Star Citizen: Death of a Space Thread?

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Star Citizen: Death of a Space Thread?

Beet Wagon: Oct 19, 2015

Lime Tonics posted:

So the worst kind of electricity exploded my water heater today. I would be mad , but thank god for sump pumps. Besides a small corner of the basement getting a little wet, only losses were a box of clothes and some carpet scraps. Here is the kicker, the loving water heater was from 1992 and went strong until today, it decided to go all stimpire on me. loving water heaters only last 15 years, so check yours.

Could be worse, some poor slups house got ran over, as demonstrated below.

http://i.imgur.com/OYgjKc8.gifv

Boiley. Also bad news - every one you buy from here on out is only going to last half that long lol. You should consider replacing yours once for every third time CIG completely redoes one of their spaceships.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:09

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 14, 2024 22:22

Mr Fronts: Jan 31, 2016; Yo! The Mafia supports you. But don't tell no one. Spread the word.

Scruffpuff posted:

Likely results of how CIG will market the above, vs. what it will actually be:

Statement: - Trading � Be able to buy/sell commodities via kiosks and NPCs among the various landing zones.
CIG Description - Get ready to be Space Trump as you leverage your keen space business sense to make sensible decisions on buying and selling commodities, using real rules of supply and demand to maximize profits and have a deep impact on how the economy functions. Expect your purchases and sales to have a real impact on the game world. Selling guns to a space station under siege can turn the tide of battle!
Actual Implementation: - Exchange imaginary money to imaginary "commodities" which will simply be different names in a database which will not only have no impact on the game universe in any way, but no differentiation from each other as well. Did you buy 100 "units" of space weed and 150 "units" of silicon? Hopefully "Persistence 2.0" can remember how to join SQL tables.

Statement: - Cargo Transport � Pick up hauling jobs between landing zones. Automatic cargo load/unload, manual cargo transport.
CIG Description - The excitement of Space Trucking has arrived in the 'Verse! Use your specialized transport vessel to decide on lucrative trade routes, pick the safest route for guaranteed but marginal profits, or take risks with a more efficient route through a contested sector. You can have cargo robots load/unload automatically, or for added immersion you can control your spaceman who is controlling his hands to load/unload cargo and pack in your vessel the way you see fit, making sure fragile space items don't get crushed by heavier goods.
Actual Implementation: - Exchange imaginary money to imaginary "commodities" and "load them in your ship" which will mean pushing <<USE>> on the loading platform. Your ship's "inventory" will then reflect these "items." If they're feeling really ambitious they might decide to put generic crates in your loading bay that represent this "cargo" but don't hold your breath. Fly somewhere else and push <<USE>> again to complete the delivery.

Statement: - Piracy and Smuggling � Establish secure/non-secure areas. AI Security response to attacks. Add the ability to retrieve floating cargo from destroyed ships. Create buy/sell system for illicit cargo.
CIG Description - Get ready to be Han Solo as you outfit your Constellation to do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. In space everyone will know your name as you swoop between asteroids, avoiding space turrets with your name on them, and terrorizing innocent B'Taks while you scoop up the goods from their debris. You'll have to think fast and find lawless stations to dump illicit cargo, but the rewards are all the greater for your bravery in facing down hostile AI ships all programmed with your unique 'Verse space social security number. All in a day's work, pirate.
Actual Implementation: - Turrets that either don't work or will kill you instantly will be near stations, and will shoot at you based on whether or not a flag is set reflecting if you've killed another player recently. Flying near cargo in space will make them despawn while a number in your cargo inventory goes up. Items will have a boolean variable for "illicit" and you can only sell them in select places. We're hoping to get with Bethesda to ask them how they did this in Skyrim.

Statement: - Mercenary � Create Service Beacon System (for Combat Assist Contracts). Create AI distress scenarios.
CIG Description - Don't go it alone! Bring beacons along that will allow you to call for assistance if stranded, under attack, or if you want to host and impromptu space party! But be careful, responding to a signal just might be a Vanduul trap, as you warp into what you think is a friendly assist and wind up surrounded by hostile forces! Will you fight or flee, pilot?
Actual Implementation: - Create a dot on a map that players can navigate to and find your isolated, friendless rear end floating in space saying "HI" over the comm every 30 seconds. Fly to NPC dots on the map that will be a single ship in space with an NPC broadcasting "Thank god your[sic] here" or a single pirate vessel that will circle you while shooting a red laser in your general direction.

Statement - Bounty Hunter � Accept missions to terminate wanted players and NPCs.
CIG Description - In the 'Verse, all actions have consequences! The game will track those players who choose a life of crime, and let them be warned: you'll be hunted by real life players, with all the excitement and unpredictability that entails! Be careful what you do, and where you do it, or you might find yourself in the crosshairs of a better pilot! If you're not a pirate, then you can help make the 'Verse safe for others by taking lucrative bounties out on other players! Be careful, they earned that reputation - bring friends!
Actual Implementation: - Buckle in, Commando, as we dive into an endless forum war of hypotheticals regarding whether or not people should be allowed to kill an innocent player in the first place. Be prepared to hit "Reply" and add your useless opinions on how "flagging" should work. Spend months bogged down in details while CIG does absolutely nothing to handle the simplest of logistical concerns about bounty hunting, like how you're going to find the motherfucker in the first place. However we decide to approach the problem. you can rest assured it will be the worst implementation possible.

Whoa, you're getting ahead of yourself there.

Statement: - Trading � Be able to buy/sell commodities via kiosks and NPCs among the various landing zones.
CIG Description - Get ready to be Space Trump as you leverage your keen space business sense to make sensible decisions on buying and selling commodities, using real rules of supply and demand to maximize profits and have a deep impact on how the economy functions. Expect your purchases and sales to have a real impact on the game world. Selling guns to a space station under siege can turn the tide of battle!

Actual Implementation: - Trading is coming along nicely, and should be in the next patch update!

Statement: - Piracy and Smuggling � Establish secure/non-secure areas. AI Security response to attacks. Add the ability to retrieve floating cargo from destroyed ships. Create buy/sell system for illicit cargo.
CIG Description - Get ready to be Han Solo as you outfit your Constellation to do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. In space everyone will know your name as you swoop between asteroids, avoiding space turrets with your name on them, and terrorizing innocent B'Taks while you scoop up the goods from their debris. You'll have to think fast and find lawless stations to dump illicit cargo, but the rewards are all the greater for your bravery in facing down hostile AI ships all programmed with your unique 'Verse space social security number. All in a day's work, pirate.

Actual Implementation: - Piracy is coming along nicely, and should be in the next patch update! As for smuggling, we've been smuggling on the in-office test servers for nearly 12 months!

Statement: - Mercenary � Create Service Beacon System (for Combat Assist Contracts). Create AI distress scenarios.
CIG Description - Don't go it alone! Bring beacons along that will allow you to call for assistance if stranded, under attack, or if you want to host and impromptu space party! But be careful, responding to a signal just might be a Vanduul trap, as you warp into what you think is a friendly assist and wind up surrounded by hostile forces! Will you fight or flee, pilot?

Actual Implementation: - Being a mercenary is 90% implemented in the next patch update! More soon!

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:14

Lack of Gravitas: Oct 11, 2012; Grimey Drawer

AP posted:

Returning to this "normal" thing, I only just noticed this today.

Normally someone would catch that, which leaves you suspecting that it was done deliberately.

what about this am i not seeing here? :ohdear:

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:28

Daztek: Jun 2, 2006

quote:

Roberts Space Industries Corporation sent you $35,00 USD

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:31

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

Daztek posted:

quote:
Roberts Space Industries Corporation sent you $35,00 USD

Excellent. That money represents 7 of Chris Roberts' visits to SuperCuts, so we're hitting him where it hurts.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:36

Fooma: Oct 15, 2010; nom nom nom

Lack of Gravitas posted:

what about this am i not seeing here?

P4-AR
PAAR(p)

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:37

AP: Jul 12, 2004; One Ring to fool them all
One Ring to find them
One Ring to milk them all
and pockets fully line them; Grimey Drawer

Lack of Gravitas posted:

what about this am i not seeing here?

Instruction to press the left mouse button is on the right and the press right mouse button instruction is on the left.

Somebody spent ages on that system, had a 50% chance of getting it right and still hosed up the easiest part.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:38

Fooma: Oct 15, 2010; nom nom nom

AP posted:

Instruction to press the left mouse button is on the right and the press right mouse button instruction is on the left.

Somebody spent ages on that system, had a 50% chance of getting it right and still hosed up the easiest part.

Oh ok that's even weirder than my guess

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:40

Daztek: Jun 2, 2006

Fooma posted:

P4-AR
PAAR(p)

P4 Assault Rifle Ballistic Rifle

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:42

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

AP posted:

Instruction to press the left mouse button is on the right and the press right mouse button instruction is on the left.

Somebody spent ages on that system, had a 50% chance of getting it right and still hosed up the easiest part.

That one small screencap is a perfect microcosm of the entire Star Citizen project. Even the things that are impossible to do wrong are done wrong.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:43

Fooma: Oct 15, 2010; nom nom nom

Daztek posted:

P4 Assault Rifle Ballistic Rifle

My god what else is there:

PAAR(p)
P4 Assault Rifle Ballistic Rifle
RMB LMB

Anagram of Schedar is "Crashed"
Lime green accent colors on dooky brown environment

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:48

Sillybones: Aug 10, 2013; go away,
spooky skeleton,
go away

D_Smart posted:

Nice try.

10/31/2016

http://dereksmart.com/forums/topic/star-citizen-musings/#post-4746

12/27/2016

http://dereksmart.com/2016/12/star-citizen-irreconcilable-differences/

Your move.

I straight up don't read your stuff, but I concede. Your move.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:50

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

Tijuana Bibliophile posted:

You know the dumb thing about Chris' immersion strategy is that while it aims to recreate "real life" visuals by adding more polygons, nature contains barely any polygons at all

Star Citizen might be Chris's only chance to experience either immersion or fidelity.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:51

Codependent Poster: Oct 20, 2003

lol at anyone who spent 1 hour playing Star Marine when they could have been playing Overwatch

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:57

Lack of Gravitas: Oct 11, 2012; Grimey Drawer

AP posted:

Instruction to press the left mouse button is on the right and the press right mouse button instruction is on the left.

Somebody spent ages on that system, had a 50% chance of getting it right and still hosed up the easiest part.

oh good i thought that was just regular run-of-the-mill CIG

Fooma posted:

My god what else is there:

PAAR(p)
P4 Assault Rifle Ballistic Rifle
RMB LMB

Anagram of Schedar is "Crashed"
Lime green accent colors on dooky brown environment

i spent five minutes staring intently at that picture to see whatever it was and by the end of it i was seeing shadowy figures moving around on the white panel :ghost:

Lack of Gravitas fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jan 4, 2017

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:57

Thoatse: Feb 29, 2016; Lol said the scorpion, lmao

Sillybones posted:

I straight up don't read your stuff, but I concede. Your move.

If you make him pull this blog over he's gonna block you so hard

# ? Jan 4, 2017 00:58

Snazzy Frocks: Mar 31, 2003; Scratchmo

Codependent Poster posted:

lol at anyone who spent 1 hour playing Star Marine when they could have been playing Overwatch

wouldn't you want to play your $2000 video game and try really hard to enjoy it?

# ? Jan 4, 2017 01:00

ripptide: Jul 28, 2016

ZenMaster posted:

He had another good meltdown about 5 min ago and said goons were trying to make him look bad and he was just getting drunk with his friends...

If that girl ever talks to him again I will be shocked.

Like that should destroy your career, imagine if Disco or Tyler was doing that to one of the girls at RSI at some holiday party?

They'd just call it "CitCon".

# ? Jan 4, 2017 01:04

Romes128: Dec 28, 2008; Fun Shoe

ManofManyAliases posted:

No, it was (plus, I try to be fair). But I needed to see first-hand why it was so lovely I can't simply go on and discount the rantings of a narcissist lunatic without first understanding a little about where he comes from.

but enough about star citizen

# ? Jan 4, 2017 01:56

TheAgent: Feb 16, 2002; The call is coming from inside Dr. House; Grimey Drawer

someone decided to give the email address I was using for leaks out

there's a billion new things

quote:

Why don't you Stop these Attacks,Personal or Otherwise,on Development,something You Haven't Ever Done? Complete and False Speculation by someone,You,shows your Perversity. I am SURE You are not a Real Person, simple of an Alternate Form of The Other.

quote:

fucker of fags

quote:

KOS: [my SC handle]

# ? Jan 4, 2017 01:59

Regrettable: Jan 5, 2010

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:00

Dementropy: Aug 23, 2010

TheAgent posted:

someone decided to give the email address I was using for leaks out

there's a billion new things

What a welcoming and open community.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:02

Sillybones: Aug 10, 2013; go away,
spooky skeleton,
go away

MoMA, answer the loving questions. You might actually learn something about this project and, dare I say, yourself?

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:05

TheAgent: Feb 16, 2002; The call is coming from inside Dr. House; Grimey Drawer

quote:

Good luck now fucker.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:05

Codependent Poster: Oct 20, 2003

TheAgent posted:

someone decided to give the email address I was using for leaks out

there's a billion new things

not a cult

or a toxic community

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:05

spacetoaster: Feb 10, 2014

TheAgent posted:

someone decided to give the email address I was using for leaks out

there's a billion new things

Please tell us more.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:07

TheAgent: Feb 16, 2002; The call is coming from inside Dr. House; Grimey Drawer

it's gonna take me awhile to sort through all this poo poo lol

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:08

Colostomy Bag: Jan 11, 2016; C-Bangin' it

Dementropy posted:

What a welcoming and open community.

It is breathtaking knowing the consequence of space piracy and how open it is in the verse.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:08

ripptide: Jul 28, 2016

Codependent Poster posted:

not a cult

or a toxic community

It's actually quite an achievement when you stop to think about it. Other communities take ages to reach this level of toxicity, and that's with the game being, well, you know, playable. These asshats are 5 years (and counting) ahead of the curve!

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:09

spacetoaster: Feb 10, 2014

https://twitter.com/DaDakota/status/813992893597831168

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:09

TheAgent: Feb 16, 2002; The call is coming from inside Dr. House; Grimey Drawer

I should point out the "[my SC handle]" was literally written like that lol

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:11

IncredibleIgloo: Feb 17, 2011

TheAgent posted:

it's gonna take me awhile to sort through all this poo poo lol

When you are finished playing SC could you tell us more about the emails you are getting though?

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:33

Nicholas: Mar 7, 2001; Were those not fine days, when we drank of clear honey, and spoke in calm tones of our love for the stuff?

Hav posted:

He's talking bullshit about the infrastructure. Clustering and Swarming are completely different technologies, so he's just invoking 'der cloud' there. Clustering is balancing, swarming is capacity management.

Back in the early days, you could spunk UDP at things. Then people started loving with the stream for competitive advantage, so everything moved to transactions, and for a limited amount of traffic, all was good.

The problem they have scaling up the number of clients in any single volume of space is the updates required between the client and server; weirdly, even today, automagic scaling is something that keeps people busy for loving weeks - if you're interested, Netflix literally publishes everything they produce on scaling out video delivery.

Eve Online is pretty much the game for this, mainly due to it's 'single shard' claim, and they literally built out new ways to do things, from a memory only database to the largest collection of SSDs gathered together; it's not a new problem.

A fact I haven't seen brought up with regards to CIGs plan for infinite scaling using AWS, is that while new servers can be spun up to increase player connections, the database does not scale at all. As soon as you clone a database for a new instance it gets out of sync, and you can't just merge all the new information together in later on. All clients must be communicating to a single database. This is probably the reason why Lumberhard specifically states that it's not suitable for anything persistant across instances (such as an MMO)

I'm not sure how most MMO's handle it; I'm guessing it's probably a combination of sharding servers, having a hard cap on the number of simultanious connections (so definitely not "infinite scaling"), and being really careful about what each client is writing back to the database (so no millions of NPCs doing things that update tables constantly for no reason)

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:46

Mu77ley: Oct 14, 2016

Nicholas posted:

A fact I haven't seen brought up with regards to CIGs plan for infinite scaling using AWS, is that while new servers can be spun up to increase player connections, the database does not scale at all. As soon as you clone a database for a new instance it gets out of sync, and you can't just merge all the new information together in later on. All clients must be communicating to a single database. This is probably the reason why Lumberhard specifically states that it's not suitable for anything persistant across instances (such as an MMO)

I'm not sure how most MMO's handle it; I'm guessing it's probably a combination of sharding servers, having a hard cap on the number of simultanious connections (so definitely not "infinite scaling"), and being really careful about what each client is writing back to the database (so no millions of NPCs doing things that update tables constantly for no reason)

Frontier did an interesting talk at AWS re:Invent 2015 about how they use AWS for Elite: Dangerous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJPyjmfdz0

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:49

Scruffpuff: Dec 23, 2015; Fidelity. Wait, was I'm working on again?

Nicholas posted:

A fact I haven't seen brought up with regards to CIGs plan for infinite scaling using AWS, is that while new servers can be spun up to increase player connections, the database does not scale at all. As soon as you clone a database for a new instance it gets out of sync, and you can't just merge all the new information together in later on. All clients must be communicating to a single database. This is probably the reason why Lumberhard specifically states that it's not suitable for anything persistant across instances (such as an MMO)

I'm not sure how most MMO's handle it; I'm guessing it's probably a combination of sharding servers, having a hard cap on the number of simultanious connections (so definitely not "infinite scaling"), and being really careful about what each client is writing back to the database (so no millions of NPCs doing things that update tables constantly for no reason)

It's a fascinating problem, and if you look around you can find game developers who have written great pieces on the work they're doing to address these problems. It's definitely a war won an inch at a time rather than by huge leaps in technology. It's one of the main reasons Blizzard is so reticent to do something seemingly simple like adding a character slot, or making bigger player inventories. The cascade effect of even the tiniest change on the entire system is astounding.

There is literally no way to reconcile the desire to create a groundbreaking space game that will supposedly be better than everything else ever made, and the expectation that they can make it all run on a generic cloud provider instead of a dedicated platform built from the ground up to address the very specific challenges Star Citizen brings to the table.

The sperm cell reaching the egg is the last time in history that Chris Roberts' DNA outperformed his competitors.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:53

Furry Hunter: May 5, 2005; Professional Fursecutor

Scruffpuff posted:

The sperm cell reaching the egg is the last time in history that Chris Roberts' DNA outperformed his competitors.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 02:59

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Nicholas posted:

A fact I haven't seen brought up with regards to CIGs plan for infinite scaling using AWS, is that while new servers can be spun up to increase player connections, the database does not scale at all. As soon as you clone a database for a new instance it gets out of sync, and you can't just merge all the new information together in later on. All clients must be communicating to a single database. This is probably the reason why Lumberhard specifically states that it's not suitable for anything persistant across instances (such as an MMO)

I'm not sure how most MMO's handle it; I'm guessing it's probably a combination of sharding servers, having a hard cap on the number of simultanious connections (so definitely not "infinite scaling"), and being really careful about what each client is writing back to the database (so no millions of NPCs doing things that update tables constantly for no reason)

In EVE Online they added Time Dilation (TiDi). If thousands of people wound up on the same server the game clock would slow down to keep everything running smoothly. It was like lag, but not lag, because lag used to affect people unevenly. Before TiDi sometimes a group would jump onto a grid and be stuck paralyzed on a black screen for several minutes, while their opponents who had already loaded the grid would be free to move around and shoot. TiDi could be agonizingly slow, but at least it was fair for everyone in a given system. Once the server got down to 10% or so of normal speed anyone trying to enter the system would get "traffic controlled" and be unable to enter. That let thousands of players participate in a battle together.

The best part was that normally several "star systems" share each server. If you planned a huge battle you could tell them the day before and they would put that system on it's own server for the day. But if plans went awry and a big battle happened without warning, then several nearly empty systems that happened to be on the same server that day could end up TiDi'd for no apparent reason. A flight that would normally take 1 minute could take 10 minutes, and the only escape is to reach a gate and jump out of the system.

I'm not sure if there is any other MMO that lets literally thousands of people be in the same 'room' together having a brawl. It's kinda EVE's big thing.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 03:04

Propagandist: Oct 23, 2007

# ? Jan 4, 2017 03:05

Zzr: Oct 6, 2016

Nicholas posted:

A fact I haven't seen brought up with regards to CIGs plan for infinite scaling using AWS, is that while new servers can be spun up to increase player connections, the database does not scale at all. As soon as you clone a database for a new instance it gets out of sync, and you can't just merge all the new information together in later on. All clients must be communicating to a single database. This is probably the reason why Lumberhard specifically states that it's not suitable for anything persistant across instances (such as an MMO)

I'm not sure how most MMO's handle it; I'm guessing it's probably a combination of sharding servers, having a hard cap on the number of simultanious connections (so definitely not "infinite scaling"), and being really careful about what each client is writing back to the database (so no millions of NPCs doing things that update tables constantly for no reason)

The NPC/PC ratio is aimed to be 9:1. So 900 NPC with no AI will not burden any server.

# ? Jan 4, 2017 03:07

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 14, 2024 22:22

Nicholas: Mar 7, 2001; Were those not fine days, when we drank of clear honey, and spoke in calm tones of our love for the stuff?

Mu77ley posted:

Frontier did an interesting talk at AWS re:Invent 2015 about how they use AWS for Elite: Dangerous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJPyjmfdz0

Great video. I'm scanning through it and it seems to confirm what I was trying to say. The databases don't scale with the game servers, and they are using a complex variety of storage solutions to maintain a consistant game state.

Scruffpuff posted:

There is literally no way to reconcile the desire to create a groundbreaking space game that will supposedly be better than everything else ever made, and the expectation that they can make it all run on a generic cloud provider instead of a dedicated platform built from the ground up to address the very specific challenges Star Citizen brings to the table.

Exactly. There's nothing inherently wrong with trying to use AWS to manage an MMO (as the frontier video Mu77ley posted shows) but it's crazy that people think switching to some free engine and network middleware is the ground breaking solution to a "never been attempted before" universe simulation. It's really a step backwards in terms of engineering a solution to the problem.

Nicholas fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jan 4, 2017

# ? Jan 4, 2017 03:19

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Star Citizen: Death of a Space Thread?

«‹›6530 »