Player Features and Ideas Discussion

EVE Online is a fascinating space fantasy simulator. The game mechanics are fairly deep, the backstory is rich (although rather incomplete) and the allure of a "multiplayer Elite" with nice graphics is undeniable. Unfortunately it has a number of truly annoying visual flaws. These quirks reduce immersion tremendously and I've been giving some thought to how they might be fixed (or at least improved):


SHIP COLLISION: most MMOs have adopted the ghost avatar standard where characters can occupy the same space with no conflict. EVE goes with a collision model that means every ship has a small chunk of collidable area at its core. While its much more forgiving than the more realistic systems typical of single-player games it still allows for some bizarre, cartoonish activity. Ships hurtling along at hundreds of meters per second and then bouncing off each other like billiard balls is a major immersion killer. It just looks ridiculous and nearly ruins the experience for me. I know I'm not alone. Surely there has to be a better, more believable way of handling ship interactions? The problem is particularly troubling when undocking from a busy station: its like watching someone pouring marbles out of a bag, all smashing into each other and rolling around the floor with some of them seemingly trying to merge! I'm not sure what the better option is here but I wish the developers would at least give it some thought. Maybe some kind of large invisible "bubble" around the ship that other ones can't penetrate?

WEAPON LINE OF FIRE: Another maddening visual occurrence is when a ship is firing its weapons through itself. The problem is really a side effect of the basic ship models. Its obvious they were designed by the artists with no regards for believability. A growing number of EVE vessels have received tweaks and upgrades to their models, but what's really needed is a reality-based makeover. Right now cruise missiles are the only weapons that don't make we want to scream. Their "starburst" launches eliminate most of the firing-through-my-own-ship animations. CCP has tried to mitigate the problem by giving each visible weapon TWO firing points ("two turrets for every gun", as it were). It doesn't really help that much. I'm fully aware of what a massive task redoing virtually every ship model would be. So for a compromise, they could start by shrinking the models of mounted weapons by anywhere from 20% to 40%. Frigates esp. look like weapons with an engine hooked to them..and some might say that's appropriate! However, the weapons on frigates just look enormous compared to their host ships. By making them smaller we'd gain more flexibility in where the mounts can be, making it easier to give them clear(er) lines of fire. This also reduces the amount of ship remodeling required to completely eliminate blocked lines of fire. Obviously this would be fairly low-priority project that CCP could finish over a couple of years..but can anyone truly say they *wouldn't* like to see this happen?

* AIRPLANES IN SPACE: I've seen the innumerable requests for a true ship physics model like everyone else has. I know that a game with more than two dozen or so players directly engaging each other can't really manage this over the Internet (although I've heard that a few recent games like Planetside II are pushing the envelope). EVE has fleet battles with hundreds of ships and even with the "biplanes in space" rendering we need time dilation. Still, I can't help but think that the constant barrel rolls and airfoil maneuvering could be minimized a bit with purely client-side modifications. And then there's idea of true inertia. I honestly don't see the barrier to implementation..and in reality its already there! In EVE we have space anchoring which explains how a spaceship can slow down without needing to counter-thrust. However, I don't see why a ship needs thrusters running to maintain its present course and speed - there should be no real resistance in a vacuum. Just kill the engine burn animations while the ship is cruising and you have a much better representation of ship inertia. This could even be a configuration choice so everyone could be happy :)

* HOW DID THAT SHIP FIT IN THERE: Stargates. Stations. Other floating structures. Most of them apparently have TARDIS-like technology because there's no way very many ships could fit inside them judging by their models. In the case of cap ships its particularly painful. Maybe its time for CCP to consider upsizing some of these objects...a lot. Either that or limit the number of vessels that can be docked at a station simultaneously.

* GHOST PLANETS: flying through stellar objects is just...nuts. EVE should either switch to a hyperspace model of travel (i.e. a different dimension) or have ships routed around celestial objects while in warp. I think it would be cool to see your ship slowly changing course while warping along and barely missing a moon or planet every now and then.

Anyway, those are some of my major immersion breakers so far as EVE's look and feel. Maybe other people have their own I haven't even considered.

I see this a lot. Go read the lore. It is explained. Its not a great explanation but there is one.

Basically iirc a ships warp drive must be online at all times, the warp drive being online creates a friction with space causing the submarine like effects you see. Its not an awesome explanation but hell until someone actually creates a warp drive who are you to argue with scifi mumbo jumbo.

Also about ghost planets. They dont give a good explanation about how the warp drives work so how do you know its not a hyperspace model.

That's certainly a lot of half-assed trolling. Bored or just ********?

Appreciate the legitimate replies. I've read all of the lore I could find, btw, and I don't remember seeing anything about any of the pet peeves I listed. But that's been a couple years, so...

But isn't lore just another word for excuse? As in... 'we couldn't even be bothered to try and fixed this and therefore came up with this lame excuse(lore) to explain it away...' Oh, you have issues with this... see that lore there. You have another issue with that... see this lore here... etc,...

The next Big Thing in Eve should be an actual realistic physic mechanik, anything else would be a let down.

Lets imagine, instead bumping miners, rip the belts apart.

Use Ships for Real suicid attacks or missuse Space objects as cover.

I can understand your issues... but really? This is just a game. Why do people always want to ruin things because it isn't "realistic". Rocket Jumps in Quake was not realistic and I never saw anyone complain about it (granted it could be toggled... but honestly who switched that option off? )



Seriously? "limit the number of vessels that can be docked"? How will Jita look then? or Amarr? or any of the trade Hubs? How many stations would they need to add to accommodate that many players?

Imagine: You are in lowsec and you just got jumped and managed to get away... you fly to the nearest station with a ship that you can use to counter the person that jumped you... you get to the station and... "Sorry this station is full, please use another station"... *pop* goes your ship, *pop* goes your pod.

Sometimes "realistic" is not good for game-play.