Will docking be fixed?

[Daphne Jones]

As I understand it, NQ intentionally nerfed docking so that it can only be done with the maneuver tool and only by a player standing on the ground, a static construct, or (maybe) a space construct. This was apparently done in a misguided attempt to prevent players from bootstrapping up to space (which can still be done by using static cores and picking up each static core when the next is placed.

 

This completely rules out carriers. NQ has also been trying very hard to make freighters that fly surface to surface unfeasible.. that would make space-bound freighters that can carry a shuttle on board necessary... but the docking nerf completely rules that out.

 

@NQ, will this be fixed?

 

You could allow docking by flying the parasite ship onto the host ship. It would not allow maneuver tool bootstrapping (with dynamics) and would allow carriers.

[GraXXoR]

I actually came back to this game for a few hours after several months' hiatus. Only to find the docking completely borked... My idea was to park my container ship near the platform within linked container range because the platform was a complete Custer of flucks lying hither and thither with not enough space to touch down. Then I'd fly my XS shuttle to the marketplace.

 Flying back to the L core ship with my XS core shuttle and landing on the deck of the unpiloted L core ship caused the L core ship to burst away and leave the XS core ship static again like it used to about a year ago.

This was not a problem before 0.23 when I last played. 

JC gets his team to adjust mechanics to prevent fringe cases (like step manouvering dynamic cores one by one into space) by hamstringing the manouvre tool so much that players are forced to sit and wait like a lemon for 3 minutes when you accidentally lift your ship -trapped on a market place platform by another vessel's bugged collision cube, say-  up into the air and it freezes there, too high to jump onto or invoke build.

Docking is another extreme "shotgun nerf" as I like to call them where they were unable to come up with an imaginative and effective way to handle dock-shipjacking. And now docking requires one to use a broken mechanism to engage another, broken mechanism.

It suffices to say, I logged off mid session after an hour or so, unable to get my wee shuttle to dock. This game is an exercise in concentrated frustration. It needn't be, but it seems the team is intent on making it as frustrating to play as possible.

Where are the quality of life improvements that should be coming to a game with the title Beta?  This is looking awfully like its regressing more than progressing. Certainly in the 4 or 5 months since I last played, the game has showed me nothing novel or exciting.

[Leogradance]

in a week the new group of players that I have found and that I am comfortable with have blown their ships, S / M-Core, about 10 due to the lag, the docking and the stupid way in which it has been changed maneuvering tool. Even I, who have a good gaming experience, managed to detonate one of mine because I hit the ground with my bow while using the manouvering tool (WTF !!!).
One of the players had just bought 20kk of stuff at the market and the ship exploded while he was standing still, making everything he bought disappear.

A year ago I met a group of compatriots. In love with the potential of the game, they got tired of the game after a month for reasons unknown to me.

this summer at the launch of the beta I found another group: disappeared after a month for lag, killer industry, bugs, lack of content and insertion of superficially thought mechanics (broken docking just to name one).

Now how long will these new players last before they quit?

Easy to say "it means DU wasn't for them".

You can tell me once.
Twice.
From the three times no: it is not DU who "is not for them". It is the game that is mismanaged and thought with the breathlessness of someone with water in their throats and has no idea how to fix the huge holes he has created.

No idea apart from one: don't listen to the community. Absolutely never listen to it: never let them propose something too intelligent and then we make them feel important.

[blazemonger]

Not being able to dock a construct while standing on the construct you want to dock to is absolutely ridiculous and simply means NQ has no clue on how their half baked "fixes" impact the game. I have rights to dock to this construct, how is it not easy to use that data to allow me to actually frekking do that. What is the point of RDMS when NQ can't even use it properly while designing their own game.

 

It's the same thing with several other "fixes" that created more problems than they were designed to "fix". Meanwhile several atrocities and abominations that actually cause real problems and are potential game busters for some are left as they are . AGG towers made out of singe voxel strings of linked static cores reaching thousands of meters up (and actually AGG itself) and a single empty XS core in the path of an L core construct will completely wreck the L core (or fly your L core into a glass panel and your construct goes boom) being some examples.

 

The markets and districts are generally a mess, there is ugly and non functional cubes all over taking up space and you have to hop, skip and jump your way to the elevator to the market pods because of the lag inducing screens and junk lying around.

 

A major problem, which wil only get worse, is the "fix" that has mass of logged off characters added to a construct mass.. Griefing galore when you plant several logged off alts adding hundreds of tonnes of mass to someone's construct preventing them from even taking off. Also logging off an alt character on a construct to track it is a much used exploit which in fact breaches TOS as it is generally multiboxed. But NQ, while well aware of this happening, just looks the other way.

 

 

NQ does.. exactly nothing, there is not a word on this and since the 0.23 debacle and the damage control afterwards they have been pretty much dead silent, not surprisingly as they have followed that pattern for years now. But they will come out and tell us they know they need to do better with communication and will work on that with news "soon" in about 6-8 weeks as they ramp up again for their next patch.. after which it all goes back to being silent again..

 

[le_souriceau]

22 minutes ago, blazemonger said:

 But they will come out and tell us they know they need to do better with communication and will work on that with news "soon" ...

Speaking of communication. Its feels like with return of Nyz (who is founding father of sorts of NQ communication style), CMs was put to "more useful tasks" again, then engaging us here more. And as I see (subjectivly) less active in Discord too.

 

Now we have: 

 

Nyzaltar -- before he at least visited forum to give some punishments or ad hoc comments when in mood. Not anymore.

Naerais -- not seen her active for a while. Why?

Naunet -- trying to be our friend, but less active now. Why?

Pann -- content creators front? Cool, but not very useful for us, common folk.

Nishtar -- new french CM. Probably nice for french, who are minority here, but again not much help for problems of international crowd.

 

Anyway, disproportionaly little presense felt. May be they preparing some kind of super-suprise for us.

[blazemonger]

Coincidence or not, your assessment is not wrong at face value

[Aaron Cain]

2 hours ago, blazemonger said:

 AGG towers made out of singe voxel strings of linked static cores reaching thousands of meters up (and actually AGG itself) and a single empty XS core in the path of an L core construct will completely wreck the L core (or fly your L core into a glass panel and your construct goes boom) being some examples.

Indeed, Although i do understand the the intention is to not damage a structure by collision when someone flies into it, this is approaching ridicule.

Another thing is that a dynamic core is not dynamic, its static with engines, simply because it does not move when pushed.

 

Another space game has taken another approach where you actually have collision damage and you can infact push pynamic structures If you have enough power.

there are countless good solutions for this problem, preferably by solutions like shielding or something and actuall dynamic properties of dynamic cores so you can push them.