Missions & Complexes

Explorers joke. What did you get for Xmas? Carbon

I hacked a can in hisec once that had more valuable carbon than salvage loot inside

There's plenty of strategy that goes into the mini-game when you have mediocre skills. Just like everything else in Eve once you get to near perfect skills the challenge becomes negligible.




Pilot skill has just as much, if not more, of an effect as SP does. Why should the mini-game be any different? And if we're playing the "I have more SP than you so I win game" I've missed the memo.

We have a problem with the number of clicks in minigame. Why not reduce them?

1) How about reducing attack on defence subsystem or core to one button push? for example if we have VS 30 and defence node has VC 90 it would require 3 "attacks" to crack it. Why not one? Then sit and watch how our module cycles on node. Succes or not depends if we have enough VC ofc

2) number of action we have to take on grid depends on grid architecture. Single defensive subsystem blocking all node in it vicinity. That force us (on harder cores) to go around them, it takes time and "clicks". Grid is based on triangles, why not make it hex based. Not grid like but some kind of a maze with "corridors". Defensive subsystem would block single "corridor" not some part of grid.

3) instead of clicking navigate with keyboard.

By far too easy and costs too few time. It would be better if it would be much less in the cans and the hacking minigame would take longer and cost more time. Atm it is too easy to have success with exploration. And yes, i like the way the loot spew worked because that market has not been that flooded with exploration items.

Burner missions will now anyway cut deep into the market of plex and faction items and this market will most likely be flooded by starting next week. So i hope exploration highsec will decrease in numbers of those exploring soon enough :)

Guide to getting rid of the clickfest:

1. Uninstall EVE and other modern games
2. Install a MUD
3. ???
4. Wizard Hat

As a frequent explorer, I think the mini-game is fine.

It requires an investment in skills and knowledge on how to attack the nodes (at least in low/null). It also requires a balance of attention between hacking the can and watching for someone trying to catch you in the sig. Ghost sites require that you complete the mini-game with speed.

If the mini-game was removed it would just mean more competition.

I've been waiting for the long-promised POS fixes for...years, it seems like. But I get the feeling that the POS codebase is such a scary mess that no CCP dev wants to touch it for fear of screwing it up worse. It needs a total re-think, starting with the idea of making a POS more like a mini-outpost that players can live in. (I.e., let me actually dock up in my hangar, allow me to set up clone vats and repair facilities, allow me to repackage items, etc.) That's what I'd like to see. In reality? I think we're stuck with the crappy POS stuff for a long time to come.

My issue with the scanning minigame is it's only half of a "game". It has tactics, but no strategy.

What I mean is the concept of balancing your health and attack when choosing which blocking node to attack, or when to use your bonus things is just fine. That's a game that forces you to think about the short term, "Should I use this wrench now, or save it. Should I attack this node first, or that other one?"

It lacks strategy in you don't know where the goal is, the core. At the start of the game you don't know where you're going besides a vague knowledge of it's usually in the farthest place from your start. You can't plan strategically as in "I need to head over towards the core, so I should save my powerups for an unlucky blocking node."

If you uncover too many bad nodes while flailing around? Tough, you lose. Bad luck and a whole pile of nodes that heal other nodes get uncovered? Tough, you lose. It's not failing due to making a mistake or a bad move, it's failing because of bad luck. That's never fun.

What I would suggest is something like this. When you attack and defeat a blocking node, have it display a direction to the system core. Or if that's too clear cut and makes things too easy, make it display two or three arrows to possible system core locations. Just something to give you a hint towards the goal, allowing you to plan your route as you make progress.

Right now I absolutely hate it, because when I fail at the minigame I never feel like "Oh I made a mistake, I should learn from it and do better next time", I feel "Oh I got screwed over by random placement of the nodes. I sure hope I don't get screwed over next time."

I've actually been prototyping some additions to Hacking as part of a small side project in my "20% Time".

The first is a distance indicator that tells you how far away the last node uncovered is from "good stuff". This helps with second by second decision making by letting you follow trends. This also helps determine which Defense Software to attack first. On top of which it generally needs less clicks to complete a hack. I'm experimenting with definitions of "good stuff".

The second is to help with having more strategic decisions whilst actually hacking. I added multiple cores which unlock explicit bits of the loot in the container. This gives the hacker the ability to balance more of the risk vs. reward themselves as they go rather than it being an all or nothing thing.

Both of these changes give scope for more interesting Defense Software and Utilities. I'd like to alter the Restoration Node substantially as well to make it less overpowered and generally more interesting.

I want to make clear that there is no real ETA for when these changes might hit TQ but I wanted you to know that the state of Hacking is definitely something I and others care about and something someone is actually working on.

Thank you. It's good to know something is going on. Even if it's a protoype. Hopefully it's sooner than later with new 6 weeks gap releases. Btw are you responsible for non combat exploration as a whole or it's just a antoher assignment in road to make cluster better place?