Friday, March 28, 2014

Gate to Gate: Make New Eden Big Again.

I have said before that New Eden is big. How big? Well there are more than 5328 systems that players can go. The cluster more than 106 light years long, 90 light years wide and 25 light years thick. It is an impressive thing, but yet it feels so small. In a matter of minutes one group be in Fountain, and then in Providence, two regions of space, that do not even share stargates.  From their throne in Delekin, in similar time Goonswarm can travel form Delve to support other members of the CFC and from the Heitmatar region Pandemic Legion can spring on nearly any unsuspecting carrier or capital ship fleet. In the blink of an eye 1000 man fleets are moved from on side of a space to the other. And with the creation of coalitions EVE is no longer the large sandbox for children, but instead has become a group of teenagers in a small playpen.  What I'm thinking about is a way to make the game healthier and to increase the size of the sandbox.

Death to Jump Bridges: 
First I would completely remove Jump Bridges from the game. While the idea of a Jump Bridge is good, it has created an unhealthy product in  the game where large alliances and coalitions only require Military might and have no need for their own industrial backbone. Because of the ease that Jump Bridges have made shipping large amount of goods from Highsec to Nullsec, there is little to no industry in Null. This is because HighSec care-bears and industrialist are willing to make large amounts of ships and modules with sometimes less than 4% profit. This is super cheap, and makes it cheaper for null to ship goods from high to null, than to invest in industry.
One thing that I think is interesting is when people say to to fix null that it needs to be more "farms and fields" style of ownership. But they are unwilling to do the nerfs and buffs that required to to do so. If the end goal of a Nullsec revamp is "farms and fields" then we have to look at a wide ranges of nerfs and buffs. Killing Jump Bridges is a start in that direction. Farmer and Fields will never be achieved with jump bridges in the game, because it is too easy to move ships and goods from High sec to Null.

Nerf Jump Distances:
While I think that Jump Bridges have no place in the game, Jumping from system to system does. that said, it allows for ridiculous force projection in the game. I feel that all jump ranges should be hard capped at 3 light years for military or combat hulls, Titans, Dreadnoughts, Super-Carriers, and Carriers, while Jump Freighters and Roquloas are limited to 2.5 light years. I feel that is still as long enough range give cap ships the range to attack as support, while not becoming a main vanguard.
Jump Freighters do have a role and still should be used, but while their massive range and how far they transport goods, they need to get nerf and I'd give them a bit of a buff. First I'd give them buff that they could hull 75% more than what they are currently hulling. This will still allow for specialty items to be jumped into Null and Low, but this buff in cargo comes at a 50% reduction in how far they can jump. What this will do is put the JF in danger more and making it a greater risk to be destroyed and start to give Nullsec a reason to form industrial backbones.

Make Space Big:
Space is big and it should feel big in New Eden. Not only should it feel big but it should feel hard to control. As it stands right now in null one fully upgraded system can only support 10-15 pilots. This while High Sec mission hubs can support 100s of pilots. Is it no wonder that people stay in High Sec to make isk. there should be little penalties to living in null, in fact it should be seen a preferable to High Sec. Their should be more ways to make isk in null than in High. This mean that null needs a major buff. well major is the wrong the wrong word, it needs a SUPER buff.
First allow for Null sec station to "hire" mission agents. While they can't have LP stores, Sov holding alliance should be able hire an agent that can give tasks to those living out there. These agents should range form level 1-5 can allow for a 100% mark up. These agents will only be in station systems and could increase the number pilots able to live in a system to near infinite. These agents like I said should cost ISK cause after all you can't make money with out spending money.
Agent Level
First Cost
Monthly Fee
Level 1
500,000,000
250,000,000
Level 2
1,000,000,000
500,000,000
Level 3
1,500,000,000
750,000,000
Level 4
2,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
Level 5
2,500,000,000
1.250,000,000
Possible cost of Agent Hiring
Second is I would decrease the time to the rat, complex and DoD site re-spawn.  These should re-spawn fast enough and in large enough quantity that it could support each could support 10-15 pilots. These means at any given time there should be 10 pirate complexes, ten DoD sites, and rats every 5-10 minutes in the belts at station, PoCo and Stargates. While I you hold off on increase the amount of ISK per-kill on rats, I think that they should happen fast enough that belts can support several pilots ratting at the same time in the same system.
Last buff Nullsec's industrial out put. Stations in null don't have to be better that highsec stations, but they shouldn't be as different as they are now. If anything a fully upgraded station should be 95% of a HighSec Station of the same class. If we really want NullSec to be "farmers and fields" then Null Industrial needs to worth doing. While it won't quite be at HighSec levels it will be at a point Miners and Industrials still well be about to turn a profit from such task.

Holding Space should be Hard:
My idea for fixing sov is not terribly new, but I feel that it would be better for small gangs while allowing for possibilities or large scale epic fights. I'm not going say that SOV needs to be like Facwar, cause though I'm in FacWar, I don't see that as a conflict driver for Null. Instead I'd call for removal of Sovereignty Blocker Units and that the Hit Points on TCU is cut to 1.2 million and giving a 2 hour Re-Enforce Timer.
 The biggest thing that I here complaint that hear coming from Nullsec is the Sov Grind. That there are too many structure.  While the concept Sov Blockers is good, what it had turned EVE into is a game of grinding structures. This endless grind has burnt out more players than any other reason in New Eden. It also prevents Small groups from competing in the SOV game. While in the short term it was okay, Long term it created the rise of massive coalitions claiming 1/3 of space with no real out side threats.
Holding Space should be hard. Not just for small groups, but for large groups as well.  The TCU as it stands is basically a giant Flag. Small roaming fleets of say  25 destroys, should be able to fly out to space and knock the flag down. This well require large Sov Blocs to send out patrols to police their area. Every system without  iHubs will fall quickly it, now is out there protecting their space.
iHubs will continue with the same amount of hit points, but with one major change. They now require fuel to remain online. The more they are upgraded the more fuel they well require.(example)


Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Fuel/Day 500 units 1500 units 4500 units 13500 units 40500 units
Now I would give them a fuel bay this large enough to support a Level 5 iHub for 30 days, but this since it scales down this means that a fully loaded level 1 iHub can last for every months.  Last I would shift the iHubs timers from 28-34 hours to 20-26 hours. If the fuel bay is empty then just like a POS tower there is no timer and the system can be taken quickly.
My idea is that to hold SOV, you have to be more active in that space than just paying a rent fee. You have to be willing to patrol that space, fuel it, and defend from the hordes. Now some will argue that these changes well make it impossible for call groups to hold space. And I agree it will be hard, as it should be. But while it is hard to hold, space will be easier for all groups to take. Right now that is what is wrong with SOV, it is too easy to hold too hard to take. It needs to be flipped to so that more groups have a chance to get into the SOV game or at least be able to mess with those that are.

Please leave a comment, with your ideas or some additions to mine. While I admit i'm not a master at SOV, I do see that it needs some changes.