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.