Max Devious
   |
Posted - 2011.09.01 01:58:00 -
[1]
You know, I've only been playing this game for about 3 months, but like most of you, I've been playing strategy games for a long time. I've read a lot of what is here in several of the topics under review, and there are various, many times complex solutions to all of them. I think there is a simple solution to many of these issues; change the architecture of space in EVE.
The EVE universe as it exists today is basically a flat disk. This makes it very easy for the existing alliances and pirates in Low Sec to control the choke points into Empire space. Why not extend the EVE universe into a spherical shape. Obviously this means many more star systems and gates, and it is much harder to control 3D space where there are many entries. This would necessarily limit the size of sovereign blocks, because you have to be able to control all that space, and this would smear out the concentrations of power in choke points and make it harder to control.
Likely there would be some areas of space that are permanently unclaimed, at least until the player base expanded enough to exercise control over all of it. This would give small holdings a place to explore and stake claims. There would be room for new players to get out of Empire without having to submit to one power block or another. Rents would go away because why rent from these alliances when you can just go find some free space and mine/rat/POS there. This also spreads out the money and lets people get more into PvP without having to worry so much about the cost of replacing ships. More PvP would make a lot of players really happy. Going on roams could be a real adventure out over hundreds of systems.
Changes that would have to go with this are controls over botting, because the space could be filled with bots very quickly. We also might need to come up with expansions of the various NPC groups into this space. Sovereignty might require that the space under control be worked by the holders or revert to free space in a period of time, with the resulting loss of POSs and stores in the system, so that the alliances don't just dump POSs everywhere to claim the space.
There could be many approaches to implementing this new space, and lots of them have been discussed in other of these threads. I don't know what the price of such an expansion of space is in terms of hardware, but it seems the initial cost in coding is minimal, though I don't know what coordinate system is being used in defining systems. Given that a lot of this space might be empty or lightly used, the cost in server expansion might be minimal as well. Perhaps some of the CCP folks here can address that question. But I truly believe that if you want to grow this player base, and your business, an expansion of space is really needed to give the freedom that true space exploration and colonization would have in fact.
|