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Solo player posibilities


Miamato

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Hello, 

I'm considering to buy some package and need some answer regarding how real it would be to play solo. So the main thing that does not make much sense now is claim system for me. As I saw from dev blogs and interviews your will be able to claim territory but at the same time pvp zone is everywhere except close area from mother ship. So the questions are:

1) are you allowed to build bases only if territory is claimed? or claim is more for management and taxes purpose? 

2) are there any plans to add kind of reinforce system like in eve? or if someone finds your base/ship - he can destroy or steal everyting at a time?

3) if I want to play solo with rare visits to other civilization - how real it would be to settle some far away system that won't be found or visited frequently? 

4) I doubt I would be able to play without brakes and I don't like big alliances.  So in the initial idea of the game does it mean that if you are overblobbed - then you have no chances? 

 

I like the idea of the game, and I understand that if developer company will make the game hard enough to stimulate community cooperation - everything should be more or less stable and calm at least for the first time. But there is a big chance of toxic people appearing that would be just camping of some warp points or borders of safe area, etc. So from what I saw and heard on interviews I have feelings that this game is not for solo players that want to explore and build some stuff outside safe zone. Please tell me that I'm wrong :)

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The wiki has pretty much all of the information that we have been to gather to this point. I would recommend stopping by the seeing that you can find. Keep in mind that a lot has not been explained and won't be known until after pre-alpha at least.
https://dualuniverse.gamepedia.com/Dual_Universe_Wiki

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1) I believe you can build on unclaimed territory, but don't know what happens if someone else claims the territory after you build there

2) Yes, but it may be difficult for solo players to do this due to energy cost

3) I imagine you could settle far from civ as long as you have all the necessary things to be self-sufficient

4) If you are not in a safe zone, there is always a risk

 

If you want to solo outside of the safe zone, I think it would be best to make multiple discrete bases in different areas and spread your assets, expect to lose some of your bases when they are discovered and attacked. Due to the size of the game world this shouldn't be as common as in other free for all pvp games.

 

TLDR: Possible but difficult

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1) You can build on territory without claiming it. However, you can't build on territory owned by someone else without their permission.

 

2) We have no information about the structure protection system, if any, so we really can't answer this question at this time. 

 

3) Playing solo will definitely be possible, but more difficult than playing in a group of course. However, how difficult is also hard to answer at this time because game mechanics such as the structure protection system play a major part in determining how difficult it will be to solo, and we don't know anything about that yet. Furthermore, keep in mind that it won't be possible to travel to another star system until some time after launch. At launch, everyone will be restricted to the starting planet Alioth, but you could definitely travel to the far side of the planet and build a hidden underground base that nobody would ever find. 

 

Alternatively, you could simply join a major organization that doesn't have serious participation requirements, and then go play solo. That way you can use their name and alliances as protection from a bunch of players without actually having to play with anyone else. You can also use the RDMS system to restrict all your buildings and ships to personal access only, so you don't have to worry about your unwanted alliance mates barging in without your permission. 

 

4) I think my previous responses mostly answer this question. To summarize, it's too early to tell at this point. 

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I'm fine with risk to lose my base or assets as it's a general concept of the game, that community drives the world. But the question is actually a bit different. For example in eve there are several different structure defense mechanics. For example:

1) for POSes you need to come twice - first time to shoot structure shield, after that it runs into reinforce (invulnerable mod) up to 1-2 days, that gives time for the owner to move valuable assets away from it or prepare for defending. 

2) for Citadels - you have vulnerability timers set by the owner and you have to shoot it 3 times to destroy. You remove shield - reinforce triggered - remove armor - reinforce triggered - kill structure (last layer of HP) - Citadel is destroyed

3) Stations are indestructible, but can be captured, so you actually do not lose your assets, but at the same time you cannot access them until you capture station for friendly corporation or enter corporation that has docking allowed to that station. 

That means in any case you still risk much, at least to have a lot inconveniences, but at the same time you can secure at least part of most valuable assets from stealing/destructing. So returning to initial questions, the most important one is: 

 - is DU supposed to have gang-band approach for destroying smth in unsafe zone? When someone comes, shoots enough and you lose everything from that base/ship. Or is DU going to have more cleaver mechanics, when in any case you will have enough time slot after initial attack to save valuable items? 

 

I understand that this is more question to development team, or probably topic for some upcoming dev blogs, but it's a very important question at least for me. I like the idea of what DU may become, but I don't want to rage-quit or spend too much nerves on it. That is why it would be cool to understand this before buying some packages for me and probably other friends from EVE. 

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NQ has only mentioned the possibility of a system similar to POS shield in Eve. No details or confirmation on how it will end up working in the end. A lot of these types of features and how they work will depend on testing and community feedback. Buying a package would allow you to give feedback based on your experience in alpha/beta. If you like the core concept of DU then it is worth it. If certain specific details may be deal breakers, then maybe it's best to wait and see.

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@Miamato Welcome to DU!  

 

You raise some valid points regarding the game-play that is to come in the near future and have some very good questions about the dynamics of the game.

 

I'm only going to throw in my two cents on two of your questions;

 

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3) if I want to play solo with rare visits to other civilization - how real it would be to settle some far away system that won't be found or visited frequently? 

The play field, from what I gather, is going to be vast, but we do not yet know how populated the game will be, or how popular it will be.  I suspect Very in both cases.  Like many other Multi-Player games, I suspect that your interaction with other players will not only be dictated by how 'remote' you can push yourself, but by the necessities of gathering and obtaining certain resources and materials necessary for you to function on your own.  With all the possible scenarios within the game, it may well be that you will need to interact quite a bit with others at first simply to survive and progress at a pace that will allow you to function at all.  Remember, not all the tools in the game will be static at first, and different dynamics of how the game can and will be played will likely change considerably as time progresses.  

 

The Devs of the game will learn from how people play what is and is not good as far as game play is concerned and will adapt various systems and functions of the interface we use to manipulate the game as time progresses, thus things could change.  As the game is barely in its nascent stages of fruition and folks are just getting their hands on it for the first time and being allowed to explore all that the Devs have already come up with, I suspect that the feedback provided may change or alter the way things work in game quite rapidly. 

 

Whether or not being a 'nomad' in the game is possible right now has yet to be determined, and to be honest, for all I -can- tell you I'm looking forward to finding out just what is and isn't possible.  

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4) I doubt I would be able to play without brakes and I don't like big alliances.  So in the initial idea of the game does it mean that if you are overblobbed - then you have no chances? 

Almost every game I've played has given some concept or ability to be able to 'turtle up' and 'go to sleep' for a while, with few exceptions.  Whether or not the devs have something like that in mind for players is not something I'm sure of, but in other voxel based survival games I've played, where you create what you need to survive, there comes a point where if you don't 'check in' once in a while to make sure things you've created are still 'running' that they begin to degrade over time.  In one such game I play if you don't do so your base runs out of power and shuts down.  In a game where you very well might be living on a space station, that could be a bad thing.  Logging in to no oxygen or power and no resources on hand to replenish them, might just end up with you finding yourself dead and possibly naked and alone on a hostile play-field with no way to get back to supplies or the comforts of home without a leg up from someone else.  We have yet to see how this will play out.  

 

There is the chance that the Devs could incorporate a 'banking' or 'storage' system for people who want to take a vacation from the game, but there is an equally likely chance they'll leave you to your own devices on that.  We shall have to wait and see.  Perhaps some enterprising individual will develop such a system using in-game tools on behalf of the players... tis what 'emergent' game-play is all about. 

 

Whatever the case, I wish you well in your experiences in the game and look forward to discovering what is yet to come. 

 

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39 minutes ago, Miamato said:

Mentions about pos shield system is a good sign. Can some one tell me if there are some end dates for pledge possibility, that is currently available on official site? 

 

Well, the founder packs are ended, and with them the Lifetime Sub. Soon, they'll release supporter packs which you can use to get into Alpha 2 (Not Pre-Alpha or Alpha 1), but that time has not been announced yet, or their prices.

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Quote

 In one such game I play if you don't do so your base runs out of power and shuts down. 

That reminds me about empyrion and that's OK that you have to maintain your energy, oxygen and other things to stay alive. And it's fine that if you abandon the base, it won't be able to protect itself. The same in EVE with POS system - you need to fuel it with two types of resources to be able to defend it. In eve this is not an issue as you can fuel it for 1 month. In empyrion it depends on how many fuel tanks you place, so that is still fine for me. 

39 minutes ago, Lachenlaud said:

There is the chance that the Devs could incorporate a 'banking' or 'storage' system for people who want to take a vacation from the game, but there is an equally likely chance they'll leave you to your own devices on that.

 I was thinking about some idea of being able to send your goods to some secure storage with kind of 'special delivery service' that will take much time to deliver your goods to the storage and the same to get them out, but you won't lose them. But it's just my imagination :) 

 

As for changing game rules - that is common for any actively updated MMO with only note - that key mechanics shouldn't be changed without notification so people will have time to adjust. 

 

Just a small explanations about being able to play solo - I don't tell that I will never join any ally or corporation, but I need to know that if for some reasons I won't find correct corporation for me, I would be still be able to play on my own. 

6 minutes ago, CommanderLouiz said:

Well, the founder packs are ended, and with them the Lifetime Sub. Soon, they'll release supporter packs which you can use to get into Alpha 2 (Not Pre-Alpha or Alpha 1), but that time has not been announced yet, or their prices.

ah, so I'm late already :) Then I guess no rush for now. Let's hope the new packs won't be much more expensive than previous ones. 

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I believe the new packs will be slightly more expensive. I.E Silver founder got you 11 DACs, Beta, soundtrack, forum title, thanks in credits. But the Silver supporter pack might only have 9 DACs + stuff for the same price.

 

Reason for this being the earlier you arrived, the cheaper you get it for.

 

This is just speculation on my part.

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6 minutes ago, CommanderLouiz said:

I believe the new packs will be slightly more expensive. I.E Silver founder got you 11 DACs, Beta, soundtrack, forum title, thanks in credits. But the Silver supporter pack might only have 9 DACs + stuff for the same price.

 

Reason for this being the earlier you arrived, the cheaper you get it for.

 

This is just speculation on my part.

I would also suspect the same. It's a shame that people who arrived late don't have access to the starter packs, but on the other hand, you have to reward your long-term backers.

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Actually I was considering between pack for 60 and 120 euro, but anyway we'll see what developers will offer next time. If the difference will be only in 10-15% of what you get or pay, that's fine. 

In any case I like the idea that you will have that DACs ingame similar to EVE. So with proper approach I will be able to pay just by ingame currency. 

 

One more question, did NQ mentioned anything about wipes during Alpha/Beta? So actually when game is released, does everyone start from scratch or any chance to be in better position if you start earlier? 

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1 minute ago, Miamato said:

One more question, did NQ mentioned anything about wipes during Alpha/Beta? So actually when game is released, does everyone start from scratch or any chance to be in better position if you start earlier? 

They have said there there are probably going to be server wipes during at least Pre-Alpha and Alpha, but the goal (I don't know if it's working yet) is for any blueprints of constructs that you have made to persist until full game release so that you don't lose design(/coding?) time.

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5 hours ago, Miamato said:

- is DU supposed to have gang-band approach for destroying smth in unsafe zone? When someone comes, shoots enough and you lose everything from that base/ship. Or is DU going to have more cleaver mechanics, when in any case you will have enough time slot after initial attack to save valuable items? 

Yes, I am quite familiar with the EVE game mechanics. I played for 7 years. However, we do not have answers to these questions because NQ has given us virtually no details. I suspect because they are not sure themselves exactly what will be best for the community. Either way, at the end of the day, if you want your assets to be completely safe, put them in the safe zone. Otherwise, there is no guarantee. 

 

3 hours ago, Miamato said:

did NQ mentioned anything about wipes during Alpha/Beta?

There will most likely be full wipes during pre-alpha and between Alpha and Beta, and there will definitely be a full wipe at launch. However, all blueprints made during alpha and pre-alpha will be saved to the player's account, so you can build whatever you want and not lose your designs. 

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2 minutes ago, Vorengard said:

Yes, I am quite familiar with the EVE game mechanics. I played for 7 years. However, we do not have answers to these questions because NQ has given us virtually no details. I suspect because they are not sure themselves exactly what will be best for the community. Either way, at the end of the day, if you want your assets to be completely safe, put them in the safe zone. Otherwise, there is no guarantee. 

From interviews I saw, it seems only small starting area would be safe, but if I decide to move much deeper into space - flying to safe zone may take much time. So if I can play ~1-2 hours per day, I won't be happy to spend half of that time just for flying from safe zone to deep space zone. In any case until I will be able to try the game on my own or till more detailed information is revealed - all that I can do is wait :) and probably to collect some ideas that can be shared, as I have plenty of them now. 

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Tl;Dr, will do tomorrow.

 

Just as addition: jc said they want to have clever mechanics. They want players to think and actually be clevery about it (iirc he mentioned invasion woulet oonly be possible if you have control of adjacent tile for example)

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Just remember what NQ said , that territory claims will be extremely hard to craft and will require rare materials, so territory claims will be very costly and expensive to buy, dont expect to see many territory claims pop up all over the place. Im sure there will be many outback ranches you can build where you can explore and colonize yourself in your small part of DU even start a little village with other pioneers. I personally like soloing (PVE Style), im sure NQ will accomodate PVE players as well as PVP Players, maybe also one territory organization or owner might allow you to build a ranch on there land in a safe environment, pay some taxes to mine going towards upkeep of the territory claim and any protection it needs incase it gets attacked.

 

Im sure there will be many possibilities, theres along way to go and we will learn more as the alpha progresses and the NDA gets lifted.

 

cheers:)

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11 minutes ago, Agis_McKracken said:

I personally like soloing (PVE Style), im sure NQ will accomodate PVE players as well as PVP Players

Errrmmm no. There will be no "E" for PVE style gameplay here. At the start there will be a merchant NPC that will be carefully controlled and toggled on/off to inject in-game currency (quanta) into the market, but that's it. You are in the wrong game buddy, there is PVP here and peaceful building and not much else.

 

They did mention possibly in a future expansion adding some kind of PVE style content if it is something the community really wanted, but I don't see this happending for a nice long while.

 

But for real though don't hold your breath here, PVE is not a planned feature, so there will be no accommodating a "pve style player" in the foreseeable future, and it is a long long road to release.

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so its going to be a cut throat adventure exploration game, challenging, i do like it but with my ping in australia i would lose almost every PVP battle, compared to people in EU and US etc.. Big difference between people on 2-80 ms compared to us in australia on 320 ms or worse..lol and because of a european based server it will probably be 380-500ms, hoepfully they have a solution for latency issues, like Entropia Universe does and they are in Sweden and ping with there latency is not bad and been playing entropia for 13 years.

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12 minutes ago, Agis_McKracken said:

so its going to be a cut throat adventure exploration game, challenging, i do like it but with my ping in australia i would lose almost every PVP battle, compared to people in EU and US etc.. Big difference between people on 2-80 ms compared to us in australia on 320 ms or worse..lol and because of a european based server it will probably be 380-500ms, hoepfully they have a solution for latency issues, like Entropia Universe does and they are in Sweden and ping with there latency is not bad and been playing entropia for 13 years.

I think calling it a cutthroat adventure game might be a bit of a stretch. Sure based on how the people talk about the game on the forums it might sound like this game will be the next RUST (where people are killing each other all the time, and the whole game revolves around raiding), but I suspect that there will be a good mix of stable and unstable areas in the game world. Just how in EVE, most PVP occurs in effectively "lawless space", there will be enough protections in DU that it won't be a murder-fest everywhere. The main thing that would threaten highly developed areas would be all-out war between large orgs, and with war its less about being better at killing individual players, and more about overpowering your opponent with economic and infrastructure advantages. An org with 10 fighters will not be able to launch an effective and sustained attack a huge city with a well-rounded militia for example.

 

It'll depend on exactly how action-based the PVP is, but it is entirely possible that Avatar vs Avatar combat would be something you would struggle with personally. It is possible though that some aspects of PVP would be just fine even with poor ping. You would be well suited for a combat engineer role on a ship for example, so long as you would get a stable feed of what is being damaged in a ship and where. You would probably also do just fine on the development side of a PVP based org, mining resources and building ships to use in combat even if you aren't piloting them. There will also be plenty of opportunity to do piloting missions where the goal is to avoid combat, such as transporting goods in a frigate, or transporting other players in a shuttlecraft.

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yeah, im focusing on resource management, exploration and mining mainly, ill leave the military side to the security people of our organization, just also the LUA programming part has me rattled as an autistic person, anything to do with maths would be out of my capability and I hope you dont need to know LUA programming to play this game, im mainly a database management type, im more of a simulation tycoon , adventurer. If LUA programming is needed to build constructs, I will probably have to resort in buying them off other players. Im shocking at basic programming..lol

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1 minute ago, Agis_McKracken said:

yeah, im focusing on resource management, exploration and mining mainly, ill leave the military side to the security people of our organization, just also the LUA programming part has me rattled as an autistic person, anything to do with maths would be out of my capability and I hope you dont need to know LUA programming to play this game, im mainly a database management type, im more of a simulation tycoon , adventurer. If LUA programming is needed to build constructs, I will probably have to resort in buying them off other players. Im shocking at basic programming..lol

Sounds like you'll have no trouble fining  a home. Every org will want miners and surveyors, and resource management will be the backbone of just about every org.

 

From what NQ has stated publicly, it looks like most constructs won't require any scripting at all to function. I bet you'll find that once the game is out, people will be sharing some of their custom scripts on the forums, wiki, and on Youtube to show off, and there would be no shame in copy-pasting a script that you like.

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2 hours ago, wizardoftrash said:

Errrmmm no. There will be no "E" for PVE style gameplay here. At the start there will be a merchant NPC that will be carefully controlled and toggled on/off to inject in-game currency (quanta) into the market, but that's it. You are in the wrong game buddy, there is PVP here and peaceful building and not much else.

 

They did mention possibly in a future expansion adding some kind of PVE style content if it is something the community really wanted, but I don't see this happending for a nice long while.

 

But for real though don't hold your breath here, PVE is not a planned feature, so there will be no accommodating a "pve style player" in the foreseeable future, and it is a long long road to release.

This is a very narrow mindset.  There is a VERY dynamic PvE experience, or at least with what is planned.  Obviously it isn't in the current iterations.

 

Sure, PvP will always be there... but you don't have to participate.  Many will be content with exploring and trading between different hubs.  Finding good prices, and selling elsewhere.  The cool thing about DU is that the entire game is dynamic.  Heck, with the scripting I'm sure someone could build a casino... the limitations are literally endless.  THAT is the point of DU

 

I love PvP but saying there's no place for PvE players in DU is asinine.  I'd honestly say in the grand scope of things, there is more PvE content than PvP.

 

Building constructs, exploration, mining... creating different services to sell to other players... bunch of stuff for PvE minded folk 

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