Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Eve has changed so completely since it was released, that if I took 2012 Eve back in time and showed it to 2004 hired goon, my past self's first response would be "Oh man! They made Eve 2!!". However despite this constant improvement, there are still a few areas that are the same as they were back when the game was released. Aside from stuff like missile visuals (which we already know are being worked on), and the physics engine (which would require a laborious re-write of the whole game) one of the things that come to mind is the directional scanner - aka "D-scan".

I believe this system desperately needs a revamp. The reasons I believe this are;

• D-scan is a massively important part of the game - more so now with wormholes and interdiction capabilities than when Eve was released.
• It's usage is highly limited; interaction is clicking one button over and over, and this is required in some cases to prevent sudden death.
• It has huge potential for diversity and improvement into an interesting tool that enhances Eve gameplay.
• Despite all this, it hasn't been touched since release a decade ago, except to add a delay to re-scanning.

I have been idly thinking for ideas that d-scan can be taken in, so will put some across here, to stimulate discussion.

Firstly, I think the repetitive button-pressing to scan should (obviously) be taken out. This could be replaced with a timed "pulse" scanner, which scans every period of time automatically. This would of course prove highly controversial to those of the ganking or pirating ilk, who would rightly observe that this encourages "laziness" by victims who may simply "switch off" and still be warned of radar contacts. However this is addressed by the second part of my idea.

This second part revolves around the capabilities of the d-scan, which I believe should not be universal; but different depending on the ship (and maybe skills/modules). Larger ships, combat ships, and industrial ships would have some penalty to either the maximum range of their scan, or the frequency of the "ping". Smaller ships would have longer range scans and more frequent pings, with even the possibility for new "types" of ship, or even a "resurrection" of ships that are seen to have little use (for example, EA frigates could be made the "best" scout frigates). Perhaps this role could be handed to covops frigates, or intys, or kept as a third "separate" scout type with its own ship. This way, instantly, though all ships get the "advantage" of an automatic d-scan, they are also hugely disadvantaged in the capability of that scan; requiring a scout ship (or module, this is all just an idea) to be present as an early warning system.

Could also have certain wormhole systems that "jam" the scan, and other cool stuff, like an unknown ping appearing on the scanner, resulting in panic and chaos and excitement.

Like I said, it will probably make it harder, as most ships will have their scan range reduced from 14au, and their ping frequency greatly reduced. It may even increase kills, as victims will become complacent with the new automated system.



The new system may include a new interface. Perhaps even an intuitive radar graphic, similar to what was seen in early Eve. (whoa just got a pang of nostalgia from that screenshot )



I don't believe it is dumbing down, because it is making something currently rigid and simple, more diverse and complicated. Imagine if they changed it so that you had to click your turrets each time you wanted them to fire; I doubt you me or anyone else would call such a change anything but silly!

Below is an idea I had some time ago. It is part of something larger, so excuse other refrences, but may provide some ideas.

3 Directional Scanner Mark II


The directional scanner, or "Onboard Scanner" will need an upgrade. It will, in this system, have two modes. A passive mode, similar to the current directional scanner, and an Active mode. For naming purposes, this will be called the "Directional Scanner Mark II" or DSM2; (DSP for passive mode, and DSA for active mode). To get a quick idea of how this new scanner will function, imagine submarines and sonar.



3.1 Passive Mode


In passive mode, the DSM2 has a max range of 16 AU, and scans once every 45 seconds, a rank one skill "Passive Scanning" can reduce it by 5 seconds per level for minimum of 20 seconds. Passive mode is limited to 360 degree scan but range can be set.



The DSP GUI will be similar to the current DS. At the top, on the left side, will be a text box for range which will take integer values 1 through 16, range will be measured in AU and not kilometers. At the top, on the right side will be a progress bar. The progress bar will show how long until the next scan and a read out will show the seconds counting down. Below will be tabled list of all that is detected. The list can be controlled by using an Overview Setting, including the status of the detected pilot, such as war targets, and not necessarily what is currently being shown on the Overview.



3.2 Active Mode


In active mode, the DSM2 can locate targets and give a warpable result, but at a cost. Range and angle are important, as are astrometric skills. Maximum Range is 256 AU and minimum range is 0.25 AU. Maximum angle is 360 degrees and minimum angle is 1 degree.

When the range is set long and the angle is set wide, the signal strength of targets will be weak. The more narrow the focus and the shorter the range, the stronger the signal. It should be such that, with no skills, a 5% scan angle and within 0.5 AU, a 100% signal will be achieved. A fully maxed skill pilot, in a ship with Grav rigs, should get a 100% signal with 360 degree angle and 2.0 AU range. (I am not great at math, and don't know the current formulas, so someone please have at it.)



All results will be warpable, the deviation of the results will decrease as signal strength increases, which can be reduced with the skills Astronomic Range Finding and Pin Pointing. The minimum deviation should be 10 kilometers + sig radius of target in meters - To avoid deep collisions but land within in warp jammer range. Deviations will always have a prejudice towards the local star. That is to say, when ever there is a result, and a player warps to it, they will warp to the star side of the target.



The maximum deviation will be 50% of the distance to the target, unless the signal strength is 100%. In the case of a 100% signal, the maximum deviation will be 100 kilometers.



When the player activates the scanner, it will find targets in the player set range and scan angle. It however might alert a detected ship that they have been scanned. If altered, the target ship(s) will get an audible "ping", and the scanner button on the HUD will gently flash/glow red. The "you have been pinged" warning will only occur if the signal is above 50%.



When a player invokes an active mode scan, the signal of their own ship doubles for 30 seconds. If they are cloaked, they remain visually cloaked and off the Overview, but are no longer cloaked on other scanners or probes. So, suppose someone has a ship with a sig of 50 and they activate the scanner. Now the sig is 100. If they activate the scanner again, before 30 seconds has passed, their sig will be 200. If the player waits 30 seconds, the signature will reduce to normal. Button spam will have a draw back and cloaking is not a 100% sure way to hide if one goes scanning everything in sight.



The DSA GUI will show a mini-map in 2-D, A "cone of scan" will be visible on the mini-map. Also, when the tactical overlay is turned on, the space view, will also show a cone. Celestials within the cone's angle and range, will be highlighted, in much the same way probes now highlight celestial icons in the solar system map view. The 2-D map will be in the upper left. To the right of the map will be a slider and below it, a text box. The slider will control the scan angle and the text box will control the range with values 0.25 to 256 AU.



Below the map and slider controls will be the tabled list of found targets. The list can be controlled by using an Overview Setting, including the status of the detected pilot, and not necessarily what is currently being shown on the Overview. Additionally, to reduce call backs, the Overview Filter of the scanning ship does not control target ships' ping warnings. In other words, the hunter may not filter out who may be warned.



In the case of both the DSP and the DSA, if CCP is using a bit shifting methodology for probe ranges, as may be the case, then the text boxes in the GUI could be changed to sliders or drop down boxes.