The following are the most recent Project Nova Updates from May 20th to June 2nd.
May 20th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
Avallo
One question on mods: Will there be overlap between classes? For example, will each mod be (baseline) in only one class, or can a module (like damage mod) be baseline on both Heavy / Medium Assault?
CCP Rattati
They should be unique. Role flavor plus faction flavor with a mix of passive and active.
Avallo
With a system like this in play, it should be fairly easy to add new specializations such as a Trap-Layer (Light Support Firmware) or anything else that strikes a good niche.
CCP Rattati
Exactly. I have spent the last 2 years thinking about how DUST and EVE for that matter could be improved on. Literally.
This is further emphasizing the expandability of the progression system. If the developers want to add a new specialization to an existing class the addition of a new firmware is very easy to implement but can significantly alter the playstyle of that class.
May 20th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
XxBlazikenxX
Okey, mostly personal interest here, but will there be a suit/firmware that grants a specific bonus to melee weapons aka Nova Knives?
CCP Rattati
I think that makes all the sense in the world. The thing is that we don’t start there. We are trying to make the system so that when questions like this come up, we have a firm idea on yes, no, and how.
This is along the lines of the previous point. If the developers wanted to add a melee specialist to one of the base classes, such as the Infiltrator, it would be as easy as adding a melee-specific firmware to the game.
May 22nd, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
CCP Rattati
I’m going more or less back to my cave for the time being. This has been very helpful and fun. I have been monitoring this chat for feedback ect. but will not be doing so for a while. Please work through the group formally known as CPM until I am back. Might be a month. Focus.
The development team is mostly likely going into their next development sprint (a pre-planned period of very intense and efficient development). The team is going to be very focused on work, including Rattati, so don’t expect massive data dumps for the next 4 weeks or so.
May 22nd, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
Ripley Riley
Interesting. Does this mean all dropsuits come with a default melee weapon? Or without fitting a weapon you don’t have a melee attack?
CCP Rattati
Everyone has a knife in a melee slot.
Pokey Dravon
I take it there are different melee weapons if it’s a slottable item?
CCP Rattati
Depends on the scope, could all just have the same knife in the beginning.
Morganstarkiller
Ok, so it could be an upgrade.
CCP Rattati
Yes
I’m very curious to see how they handle melee weapons. While there are some variations you can create with the basic knife, I wonder if they plan to move into different types of melee weapons and how they’ll differentiate them from one another.
May 25th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
CCP Rattati
I like how quickly you guys are grasping these ideas. Our main design pillar is Choice.
Keep up to date on all your Nova news at Biomassed.net and keep providing feedback on everything! Now is the time to get your ideas in.
May 25th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
Ripley Riley
Oh, just now thought of this… Will we still have officer weapons? Or officer firmware? Officer anything?
CCP Rattati
Gear that is not a sidegrade, is consumable to keep power creep under control.
Rattati has mentioned there is “loot” of some sort in Nova though it may not take the same form as it did in DUST. I imagine anything that is a direct upgrade (like firmware) will be consumable of some sort. We will have to see exactly what sort of consumables they have in mind and how they’ll make loot interesting without causing power creep from excessive power-ups.
May 25th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
Pokey Dravon
The tech system they’re going for actually parallels EVE oddly well. Obviously not different suits like it is in EVE, but how the suit evolves over time, the types of options that open up; it lines up well. Question. Do suit bonuses appear in stage one? Or do they only crop up once you reach stage 2? I’m working on my next in depth write up.
CCP Rattati
Basically, I want the normal hull bonuses of EVE to gradually appear so they have some impact over time, instead of just being stats. Emotional impact, that is.
This is pretty vague since “emotional impact” is a fairly subjective idea. I believe what he’s getting at is that bonuses will start to appear as you level the suit, rather than being a flat bonus you expect from the start because it’s baked into the base frame. For my full thoughts and expansion upon this idea, check out Theory Workshop – Dropsuit Progression
May 25th, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
junotristan
Are all 6 classes available from the start? At civilian level?
CCP Rattati
Too early to tell.
Personally I think all of the base classes should be immediately available. Things locked behind progression and standings walls can come later, but picking your first base class should be as open as possible.
May 25th – Official DUST 514 Forums – Link
CCP Rattati
You will bring a Formation to battle which is a subset of your Dropsuits. They are unmodifiable during battle. Make your strategic choices before battle. You can switch between the Dropsuits in the formation during battle, either at “Supply Depots” or on death to react to threats. These the tactical choices you make. This means that you can choose to bring a counter to as much as you can, or simply specialize. It may also require you to plan with your squad and/or team on who’s bringing what. Teamwork may prove the tipping point.
Strategy + Tactics + Teamwork = Success
Ripley Riley
Is there a cap on the number of fittings we may create outside of a match. I understand that you can bring 6 to a match, right?
CCP Rattati
Too soon to tell
This is really good clarification about the limits we can expect in what suits we bring to battle. Since the number of unique fits you can bring is finite, it prevents players from being prepared for every possible situation by having 50+ different fits at their disposal during battle. It also encourages players to coordinate ahead of time to fill any gaps they might have in their team composition. Additionally, it also opens up a possible new Spy-Meta where knowing what your opponent has in their Formations before the fight will allow you bring hard counters to their team composition.
May 25th – Official DUST 514 Forums – Link
[Thread is discussing various elements of gameplay – specifically player counts in battle]
Richard Gamerich-R
“Higher player count”
No, I disagree with that. I’m playing BF since a year now on PC, and 32vs32 is not really fun as 16vs16, and mostly, there is no real strategy, just chaos (I don’t need to explain the case of Planetside 2 lul).
I remember in DUST that sometimes when I was leading my 15 Prima’s guys on Planetary conquest, it was really hot because they talked often for nothing, and listened only 50% of my words, so I prefer to not imagine with 31 guys.
Most seriously, I think one of the biggest parts that I loved in DUST, was the strategy side with a team of 16 players. It’s a sweet spot I guess, more is not really a good idea for me.
CCP Rattati
Couldn’t agree more, 16v16 is the sweet spot. Through all my FPS gamer life, player count above that never increased the fun nor strategy.
I’ve spoken ad nauseum about this topic before, but in short, I agree with Rattati. My personal opinion is that battles fought in the same general area tend to flow best when you have 16-32 on each team.
May 31st – Official DUST 514 Forums – Link
[Thread is discussing the lore implication of “Civilian Dropsuits]
CCP Rattati
Civilian can also stand for “used in civilian work” such as civil engineering. Hazmat suits and zero-g maintenance work could theoretically be jobs that are “now” done by specializes, retired mercs ect.
Dust Fiend
Fair enough, but why would mercs be using such low-end equipment for combat purposes? I know the burden of past decisions really isn’t on you but all mercs were given warbarges, yet are running around in the Janitors Iron Man cosplay? I’m curious if there will be any lore in New Eden reflecting what happened to DUST.
I know there are far bigger fish to fry lol, just be resisting change.
CCP Rattati
Who knows what happened in between…
This is actually a really interesting angle to take the lore. Several assets in DUST directly reference industry and construction such as the Minmatar Dropsuits and the Forge Gun, so the idea of gear originating from industry is already cannon. Later in the same thread DeathwingRising brought up the idea that the manufacturers of the base Civilian dropsuits should actually be NPC industry and construction corporations. Later upgrades and Firmware would be sold by more militarized mega-corporations as the suit is upgraded to be more and more combat ready. Overall I really like this approach and fully support it.
May 31st, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
[Chat was discussing how gear becomes shareable between classes]
CCP Rattati – May 31st
What I have been thinking is more turning a fixed slot into an omni slot. Whatever equipment is in it goes into the inventory, but only omni slots can be fit with something from the inventory. So classes A and B need to reach the same checkpoint to cross-class fit.
So this is actually a really important point of discussion that you should provide feedback on. Effectively it requires significantly more work to transfer gear between classes since both classes will need to be Tech II to give and receive gear from other classes. This is different from my original assumption that once gear was tradable at Tech II, that it could be moved to any other class, regardless of its current upgrade status.
Personally, it’s difficult to really form an opinion on this without knowing how long it will take to upgrade a Civilian suit to Tech II so the more advanced customization can begin. My main concern is that if the game is going to be built on the pillar of Choice, that you don’t want to restrict customization too much due to a large grind to get to Tech II.
June 1st, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
Lynn Beck
AFAIK it sounds slike the T1 can only fit its own class of mods. So a T1 Minja would have Codebreakers, Kincats, Melee mods and dampeners. Can fit those mods however you please. Reach T2 and those mods become “learned” to where you can fit them into any other role.
CCP Rattati
Yes. Not set in stone though.
The simplest way to think about it is Battlefield, but by playing each class longer to create way more diversity. Or World of Tanks where you can actually swap turrets between tanks, Tiger Tank of a Sherman (theoretically).
Lynn Beck
It wouldn’t be New Eden without some form of idiotic shitfits.
CCP Rattati
We want to retain the “freedom to be suboptimal”
Pokey Dravon
Can T1 suits be modified using their own mods? Like if it comes with 2 shield extenders and a damage mod, can I change it to one shield extender and 2 damage mods? Or is the fit truly locked until T2?
CCP Rattati
Not decided on count per fitting
While restricting cross-class gear until Tech II in principle is fine, I do feel it’s important that players should be able to customize their fit using the gear that is included with the base class upon reaching Tech I. This, of course, depends on a lot of factors such as how they’re going to handle fitting, but I really do not want customization of any kind to be locked until Tech II.
That being said, it is important to allow players to make short term mistakes such as creating fits that simply do not perform well. The greater the freedom in fitting, the more opportunity players will have to succeed for fail, so I hope they can pull that off.
June 1st, 2017 – DUST 514 Veterans Discord Server – @project_nova Channel
[Chat was discussing solutions to deal with AFK farming in battles]
CCP Rattati
No passive SP in battles, hence to afking. Haven’t ruled out passive out of battle.
To clarify, in DUST, you would gain an amount of SP for every second spent in battle regardless of what you were doing. This concept is going away in Nova. Howver the idea that you can gain some form of SP passively while out of battle, even while you are offline, is still a possibility. Please be sure to give you feedback and ideas regarding this!
June 2nd, 2017 – DUST 514 Official Forums – Link
Thaddeus Reynolds
One option for avoiding playing classes you don’t like to gain equipment you do could be to do missions for specific corporations or factions that have unique variations of the suit class you like with the specific equipment type you want equipped already…nothing says that all suits of a given faction and race need have the same equipment baked in.
For instance, to use the Manufacturer System and a star-ship analogy
Heavy Assault Cruisers are produced by both Khanid Innovations and Viziam. Let’s assume for a minute for the sake of argument that they both produce a Vanguard Suit in the same way.
Khanid Innovations merges Caldari Weapon an Electronics Systems with Amarr Engineering and Metallurgy. A Khanid Vanguard may come equipped with a Rail Rifle or Scrambler Rifle with breach Action and an ECM Burst Generator, Armor Hardeners (simplifying for the sake of illustration), and Reactive Plates.
Viziam, on the other hand, favors traditional Amarrian Weapons philosophy, but general gears more towards precision, so may have a Scrambler Rifle with Tactical Action, a Damage Modifier, a heat sink, an Armor Repairer, and a Nanohive.
CCP Rattati
To add to that.
In EVE, the ship has to be manufactured ahead of time, explaining Navy Variants etc.
With clone technology, you are 3D printing the suit on demand.
If you imagine Firmware being the software on top of the Dropsuit, you can re-wire the “hull and role” bonuses, and because the materials are 3D printed as well, change the skin/visuals.
The difference is, you set the 3D printing formula before the battle, including the Firmware. So this battle you will be using a Creodron Dropsuit with a Federal Marine Firmware override, changing its bonuses from plus to Hybrid, to plus to Armour Repair.
The Federal Marine Firmware is then earned with Gallente Navy standings
First of all, the “3D printing on demand” explains why you will no longer be restocking suits, and are instead simply paying an ISK fee to have a new dropsuit printed and deployed mid-battle. Secondly, this clarifies that Firmware can potentially change any and all bonuses on a dropsuit. Since this includes both the Tech II role bonuses and the Tech I modules bonuses, firmware can drastically change how a suit is played and even fit down to the module level. In theory, a suit that receives bonuses for shield tanking could have those bonuses changed to bonuses for armor tanking. This provides the developers the tools to easily create new and specialized suits that simply modify your existing dropsuit.
June 2nd, 2017 – DUST 514 Official Forums – Link
CCP Rattati
As fits are contextual to a Dropsuit, sorry to say, I like the intent, but a lot of the core concepts of saved fittings, market, skillbooks, training aren’t going to be as they are in EVE nor DUST for that matter.
If we want to explore Sharing, I would think “real” sharing from a corp or a friend are more applicable, as borrowing one dropsuit from a friend for a day, or that kind of thing.
A lot of the secondary elements that you’re familiar with from EVE and DUST have been removed to avoid additional steps in the gameplay. For example, instead of buying a skillbook with ISK, using the skill book, then spending the SP to train the skin…in Nova you will simply spend ISK and SP to upgrade the suit.
That being said, while Fox’s idea for selling dropsuit fits may not make sense given the scope how Nova’s systems work, I do feel it is still important that we can send fits to friends and corp mates so they can try to recreate them with their current gear set. Verbally describing fits over voice or text chat was overly clunky in DUST, so a system to avoid this in Nova would be very much appreciated — especially for corps that deal with a lot of new players.
Rattati does raise an interesting thought regarding physically sharing fits though. Perhaps players will be able to rent out their dropsuit blueprints to others?
