Dude, where is my ship?

[Kurock]

The assumptions that the following is based on is:

1) Ships stay in world, even when all players near it and/or own it have logged out.

2) Ships cannot be added to or destructed but can be destroyed. See here[\url] for official confirmation.

 

So now the question becomes, what do I do with my ship when I want to log off? This has been covered in other threads and answers include

1) player run parking lots

2) hide it

3) park it in a safe zone.

 

My issue is the safe zone. In a safe zone a ship is effectively indestructible. So when a troll parks a suggestively shaped ship in an otherwise beautifully crafted city, what can be done to remove it?

 

Some ideas that have been put forward elsewhere include:

1) when its power runs out, it can be destroyed as normal even if it's in a safe zone.

2) if it is derelict for too long it becomes publicly owned so that anyone can fly it away.

3) nothing can be done. It is now part of the scenery.

 

Thoughts?

[wizardoftrash]

The assumptions that the following is based on is:

1) Ships stay in world, even when all players near it and/or own it have logged out.

2) Ships cannot be added to or destructed but can be destroyed. See here[\url] for official confirmation.

 

So now the question becomes, what do I do with my ship when I want to log off? This has been covered in other threads and answers include

1) player run parking lots

2) hide it

3) park it in a safe zone.

 

My issue is the safe zone. In a safe zone a ship is effectively indestructible. So when a troll parks a suggestively shaped ship in an otherwise beautifully crafted city, what can be done to remove it?

 

Some ideas that have been put forward elsewhere include:

1) when its power runs out, it can be destroyed as normal even if it's in a safe zone.

2) if it is derelict for too long it becomes publicly owned so that anyone can fly it away.

3) nothing can be done. It is now part of the scenery.

 

Thoughts?

Ships are most likely going to stick around after a player logs off. In a safe zone, that ship is probably going to hang out there. Anywhere else, it can probably be damaged/destroyed (but not edited, reduced, taken apart, etc).

 

There is a chance that ships might be safe if they are in the jurisdiction of a Territory Unit, and certain protections are turned on. There is a chance ships will have a temporary shield when its owner logs off. We probably won't get to see any of this in action until after Alpha, well into Beta.

[Phroshy]

2) if it is derelict for too long it becomes publicly owned so that anyone can fly it away.

 

 

I believe this is my favourite general solution.

 

When I think about it, it might be necessary to make it possible for territory owners to declare "no parking zones" where foreign constructs may only stay for a limited amount of time after which they can be legally destroyed. There would probably need to be a minimum amount of time to avoid abuse, so people don't lure in others under the guise of a free fly zone and then after 1 second all automated turrets in the vicinity start shredding the poor "intruder" without further warning.

[wizardoftrash]

I believe this is my favourite general solution.

 

When I think about it, it might be necessary to make it possible for territory owners to declare "no parking zones" where foreign constructs may only stay for a limited amount of time after which they can be legally destroyed. There would probably need to be a minimum amount of time to avoid abuse, so people don't lure in others under the guise of a free fly zone and then after 1 second all automated turrets in the vicinity start shredding the poor "intruder" without further warning.

Spaceship towing company.

[Kurock]

Spaceship towing company.

Towing would solve the problem, but it is also a bit abusable. I like the idea of players towing away "illegally" parked ships and placing them in a pound but this also allows a griefer to pick up ships in a parking lot and move them outside the safe zone to destroy them. Or just hold them ransom. TU owners could enable or disable towing but unclaimed safe zones might still have an issue.

[wizardoftrash]

Towing would solve the problem, but it is also a bit abusable. I like the idea of players towing away "illegally" parked ships and placing them in a pound but this also allows a griefer to pick up ships in a parking lot and move them outside the safe zone to destroy them. Or just hold them ransom. TU owners could enable or disable towing but unclaimed safe zones might still have an issue.

What if towing was a server-side function.

 

Lets say i'm playing, and I get disconnected. My ship lands in a no park zone, and a player reports it illegally parked. Game checks to see how long it is there, and at lets say 12 hours POP, ship vanishes. When I reconnect, i can pay a fine at the Arkship to get my ship back.

 

A but emersion breaking, but solves the illegally parked ship problem in a way that isn't crippling for someone who loses their connection.

[Leonis]

Ships are most likely going to stick around after a player logs off. In a safe zone, that ship is probably going to hang out there. Anywhere else, it can probably be damaged/destroyed (but not edited, reduced, taken apart, etc).

 

There is a chance that ships might be safe if they are in the jurisdiction of a Territory Unit, and certain protections are turned on. There is a chance ships will have a temporary shield when its owner logs off. We probably won't get to see any of this in action until after Alpha, well into Beta.

Even in the safe zone you could destroy one's ship.

[Leonis]

1) when its power runs out, it can be destroyed as normal even if it's in a safe zone.

 

For me it could be like that, like a counter, or with orgs creating garages, but it would be the mess in the safe zone that should be the only zone with no traces of any org's business.

[Leonis]

What if towing was a server-side function.

 

Lets say i'm playing, and I get disconnected. My ship lands in a no park zone, and a player reports it illegally parked. Game checks to see how long it is there, and at lets say 12 hours POP, ship vanishes. When I reconnect, i can pay a fine at the Arkship to get my ship back.

 

A but emersion breaking, but solves the illegally parked ship problem in a way that isn't crippling for someone who loses their connection.

Good idea. So the safe zone is a no park zone then? Could be. I mean it would solve a lot.

[Phroshy]

the illegally parked ship problem in a way that isn't crippling for someone who loses their connection.

 

Why do you always have to burst my bubbles?

 

I hope such problems would be rare enough that people would be content filing a support ticket and discussing with the mods whether they can get a new ship spawned somewhere, instead of tailoring the gameplay around "what happens when everything breaks". That's a procedure I'm familiar with e.g. in Elite Dangerous.

 

Although I can see how this would be problematic in a game of high economic competition like DU, hrm...

 

Your suggestion would certainly be workable, but you can tell I really don't like the unrealism of it.

[Leonis]

If you have a connexion problem... Damn I hadn't thought of that. It's not as easy as filling a ticket. Of course when you buy the game you just need a good internet connexion. Another option would be to give the right of your ship to someone in the game you trust (or someone in charge of that in your org) to park your ship away. You could also have one ship playable by two or more accounts if you are on the same planet with a buddy and just do the craft when he does the research.

[Anaximander]

The assumptions that the following is based on is:

1) Ships stay in world, even when all players near it and/or own it have logged out.

2) Ships cannot be added to or destructed but can be destroyed. See here[\url] for official confirmation.

 

So now the question becomes, what do I do with my ship when I want to log off? This has been covered in other threads and answers include

1) player run parking lots

2) hide it

3) park it in a safe zone.

 

My issue is the safe zone. In a safe zone a ship is effectively indestructible. So when a troll parks a suggestively shaped ship in an otherwise beautifully crafted city, what can be done to remove it?

 

Some ideas that have been put forward elsewhere include:

1) when its power runs out, it can be destroyed as normal even if it's in a safe zone.

2) if it is derelict for too long it becomes publicly owned so that anyone can fly it away.

3) nothing can be done. It is now part of the scenery.

 

Thoughts?

Only the Arkship's Arkzone is absolutely indestructible.

 

Player-activated Arkzones will be rare, it takes an Element to set it off in an area, an Arkification Token.

 

That being said, the player-deployed Arkzone can be taken down with enough firepower.

 

So, an enterprise that pulled resources on making a safe-to-park parking lot, should have the benefit of a "crime-free" parking lot, with a heavy shield potential around it from pirates.

 

The point is, how long FTL woudl take, so those parking lots won't be easily available on a frontier region where -let's face it- things will be lawless, like the Old West was back in the day.

 

 

So, civilisation = safe to log out Arkzones and to park your ship... for a fee, those guys who put up the Arkzone, didn't do it out of charity.

 

 

Frontier = better go out in some asteroid field and log out there.

 

 

And again, there won't be safezones EVERYWHERE. For all we know, arkification tokens may be limited in the game world and be like "items of great power" if a faction was to have them.

 

 

Peace

 

[Phroshy]

Only the Arkship's Arkzone is absolutely indestructible.

 

Player-activated Arkzones will be rare, it takes an Element to set it off in an area, an Arkification Token.

 

That being said, the player-deployed Arkzone can be taken down with enough firepower.

 

 

Huh, are you sure? As I understood the devblogs, "safe zone shields" that take a lot of firepower to take down can be set up on every territory, but require an enormous amount of energy to maintain, while actual arkified zones will be indestructible just like the original one.

 

I might have misinterpreted the system, but that's how I understood what JC was planning.

[Anaximander]

Huh, are you sure? As I understood the devblogs, "safe zone shields" that take a lot of firepower to take down can be set up on every territory, but require an enormous amount of energy to maintain, while actual arkified zones will be indestructible just like the original one.

 

I might have misinterpreted the system, but that's how I understood what JC was planning.

Yeah the arkzones are essentially powerful force shields and a pacification field, but the Arkship is the place newbies spawn in. You can't have Johny McEvil destroy the Arkship' safezone and drive newbies away before they even learn how to play the game

 

As for player-deployed safezones, yeah, a siege fleet can take them down. How long it would take? Who knows. Probably depends on how powerful the siege fleet is.

 

 

Cross fingers for mass drives

 

 

 

 

[Hotwingz]

Player-activated Arkzones will be rare, it takes an Element to set it off in an area, an Arkification Token.

Peace

 

In the latest article JC said they scrapped the idea of Arkification tokens.

 

Atm he says you will most likely be able to find new Arkships or ruins with their respective safe zones.

 

The protection bubble for territory is still being concidered.

 

Of course its Pre alpha so things might evolve back and forth.

[Anaximander]

In the latest article JC said they scrapped the idea of Arkification tokens.

 

Atm he says you will most likely be able to find new Arkships or ruins with their respective safe zones.

 

The protection bubble for territory is still being concidered.

 

Of course its Pre alpha so things might evolve back and forth.

Which Kickstarter update was that? The latest update (#14) has no such thing in it. 

[Hotwingz]

Which Kickstarter update was that? The latest update (#14) has no such thing in it.

It was an article on the internet.

Give me a moment to find it again.

[Hotwingz]

Which Kickstarter update was that? The latest update (#14) has no such thing in it.

https://gamerpantheon.com/2016/09/27/ground-breaking-spacecivilization-game-in-the-making-interview-with-dual-universe-from-novaquark/

 

"Arkification tokens have been deprecated, as we realized that they could cause many balancing issues. We will favor instead the possibility for explorers to discover and then unlock new Safe Zones, similar to the one around the Arkship, but on other planets and at a later stage in the game (probably attached to some ancient ruins, connected to the back story)."

 

[Anaximander]

https://gamerpantheon.com/2016/09/27/ground-breaking-spacecivilization-game-in-the-making-interview-with-dual-universe-from-novaquark/

 

"Arkification tokens have been deprecated, as we realized that they could cause many balancing issues. We will favor instead the possibility for explorers to discover and then unlock new Safe Zones, similar to the one around the Arkship, but on other planets and at a later stage in the game (probably attached to some ancient ruins, connected to the back story)."

 

Cool, didn't know.

[Vorengard]

This post raises a couple important issues that I dont think have been mentioned yet.

 

For instance, regardless of the system you choose to deal with abandoned ships, how do you stop people from intentionally parking ships in front of buildings to block entrances?

 

Also, while the idea of hangers has been mentioned, what about ships that are massive like some of the ones shown in the gameplay videos? You couldn't feasibly build a hanger for something that big, nevermind several ships that big.

 

What happens to a person's ships if they go on vacation for a week or so? There needs to be a mechanism to keep those ships safe. Some people have mentioned the idea of fines or towing fees for abandoned ships, but should people be penalized in game for real life vacations or family emergencies?

 

The obvious solution is to tie safety to the territory control mechanism, but if territory control is going to be expensive then that's a poor solution for most people.

[Ripper]

Its YOUR job to keep your construct safe.  NQ should just provide the tools. 

 

They will also address griefing or cheating issues as they arise.  I'm confident they will do their best to address most of those issues before release.  Alpha and Beta testers have a way of finding those types of exploits.

 

There will always be unforeseen issues that will need to be addressed.

[Hotwingz]

Nobody says you have to land your gigantic ship next to the market place. Land somewhere out in the wild where there is space. If you have a big ship, invest in a hoverspeeder to travel back and forth.

Just keep it in your cargo room.

 

And if you go on a vacation or a break, pay someone to hold it safe until you are back in game. Or park the ship somewhere in space. Space is big. Or bury it under the ground. There are many creative ways to keep your things safe.

 

Constructs should have some persistance in my opinion.

[wizardoftrash]

Nobody says you have to land your gigantic ship next to the market place.

If you have a big ship, invest in a hoverspeeder to travel back and forth.

Just keep it in your cargo room.

 

And if you go on a vacation or a break, pay someone to hold it safe until you are back in game. Or park the ship somewhere in space. Space is big. Or bury it under the ground. There are many creative ways to keep your things safe.

 

Constructs should have some persistance in my opinion.

I wouldn't mind some kind of temporary energy-hogging AFK shield for a structure to protect a construct. That way you can safely park a ship at your garage unless someone rolls up with enough firepower to destroy your base. 

[Hotwingz]

I wouldn't mind some kind of temporary energy-hogging AFK shield for a structure to protect a construct. That way you can safely park a ship at your garage unless someone rolls up with enough firepower to destroy your base.

Hmm, but then I would say only for a quick AFK situation. Something like a shield with a recharge timer. Problem is I can see how such a thing could be abused.

 

But I understand the AFK issue.

[Leonis]

...Land somewhere out in the wild where there is space. If you have a big ship, invest in a hoverspeeder...

I just had an idea. What about a making-invisible-integrated-dome engine into the ship you have (that said not for bigger ships), so that you ship becomes invisible from the outside of the bubble? A little bit like in Planetside 2 with the deploying vans. Just landing and sticking on an asteroid's surface could let you pretty much hidden.