EVE General Discussion

For many years, we have been relying on third party programs to form fits for our ship and get basic info from the prospective fit with our character info added to it. These third party developers have done a fairly outstanding job.

However, why should there have to be third party developers for something already so integral for a vast number of players to the game play of Eve?

I propose that CCP should make something with the functionality of EFT in the Eve client. I know, we already have EFT so we shouldn't need it in client, right? Well, this will make rebalances of game play mechanics quicker to update, hence giving us a more accurate of our fit's overall performance.

I would also like something fun like snowball guns on my ship that I can use in high sec for lulz.

+2

1. Agree totally, why should we have to rely on 3rd party support for ship fitting, it's an intragel part of the game. 3rd parties may not always be able to keep up with development (there was a really good alternative to EFT when I used to play but it wasn't updated). Also in CCP's quest to improve new player experience this would be perfect, why should someone unaware of MMO's know to look for 3rd party tools to have even the most basic functionality for the rather complex system of shipfitting.

2. 'Paintball' rigs would be fun, wargames in highsec with no concord :)

Yeah I've always thought it would be good if we didn't have to break immersion by using google and other third party apps to play eve.

why make software at a cost to CCP when the software is already there, tried n tested, and is free to use?

it would make no financial sense for CCP to divert a team of programmers away from getting dust514 finished and making Eve awesome again just to make an app that already exists.

They did it with the Agent Finder, why not EFT?

Because the agent finder is just a database query.

I don't agree. Software is my field and as an architect, developer, etc...I know that the cheapest way to get the job done is to let someone else do it. This is why instead of suffering deeply from the "Not invented here" syndrome, I make use of as many dependable 3rd party libraries that I can find. If they're free all the better.

This allows me to get more done and faster. I can concentrate on adding features, securing my code, TESTING IT, and otherwise improving the program rather than reinventing a bunch of wheels.

If CCP were to do as you propose then somewhere in Iceland there would be a conversation something like so:

"The users want a fitting tool embedded in the program."

"Isn't there already a fitting tool?"

"Yes, but they want something like EFT."

"Why don't they use EFT?"

"I'm not really sure, it works quite well...better than our code in many respects...maybe they don't like to tab out of the game?"

"Well, OK...lets do it."

"Well, we already have a pretty packed schedule..."

"Put the Faction War and hisec wardec fixes back on the back burner...we'll do them in a future release."

"Roger."

The third party programs enhance the game without forcing CCP to neglect the more important stuff. If you really want it to be IN the game, turn it into a website that works with the in-game browser.

Can anything really be "fairly outstanding"? I mean, it's either outstanding or it's not.

...

I'll see myself out.

…and should that ever happen, there might be a case for CCP picking up the slack rather than expend development resources on duplicating (or triplicating) existing software.

The complexities of ship fitting (to the point where EFT is needed) lies somewhat beyond the n00b stage, and either way, the trick to fitting a ship has nothing to do with a fitting tool such as EFT, but rather with a number of strategical choices and trade-offs. They already need to go to the forums or the wiki or their corp to learn those. That might be something that could be worth bringing more to the fore-front, though.

If CCP were clever they'd look to license Eos (the pyfa engine) for use in the EVE client and limit themselves to building an in-game frontend for it.

In reality they'll probably flesh out the engine you see in the fitting screen every day (re-calculates stats when you fit modules or hover over a module) until it is fancy enough to power a fully-featured fitting tool.