To boldly go where thousands have gone before...

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #30

Since the review for the Blog Banter 30 is out, I thought I owe an expansion to my banter post... Since, guess what, Bold Pilot Log entries are hitting 30 as well! So, Stan probably has got a take on the original concept, or if not he thought it was fitting into the profile of ORE and aptly named the mothership concept "Athena", which in his honor, I'll use as the name of the Gallente Mothership.

So, we have ourselves a ship that's capable of serving as a core for a deep space operation, such as Freebooting Freelancer Inc. Unauthorized Bounty and Resource Extraction, Manufacturing and Research Company. The idea here is to help small entities that probably wouldn't have the numbers to get a hold in wild space. They're only a few people a corp, with possibly less than ten active members, who usually are online for a limited time. They think the life in null or wormholes is really fun, but the POS is too permanent for their liking. Setting up a tower is too tedious if you have to be constantly on the move. Sou our wily space nomads get themselves a Mothership, the type of ship that'll serve them as their makeshift home, and will allow them quick movement if the ground gets too hot for their liking. All they have to do to move the whole base around is have it unanchor (come out of deployment mode), and jump the whole fleet at once (if they are on grid, and unless they are in combat) to a system far, far away...

Development of the Mothership concept

But guess what... It wasn't ORE's idea in the first place! In fact, the Minmatar people, especially the Thukkers always had a taste for a nomad lifeform... The problem was, they couldn't afford to run stations or towers in the far reaches of space, so what they did was is to re-purpose an existing capital ship design to suit their needs. Now they had everything they needed in the place they wanted in the time they wanted. The military implications of such a mobile outpost had not been considered at this time, and the concept was dismissed as a civilian effort. With the strengthening of the capsuleer militia however, the Republic started to look at ways to mix the effectiveness of the capsuleer vessels with the mobility of the Thukker Motherships. After a few months of engineering, this resulted in the Wolverine, the first capsule-fitted Mothership ever designed.

Meanwhile in the Empire... A few very bold Blood Raider attempts were led by ships with huge cargo and docking capacities, hauling hundreds of Raider dropships to the site of the Raid, similar to the first Incursion tactics. Soon, the military experts at the Empire realized what was happening - and that they can't fight off the Raiders without their own forces having a way to deploy full mobile operations. Searching for ways to achieve this goal, they put forth a commission for the most effective Mothership design. It was shortly decided that the Imperial Armaments' 'Reclaimer' will win.

The Caldari agents had ears and eyes everywhere again, and the Raata kind of liked the idea of having a ship serve as a mobile base for the quick response fleets. The race began as every major armaments provider started to test their own designs fr the task. In a somewhat heated discussion, the leaders of the State finally decided that the Kaalakiota Corporation's Albatross will be fitted for capsuleer usage.

The Gallente Federation's own engineers were still busy revising their Hybrid designs, when this new challenge was put forth. Luckily, ORE had been in the process of creating a ship design that would be more suitable for the hostile environment of capsuleer-inhabited outer space than the Rorqual. They sold the plans for an undisclosed (and probably incredibly high) sum of ISK to the Federation. A small group of talented scientists from all areas spent about a year, re-purposing the original blueprints to fit into the Federation's military profile.

Properties - what makes a MS a MS?

So, here we go. All the four factions have their own Mothership designs. There are things they share, in the form of base stats and bonuses, coming from their role. However, them being racial, this allows for a diversity of small boosts they can give to the fleet they are supporting. Let's go through the commonalities first:

• They have no drone bay or hardpoints. There should be a whole group of people that are (should be) able to defend them at all times.
• They have the ability to fit POS modules as if they were regular ones, and have the role bonuses to reduce the grid requirements to an acceptable level. The POS modules allow them to be used the corresponding station service. A list further down.
• They have the resources comparable to that of a Tier 3 Battleship. If they had more, they could fit capital modules in their spare slots, or they shouldn't have spare slots, both of which makes them too pewerful in combat or much less interesting to fly.
• They can support up to two gang links in their high slots.
• They can use their POS modules and gang links when in deployed mode, other modules can only be activated when they are mobile.
• Deployment itself does not consume fuels, but the usage of the station functions does.
• They cost about three carriers' worth of materials to build, and their hit points are tuned in a way that they have sufficient buffer to last through a low-number capital engagement with capital support. Dreadnoughts will be the bane of these ships.
• They have a cargo hold of 5000 or more. There are a lot fo things that you'd want to put in them even if you don't plan to participate in cargo heavy activities.

The POS modules would all fit to High Slots, allowing the following functions:

• Assembly Array: We want to be able to sustain ourselves in space, right? That means it has to be able to fit assembly arrays, fuel cost linked to manufacture job scale. It should also be able to construct ships, so allow the fitting of up to Large and Medium Advanced arrays.
• Ship Maintenance Array: Docking (as in a station) of up to a balanced number of people with subcapital ships only. Timed ship and module repair and capacitor recharge (which use fuel), fitting service (only when docked).
• Corporate Hangar Array: Storage of modules, commodities and ores within the hold of the ship. Essentially a corp hangar that's again only accessible if docked. Moving items, stacking, repackaging should cost fuel if there was at least one item to be executed on.
•  Mobile Laboratory & subtypes: Research slots. Each job consumes a certain amount of fuel depending on the scale it represents.
• Moon Harvesting Array: Yeah, you read it right. They can mine moons. Fuel is consumed for each cycle.
• Reactor Array: If they can mine moons, why not be able to react the materials? Well, they should be able to. Fuel, again is consumed per cycle. Silos are not wanted here, the materials could be placed in the cargo of the ship.
• Refining Array: The ability to reprocess minerals in deeps space is a really good thing. It should definitely not step on the toes of the Rorqual (compressing ore must remain a valid way of operation) and neither should it be more preferable than a station. Stuff can be refined from a corp hangar or the cargo and a balanced time will lapse before the end product appears in the location of origin.

Racial Bonuses

Now that we have looked at what the Mothership can do, let's stop for a moment. I did wish for factional ships rather than only one, but we can look at it from the other angle - why would I pick an Athena over a Reclaimer? Well, because they have different bonuses, meaning that the other might suit your play style! Remember, this has to keep small group in mind when in design. So, let's look at what kind of bonuses the ships would offer.

Wolverine:

• Bonus to traditional Minmatar Command links.
• Bonus to capacitor need of jumps.
• Bonus to Refining Array efficiency.

Reclaimer:

• Bonus to traditional Amarr Command Links
• Bonus to the maximum number of docked ships (when a ship maintenance array is fitted)
• Bonus to  Assembly Array slot number

Athena:

• Bonus to traditional Gallente Command links
• Bonus to jump range
• Bonus to Corporate Hangar capacity

Albatross:

• Bonus to traditional Caldari Command Links
• Bonus to jump fuel consumption.
• Bonus to Laboratory slot number

Closing Words

So, here we have them. The pride of any nomad group - their Mothership, their mobile home. No longer are they forced to carry around POS modules in clumsy ships, and no longer does it take hours to move from one system to another. Just unanchor the Mothership and go. Well, there obviously have to be some drawbacks, righ? Well, here is the list I can offer:

1. The whole stuff only works if the pilot is online. Account sharing is a bannable offense. I leave the conclusions to you.
2. It consumes fuel for every freaking operation (just as a POS would, maybe even more). You have to keep the checkbooks tight if want to rely on this thing.
3. The tank on this ship is really thin for its size. No capital modules means that the Motherships can barely be fitted to be saved by a good triage carrier when caught by a gang.
4. The only safety this ship has is that in can sit on a deep space bookmark and cloak up.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of ways that you can exploit these things, and there may be big holes in the idea, but that's why I'm putting it out there - take a look and please comment if have any suggestion as to how it could be improved.

Sessym out.

Space Zombies

The capsuleer sat back in his couch. His eyes narrowed and his face tightened. His voice was quiet and dripping with anger.
-I don't care how you'll fix it, Kem. I didn't ask you to do this. You shouldn't have come here and I will not move a finger to save you. I'll take you with me if you're still alive, but don't expect me to save you.
The video transmission cut off. The capsuleer eyed his handgun. The trusty 'Regimen'  lay on the table, loaded, armed. All it would take him to save the girl was to take the gun into his pocket, walk down a few stairs, use an elevator, turn on a corridor, and fire two rounds. His reflexes were polished within the capsule, no ordinary man could possibly match them. But this has grown out of control. Even his mind, very much used to parallel operations, could not digest the complexity here.There were unclear intents, missing reasons, unforseeable consequences. Besides, the girl needs to learn her place.

Kem was shaking as she closed her PDA. The adrenaline in her veins was burning, and the roar of guns did little to calm her. She was hiding behind a crate, the people shooting at her were standing at the entrance of the hangar. If only she could turn the lights off. She fumbled with her pockets looking for the small hidden gun she was always carrying, to no avail. Beams of energy struck near her. They must have heatvision too. The coolant pipe did help to hide her signature, but the trails of residual heat were there. She couldn't just wait here. She could barely see from the blood that was seeping into her eyes from her wound. Suddenly a small door opened next to her. She couldn't hold it anymore, and fainted. Blake walked silently over her. The bulky engineer gently took the fragile seibestor woman over his shoulder, and disappeared into the station's twisting tunnels.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened wide. Blake had no weapon, so the only thing he could do is to try and cover Kem from view. The capsuleer stood in the doorway, hand clenched, eyes narowed.
-You've become jumpy in this place. Get your bearings, we'll leave in ten minutes.
They both knew it was no joke. He needed them both, and that also meant they would be using the ship that made Kem's skin crawl. From afar, the monstrous battleship looked intimidating, from the inside, it was the embodyment of the name the authorities gave to the class. Nightmare. The crew's quarters were comfortable, if a bit creepy. The maschinery in the fighting compartment however, Kem was no friend of those things. The huge stabilizer coils were snaking all over the place, and the web of arm-thick cables made it very similar to a spider's lair. In combat you'd hear the endless rattle of the turret mechanisms and the low growl of the coils as they infused the turrets with the huge energy without overheating them. Sometimes the cooling of the shield generators would scream up, as the Gist C-type shield booster did its work, sapping the capacitors almost as intensively as a full wolley of Tachyon beams. Kem's mind screamed at her not to board the ship, but fear overcame memory and soon she would be behind her console, monitoring the weapon systems, as they awakened by the attachment of the capsule. Blake came over to run some checks on the riggin he installed in the past few days. For her relief the shield booster of dubious origin was gone, a technology level two shield extender sitting in its place. Mounted, that thing was monstrous, and added even more complicated wiring to the already fuzzy matrix. However, this could only mean one thing. This time, it is not some petty conflict in a small system somewhere in empire. They will be going up against real tough stuff now.
-I need to check on the MWD. Home tech ain't trusty-rusty anymo'e - Blake hummed and stormed down the corridor alone. MWD? This is serious shit. For days now, Kem calmed down. This was the eerie calm she liked to work in. They will really be putting their hides on the line. She gave the green light for weapons systems and the ship undocked.

They went from warp to jump and warp for about an hour, then the movement stopped. The comms arrays lit up. They joined a fleet. The capsuleer maneuvered the camera drone around. Greenish light everywhere. Incursion. The Sansha is here. After a few ship-ahoys, the fleet commander came in clear and loud. This was it. The capsuleer opened a shipwide channel and spoke as the tachyon beams started to vaporize the shields of enemy ships:
-Here we go. Man all stations. This is not the joke of missions you people are used to. Time to roast some space zombies!

Precipice of Change

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #29

This morning I saw something on youtube, and I got the nerdchills. For a long time, about EVE, again! The short video was showing engine trails and a new warp effect from the Singularity Test Server. With the beautyful backdrops of the new nebulae, the impression was incredible.

Many little things that make together EVE be closer to the thing it can become. The trails are a good addition to show how powerful these ships are, the warp tunnel now looks as if we were really travelling in the bubble the canon talks about, bending the very space with it. Turret flares missing the ship andds another layer of credibility, immersion. What we will look at our monitors is vey close to the great graphics that stare back at us in the sci-fi movies, except that those recordings are rendered for weeks, not fragments of seconds.

CCP was always good at capturing the subconscious of people. There are small details, hidden complexity, which you are not aware, but your brain registers them and they contribute to the overall immersion much more than the things you actually realize do. Look at the same picture with different lighting effects and you'll see what I mean. The space environment in EVE just got the most important thing it missed (and started to miss more and more when the devs were no longer concentrating on it) - scale and perspective. Only when a lumbering battleship draws engine trails longer than its own lenght, do you realize how terrifying a speed 117 m/s is. Only when you see phenomena that have their sizes measured in lightyears shrink jump by jump do you realize the distance you are taveling through in seconds. I could continue this on and on. The reason I don't do is that this isn't what I want to talk about.

EvE Online: CRUCIBLE is going to be a turning point, and we all know this. But it's going to change the game we love in some aspects not many people think about. This last two years, the relatively stagnant Flying in Space EvE is going to be gone. God willing, forever. You'll undock into a whole different universe. What we leave behind I would call the era of tears. We, the society of EVE, CCP, and the New Eden were crying a lot. Sometimes at each other, sometimes with ourselves. We have to go forward. And this means things will change. The pvp in space will evolve. CCP wants it to evolve beyond the best practices we are used to now. Some things get simpler, and we have to accept that. Some things get easier, and you have to be ready for the other people to learn the tricks only you knew...

In other words, let's be ready for what CCP throws at us. We will be heard. Yes, they are a business, and we are customers, but before everything else - let us be a game creating society. The people, they work at CCP because they love the concept and potential of EVE. The players, they should play the game because they love it. Let us stop treating CCP as a company and ourselves as customers - companies never, ever listen to their customers. They listen to their bank accounts, nothing else. The relationship is indirect, no matter how many PR they apply. But if we become a society in and of itself, we will have a direct connection to each other - gamers and developers. That is something fearless, something no profit-oriented organization have attempted before...

Sessym out.

Blog Banter 30: Immersive Marketing

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #28

'Tis a new month again, and our favourite British Minmatar Keeper O'Records Record-A-Worthy, put forth another two questions to banter posts for his keeping o'records. The first question cometh:

"With the Winter expansion possibly being named 'Crucible', it certainly is a melting pot of refinements and tweaks aimed at making the EVE experience smoother and more wholesome. If the developers suddenly found themselves some spare resources and approached you for an additional feature to include before release, what single concept would you pitch them and how would you implement it?"

You probably already know that I'm a lazy person, so I'll just point you at my previous post (funny how I answered the question before it was asked, huh? ). I'll wait patiently until you read my Letter to Sansha Claus, then, if you still want more rants, welcome back here.

For bonus points, the one thing lacking from this "patchwork" of iterations is a cohesive storyline to package "The Crucible" together. How could this expansion be marketed to potential new customers?"


Now that, ladies, gentlemen and capsuleers is a good and hard question. Exactly the ones that I like! So let's start dissecting it. So we want something that makes 'Crucible' make sense. I'll answer with another word. "Embrace". The whole excpansion is about breaking stagnation and embracing a new concept. To hold something close that's so dear to everyone. And that thing is violence and change. Let this expansion be the finger that points up: it gets only better! So how about this narrative:

"There are things that never change. Or this is that some want to believe. But they are wrong. We all were, at some point, wrong. The absence of change is something none desire. Change is your test, your challenge put forth by the universe. We, capsuleers are the cavaliers of change. Creation, destruction, violence, compassion - they all serve the same purpose. The world is merciless, harsh. Despite this, the whole has a purpose - and that purpose is ours to shape..."

I would certainly enjoy a trailer with something like that. It could be a nice sequel to the "I was there" episode saying that "we are capsuleers, we are the symbols of change".

I must however, put forth a disclaimer before continuing. When looking at new players, I'm very picky. I'm not content with 'any players will do'. This may seem an elitist attitude, but don't get me wrong. In my belief, there are people that have no need of the EVE universe, and it's probably better off without them, too. I know some of those people, and I'm certain you know some. These are the people that cannot enjoy the game for the same reasons long-term EVE players do. This is mainly because if you're living on a wormhole colony or something and hadn't already noticed, we have a say in where the game develops.

There are voices that should and shouldn't be heard. Those that don't play, those that can't accept the parts of the game they don't like, those that are not prepared to stay with the game - they'll probably never shut up... but they can be ignored in my opinion. I know that's a bit harsh, but so is EVE, and I like "her" that way. If I need love, I go to my wife. If I want violence and challenge, I'd prefer to pixel shoot pixel people in pixel spaceships than real fights.

And guess what? Crucible is a very good name - a well defining name. There are all kinds of people doing all kinds of things to each other. Because they want to. Because they can. And the heat of it all, the challenge, the test is yours to jump in. With a little care and clever design, CCP can show the world a new class of marketing: the active, interactive, immersive one. The "we'll give you what you want" message is well received from the existing players. And in my opinion, CCP should build on the tight community, keep it that way. Inflated subscriber numbers may not be as good as the beancounters think. EVE is not about fun - it is about complexity, longevity, planning, understanding, learning - the things that really define a hobby. Many people look at it that way - and that is what CCP should look to achieve. Because favourites, games are cycled throughout the lives of people - usually in a seven-year cycle - but hobbies persist. You never really quit hobbies. These are the things you enjoy spending your time on - and EVE should always provide a lot of opprtunities to reward the time spent on it.

There's something in marketing that many sales specialists build on when advertising: perceived vaule. In this world, in this economy, soon there will be only one thing that has substantial perceived value by the 'simple' people: longevity. EVE is good at it, but not as long as the database is running on Tranquility (and its descendants) - only until people consider the game to be worh talking about and the players worth helping. Do you really think they should ignore that?

Sessym out.

Letter to Sansha Claus

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #27

Dear Sansha Claus,

Many people deny your existence, but I know you're out there. I believe in you! And I know the wishes made with your name become true! I've been a good little capsuleer. I may have been a little sloppy as of late, but real life and all, you know about that shit... Of course, you know about everything! So let's go ahead and look at what I yearn to see within EVE Online:

1. Missile launch animation rewamp
2. Firing and module look&feel rewamp
3. Introduce territorial Planetary Interaction so that we finally can rivalize with each other
4. True 'Mothership' concept to support the nomadic lifestyle

Missile launch animation rewamp

Ships right now just poo smoke and a glowing orb is hurled towards the target. Clearly, this is not the finest example of EVE's astonishing visuals, so it is only right people will want some new animations. When most people say they want missiles to have new effects when launched, they usually mean 'turrets for missiles', which is one good solution, but is does not come near to what it coudl be. First, we have two groups of missles: guided and unguided.

Surprisingly enough, guided missiles have lower payload and are able to follow their targets for a longer time, while unguided ones carry greater payloads in shorter ranges and usually take slower, larger targets to score a perfect explosion than their guided counterparts. It's not that they can't follow enemies - they too have some 'dumb' sensors that also lock on the target, but being slower and worse at following movement, these things do much better if they are aimed. Guided missiles, however, they would probably benefit better from a system that lets them leave the launchers at nearly full speed.

So what I'd like to see is that guided missiles are launched from silos that open up and close on the ship hull, while unguided missiles have bulky launchers that track the target just as turrets do. But wait, there's more! Engine trails for missiles... 'nuff said, methinks.

Firing and module look&feel rewamp

Even with the upgraded turret effects, some firing animations just look too underwhelming. I love lasers because of their bright flares. Autocannons also do a decent job now, but blasters, rails and artillery aren't really that good.

Let's begin with the easiest: make laser flares match their size and type. For example, make quad guns flare four times, duals flare twice, you get the hang of it... On impact, show hotspots where armor damage is taken.

Autocannons should leave sratches in the same way, while they could fire from all their guns, so dual guns should have two trails for example.

When you fire railguns, the tremendous force and speed should be shown with botha flare and a smoking and hot trail. Those shells are moving at relativistic speeds, damn it.

Artillery vents a lot of particles into space. That's how it should be, you're firing projectiles that are usually the size of a small car. But where do those particles go? I vote for more fire from the barrels and more pronounced smoke trails. Impact should also show an effect that wears off in two or three seconds. Firing many (6 or 8) artillery cannons should leave you in a cloud of smoke and dust.

And now the trickiest thing. Blasters.Right now their animations is something between (pardon the wording) spit and ejaculation. It's not pretty, and certainly does not convey the heat and kinetic energy of the slug. We need something that looks more like you just processed tons of material to glowing hot plasma, and shot it with a speed proportional to that of the light. The beams could have a spiraling effect around them or something.

Territorial PI

Planetary Interaction, or as they call it 'pai' right now is just a few dots and lines that produce goo for your stuffz. This is so non-eve that it almost hurts. Why, oh why can't I mess with other players' planets (beyond draining them of their precious resources faster)? There are richer and poorer deposits of materials on each planets, which is a good thing. These deposits move over time, but what would it be like if you had only a given territory of a planed to exploit for your pleasure? Say, you play 'rent' to CONCORD and they let you play simcity on an area that's size depends on the 'rent' you're billed for (which is also increasing by security status, of course).

In short, I want everything they talked about at Fanfest 2009 on planets. I want to be a dictator on a planet that herds the common people to his service.

Motherships

This is the big gun. Or more likely, the big ship. I'm thinking of a mobile base of sorts that you can take deep within unknown space, with several of your buddies, and deploy / move it faster than you could move a POS. There are a few key functions that consitute a true 'mothership' concept.

1. It must have a jump drive. It's a capital ship for obvious reasons - and more like a small station than a spaceship. The tank and firepower on this thing is not exactly a priority. It's more like a multifunctional carrier than a real combat ship.
2. It must be able to enter high-class wormholes. The mass on this should be not much higher than a regular capital.
3. It must allow the fitting of various modules that helps it function as a makeshift POS, able to manufacture, research, refine, repair. The catch is simple - if the pilot's not online, it doesn't work.
4. And the point of all this: people are able to dock in it, up to subcapital size! There should be limits of course, but this is beyond the scope of this letter right now.

So dear Sansha Claus, I know you're busy planning your next incursions to known space, but please set aside some time and consider these things. I know you have a lot of little elves working for you now up high in Iceland!

Sessym out.