Mostly Harmless Questions

Dinbar: Will you be building any specific "role play" emotes, tools etc. We aren’t looking at using emotes as they don’t really fit the communications system (which is one of the features we’re currently working on). Beyond the Text and Voice communications we are looking at there will be pre-defined messages that have additional game play effects, such as the ability to “declare piracy” – an act that can affect your reputation and trigger specific AI responses.

Steve Taylor: Will it be possible to find our NPCs in the finished game? Players will be able to find starports and systems that they have named by exploring the galaxy! Named NPCs will be encountered randomly during game play.

Duvand: I really like to explore in games, will there be rewards in the game for doing this and what form will they take? We are looking at having a variety of rewards for exploration including straightforward credit payments, access to rare or restricted ship modules, and increases in reputation which open up new mission and event possibilities, as well as increase the likelihood of favourable outcomes when dealing with NPCs and factions.

Caribou: Will there be long range scanners, or some kind of small robot scanner that can hyperspace to a distant system and return some basic info on it? One of the aspects of exploration we are working towards does indeed have hyperspace-capable “probes” that gather and transmit useful information back to the ship. Veep: Which ships will get multiple independent shield sections? Ships roughly the size of the Cobra or larger will have multiple shield zones, and the ability to “push” shield power between them.