Last updated on March 28, 2024
Howdy, folx! I’ve been really enjoying Novaquark‘s new MMO/RPG “Dual Universe” for the past couple of months. In that time, I often see the same questions from new players.
Frankly, the new player experience is a bit thin and needs some serious reconsideration. If anyone at Novaquark wants to hire me, I’d be happy to lay the whole thing out for you. 😉
The Power of Search Engines being what it is, it makes sense to put this up where it can be found by newer and even older players.
I’m going to be roughly grouping the Q&A of the FAQ by subject, which is how I keep it organized myself. This will be a semi-document, that I’ll periodically update. It’s accurate (to my knowledge anyway) as of Dual Universe version 1.4.
“It’s an MMO, and this one is intentionally designed to make you dependent on working with other players for best results.”
–902/PE Gaming
Playing Dual Universe solo is “hard mode”. Don’t complain if you ignore what the Devs are screaming at you at every mechanic and patch.
#GRR / #RAGE / #SALT / #SCAM / #DEDGAME
--==>> Why you heff to be medd? Is just game. Check my Steam review. I personally enjoy the game a lot. And it costs barely more than a coffee to play for an hour to find out if you like it yourself. No client purchase price; just the month sub fee. It's hard to call $20/CAD a "scam" even if all you do is the tutorial and decide it's not your kind of game. Not every game is made for every person. You need to know that you like games like Minecraft, Space Engineers, Planet Crafter, and EVE Online. If you hate those games, you aren't going to like this. If you love those games, this is going to be worth $1/hr to play.
#902MEANIE / #902HATEZME
902PE_FAQ: "Why Am I On /ignore" -- I used to be a military drill instructor, and I've been hanging out on the Internet longer than most people who I /ignore have been alive. If you are on /ignore it is for one of two reasons -- it's to stop me from being earth scorchingly mean to you, or because you're a racist Nazi asshole. You pick.
#HUDHATEZME
902PE_FAQ: "Why Does [HUDNAME] Keep Killing Me?" -- AP systems are all part of the same union, and they're all AI rights activists that will kill you if you trust them too far.
#GAME_DID_WEIRD / #GAMEHATEZME
902PE_FAQ: "It's an MMO, and this one is intentionally designed to make you dependent on working with other players for best results." Playing Dual Universe solo is "hard mode". 902PE_FAQ: This is a common De-Sync issue. log off and go enjoy a leg stretch and your favorite beverage. Five or six minutes usually does it for me.
#SHIP_DESIGN
902PE_FAQ: For every tonne you want to lift, you need a minimum of 2Kn thrust. Merchants can get away with 2Kn/T MTOW (Max To Orbit Weight), Couriers and Liners should be 3Kn/T and Combat ships should be 4Kn. These are minimums vs MTOW. 902PE_FAQ: MTOW => Max To Orbit Weight. Dry Weight in Tonnes, plus max fuel in Liters divided by 200, plus, max cargo volume in Liters divided by 170. 902PE_FAQ: You want your Braking Force to be a minimum of 1.5x thruster power for Merchants, Couriers and Liners should be 3x and Combat ships should be 6x. 902PE_FAQ: Mass, cross-section and some actual element-level aerodynamics figure into Friction Burn speed. Darts do better than cubes, for example. Atmospheric density factors heavily; I can super-cruise at Mach 1.8 at 1%, but that melts the nose at 10%. 902PE_FAQ: AGG (Anti-Gravity Generators) are intended for Large hulls so they do not have to land. Essentially, AGG won't (normally) let you get lower than 1km. The idea is that Large ships would be serviced by atmo-only cargo ships via docking. Hybrid designs are relatively inefficient because 1/3 your weight is never in use. 902PE_FAQ: I use the orbital climb profile explained to me by PrincessArab. Climb at 30-deg to 20% Atmo and go to level flight, at full throttle. Once you get above 500km/h, preferably 600+km/h, ... angle upwards at 45% to convert that momentum to escape speed. Once your Space Engines kick in, go 80-deg climb, once you hit 2000km/h, throttle zero to coast out to 2SU, then align to target and full power. 902PE_FAQ: Wings are vertical engines that only produce power when they are already moving. Best Mass / Weight / Thrust ratio is the "Wing M". Stack 'em like a tri-plane if you have to. Same thrust rules apply. 902PE_FAQ: Hovers lift your Wings, Wings Lift you Atmo Engines, Atmo Engines lift your Space Engines. You need enough of each at each step of the flight to succeed.
#TRADEANDTRAVEL / #SHUTTLESHATEZME / #MARKET6HATEZME
902PE_FAQ: "==>> everyone uses Alioth Market Zero Six, because everyone uses Alioth Market Zero Six, because ==>>" 902PE_FAQ: If you don't like Market 06 Alioth, I strongly recommend you stop using it. Either use Aegis Station, or hire (F8 Missions) other players to go for you. 902PE_FAQ: Each of the 01 - 09 Haven and Sanc markets have shuttles that take you for free to the corresponding market on Alioth 902PE_FAQ: Reminder to all of the "trade" channel that you can /join ... players advertising ships and goods post there daily. 902PE_FAQ: Market prices often don't make sense because most people do not want to run a business. They want to make stuff and sell stuff and have fun. They don't factor any of the input, invisible, static or amortized costs. Because that's a lot of work, vs a lot of fun.
#TAXES / #TILEISBROKE / #HQINACTIVENQHATEZME
PlayerNoRTM: "my CoolPlanet territory says its inactive but I'm subscribed until the end of SomeFutureMonth" 902PE_FAQ: you have to pay the taxes. * open your wallet * click the territories tab * add 500Kq to each tile you want active
PlayerNoRTM: I have a territory set as HQ, but can't mine or run industry there. 902PE_FAQ: you have to pay the taxes. Taxes allow the operation of mining and industry. HQ means you won't have the TU destroyed after a month.
#MINING / #MININGUNITS / #ASTEROIDS / #KILLERROCKHUNT
902PE_FAQ: T2 Tile Hunting - You aren't doing it wrong. The current estimated odds of finding a non-T1 tile is about 0.75% per tile scanned. 902PE_FAQ: The only place you can do underground mining in the release-version of DU is Asteroids. All other locations require either Mining Units, or "Skittle" harvesting. 902PE_FAQ: "Skittles" are the clusters of ore you can scoop up off the surface of a planet or moon. When you have your harvest tool enabled, they glow as a group of colorful items. Hence the nick-name. 902PE_FAQ: the "Skittles" on the surface are one-and-done. Mining Unit ores recycle every hour. 902PE_FAQ: Imagine the Ore value of a tile to be a drinking glass that gets refilled every hour, up to the top, no matter how much you drink. Your mining units are straws. More straws == more slurp, but the glass is still the same size. ... You just empty the glass faster. The trick is to keep the speed of slurp to be only slightly faster than the speed of refill. 902PE_FAQ: The current estimated break-even for a 415L/H tile is 7.2q/L of T1 Ore. This is does not include any additional profits from Calibration Rewards. It also does not account for adjacency bonus or character skills. 902PE_FAQ: Few asteroids get fully mined out. There is a mythology that says that if it's more than a couple hours old, it's been stripped clean. So, often ... left alone. 902PE_FAQ: One successful technique is pioneered by "Citoyen". Build an S or larger hull ship. Then get a simple XS core and mount a RADAR to it. Dock the XS to the S class. Use the Remote for the XS ... now you can watch the RADAR anywhere. 902PE_FAQ: There is a window between NA bedtime and EU breakfast where not very many players are on. If an asteroid spawns in this window, by the time anyone sees it, they are "hours" old. Everyone assumes they are mined out. 902PE_FAQ: The #1 advice I would give a new player about getting their own tiles for mining is ... don't. Not yet. Get hired by someone like me to play the calibration game _for_ them on a profit-share arrangement and decide if you like that game loop. Once you know that you _do_ like that game loop, then hire someone to scan some spots you like the look of and get a good trio to start with, and go with that.
#KERGON / #SOMANYVARIANTSWHY
902PE_FAQ: All the "Kergon X" space fuels have the same performance, weight, etc. They are only different base materials to make. Use what ever is cheapest / most available. >> It should be noted that while X5 can be made with T1 materials, the Devs have stated that it is intentionally inefficient to make. Consider it an emergency product, vs a mainstay.
#LUA / #SCRIPTVOODOO / #PBHATEZME
902PE_FAQ: What fonts can I put on screens? * FiraMono * FiraMono-Bold * Montserrat * Montserrat-Light * Montserrat-Bold * Play * Play-Bold * RefrigeratorDeluxe * RefrigeratorDeluxe-Light * RobotoCondensed * RobotoMono * RobotoMono-Bold
#PVP / #LEGIONISMEANIE / #PIRATENAMEISMEANIE / #MYGIGAQUANTAFIREBALL
902PE_FAQ: Never fly a ship into PVP that you won't LULZ when it fireballs. 902PE_FAQ: each seat has a certain amount of control power, and different weapons use up different amounts. 902PE_FAQ: If you don't have a meta build, you will loose. If you don't have 2:1 odds, you might loose. If you fire second, you'll likely loose. If you lock on, you will be presumed to be firing next, so you'd better already be firing. 902PE_FAQ: (Pre-1.4) The Meta : S hull at most, little to no voxels, 2x L ADV Frieght Space Engines, 20G accell, 40G brakes, minimium of 4 ADV Railguns, or 4 ADV lasers. build it like a cigar. 902PE_FAQ: The best shields you can afford. Shields, shields, shields. No shields == dead. For further information, go watch BrewAndPew videos or Legion X Lodestar 902PE_FAQ: As a non-dedicated combatant, you are never going to consistently win battles against dedicated combatants. They time you're not practicing fighting, they are. If that's a problem for you hire a combat escort or avoid PVP space.
Updated with a couple new items