Tyrannis interview by T0rfi: Planetary industrial domination
So CCP T0rfi gave an interview in which he discussed the summer 2010 expansion, Tyrannis, in somewhat greater detail. You should probably read it before pressing on with my thoughts… And note that I’ve intentionally avoided any discussion about DUST 514, mostly because the idea still frustrates me.
You can build infrastructure and interact with almost every planet in the game, regardless of whether someone has something there, already.
I sort of hope that the capital planets (Matar, Caldari Prime, etc.) remain off-limits. That just seems odd to me.
The problem is that the planets are going to have limited resources. So if too many people are harvesting a planet at the same time, there will be diminishing returns. So what you will find is that it will be much more enriching to travel to the more remote planets in the more remote systems, for planets which haven’t got infrastructure built up, yet. But of course that takes you away from the key trade hubs to which you want to deliver your manufacturables.
Now we can talk turkey… Planetary output seems to have a fixed cap, and so as the number of pilots exploiting it increases, the share of resources they get from it will decrease. I suspect they’ll use a lot system similar to the economic system in Pirates of the Burning Sea, where you have ten lots available to you and must decide how (and where) to allocate them: vertically integrate for an entire production chain? Specialize in a given resource or particular process, and thus increase your risk? Not too dissimilar from the current design allowing up to 11 research and 11 manufacturing jobs simultaneously, depending on your skill training. This implies lots of strategic choices for players, and I have every confidence that CCP can surpass the design that PotBS implemented.
And of course there are over 65,000 planets in the game. And you can interact with each and every one of them. Including those that are in wormhole space, which can actually be quite challenging.
This intrigues me to no end, both from a gameplay perspective (more profits in W-space and more activities out there for the residents) as well as from a “prime fiction” (canon lore) perspective. Do these planets have residents? If not, will we learn more about the automation and technology in EVE? This could potentially imply resources for tech III frigates as well. Back here in K-space, we should get much more information about who lives in low-sec and null-sec, and of course some areas could have potentially unique interest (e.g. COSMOS constellations or systems like Intaki).
We’re making really interesting manufacturing and resource trees here, right now. Going over ‘what materials are you extracting from gas giants, what are you getting from planets which are pretty much just molten magma. You will actually be able to put down facilities, arcologies, and cloud cities, or really tough units that you can place on very hostile worlds, to extract and manufacture from them. And then rocket the stuff off of them, or move it out with a space elevator. In general, of course, with more risk comes more reward.
This really grabs my attention, both for the gameplay as well as the fiction. What will we make? Will it be awesomely cool? And the fiction possibilities multiply exponentially here. Generally, when new resources become available, we get new end products as well, so even those folks not interested in the industrial gameplay benefit (cf. tech III strategic cruiser production).
Your ability to master a planet, to manufacture, build up, and manage it, will be bound by skills.
Guess I’ll sit on that neural remap until we know more about this. Industrial and exploration gameplay that results in passive income, with tons of fiction possibilities? I really want to immerse myself in this, and so I intend to focus largely on the new gameplay as I’ve done with other science & industry skills. But until we at least know whether they’ll largely focus on intelligence and memory (my current estimate) or even include charisma in some way, I don’t want to put myself in a position where I’ll have trouble keeping up.
One of our goals with planetary interaction is to phase out these NPC created commodities, because we want to put the power into the hands of the players and make EVE even more sandbox-y than it is.
There are elements of EVE which we feel can use some iteration based on the experiences that we have learned, running EVE for seven years. The NPC market is definitely one of them. It’s been with us for a long time. It hasn’t changed much. We want to take these commodities and move them into the hands of the players.
We are not giving out publicly yet which commodities these are. Even once we put it on the public test server, you will not be able to see what these final commodities are going to be.
I hope hope HOPE this includes implants (or meta 1-4 modules) and not just commodities like robotics and oxygen and trade goods. That said, I applaud this sort of thing, as it allows for continued emergent gameplay. The implications will have such a major impact on the economy that reserving more information on that until Tyrannis goes onto the production cluster really becomes a de rigeur decision.
Not that CCP made a bad decision by initially bootstrapping the economy with NPC-provided goods, as the game launched with a very small user base and has defied the typical MMORPG growth curves since then.
In 0.0 systems, we are expecting you to need sovereignty over that system for your infrastructure to function on a planet. So that you can’t have your enemy using or being in your garden, so to speak, or using your planets despite you having sovereignty over it. Taking sovereignty really disrupts industry and messes things up. The gameplay in high-sec will generally be more cooperative. The goal is that people will actually be working together on the planets, benefitting from each other. One player will not be able to serve in all roles, or specialize in all roles in the entire manufacturing and mining sector.
This has the potential to really revitalize factional warfare: occupancy can finally mean something, if CCP makes the right choices here and implements the philosophy of FW serving as sort of a training ground for nullsec. Cooperative gameplay in highsec sounds interesting but that could prove difficult. And even if we can’t attack infrastructures directly, a corporation could influence its competitors through wardecs in space…
[The first day of Tyrannis] will have people flying all over space, deploying satellites and scanning for resources. Also launching command centers and building infrastructure. And also starting to train the skills needed for it, of course. Some discoveries will be made, too. Some people will definitely be striking it rich by discovering huge deposits of valuable minerals in remote locations, and trying to keep these a secret for as long as they can.
Satellite deployment sounds a lot like survey probes for moon minerals… and I will probably take a day or two off of work when this launches.
And now, for T0rfi to have the last (and exciting!) word:
The goal is to have it out on the test server in little more than a week.
Comfortable research
I’ve rejoined New Eden Research after building up Mundilfari Station in Vorsk, so if anyone needs highly-available research facilities of any sort, we can help. Corporations can join NER (including subsidiary corporations) and use the material research labs for 15k ISK/hour, or production efficiency labs for free. Copying and invention will require other arrangements. Send me a message and we can work them out.
Putting up a large tower, lots of labs, and requisite defense in case of war took a good bit of time and ISK. Fortunately, my trading efforts keep paying off well, and I have a good system in Heimatar so that I don’t have to spend too much time on it. Once NER gets going, I expect that the tower will at least pay for its own fuel costs. As an added benefit, I have copy slots available for my own use at all times, and all the research (including invention) goes a lot faster. Dedicated facilities really make a difference.
I also did a bit more exploration, primarily clearing out a few facilities hidden in cosmic anomalies near Vorsk as well as poking at some Angel Cartel datacenters and such. That actually reminds me, I need to jump back down to Curse so that I can visit with my research staff in the Cartel labs and keep our arrangements down there going. I know I have something of an inconsistent arrangement, so I’ll need to address that soon. Maybe.
Quantum olive
Pilots out in the darkest depths of lawless space know that not everything matches the cozy little categories that their colleagues back in CONCORD-policed space expect. This applies to conflicts as much as it does to the places and objects they find in their travels.
One such type of object occasionally shows up on their scanners. At its small size, ships generally need to engage their sensor boosters to lock onto it, even at relatively short ranges. Human eyes have difficulty keeping it in focus as it seems to slip in and out of reality. This object (occasionally called a “quantum olive”) has intrigued researchers since its initial discovery in the Curse region. Perhaps it represents some natural phenomenon, or perhaps the remnants of a Jovian experiment, or perhaps an even older culture. Perhaps some ancient non-human intelligence built it and let it float away once the artifact no longer held its interest, as a child with a suddenly-boring plaything. In truth, no one knows. Or anyone who does know hasn’t said publicly, at any rate…
Dominion 1.1 patch notes review
So CCP have released the patch notes for Dominion 1.1. Thought I’d muse on a few that caught my eye, which don’t include capital ships simply because they don’t (currently) affect me in any meaningful way. My comments in double parentheses.
Voice fonts have now been added to EVE Voice. This new feature will allow you to alter your voice during chat to increase or lower pitch or to change from male to female voices. This is certainly not going to be abused in any way. ((RAWR!))
The Laboratory Operation Skill can no longer be trained by characters on trial accounts. ((Too bad, but I do get why they needed to do this.))
Deadspace areas now correctly spawn in the same solar system for the mission “Portal to War.” ((That always confused me. Tiny change but a welcome one.))
New wallet API functions have been added. ((Anybody know what that’s about?))
Heavy ships will now properly align themselves towards their warp destination so no more warping sideways or backwards. ((I think they explained this in a slightly confusing way but I’ll wait to see it on TQ before I comment further.))
Extra URL validation has been added to the in-game browser when adding sites to the Trusted/Ignored list. ((Good, but they might have waited to include this note until after deployment.))
CCP Tuxford can no longer shut down TQ on a whim. ((CCP sounds like a great bunch of folks who have fun working together, heh.))
Preparing for an industrial roam
As I finally got some good time in-pod, I’ve put together a plan of action for the next few weeks. Mostly, it revolves around specific goals I want to achieve, some of which nest within each other. I have written this post as much to elucidate all this for myself as much as to generate conversation with pilots who have similar interests.
Blog Banter 11: Strategic Industrial Ships
Welcome to the eleventh installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other articles at the bottom of this post!
This month’s banter comes to us from Joe Brusati a long time reader of CrazyKinux’s Musing, who asks the following: CCP states that T3 Strategic Cruisers are just the start for the T3 line-up. In future Eve expansions what would you like to see as the next T3 ship type. Please be specific on details about what role this ship would play, cost of manufacturing, and the different modules that would be available for it, and of course you must give your T3 ship a name!
Imagine an EVE where those of us who provide ships, equipment, and in many cases ISK, receive just as much love and attention from CCP as those who prefer pew pew.
Imagine an EVE where science runs amok, engineers rule the world, and all pilots can indulge their darkest desires.
I don’t know about all of that last one, but I’d love to see T3 Strategic Industrial Ships.
What subsystems would such fair creatures of the heavens sport? Perhaps small, mobile versions of the structures we currently associate solely with starbases and stations: refineries, research labs. Of course, we’d like to have other science-related bonuses, like those included in exploration and the field technician profession (hacking / archaeology / salvage).
I won’t get into supporting subsystems like propulsion and whatnot, since they’d require a great deal of balancing and tweaking. At any rate, they don’t really feature into what makes this ship class stand out. Principally, though, instead of an offensive subsystem, we have an available industrial subsystem available from the following:
- Ultramobile Laboratory: 1 ME / 1 PE / 1 Invention / 1 Copy slot
- Ultramobile Refinery: 50% Refinery, equivalent of 10.0 standing, limited to 5000 m3 processing per hour
- Ultramobile Factory: 4 manufacturing slots, 50% manufacturing speed bonus
- Specialist: +50% bonus to mini-profession chances, +100% chance to range, can engage analyzers / codebreakers / salvagers while cloaked
Now, the best part, the naming.
- Minmatar: Dvalinn, representing ancient legends of creatures whose feats of crafting and forging knew no equal.
- Gallente: Astraeus, as from this myth the stars themselves came forth.
- Caldari: Shikigami, storied familiars who took many forms and performed many tasks at the bidding of their summoners.
- Amarr: Forger, bringing forth the tools and weapons used to strengthen the defenders of right.
Photo credit ecstaticist via Flickr
Puppetry Proposal
The agent’s office stank of cigarettes and coffee, probably from too many late nights slaving over reports or a data console or some such. Located down a poorly-lit corridor in a section of this low-sec station that the Maintenance Department appeared to have relegated to a policy of benign neglect, the office had not pleased her personal security staff when she informed them where she’d scheduled a meeting. Two burly Brutors made their way ahead of her, while a young Vherokior male stayed within 3 meters of her at all times. The trio operated silently and with such coordination that Casiella idly wondered if some unseen puppet master pulled their invisible strings. A tiny voice in her head reminded the capsuleer that she essentially filled that role.
Once they arrived and her security detail gave the thumbs-up, a trim, well-dressed young Gallente woman escorted her to a sitting room where the agent was already waiting. The freakishly tall Sebiestor gave her the once-over, a timeless ritual she’d never quite learned to accept.
But at least he managed to keep his ogling under control, and he got right to the point. Evidently his assistants had done their homework. “I received your proposal, and we’ve verified your credentials. I believe we can reach a mutually beneficial arrangement…”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, Casiella cut him off abruptly. “I’ve heard it all before. If that was all I needed, I’d simply have sent for the documents to sign instead of coming all the way down to this deck. By the way, you really should have someone look after those light fixtures in the corridor. Some of those corners seem so dark, you’d think someone left it like that on purpose.” He grimaced in indignation and started to protest, but the petite, silver-haired woman continued without giving any sign that she’d noticed. “In any case, I didn’t come here to give you a report on station maintenance, either. No, I need something from you, something best not discussed over comms. You see…”
…twenty minutes later…
The agent grinned. “Now I understand why you came out to low-sec Genesis. Yes, yes. I will be pleased to assist in this project, providing you can maintain the safeguards you described.”She nodded and her Vherokior assistant scrambled around to the agent, presenting a data tablet for signature.
The agent signed off rapidly before looking up with a smile. “With you and me working together, I’m sure there will be marvelous breakthroughs.”
OOC: Feedback on character decisions wanted
Looking for feedback, folks, so please comment here or contact me on Twitter or via e-mail.
Casiella Truza is my main character. She’s got 16m skill points, a fun RP personality, and lots of people know her. I have so much fun playing her. Mostly exploration, research, trade, and industry, with a smattering of other skills to survive out there. I’ll keep her as long as I play EVE. I sold another PVP character once and really regret it now.
But I have another character, Raimo Hamateha, who just does research. Right now, he does standard material efficiency research very, very well, and I have him moving toward invention (working on Electronic Upgrades at the moment).
The third piece in all this is that I received my EVE Online Special Edition box today, with a few in-game items you can only get if you use the 60-day time card to create a new account. The in-game items include a cool shuttle (with 20m3 cargo space) and a certificate to give you sufficient standings to jump right into factional warfare.
So right now, I have this idea to sell Raimo and start a new character for PVP, rather than keep confusing Casiella’s training.
Writing this post, I’ve nearly answered my own question – of course it would work just fine – but what do you think? Does it make sense to have a covops / industrial / research main and a PVP alt? Or should I just apply the 60 day time card to my main and content myself with one character?
Sidereal Fusion: Epilogue
Things have gotten really tough. Ansgar Station is gone. I recovered what hardware I could to sell off on the market, but we’ve had to halt the Sidereal Fusion project for now. I’ve temporarily moved my research operations to Gulfonodi, but they mostly consist of ship and drone research in NER facilities.
Joron took his failure personally and resigned from the corporation. I think he prefers staying on the run, to be honest. Maybe he’ll end up back with those Guristas or something.
Raimo didn’t die, oddly, despite the EM blast that burned out most of the hardware we’d custom-built into him. But he doesn’t seem like himself, either. Before, he always had lots of ideas and an insatiable curiosity, but now he just processes the projects I assign him. No performance complaints or anything, but he’s lost his spark. If he leaves, too, it won’t really surprise me.
I did hire on one more research assistant today, but she doesn’t have anything like Raimo’s skill. She’ll probably just end up doing some project management and maybe some BPC processing. As far as I can tell, though, she lacks any ambition whatsoever. No real piloting abilities beyond basic shuttle flight and enough astrogation to get around, but she does know her way around the labs.
Maybe Ecliptic Rift works best as a small organization to support my own research. Maybe I need to stop relying so much on other pod pilots to help out and just establish relationships for specific projects or operations.
I should send Vikarion a note; maybe I can work out some sort of research deal with the White Rose Society.
Codebreaker research
I’ve started poking into codebreaker research. Right now, I really just want to dig into the innards and make sure it does only what I want it to do without caching the data for later retransmission to some third-party. Given the uses to which I put it, having that data sent out would probably cause me a lot of trouble.
But I suspect that we can improve the performance, too. I don’t yet know by what factor, but if we recode the firmware into a lower-level language, we’ll probably find lots of places to optimize. And Raimo has some great ideas about whole new classes of vulnerabilities that probably haven’t even been considered by the developers and admins for the common data warehouse software. And likely it will take some of them months to catch up.
Yeah, a new generation of codebreaker modules. That should help.
