Hello everyone! Welcome to the 101st RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week we've delved into system generation development, in connection with lordrex's work on back-end systems, and Idyllic has moved forward with more back-end code for the Capital Update. Up first is our work on star systems. Before now, we've been working with a table of pregenerated data that simulates the star systems at a small scale for the starmap available in the lobby, where everything is saved as a location and a style. This week we pushed beyond that, identifying the proper scale for the star at the center of the systems, while maintaining proper play area around it. The extension to 100k far-clip distance has greatly improved how systems appear to the player, allowing us to create a fairly large star that players will definitely want to avoid. With the high boundary set by the star, and the low boundary set by the physical assets like ships and outposts we've already created, we could find the proper middle-ground for sizing planetary meshes. Large enough that they are impressive to even the largest of pilotable ships, while still appearing small in comparison to system stars. Hidden in the original code for the game Lobby was this lovely script that takes the angles between star systems, and figures out where the wormholes should be placed in relation to the primary star. While this demo is not exactly to scale, it demonstrates the function quite well. Those of you in the community may have heard of the new guideline for Capital ships that was mentioned - ideally all classes of Capital, excluding the XXXL superweapons should be able to fit through the standard-sized jump gate. Ships that are within 190 studs wide and tall (at 15% real-scale) will have a higher chance of being accepted as a general purpose fleet ship. For reference, here is Sphaera, the iconic wreck from the Dogfight Alpha, travelling through a gate. While faction-designed gates won't have to look like the default one, they will have to adhere to the standard wormhole size, or else you could clog up the wormhole with ships that don't fit out the other end. We took the chance to compare all the available system assets with the newly developed system scale, to ensure that outposts and spacecraft looked and felt their appropriate size, both at a distance, and while in operation by the player. Tests of all kinds were conducted, including variations on planet scale to make sure that both large and small planet sizes could be supported (planets of all the same sizes would be fairly boring), test flights of Capital ships around and between planets in a system, as well as comparisons between Capitals and other earlier-constructed assets, like Outpost modules. Here we have the test grid of outpost modules, every class of Capital and Fighter, a Star, two Planets, and a localized asteroid field. There were two extreme possibilities with the design of star systems - we could exaggerate the scale of everything, moving planets closer together and shrinking them down, allowing ships to easily fly on over to adjacent heavenly bodies, or we could attempt realism, with large spacing, fully scaled objects, and alternate transportation between the two. For our completed design, we attempted to find an appropriate middle ground between the two. Our star is .00008% the size of the actual sun, which is a fairly small star all things considered, planet spacing is scaled up from the starmap values by 50,000, and enough space between heavenly bodies that it feels like proper space, but you can still see other objects off in the distance. At this point I would like to highlight a feature mentioned quite a while ago in the FAQ section - intra-system jumping. While separate star systems are isolated from each other by numerous wormholes and jump gates that function as a loading screen, moving around between points of interest within a star system will be much more direct. Ships will be able to engage jump drives to bypass the incredible distances between objects, the void space as we like to call it, and arrive where they intend to go. While those adventurous souls may venture out into the void to meet whatever strange occurrences that may be waiting out there, anywhere you need to go in a system will be within reach with a click of a button and a firing of an engine. To better help you appreciate the scale, here is a medium Capital on a flyby of a Pirate Factory module. Outpost shipyards will be highly restrictive in comparison to their full-scale Station brethren - outpost shipyards can only construct up to Medium-class Capitals, and only a few at a time, as well as not being faction-styled. So if gigantic ships are your thing, creating a faction, or employment with one, is highly recommended. This week we've had quite a few questions from faction leaders asking about Capitals, and just how big they are. Some have drastically overestimated the allowable size, while others have slightly underestimated, so this week we'll take some time to answer a few questions. While we aren't to the point of releasing locked-in limits, like part count or weapon mount limits, we can provide some general guidelines to help you build your early Capital ship designs. The size difference between fighters and XXXL Capitals is enormous, though it will be an extremely rare occurrence in the full game. Ship sizes should tend towards the smaller end, with most pilots operating fighters and strike craft, while being supported by one or two capital ships. The largest ships available will be for pretty specific occasions, and will be a pain when it comes to upkeep, but they may happen. To better help you understand scale, Idyllic has put together this handy description. Here we have the Excalibur light fighter you all know and love, astride the Bolitho, a Small-class Capital. The Excalibur is around 1 stud long at 15% real scale, while the Bolitho is around 44. Next up we have the Avenger, measuring in at 50 studs long, placing it on the smaller end of the Medium-class. Here we have the Protector, a Large-class Capital measuring 80 studs long. Next we have a yet-unnamed Cargo vessel falling into the XL category, and measuring 210 studs in length. We're getting to the point that it's hard to see the fighter, with the Daedalus XXL Capital, measuring 240 studs long. And lastly, we have the XXXL-class, measuring in at around 1000 studs long. We hope that helps you when you're sizing up your own fleet of ships. Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: Any planned logistical/support roles for Capital ships? A1: Beyond the directly combat-related roles, we have no current plans for support ships. Carriers and repair ships, as well as ships designed for taking out shields or armor, as well as static-object ships, should provide enough variety early on. Further down the road, though, we may investigate supplying support roles if we find combat lacking. Q2: Any planned dedicated anti-capital weapons for fighters? A2: The larger classes of fighters should be able to be outfitted with anti-capital mines or bombs, that can be used extremely effectively against undefended capital ships, and you can always concentrate other weaponry on a target, while evading defensive squads or turrets. Q3: Will there be a speed difference for ships between space and in-atmosphere? A3: Yes, definitely. For capitals, controls will be much more sluggish, as well as a lower speed to compensate for pushing all that air out of the way. For fighters, we plan for much less control, especially when stationary or slow-moving, to compensate for the effectiveness of spacecraft on ground targets. Q4: Have the weaponry stats been locked in yet? Do we know which weapons will be most effective against which targets? A4: Final stats have yet to be determined, and we plan to tweak them throughout the Alpha stage. Energy weapons will primarily damage energy shields, yet still do significant damage once they break through. Kinetic weapons and their benefits and costs were described last week, but they should focus primarily on hard targets, armor plating and ground targets. Q5: Will there be AI civilians in cities? Vehicles? A5: Any AI is heavy on the server, and cuts down on how many players we can support at one time. We'd prefer to see players driving tanks and jeeps through city streets, rather than stuck in traffic on the I-5. You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Comments are closed.
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AuthorsVaktus: Leader of the Vaktovian Empire and head of the RoVerse Project |