Blackspace!

[Shannow]

You do not have enough Structural Capacity available to fit 20x Freighter Class Hull.

WTF?!? So I'm suddenly thousands in the negative in SC and PU, you hide where I could sell half of my weapons systems AND you won't allow me to buy additional hulls (and later reactors) to get positive?
I am butthurt.

 

[SoupNazi]

me too. also my second ship was destroyed by faggalon so i'm double butthurt.

at least he then got destroyed by faceless. karmic justice!

 

[Jedi_Learner]

I didn't know you were both the same player. Sorry. I wanted to avenge you!

 

[Kayerts]

It was less karmic justice than me noticing that two spacebros were having a party and forgot to invite me. No doubt this was an oversight, one that I graciously chose to rectify.

Regarding the reactors, there are at least five space stations and one dockable planet outside the Core. You can buy advanced reactors at at least two of these locations. Explore!

@DarkUnderlord: The new weapons are interesting; I like the fact that the different stations have distinct identities now. I only wish I could refit my ship and try them out. Though with my new, retarded, regular-hull-loaded ship, I *might* be able to take out the Entity, armor-piercing death rays and all . . .

 

[SoupNazi]

It's okay. I'm just trying to test out the works of the combat system by myself so I fight pretty much everyone.

 

[SqueakyFox]

woah there's a thread for this?
and a forum?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

You do not have enough Structural Capacity available to fit 20x Freighter Class Hull.

WTF?!? So I'm suddenly thousands in the negative in SC and PU, you hide where I could sell half of my weapons systems AND you won't allow me to buy additional hulls (and later reactors) to get positive?
I am butthurt.

Ok, try that again.

I only wish I could refit my ship and try them out.

I've mulled that over and decided to keep Hull sale prices as they are at 1/3 base price. The point is not to be able to sit on your fat ass and make X Quadrillion out of gaming the differences in Hull prices. If you need money, you trade for it. Likewise, the point is not to dump everything you have and walk out as a battleship without it costing you anything. Ships are supposed to get more expensive as you get bigger, exponentially so and re-fitting should take some time and effort to get the funds together (both in trading and / or visit the necessary Stations looking for what you want). Essentially that forces you to think about your decisions a bit more before you make them - and mull over the type of ship you want to build and how you're going to build it.

Also the theory was that it's *your* ship size that costs so much to whack on extra hulls. Taking that expensive Hull off and selling it though is still 1 Hull which another customer would be buying at the basic Hull price (it's a massive loss proposition for the dealer if he's buying it off you at 1/3 *your* current price but then selling that 2nd-Hand Hull to someone for 1/100th of that price again).

 

[Kayerts]

Well, with the current configuration of shipyards, I think you actually fixed the worst part of the prior price curve exploit: if you restored 1/3 full prices, players still wouldn't be able to make money without traveling significantly, and then only under favorable conditions. And the different shipyards are sufficiently far apart that you wouldn't see wealth growth anywhere near like what it was when we figured out the hull profit loop. I suspect it'd be a great deal more effort for the trillionaire to increase his wealth by 40% this way than it is for millionaires or billionaires to see similar proportional gains from trading resources.

The main reason I'd like it to change is that the current hull sale model creates a lot of lock-in at every step of ship development, and that seems bad. In particular, it seems at odds with the combat system, the primary interesting feature of which is that it encourages players to adapt. The main decision you make in combat is how to outfit your ship differently to face different threats; consequently, limiting your ability to refit the ship seems to limit that interesting dynamic.

As a secondary issue, grinding still confers an advantage; it's just a smaller advantage. You can regard this as a positive or negative thing; on the positive side, it slows down the rate at which people get ridiculous, but on the negative side, it encourages players to avoid risk. This is because if you increase the amount of time a player has to spend to recover after getting destroyed, he's going to play more conservatively. Again, you can regard this as a good or bad thing; I regard it as a very bad one, since there isn't very much action in the game as it is. Whereas if the time to recovery is low, you get to see people trying wacky experimental builds to take down specific behemoths, and challenging each other to reckless space duels, and not being afraid to take shots at various menacing geometric shapes that appear, and generally making the game more interesting.

Edit: Although large numbers of rampaging spacebeasts to kill for comparatively hefty amounts of spacemoney would probably be a better way to achieve this balance. Basically, everything is better with more rampaging spacebeasts.

 

[hoverdog]

Add slylandro probes please.

 

[Scott Pakin]

• Mobility of the Weapon you're Firing + (((Your Size vs Their Size) + (Your T/ph vs Their T/ph) + (Your Mobility vs Their Mobility)) / 3)

Does this mean that a big ship with decent T/ph (say, 25) will have about 15% to hit chance vs. small fighters (of the same T/ph)?

 

[Kayerts]

How do crits work?

This means that with high mobility weapons, it is possible to achieve a to hit chance greater than 100%. That of course would effectively guarantee a critical hit every time (assuming the weapon is capable of delivering critical hits) but we will leave the ins and outs of weapons themselves and the damage they cause for another discussion.

Apologies if this was intended for that future discussion, but I don't see how this guarantees a crit. Wasn't crit chance previously determined as 10% of to-hit chance? Because then it would seem like you'd need a 1000% chance to hit in order to guarantee a crit.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Well, with the current configuration of shipyards, I think you actually fixed the worst part of the prior price curve exploit: if you restored 1/3 full prices, players still wouldn't be able to make money without traveling significantly, and then only under favorable conditions.

What Hulls appear at what stations is going to change though (long-term) - with eventually players determining what is available and what isn't based on trading resources.

The main reason I'd like it to change is that the current hull sale model creates a lot of lock-in at every step of ship development, and that seems bad. In particular, it seems at odds with the combat system, the primary interesting feature of which is that it encourages players to adapt. The main decision you make in combat is how to outfit your ship differently to face different threats; consequently, limiting your ability to refit the ship seems to limit that interesting dynamic.

The only lock-in is SC vs Hull and Armour strength and I'm not upset about that. Ideally I want people to spend lots of money on a ship but get to a point where spending that extra $100M to buy another Hull isn't really worth it. Better off to bank your cash, then go out and have some fun - and if you die buy a new ship. Weapons and all other Equipment is easily interchangeable with the only drawback being cost - but as I've mentioned before, I want trading to be the pre-dominant money earner. Lock-in ships to some degree is designed to make it so you can't become a big-ass Jack-of-All Trades - without running the risk that a Big-Ass "Fuck Cargo Holds, I added more guns!" won't take you out. So you'll have to decide between all-out trading to maximise quick profits vs a heavily defended ship with some guns but only a few holds.

The game has a few more things coming that should add to the list of things you can do beyond trading and killing.

Edit: Although large numbers of rampaging spacebeasts to kill for comparatively hefty amounts of spacemoney would probably be a better way to achieve this balance. Basically, everything is better with more rampaging spacebeasts.

Indeed it is.

• Mobility of the Weapon you're Firing + (((Your Size vs Their Size) + (Your T/ph vs Their T/ph) + (Your Mobility vs Their Mobility)) / 3)

Does this mean that a big ship with decent T/ph (say, 25) will have about 15% to hit chance vs. small fighters (of the same T/ph)?

If their mobility is equal, yes. As soon as I have the new formula in though, large ships will be much slower (7ish T/ph) with very low to zero mobility. When that happens, chances drop down to around 1 - 5% (assuming the small Fighter boosts his mobility with some equipment).

How do crits work?

If the weapon says 10% chance to cause a crit, than it has a 10% chance of your chance to hit to cause a crit. So if you have a 15% chance to hit and the weapon has a 35% crit rate, you have a 5.25% chance to hit and cause a crit (out of 100%).

That sentence should read: "That of course would guarantee a hit every time and greatly increase your chance to cause a critical."

In an unrelated matter, I've altered how the attack / defense ratings are calculated.

 

[Baron]

I used to have 15,000+ defensive rating, now it's on 5,000. Only different thing was that I think there was an update at 2pm AEST, and I hit ship size 1,000. Otherwise not much changed.

System change? Bug? Advanced alien attack indistinguishable from magic?

In an unrelated matter, I've altered how the attack / defense ratings are calculated.

edit - I should read whole posts.

 

[Kayerts]

Better off to bank your cash, then go out and have some fun - and if you die buy a new ship. [..] The game has a few more things coming that should add to the list of things you can do beyond trading and killing.

That seems like the best solution.

As soon as I have the new formula in though, large ships will be much slower (7ish T/ph) with very low to zero mobility. When that happens, chances drop down to around 1 - 5% (assuming the small Fighter boosts his mobility with some equipment).

7 Tph barely lets you play the game, though. Is that intentional? If the goal there is combat balance, making relative size have greater impact on the formula seems like a better solution. If the goal's actually to increase the action gap between big and small ships, it seems better to speed up small ships than to cripple big ones, especially in light of the expanding universe.

Even if you go with the crippling route, though, 7 seems too low for a floor. In a 24-hour period, you don't even accumulate enough clicks to check out a jack-o-lantern and get back to the Core.


Edit: Just wanted to say, the Vanguard fight was the most entertaining thing I've seen in the game so far. I did run into a serious bug, but I've PMed you about it.

In case anyone cares or would be amused to watch me yell at a computer, here's a log of the battle:

The Captain of the Maximum Fuck looked hopelessly up into the guns of the unidentified xeno expeditionary force. He did not recognize the alien technology, but he felt reasonably confident that the Faceless Man would not have called him here if he had any chance of survival. The Faceless Man was reliable that way.

A familiar voice hissed inside his mind. "Captain. You have your orders. Do not fail."

The Captain sighed. "This is going to end the same way as my mission to 'scout out' the Death Star, isn't it?"

"Yes. Exactly so. A terror shall die, that Man might live. As it was then, so shall it be now."

"I was referring more to the part where my ship exploded so hard that I shat cinders for the rest of the week." He sighed. Arguing with this one was pointless. Resigned, he turned on his comm array and hailed the approaching alien battlefleet.

"Rogue warships. Your presence here is in violation of sector sovereignty, as specified in IPC 512. Please stand down your weapons and prepare to be boarded."

Over the comm channel, he heard no response for seconds that stretched on to a full minute. Then, a horrible, metallic clanging that somehow sounded like laughter . . .

* * *


[000.00]: ATTN: All ships in this sector! Maximum Fuck (Legion of Idiots) has been destroyed. Let this serve as a warning to you all for attacking Vanguard.
[000.00]: ATTN: Maximum Fuck (Legion of Idiots) you have attacked the Reprisal [VGD] (Vessel). This is an act of war against Vanguard. Prepare for retaliation.

* * *

I watched the ashes of the Maximum Fuck drift aimlessly through space. Ever since I took command of the Relationship, it has been my duty, my burden to safeguard the residents of this sector from the threat of alien warmongering. Also from the threat of themselves. Occasionally from the threat of being corrupted by riches. Once or twice from the threat of getting in my way. It is a heavy responsibility, but one I bear with honour and humility.

Saddened by the unwarranted aggression from the bloodthirsty xenos, I summoned all my diplomatic powers and made one last effort at a peaceful resolution to this regrettable conflict.


[000.00]: Your pathetic warning makes us laugh, Vanguard.
[000.00]: Who sows the flame shall reap the firestorm.

Eagerly, I awaited the alien's reply, my heart borne up by a childlike optimism that they would be moved by my message of compassion and mutual understanding.

[000.00]: ATTN: Relationship (Faceless Man) you have attacked the Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel). This is an act of war against Vanguard. Prepare for retaliation.

Immediately upon entering the area and engaging in a routine weapons test, I was set upon by many unprovoked and senseless attacks--me, a peaceful, robotics-loving hull merchant, who had never hurt anyone! Unable to reason in the face of unbridled alien aggression, I sorrowfully charged my ship's defense systems.

That day, many of the enemies of sector-wide peace were saved from themselves. But for every ship I liberated, four more warped in to take its place. I began to realize I was facing a more serious threat than anticipated.

[000.00]: If I win this one, I'm declaring myself God-Emperor. --Faceless

[000.00]: ATTN: Relationship (Faceless Man) this is the Vanguard Galactic Battlecruiser: Defiance. We have warped in on your sector. Prepare to be annihilated.

[000.00]: You dare defy the God-Emperor? Heretical fools.

Noting the disturbingly large red blob covering my scanner, I decided to attempt the Glorious Imperial Backwards March, a.k.a. running like a little girl. I led the pursuing Vanguard fleet southwest, grazing right by the black hole at -66, -66. Let's see how the treacherous xeno scum deal with THAT!

[000.00]: So apparently you guys can fly through a black hole. Duly noted.

Apparently the treacherous xeno scum deal with it just fine. They swarmed through the black hole and continued their relentless pursuit. I assume Vanguard scientists have mastered the technology to resist singularity-level gravitational pulls. I look forward to many fruitful conversations with their engineers, once they are freed from their ships.

[000.00]: Holy fuck, did I just note a fight with Relationship?

[000.00]: One or two.
[000.00]: Check your news.
[000.00]: Er, reports.

[000.00]: hmm vessel has a hard life, what ever that is

[000.00]: They are the enemies of Mankind.

[000.00]: the enemy of relationship is my friend

Lacking any good alternative and any means of shaking the alien wretches, I made my stand. The fighters surrounded me in swarms, and I swatted them from the sky like so many buzzing gnats. Finally the dust cleared and I readied to return to the Core for repairs. As I cautiously skirted the site of my initial engagement with the xenos, scanners reported a single warship on my tail. That was odd. I didn't see anything nearby. Perhaps the remaining Vanguard ship was hiding behind that star . . .

Oh. That wasn't a star.

The Galactic Battlecruiser Defiance loomed in the Relationship's viewport. It was the flagship of the Vanguard fleet, stronger and more resilient than the rest of the xeno armada combined. I was currently looking down the full range of its sun-shattering broadside.

At last, a worthy adversary.

[000.00]: Relationship (Faceless Man), you may have defeated Vanguard this time - but we will return.

[000.00]: Then you will die again!

The Vanguard Grand Admiral had been engaged in negotiations. Discussions had been tense for a time, but finally he repented of his crimes, having seen the light. Specifically, the light of several thousand laser cannons.

Even with their commander enlightened, the remnants of the barbaric alien horde continued their mindless aggression against the sector, disrespectfully turning in the opposite direction and showing our womenfolk their Vanguard-butt. Did the alien's unseemliness know no bounds? It was my sad duty as Defender of Mankind to purge this threat to sector security and propriety, once and for all.

[000.00]: ATTN: Relationship (Faceless Man) you have attacked the Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel). This is an act of war against Vanguard. Prepare for retaliation.

[000.00]: Fight if you must, it will avail you naught.

The last Vanguard battlecruiser was located, engaged, eradicated. Finally, the warmongering xeno scourge was defeated, and the sector was once again safe for peace and equality. Although apparently some of space traffic control operators on various stations and planets are still suffering trauma from the fear they felt that day . . . ? That alone can explain why they heed the whispers of slain alien tyrants, and deny the living champion of mankind his rest.

[000.00]: ATTN: Eitec Industries, the vessel Relationship (Faceless Man) is an enemy of Vanguard. You will deny that vessel permission to dock or you will be destroyed.
000.00]: Whosoever takes up arms against that which I hold in my hand shall be crushed in my fist.
[..]
[000.00]: ATTN: Jola-7, the vessel Relationship (Faceless Man) is an enemy of Vanguard. You will deny that vessel permission to dock or you will be destroyed.
[000.00]: Enemies of the Faceless Man, you have come here to die.
[000.00]: Omg I am scared
[000.00]: ATTN: Eitec Industries, the vessel Relationship (Faceless Man) is an enemy of Vanguard. You will deny that vessel permission to dock or you will be destroyed.
[000.00]: Space station, you should fear me far more than you do any petty Vanguard.
[000.00]: ...Fucking Eitec. First the dishonest hull merchant, now this.
[000.00]: As soon as DU adds weapons capable of conducting an Exterminatus, you are SCREWED.

 

[villain of the story]

Nice that DU keeps nerfing the game and at the same time, wants people to try to screw each other by spending those trillions they will never earn on things they will never be rich enough to buy, now that the game is getting nerfed. Great plan.

 

[Wild Slop]

That's a bit dramatic.
In jumping into the developing game as fast as (we) did, one should expect to see changes like this.
Consider yourself just as much a tester as a player and um keep watching the skies!

 

[DarkUnderlord]

7 Tph barely lets you play the game, though. Is that intentional?

Originally the max Tph I was working off was 36 for a small ship, which would give 864 Clicks per 24 hour period, while large ships would drop to around 7 Tph - depending on how many Engines etc... The game is being designed in such a way that about that many clicks will be plenty. The more astute will realise there's a couple of things that have not been implemented yet in order for that to happen.

Even if you go with the crippling route, though, 7 seems too low for a floor. In a 24-hour period, you don't even accumulate enough clicks to check out a jack-o-lantern and get back to the Core.

The idea is that a Juggernaut shouldn't be able to run off to another System, check it-out, then get back home again in a single day. Scouting is for fast, agile ships - not big, slow-ass mother-fuckers. If a big ship wants to head to another system, they'll need to save clicks and prep for the journey. Depending on the distance, you'll have enough to get there and be able to check it out a bit / rape and pillage a few people before docking / finding a place to hide / retreating. Then the next day you spend trading or what-not in that system.

This is one of the many sacrifices you will be making by choosing to be a large moving wall of impenetrable steel that's bristling with guns.

Edit: Just wanted to say, the Vanguard fight was the most entertaining thing I've seen in the game so far. I did run into a serious bug, but I've PMed you about it.

Hopefully that's been fixed now.

Nice that DU keeps nerfing the game and at the same time, wants people to try to screw each other by spending those trillions they will never earn on things they will never be rich enough to buy, now that the game is getting nerfed. Great plan.

If by nerf you mean stopping an exploit where people were sitting on their fat asses at one station, never moving and gaming the system by selling Hulls earning Quadrillions of dollars - rather than risking their ship by trading? Yes, I will continue to nerf the game in that manner.

Simply put, ships > 1,000 shouldn't exist¹. The only thing I've done is be kind by not resetting everyone after I fixed that money exploit (prices and weapons will be re-worked accordingly when that happens) - ostensibly because I actually wanted to test a couple of things because as Kayerts found, there's quite some substantial bugs in the combat system at the moment. And fixing bugs means I'm not developing new content.

¹There are things that happen when numbers get too big, like the money limit I had to expand and issues with the combat system when it has to loop through ten-thousand guns. All of which add load and size to the database. Depending on how many players, super-huge ships would become a major issue down the track. As it is the interface barely has enough room to display Faceless' ship defense values.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I wanted to respond to Baron's stuff which I've been going through on and off over the past few days.

Need a steeper J curve on everything so that costs escalate wildly on upgrades but performance doesn't significantly improve. Ship size should still improve (useless e-peen stat) so you have the forum's aging space leviathons (kingcomrade) set upon by leaner newbies.

I'm pretty confident this will be handled by increasing Hull costs. There'll just get a point where adding that one extra Hull isn't worth it cost-wise, just to fit one extra big gun onboard. Some items will also have a J-Curve on them (like Engines) so the bigger you get, the worse the return. Other things will have some other curves on them - mainly things where there are limits (like scanning range), I intend on having curves that are big enough that you never really quite reach the limit without going over-board (IE: 100x Scanners might get you max range). Hopefully this will lead to different strategies (like a ship focussed on exploring using all its room on scanners and engines and sacrificing combat).

Instead of Move, 'Move, Move' what about a system where your had four Action Rounds for every map sector you move through. Space, man, it's big. And moving through it should be slow, and boring, punctuated with the occasional seconds of plasma death and terror. You can move to a new sector once per minute, making runs through space a ten minute nervous activity.

No.

- Scan current sector, for cloaked ships, look for salvage, scan mineral composition of space rock for collection if you've purchased a tractor beam or cargo scoop (and have the cargo room). Or discover an Unknown Object (an Alien artifact, or Jettisoned Salvage That May Or May Not Contain A Frozen Space Monster That Decimates Your Crew, or a Beacon Of Distress that leads to a crippled vessel which promises reward for towing, or you can enslave them to trade* (ethical choice) or it's an ambush, shields up.
- Scan adjacent sectors. Provides a weak scan of all 8 surrounding areas, will just reveal a readout of the sector and if an active (and uncloaked) vessel is present. The better scanner upgrades would give number of vessels, active or deactive (destroyed hulks), and the best upgrades would give ship names.
- Cloak. With Cloak activated you attempt to remain undetected as you pass through the sector, and do not appear on the map unless someone has successfully scanned. (The Cloak option obviously goes down between sectors, explained by periodically cooling the energy thingy in the drive core whatsit.)
- Shields, activate. Shields are down by default due to energy requirements. Allows a cloaked vessel to get off an attack on an Unshielded opponent (aka backstab). Also, if a cunningly Cloaked ship has waited in the sector like a spider they could launch an immediate attack on an entering vessel.
- Deactive, power down engines. Ship won't be revealed unless a vehicle is actively scanning (and even then the ship's stats will mirror a destroyed hulk awaiting looting -- Greed, you see, is a necessary ingredient in laughs). Can perhaps quietly make repairs, monitor Scanners, or lie in wait of prey. Can't Attack (until after Activated) or Move whilst Deactivated.
- Salvage. Pick from the bones of destroyed Player's ships. Like trading goods, and asteroids, server allows Players to gather a value of goods (Salvage) from the last 10 destroyed hulks on the map. Meaning everyone can log in and feed on a demised Player, just like The Great Nomask Incident of 3847. Be also good if the Salvage amount was slightly tied to the value of the destroyed ship, making profitable hulks a great ambush spot.
- Mine place a temporary mind field (detonates from debris after an hour). The Player placing the minefield presumably avoids it, but the first person to move through the sector gets blasted. Nuclear or EMP mines, a nice initial attack to shut down computer systems or blow holes through decks, potentially oblierating small craft allowing for vacuuming up the salvage. Codex Space, man, it's cold and a little bit uncaring.
-Repair, fix a scrambled component (ie. disabled engine, shields, scanner).
- Tractor Beam - Possible overlap with Salvage. Meh, work out later. Should have a commercial use and a combat use, commerical use being to collect anything of value. Military use of Tractor Beam is to attempt to hold a fleeing vessel in place for more laserin'. [Beam Strength + Ship's Power stat] vs [Fleeing Ship Speed + Fleeing Ship Power] maybe?

Yes.

- Ram Enemy Ship, a somewhat desperate move that makes a single attack on the enemy of your combined Attack and Defence rating of your vessel. And the same with them against you. Meaning massive space hulks can have fun battering small ships against their impressive shields for neglible damage. Windscreen wipers are available on The Edge for 1,455 credits. Ram Enemy Ship should perhaps require to be selected twice, ie. the first selection has you charge towards them and the 2nd time selected you will collide. This gives the target a chance to withdraw or destroy them before they get too close to destroy them both. (If using the Intended Actions system below where you choose Actions 2 turns in advance, then you will get that in-game horror moment of "NOOOOooooo-" unless you were monitoring enemy comms and can order a quick Retreat.)
- Board ship. Soldiers are just like any tradable resource, bought or sold (ie. hired/fired). You keep them in the cargo and they occupy space (yes, it's the Codex, you may jettison them if Ore prices suddenly fall and you see a profit.) If you advance close enough you may select Board. It then becomes a quick statistical number crunch to see who's soldiers overcome the other. Winning I suppose means stripping it of an immediate 25% salvage, and then activate self destruct. It becomes a space hulk. (No collecting a train of space ships... due to game balance.)

Don't know. I certainly agree with the "no fleets / train of ships" angle as I prefer a single ship focused game, where people form alliances to work together and get what they want. Boarding at this stage though, is another complexity in the combat system that I want to avoid. The ramming... well basic physics says anything accelerated at speed is a lethal weapon and I don't really get why they don't just have tiny ships in Star Trek that they just launch at warp speed directly into their enemies' hulls but I guess it ruins the ambiance.

Space battle could be a ballet if you use Movement as a tactic. Commands of 'Approach' or 'Withdraw' would be used in battle to affect ship's weapons. There are 4 stages of proximity.

No. Ultimately too complicated for what I want in combat.

Weather!
In space random weather plays a factor. This could be gas, gravity effects, or ion storm things. Basically have 10% chance of unusual conditions in the sector. eg,
- Ion storm : Cloaking halved / Cloaking doubled / Shields halved / Shields Doubled / No Comms
- Volatile gas - Big Guns double damage / Half damage (inert gas)
- Gravity well - Movement slowed / Movement double (high risk of collision)
etc. It's good fun to force people to change their set strategies.

Yes.

Specialisation

Yes.

*Pirates!
Anyone who has attacked another Player, opens up a few Contraband goods on the market as morally dubious people approach them. Higher profit margins but come with a % chance of goods entirely confiscated as soon as they Dock - meaning they would tend to loiter in space more, using Cloaking devices to effectively log off safely in space instead of a planet. Trading contraband, attacking (especially killing) other Players should go towards an increasingly lucrative Bounty. A pirate's life should be rewarding, but ultimately a short one.

Maybe. Little uncertain on blanket good / bad / karma ratings in general though.

You need ways to get people to explore the map. Looking for profitable Artifacts (which could provide money or free ship upgrades such as rare/better ship components) is one way. Hunting pirates is another. Searching for weak NPCs opponents is also good. Players should be like the capital ships of important alien races, but there must always be the space equivalent of the kobold to kick around. Always include a kobold race, it's fun. But spawn them the occasional capital ship in payback of kicking them around. An 'Oh shit!' moment, and something it is funny to have chase you into the path of another hapless Player.

At the moment, my exploration strategy is that everything will run out. Sectors will run out of resources when they've been mined, forcing people to move on. Different sectors will have different raw resources available which may make trade required. Some people may look for ideal sectors where many resources are available and so on. Or attack someone for their sector of awesome resources. Geological tools / scanners that tell you how big a resource is will be handy in that sense - so you know how decent an ore deposit you've found.

 

[villain of the story]

Nice that DU keeps nerfing the game and at the same time, wants people to try to screw each other by spending those trillions they will never earn on things they will never be rich enough to buy, now that the game is getting nerfed. Great plan.

If by nerf you mean stopping an exploit where people were sitting on their fat asses at one station, never moving and gaming the system by selling Hulls earning Quadrillions of dollars - rather than risking their ship by trading? Yes, I will continue to nerf the game in that manner.

I've earned every cent of my wealth through trading

It's an excruciating wait for those perfect Robotics surges to put my 100110 cubits of cargo hold and 1500+ accumulated clicks to use. If you take that away, "making money" will be insufferably hard. Right now, it's only sufferably hard. Maybe hard isn't the correct word. It's senseless amounts of senseless grind to earn the ability to have a few seconds of fun in combat. Establishing some sort of system for automated income with risks and upkeep might encourage everyone into combat better since it's hard to catch someone as it is now, ie. time better spent on making money instead of a likely hopeless chase.

 

[Baron]

Thanks for that, DU.

 

[Konjad]

Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -60, -55
1.27 @ 16:35:32:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -56, -51
1.27 @ 16:29:26:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -43, -21
1.27 @ 16:29:15:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -43, -20
1.27 @ 16:27:59:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -46, -38
1.27 @ 16:27:36:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -45, -38
1.27 @ 16:27:26:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -44, -39
1.27 @ 16:27:00:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -47, -48
1.27 @ 16:24:58:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Defiance [VGD] (Vessel) in -32, -46
1.27 @ 16:21:47:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -42, -64
1.27 @ 16:20:52:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -53, -75
1.27 @ 16:20:47:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -52, -75
1.27 @ 16:20:41:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -51, -75
1.27 @ 16:20:37:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -50, -75
1.27 @ 16:20:30:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -49, -75
1.27 @ 16:20:20:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -50, -75
1.27 @ 16:19:50:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -51, -76
1.27 @ 16:19:45:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -50, -76
1.27 @ 16:19:30:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -53, -80
1.27 @ 16:19:20:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -55, -81
1.27 @ 16:18:56:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -63, -76
1.27 @ 16:18:16:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -64, -75
1.27 @ 16:13:45:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -45, -50
1.27 @ 16:13:34:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -43, -48
1.27 @ 16:13:24:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -44, -47
1.27 @ 16:12:54:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Malignance [VGD] (Vessel) in -45, -46
1.27 @ 16:12:16:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Animosity [VGD] (Vessel) in -44, -45
1.27 @ 16:12:10:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -43, -44
1.27 @ 16:12:02:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Malice [VGD] (Vessel) in -42, -43
1.27 @ 16:11:44:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Retribution [VGD] (Vessel) in -41, -42
1.27 @ 16:11:15:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Vengeance [VGD] (Vessel) in -42, -43
1.27 @ 16:11:01:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -41, -43
1.27 @ 16:10:19:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Reprisal [VGD] (Vessel) in -40, -43
1.27 @ 16:09:58:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Bomber Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -39, -44
1.27 @ 16:09:22:
Relationship (Faceless Man) destroyed Fighter Wing [VGD] (Vessel) in -37, -44

:O

 

[Konjad]

What is Rubic's Cube for?

 

[Kayerts]

:O

explanation

Regarding your other question, the Rubik's cube, in conjunction with the air freshener, the bobblehead doll, and the fuzzy dice, allows you to travel outside the core system.

 

[villain of the story]

I think I found a new bug:

Large Cargo Hold (77x)

Holds: 0 cubits

Cargo Holds
Your cargo holds are empty.

You must empty your Cargo Holds before selling 1x Large Cargo Hold!

I'm stuck.

I tried buying another Large Cargo Hold and buying, selling and jettisoning stuff to see if it would correct itself but it won't work. I've got dead weight I can't get rid of.

 

[Gold]

He should just do that to everybody with over 100 billion credits so we can catch up.

Also, I would love a new engine type and does anybody know where I can sell my # (L.TCR-9b) Thermonuclear Core (2x) # Gen-C "Bainbridge" Nuclear Power Plant (1x).

It seems they might not exist anymore?

Thanks.

 

[villain of the story]

Go boldly where (almost) no men has gone before and you will find a place to sell those.

It's time we got the option to get rid of components at any station, possibly at a price, of course.

 

[Kayerts]

Where can you unload those? Is this a new station?

@Gold: If you can't find the docking facility he's talking about, you can always buy one of the lesser self-destruct devices. Assuming you survive the blast, it will still cripple your ship and destroy any power generators you have on board, if memory serves. Your engines will die without power, though, so if you have more than 500 clicks, you'll lose those.

(By the way, that feature seems kind of useless, DU. If you're under attack from another player and losing, you are unlikely to notice in time to blow yourself up. It might be interesting if it inflicted damage to any other ships/enemies in the square, although that might be overpowered.)