EVE General Discussion

I think I should just write an entire series of manifestos entitled "How To Fix It".

But seriously, what I'm really most interested in is putting forth ideas and suggestions that will truly improve Eve at its most basic and fundamental levels. Core systems like mining, industry, 0.0 sovereignty and similar. I'm a lowsec pirate by experience and play style preference, but I have extensive experience across all aspects of Eve space, be it high sec, low sec or 0.0. Regardless of my preferred play style, I have first hand experience dealing with all the considerations required of alliance leaders and the rank and file nullsec denizens trying to make their way in 0.0. Anyway, all I'm trying to say is that I'm not "pro 0.0" or "pro highsec"- I'm just pro Eve. I want to make the game better for everyone while not taking anything away from any one section of the population.

0.0 has some major design flaws that need to be fixed, and fixing them doesn't mean that we have to put lowsec or highsec at a disadvantage to do it.

Some quick thoughts:

The capacity for a single character to generate "peak ISK/hour" shouldn't be increased beyond what is traditionally accepted by running L4/L5 missions in 0.0, running anomalies and ratting etc. The peak earning rate is already plenty high and increasing it will only lead to inflation.

Right now risk in Eve is very binary: you're either radically exposed to PVP (lowsec and 0.0) or you're not (.5 and above). Some would cite suicide ganking and war decs in highsec as exceptions, but again, those are exceptions that prove the rule.

Highsec, lowsec and 0.0 are three very distinct environments with very distinct play styles and it should remain this way and in fact all future design changes should reinforce this fact. Different is good. Choice is good.

Main problem areas and solutions, in no particular order of importance:

Sovereignty, holding space and making money: Currently, alliances don't have any truly direct revenue stream. Sure, there's moon goo and tithes that are paid by member corps and renters etc., but those are all "unofficial". That is, there's no concrete in-game framework that allows any of this to happen in an automated fashion.

CCP changed the sov mechanics so that it cost alliances to hold space. The idea being that alliances wouldn't claim space just to claim it, and this would give other entities the opportunity to claim space, as growing too big would simply be too expensive to maintain. Clearly this hasn't worked out too well.

My idea is simple: allow alliances to tax anyone and everyone that generates ISK in any system where they maintain sov. The taxes go directly to the alliance, and the rate is tied to the level of sov in the system, with a maximum of 10% at level 5. The tax would be straight off the top, before any corp tax is applied. Worried about individuals complaining that they're taxed too much? Corp owners can simply reduce their corp tax by 2-3% to allow their individual members to retain earned ISK at a rate comparable to what they're used to (say, 10% corp tax for example). The point being here is that *everybody* gets taxed when operating in the system, whether they're in the alliance or not. Don't like it? Don't rat/mission/plex there. It's their space, they earned it.

Note that this isn't generating more ISK out of thin air. What this does is it encourages alliances to take space, develop space and install improvements to attract more players to their space and to ensure that it's utilized as fully as possible in order to generate as much revenue for the alliance as possible. The system only works when there are players there who are actively participating in the game to generate revenue.

Mining and reprocessing: I'll simply take the easy way out here and use the K.I.S.S. principle: outposts keep a percentage of all material reprocessed for the owning alliance. If alliances are worried about players reprocessing ore at POSes and/or Rorqs etc., that's their problem to police that. It's not that difficult.

The end goal here, balance wise, is for there to be high value in owning space and improving sov, but only if said space is occupied fully and utilized effectively by players. Empty systems should be of little or no value to alliances. Conversely, alliance held space should offer dramatic value over unimproved systems to players, whether they're in the sov holding alliance or not.

Quick thoughts on moon goo: I think that there needs to be more granularity and geographical diversity for moon material resources. Double the number of moons that produce moon goo and reduce output per location by half to net the same output. Yes, I know it means double the number of existing POSes. Spread the moons out, still maintaining the regional flavors with respect to what type of resource is located in which region, but ensure that the R64 and R32 moons are spread out over a given region to promote more complexity with respect to defending all sites instead of allowing the easy defense of just a few point targets.

While I'm sure the above will be hugely unpopular with the current owners of the R64/R32 moons, I think that it will benefit 0.0 warfare in the long run by creating more granularity and less of an "all or nothing" proposition as far as attacking/defending resources.

As usual, let's keep it civil- I'm not here to "ruin your game". If you don't like an idea, please let me know why, not just that you hate it. I look forward to your comments and ideas! Let's make the game better for everyone.

-more to follow-

SUPERCAPS. (see what I did there?)

I own a few. I consider the Aeon to be a "Golden Coffin". Can't use the character for anything else other than to maintain the Aeon. What a waste. But, it's as it should be. The only thing that will inhibit players from using something is TIME COST. ISK and scarcity simply won't work. Players will overcome ANY level of scaling to get what they want. Witness the hundreds of Titans (are we into the thousands now?), and thousands of Supercarriers.

It makes me sad that Titans and SCs are no longer something that creates awe and wonder when a player sees one for the first time. They're common. They're mundane. They're old hat.

That sucks.

Titans and SCs keep getting nerfed because CCP has to do something to them due to their insane level of proliferation. That sucks too.

I think that Titans (and SCs) should be regal, epic and inspiring to see one on the battlefield. Being blobbed by 50 of them is just silly.

How do we fix this?

The U.S. Navy has 11 Carrier Battle Groups. Why 11? Why not over 9000? Because of cost. Both in money and in manpower. Supercaps need to have something similar. If Supercaps had to be constantly fueled similar to POSes in order to simply keep running, the simple logistics of keeping them fueled will reduce their use overnight. The mechanics already exist: build a hybrid of POS and jump fuel mechanics. Add a dedicated "superfuel" cargo hold to all Supercaps. Let them use fuel blocks, just like POSes, and the fuel blocks will be consumed at a rate of 1x while logged off, and 2x while logged on. Just simply owning a Supercap will be hugely expensive and time consuming to maintain. Actually using them will be even more costly, both in time and money.

You'll see more precise and strategic use of the ships once the players get the hang of dealing with the increased costs and logistics of owning a Supercap. Alliances will own and use just enough to get the job done instead of bringing everything they have "just because we can".

If everything is always essentially "free" to use then players will always bring everything they have. This is how we've arrived at our current state of being.

Note that all of my concepts are simply rough ideas. I'm brainstorming; thinking out loud if you will. Don't jump down my throat if something I'm suggesting sounds awful. I'm totally open to hearing your ideas and suggestions to refine my concepts, or accept your ideas if you have something in mind that would be more elegant and simple.

OP is one of the few people on the forums that I can count to bring up good ideas , with all aspects and issues with it considered.

Came expecting "NURF 00 INCURSIONS ARE JUST AS DANGEROUS AND SHOULD MAKE MORE ISK" etc etc

Left pleasantly surprised, good over all ideas, well considered, and logical, +1

Interesting read, will wait for more to be filled in.

Nerf titan tracking and you will fix a lot of 0.0

Goon alt ?

There are some good ideas in it, but some very bad as well, in my opinion.

I really like your point about Sov money making, your right, and I dont like how the rank and file cant really keep track of all the isk made by alliances. I mean were the grunts who turn up and fight and die for it, but only ever a select few ever really know how much money the alliance is making.

I also think the opinion on logistics is spot on. There is a hunger from non cap pilots to make runs and supply null, but, the gap between what a blockade runner and JF can carry is massive, making it almost impossible for the wiley little guy to ever hope to compete against Cap Pilots mass seeding markets. my view is there is a definate space for a ship thats capable of carrying good amount of stuff, that maybe has the characteristics of a battleship in terms of handling, able to carry 2/3 times more than a crane but less than half of what a JF can handle.

They need to work out a way of making holding sov harder, its stupid to have alliances able to hold space they never use, and all they do is then charge some poor renters who never really get the protection they are promised. I would much prefer seeing smaller way more active pockets of sov space, with no mans lands being ideal for the small guys to erk out a living.

Overall OP, I hope they have a close look at what u have said here today.

EVE Online is a lot like WW2 because