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There are always lots of questions about Dual Universe... Some of the same questions get asked a lot, but people are still always coming up with new ones. One of the most common answers to any question is... "Probably not at release." I realize there are a lot of things that can be pushed off for a time, but I am afraid that there are some features which may be initially neglected which will later become very difficult to implement. For instance, I would love for hostile environments/weather to cause wear/damage over time. Extreme heat, sandstorms, toxic rain, etc. requiring different materials and skills to be able to operate in these environments would be awesome (my opinion of course) for the game, but if I asked whether this will be added the answer would be "probably not at release." But how could you implement something like that later down the road? It would be difficult. You would have to wait for new planets to be generated and then give them those effects; after all, the developers can't just say: "Update 5.67: Surprise! All of your bases on sand planets are now being torn apart by sandstorms. You need a new material we've introduced to make anything that can last there now." Something like customizable elements is a great example of what can totally be added in at a later time, with little to no negative effects. But something like significant weather, or gas giants, or new materials, I feel are things that really either need to be in at the start, or it'll just be a hassle to integrate later. Some others might be: - Food: Spawn into the new update of the months-old game, suddenly you are hungry with no food. A whole new economy based around food now has to be created. - Farming: Farming requires land. If an org knows this from day 1, they may design their bases around providing themselves with land for crops or animals. If instead, they find out on day 100 that it's now going to be beneficial to have tons of open plains, and here they've built themselves a city with large flat one to two story buildings, now they're screwed. Of course NovaQuark can't add in everything at the start. They can't know what update they'll want two years down the road. But, to rephrase what I've said, I don't want features which would otherwise be awesome and good for the game, to instead hurt it because they were added in at a later date after the game had already developed around their non-existence. One thing I am suggesting is... You can lynch me if you want. But add in, especially for alpha and beta, add in features that seem like they would be difficult to implement later into the game in at least a buggy state, so that way players can at least somewhat adapt to their presence. Yes, I am suggesting cramming in features in a buggy state rather than having a mostly stable game. I think that, in the long run, it'll end up for the better. Please let me know if you agree or completely disagree. I know people will disagree; I'm sure of it! Maybe you can change my mind with brilliant logic or reasoning. Please, of course, let me know, but please understand that I am very open to being disagreed with.

Hey Guys ^^ Is there even an official statement about recording and publishing gameplay in Alpha? I'm a German broadcaster streaming on Twitch and publishing on a Gaming YouTube Channel, so this is kinda important to me. I really wish to combine my passion for DU and my passion for YouTube/Twitch.

An artistic rendition of the five current largest orgs (TU, BOO, SI, CS, UL respectively) and how Alioth will look 24 hours after alpha launches. The small purple thing is the arkship. The discussion around destructive mining practices got me thinking this. I don't speak on behalf of any org represented, this is simply an impression of these orgs that I had made based on what I've heard in discord in the past month and through recent videos posted on youtube. This is a humorous take on things and meant to be in good taste. c: Oh, apologies to Silverlight, I can't draw a spaceship so I did the next best thing. Enjoy.

I was wondering how long the Alpha and closed beta would be. Do they last until release, or only for a limited amount of time?

morning everyone, one quick question cause i don't find it somewhere else, is the game still in Alpha or in Beta state phase? greetz from the bear

Ive searched high and low but cannot find any information pertaining to "Closed beta release date" Im aware the Official release has been pushed back to 2018, how ever i cant wait that long and am wondering wether or not it is worth Pledging higher for alpha(If viable) or just waiting for Beta??????? -Morz

Does sombody has information what wil be in the alpha release in septmeber? Im unsure if i schould but the alpha kit.

Does anybody have a picture of the world map of the earth like planet ?

Ok so I'm kind of confused about the selection of alpha team members that was posted by NQ-Nyzaltar. Are these just random people on the forums who were selected to be given alpha access in addition to people who pledged the minimum of gold or does this not have anything to do with alpha access?

Sand, all up in my junk – Part 2 “RONALD” The world started to come back into focus around Stier, but the infirmary’s Interface was blaring an unfamiliar name at him. “MCNALDO?” Then it clicked. As far as the Arkship was concerned, that was his name. Before the ships left earth, occupants had to sign themselves into the new database after security checks. The UMF’s official records were on a much older system so the administrators were not able to import it automatically. During the sign-in process, some of the colonists changed their name and Stier wanted to see how far he could push it so he entered a phony one as a joke. He wasn’t able to change it of course, so he was teased mercilessly during the simulations. The infirmary’s interface was designed to look a bit like a smiley face. There is so much voice communication from the AI that having a face to go with the voice was supposed to be comforting. Waking from cryosleep or in the resurrection node was a traumatic affair, but this grim mask of death of an interface made it all worse during the simulations. In the flesh it was much more pleasant now that its entire surface is plastered in Greetz Puppy stickers. EDIT: Sticker now in user signature as reference. *Greetz Puppy was a pop-culture brand originating from the late 21st century. The brand went mega-corp prior to the establishment of the Emporium. As the UMF encountered funding issues with the construction of the ARK Ships, Greetz Puppy was one of the mega-corps that provided the rest of the funds needed for launch. These stickers or “cosmetics” were provided to the colonists as part of a marketing campaign. “WELCOME BACK TO THE ARK SHIP, YOU DIED!” stated the collage of stickers. A brief look around revealed that most of the medical bay was peppered in the things. Death wasn't nearly as painful as he thought it would be, turned out it was a lot like going AFK. A quick check revealed that Stier… Ronald actually, still had his starting balance of U2’s and all of his DAC’s. As predicted thieves only managed to steal some sand, and some now very sandy protein matter. Ronald topped up his personal energy and protein stores and headed down to the landing site. Town wasn’t what he was hoping it would be by now. There were only a couple of polished-looking permanent structures and the earth was littered with pits and scattered shapes matter-formed out of dirt and stone. The MODs (Maturity Office Directors) have been quick to remove the obviously phallic shapes, but the more abstract ones loom around the landing site like a lower-school Stonehenge. The most active Alphas have either already left the safe-zone or are still AFK (away from konsciousness) from the Beta. Shortwave chat data is mostly omegas trying to figure out how to use their Nanoformer, or Betas trying to rob each other. Ronald had an idea that it would end up like this. Transitioning from the Alpha simulations to the Beta revealed a critical design flaw of the Nanoformer. The Nanoformer taps directly into the nervous system for its input, which allows the user to collect, deposit, and form matter with only a little practice. That asset is also its flaw, since much like many of the body’s organic systems, it behaves erratically when that neural connection is violently severed. When you die your bowels tend to… evacuate, and so does your Nanoformer. U2’s and DAC’s were never matter to begin with, and were tied to DNA to prevent violent theft from becoming a problem, but this flaw in the Nanoformer made it possible. Beta was a bloodbath compared to Alpha, and the real deal is turning out to be quite a bit like simulation. Welcome to the Wild West. Previous update here https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/10052-sand-all-up-in-my-junk-part-1/#entry32895

Once alpha starts and ends, then beta, then eventually the final release... I'm just curious what NQ plans to do with the forums during those times. This is the first time I've been a part of any pre-alpha community and I really want to know. Ever since I started taking part in alphas and betas, I always figured that the forums would be archived in separate pre-alpha, alpha, and beta folders, but strangely I've never seen this in any other game I've played. Sure the game has moved into a new state, the old stuff is no longer relevant, why delete it though? Maybe I'm just appealing to my inner historian, but some of the stuff we discuss here on the forums impacts where the game goes in the future. Wouldn't it be awesome to just dig around in some of those pre-release threads and laugh at some of the ridiculous (and sobering) discussions and ideas that we've had and be able to compare it to the current game? It might be inevitable that what is discussed here would be deleted at some point in development or lost in some unorganized jumble post-release, but I'd really love to see some organization and sorting away done with these pre-release threads when the time comes later next year. Hell, I got 6TB of drive space, I could archive some parts of this on my own if it comes to that. Thoughts?

Yes that's right as the title says, this post is all about a FUN community competition to pick the exact date for when you expect (or hope) the alpha testing will go live and we'll be able to first play (even if only for testing) The "winner" will be the poster that picks the exact date, or where the exact date is not picked, the post that picks the absolute closest date before or after. The "date" will be measured as the first date that gold founder members are able to log in to the Alpha testing servers. What do you get, well mad props of course for your un-canny and amazing forecast skillz. Of course, we'll also see those for which the glass is half empty or just decide to be widely pessimistic. I'm going to pick April 12 2017 for reasons and that we have holidays the following week So post your best guess alpha date. MAX

I payed for the gold founder pack and I wouldn't regret my decision even if I didn't get anything from it. But I've been reading around on the forums and it seems that the alpha members are selected individually, and I am wondering what you really need to get alpha access. So how are you chosen? What is the criteria? What does "alpha access key" really mean? I am fourteen, will I have a lower chance of getting in because of my age? I am really excited about this game and I am very pleased with the progress that has been made so far. I am very thankful for Novaquark going in on this. Good day (or night depending where you are ).

After giving the most recent Kickstarter update video a listen, I got a nice little nugget of info. ~Blueprints will not be wiped between Alpha, Beta, and the Release. This gives a tangible advantage to players at the gold level and higher, as the time they spend building (and helping test for that matter) the voxel system, ship building, and base building will get to carry-over all of their blueprints and potentially have an economic advantage at game launch. While other players are trying to develop ships from scratch or working off of the start ships, Alpha/Beta players will already have designs with a slick uniform look and possibly so will their respective org. Despite not having access to all launch features, this makes ORG play viable at least in Beta to acquire an advantage for main release. Does this provide an unfair advantage to Alpha/Beta players? An advantage sure, however our characters probably won't get to keep the levels we had to gain to make those builds possible. When the wipe hits after beta and before main launch, every other tangible resource will still be an obstacle for players who have a bank of blueprints from the previous versions. I for one will try to flex my Alpha and Beta muscles with the Alchemists to get a head start on builds! Pretty neat eh? I'd HIGHLY recommend upping those pledges to at least gold at this point if you haven't already

Who here has Alpha access? And how is super hyped for it to begin? I don't know about you guys but the recent mining gif was spectacular. I literally jumped out of my seat and cried allowed to my girlfriend "Did you see that dust effect?!?!" she then gave me a subtle raised eyebrow. Although I still believe that if we all jump around and make a bunch of noise the alpha will get here faster! =D

Should sum up everything quite well - we all can not wait for the alpha. . .

so my first question, I don't think we have an answer yet on streaming. will it be sanctioned? do we wanna set something up as a group before hand? We will most likely have accelerated building and mining i think. so as to better check the stress of a lot of constructs. This means quite a lot should be possible. if we work together plus having everyone of a goal checks stress on servers. for instance, could we do a scene from a movie everyone agrees on? like brave-hart. Also lord of the rings would be cool. I'm thinking something scifi would be nice but i cant think of one where a lot of people could be utilized. anyways this one is kinda a spit ball could we all decide to get a floating city up and running? we let the blueprint be for everyone playing in alpha/beta so we all get to start with plans to a floating city :-) we have the potential to increase all alpha/beta users worth in the global market after release. thats all for right now ill change these to what we decide and post more questions

My suggestion is, that when the open alpha comes out, after people have spent a while frantically running around, building ships, cities, houses, mining stations etc. when the game is actually released, convert all of these creations into "discarded ruins from a long forgotten race" by changing all of the blocks used. Like all metal becomes corroded metal, all turrets become broken turrets or removed, power cores become depleted power cores that are useless (if there are such things) and giant space ships become 40k-esque space hulks... dead, broken and discarded. Cities built during the time become abandoned wilds, buildings above a certain height have their top halves removed, random holes in them everywhere, environmental recapture so vines everywhere, bushes and trees breaking through blocks in the roofs and flooring. These things could be made to either make them a valuable resource, or have no value at all depending on what the devs want. I would be fine with all of this being purely decorative, part of an integrated sub-lore, but something that cant just be rebuilt in the game as they would be exclusive (yet useless) blocks. Something to preserve, as part of this world's legacy. Hell the resources might even have value simply because of their rarity, after all "party hats" were one of the more expensive things in Runescape at one point - not because they are good or useful, just because they are rare. If you don't like the idea of all this coming from the alpha, I'm sure there's room for this kind of thing anyway that's put in the game by creative teams you might employ. I just think this sort of thing just gives a small bit of...atmosphere to a game that needs it. Anyone agree?

Hey there, community, here's what I got from asking questions at the meeting and playing the pre-alpha build. I will make no paragraph but only points as it is LONG, there's a lot, and even more questions than I had before then. Creation / Exploration NPCs : there will be some at the beginning of the game (where everyone spawn) showing you how to use your powers (creation suit), how the economy works, and everything that will be added like for example the 3D map Ship creation: we have created our ship (little, single place ship) ourselves. What's needed:- a cubic unit you can make spawn that is the centre of the ship's creation (has to be one of the most expensive item) that allows one construction to be movable. (I don't remember the name of the unit) - a cockpit - structure (metal) you can make spawn by voxel (you know, the video) - reactor(s) : hover to use the vehicle on earth and hover close to the ground real reactors placed besides a plane object (for those we used), so that the reactors were on each of the ship's sides - a gyroscope unit (1/20th maybe the size of the cube needed imagine a cube like in minecraft but half the size) that points the way the cockpit is - one rule : all of the component linked with direct or indirect contact with the make-structure-movable unit (cube) - one other rule (not in the pre alpha) : physically it has to be possible regarding the size and so mass of the thing and also balance and aerodynamic proof of the ship - Blueprints : you will have the possibility to get blueprints out of the ship you created with the prefabs, to manufacture it. You will have the ability to create (for advanced users it seems) more difficult objects and get a blueprint out of it (like a specific cockpit), though I'm not sure that last thing will ever be possible, it will bring the game to a realm of creation not even expected. Buildings : same as ships without the mythic cube. Though you cannot make a ship out of earth, maybe you can do this with buildings or at least with hobbit-like holes...Massive ships or structures into space:- instead of a cockpit you have a control centre were you can command the ship if it is one, know where enemies or outside units are (radar-like) - they talked about a drone you could throw out of the ship to make circle around the big structure and know what is outside in the command centre (with non-moving space buildings) Conquest : flag-like (as an idea it was said to me like that but well... You know a flag in a future universe is weird) anyway the idea is this one. You conquer, you put your mark, you deploy shields (let's say force shields like a bubble or between a gate), well at least buildings (and guys to protect) and that's all, it's like IRL Others: - Jet packs (for creation): there will be (I don't know for the fuel) only to construct things, I heard about using it only for this but not to travel, and with energy supply to recharge maybe... - Painting ? It will be possible to do it at close range, though the build we tested was not capable of that - Map : there will be one, a 3D one maybe, probably not in the pre-alpha as you can play without it to help debug the game (alpha is for that, don't expect to get pure pleasure, it's to test the game and help it being debugged) Servers, players creations' economy Cluster serversThe server as in game when it will be released as alpha were not used (I believe) when we played pre-alpha. We were basically using a small on-the-go server. So of course it looked like a pre-alpha build, the one they are using to work on as they say. See the videos on you-tube (Dual Universe channel) for more information on how the cluster server works: it's one server for all that charges round your player's location. Scripting and blueprint economyStill a good question. The problem is the server allowance and processing duration. It will be impossible to have all your scripts into the server to sell them, and there is still the problem about the security. We had a big talk about it, like we thought of common scripts within a same group or society that still runs if someone is connected (this will be possible), but to sell a script without the buyer that uses it reads it... it's something else. Also how much scripts are being used at the same time (I mean for robots you make out) is a deal and one of the biggest challenge of all we came into in our discussions. Environment Destroyable environment, the idea to find raw material being used then for ships is to have tools to scan where riches are. Day/Night system (possibilities): - Fake-sun (unreachable, that is a sunlight seen as coming from the sun) projecting realistically the light by moving on an axis : it's the one we saw being moved in god-mode, into a giant planet's ground. It seemed rather satisfying to see. - fixed sun(s), planets rotating on themselves Water, fluids? No water, it won't be in the alpha nor the beta (as far as I know), and most probably won't be in the final game (Dec. 2018). What is sure is that fluids spawning and fluids manipulating at hand won't be possible to make and won't be at release it's sure. But (I didn't ask), still water why not (I don't talk about lands under water yet or anything under water), you'd be falling and dying probably. Swimming, I don't know as for sea ships.. Still conceivable but it won't be in any beta. The idea is: no liquids, anyway the game will still be OK and hard to handle (I mean you will get busy by playing it) just by exploring, making business, a new society, war... Questions in suspendFor now the gravitation operated in the universe is still not a question developed within the team, or anyway I have not asked to the team directly (one might confirm me that). So the planet acceleration should be (at first) the same with no mind to their mass. One point though considering the size of planets and what it results (you know, the smaller the planet is, the thinner and lower the atmosphere is, due to the gravity): to get out of the atmosphere, you can accelerate with your ship with one kind of gas (used within an atmosphere), and you use another type of combustion when into the void (turns automatically). So basically, the atmosphere seems (I haven't checked, sorry, not the time to do two lifts-off, and I would have had to count the seconds for that over all) graphically to be proportional to the size of the planet (anyway I don't consider mass). This is not a big problem here, I just want to expose anything I understood or schemed in my head. Concerning weapons and combats system, we could access such things in the pre-alpha, but the team said there will be weapons (at least on the ships) and shields to counter (ships and buildings). I haven't asked for the in-game "hacking a territory base" system as it was exposed in the kick-starter video, but it's still an idea. All in all, we could see creation (god mode, for developers) and exploration by spaceship (the cabin already looks good btw). Thanks for reading.

Will player constructed facilities in alpha be seen in the beta and furthermore in launch? Normally after one of these phases characters are reset and maps are cleared; however, based on the lore of the game Alpha players simply were woken up first, so if that is true, will anything we do in the alpha persist to the beta? As well as into launch?

I thought I could find the answer somewhere in the forums, but I haven't yet: How can one apply to test the Alpha? I would love to be a part of the development of this MMO.

So I hear a lot about this Alpha and significantly less about a Beta. This is understandable since, after all the Alpha is roughly a year away. I am very interested in how to get in this Alpha however, this seems like a shareholder/donator thing. So, finally reaching my point; how can I join the Beta? Undoubtedly, unless something happens if there is an open Beta I will join it. I would be interested to hear about your plans for the Beta and also, if it is closed how to get in. Any information besides what has already been said in the Dev Log would be helpful.