Very Very Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions

(take note it’s VERY long)

Other Languages?

look top right for your language. however, they may not be as updated.

Reason for move

Here are some reasons why I decided to move here. I hope you find them reasonable enough.

• I don't have to decide who have editing rights, and I don't have to worry about giving a troll access.
• Anyone with editing rights on the wiki is allowed to make changes, making for a more updated and accurate VVFAQ
• Everyone has access to the change log at any time, so anyone can check why something was changed: the reasoning behind it.
• Everyone can easily check for what was updated in the VVFAQ, instead of manually checking through everything again.
• Makes new people more aware of the Wiki.

General Information

When was closed alpha? (CA)

CA Start date

May 11th 2020-now

How do I get into the CA

Who: “At first we’re going to invite active community members to participate. This means that if you have been active in the community and contributed in a positive way, we may have noticed you. But if you are more of a silent type or a lurker, don’t worry! We’ll be scaling the alpha over time to include more and more people, so you’ll also have a chance to apply for the alpha. We’ll definitely let you know when it’s time, so stay tuned!” -PriskaFB

VenlaFB: There's two main methods we use to select participants:

• We pick people from the community (mainly Discord) based on their activity and contribution to the community (not a scientific process and definitely not a popularity or activity contest!). • Survey/signup form. We did a survey in January 2020 that we replaced with a new one in May 2020 (the Alpha signup). We have a lot of eager players in these surveys and will invite them based on our needs and specific criteria. You can fill out the sign-up form here: https://www.starbasegame.com/alpha-signup. There is no guarantee of when or if you will be selected, but over time you will probably have a good chance to join the game. [...] We are selecting more players on an active basis at the moment. There's no typical day or week for selections - they happen based on what we need at any given time.

How many people start CA?

100 people were in the first wave and there are more than 400 as of 2020-07-16.

This will expand to be potentially thousands of people in a series of waves.

More information about Closed Alpha Access can be found in this page

How much will the game cost?

40$usd or less, 1 time purchase Guaranteed. (compared to its peers which are subscription based)

LauriFB (06/02/2020): We'll add cosmetic in-apps for a fair price, but no paid content (DLC's)

NDA?

None. If you get into CA, you can stream it and answer questions as you wish.

P2W/Loot Boxes:

Quoted straight from the CEO: “Hell No.” There's even a meme of it.

Note: Although cosmetics are planned, only certain armour sets can be bought. For the rest, it must be earned. (Not just by hours put into the game.)

Game focus:

The game has no “main” goals, and what to do is up to the player. Some optional things to do include PVP, shipbuilding, exploration, economy, logistics and other things you believe players would pay you for.

Hardware

What has been tested (1080p.  60fps)

“It worked just fine” -PipFB

• OS: (64-bit) Windows 10
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz | 4 core 4 threads
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Storage Type: HDD

What Devs Use (1080p)

• OS: (64-bit) Windows 10 / 7
• Processor: Intel i5 8600 @ 3.1GHz | 6 core 6 threads
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• DirectX: Version 11

4K Max Settings

• OS: (64-bit) Windows 10 / 7
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 / Intel i7-6700k @ 4GHz | 4 core 8 threads
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: Radeon RX Vega 8 GB / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB
• DirectX: Version 11
• Network: Broadband Internet connection

Additional Notes:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• Storage: 15 GB available space
• We will revise the requirements closer to the Early Access launch
• The game requires an Internet connection to play.
• It only supports windows because the game uses DirectX, Making it very unlikely for Mac/Linux support in the future, though Lumi Virtual on discord has gotten it to run on Linux with wine. No info about streaming services.

Ships

What is the ship size limit?

The size limit is 30x30x50 metres, big enough to fit a Lictor. There are some additional limits: 8k attachment plates, 31k bolts, 6k cables, 30 lamps, 3k pipes, 20 warheads, 30 weapons, and 12k objects (everything not listed). . The size limit is likely to increase.

What is the maximum speed?

150m/s.  [Only if you really put everything into speed. Otherwise, you can't make it. (Drag will also play a part against you. Hedron is the fastest prefab ship)].

Do ships need ‘fuel’?

Ship thrusters need propellant, which is the ‘fuel’ that they burn in order to provide thrust. The propellant can be created from ice which is found in special ice asteroids. In order to use propellant, it must be refined. You can refine the propellant at a station, or with a special part that fits a ship. However, ship refined propellant has a lower quality and can damage your ship. Propellant can be bought from almost any station, where the supply is virtually endless.

In addition to propellant, each thruster also consumes electricity which can be either generated by a special ‘Generator’ device or be stored in batteries. In order to produce electricity, generators convert special solid fuel rods into power. These rods are similar to real-life fission reactor fuel.

How do you turn a ship in-game?

If you want to turn in-game, you must take mind where you place your thrusters, as there are no gyros. Ship movement is purely controlled by thrusters.

Turning the ship isn’t a big deal, though. Main flight computer and/or flight controller unit will do all the hard work for turning the ship. Not knowing how to set it up correctly might make your ship spin faster than a fidget spinner.

Is there any fast travel system in-game?

TLDR:  there will be.

The current idea is warp Gates: with a lot of resources needed to build it. Requires a two-way connection to have both ends work together with anchors between those gates. though it’s not feasible to build one except for those that can actually sustain it.

Are ships in game just as fragile as in trailers?

Not at all - ships in trailers were broken in the first place so even crashing breaks it in half.

Stations

How big are Mega Stations?

Mega Stations can have a max size up to 1.8km by 1.8km (That’s a big octagon with modules.)

Player stations:

Will most likely be released during closed alpha. The start of these gameplay loops are apparently coming in August 2020.

Station lots:

There’s different sizes and each size has a daily rent price.

Can a station be moved?

Stations cannot be moved. They are stationary and will most likely forever be so.

Building

Armour types listed (weak -> strong)

Bastium, Bastonium, Charodium, Kutonium, Oninum.

Alloys are in progress

Freedom of placement:

You can place anything however you want. There is no forced grid and it can be toggled.

Though parts do need to actually connect in order to be bolted together:

(this would not work)

You can bolt anything to everything: dropped items(ingots, ammo), station parts to ships and clockwise, but can’t bolt a living endo to anything(detached limbs can be bolted).

Editor:

The in-game editor allows for fast building of ship blueprints, with lots of tools to help you, it even allows for multiple people to build together! (youtube video)

Devices

Sensors:

Rangefinder with a 1km range. Directional and returns only range (no object type, no velocity, no vector - just plain range. YOLOL can be used to return a approximate speed using the range).

Proximity sensor.

Laser Designator. For the torpedo.

YOLOL

The programming language inside the game is available to players.

If you want to know more, join the CYLON discord, https://discord.gg/rmu6aCr

Rails and movers:

Rails can be as long as you need, but movers have a speed cap of 1 m/s. Its uses are up to the player, here's an example -made by Okim.

Turntables, movers and how do they transport power:

This question became popular recently. So, turntables and movers do transport power only to a device installed right on it. For example, you can place a fixed mount and it will receive power and transport to whatever device is installed on it(cannon, for example). Lauri doesn’t know whether it possible or not to install a power socket on it.

Cargo beam:

Cargo beam emits a laser that hooks onto anything it sees, fixing it completely in place requires you to place lasers from 3 90degree angles. Ships caught in a cargo beam has their thrusters stop working. Endos cannot be captured by this laser.

Range finder:

This device has a range of 1km. The range finder is able to see if anything is crossing the beam, and also how far away the object is.

Robot Arms:

(they are very modular)

Robot arms can be used for a lot of things, though its main area of expertise is in factories. The top of the robot arm can use all of the existing hand tools. It can also grab objects. Restrictions: 1 elbow max, 1 ankle max.

Weapons

Missiles:

Dumbfire missiles at 150m/s

Torpedoes:

Has lower speeds compared to a missile. Can be Laser-guided and YOLOL controlled.

Mounted Weapons:

Autocannon

A fast-firing weapon with a wide spread. High bullet flight speed. The ammo drum has 500 ammunition, reloading requires physical replacement of the drum.

Flak Cannon

       A cannon meant for point defence being effective at destroying incoming

       torpedoes and missiles.

Swarm Missiles

       Similar to the missile launcher but fires a lot of smaller missiles.

Rail Cannon

Extremely slow rate of fire and requires time to charge up. Has no spread. The projectile travels fast, with the longest range of more than 5km. Has a magazine that stores 100 slugs.

Laser Cannon

Has a very high rate of fire with minimal spread. Has a rechargeable energy cell that stores 200 laser shots. The energy cell recharges 1 shot every 4 seconds, but it can also be entirely replaced for an instant full charge.

Plasma Thrower

Has a slow rate of fire, with low spread. Fires a slow travelling bolt of energy which does fracture damage. Plasma cell stores 100 shots before needing to be replaced. It was told that glass might stop it, as long as it’s not a penetrating weapon.

Mining Laser

Though not its intended use, it can still be used as a devastating weapon! Fires a constant short-range beam that does fracture damage. Fracture damage is splitting objects into chunks. When it's used on asteroids it splits the asteroid into chunks, and when used on ships it splits their hull into chunks.

World

Our world:

We are around a gas giant named Eos. It has an asteroid belt which is 200km tall, 2200km wide, 3000km away from Eos. there should be around 950 trillion asteroids, though this number is a bit old information (mostly because of the newer asteroid sizes and Moons).

here is some pictures/videos.

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Drag:

Drag. Not the aerodynamic kind, so no planes. Also, mass-based. The faster you are moving, the more thrust is used to gain extra m/s. Each ship has its own speed cap based on mass, thrust power and drag.

Will there be servers?

No servers. Only one universe with a P2P hybrid where servers control instancing, persistence, matchmaking and security and players mostly communicate with a P2P hybrid. Oddly, more players in an area can actually increase performance because they split processing between them.

There is no need for a main server due to its P2P hybrid model. There is only one instance of the universe. There are no “private servers” and no one can host a server.

What will be the view distance?

5km. Everything freezes if you aren't within that distance. Stations have a higher draw distance of 200km

Are there planets to land on?

Gravity is being tested if we can make it happen-LauriFB

Currently, mag boots replace the need of gravity and allow endos to attach to any surface

No planets at the moment, but there are moons - big celestial bodies where you can land.

What are the roles available in the game?

The developer Factions, Kingdom and Empire are Rivals in Starbase. Joining either faction would be akin to a campaign mode in a game, following and setting up events and protecting the starter safe zone. Do note that Neutral is not a faction and instead, a loosely coined name for those not a part of the Kingdom Empire conflict.

Additional note: You're not part of Empire or Kingdom if you only choose their role on the main Discord. Only joining their discords and clearing their checks will confirm your position as a member of one of the two dev factions.

Will there be an ingame Voice chat?

Currently, there will be no VOIP. if there is enough demand, they may consider adding it.

Shipwrecks & despawning:

LauriFB 02/17/2020

most parts of ships and bodies are semi-persistent, for example: derelict lifetime is currently 6 months. but some small parts which fly off from explosions or collisions won't remain. (-jorn: for ships without any players nearby)

LauriFB 11/03/2023

derelict lifetime is 365 days since last encounter with player(s)

Will we run out of asteroids?

There are 950 trillion asteroids, and was calculated as an estimate to take 1 million players more than their lifespan of constant 24/7 mining to empty the whole universe. (old, but latest info on it)

Other

Economy:

Quick Economy (To be replaced by Quicker Economy) [Quicker Economy has been delayed.]

Shields, Cameras:

Non existent.

Prisoners:

Does not work in this game. Note: bad in-game behaviour (like trolling and griefing in a safezone, and being all around toxic anywhere)  can end up with you being imprisoned in Saltberia (In-game prison.) and breaking and/or cheating in game will make you kicked/banned.

NPC:

None.

AI:

Code your own. Limitations essentially stop this. The Major limitation is YOLOL working only within a 1km radius of a player. Cutting a limb from a player and bolting it near yolol won’t bypass it.

To answer the question about 20 lines being a major limitation, yolol chips can access other yolol chips, it can be far more than 20 lines but it will take up more space. Mind the chip execution frequency - chip executes every line with 200 milliseconds break. It means that the chip will execute the whole code in 4 seconds.

Please read pins in the Starbase discord -> #starbase-faq

Credits:

Write your own name if you believe to have contributed.

• Jornexe

• Marksman

• VilleFB

• Sylaerith

• Sweer

• ST2005

• Einar4050

• Simulator Haven

• Dommy

• IHaveNoLife

Which Developers and Community Managers to ask for information not listed in this page.

Developers:

• Lauri - Creative director, all knowing. Boss.
  
• VilleFB - Economics and resource dev.
  
• HamstahFB - Heavy weapons ship expert.
  
• JimiFB - Arts dev.
  
• AkseliFB - Cargo storage, delivery and manipulation dev.
  
• ArtturiFB - Yolol and devices.
  
• PipFB - Feature videos and side videos.
  
• KaiFB - Boltcracker video series.
  
• TeoFB - Ship and station editor programmer.
  
• SoosiFB - Faction designer.
  

Community Managers (Discord, SB forums, Steam forums, Moderation):

• PriskaFB - discord.
  
• ElluFB - SB forums.
  
• VenlaFB - Steam forums.
  
• AuraFB
  

Please do ask the community before you decide to ping a Developer.

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