IMPORTANT - Please Read | HWS Universe Time machine

[Achilles]

Hi Community

This is a somewhat different type of post, there is a lot going on behind the scenes at the moment and so I feel it’s appropriate to say a few words.

Introduction

As many of you will know HWS has been around a long time now, very close to when the game actually was released way back in Pre-Alpha.

Since the start the server has come a long, long way…with a huge amount of dedication from our founder RexXxuS and co-founder Jascha. We are where we are today through thousands of hours of work, Hundreds of feedback posts from the community and most important hundreds of loyal and new supporters that keep us alive by playing on the server and through donations.

I’ve been knocking around over a year and since becoming and Admin about 10 months ago I have dedicated a lot of my time to help keep this amazing creation going. We have over the past months grown and have a great new member to the team who most of you know, that is Hopscotch.

Now we all know how much you guys appreciate the work we put it, this is what drives us, The idea that we are bringing a great community together where they can have great fun together and become a part of this amazing journey.

So, with that said, we are always looking at developing, making things better…ultimately…for all of you guys.

What makes us?

What makes us unique, apart from the active and dedicated admins there is a lot…a few here just to mention

• We have some awesome and unique features such as Orbital Cargo Drone

• We Put a lot of thought into the universe and create missions, Role play and experiences you can’t get elsewhere such as Reputation system, the different unique origins.

• We cater for as many people as we can to play the way they want

• We have a website, we allow you to manage the game outside the game and in it with HWS connect and the active forum

And a lot more…

Whats the story?

HWS is always looking at developing and giving more and more, Every season we add lots and lots as the game grows we grow, We get more numbers wanting to get involved in the game and we see the crazy number of 177 players online at once on EU.

This is always what drives us, It’s amazing and we enjoy it…but

We have a problem

The more working parts you add, the more problems you encounter. This is true as in life and it is true here.

HWS 1

Since 2,5+ years everything always starts for me on paper…
HWS 1 universe found at least in my analog archieve:

HWS 2

Any of you remember this?

HWS 2.0

Back then HWS was simple but complex, Simple in that from an admin side besides are features the only in game things we had to worry about was universe set up, changing the biomes to look cool and what should be set to PVE/PVP…then it was just down to helping players in game.

Complex because we had our innovative features that where for ever being worked on to add more depth to a game that had very little.

This is where I joined and played, I fell in love with HWS and the features and it was awesome, I could check my bank every day and see how much interest I got…I could play around with my OCD managing items things where great…I mean if we had 40 players on it was a great night, so many people we thought!

I loved PVE and PVP…Performance was an issue, but not really a game breaking one…yes there where bugs, but that didn’t stop me and really the biggest stress I had was finding players to fight, it was a large universe and most of the planets where empty…apart from those carebears that never leave PVE I used to think

But this for me, was and still is my favourite universe. It was easy. Build. Fight, rebuild.

So then this came…

HWS 3

HWS 3.0

Wow, It was massive…we had new features added, we had so many more planets, we had a HWS campaign…I mean it was daunting, so much to explore!!

I remember day 1…performance was bad, a lot of rage quits…

like 2.0 the universe design was simple, What resources should be where, what POI should go here…I mean it would take Rex maybe 1 week to build the universe and we had a lot of features but again all was very manageable for the players and the admin staff. It was always then just the in game help that players needed that was the focus.

Then this bad boy came

HWS 4

HWS 4.0

Like the ones before it wasn’t too hard to make, I mean you have 2 choices at the start, do I go PVE or PVP…

We introduced as always new things, Origin planets, Donator planets, gold planet (the first real HUB for PVP fights)

You decided what Origin you wanted to be, but no no it wasn’t as easy as selecting you had to put a certain character in your faction name. So Traders your faction would be SAT, MAT, DAT and you would need the word ‘Trader’ or ‘Traders’ in the name…this is how much work had gone in behind the scenes, We could actually push the story and role play…was it exploitable, hell yea…but it was leaps ahead what the game was doing.

Again like with the past builds it had its pros and cons and its problems, We found performance was an issue as always but it was manageable, we had wipes and introduced limits of BA,SV, CV so things could run as smooth as possible. Again yes there was bugs with the official builds that always hindered our progress and made more work but never anything that wasn’t manageable.

The next one was this…

HWS 5

5.0

So much progress, we had implemented so many more features, EGS, HWS garage…the official origins meant unique starters for all…a lot of work went into this bad boy. The universe was BIG and donator planets grew which helped us to maintain.

Again the number one problem with our progress…performance…let down always our ambition by the reality of this Alpha game.

Still we live and we learn, We work hard…try to always make so much for the players, thinking about performance but not letting it guide the way totally.

At this point the game was changing a lot and our work load was getting more and more, The more Eleon added, the more Admins were required to help the players with bugs, The more features we added the more time to fine tune, bug fix, the more overall changes the more we had to work…the hours become more and more.

Then after a long 6 months…6.0 finally arrives

So here we are now, and here comes the main reason for the post.

The patch was huge, unlike anything we have EVER had before, this meant not a week or so prep of the universe, it meant MONTHS of work to make sure we could adapt to all the changes…we had our own HWS features and ideas and wanted to implement them so again we had to allow time for this, each time changes come officially in the closed versions we have to change things here and there…To really say how much time I cannot, personally maybe it took over 300 hours.

We have a great universe, great features and an ever growing community…

So whats the issue?

We have always had problems with performance, but this is intense, things are not working as they should, our tool is at 100%. The server CPU is at 100%… and more so, our founder Rex is at 200%…

So it’s not just about performance…

We are all really feeling it at the moment, we can’t keep up…such a small team and so much to contend with it consumes any spare time we have. What started as a passion is becoming something that consumes all life…

Rex is super human, but he is human…and us others, we have real life to contend with also like the rest of you, I work 11 hour days in the shitty real world and what used to be my escape (HWS Admin), is becoming more of a prison job.

Now don’t me wrong, I and we are not giving up, but let’s just say how things are, they are not manageable. They are not stable, for the server things aren’t stable and in real life things are not stable.

So the reason I show you the past and the start of it all is simple, What started as something out of passion and was manageable is something that has grown well above expectation, The game has developed way more than any of us could of bet and HWS has a massive amazing community that has grown with it, The only thing that hasn’t grown much is the team, We are now 4 people instead of 3.

So what does this all mean?

There is going to be some changes coming, what changes we can’t say just yet. The focus will be on these areas

• PERFORMANCE = without this being stable, Things will go south very quick.

• MANAGEMENT = The real life cost, There is so much now we have to contend with it really does take up so much time and we are missing out on doing what is most important as an admin…helping the players.

What kind of changes may we have to implement?

• Universe size - Open playfields is a massive problem for performance, the more open…the worse it is. We may focus on a smaller universe filled with very detailed and thought out planets and areas that you WILL want to explore.

• Donator planets - Linked with the one above, We really do rely on donations to run the servers, but, with 14 extra open playfields…it kills the performance. So these may come under review.

• Wipes - Now that we can display loads of details about playfields, we can have wipes and the players can see. They just open up the map where as before it meant logging in here. Perhaps we can have special zones that wipe every few weeks.

• Indestructible terrain - Personally I love digging, we should definitely always have this but on some playfields going forward it will be essential to have indestructible terrain on some NONE wipe planets.

• Number of players able to join the server - This is hopefully only something that would be temporary. If we make changes to other areas this should only ever be temp, right now on EU we allow 177 players.

• Admin Support

This is maybe the biggest one, our job as ADMIN is to help you. Help with bugs, help with making the server the best it can be. Right now, we are fighting a losing battle. So many dramas we have a list of hundreds and messages from lots of players in need of help/advice/questions.

We need to find a way that this can become our priority once again, so we will have time to put you first. So changes will be coming so that if we log on in an evening, we can spend 2 hours helping you guys…not 2 hours trying to fix things the whole time you get ignored and frustrated with the performance and the lack of help

Final Words

The aim of this post is to just try and show people the reasons why things need to change, So that when they come it isn’t met with hostility and negativity.

Looking to the future you can expect a better performing server with all our features that we have nice and polished, A universe that may not be huge but will have so much to offer and excite you, a fantastic balance of PVP and PVE and a story that you will love to jump into, an up to date guide that you know won’t change every month and be a centre of confusion and you will have admins that can help you out with the real sucky things that an Alpha game brings.

Please over the next month or so be patient as a lot of these things are not quick fixes, expect to see the first real massive step coming in HWS 6.0 Season 2

How can you help?

Let us know what you think, Changes will be coming, let us know what changes you’d like to see and what things you really don’t want to change.

always considering what is best for the server, not just 1 player.

Thanks for reading

Your HWS Team

[Xanif]

What can the community do to help make your lives easier??

[Achilles]

@Achilles

How can you help?

Let us know what you think, Changes will be coming, let us know what changes you’d like to see and what things you really don’t want to change.

always considering what is best for the server, not just 1 player.

Just added

Essentially, We are talking about changes that aren’t looking at adding, but taking away…so just think about what is really important to you about the server, and what is nice to have when it comes to performance and what takes up most our time.

Example

for me AS A PLAYER

Important:

PVP performance
Working features such as OCD, AM, EGS zones etc
Interesting things to see in the universe not just another ‘Empty planet’ such as cool POI
PVE safe zones
Being able to dig on planets
a guide that holds all information

Not important:

Universe size
Donator planets
NPC Player Traders
Wipes (As long as there are perma planets i dont mind wipes to entire systems, such as MOBA and other interesting reward areas)

[Mario]

We appreciate all the effort you guys put in and definitely willing to help in any way

For me as a player, I love the current setup, such that there’s pve and pvp. I think it’s very important to make sure rare resources are only on pvp areas, this ensures people don’t just camp in pve

Having said this what’s important to me:
1- interesting POIs (great job by the way on the asylum mission, I’m in LOVE with it, did it 3 times now still trying to finish it )
2- features (most important being OCD, AM, Bank)
3- PVE safe area (again I don’t want this to be place I live and never have to leave but just safe fall back)
4- more missions in PDA

No imprtnat:
1- being able to dig
2- massive universe
3- NPC (I don’t know if I’d believe anyone purchases from NPC given the rp cost (at least early in the game)
4- wipes (Long live the OCD)
5- black hole (maybe just me but I never go there I find all resources I need on other planets and farming with bug is easier than turret
6- Origins (now I know Rex will hate me for saying this ) but the way origins are now they are still not very well adopted, factions don’t really live together or protect each other, as a guardian last season I got shot by guardians and helped by pirates. The players mostly pick their origin based on potential to earn rp and what the package is. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of being able to have a story line, where there are multiple origins and they fights for dominance, but I feel to get there you need to encourage them to work together somehow.

A few suggestions too:
1- donator planets, maybe limit one per group, I see groups having multiple and seems an overkill.
2- a lot of players join , build , leave, I wonder whether clean up should be faster than 9 days
3- have moderators in community, they don’t get admin privilege, they just answer questions and for it maybe they get a salary of 5k credits (in game) a day of something. This will reduce load on pings to admins, and all requests funneled through mods.
4- reduce number of structures per faction, this is a bit selfish but good for me solo player as it limits the number of people per faction since they can’t live together and have a ship per person if limit is increased.

Just some ideas, I managed servers before and I know how hard it is, so again great work.

[zappe21]

We all love you guys for giving us this game… Remeber that…

Important

• Missions - This have been one of the best updates ever. Missions are hell to try but so much fun.

• Ocd,Am,Bank and ofc GARAGE (Garage is great for removing credits from the game.)

• Donator planets - Good way for you to make money.

• Moba system is a great ide.

• NPC - Well it adds donation money to you so that is importent to me.

• ESG - The planet with everything HWS is perfect. But maybe remove all the walking NPC´s

Not importent.

• Digging - Just remove it

• Univerze size - small is good if it works. We have alot of problems on areas with alot of planets it gets laggy realy fast.
  (This have been a problem for us the hole time. Add 5 planets and jumping there is laggy as hell.)

• Starter planets - Make it 1 pve / pvp and be done with it. Wipes 2 times a week or something.

• Black hole - Never been there in 6.0

• Alien planets - Make more missions instead.

• RP need a rework. i have after 2 weeks still only 15 rp. It was better before.

If there is anything i can do to help just ask…

Best

Zappe

[SquirtingElephant]

Oh yes I remember that 2.0 universe. I didn’t like it and performance in 2.0 was worse than 6.0 and there was no OCD early 2.0

Important:

• PVP performance
• Working & trustworthy OCD
• Working reputation gain (currently not really working)
• NPC Traders & ECC
• Unlooted POI (or missions with instanced POI instead is also fine)
• PVE safe zones
• Being allowed to make one nice big PVE house/base
• An up2date guide that holds all information with ctrl+f ability. Google Doc is fine don’t need a website/forum for it
• Donator planets
• Enough admin/mod presence
• Gold planet(s)
• Good exploit-reporting system with simple option to upload video(s)
• Clear rules, clear & fair punishments

Not important:

• Universe size
• Digging / terrain deformations
• Starter planets (not enough time spent there anyway)
• Origins
• Hunter board (is being abused anyway)
• Subscription fee
• Black market
• Garage

More admins/mods would be nice yes. Right now there don’t even seem enough to keep up with tool restart & bug&exploit reporting. Also some rewards from even 5.x seem to be in the todo-queue. Admins are way behind/overworked and the most simple fix would be to increase the number admins/mods as long as they are fair & can be trusted.
I think that other causes for the overworked admins:

• More features => more balance problems & more exploits => more headaches for admins.
• More players (outdated guide also contributes) => more newbies => more questions => more newbie-drama => more lag => more bugs => more admin time required.
• Bigger Eleon patch = more bugs = more exploits = more drama = more admin time required.

Also the more players on the server, the more admins you need and the more newbie-players on the server, the more questions you get.

4- reduce number of structures per faction [snip] since they can’t live together and have a ship per person if limit is increased.

Then they all go solo faction and make alliances and still live together? IIRC we had this before from even before we had alliances and it did not work without a wall of rules that nobody wanted either.

I did notice lack of punishments for the rampage exploiting in 6.x. Like all those factionless lvl25 with 0-3 kills in 30 minutes and various other blatant exploits (like exploiting to steal from PVE, “is only tiny exploit, therefor is okay to use”…). Need more admins!

[SquirtingElephant]

Have another crazy idea:
Just use PVE server with CSW with low to none resources. People can park and live there and fight POI there, and PVP and get gold & mine on other server. Also dump all PVE donator planets on the PVE server and remove PVE zones on PVP server? This way both universes can be smaller and we can house more players.
And of course tax ALL DEEPSPACE on PVP server, increasing heavily the longer it’s parked there.

But the CSW must be 100% trustworthy for this

[Daddystu]

Thats a big post Achilles - how’d you find time for that

Good to hear your thoughts. You guys really do need more support - the 4 of you shouldnt even try to take on all this by yourselves. We try our best in the community but you could do with at least another 2 imo. Maybe re-introduce HWS police in-game with a few players who have more privs?

Performance/Universe;

It is just too big atm. 10 warps to EGS (there and back) to get my daily interest is laborious for me - especially as all the origin systems I travel through are barely inhabited (planets at least). I liked the PvE / PvP 3 planet rotation idea from V4 - did that work better performance wise?

Class sizes;

Maybe CV class could be reduced to class 3. My best designs are 4 borderline class 5 and they seem to last forever in battle in V6. I’m sure I could redesign them to class 3 without impacting PvP performance too greatly. HVs could be reduced aswell to help with the planetary FPS frame drops which seem greater in this version.

Terrain;

Lots of unnecessary grass waving about, mist and fog obscuring everything - just not needed. Of course PvP combat areas could easily just use indestructible terrain - with maybe desert biome like V5 Zion.

Donators;

You need the income from donator planets so maybe drop this idea to donator ‘zones’. Perhaps origins share a PvE planet with greater structure limit. 3 faction bases should be sufficient and no private bases. N connection would still permit multiple parts to a base so shouldnt be an issue with this. Plus small CVs can be made into very effective bases.

Just some quick thoughts.

[SquirtingElephant]

All good posts. Are we allowed to respond/debate to each other in this topic? If so:

[quote=“Daddystu, post:10, topic:5990”]
Maybe CV class could be reduced to class 3.
[/quote]+1 on that.

I also agree that the loads of warping is annoying and slightly eats server performance when a few hundred players a day go to and from market to get interest. Also warping is one of those things in the game that still causes bugs so now and then.

However, lots of those client-side-only effects like grass & weather do not affect server performance I think. Also a tip:

Press ~ (tilde) and type: deco grassoff
to save performance and making fiber & combat on foot better.

Also CV’s cant be reliably used as main-bases because they tend to bug out: get launched into space, flipped upside down, even disappear sometimes, kill you, etc. I love BA’s for not having those bugs. And the penthouses are (I’m sorry admins) horrible I heard. Can’t even rebuild your own ship near it and not enough cargo/constructors and such so that’s no viable alternative to donator planets (yet).

[gargonus]

For starters to this point it has been mostly positive with the server itself and admin dev staff. Beyond that there are issues.

As a player/game dev hopeful let me add my two bits.

1. Terminate the independent trader:
   Trader should be moved to a sub faction of each origin. Pirate trader (criminals mostly sell things back to real people not other criminals)
   Traders should get advanced bonuses to constructing ships and parts there by driving there faction to them and enriching their lives.
   This allows for a more steam lined story mode more to the tune of RvR like in CUC or DAoC.
2. All members of a origin are automatically a no fire none hostile target. Period – Death to a massive chunk oh drama.
3. Each faction has its own chat and never the twain shall meet. Period. Don’t need global when all origin guys are none targets and forced to work together. You want care bear solo there is a server for that or be a pirate or a freelancer whom back ground mindset fits that idea.
4. Lets hurt some feelings (mine included). There must be clear and reasonable paths for new people to catch up to the OCD self afflicted I am better then you crowd. Yes love my OCD and my credits ect ect that I donated for.
   That being said since my period around 3-4.0 up till now some of the attitudes on the server seem a bit upper crust skull dugery. I personally have invited 6 people to the server and all 6 wont return do too things said to them by some of the um "Pillars of the community"
   That’s 6 less people to shoot, to trade with, to connect with, to simply enrich the server.
5. I don’t think the amount of planets is important. I think the player wants space they can call their own, even if in a faction with others they like to cubby hole their trinkets that make them love playing. Free from the dirty hands of others. This means to me in disciplinary actions those you find of pirate soul be forced pirate and must petition to be other wise voted on by peers.
6. Ships: This one is hard to be honest I have ships that range in different roles. Pirates out there reading maybe familiar and post about them. I have a Ship which I class as a battle ship cv -3. Massive but small foot print (relative mind you) Tank that leads the charge. My Second ship A Battle cruiser or super destroyer is cv-1 and flys wing to the tank. If you fight the tank the bird of prey will cut you in two and but quick so in the end I am just not sure what direction to go on ships but if reduced I have things designed for it.
7. Just to retouch on PVE-PVP. I love it
   New guys need safe spaces to collect credits resources poi loot and the nine before they start knocking heads with the established players or force players to help them along in some way that doesn’t feed the ugly beast of ego.

[aernoud]

Important:

(PVP) performance
Working features such as OCD, AM, EGS zones, Scrap, EB.
POI Planets
PVE safe zones (but harsh & barren, with little loot)
a guide that holds all information (problem is that those that need it most never read it). So short and snappy

Donator planets (you need the money). I live on one myself, but if they take a lot of performance, limit the options to whatever helps the game performance. e.g. no digging, etc. But there needs to be a balance. the donator planets are already reduced (max 100 cores, limited deposits, 2 months season for 99 euro), so not sure how much more you can reduce this without hitting the point that having a DO planet just does not make sense.

Other Suggestions:
Create a formal support community, players that help other players (not server Admins). So they can handle the mundane stuff and support goes through them to you (they only get you involved if they cannot solve)

Not important:
Universe size, rather have fewer planets with high activity than lots of planets where you live on your own…
Being able to dig on planets
NPC Player Traders (never use them)
Black Market (we have a fairly good working game mechanic) so if you need to drop something this would be my pick.
Wipes. More planets can have wipes if that helps performance. You can have ‘resource’ planets with deposits that ‘wipe’ regularly.
Black Hole I am not so sure. Never much go there myself, but it is a nice place for CV based battles… Maybe you need a resource that is very valuable that is very difficult to get elsewhere… ATM I get all I need without needing BH.

[Niewitch]

My list would be

Important:

performance
OCD, AM, bank
reputation system
missions
PVE safe zones
intruder log
rotation planets
Interesting galaxy
be able to dig ( not all planets need to be )
origins ( i like allways storys, but origins should not be too restrictive )

Not important:

dig ( not all planets need to be )
NPC trader ( i havent use ever that, and now the rp cost so much that iam not even going to, alltough there is few very good packaces )
Wipes ( as long as its area specified and clearly informed, not whole universe )
black market ( why there should be another market, game have its own, altough sometimes found there better trade)
Garage ( never bought anything, and i bet i never have any use of it, alltough beatifull ships )
Donator planets ( huge performance loss, but gives money for server cost so problematic )

How about splitting universe in separate servers, as there is server warp, that allow continue of growing progress, nothing is taken out, but both server could have less player slots, but overall would be more than before.

[TheRaven]

Been waiting for this for a long time.

I have been with hws since the start the first time i met Rexxxus was on the pvp starter planet he was helping someone and we shot him multiple times untill we realised he was the owner, i can only say our relationship has blossomed since

I admired the work and dedication he has put into the server.

Some thoughts

@RexXxuS

Keep it simple. Despite the fact that HWS has the nices toys trying to push the envelope at every season is only giving you problems. Even if the server was mostly vanilla the numbers can still be there.

Few tips trash the VIVI nebula and trinity nebula. integrate them into Homeworld while keeping the planets in homeworld to 5.

No ERES ZAS gold or BC on pve planets.

Moba
the HV planet can’t be ultra bumpy you can’t use hv on planet properly. feedback from player.

We need a gold planet moba is mixed can’t leave and limited what can be used. No interest in even going.

p.s
The resources have been gimped in 6.0 no efficient method of placing AM devices. There needs to be a planet that’s PVE with all basic resources. I understand why you did this but you fixed the problem with the ocd gimp from 700,000 to 50,000 while most of my faction members sit on 10 of millions of resources new members are left in the cold.

p.p.s

Let us build the next universe with you we can help the most because we are active players. Theory is not always the same as practice.

More to come

[Mordgier]

So here is a thought - get rid of donator planets and have a much smaller pool of subscriber planets - like 6 or so.

Paying in as a subscriber randomly gives you access to the planet, for a whole faction you pay a higher fee.

There would need to be limits on the number of structures and so on but it would lower the number of playfields significantly and it would offer similar benefits as the current donator planets.

With the lower donation requirements it would make the planets more accessible to everyone and lower the P2W aspect significantly and you may get more donations in total as there would be a higher number of players/factions who are able to afford to pay to have access to these planets.

[AncientsLegacy]

I fully support everything you guys have done and love this server. I just wanna know if this will mean a full wipe and when it will happen lol.

[Blackwing]

I think performance is the more important thing as always, so every type of donation shoud not impact the performance like donators planets actually do.

Maybe add other option as donation like reduce price from npc traders, upgrade level for the bank or any features possible.

Maybe add a season subscription fee even if it is a little amount, but imo everyone should pay for his spot when playing on a non official server, specially with THE awesome HWS team we got here.

So get rid of donators, it will have a good impact on performance, and even for the universe you created.

For example, i was surpised this weekend to be the only hunter living on origin planet even with 177 players at prime time…i miss the old days when origin were populated

[Mattcore37k]

@ Admins
Quick question regarding donator planets. Perhaps a viable alternative would be to have Donator stations. Pre Approved
Designs that would be admin cored so indestructible. Just need keep the guns filled.

As a Legacy Donator planet owner I would see this as a fair trade off.

Just an idea thought we could kick around.

[SquirtingElephant]

[quote=“Blackwing, post:18, topic:5990”]
i miss the old days when origin were populated
[/quote]I too miss the times of people trolling my view, mining dry all deposits, flipping my ships, taking up the best spots, FPS drained to 0, people looking inside my ships using exploits to find weakspots & steal designs, core limits reached all the time, Did I forgot something?

[aernoud]

Maybe something out of the box…

How much of these problems are caused because of high population. If you can lower that and split load across 2 servers? Make a medium and hard version of the HWS universe (not PvE), maybe even with a jump option to cross over (like NA and EU)…

[Daddystu]

Donator space stations could be a good idea. Large enough to handle 20 or so. Farm big enough to feed them but they’d have to go into planet regularly for mining etc.