Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Is it possible to fly off the grid, game-play wise?

Can we go into the dead space between systems, and perform activities there?

Maybe have a secret POS or outpost, hidden in the dark...

I figure it would be out of range of local, the same as a WH.
Probably no resources to mine.
Quite possibly get the attention of NPC pirates who may also live out there, (and with no Concord to interfere), they could launch a truly nasty attack...

Please focus on game-play for responses and trust in CCP to handle other details.

do you mean the grid that we all fly on, or "off the grid" in the sense of how W-space is (i.e. no local, dangerous, etc)?

There was another thread that had the same theme, but I see it has not been bumped back to the top for some time. Let me see if I can find it...

Here we go!

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=29191&p=1

And I noticed while looking at the last page that you've already posted to this thread, so you are aware of it.

I would like more places to explore. Eve does feel very populated. Even in wormhole space, we're constantly worried about roaming gangs looting our anoms and sites, which happens often. Despite the fact that wspace has roughly 2500 star systems and is a pain to navigate, it's a fairly regular occurrence!

Depending on that short range jump/microwarp drive they are working on, what you propose may be achievable, except of course you have to anchor a POS around a moon. There would have to be the introduction of some kind of new structure that's designed to be anchored without the assistance of a moon Lagrange point, but then what's to prevent a player from just randomly anchoring these structures throughout a system? I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Plus, like that thread pointed out, if the space is relatively unreachable, alliances would anchor a majority of their most lucrative manufacturing arrays way off the beaten path which would force POS bash fleets to warp incredibly long distances and thus have nearly zero cap on arrival. Cyno would have to be the way to go there, but every engagement would depend heavily on what else you could cyno in as backup. It's the equivalent of a space moat, except in this analogy your enemies have to land inside the castle grounds.

We do need moar space, though. Space should always have a frontier feel. I'm sure in the beginning of Eve everyone thought space would never fill up, but with CCP's constant focus on innovation and change, I doubt even new space added would stay blank for long.

On a side note, this would give more of a purpose to Deepspace probes.

This is all just brain vomit so far from me. I like the idea, but can you give me more of an idea of what made you want this or what you had in mind?

No local, as in same as a wormhole. Your ship still receives broadcasts as it would in a wormhole, but with no supporting gate system to add and remove pilots from a list, you don't know who is present. Any transmission your ship was not present to see, is unseen.

This is a self limiting effect, referring to the cyno element.

The truly far out places take a long time to warp to, and you know when you crossed the border in that local pilot list poofs.

This means you take longer to travel, get help, all details affected by warping greater distances.

I am hoping to have either an outpost and / or POS type that can be anchored without a nearby celestial, or something along those lines.

With no significant gravity wells in proximity, a lagrange point becomes unnecessary.
(As an analogy, let's say the influence of gravity is like a storm. Structures need to be protected from this.
Comparing the lagrange point to the eye of a storm, this area would be free of storms entirely)

Don't forget about acceleration gates. It may be older tech, but those pirate factions definitely have access to it.

There could be entire networks of acceleration gate linked areas, outside the bubbles we know as systems.

It would also give them choke-points on access to these areas, for people who don't like the idea of slow boating in regular warp between points.

What if players could anchor acceleration gates outside the system bubble? It could be password protected like a jump bridge, and just as destructable.

Who knows what mysteries lurk in the deeps...all alone in the dark...

Lore suggests the Jovians were better prepared for the original wormhole's collapse.

Perhaps there are ancient abandoned outposts in the dark, hidden far from the activities of the reemerging groups of mankind. We don't know how or if they kept an eye on us.

Maybe the pirates found some of these outposts, which could explain how they created their own ships later.

Perhaps these outposts are not so empty...

It does add some spectacular possibilities.

This seems to focus on interaction on a different level though similar to a wormhole.

If the acceleration gate idea was used, I'd propose it work similar to warping, as in "Warp in at 10 K" and the like. Mainly so someone doesn't set up an acceleration gate with a nice trap because you pop in at the same spot every time. It would be... really funny to have the exit point be right in optimal of a death star. Of course, with those optimals my suggestion may not even hold water.

That's the primary thing that makes POSes that are anchor-able anywhere fairly OP. Imagine setting up a death star next to a jump gate in null? Be a nasty surprise in the beginning before it became standard practice. They would have to only be anchor-able in space where gravity was fairly calm to avoid things like this.

I am not sure the Jove would have a huge presence out in a lot of parts of space. Maybe abandoned Talocan and other ancient races that are deceased? Hidden outposts would be pretty kick ass. What benefits would these outposts provide, though?

In that case, a Dyson Sphere could be an explanation. Not full on solid spheres like some soft sci fi suggests, but the more 'realistic' spheres that consist of many orbital bodies at different. That would be an awe inspiring sight in itself. Incredibly difficult for a single client to handle, methinks. Those are the details you want to keep out of the conversation, though.

Let's get into the thick of it, though. If we were to justify why they would be out there, that would give a purpose for their function which allows for better design. I'm a fundamental believer that purpose can provide a wonderful creative drive.

Hidden stars or black bodies, of the solar mass variety, that are orbiting in deep space would HAVE to have been detected because their gravity would have affected the calculations necessary to maintain the wormhole bridges between systems, which is the core technology behind our jump gates. Therefore we could not have hidden stars because they would have to be factored into the calculations, so that idea would work in terms of game play only, but it would ultimately contradict the lore and I'm not a fan of contradictions on that scale.

However! There are real world examples of orbital bodies that are blacker than coal but not of the solar mass variety:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110812-new-planet-darkest-black-coal-kipping-science-space-kepler/

(Please note that they are talking about calling that planet Erebus. <3 )

So that is a possibility, especially if they were so far out. I don't like the idea of these being present in every system, but given enough distance and that strength of gravity is bound by the inverse square of distance, you could technically have your black body out in the middle of nowhere and have it be relatively undetectable. It should still screw with the jump gates, but this is more believable than a hidden solar mass.

Given that this would be blacker than coal, let's call them Erebus class planets, there could be some very exotic resources there. Maybe new T3 modules and ship production? That would fly in the face of the uninhabited space as everyone would be clamoring for it. Just a thought.

Here is a rephrasing of the original Idea:

Extend the size of each system bubble to the point where it would double the diameter of the system, at least.

Now, wherever the original system bubble ends, this is where local and security ends.
Nothing is moved from the 'inner system' at all. Using gates and such would always require going back to the inner system.

Your security status doesn't matter in the outer system, Concord won't go there.

They are probably wise, considering what's out there...