Player Features and Ideas Discussion

INDUSTRY REVAMP

Before anything, I'm a Mechanical Engineer and I deal with patents in the real life, and despite the fact that I really enjoy the game-play in EVE, I think it should get some improvements to look more real then it is today... Since it is Scy-Fi, it should be a future vision of our world... And having BPOs the way they are now is like a spaceship burning coal running a steam engine...

This Proposal is not something really needed now, but it would come in hand with an industrial expansion, it would add to the game, solving some game issues and bring it closer to reality, adding more freedom to industry and easing the life of industrial players. In a way they could leave hi-sec and try to build things in more dangerous space.


BPO

As everyone knows, one of the most important features in EVE Online are the Blueprints and the ship assembly system. But sadly it is completely outdated. The blueprint system existed in our world from 1861 up to 1960 when the CAD (Computer-aided drafting) started to replaced it.

The Idea of Having a Blueprint back then, meant that you had the data to make a product. But now, as the data is digital and we can easy make a Copy and send it throug the internet thinking about having a blueprint in a scyfi futuristic game is a bit of wierd.

If you want to produce something today, much more important then the Construction process Data, you need the permission (License) to build it.

And How should the game be? the way things are now at last.

The Item blueprint should be changed to something like a skill-book, but since it is not a skill, lets call it a for now a "data-pack" or "DP".
By using it, the data should be added to a character tab (much like the skill tab) unlocking the production of these items, being them ships/modules/ammunition/t1/t2/t3/faction, once injected the player would always have access to build these items. And would be able to Start any amount of manufacture jobs from it.
Lore: The information would be in a private cloud server, possibly with copies on every system and in the hardware of the player's POD. So he would have access to it everywhere, and as he get killed, he would download to his POD the information while he gets a new clone and capsule.

These DP would be sold in the stations that currently sells the BPO/BPC.

Like Skill-books these will only be used once.


LICENSES

As the Construction process Data can easily be copied or reverse engineered, what really keeps the economic balance today is the industrial law of patents/licenses and rights.
In EVE it should be the same.

There should be 2 types of licenses. The unlimited license (UL) that would allow you to construct the items with no limit, and the limited runs license (LL) that have a limited number of runs.

These licenses should be a In-game Item that can be used to add its, "value" to the character Industrial Tab.

Being an item, it can be traded in the market without the need to use contracts.

It would be sold in the stations that currently sells the BPO/BPC

ANALYSIS

- The obsolete blue print system would be updated. So no more need to carry pieces of blue paper in your ship.

- To add this system to the game, all BPOs would be split into 2 different items 1 unique DP(That keeps the ME and PE) and one full license, while the BPCs would be split into 1 DP and a limited run license. This way people will not lose their assets vallue.

- By activating a DP that contains a ME and PE higher then your current value, you will be prompted to replace the old one. (Remembering that these DP with ME and PE can only be obtained with and old BPO/PBC converted.)

- The Untrained Blueprints, turned into DP and Licenses, would be simple Items, don't needing contracts to be traded like the modified BPO and BPCs.

- As the Information of ME and PE get removed from the Untrained BPO item, to the character sheet, it would need much less info stored in the server.

- As information and rights can't be destroyed, like in the real world, industrial players would fell much more comfortable about moving to unsecured space to set up industrial operations there.

- Those who make isk selling Trained blueprints and BPCs would be still able to make isk on it.

- For nullsec it would be a Industrial revolution.

- Industrial Characters would be much more valued then they are now.

- This system would add a small difference to the game, but would have big consequences...

I will try to rewrite it clearer, later...

But for now, about the concept:

The risk of losing a blueprint is something that should never exist. As it is a DATA... it is virtual... the element of risk is present on the transport of materials/ the life of the capsuler / the vulnerability of the POS where the item is being manufactured. Today in our world, we have no risk on losing a blueprint, or a project, it is all in the Internet cloud. Why in the future there should be such a silly risk? I really like that eve have elements of risk, but the risks that make sense... pirates, NPCs, war... but forgetting to make a a backup file? lol

Yes, the Idea is to Delink the Research level from the number of runs. As the ME and PE are technical and depend on your level of understanding on the product, while the number of runs are just a Law issue. They are not linked in the real life. You can obtain the license to produce 10000 Nike shoes, but if you don't make researches on the process of making them, you will end up with very expensive product in the end. And if you get a license to run more 10000 copies, it makes no sense that you lose the research already done.

So it would be like
DP - technical, carries the ME and PE - As item, like a skill-book, can only be used once to learn.
License - how many times you can run a manufacture job (can be limited or unlimited) - As item can be used many times.

And for those who makes money selling researched BPOs, they would have the option to keep selling licenses and DPs, this time like commodities in the market. And the Already reserched BPOs would be turned into "Reserched DP" and "Unlimited License" that would have a significant value.

Indeed, it would be interesting to have a chance to lose some ME and PE if your clone is not updated, it would be like forgeting to make a backup... this would add a spice to the system...



Well, since this is a Sci-Fi game, or some people dare to say, a Sci-Fi simulator, it would be good to add some more realism to the system... as this can solve some of the biggest problems CCP is facing with null-sec.

About manufacturing while researching, the research may lock the Item, it would be easy to do that...



The only DP that would be researched would be the DP upgraded from the Blueprint. The ones produced by players would always start up "empty".

So what you're saying is that copying them does absolutely nothing useful since there are already NPC seeds.

You have given me an idea though.

Pirated BPO's
Similar process as Invention but uses BPO's and produces illegal BPO's. Customs will seize them and fine them, but who will care in null?

It would make accessing BPs much easier out there, possibly aiding the fueling of the null industrial revolution.

Hmmm...

It is only that the BPCs are not seeded everywhere, and if you are at an outpost, and need to give a BPO/BPC to someone else it would be the easiest way to go.

Of course, you can copy a Ferrari, but by the time you have duplicated all the parts, down tot he nuts and bolts, it woulod have been cheaper to buy one in the first place. Also, when you tried to sell it you would get sued into the stone age.
And you are talking about digital media, you directly referenced it in your OP. My point about the 'copyright' is that the manufacturer of the design uses it to gain profit. The point of BPO's is that they ARE the license, not just the details for construction of the item they are for. Thats is why a copy has a 'Licensed Number of Runs' on it. Technology has come full circle:
Data is purely physical.
Digital media allows data to become digital.
Methods of transfering data allow digital media to be copied without license.
Encryption protects media from illegal copying.
Encryption is broken, leaving data vulnerable once more.
Continuous efforts to create ever greater levels of encryption to protect media from illegal copying.
Encryption is continually broken, leaving that form of protection obsolete.
Only way to prevent pirate copying is hard copies using proprietary technology.

In the words of Pearl Jam; "It's evolution, baby!"

With your idea in place, there would be no way for anyone to research BPO's and then sell it on, it would all be copies. You could not transfer a BPO to a friend who has a POS and is willing to research it on your behalf. You could not give that BPO to a corp mate to bang out multiple runs for a said amount of time. It would all rely on copies and licenses.

BPO's preventing people moving production out to null because they don't want to lose them is ridiculous. When the Venture BPO was released, I was already docked up in an ORE station out in null. I bought enough copies for my friends, myself and a few for sale in Jita too. I came back through some pretty big gate camps. But guess what, no problem. I wish I had just fitted a Tengu for it, it would have been quicker than using a nano fit SB. It's really not an issue if you use a little caution. If you going to afk it, thats your own dumb fault, as the amount of unfitted T1 frigs and rookie ships full of BPO's on killboards prove.

As TheSkeptic said: If it ain't broke...

BPO's are not broken, they do not need fixing.

Ignoring how the current mechanics are intended for game balance....

Lets take your assumption of everything being Digital.
Given the nature of Eve, it can be reasonably assumed that there is not a 'cloud' server across the whole of New Eden. Due to how vulnerable that sort of thing would be to piracy. Or viruses wiping your entire database would be common.

So in order to prevent this kind of easy Virus wipe, plans for industrialists are stored on hard coded chips. These chips are known as BPO's. The manufacture of BPO's is tightly controlled by the goverments, & even the pirate organisations keep a very tight lid on the process. And none of them want capsuleers to ever have the technology as it removes a balance on capsuleers. Hence why we can't make BPO's. Only use them.
If you have a hard coded chip, you can append some additional data onto it in a softer coded area. Non flashable SSD drive as example. So once writen becomes permanent. This is your research.
Once you have a hard code chip, there also exists a duplication process, which makes a soft code chip that is only good for so many reads before the data may begin to corrupt. The larger the information, the smaller the number of reads that can be made obviously, hence why Titan BPC's are few runs than T1 small guns.

Hey presto, one possible explanation for the current system, that doesn't involve any recoding work, yet still keeps a Sci Fi explanation for it all.

So the complete and total removal of even the concept of blueprint loss or theft is not a major change?