The ideas just keep rolling here on Eveoganda! Today, with one bold stroke, we shall re-invigorate one of the long ignored areas of play within the Eve universe. Faction Warfare.
Within New Eden we have four types of space - Hi-Sec (Empire), Low-Sec, Null and WH. (NPC Null and a few variants, but those are really the big four.) I am suggesting the addition of a new type of space - Contested Space.
If you've been following along with the 2012 Series (and why wouldn't you, they are friggin' brilliant!) then you know I've been talking about the Jovian race. Now this could be any race, even a brand spanking newly made up one, but the Jovians just happen to be a great example. Mostly because they already have an entire region of space to themselves. So I'm going to continue using them as an EXAMPLE. Get with the program people.
So, what is Contested Space?
Imagine for a moment that at some point next year reports start to emerge from Empire of ships that entered a WH only to emerge deep within Jovian space... and return? Suddenly these reports are confirmed as intrepid players themselves chance upon these newly opened pathways. At first the WH's are the only way in to this vast new region of space. It isn't Null space (since the normal Sov mechanics don't seem to work there, huh.) and it isn't Empire space - no CONCORD. So what is it?
Well at first no one knows. But then a few strange things start to become obvious. Newly discovered BPOs from those that brave the Jovian rats reveal something unexpected. Apparently you might just be able to build Faction Controlled Gates (FCG), the key ingredient of which is a newly discovered mineral that only appears in certain Asteroid belts and PI processes within Jovian space and no where else. In addition, there appears to be a new type of Probe that can be built - the Explorer Probe.
This new region of space is vast, rich and extremely hard to get to. But all of the Empires want it to themselves, certainly possession could tip the balance of power significantly to one side or the other and settle centuries long conflicts. It isn't long before players realize that by using the Explorer Probes (with the right skills) one can determine the exact location where their Faction should build a Gate. Now these Jovian gates are special in that they can be manned, they can be built with special defenses that normal gates do not have, and they can be contested. Just because you build one, doesn't mean you get to keep it.
But once these gates start connecting to Empire space, the flood is on. And this opens up another new game aspect - The Treaty. Treaties have been talked about for ages, but now we have the perfect situation to implement them. Let's say you have an Industrial Corporation that would like to move into Amarr Contested Space within the new Jovian region. In order to be protected and gain access thru the FCG, you'll need to sign a treaty with the Amarr Empire. The terms of that treaty will be negotiated and agreed upon by their representatives the Amarr Faction. But most likely will include monthly fees and percentages from your operations. In return you gain access to new materials, belts, rats, the whole ball of wax. Including new BPOs to build those new Jovian ships the new Jovian players want to fly.
And yes, Pirates are a problem. And yes, other factions will be able to not only attack, but gain control of systems by controlling the gates into those systems. Let's say XYZ system's gate leads directly to Gal space, but the Minnie Faction takes over the gate... well now that gate leads directly to Minnie space.
Suddenly FW has a purpose and directly and POWERFULLY impacts the entire universe of New Eden... something that it truly needs and has never had. And the new Jovian region becomes an interesting, vital, important new arena for a brand new type of combat in Eve.
There are literally hundreds of other ideas inherent in the above, what about the Jovian's themselves, what about Stations, missions, and every other aspect of game-play?
I'm no expert at Faction Warfare, it is the one play style that I haven't tried. So I'll leave the details to those that know and the ideas on how this new system could grow, evolve and adapt will remain to be seen. But I do know that something needs to be done and within the confines of the other ideas I've already outlined in the 2012 Series - the new playable race, the Sanctuary Training Program and the others - that Contested Space is just another piece of the puzzle that would make for a very exciting 2012.
And, more importantly, keep Eve a growing vital game.
What are your thoughts about Contested Space?
"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option.
Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?"
Over the past two years I have written extensively regarding PvP in Eve, the challenges that new players face, the perils of Null, Low and Hi sec space, and offered solutions from both sides of the fence. A few months ago I even wrote the entire opening Chapter on what could potentially become a paradigm shift in the new player experience - The Sanctuary Training Program. ( Essentially Newb systems would become Sanctuary systems, plus other incredibly intelligent stuff )
I've even spent a good portion of time debating a way to make consensual PvP actually work within the framework of Eve with The Thunderdome concepts, HERE and HERE and even HERE.
Despite all of those attempts and more, the truth remains the truth. Player Versus Player combat remains the cornerstone of the Eve experience. And it should remain the cornerstone of the Eve experience for all of eternity, in my mind it is sacrosanct. Almost Holy.
Having said that, let's move on to the real issue at hand. Fundamental changes are needed to the underpinnings of that experience. In order to make the universal experience of Player Versus Player combat more fair, more even and more predictable for all of our players.
True Sec status needs to be implemented universally across the board in all systems.
That Sec Status, per individual system, needs to be used to generate Global Criminal Countdowns. Aggression timers need to be eliminated, as they serve little purpose other than confusion. GCC needs to be based on the True Sec status of the system in which it was initiated. Period. The lower the Sec Status the lower the GCC timer. Predictable, fair and even-handed.
As a consequence of this system of True Sec based GCC, True Hi-Sec becomes virtually impossible to engage in ganking. War Decs would continue, and they really are a side issue like Faction Warfare. But "ganking", while not 100% eliminated, would become very, very rare. And here's why. Anyone with a negative sec status that enters a Hi-Sec system with a high enough True Sec rating - would be destroyed at the gate. Boom. Anything other than a Pod gets blowed up real good.
This does not eliminate ganking in Hi-Sec. In fact it would keep it the same in systems with TS status hovering above low-sec for example. It would only make it increasingly difficult the further up the TS rating you went. And virtually impossible in say .9 systems. I'm certainly not against ganking, heck I've done it myself more than a few times.
It makes perfect sense. Why does CONCORD tolerate criminals in Hi-Sec anyway? They say they don't, god knows I get enough warnings, but they never do anything about it. They should.
In order to "gank" someone in Hi-Sec the attacking party would have to manage their Sec Status, pick systems on the borderline of True Sec Hi Sec, and hunt only when those two things matched up. Conversely, the rewards for those mining, missioning, or otherwise using those systems would go up correspondingly based on lower True Sec ratings. Higher risk means higher rewards for everyone - both hunter and hunted.
This doesn't change anything about Eve that we all love, it works within the already established frameworks, and ensures an almost safe haven for anyone willing to spend their lives in highly rated Hi Sec systems. The reward for living a life like that would be small, to encourage them to move along, but for new players especially it would give them a fighting chance to get started off on the right foot. Not 100% safe, but very close.
I don't think we need special mods, special ships, or special anything to achieve what we all want to achieve. A viable, vibrant, dangerous universe with a few places that are safer than others.
So let's do this. Like next week, k?
For more opinions on this exciting topic, visit FREEBOOTED!
An Excerpt from "Piratez Und De Scum-Suckinkt De Do" By Doctor Pieter Butthurtsky, Ph.D.
"Ya, de Piratez are a very very interestink culture in da many ways. Ya? Von of da most interestink, in mah own humblez opinion, is da questionz of Blue or da friendly status.
It is so very hard for us more culturaled types to comprehensky. The idea of honorz is warped and twisted yes, but in ze way that make total sense to ze Piratez demselves. Ya? On da one hand you can haz friends and on de udder, you can haz enemies und fight. At ze end, each parties can exclaim good fightz in de local and go on from der. It is a mind twister ya? But for dem, it is way of life."
Being a Pirate in New Eden is the hardest playstyle choice in the game and it isn't for the faint of heart. Being a criminal in the opinion of the rest of the Universe is tough and it forces you into a corner as a player, a corner with its own rules, its own conduct and its own expectations. Expectations that can change depending on the Pirates involved.
One of the aspects that have intrigued me the most since I moved from a Null based to a Low-Sec based life in Eve, has been the concepts surrounding Blues, Reds and Neutrals. In Null these conditions are set-up by the Corporation or Alliance you are a part of and are based on political conditions. Reds are Red and Blues are Blue, in most cases the two shall never cross, the amount of gray area in Null is very low.
Perhaps it is because I grew up in Providence that I've always seen things a bit differently. Since Provi was one of the few regions to "allow" neutrals to work, and we had clearly defined borders with -A- for example, the region was constantly a melting pot unlike other regions. The idea of interacting, almost on a daily basis, with Reds and Neuts was not a foreign one. I came to respect and in some cases even talk to our enemies. Even while on the "hunt" in some cases.
Low-Sec isn't all that different. For the Pirate, having official Blue standings is the antithesis of a good idea. For every Blue standing given you've eliminated a potential target. And with targets hard enough to come by, that isn't such a good idea. But that doesn't mean you can't have friends. Many, many times over the last year I've flown in gangs or fleets with people that were not officially Blue to me. Often I'll pick up a few guys in local to go roaming with, or some of us will get together on the spur of the moment to kill a Carrier or something.
In my opinion, it is the highest form of respect to a fellow fighter. The idea that we can fight each other and still get together to fight others, to take advantage of opportunities and still be "enemies" in name but not fact.
When I was in Lucifer's Hammer and nothing was going on, I'd fly into Hevrice to see if I could get a fight with a Tusker. We shared some channels with the Tuskers and I often flew with them in gangs, but I knew if I wanted a good fight I could count on them. They were officially my enemy, but they were also my friends. I got many good fights, won some and lost some, and in the end I joined them when things fell apart.
At one point or another I've flown in gangs with just about everyone that flies in our general region of space. Heck, even some that have flown in from out of town. It is one of the things I like best about Low-Sec. The camaraderie of Pirates.
On the other hand, it is always good to have enemies. And in some cases those enemies have to be created from nothing. This was a tactic I used to great effect in Lucifer's Hammer and it works to unite and focus your Corporation. A Pirate without enemies is lonely. You can't be friends with everyone, but you can respect your enemies. And they, hopefully, will respect you. But that isn't required.
In the end, for Pirates, any Official Blue standings are doomed to eventually fail. One day, one side or the other, will exhaust the available targets in the region and start thinking dangerous thoughts. It always happens.
I haven't said much yet about the Winter Expansion ( and the new ships/balancing), mostly because a lot of other bloggers are talking about it. But I do have what I think is an interesting take on the subject that has been buggering around in my brain this last week or so.
We're about to get Drain Bamaged and Mind Fubbared!
Not only is the addition of four Battlecruiser class ships with Battleship weapons going to pull the rug out from under your feet, but all the other changes on top of that are seriously going to mess with your head.
There are so many aspects of the game that we take for granted in relation to other aspects of the game, the relative speed relationships between ship class, the relative distance relationships between weapon types, the relative damage outputs between classes... the list is long and complex. And all of that is going to be changing.
And no one, no matter what they tell you, truly understands the ultimate impact this expansion will have on the game of Eve. Even with massive scale backs before release, which are of course possible, the widespread changes that h`ve been leaked so far are nothing less than (gulp) game changing. In my own personal opinion, these changes move Eve forward in an extremely exciting and positive manner. A huge step, maybe three or four big steps, towards perfection.
But while many look at these changes one aspect at a time, the truly mind fubbaring way is to consider them all at once. From Capital nerfs to Destroyer re-balancing, not to mention four major new ships, Eve will be undergoing a widespread shift of focus not seen since... well, hard to say really. Maybe never?
From a Flying in Space enthusiast perspective, this is an expansion whose time has finally come. We've weathered industrial changes, incursion changes, mining Orcas, Sov expansions and any number of other changes, including CQ, without much to show for it. Since the introduction of T3 Strategic Cruisers there hasn't been much for the FiS crowd to cheer about. Other than the Scorpion and Maller re-skins (which are really nice, now get busy on other ships!).
But I'm cheering now. And I am busy trying to wrap my poor sodden head around what it is all going to mean. Any major shift, like after Aprocrypha, have always had unintended consequences that we've had to deal with. So what will be the fallout from this major paradigm shift?
Looking thru the crystal ball I see some good and some potentially not so good changes ahead. Certainly the new balancing impacts the Capital world, not only thru the re-balancing but also thru the introduction of such powerful Cap Killers to the Universe. So Null Space should be an interesting place following the December expansion. But we're also seeing a re-thinking of several ship classes and weapons systems that could potential shake things up in ways we might not even realize yet. Many people are already anticipating an increase in Hi-Sec ganking, perhaps even so far as the disruption of transportation networks and the moving of assets. But I also see a dark potential for increased Gate Camping in all sections of Eve. With hi-dps, longer ranged, relatively cheap ships at their disposal, the temptation to park a small fleet of these things off a busy Gate seems almost unavoidable. And that's not good for anyone.
And I haven't even mentioned new mods, the details of which we don't have a clue about yet. Although we can make some educated guesses about. Data Subverter? If only CCP thought the way my brain thinks that would be the coolest mod ever!
Whatever the details eventually work themselves out to be, this Winter Expansion is shaping up to be a serious shake up of the WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN. A new dynamic will settle into New Eden, one which will fundamentally change combat and the way it is planned, conceived and implemented, for a long time to come.
I say bring it on baby! It is about time things got fun again.
@RockCalledSteve (or Moose) twitted this morning looking for a blogger that happened to be on. GIven recent events he felt compelled to record a bit of a rant regarding the CSM/CCP debate and the changes that Eve has undergone. Here is the message in his own words:
"Greetings Bloggers of #Tweetfleet.
I come to you as a third party, essentially on my knees, asking you to consider sharing something of mine to the community.
I have found a lot of the current grief the CSM is getting is from people in EVE - mainly in Empire - who have not been around long enough to understand what EVE once was, compared to what it is now.
With this in mind, I have created a 22 minute long explanation of what's happened and why, with a bit of history thrown in, for people to listen to.
I am not using this as an advertisement for a podcast of any kind - this is a one off recording that, bar maybe a single new recording answering criticism, won't have a sequel to it. Or rather, that is the plan.
I would like you to have a listen to it. If you're willing to post this to your blog, I would be very much in your debt. Feel free to post any negative or positive comments you have for it as well.
I will leave it up to you."
- Moose
You can listen to the recording by using this link.
NOTE: There are some potentially NSFW moments of profanity, mild by most definitions, but perhaps not by all. Worth mentioning.
I just finished listening to it myself, I felt I should hear the whole thing before I post it obviously. And while it is a bit of a ramble, the general thrust is simple enough. Eve was a different game when it first started out, and while my own experience only goes back three years, others were here from the beginning. This does provide a unique perspective, having been there from the beginning, and a worthy one.
I think we can all agree that CCP has dropped the ball in many, many instances. Promised iteration of various game mechanics that never developed further, abandoned areas of opportunity, have become more and more commonplace. This has sadly become more and more true as time has gone on. The recent "Straw that broke the camel's back" moment this Summer was simply the culmination of years of this slow, rotten decay.
And Eve began to smell. And while Moose and I may differ slightly on some of the details and levels at which we may give praise and/or blame, one thing unites us - and that is the power of the Eve Community. A power I tend to place more squarely in the hands of the masses and which he seems more likely to place in the hands of the CSM. Ultimate responsibility matters little in the face of success however, the important thing is that CCP has changed direction and re-focused efforts on FiS and other areas. Before it was too late. Hopefully.
I encourage you to listen. This is one voice that has been here since the beginning. And while it is only one voice, so am I, and so are you. But together we can have meaning and power.
