Changes on the way for EVE's planetary interaction feature
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Patches, Professions, News items
When EVE Online's Empyrean Age expansion brought us faction warfare, thousands of would-be PvP-addicts rejoiced. When Apocrypha brought us wormholes, I could talk about nothing else for at least six months. With the Tyrannis expansion, however, there was no such giddiness. Tyrannis, with its main planetary interaction feature, was clearly not one of EVE's most popular expansions. Even the developers at CCP said they weren't happy with it, and further work was promised after launch.
In a new devblog, CCP Omen has explained some of the changes that are on their way for planetary interaction. Command centres will be upgradeable in-place, eliminating the need to tear down an entire industrial network just to upgrade to the next command centre. The biggest changes are coming to the cumbersome surveying and extracting processes. It will be possible to move extractors around to find new mineral deposits rather than deleting and rebuilding them. The new survey mechanic will also show a graph on which the duration of an extractor cycle can be adjusted. Extractors can now feasibly be left for up to 14 days without needing to be moved or reset, which is good news for pilots risking RSI under the current mechanics. Most of the upcoming changes have been taken from talks with the Council of Stellar Management, which has published a clear list of changes its members would like to see implemented.
In a new devblog, CCP Omen has explained some of the changes that are on their way for planetary interaction. Command centres will be upgradeable in-place, eliminating the need to tear down an entire industrial network just to upgrade to the next command centre. The biggest changes are coming to the cumbersome surveying and extracting processes. It will be possible to move extractors around to find new mineral deposits rather than deleting and rebuilding them. The new survey mechanic will also show a graph on which the duration of an extractor cycle can be adjusted. Extractors can now feasibly be left for up to 14 days without needing to be moved or reset, which is good news for pilots risking RSI under the current mechanics. Most of the upcoming changes have been taken from talks with the Council of Stellar Management, which has published a clear list of changes its members would like to see implemented.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Roberticvs said on 1:23PM 10-14-2010
I know that EVE devs have made it known that they want to make a "comprehensive sci-fi universe", which is cool.
That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing actual CITIES and COMMUNITIES on the planetary surfaces. Why do all these resources have to go into space, after all? A planetary development expansion would be awesome, and we 4X sim builder freaks can build the kind of planets where one can walk around, grow things, create things of beauty and wonder and complexity, and you pod-people can *gasp!* breath some fresh air for a change.
It'd also give you all something to fight FOR in space. No one wants to see their home-planet saturation bombed.
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ScottishViking said on 2:23PM 10-14-2010
My post was meant as a reply to you...
/facepalm
Get a better posting system, Massively! >_
OmegaTwig said on 2:27PM 10-14-2010
Not to troll but i believe some of what you are looking for is (are) called Dust 514 and the eventual Incarna(sp?) expansion pack... However i dont believe a 4x city building sub-game would ever be put into eve... EvE is internet spaceships...
Also if you read some/most of the Fanfiction, almost every planet in Hi-Lo sec is already covered with cities and the ones that are not are the mostly inhospitable ones...
foofad said on 3:48PM 10-14-2010
There's nothing preventing you from mining on inhabited planets. There's lots and lots of planets out there with populations and cities, the lights of which you can see when you're on the dark side of the planet. You don't see them much when you're in the PI interface though because the planet is artificially lit in that view. Not to mention the resource density overlay masks them.
That said, you can't actually interact with the colonies and population in any way. But they are there.
I don't think EVE is ever going to fit neatly into the 4x genre. EVE is much more closely related to a real time strategy game than a 4x; only instead of units being controlled by scripts and AI, your allies are other people. On the strategic level during wars, EVE has that feel of managing movement from an overhead perspective.
ScottishViking said on 2:22PM 10-14-2010
I like this idea...but you're talking about a whole different game. There are so many 4X sims out there that in order for them to do it at all, they'd have to do it RIGHT and with flair. That has been the main criticism behind Tyrannis -- not that it's a bad idea, but that it was implemented in a half-assed fashion. Like Faction Warfare. And let's be honest -- I just don't see the Devs moving "planetside" in this way, unless it were to link up somehow with DUST 514. (Which, for the record, would be awesome...but I don't see it happening.)
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Roberticvs said on 2:52PM 10-14-2010
"PLANETSIDE" WOULD BE A GREAT NAME FOR THIS EXPANSION!
Fund it!
We could have giant robots too...!
Lateris said on 2:45PM 10-14-2010
I just came back to Eve and have started my skill training for remote sensing. So far I think these are really great changes for this part of Eves industry on planets.
I hope we can move into other areas of planetary interaction with the Eve side of CCP such as population control, further trading of products that introduce new products and new complexes, plus manufacturing involving crafting. There were many other features mentioned that have not made it to the live game yet in the last year. Maybe those features will be part of Dust 514 and Eve working together?
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