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Author Topic: Duel Universe  (Read 5598 times)

bob48

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on: November 09, 2020, 08:08:24 AM

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bbmike

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Reply #1 on: November 09, 2020, 08:22:19 AM
I think we're all dueling the universe right now.  :whistle:

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

My Own Worst Enemy


bob48

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Reply #2 on: November 09, 2020, 09:42:01 AM
Yeah, y'all got that right.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Martok

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Reply #3 on: November 09, 2020, 10:56:54 AM
Looks fascinating. 

And like most MMO's, it looks like a game I want to stay far, far away from.  I can too easily see myself becoming addicted to this.  :P 


"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


bob48

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Reply #4 on: November 09, 2020, 11:06:35 AM
Yeah, same here.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Staggerwing

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Reply #5 on: November 09, 2020, 06:57:29 PM
Is this more of a Second Life thing or an Eve Online thing? Or is the answer 'yes'...?

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa


bob48

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Reply #6 on: November 10, 2020, 06:31:16 AM
Not sure, but it does look reasonably impressive. Where the catch is, if there is one, remains to be seen.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Martok

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Reply #7 on: November 10, 2020, 12:40:56 PM
Well the game *is* subscription-based, like MMO's of yore.  Still very cheap on a per-month basis, but it's not free. 


"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


bob48

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Reply #8 on: November 10, 2020, 01:45:00 PM
Oh yes, so it is.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Martok

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Reply #9 on: November 10, 2020, 11:53:57 PM
I realized that having noticed that makes this game a little easier to resist.  ;) 


"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Justin Penwith

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Reply #10 on: November 12, 2020, 01:13:54 PM
I started playing nearly two weeks ago. I've not gotten off the main planet yet, but I did leave their Sanctuary Moon after two days of trying to figure things out.

I am REALLY enjoying this game, although it is in beta and things will likely change, here and there, as they improve and balance the various subsystems. I've joined an org that is run by a brother and sister from Germany (they are in their 30s) and we've plans on buiding a space station for trade and industry.

I was going to buy Cyberpunk, but now I will wait on that. While not addicted, when playing on the computer, I've played nothing else as this game pretty much mashes all the buttons for me.

They have a talent system that works very much like that of EVE, in that you can (and SHOULD) queue up a number of talents to learn, a process that continues while you are offline as well as on.

Tonight, I will have my first territory scanner complete, and my project for today is to build a ship capable of carrying the mass of that scanner. These scanners are excellent tools for making a lot of money, as they scan for the ore that you mine.

The game is not perfect and certainly is not optimized, but I highly recommend you check it out, if you are into such games. It hands down beats Empyrion, at least for me, and the future addition of factions taking territory and then being expected to defend is is VERY interesting.

Just my thoughts.

Justin



bob48

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Reply #11 on: November 12, 2020, 01:15:52 PM
Thanks for that; its very welcome to get some info on the game. :bigthumb:

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Justin Penwith

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Reply #12 on: November 12, 2020, 02:16:56 PM
What more would you like to know?

You do not NEED the territory scanner to mine, but it does help you find ore veins of high value.

You can claim hexes of territory on planets and moons. You can only claim one hex on Sanctuary, but that is a place for just the first day of learning the game. Moving to Alioth should happen by the end of your second full day in the game (so, after at least 6-10 hours of learning the basics). Doing so opens up opportunities because...

Other than on Sancturary, players can mine in any unclaimed hex, as well as any hex they own.

You use Territory Units to claim hexes, with one hex on EACH planet only costing you the Territory Unit's purchase cost. However, there is a surcharge that increases for each additional hex you claim on the same planet. Right now, I have 3 hexes on Alioth, but when I claim a fourth, it will cost me almost 2 million in cash to pay, in addition to the TCU (territory unit), but that  is being made by an org member for me.

They have a market system, but they are intended to make significant improvements to it as people are getting more established. Player-owned markets are a near-future addition that is planned.

You NEVER have to PVP, but if you do not want to venture into risky territory, realize that the more highly valued ores, and larger ore veins, will be outside the safe zone. Except, you can warp from planet to planet, but it is not fully without risk, but rather it increases your odds of avoiding PVP players by a large margin. If you fail to warp early enough or you fudge your drop from warp, you can end up outside the safe area that covers the planet's orbit and immediate environs.

The industry potential is litterally massive. Some folks are churning through millions of tons of ore a day. I average about 100k. There are 5 tiers of ores, four per tier. Mining and then selling at a higher price, made simple to find by their market menu which is accessible anywhere, is the best way for a new player to make money. Be careful, the market includes sellers on other planets/moons, so a purchase should be made locally (as you have to pick it up and carry it off) as should sales.

You earn achievements by accomplishing certain listed tasks. These provide awards of Talent XP, which I suggest NOT spending early on, but saving for when you decide that you need to start a talent tree that you have neglected. Just like in EVE, the further up the talent tree you go, the more time it takes to learn it. I've 42 days of learning queued at the moment and I could easily add 100 more days. However, the lowest level take about 3 minutes to learn, for some of the trees.

At the official release, they plan to add another solar system, with further solar systems being added over time. These MIGHT have safe zones, also.

You can currently claim as many hexes as you can afford.

You are limited to the total number of personal "cores" you can own; 17 after all associated talents have been learned. These cores are the hub of an individual construct that you build, whether it be a land base, a space ship, or a space station. They very in size of area they cover, as well as physical size. The destruction of a core equals the destruction of the construct, although repairing destroyed items is possible, at this time.

Players currently receive 100,000 quantas (their money) each day (roughtly). It goes from log in to log in and one has to log out and then log back in, if their times overlap. So, one can get the 100,000 every 24 hours, but it will often be more like 30 or more hours depending on your playing habits.

Voxelmancy is a thing, for those interested in creating unique designs. Some players already earn quantas by designing ships and then selling them as blueprints. You can build a blueprint for any player built construct, from ships to complete factories.

Newtonians physics is also a thing. When building a ship, your lift and thrust from engines and wings/stablizers both need to be sufficient to keep you in the atmosphere, instead of falling like a rock.

There are atmospheric, space, and rocket engines, each requiring fuel.

So, this game is extensive, but not truly complicated. If buiding your ship does not excite you, but the industry side does, then you can buy a starter ship and do very well as you mine ores and sell it for a profit.

If you like designing cool spaceships, you can. They even supported a player organized ship expo, recently, with multiple dozens of player creations on display, within the game, located at a large organization's actual base.

Future additions are atmospheric conditions and planetary survival, but to what extent is not known. PVP is going to be overhauled and expanded this next year, including space, but also ground combat and territory control.

If you are any good at LUA scripting, there's a who other aspect to this game, as many, many, objects support LUA scripts and one can make in game cash for designing and selling these.

If all you want to do is claim a small plot of land and build a tower to the sky, you can. Space "elevators" are popping up like so many stalks of corn, causing a bit of a hazard when overflying the land. Speaking of which, flying over the mountains of Alioth reminds me of flying over the Rocky Mountains.

In the very near future, they are supposed to be updating the planet geology and flora. Some very nice screenshots exist showing this off. It is amazing.

I played No Man's Sky and really did like it, apart from pretty much being alone, except on missions. While the graphics and some features of NMS are superior to DU, the latter is makine strides and I expect it will prove to be the better game.

At $6 a month for a subscription, it feel it is well worth it.

I hope this all helps you make an informed decision.

Justin



Undercovergeek

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Reply #13 on: November 12, 2020, 10:13:08 PM
Is there smuggling and piracy against some kind of abstract police system?



Justin Penwith

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Reply #14 on: November 13, 2020, 12:33:28 AM
There is not currently (and I do not know if they have a plan to add) a police system.

It is intended to be a player-driven game, at full release. So, the players will likely do their own policing, as it suits their personal and organizationa interests, of course.

However, there is what essentially could be considered blockade running as there are player pirates who love to get the jump on juicy freight haulers that are unescorted. There is a certain skill and science to creating ships capable of surviving and/or evading these pirates.

There are currently no NPCs in the game aside from market "bots" which insure that some goods can be sold, even if no players are currently buying. This is to help prime the pump of the economy until things get more settled as the game gets closer to fully release, which may be in 2022 after COVID delays. Their last roadmap had looked for a late 2021 release, but that has, of course, been pushed back.

If anyone who is considereding playing does decide to play, my in-game name there is "Penwith" and you should feel free to add me as a contact in-game. I am sure my organization would accept you, even if if you only want for it to be temporary, in order to assist you get on your feet.

I do believe players can join multiple orgs and there are some benefits to creating your own (for a fee) as doing so allows you to build more constructs and also claim an additional number of hexes. To explain the latter, it costs 500k to create an org. It costs 500k to claim your first hex for the org (separate for your personal claim). So, when your personal claim costs are higher, it is cheaper to claim a hex as your org, and then alter back and forth (if claiming hexes is your thing) for the lower cost as you expand.

I have 3 adjacent hexes, but I slowly have neighbors encroaching, so I am trying to work fast to claim a number of hexes that are adjacent to each other, as this allows me to create a much larger contiguous zone (using multiple constructs) on a single theme. I would like to build a something that resembles a hive city, for example, which would be much more grand with the base of it being 3km across instead of 1km across.

Feel free to ask any other questions, I will answer with the knowledge that I have gleaned from playing, but also my extensive research through videos and Reddit.

Justin