HWS+ EU + NA |Dynamic Universe|Story|Active|PvPvE|Mods

[RexXxuS]

Hey everyone,

[Temporary Announcement]

Here is our HWS 11 Teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeNFN_Lj3Lw&feature=emb_title

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Welcome to HWS (Homeworld Server). Below you will find some useful and interesting information about the server, our community and us.

[Quick Introduction]

HWS started on march 2016 by Jascha and me. Since then we always tried to implement more and more features into the game / HWS and create a big community which enjoy to play the game in Multiplayer.

We have two servers location in Europe and America with a current active member base of ~ 700 players. In total over 8000 players joined HWS.
We have over 20 people with a playtime on the server of 1000 hours and looking back at 6 big (new) universe changes so far.

[Gameplay on HWS]

Since the beginning we tried to push the game and its possibilities to a next level. Since both Jascha and me are coders we create in that way a tool (EAH) and a website (HWS Connect) which adds a total new gameplay to the game. For example:

• Orbital Cargo Drone (OCD) which will store your items throughout full wipes (which are needed in the current state of the game)
  
  
• Elemental Bank (EB) which gives you a full economy feature set like pay in/out your credits, have Bank interests, sending money to other people or live your dream and buy / sell ships / play lottery
  
  
• 3 unique to play Origins: Freelancer, Alliance, Lawless. Each of them has their strengths and weaknesses and each of them get unique missions / rewards along the way
  
  
• Reputation System: not only used as a currency but also to play the game as you wish
  
  
• HWS Connect: a website which connects the game to every location you need (smartphone or whatever). It is possible to play the game partially with the website like sending your faction messages from anywhere, manage your OCD or Credits online, check information about the structures built in the universe, see who is guilty on the Hunter Board and more
  
  
• Big community interaction with a Black Market and Elemental Garage where you can buy / sell rare alien artifacts (to boost your RP) or buy / sell special pimped ships
  A "living" / dynamic universe with rotational playfields from PvP to PvE and warp destinations mapped to specific times
  
  
• (PDA) Missions to boost your Singleplayer experience even in a Multiplayer game and hunting this way for big rewards - dependent on your Origin you have chosen
  
  
• Much, much more really like Story driven start locations, NPC Traders, Orbital Auto Miner, Helping Centers, unique and lots of POIs and Cross Server Warp, which ultimately connects both universes - EU and NA - together

[HWS Guide / Help / Commuinty]

We try to update our big guide everytime and as soon as possible to help you with the questions and rules we have on HWS.

In general HWS is quite complex and not as easy as you expect but once you learned some stuff (which is also possible within the game with our ingame PDA) then you might like the new gameplay.

Last but not least again: the most important thing and what we are proud of is our community. They are not only helping us in running these expensive servers but also beginner by helping them as good as they can.

Thank you all for making HWS a nice and never boring place where everyone from everywhere can play.

Your HWS Team

[RexXxuS]

Hey guys,

I was able to work on HWS Connect today. Some new features and a lot of improvements were made. Check out the images or directly here: HWS Connect[empyrion-homeworld.net]

Added: Elemental Trading Station
Added: Structure Commander
Added: Elemental Bank
Added: More Player Stats

Fixed: Donator packages count

That is the stable version before HWS Connect 2.0 comes out. There you can not only read your stats - you also can change stuff -> doing online banking, stock market, ...

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721001378


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721002648


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721003123

[RexXxuS]

HWS 2.3 - Blueprint spawn limit

Hey guys,

just a quick information in the hope people read it and not call "admin admin" all the time in the chat.

As you can read here: http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=383120
They added the feature that we can limit the blueprint spawn size.

We decided to go with the number 4 (500 < 1000 = 4 EXP) for now.

It is still big enough but limits the monster 1 million turret ships in a certain way. This has 2 advantages:
1. We hope the playfields are more stable now - especially the PvE ones

2. People can't come with their planet-sized ships and lagg the enemy to death like some people intended to do

The big ships must be focussed now of course [​IMG]
But if 4 is still too big and we encounter still problems because of that we reduce it to 3.

As always let us know what you think after some time.

Jascha & RexXxuS

[Bansheedragon]

I'm considering joining your server, the one I play on seems to have become deserted.
But before I make a decision I need to talk with a couple friends I play with to see if we want to move and I had some questions.
It became longer than I had first thought, as I went through your website and read the available information more questions came up.

I have been reading about your server on your website and something caught my attention that I could not understand about the server rules.
http://empyrion-homeworld.net/rules

Specifically this point:
Park your CV >20km away from the nearest planet in orbit to almost always be safe!
It says more then 20km from a planet to be safe in orbit which sounds quite extreme to me, so I assume thats an error?
I usually park somewhere between 1-2km from a planet, personally I feel that around 1500-1700m is optimal.

I never was much for PVP either, you could say I have something of an aversion for it due to some bad experiences, but you seem to have it well in hand here.
Your server admin tool seems quite impressive, I think even the devs can learn a thing or two here.
However I much prefer PVE Co-Op so I was wondering what possibilities there is for players to do that over PVP.
One thing me and my friends like to do is raid POIs, is there possibilities for us to do this(preferably without the PVP element if possible, but its not a deal breaker)?

I'm also curious about the starter planet wipe thats mentioned.
"Mars and Deimos(EU starter planet) are wiped every Monday and Friday at 9AM (GMT +2), 12AM (PST), and 3AM (EST)".
It seems rather frequent for starter planets, and could make it difficult for more casual players to get a CV for all their things before a wipe.
So my question is simple are there other starter planets that does not have these wipes or less frequent ones?

Reading the story page I see you have 5 factions and talk about how to join them.
From reading it I'm a little unsure how it works, do you allow other factions or is it limited to these 5?
I would prefer to have my own faction, but its not a deal breaker for me to have it, its just that from the description none of the existing ones seem to fit my playstyle.
My playstyle is a little more free form you could say and PVE/Co-Op oriented.

And finally I seem to have discovered an error with your do:re and do:bp descriptions on your donations page.
The description for do:re is the same as the one for do:bp, which is the description for the do:bp command.
http://empyrion-homeworld.net/donation.

[RexXxuS]

Hey Bansheedragon,

first of all: wow! You pre-informed yourself very good and read so much and even gave feedback about my mistakes. That is really awesome and I really appreciate it very much! Thank you.

Yeah HWS seems a bit complicated at first with all that story, rules, Auto Miner, Elemental Bank, HWS Connect etc. but you get used to it very fast. Basically we enhanced the game pretty much by ourself.

So... 20k+ km away from planet is actually no error. We already had cases where people searched with the T2 Sniper for ships in the orbit. With the scope of the T2 sniper you can see stuff over 30k km in space (if you are lucky too).
The thing about it is that OP (offline protection) is still not 100% reliable. There are exploits or bugs with it what would cause you a big loss if you just park it 1-2k away from planet where everyone can visit your stuff and try exploits so long till they got it.

We really try to make the PvE and PvP guys happy. We have a lot of PvE planets / orbits where you can park / build safe but also PvP playfields where you have to go out to get special resources.
Please keep in mind though: with the HWS 3.0 universe and patches this will change again very much. It is a work in progress right now
Especially the Co-Op gameplay is a sneak preview for HWS 3.0. There you have daily POI events.
For now we reset the start planets and dedicated resource planets so you can go for the POI hunt again - indeed better together.

Due the high population on HWS we need to wipe so often because the core limit would be reached very quick on the PvE planets. Basically you have 3 / 4 days to get a little CV and warp to Peacekeeper I (PvE orbit) where you are save. Sure some can build you this little CV in 2 hours some not.
So yeah there is Earth (PvP) as another starter planet what is dangerous of course.
We recommend to casual gamer to ask for help. We have some dedicated factions only for that job. For example this one: http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=293 ;)

No you are not forced to these factions. However we encourage the HWS Story with different benefits for different factions. In your case you would get tomorrow with our first rebalance release a 700 credit bonus pack as No-faction / Lawless player to deal with the 10% market place fee.
You can read a bit here too: http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=185&start=30#p1374

I hope I could answer your questions as good as possible but again please feel free to ask us anything you want. Really glad to see that you informed yourself so much :)

Your HWS Team

[Xango2000]

Początkowo opublikowane przez RexXxuS:

We really try to make the PvE and PvP guys happy. We have a lot of PvE planets / orbits where you can park / build safe

Really?
I've played on HWS for a couple months now, I stay on the starter planets because I don't PvP. I haven't heard of any PvE planets other than Mars, Deimos and Z(?). Z is only reachable if you fly thru about 15 PvP playfields.

Could you elaborate more on what PvE players, such as myself, can do that is purely PvE? Other than attack POIs that are gone within an hour of planet wipe.

[RexXxuS]

Seems you missed the changes some weeks ago. ;)

Due issues with Nova (over 200 structures on it) we added Fortune and New Hope pve planets.
Also Elemental Marketplace is for trading ships now and the good old Peacekeeper 1 pve orbit for parking ships (10k block count limit) is back.

Oh well this is for the EU Server (fortune and new hope). but NA have the other playfields as well

[Bansheedragon]

Another long post incoming, at least you made it clear you appreciate someone who wants to be informed.
I have to wait for my friend to return from holiday before I make a final decision, he should be home in a week and its possible I might join him play ARK if I can ever get on the server he plays on, some limitations on global connections is preventing me from accessing the server.

I'm usually not this thorough when I'm looking into something new, but the information was easy to find and understand so it made it easy to inform myself.
Also having spent the last 3.5 years defending another game still in development from trolls and haters on various articles around the web has taught me the value of being properly informed.

The mistakes I found was pretty obvious when you just read the text, but from the sound of it you guys are probably busy enough that things like this can slip by.
Besides I always found it beneficial to provide feedback, in most cases it improves the gameplay experience not just for me, but everyone else.

I was not aware that the scope of the T2 sniper had that kind of range, that is certainly something that needs to be fixed, and I hope this has been reported to the devs?
Parking 20+ km away from a planet is 2-4 times as far from the planet as you usually exit warp, and might even be too far for my patience(especially since there is no auto move option), but I can understand the precaution and hope the OP device exploits gets sorted soon.

This HWS 3.0 universe you talk about is not something I was aware of, at least I didnt see anything about it when reading your site.
It sounds interesting though, so could you elaborate on this?

I got a BP of a basic warp capable CV I built myself.
Its just a flying platform with the basics you need to fly and warp which would take 43 min to build when I have the mats.

My primary CV though would take me approximately 17 or 28 hours to build depending on if its Tier 2 or Tier 3 respectively.
Posted it on the workshop if you are curious.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=729292962

Its my own design, partially based on the design from one of the loading screen screenshots, you might recognize it.
Also its built from the ground up using T2 Hardened steel blocks, so is guaranteed to not contain any pre-alpha blocks.
I mention this as there was an issue a while back where pre-alpha blocks would cause errors and crashes for dedicated servers, which I assume you heard of at least.

My primary SV would take about 3 hours to build.
Its a modified version of a workshop item I liked, the Sabre.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=673578177&searchtext=sabre

The creator used normal thrusters instead of directional ones, so I replaced them with directional.
The ship has an amazing amount of interior space which I used to add a number of items such as cargo boxes, constructors, fridges and more.
Actually got space for 5 small constructors.

Regarding starter planets.
I can understand the need for resetting those planet given your explanation, I just find it a shame as I got a nice base I like to use as a platform to launch into space.
But a thought occurred to me regarding those starter planets that I didnt think of before.
Its pretty clear you got a modified game/server/playfield, but you say earth is a PVP starter planet and your website mentioned Mars and Deimos(those were the ones mentioned as being wiped), so I got still more questions.

You say Earth is a PVP starter planet, I assume that means there are PVE starter planets?
What type on environment does these starter planets have(desert, temperate)?

Looking closer at the various factions, I think the Alliance would best suit my pay-style if I had to join one of the existing ones.
Is there any special considerations I need to look for to apply to a faction or can I just apply directly ingame?

Also this lawless stuff has me a bit concerned, especially since I get the impression that its open season on lawless targets.
I'm a guy who prefer to play the good guy and by the rules/law, and I would hate to have someone come along and just shoot and kill me simply because I'm not in a faction, but are waiting for my application to join one to be accepted.
A little clarification on this would be appreciated.

And a final question for this round is in regards to leveling.
The server I currently play on one of the things an admin did for me was just create a base with a few spawn pads where I could shoot monsters to quickly level up.
I since improved on his design and created a "Shooting Gallery" that can be placed for easy and quick leveling up, but spawn pads for monsters has to be added by a server admin after the base is placed as the game considers the base illegal if you have them in the BP.

I leveled up quited a few times as the server I originally played on had to reset several times due to the pre-alpha block issue I mentioned earlier(eventually the guy running it shut it down indefinitely), and as I'm sure you can understand I'm getting somewhat tired of it.
Do you prefer players to level up "naturally" or do you accept a quick leveling up like what I described?

[Xango2000]

Earth is Temperate (PvP)
Mars is Desert (PvE)
Deimos is Barren (PvE)

Mars and Deimos are connected to Mars Orbit (PvP) with Phobos a Barren Moon (PvP)
Earth is a sector away in Earth Orbit (PvP) with Moon (PvP)

Lawless are generally those people that havent read the website
on Mars and Deimos Lawless are safe since both those playfields are PvE
Earth, I'm not sure of since it's PvP and I avoid PvP like the plague.

leveling is "the usual way", nothing special there.
Bluepints appear to be set to "Fast" but constructors seem to be set at "Slow"

The factions listed on the website are for roleplay purposes, there are several of each. See naming rules in the Story Tab. You can apply to any faction in-game or create your own.

[Bansheedragon]

While its not a problem for me to start on a Desert planet, I was hoping that one of the PVE starter planets was temperate as well as it would save me having to worry about O2 until I went into space.

The answer about the lawless stuff has me satisfied, at least I can get started without worrying about getting killed before I even get started.

I was hoping I could save myself the trouble of leveling again, but if I have to then I'll do it.
Their server their rules.
But it didnt completely answer my question.

I'm a little confused about the naming rules now.
If I want to create my own faction, do I have to follow the naming rules or is that for the aforementioned RP purposes only?

[Xango2000]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Bansheedragon:

If I want to create my own faction, do I have to follow the naming rules or is that for the aforementioned RP purposes only?

the naming rules are for the Roleplay factions only, if you dont follow them you will be classified as "Lawless" for purposes of Roleplay.

Attackable by anyone, though some factions have to wait till you attack first
No Roleplay restrictions
No Roleplay faction bonuses (Rumor: future concept)

[RexXxuS]

Hey guys,

shortly we release the long announced Story 2.0 update and as a surprise the Auto Miner 2.0 update. Well not really a surprise: the poll was closed yesterday ( http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=268 ) and jascha did an awesome job and reworked it for today.

HWS Story 2.0 - so what is it about?

HWS Story 2.0 should help us to have a better unique Story (Role Play) where it really matters in which faction you are. It should also balance the overall complain about PvE / PvP we hope.

So now you have also the fa: command. Type fa:info for your proper faction information and fa:? for faction commands + following special commands:

Alliance
Each Day 100 Cr Income + (10 CR * Reputation)
fa:scan - shows if an enemy is near 10k you in orbit

Hunter
Each Day 100 Cr + (10 CR * Reputation) if not died in 24hrs
fa:supply - once per week a resource + ammo + weapon package
http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/download/file.php?id=70

Trader
fa:supply - once per week a resource package
http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/download/file.php?id=72

Pirate
fa:supply - once per week a ammo + weapon package
http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/download/file.php?id=71

Lawless / No-Faction
fa:survival - gives you one time 700 credits to overcome the 10% fee of marketplace

Generally Reputation Points are very important. They give you for now a general boost in certain situations.
The longer you stay in one faction the more profit you gain from it.
We have no automatism for it but we set a general guideline that you can switch factions once per week (don't try to get all faction benefits in switching factions one by one - you only get your bonus from the first one you tried)

Auto Miner 2.0

For the new HWS 3.0 universe and regarding the overall feedback we adjusted the Auto Miner to a new level.

1. We reduced the outcome of Ores
Level 1
Ore Outcome = 5
Level 2
Ore Outcome = 10
Level 3
Ore Outcome = 15
Level 4
Ore Outcome = 20
Level 5
Ore Outcome = 30
Level 6
Ore Outcome = 35
Level 7
Ore Outcome = 40
Level 8
Ore Outcome = 50
Level 9
Ore Outcome = 100
Level 10
Ore Outcome = 150

For Sathium, Neodymium and Gold you have to devide these values by 3.
All information will be updated in HWS Connect as soon as possible.

2. We removed Erestrum and Zascosium Auto Miner. We want to encourage people to explore the universe. For now it was even on lvl 1 too easy and boring. Also the Trader faction lost many contracts because of that

3. We added a max cargo space for all auto miners. You can only have a certain amount of Ores now depending on your auto miner level.
Level 1
Max Cargo Space 300
Level 2
Max Cargo Space 600
Level 3
Max Cargo Space 750
Level 4
Max Cargo Space 1200
Level 5
Max Cargo Space 1650
Level 6
Max Cargo Space 1950
Level 7
Max Cargo Space 2400
Level 8
Max Cargo Space 3000
Level 9
Max Cargo Space 6000
Level 10
Max Cargo Space 9000

For the update Erestrum and Zascosium will be removed. So if you have some withdraw it now. All other Ores will be saved.

Keep in mind: we will adjust some values here and there along the way. We are always happy about your feedback too of course!

We hope you like it.

Your HWS Team

[Afshin]

Tried this server on Friday on Mars for a couple of hours. Managed to get started and everything went well with no deaths. Mostly figured out the auto-miner and even did some market trading.

Since a wipe was coming I took my SV (which is all I had built) and went into orbit to park it. I had a small non-armed SV with what I had collected on the planet. Logging back in today my SV was mostly destroyed (all the cargo, and no RCS). I managed to steer it to the planet, but was killed by a POI when I landed. My backpack was lost and I lost the rest of my inventory.

I think that you should be able to park in orbit on a PVE world with an SV and not worry about losing everything, since planet wipes are so frequent.

[RexXxuS]

Thanks for the Feedback. Will be addressed in the hws 3.0 Universe

[Bansheedragon]

I seen reference to this 3.0 universe in response to my own queries.
I'm interested in some more information about it if you have any you can provide.
And if you can say anything abut when it will come that would be nice, as the issue @afshin brings up is something I find important as well.

[RexXxuS]

Sorry, quite busy right now. Regarding your long post above @Bansheedragon:
Glad to hear that it was easy to find and understand :)
Ah, I see..

Yeah there are a lot of such things in the game the devs know about it but taking time of course.

We are working on the 3.0 universe and it is a really big project. Beside of ideas, work in progress stuff and scribbles of the layout I can't tell more. Need to focus on it more now. It has a lot of dependencies and feedback taking into account. The current universe lasted more than 1 month with an overall positive feedback but still with problems. Trying to make a perfect one is my task.
But things like a PvE Starter orbit or a temperate pve starter planet are things we already considered.

Maybe I have time for more teasers after some time. The way to alpha 3.0 will take still some time.

Nice ships you build. Yes it was a rumor about the pre-alpha block crashes. Never 100% proofed and not the real issue in my opinion. It was more about the netcode itself.

Like xango said, yes, Mars and Deimos are PvE starter planets. Desert and Moon. Deimos is very hard though - no water.

Basically you can read on the Story page or here: http://empyrion-homeworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=296 that there is the faction naming convention to get the bonus but not that hard.
Because it is often overseen I can say: we have a lot of PvE planets / orbits where you can build and park your stuff save. It is meant as a backup if you fail in PvP. Keep that in mind.

In addition to xangos reply:
blueprints are set to normal and constructors as normal and leveling also normal.
We have no special ways for leveling up since finding meteorites brings you to lvl 20 in few hours already (and we have almost everywhere meteorites now).
Your idea of a level monster arena is interesting and maybe a good way. The problem with it I see is the abusement of the loots of the monsters (flooding market, griefing other people with it)