 AM
@[HYP] meigrafd I would love to, but it won't happen for now, definitely not in alpha
NQ-SophonToday at 11:39 AM
guys, let's take a last question, as I've got to go for today!
[PRF] MegadddToday at 11:40 AM
@JC I've seen what happens to Minecraft servers with populations of 100-200 people where they are allowed to excavate everything. Absolutely every surface feature is decimated for kilometers from the starting area within weeks. It is conservative to say the DU launch will be orders of magnitude more populated, and mining in DU is much more powerful than in minecraft. Will you implement automatic surface restoration (erosion) algorithms? Suffice to say natural terrain that looks like it was carpet bombed everywhere would not be pleasing new player experience.
NQ-SophonToday at 11:42 AM
@[PRF] Megaddd it's still in discussion, but we certainly don't want "ore fountains" that are infinite sources of wealth. And damage done to the surface of the planet should be minimal as most ore are deep underground. But we need to test this, and probably come up with many ideas to make it work!
NQ-SophonToday at 11:43 AM
that's it guys! It was great exchanging with you today!
When the NDA drops then there won't really be a need to authenticate with it, we can close (or archive) the NDA channels, and nobody will have to use it. If they want to get backer roles for cosmetic purposes they'll still be able to, but otherwise, there won't be a need for it.
As for the data, that is going to stay in the database because it is what ties backer roles to users. Even for non-NDA purposes, such as Iron / Bronze / etc backers, or supporter pack purchasers (non-patron packs), or ATV.
The database stores:
Discord user ID
Forum profile link
Backer Status (Gold/Silver/Ruby/Whatever)
ATV member (true or false)
Pre-Alpha Access (true or false)
Validated successfully (true or false) - This is used to track whether a user has completed the auth process or not
When the API becomes available, I will adjust the database to only keep the data that the API provides.
You don't need to have your backer status made public to be validated either, as many didn't want to have to do that. The forums will show if you have pre-alpha access without needing to display what backer level you have. There are many in Discord who have access to the NDA channels while also hiding their backer level.
The bot is used for other things besides authentication, it provides utilities for NDA members which will be useful after the NDA drops too, it provides a live forum feed, a Reddit feed, a news feed for Dual Universe content (Youtube, Twitter, DevBlog, etc), it provides reactions (the Nyzaltar, Nomad, JC, etc reactions), it provides a server status utility and many more things.
I don't see a good reason to remove it completely when the NDA drops.
Nobody but Novaquark could tell you that, but if I were to guess, there's a decent chance of it being a possibility at release. Perhaps sooner if they crowdsource their translation efforts from nda-backers.
Vulcore got a reaction from Sky Asa in Survival Mechanics
Vulcore reacted to DarkHorizon in Discord AMA with JC - 9/25/18