Archive:Kickstarter AMA Q&A, Part Two

Originally from: https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php/topic/10110-kickstarter-ama-event-second-part/

DAC Farming
About the subscription process, will it be difficult to farm DAC in-game or is it going to be entirely dependant on the economy and the players ?

The in-game price of a DAC will be the result of the pressure on supply and demand and will not remain constant. It may also vary depending on the particular market you are looking at, even if they will tend to uniformize over time. So, it is hard to say whether it will be difficult to farm DACs, but what it is likely that if many people want to buy DACs, and not so many people sell them, the price will go up. Until it is too high, and people stop wanting to buy it. Then it will stabilize, but still evolve over time.

Kickstarter Physical Rewards
Approximately when will the physical items be shipped?

End of 2018, when the game is shipping.

Territory Boundary Lines
Territory: are the boundary lines visible or display a warning?

Yes, you will need to know that you are crossing a boundary. We will not make this visual feedback permanent however, unless you want it, as it would ruin the landscape! But as you get closer to a boundary, a visual feedback will help you to understand what is going on. You will also be warned if you are not allowed to enter, with a timer to react before possible retaliation measures enter into action.

External Images & Scripting
Are the Lua scripts and html screens able to get resources such as images, etc. from the internet or are they restricted to an internal pool of defined endpoints?

As a general rule, we want Dual Universe to be a genuine alternative reality that should allow you to escape the real world and enter into a fantasy universe. Opening the doors to the real world Internet might be an issue considering this policy, but we have not yet decided how far it should go. For example, having a web-based organization page inside a game internal browser could be a legitimate example.

Element Size Variations
Are there plans to add different behavior to tech elements of different sizes (besides the obvious, like different amounts of thrust for engines), e.g. large engines needing quite some time to power up / warm up, so that piloting a capital ship wouldn't feel like piloting a small fighter (which a player may enter and be able to just take off almost immediately)?

Yes, it's possible we have different behaviors for different classes of Elements. In the example of the engines, we will limit how much force the engines can deliver, so that a very large ship will not move instantly simply because the Newton law F=M.A will prevent (M being large and F limited, the acceleration will be small). Of course you could try to put a large engine on a small ship, but then the mass will increase anyway to sustain the engine itself, plus le very large containers needed for the fuel.

Programmable Defenses & Traps
'''Are turrets, automated defenses and traps programmable? (I am a maze maker and would love this)'''

We will definitely look into trap mechanics that can be scripted, yes. The open question is whether we will allow some simple server-based action/reaction triggers to be implemented, that would run even when you are offline (which could have a cost on server performance), or if you need to be online for the LUA scripts to run. We will look into this in the coming months.

Linux (1)
'''As a Linux-preferring gamer passionate about virtual worlds, do you plan to offer support for Linux? How about other non-Windows OS such as OSX? I implore you to build your game and all the tools necessary to provide it using multi-platform friendly APIs (ie Vulkan ) and ideally, pledge you support for a Linux client from the start. Many major crowdfunded titles, including MMOs, that support Linux succeed wildly thanks to the dedicated Linux backer community. DU seems to be a perfect project of interest for the Linux community, especially with your emphasis on in-game scripting and the scope of the project (Linux users will be some of the most technically viable testers you'll find), but before the word can spread, we will need to hear your plans regarding our OS of choice! Please bring Dual Universe to Linux!'''

First, we love Linux! Actually, several of our programmers are running Linux on a daily basis as their main programming environment. The game currently runs on Linux every day, on these programmers machine. Now, it does not necessarily mean that we can ship the game on Linux, there are many issues that we need to solve: compatibility of all the third-party libraries we use, selecting a distro, deal with the maintenance efforts that goes with having a code base that runs on clang and visual studio, etc. It is not impossible, we would love to do it, but ultimately it will depend on the market size relative to the costs of maintenance. So, if we can see a strong movement of the community in favor of Linux, it will significantly increase the chance of the game being released on Linux.

In-Game Pets
'''As an Emerald lvl backer, will we have all 5 ground pets? And will they act as storage and retrieval units for us while we are exploring? Will they be able to help us build and protect our territory?'''

Yes you will have the 5 Kickstarter in-game pets at an Emerald level. Pets are going to be mainly cosmetic and cannot give you an in-game advantage. They will follow you and we will try to make them funny and lively, but that's it.

Customizable Weapons
At what point will the spaceship and the weaponry be customizable/programmable?

Weapons will not be customizable, they will come in various types and levels, and you will be able to improve them by learning skills. The spaceships however are entirely customizable, since you can build them entirely from scratch. The scripting inside the ship (based on LUA) is optional but will allow to customize certains aspects of piloting and possibly fighting (we are very careful not the break the game equilibrium by allowing this). There are a devblog about scripting that we recommend reading: https://devblog.dual...ocessing-units/

Claiming Territories
Will we be able to reserve/buy "landplots" and build there without others interfering on that plot or will we be able to build all over, no matter how close we are to other people?

Territory tiles of about 1km side will be claimable via Territory Units. When an organization or a player has claimed a territory, it is possible to set rights on edition, mining, etc on this territory. In any case, player-made constructs are built within a "building zone" that cannot overlap with another building zone, at least not for static constructs (a moving construct can overlap another construct building zone, for example to get inside a space station)

Pet Behavior
Can you make your pets stay in a pve area while you go out to do things?

Pets are going to follow you wherever you are, unless you dismiss them. That's about all they can do, as they are purely cosmetic entities.

Name Registration
Concerning pre-registration of names, are names going to be first and last, first only, or a common last name between all account characters?

We are going towards a First Name + Last Name, with no string attached to the underlying account.

Gravity Source
'''Is the source of gravity a location at the center of the planet or does the game actually generate gravity based on the amount of mass concentrated in a location of space? what starts to happen to gravity physics around that area of the game as a planet eventually succumbs to such a fate? If the community accomplishes splitting a planet in half by eating away a disc through the core of the entire planet, and we now have "two bowl halves left" of a planet, where is the player drawn towards, when traveling inside the space between? If we turn a planet into an eggshell left, hollow inside, can we walk upright from the inside of the planet or is the player now falling towards an empty space of nothing-ness that would be the planet core?'''

For performance reasons, gravity is going to be simply modeled by having a force pointing towards the center of the planet, regardless of the distribution of mass. While it could be possible for certain planets that do not have a lava core (like a small moon) to be split in half, we believe that the amount of work to do this will make it quite hard to achieve! If so, however, both sides of the planet would remain "glued" invisibly together.

Insurance
Do you plan an insurance system or will you loose everything if destroyed?

We are looking into this, even if it will most likely not be in the initial release. We are also considering the possibility to give the proper risk assessment tools in-game for player to be able to create their own insurance companies.

Post-Kickstarter Pledge Purchases
'''Many of the most successful games allow users to "lock in" the "era" of their pledges and upgrade them later. Furthermore, allowing existing backers to purchase gift pledges for others from their "era" (ie a Kickstarter pledger could, for the next year or two, be able to buy Kickstarter tier pledges to be gifted to newcomers, who would otherwise have to buy post-Kickstarter pledges that may include less content.) can also help evangelize the game. Do you already have any plans for pledge upgrades and if not, will you please consider it?'''

We will look into it, but can't promise anything at this stage!

FTL Grapplers
'''Have FTL grapplers been confirmed? if so, how will they operate?'''

FTL will be handled in a very basic way at release, but we might add the fact that FTL flight happens in a "parallel" hyper universe in a later stage after the initial release. The idea would be then that FTL travel happens in a hyper space, where you could possibly add bubbles that, when intersected, would take you out of FTL space, back into normal space.

Ask Us Anything Forum Event
Have you ended the classic "Ask Us Anything" event on your forums?

This will restart after the Kickstarter campaign is over. We have opened an AMA already during the Kickstarter, with so many questions (including... this one!) that we are already very busy answering as much as we can now!

Obtaining Pets In-Game
'''How can you get pets in the game? Can you find them or build them or are they purchase only?'''

For now, the only pets you can have will be the Kickstarter rewards. It's important to make the difference between pets (which are only cosmetic) and "companions", which are generally NPCs (in Dual Universe that would be droids) that will have a gameplay purpose. We have not confirmed the availability of companions at the moment, and if they are made possible, they will most likely not be in the initial release, but rather in a (free) expansion later.

Difficulty of Spaceship Construction
How expensive (days/weeks of farming?) will it be to build a spaceship or other stuff?

We are balancing the game so that building a spaceship from scratch, without using any of the in-game markets to shortcut-buy anything, would take several days of work. You would have to collect the resources, setup the industrial chain (3D printers, assemblers) to make the Elements, etc. Now, if you just arrive in the game and go on the in-game market to buy all you need, the physical integration of the basic building blocks should not take more than a few minutes for a basic ship (like the one we have demonstrated in the ship building gameplay video, for example)

Territory Rights
How far up do we control in our territory?

Territory owners will be able to set rights like: editing rights (who can mine), construct creation right (who can create a static construct), enter right (who is allowed to enter without being flagged as "intruder"), taxes (amount to pay to use the above rights), and more and more possibilities as we expand with the community what is needed. The way this will be done is by following the principles of the "RDMS" or Rights & Duties Management System, as described in the corresponding devblog.

Turning Planets
'''How high can we build? Is a space elevator a possibility?'''

Because planets should turn around their axis in the future (if no particular technical problem prevents us from doing it), we will limit the altitude of what you can build to avoid having to handle collisions on the server for potentially millions of nearby constructs. In practice, anything below the max building altitude will "turn" together with the planet. This should be a few kilometers high. So, no space elevator, or else no turning planets!

Maximum Weapons Range
'''How is it with ground bombardment from space? Will it be possible to lock some large ground structures from space? Will players on the ground be helpless or able to build ground weapons with the ability to shoot against starships in space? (defense) How far will be the maximum range of the weapons in the whole game?How is it with ground bombardment from space? Will it be possible to lock some large ground structures from space? Will players on the ground be helpless or able to build ground weapons with the ability to shoot against starships in space? (defense) How far will be the maximum range of the weapons in the whole game?'''

This all boils down to the max range indeed. We are running some tests as we speak to answer this question, so it is not clear what we can promise at this stage. In any case, players on planets will have several ways to protect themselves: the Safe Zones (one is around the Arkship), the protection bubbles, and... building underground.

Player Density
'''How well is the game expected to run with the amount of players you're intending on having? In other words, how well will the game run with thousands of people running around in the same area or in ships? Yes we can have enormous fleet battles with hundreds of crew per ship, but if it runs at 5 fps, it probably won't be very fun.'''

We have published a video to explain our "Dynamic Space Splitting" algorithm and why we think that can help having both large battle and decent frame rate. We have made some tests, we have some mathematical models, and so far everything seems to be working as planned. The truth is, only the live tests will tell us how good it is, so that's what the alpha/beta will be about.

Tree Regrowth
'''How will cutting trees work? Do they grow back?'''

We plan on giving the possibility to players to plant trees at some point (maybe not at release). This would allow you to regrow entire forests. But basically no, trees don't magically grow back.

Anchoring Constructs
I heard the movements of constructions will be physics-based, does that mean that player creating space station may have to calculate and stabalize an orbit for it?

We are considering the possibility to "anchor" a dynamic construct, when you want to state that it should not move anymore. Otherwise, an active dynamic construct (active = someone is running a flight control unit) will be subject to gravity, and as such should be orbiting the planet if given the proper velocity.

Organizational Hierarchy
'''If an organization is a member of a larger one, will all of its members be members of the larger one? Legates of the larger one?'''

No, membership is not inherited. Rather, one legate will represent the lower organization in the larger organization. Legates can decide who is going to represent them.

Space Station Defenses
If there is no territory in space, are all of the space stations defenses player-manned, or can it still be automated?

The automation of defense systems is still in discussion, as we want to avoid to get to an all-automated warfare type of gameplay. Besides, there will be no territory in space at the beginning, but we are working on ways to expand the territory system to space in a future expansion of the game.

Resource Regeneration
'''If we can terraform the planets with tools or by mining, what mechanisms you are going to have in place to not let us exhaust the resources? I can imagine that masses of players working on their creations could overtime reduce countless planets into ugly wastelands. However, I don't mind if that happens as long as there is enough resources in other worlds as those can be transported. Maybe only the starting zone could have some safety mechanisms so the area is kept nice for new players?'''

Resources can be exhausted, because they don't regenerate. We may indeed have to make an exception for the starting area, but otherwise, the idea is that the exhaustion of resources is a way to push players to explore new worlds (even if it will not be simple to exhaust a planet, there is so much space in it!), and also help prevent organizations to be sitting on an infinite source of wealth. So, yes, explorers, mineral prospectors, will be crucial professions in the game, and very meaningful.

Unknown
If we can control sky, is the distance we control based on surface or a sea level (x=0)?

It will be based on sea level, to simplify our calculation.

Construct vs Construct Combat
If we don't reach the stretch goal for construct vs construct will you set up a donation campaign on the website so we can make it happen anyway?

We are thinking about it. It is true that CvC is a crucial feature, but also, we need to be careful about the promises we make. We would rather add it in a further expansion after game launch (and do it well) rather that promise everything and deliver nothing.

Blueprint Controls
'''If you intend to make a thriving player-driven economy, do you have plans to ensure an economic benefit to all lines of work? Because I have a concern towards that end that may clarify what I mean. Building constructs (ships, bases, space stations) is going to be a major cornerstone of the game play. In addition, you will be able to make blueprints of these things to sell on the market. This is excellent, however, is there anything in place to prevent someone from purchasing a blueprint copy, build the construct, and then make a blueprint of that construct for later use? This scenario would devalue the economic benefit to being a builder or artist.'''

Absolutely. Any construct made from a blueprint will not be "blueprint-able" again, unless you allow it. This is a fundamental game mechanics to avoid the industry to collapse.

Difficulty of Gameplay
'''Is it for casual players or hardcore players? Will old players have a great advantage over new players? As everybody know, it's impossible for most of us to spend all day on playing games.'''

Casual/Hardcore is a subject of definition. What we have in mind is "easy to learn, hard to master". We want players to be able to dig into any part of the gameplay and get better at it as they understand more about the subtleties of it. But more "casual" gamers can also enjoy the game at a more basic level, there is not need to become an expert.

Game Development Funding
Is Kickstarter your last round of funding or will it be a stepping stone to outside investors?

We have said several times in our official statements that the Kickstarter is a way to help make us stronger in possible future negotiations with our current or future investors. We need to send a message: gamers like this kind of innovative ideas. It is not at all easy to sell otherwise, because innovation is almost always something investors avoid at all cost.

Utilization of Computer Resources
'''Is the game currently being programmed to make use of multi-core processors and HT technology? Or will we be seeing single core affinity like the majority of other games currently out? My feeling - I truly hope that programming the game to effectively use as many cores as possible has been thought of and is being implemented to better improve client side performance.'''

We are fully using multithreading technology whenever it is possible, like for example on the voxel algorithms. We will continue to use the maximum amount of resources, with the constraints we have (engine, third parties, etc)

Game Access
'''Is the game still going to be free to play once bought as well as using the DACs? (eg. premium/regular account) If not, and DACs are needed to play, how much will a lifetime subscription cost? Will it be an option to buy a lifetime subscription later if you have already bought the game?'''

Lifetime subscription are only for our crowdfunding backers and we don't plan to sell them once the game is released. As for the way DACs are working and the trial access, we have given more details in our first update.

Extraterrestrial Territory Control
Is the territory control limited to planets or will we be able to sanction sections of the space around planets?

Territory control will be limited to planets at the game launch, but we will add more possibilities later in a territory focused expansion. It is likely that planetary space (a volume around a planet) will be managed as a whole entity for control, as well as system-level control and cluster-level control, all with hierarchical levels of political influence. Not an easy system to setup, and we plan to discuss it with the community to make it right.

Maximum Organization Size
'''Is there a maximum amount to a players in an organization? Or will it be like in EVE, where you can train a skill to increase the amount.'''

No, there won't be a maximum number of members in an organization. We might indeed try to add a skill to stage how large it can be, up to "infinity" at the higher level skill, and doing so by taking into account the skills of all the legates, but the particular mechanism to do so is not defined yet.

Restricting Cooperative Building
Is there a way to set it so only you or your organization can edit or build on your structures?

Absolutely, yes. The mechanism to handle that is what we have called the "Rights & Duties Management System", which is described in this devblog: https://devblog.dual...agement-system/

Offline Script Running
'''It has been mentioned that my scripts only work if I am online and near them. Does this mean my base's automated defenses will only work if I am online and near them? What about an Organization, does this count everyone in the organization, or just the one person that scripted it?'''

For the first release of the game, yes, the defense scripts will only be active if you are online. The fundamental reason for this is that we don't want to run any arbitrarily complex script on the server side. Now, in future expansions of the game (expansions are free, by the way), we may introduce some very simple action/reaction offline scripting possibilities, but the precise working of this feature is not yet defined. About the second part of the question: as long as somebody as the right to run the script (that is, to activate the Control Unit that hosts it), he or she can run it. Within an organization, it will be possible to give various rights to various members (with the Rights & Duties Management System), so it means that it should be possible for many players to activate a given script.

Contract System
'''It was said that players will have to travel to or hire someone to retrieve their purchased items from the store they were sold at. How will the hiring someone else work?'''

This is the contract system, that will allow to hire someone (and make publicity about it, so that you can get candidates) to do a task in exchange of money or goods. The enforcement of the contract will be handled by the game, to avoid the problem of building trust. It will also be possible to setup collaterals to protect your goods against stealing or destruction. The contract system is still in discussion at the moment, and may not make it to the first release of the game (but will be in a future expansion in any case).

Geographic Distribution of Players
'''Regarding single shard universe, how will you handle geographically distant players? I live in China and connection tends to suck to Europe. Will there be servers in Hong Kong or Singapore for example ? If yes, how will they integrate with the rest of the world?'''

It is not clear yet whether we would be able to have one single server capable to welcome people from all around the world. This was not possible with Eve Online, for example, and they started a dedicated server in China. It is too soon for us to make announcement of that kind, as heavy testing will tell us how far we can go.

Attacking Restricted Territories
'''Regarding territory rights -- You guys have said you plan to have in depth access usage settings for your own territory that you control yourself or manage within an organization. One example being the right to (or not to) let someone else mine the resources within your territory. I like this concept, but have to wonder if there will be ANY ability to if not mine, then destroy the terrain that is owned by someone else? If an organization wants to bring war to another organization's city, would it be possible to infiltrate the city by digging underground tunnels? Given that the other organization will most likely have its territory configured to not allow people outside of the organization to mine the land.'''

If you don't have the right to mine (or edit) terrain or a construct, it means that you cannot use the mining tools to modify it, and possibly recover some material in the process. But it will always be possible (outside of a Safe Zone) to destroy it, using weapons (otherwise, there would simply be no PvP!). Digging an underground tunnel would be an option, but you would not mine the tunnel, you would have to blow it up bits by bits!

Doors
'''Say I wanted to build a base inside of a mountain, with a large door blocking the entrance-way (à la Kingsmen). Would it be possible for an Lua script in my ship to activate an Lua script in the door, opening it? And is it even possible to have door large enough to fly a ship through, or will it be like a pseudoship?'''

About the doors: this is something we are thinking about with the idea of pivot and slider Elements that could be used to connect voxel structures together. This is not going to be possible at release time, but may come later in an expansion. About the script interconnection: this will be made via "Communication Units" that are able to send and receive signals. Your door would then subscribe to "open" requests, check the identity of the caller and react accordingly.

Microtransactions & Cosmetic Items
'''Special thanks to you for going with a subscription model, the fairest and most equitable game-world monetization scheme. Can you please confirm that there will be no "microtransactions," "Item Malls," or any sort of items for sale in game that require a real-world cash purchase somewhere along the line - including cosmetic items? Please confirm that if a player subscribes to DU, they can obtain just about every single in-game item without additional financial outlay?'''

Thanks! About cosmetic items: we may introduce them, but it will be possible to sell them on the in-game markets for in-game money: so, you will always have the option to either buy them with real money, or with in-game money. No aspect of the game will ever be locked to the fact that you have to pay real money to have it. Note that the conversion rate between real/in-game money will be dictated mostly by the fluctuating price of DACs.

Swag Shop
'''Thank you for offering both "digital" and "physical" pledges. Do you think you could make the physical items available a la carte at a later date, for those who purchased a digital pledge? For instance, someone with a Digital Sapphire may be willing to purchase the ID Card and T-Shirt if they were made available. Allowing the physical items to be purchased by any Kickstarter backer would be appreciated.'''

This is something we are clearly thinking about, yes. More details will come soon!

Safe-Zone Territory Control
'''There is approximately 20-30KM radius of safe zone around the Ark, are these Hexes Controllable with a T.C.U.? If not, can anyone build on or destroy my built items?'''

We plan to make the territory tiles inside the Safe Zone claimable, yes!

Community Council
There was a suggestion a while back about having a player council control the ark safe zone - has there been a decision on this?

We would like the control to happen within the game, using the game mechanics (territory, delegation, RDMS, etc). Now, about having a set of players elected to represent the community in discussions about the evolution of the game: this is a very good idea (like Eve Online's CSM) and we are going to look into it.

Linux (2)
'''What can we, the Linux community do to help solidity bringing the title to our OS of choice? Is there anything we can do to help? For instance, could bringing a certain amount of backers/pledges/forum posts show there is enough interest to lock in support? Would you consider adding a stretch goal for confirmed Linux support to ensure you have the manpower/knowledge etc..for the platform? Knowing the impediments to confirming Linux support and any way we can help to overcome/prove that supporting Linux is worthwhile would be appreciated.'''

hanks a lot! As we said in a previous question related to Linux: we love Linux, and several of our programmers actually work with Linux stations, running the game on Linux every day already. Now, to move this to an industry-grade support, it will involve more costs (testing, maintenance, rendering tweaks, etc). We need to measure a clear market drive to help convince us that the benefits will exceed the costs.

In-Game Graphics
'''What is the visual quality target of the game? Sure, an Alpha is not meant to look beautiful but Unigine could be quite powerful even though it depends on manpower. I need it to look better than average if it's supposed to be played for a long time. Not looking for a Star citizen-level of quality but I'd hate to have it looking exactly like space engineers.'''

We are going to try to make the game as beautiful as possible! We like realistic looking graphics and everything that can help immersion. Now, keep in mind that beautiful assets are expensive to create, and also that we have a very particular setting for Dual Universe: unlike almost all other games, we cannot pre-calculate a lot of things because the world is completely modifiable. Also, the landscape is procedurally generated. The engine cannot expect anything to be in a given state, and the size and depth of what you can see (from space, for example) makes this even more challenging. So, we are entering into fairly unknown territory, with lots of innovation and new ideas. There will be tradeoffs to make, compared to a carefully handcrafted level design, but we hope that the result will be beautiful and a world that you can call your own!

End-Game
What would "endgame" be like in this game?

There will be no "endgame" in Dual Universe, just like there is no endgame in real life. There will always be yet another planet to explore, to conquer, yet another innovation in ship design to overthrow the markets, yet another alliance to make or break, etc. We suspect however that the control of Alioth, the starting planet, will become a political drive in itself. Could it be one day under the control of one mega organization? We don't know that

Demo Public Release
'''When have you planned to release the demo? I have friends who don't even give step (to backer) without being able to try a demo.'''

We would love to release a demo today, but we are not ready yet. The game is in pre-alpha stage. But still, hundreds of people have already had the opportunity to try it at our booth in PAX West, as well as during our open door day that we organized in Paris recently.

FTL Drive Mechanics
When wanting to enter FTL speed traveling will a construct need to get up to speed or will it be a larger power requirement for a faster launch scenario?

FTL drives will be dedicated high power Elements that you can add to your construct. When activated (through a Control Unit), they will set your ship in motion towards the registered arrival coordinate. The specific of this gameplay aspect are not set yet, as the feature may be postponed to an expansion post release.

Construct vs Construct Stretch Goal
Why is Construct vs Construct a stretch goal when I others feel that it's an important part of the base game?

There are many important other aspects of the game that we plan to add as stretch goals. We simply cannot put everything in the commitment we make for the release, so we have to draw a line. But if the CvsC feature does not make it as a stretch goal, remember that we have a MMO model, based on expansions that will come (for free) after release. So, in the worst case scenario, it would be delayed to an expansion, but not cancelled forever.

Currency Differences
'''Why are subscriptions the same in $ and €? $10 doesn't have the same value as 10€. In Europe, the subscription will be more expensive than in the US. Can we choose which currency we want to pay in?'''

It is traditional for international businesses to display prices in €/$ that are similar. We will see if the currencies relative value would justify an alignment when the game ships, but currently at about 10% difference, if you factor in the costs of bank fees to switch currencies, the difference is very slight.

History Behind "Dual Universe" Name
'''Why such a title for this game? Is there a secret entry somewhere for an anteverse? Dual Universe means two of them, right? A normal one and an antimatter one.'''

The name of the game is refering the well known concept of duality in mathematics: two entities are "dual" when they have a different form, but share the same functional structure. You can "map" one to the other. We like to think that DU could be the "dual" of the real world one day: another form, but the same core dynamics! Check this: https://en.wikipedia...y_(mathematics)

Stealing Constructs with Scripts
'''Will be there a protection against superior scripts? For example against taking control of other ships, houses, industrial complex?'''

You cannot take control of other ships, houses or constructs unless you are allowed to, or unless you have somehow stolen this construct.

Controller Support
Will DU support multiple controller inputs such as joysticks, track ir, and vr?

We will look into whatever is possible with the time we have, but if popular demand is there, we will definitely consider adding support for various hardware in future game expansions. We would also try to give access to those devices to scripting, to make them usable in ship piloting for example.