A Note from Bait: Hey guys, Bait here. I think back in February, it was, there was talk about different ways to implement an EVE link in Project Nova. Of course, all this was happening in the DUST Vets Discord server, and to me, it was getting a little insane and hard to follow. I said that if somebody wanted to write a paper about how they think an EVE link could work in Project Nova, that I would edit it and post it here on the blog. I didn’t expect that anybody would do it, honestly, but Juno Tristan stepped up to the plate and sent me this post around noon. A man of my word, I have looked over the paper, edited for clarity and grammar, and this is the result.
I’d like to thank Juno Tristan for doing this, and I hope this gives everybody something to think about.
Whilst the latest news from Fanfest confirms there will be no link between EVE: Online and Project Nova initially, the concept of “One Universe / One War” still clings on with CCP hinting that it is a long term development goal. There are many potential ways to link the games and many pitfalls that need to be avoided; ideas such as real time ship boarding by mercenaries would grab headlines, but would suffer when faced with the actual EVE mechanics such as time dilation (TiDi), pilots being forced to wait for the outcome, or the unfairness of having no in game defense from the attack.
With that in mind, I would like to present five link ideas, that build on existing mechanics, to add meaningful interaction between the games. Given what little is known about the actual mechanics of Nova, the ideas are presented as a starting point for discussion.
1) Combat
CCP Rattati has been quoted as saying, “The orbital bombardments we had in Dust 514, it was a cool feature, but it was played by the one percent of the one percent”, whilst I don’t doubt that, I believe it was due to design choices in EVE that made it so difficult to participate. The logistics of chasing down matches in Faction Warfare was not fun, and Planetary Conquest was limited to Molden Heath, a region few corps wanted to own. Therefore, I would suggest opening up all matches to orbital bombardments (OBs), with Public (casual) matches in Nova being NPC corporation driven. I would give EVE pilots the option to earn ISK/LP/standings with the NPC corps, in exchange for dropping OBs (along with earning killmails). Pilots could either scan down potential battles or active battles could be warped to on the overview
Dust OBs operated on a 3 minute timer system, which meant pilots were sat exposed whilst they waited for the next opportunity to fire. I would change it so that any pilot connected to the district is attacked by waves of NPCs in EVE, after each wave, they would be given the opportunity to fire on the match below. A hard limit could also be applied so that OBs don’t get rained down every 30 seconds.
Further development could involve the Nova mercenaries being able to tackle/expose connected ships and fire back, depending on their actions in the match.
2) Mercenary Quarters/EVE Citadels
Dust Mercenaries were given a home base in a real system in EVE, but they couldn’t choose where or relocate stations. One way to link the games is to allow Nova players to live in EVE player’s Citadels, either through an existing Citadel module, or a brand new one. Mercenaries based from your citadel would pay you a deployment cost whenever they entered a match, at a level you set. By setting the fee lower to than an NPC station would charge, you can attract new mercenaries, even setting different levels for your corp mates or enemies. You will, however, be in competition with other Citadel owners, who may push down the price of fees. To avoid 0.01sk battles, fees would be set weekly and Citadel owners can offer other incentives to mercenaries, such as hosting tournaments (controlling entry, or a reduced entry fee) or unique game modes, such as custom match rules or Battle Royale. There are many systems they could add to the mercenary home base, such as shared social areas, better merc quarters, better access to player markets, better access to Nova missions, EVE player supplied daily mission rewards, Mercenary sabotage/insurrection of the Citadel, etc.
3) Industry
An obvious link is to allow EVE players to build items that Nova mercs will use in game. The item usage has changed from DUST 514; the base suits and gear are effectively BPOs, but Nova does introduce the idea of consumables that will offer more power/versatility in each match. This means that there is still the opportunity for industry in EVE to affect Nova. The connection can go two ways; generation of materials/blueprints could be obtained in Nova and sold to EVE players to generate ISK. Going further, EVE industry could be used to create the Warbarges, CRUs, or MCCs needed to participate in the Sovereignty based endgame content, with players having to commit their own resources to a fight if they want to win. Whilst an open market should help avoid gouging or content locking by EVE players, a failsafe NPC seeded market could be added.
4) Faction Warfare
Faction Warfare was another DUST link that had potential but never took off. This was due to the difficulty in coordinating any action between the games. Mercenaries could not target specific FW systems. EVE players could be allowed to trigger matches in Nova by launching Warbarges/MCCs/CRUs at a target. They would then confirm which mercenary team would be fielded on their side. If matchmaking in Nova was unable to find a suitable opponent, a PVE match could be triggered instead. Any pilots in orbit will then be able to launch Orbital Bombardments after clearing away the NPC EVE defenders. The outcome of the match will then affect the faction control of the region, allowing for coordinated action to have a significant effect.
5) Exploration
A simple link between EVE and Nova could be through exploration; either by adding an additional anomaly type or as a follow on to an existing type such as relic. Once the location has been scanned down you would have the the option to sell the location to a Nova “Mission Market” or to share with your corporation. This would then generate a PVE mission in Nova to clear the site and get some loot. Grading the missions would mean you can sell the basic missions on the open market and save the best for your corp allowing them to obtain the best loot.
– by Juno Tristan
