Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ok I've been playing eve on and off since beta until recently when I am playing more seriously. I love this game and think the that most of every thing is great accept for the fact that ur ship is on constant auto pilot even in combat. That being said I have a suggestion to fix this and a few glitches that also surround of EVE's flight mechanics.

I call my suggestion "Manual Flight Mode!"

Have you ever gotten stuck on an asteroid or a station for 30 minutes while ur ship try's to figure out how to get around it?
I have. And double clicking away from the object did not help at all.

Solution Manual Flight Mode!

Have you ever been in combat and wondered why ur ship is spinning around the enemy causing it self to have a very improper firing solution???
I have... Also note that this means ships can ONLY HAVE TURRETS as weapons which by default don't do a lot of damage.

I also feel like combat is severely automated and like my auto pilot is fighting for me... I can guarantee you that if I'm piloting a space ship and I go into battle that I am keeping the nose of my craft pointed right at the enemy! But this can be fixed and EVE can still be EVE.

It is not my goal to diss EVE, this is a problem that many MMO's come across when it comes to combat mechanics. The mechanics also simply sell a little incomplete to me in my honest opinion.

Ok so here is my BIG suggestion. MANUAL FLIGHT MODE!

Utilizing the mouse and keyboard to pilot the ship BUT STILL IN AN EVE LIKE FASHION.

BELOW I WILL SHOW YOU THAT:

STILL EVE

STILL MMO

STILL SKILL BASED

HAVE CONTROL OF FLIGHT AND COMBAT

HAS THE POSSIBILITY TO ENHANCE GAME-PLAY BY COMPLETING GAME MECHANICS

LEAVES EVE ALONE AND IS AN OPTIONAL MODE!

1. ADD A BUTTON WITH AN "M" ON IT TO THE LEFT OF THE "CAP" READOUT. This enters the pilot into "Manual Flight Mode"

2. ADD THRUSTERS

This is done with "THRUSTERS" orbiting gives your ship a terrible shooting solution and makes it a target especially against multiple enemy's.

Q W E A S D

Q=move's ship DOWN, thrusters fire UP
W=move's ship FORWARD, thrusters fire to the REAR
E= move's ship UP, thrusters fore DOWN
A=move's ship RIGHT, thrusters fire LEFT
S=move's ship BACK, thrusters fire FORWARD
D=move's ship RIGHT, thrusters fire LEFT

YAY! we can now move the ship in 3 dimensions!

3. THE MOUSE IS NO LONGER USELESS!!!

The mouse is now used to "POINT THE NOSE OF THE SHIP" by moving it in a normal fassion.

BUT WAIT THE MOUSE HAS BUTTONS... AND A SCROLL WHEEL!

I got this!

SCROLL FORWARD = INCREASE SPEED
SCROLL BACKWARD = DECREASE SPEED
CLICKING SCROLL WHEEL = SELECT F# OBJECT OR F# GROUP
LEFT CLICK = ACTIVATE SELECTED F# OBJECT OR GROUPING
RIGHT CLICK = DEACTIVATE SELECTED F# OBJECT OR GROUPING

4. BUT WHAT IF I HAVE BROWSER FORWARD AND BACK BUTTONS????

Easy!

THESE BUTTONS SCROLL THROUGH TARGETS!

5. BUT WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE BROWSER BUTTONS ON MY MOUSE??????

Also Easy!

ARROW KEYS = SCROLL THROUGH TARGETS

6. HOW ALL THIS CAN EFFECT EVE

Well this give EVE ore than just a Better more fun more skill based combat mechanic. With these modifications you can now!

MANUALLY HELP YOUR SHIP HAVE A BETTER FIRING SOLUTION

AVOID GETTING STUCK ON OBJECTS

USE SOLID OBJECTS AS COVER (because now ur ship is deliverable behind them)

USE OBJECTS TO SET UP AMBUSHES

GET UNSTUCK FROM SOLID OBJECTS WITH 3 DIMENSIONAL MOVEMENT

7. BUT WAIT THEIRS MORE!!!

I have noticed that certain ship models ave objects on them that look like they are weapons that are built into the design but don't really do anything...

NOW THEY CAN

Remember every ship in EVE already serves different rolls so it already makes sense that not every ship would have built in weapons. But on the ones that do these would be what is known as "DIRECTIONAL WEAPONS" (these types of weapons are usually more powerful than turrets! So in other words if you can "MANUALLY" pull off a "FIRING SOLUTION" you could fire and hit a ship for "MASS DAMAGE ALSO KNOWN AS CRITING!" These weapons could be "manual fire only" aka activates then deactivates and could be available to fire in both automatic and manual flight modes.

8. BUT WAIT THEIRS EVEN MORE!!!

With this new mechanic in place we can now use turrets for their intended propose which is "POINT DEFENSE" or "SHOOTING DOWN INCOMING FIRE" they are also usually used for "ATTACKING MULTIPLE TARGETS AT ONCE" but of course dealing less damage. and of course the standard "CONCENTRATED FIRE MODE."

Imagine flying into battle and you tell your turrets/ groups to go into "POINT DEFENSE MODE," "NORMAL" OR "CONCENTRATED FIRE MODE." The last two are basically EVE now. But "POINT DEFENSE MODE" is a mode that tells the selected turret or group to attack incoming objects.

Basically this can be done in normal mode by right clicking and selecting the fire mode of a turret or group. In manual flight mode the UI would simply automatically replicate groups and give the same icon a different color for mouse wheel click selection (a selected item is highlighted btw) and activation.

9. EVE IS STILL EVE

Skills would still play the same major roll in Manual Flight Mode aka if your FRIGATE and SPACE SHIP COMMAND skills are at LVL 1 you will have a handy caped movement but of course if your skills are higher the handy cap is adjusted to your skill levels in exactly the same way it is now!

STILL EVE

STILL MMO

STILL SKILL BASED

HAVE CONTROL OF FLIGHT AND COMBAT

HAS THE POSSIBILITY TO ENHANCE GAME-PLAY BY COMPLETING GAME MECHANICS

Thread moved from GD to F&I - ISD Type40.

I like how you complain that combat is too automated, then argue for automated turret settings. There's nothing stopping you from grouping your weapons, or putting them on different targets now...

All the handicaps put on you/ your ship by AI can be done and kept the same in a Manual Flight Mode, they are already doing this in Dust 514.

What I was basically poking at is that EVE is already 2/3rds the way their all they'd have to do is basically overlay an "OPTIONAL" Manual Flight Mode and add a couple, literally 2 - 4 options added to regular mode and its there. Both modes would be basically equal and balanced and the coding is mostly ready for it. My only hopes is that eve would rather do this than simply release separate space ship shooter because then players could only have one or the other and loose something both ways. Unless they replicated Dust 514 but then the player would still loose the MMO player interaction and get stuck at five year old swearing you out in voice chat...

You can steer your ship manually. Using W A S Z i thing. Forward, backwards, left and right. Just look in your shortcuts, havent tried it though.