Vector Squared -- Starbound Community News, Issue #10

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Hello, and welcome again to the tenth issue of Vector Squared! Last issue, the brand-new character creator, new roleplay section, Winter Holiday Contest, and rocket boots were covered. This time, we come around with news about the recent security issues (successfully solved by the staff, by the way), some information about the unofficial forums, new hairstyles, sand mechanics, pre-order Beta and much more! Stay tuned!


Table of Contents

• Security Breach
• The Unofficial Forums
• New Hairstyles
• Beaches and Deserts and Islands! - Oh my!
• Pre-Order Beta Confirmed
• Fanfic Review
• Suggestion Spotlight
• Science Trivia
• Question of the Week
• Closing Comments

Security Breach
On Thursday, as you may have noticed, the forums were down for quite some time. The staff disabled the website for server maintenance, as there was a security breach, which they quickly sought to remedy.

OmnipotentEntity created a topic where everything was explained to the community. According to him, a core team member has had several passwords compromised, which put in jeopardy the safety of Starbound’s official webpage. While there was no confirmation that the server was accessed, the staff did everything within their reach in the interest of security by treating the situation as a full breach and acting accordingly.

Anyways, it seems that the situation has gone back to normal, with no major attacks having occurred and nobody having his/her privacy compromised. Vector Squared would like to personally thank the forum staff for their professional attitude in handling the situation successfully and informing the community.

~Keeper


The Unofficial Forums
The Unofficial Forums have always been a part of the Starbound “fan community”, but it has been neglected quite often, simply for the fact that they’re not official. However, their community is quite active and full of interesting members as well. First off, some statistics. The Unofficial Forums has around 700 members -- quite a large number for such a non-official community.

The forums there are a lot like the ones in the Official Starbound Community -- fanfiction, general discussion, announcements, all the like. There’s a decent amount of activity to go with that as well, so there are no real empty husks there.

But why is there another forum? This is a question that many users have been asking. However, to quote the forums “ambassador”, Loki ISP:

That’s certainly a reason to make a new community, for sure. Just be sure not to fling hate both sides of the divide -- it provides nothing constructive, and only serves to fan the flames. This has been observed in many threads, and speaking from personal experience, I can say it turns into nothing but a Space-poop throwing contest.

Well, to finish off, here’s some fun facts.

• The Unofficial Forums was actually up before the official one.
• It’s part of a broader Indie Gaming Network, run by Intradox (the admin there)

Be sure to keep the love rolling, everyone!
~Nababoo


New Hairstyles
Following the triumphant release of the Web Character Creator, people have shared their desires for more variety, especially in the area of hairstyles. As a result, thefluvirus, a Starbound contributor, has set up a topic where users are able to share their suggestions for new hairstyles (either by writing or by art) and provide feedback to others who have done so. Moreover, one of the thread’s main goals is to display the new hairdos created by thefluvirus himself, based on people’s opinions and comments, that will be making an official entrance in the game!

One of the higher entities in the Chucklefish pantheon, Tiy, has acknowledged the topic and shared, ‘Just so you're aware guys, fluvirus is actually a graphics contributor on the game. The hair he's making in this thread will actually make it into the game.’

Vector Squared has decided to share with you, fellow Starbounders, the new hairstyles for the different races so far, all conceived by thefluvirus:

Humans



Avians


Florans


Hylotls


Robots



Once again, the developers have demonstrated that they care about what the community thinks and that they value its feedback. We’ve also been continuously seeing people share their own artwork and suggestions about Starbound hairdos, thus contributing to the massive amount of creativity flowing in that topic. Keep up the good work, guys and gals!

~Keeper


Beaches and Deserts and Islands - Oh My!
Sand, glorious sand! No matter if you’re a tourist enjoying a sun-filled beach, a wandering prophet in a desert, or even a gentlemanly fellow talking to inanimate objects on an island, you all deal with the same thing - sand.

Fortunately for us, we will get three types of sand to build sandcastles with in Starbound, each with their own properties. Loose Sand is the weakest of the three, which requires support directly under it. Lacking the required support, we witness an exciting mechanism - cascading sand! Physics of sand can be seen in a recent livestream, which was archived for viewing. The second type is Thick Sand, which can stay in it’s location unsupported., but will fall if disturbed. Both these types can be displaced by water. The third, and most stable, is Sandstone. This acts as a standard block, meaning it supports itself and is not displaced by water. If you’re curious what they look like, I’ve put together a small chart.

So now we can start planning our sand fortresses and epic battles in the deserts. Only downside: getting all that sand out of every crevice of your digital body.
--Strife


Pre-Order Beta Confirmed
The Starbound community has recently found itself debating whether or not an Open Beta would be a good idea, even having created several threads to ensure continuous discussion. Well, while that topic may still be open for chit chat, a Pre-Order Beta has been confirmed by Tiy.

Forum user Forever has recently created a thread where a short transcript from a previous chat is shared. In that transcript, it can be seen Tiy stating, “We have a beta planned for when we hit a certain point in development (...) and you’ll be able to access it by preordering the game.”

That’s right, folks. Not only will you be able to pre-order the game, but by doing so you will also be gaining access to Starbound’s Beta! Chucklefish wants you to help them catch all bugs and annoyances you might find. With a combined effort, we may help shape Starbound’s future by making sure we use the Beta for what it was created - Testing! And, of course, some fun diggin’ a couple of mine shafts along the way...

~Keeper


Suggestion Spotlight
Base Defenses -- it seems everyone needs ‘em. Whether it’s against a horde of poptops or some zombies you’re trying to fend off, there’s always some comfort in knowing that your home, the place of respite, is fighting back against the monstrous hordes as well. Base Defenses In Depth, created by forum member Irora, covers the whys, ifs and hows of base defense.

The suggestion itself contains ideas of certain defense mechanisms -- spikes, turrets, dart traps, force fields, and poisonous variants of the latter three (because you never have enough poison~). It’s quite in-depth, as the title may suggest -- the ideas include counter-solutions and ways to defeat them. It certainly makes your mind explode with the potential that could come if these were implemented in-game. And not only are there weapons for active defense, there are passive ones as well -- cameras, tripwires, Friend or Enemy systems.

And Irora is accepting further ideas -- go ahead and contribute! Perhaps the devs will see and listen
~Nababoo




It’s been a while, folk, huh? Did anyone miss me? Leave your answers in the comments below, because it’s time for me to blow your minds. Well, sort of. Hopefully. Welcome back to the Fanfic Review! As always, I’m still Merc, and today we’re going to take a look at the first ‘chapter’ of a new Fanfic. By chapter, I don’t mean a short part of it. Serasi’s ‘Ice and Sunlight’, chapter one, has seven parts to it, which is more than enough for me to review in one issue so let’s get to it.

Our story starts in the form of a memory. A small hunting party of tree Florans (see what I did there?), two sisters and their friend, attempting to find their way back to the village after their party lost their way, thanks to the nasty humans. They see a ship landing, carrying a race of mysterious new people. These people have technology beyond the Florans’ imagination, and claim they only wish to be left in peace. They weren’t up to anything nefarious. Right?

The grammar of this story is high caliber. There are few places where I had trouble reading, or misunderstood a part of the writing. Kudos for that. There really isn’t too much to complain about here, except for one little problem. The spacing. On the Starbound Forums, a story needs two spaces between each new paragraph, not just one. It is very difficult to read otherwise. But…other than that, The grammar is stellar. A 9.5 for easy reading and syntax, but I do wish that it had been spaced a bit better.

The punctuation and spelling are also similarly remarkable. I counted maybe five or six places where the punctuation was missing. The spelling was even less so, only one or two (although I don’t remember which words so don’t ask.) I’m suitably impressed. 9.5.

The intrigue is always the toughest part of the review for me. Do I like something in spite of a few problems? Do those few problems ruin a story for me? In this case, Ice and Sunlight has my attention, although it would have far more of my attention if it moved a bit slower. I know, I know…what? Slower? But yes, Ice and Sunlight moves a bit too quickly for me. I won’t get into any details here, but the last part of chapter One was especially boring for me. It was the most action packed, sure, but it was the least interesting to me. There was no build up to what happened, which I felt made the story suffer. 7.5, because the fic is just faster than is enjoyable to me.

The characters are excellent. I haven’t had too many scenes of them, but I have definite projections of the protagonists’ personalities. That is tough to do in such a short time, and it’s nifty that the author managed to pull it off. Congrats from me. 8.5, because there were some moments that could have been stronger for character development, but it’s a relatively short amount of writing, so it’s very well done as it is.

Lasting effect. I would definitely read this again. Sure, some of the events are problematic, and sure, some of the scenes were fast, but the characters are interesting, the plot has potential, and, should the spacing issue be fixed up, the set-up is fantastic as well. This is a very well written Fanfic, even as it is. It’s got a lot of potential, too. 9.

And so, the final scores.
1: 8
2: 8
3: 8
4: 7.5
5: 8.5
6: 8
7: 7
AVG: 7.9
-
Grammar: 9.5
PAS: 9.5
Intrigue: 7.5
Characters: 8.5
Lasting Effect: 9
AVG: 8.8
-
FINAL AVERAGE: 8.4

~Mercenary Lord

Science Trivia
Sonic Boom

The speed of sound is pretty fast, even if it can’t compare to the speed of light. Unlike the speed of light, humans have achieved speeds meeting and exceeding the speed of sound. Most people are also aware that when you pass the speed of sound you create a sonic boom. But, why does this happen?

As an object moves through the air, it produces waves of air traveling at the speed of sound in front and behind similar to the waves of water at the bow and stern of a boat moving through the water. As the object approaches the speed of sound these two sets of waves get pushed towards each other and compressed because they have nowhere else to go. At the speed of sound the waves are forced together into a single shockwave.

Alternatively, the front of the object compresses the air it is flying into and leaves a vacuum in its wake. At subsonic speeds there is a reasonable period of time where the high pressure air equalizes at halfway down the object before getting to the vacuum. When sonic speed is achieved the transition becomes so quick that the high pressure air is rushed into the vacuum so quickly that the force of the moving air creates a shockwave. That shockwave is what we know as a sonic boom.

Leftovers:

• The sonic boom does not occur only when the object passes the sound barrier. As long as the object is traveling at or above the speed of sound it will be continually creating a sonic boom in its path.
• If aircraft could be designed to be “perfectly” aerodynamic they would theoretically be able to reach and pass the speed of sound without creating a sonic boom.
• Sonic booms form in a cone behind supersonic objects. When the cone passes through you is when you hear the sonic boom.

Questions, comments, concerns? I’ll gladly answer them all. And if you’ve got any suggestions or ideas for future topics feel free to post those as well.
~Active Link


Question of the Week
Q: Will you be pre-ordering Starbound when it becomes available? And will you be playing the Beta?
A: Let us know how you feel about these aspects.


Closing Comments

• Thanks again to those who responded to the newspaper feedback section!
  • Still always looking for more feedback.
• We are in dire need of a newspaper artist! Someone who can make banners/headers on a weekly basis.

Staff
Nababoo -- Manager/Writer
Keeper -- Wordsmith
Mercenary Lord -- Lector Ficta
Strife -- Mysterious Stranger
Active Link -- Scientific Consultant

Credits
blind sniper -- Banner

Previous Issues:
Issue #1 [] Issue #2 [] Issue #3 [] Issue #4 [] Issue #5 [] Issue #6 [] Issue #7 [] Issue #8 [] Issue #9

 

FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK~

 

Check the Science Trivia

 

That was my topic in the science trivia last issue.

 

There's always modding support

 

Not yet, anyway.

 

Do you believe you can fly?

 

I knew Krusty the clown was an alien all along... i guess a Hylotl to be more specific

 

From how it was worded by Tiy, it won't be a true beta. Just a Demo, since we'll be intentionally limited to a single Tier. Which happens to directly touch upon an article I'm drafting up ...

 

If I'm not mistaken, it'll also be lacking story content.

And this made me lol.

 

Correct, one of the reasons for the Tier restrictions.

 

\o/ cant wait to pre-order

 

Don't worry, there may be at least jetpacks. Not that you'll need them since there will be flying vehicles.
I imagine starting a race with those on multi.

 

Pretty awesome. You cover a lot of stuff and do it in high quality. Good Job.

 

Hey,that's 10 weeks already!Good job guys!

 

That feels good. Feels goooood.

 

Something I celebrated myself

 

Q: Will you be pre-ordering Starbound when it becomes available? And will you be playing the Beta?

Yes and yes please!

 

Thanks for the time and the pub. As I mentioned in our chat, I'd mostly just like to dispel commonly held myths on both sides. Q&A, whatever. I'll drop this set of text from our chat below as well.

Generally, unofficial/fan sites have a bit more fluidity as they are not restricted by the business side of things (whereas official sites have more/newer info but are typically more restricted as a result of being the "face" of the game).

We certainly would welcome anyone interested in being a part of both communities, and really hope there will be opportunities for cross-community collaboration once we get to launch (like cross-forum trading posts for example...or contests).


Anyone interested is welcome to check out the other side of the pond....or let me know if you have any questions/ideas for collaboration.

Cheers...and congrats on your tenth issue!