No Man's Sky

[Nigel_Strange]

Nobody has yet mentioned NMS to my knowledge, so here is a website.

Discuss.

http://www.no-mans-sky.com/

[Marvin]

Somebody did mention it earlier this week ... in fact, it was on Sunday ... a player on Starbuck's G1 server mentioned it. (Does that count?)

[DaveK]

Looks intriguing!

The images remind me of the Terran Trade Authority series of books (Stewart Crowley et al) in the late 70's / early 80's Ahhh nostalgia!

[Marvin]

Of all the new prototypes I've seen, to me this one is most likely to give Vice a run for his money. Assuming, of course, it has a realistic hyper-jump* capability. As an explorer, this game gives me more to explore. Naturally, I'd eventually like to have the opportunity to find a planet inhabited by an intelligent species ... whereby I could interact (maybe not on the level of Skyrim but at least with variety enough to be an incentive to continue exploring, in hopes of finding another, different, intelligent species).

The question is: Does it allow for combat and, if not, will I eventually long to mix it up with some unfriendly AI?


* Admittedly, EM's hyper-jump simulation could use a bit of tweaking ... either that or simply replace it with AA's hyper-jump (with its no zig-zagging and no instantaneous warping across multiple sectors of space ... while, what it does do is allow the pilot to make much better progress than under normal thrust).

[MrWheeler]

Hi all,

Before I found Evochron Legends and Mercenary, I was looking for a sci-fi game with edifying and original gameplay and a beautiful world to be immersed in (see thread http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11552), and I was waiting every day for No Man's Sky to come out. The videos and descriptions of it online certainly show that it has these features. But now that I have played Evochron, I think the latter is likely more what I've been wanting than what No Man's Sky will at least initially be. EM, though a few years old now, does have a lot of beauty in its universe-- I'm wowed by it (though I am hoping eagerly that the next Evochron game has lots more vegetation on planets, and just maybe a bit of wildlife, which NMS will have in fantastic abundance)--but EM also has a surprising variety and sophistication of gameplay, sets of well done quasi-storyline quests and a "simulation" feel that the videos and interviews for No Man's Sky do not hint at. The Evohcron games are a hard act to follow. On the other hand, in one of the interviews the lead developer compared the feeling of playing NMS to the feeling you get playing Journey. It will surely be, among other things, a great celebration of life, creativity, and discovery. I really look forward to finding out more about this.
In short, I think Vice will be giving it a run for its money as much as it will him. The games will likely be complementary. All IMHO.

P.S. Marvin, it is reported that combat missions will be available in NMS. And I agree that it would be very cool to discover intelligent life.

[Edited on 8-30-2014 by MrWheeler]

[DaveK]

Of all the new prototypes I've seen, to me this one is most likely to give Vice a run for his money. Seems to be very heavy on 'explore' but only hints about combat - does everything act as a hostile? How can you join a group and go hunt the baddies?

Assuming, of course, it has a realistic (realistic? . . . hyper jump? ) hyper-jump* capability. As an explorer, this game gives me more to explore. Naturally, I'd eventually like to have the opportunity to find a planet inhabited by an intelligent species ... whereby I could interact (maybe not on the level of Skyrim but at least with variety enough to be an incentive to continue exploring, in hopes of finding another, different, intelligent species).

The question is: Does it allow for combat and, if not, will I eventually long to mix it up with some unfriendly AI? I agree - a major point, especially if the local flora and fauna are limited to strange antelopes and dinosaurs and other funny looking things


* Admittedly, EM's hyper-jump simulation could use a bit of tweaking ... either that or simply replace it with AA's hyper-jump (with its no zig-zagging and no instantaneous warping across multiple sectors of space ... while, what it does do is allow the pilot to make much better progress than under normal thrust). AA, as I understand it, is limited to one sector so a boosted travel speed within sector is 'good' - EM systems are multi-sector so losing multi-sector jumps within a system would make intra-system travel very tedious - imagine communitng between Hidden Pearl and the main system! Or have I missed something wrt AA jumping?

[Marvin]

I envision a hyper-engine either like that of Star Trek's warp drive or Asimov's hyper-space engine (which required occasional exits to normal space so the astrogator could check the ship's course and make any necessary corrections). But, yup, AA's hyper-drive is limited to the game's single-sector mission requirements ... and maybe you can't have one without the other. And, yup, the current EM system is a lot like Asimov's ... jump ten sectors and stop (presumably to allow the astrogator to recompute ... a good explanation for the zig-zagging).

What was the question, again?

[Vampyre]

When I first heard of No Man's Sky I was bummed that it was exclusive to PS4. I found out yesterday it will come to the PC. There is SP and MP options. The game Universe is so big meeting another player face to face could a rare event. It looks like it might have a lot of potential.

I saw an interview and they said a player playing 24/7 would need something like 585 billion years (or some such big number) to go to every planet. I'm not sure of the exact numbers. My brain did a little melt down when he said it.


I'll have to give it a shot.

[Marvin]

I saw an interview and they said a player playing 24/7 would need something like 585 billion years (or some such big number) to go to every planet.

Sounds like a game to be passed down from generation to generation.

[DaveK]

Soooo . . . No Man's Sky has 'real SP' mode and 'really SP' mode! (unless you arrange to meet with some friends and explore together)

Do the Americans call things that are handed down through the generations 'heirlooms'? This could be the first heirloom of the internet age!

wrt jumping, I like the idea of the jump engine requiring a charge up time. They may require it even if you are going through a gate in order to handle the gate energies imposed on your ship. Or the gate may require a charge up time when a ship approaches for a jump. Perhaps an extra energy boost is required to stabilise the wormhole when a ship traverses it over the energy required to maintain the wormhole between transits. The ship would approach and stop and wait for the green2go signal. There could also be the jump visual sequence lasting for a time proportional to the distance being travelled (like ST and SG1 hyperspace travel). It would stop the unrealistic ability to jump from one side of the Evoverse to the other in under five minutes which makes it quicker to traverse the core than traverse a system by jumping!

Combat (micro)jumps within a system could use a pre-charged, short distance (in sector) jump 'battery' to avoid messing with microjumps as a combat technique - you could jump on demand whenever required in combat.

I know that system to system jumps would take longer, but they already take a long time if you don't use a gate. Perhaps gates could increase hyperspace travel speed of say 10x a jump drive (whatever gives a working balance between jump drives and gates), whilst jump drives have a fairly short jump per sector time, but you would have to add the recharge time between each jump. Bigger jump engines (like the Mantis) just save the recharge time by making them less frequent and so would still be very worth upgrading.

Although short, instant demand, jump times expedite game play, I think that longer jump times would make systems feel further apart and increase immersion and a feel of realism. (yeah, yeah!



ps should I transfer this post to the what I'd like to see thread? )

[Marvin]

ps should I transfer this post to the what I'd like to see thread? )

My thought exactly.

[PaulB]

Soooo . . . No Man's Sky has 'real SP' mode and 'really SP' mode! (unless you arrange to meet with some friends and explore together)

Do the Americans call things that are handed down through the generations 'heirlooms'? This could be the first heirloom of the internet age!

wrt jumping, I like the idea of the jump engine requiring a charge up time. They may require it even if you are going through a gate in order to handle the gate energies imposed on your ship. Or the gate may require a charge up time when a ship approaches for a jump. Perhaps an extra energy boost is required to stabilise the wormhole when a ship traverses it over the energy required to maintain the wormhole between transits. The ship would approach and stop and wait for the green2go signal. There could also be the jump visual sequence lasting for a time proportional to the distance being travelled (like ST and SG1 hyperspace travel). It would stop the unrealistic ability to jump from one side of the Evoverse to the other in under five minutes which makes it quicker to traverse the core than traverse a system by jumping!

Combat (micro)jumps within a system could use a pre-charged, short distance (in sector) jump 'battery' to avoid messing with microjumps as a combat technique - you could jump on demand whenever required in combat.

I know that system to system jumps would take longer, but they already take a long time if you don't use a gate. Perhaps gates could increase hyperspace travel speed of say 10x a jump drive (whatever gives a working balance between jump drives and gates), whilst jump drives have a fairly short jump per sector time, but you would have to add the recharge time between each jump. Bigger jump engines (like the Mantis) just save the recharge time by making them less frequent and so would still be very worth upgrading.

Although short, instant demand, jump times expedite game play, I think that longer jump times would make systems feel further apart and increase immersion and a feel of realism. (yeah, yeah!



ps should I transfer this post to the what I'd like to see thread? )

Personally I don't much like that idea. Not another something that you have to "wait" for it to happen.
To me that's like going back to the tube (or valve if that sutis you better) radio where you have to wait for the filaments to warm up before you hear anything.
Technology is to make thing more efficient not less or more complex.

[Marvin]

Personally I don't much like that idea. Not another something that you have to "wait" for it to happen.
To me that's like going back to the tube (or valve if that sutis you better) radio where you have to wait for the filaments to warm up before you hear anything.
Technology is to make thing more efficient not less or more complex.

Granted, we have transistors and microcircuits ... but I'v checked the Internet for jump drives (both the kind where you wait and the kind where you don't) and I can't find any place where one is to be bought. Ergo, I assume that they are, at the moment, science fiction ... and, consequently, subject to whatever laws of physics makes the most sense. (That is, if a jump drive of any configuration could make realistic sense.) So, wouldn't saying that technology has already advanced to where jump drives don't need to recharge be a case of putting the cart before the horse?

[PaulB]

Personally I don't much like that idea. Not another something that you have to "wait" for it to happen.
To me that's like going back to the tube (or valve if that sutis you better) radio where you have to wait for the filaments to warm up before you hear anything.
Technology is to make thing more efficient not less or more complex.

Granted, we have transistors and microcircuits ... but I'v checked the Internet for jump drives (both the kind where you wait and the kind where you don't) and I can't find any place where one is to be bought. Ergo, I assume that they are, at the moment, science fiction ... and, consequently, subject to whatever laws of physics makes the most sense. (That is, if a jump drive of any configuration could make realistic sense.) So, wouldn't saying that technology has already advanced to where jump drives don't need to recharge be a case of putting the cart before the horse?

But they already recharge after a Jump.
I thought I understood to say they should have to charge before a jump and my contention is that the are already charged prior to Jumping and any recharging is done after the jump completes as with Autopilot.

It seems to me in the SG series that the Jump gates are doing all the work of creating the conection between 2 points and you just "use" the thing like walking through a door.

An ship generated Wormhole would require whatever physics and energy to punch a hole in spacetime to some destination.

Another old scifi travel method is where the ship enters Subspace where Time is not one of the dimensions or is so drastically altered that in effect distance has no meaning.

[Marvin]

Yes, they do recharge. And the autopilot does the calculations for the next jump. It's just like the Asimov method ... except sped up to the nth degree.

[DaveK]

I'm not suggesting a coffee break between each jump, just a little longer - my setup has actually fully recharged (since it's the shield weapon energy store) before my speed slows down to 1800, so it's just a rapid, virtually uninterupted sequence of jumps. I can cross the core in less than 5 minutes, having memorised the common gate locations - it just don't feel right

Travelling through a wormhole isn't instantaneous - the wormhole just forms a short cut. (a bit more detail here: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... #pid173040) Hows about a 'dwell time' during a gate jump proportional to the number of sectors jumped? There are already some delays due to the PC calculating the graphics for the destination system - more complicated graphics rich systems require longer to prep and so you hang in the tube for a bit longer. So rationalise it and increase it a bit so every system can be created during the journey and add a nice moving through hyperspace effect outside the ship - like ST and SG1 (any many others!). At the moment travelling to Sapphire takes long simply because it's the most crammed system

I'm suggesting the nth-5 degree



[Edited on 8-9-2014 by DaveK]

[CS-ACI-]

Hello,

I would say that currently in the game, the actually mechanics of the jump system are balanced.

I don't think it is the real life experience, but I do think it is what the players need to keep them playing.

If you went for "basic" real time travel, we would never get anywhere in a gaming session. Therefore you need to have some "fun" with physics to allow people to enjoy the game.

If the benefit of fast ( longer jumps ) is negated by a cool down time, there is less need to have one.

There would be many ways to change the game to make the jump drive more plausible at a technical level, simply by calling them "Worm hole generators" for instance.

Also, until someone actually develops a "faster than light" drive or travel system this is all theory. As this is fiction any thing is possible and is only limited to what people think should make sense. We currently have two main drive systems, one is a gas guzzler and the other is an energy drainer. For the liquid fuel you need a gas station too fill up or a fuel converter, the energy drive just needs the ships power plant to re-fill the energy tanks. There are only two energy stores currently, weapons and shields/engines. Separating the shields and jump drives and adding a third energy store is one way to change this, that way the weapon enhancements wont effect the engines recharge rates. Of course, people would then want extra equipment to enable faster recharging for engines to make travel faster. But with the addition of a dedicated engine power bank ( twice the size it is now ) this would suit most players and be a new facet to game play.

This would mean that you can divert recharging to one of the three depending on your needs. Would not have to worry about firing weapons before you jump either.

Steve

[Marvin]

Bottom line: The Fulcrum and Mantis jump drives are not a necessity? Why? Because the Evoverse in continuous. You can go from one end of the galaxy to the other without them, using standard propulsion ... it just takes a very long time to do it. And a lot of fuel (a bit less if you engage inertial).

[Vampyre]

I don't think I'd enjoy the game as much with no jump drive.

[Marvin]

Nor do I ... but the ability to do so is my gauge for whether or not a space game is worth playing. That and the ability to seamlessly go planetside.

[Vampyre]

No Man's Sky says you can do the landing part. If you can see it you can go there. Not sure about the Jump Drive part.

[Marvin]

Not sure about the Jump Drive part.

Assuming the PC version is ever released, I'll probably test it. If it never makes it past the game-machine stage, I'll have one of my kids test it.

[Kambalo]

I like this game, the concept of exploration on the planets seems very interesting.