EVE clone with a hint of MechWarrior on the horizon

In the world of gaming (and not only) you know you're doing something right when others start copying your concepts.

There are tons of more or less successful Command and Conquer clones, tons of WoW clones (even if I have a deep dislike of everything WoW represents, I have to give Blizzard credit for giving the people what they want)

Now there's a game on the horizon that so closely resembles EVE game design that my only reaction when I saw it was "Damn...". The name of the game is...

Perpetuum Online (website)

The creators are a Hungarian company called Avatar Creations. The theme of the game - piloting mechanized vehicles (Mechs) in a sandbox environment very much like EVE.

At the time of this writing, it is in closed Beta, with release scheduled for 2010.

The Basics of the Game

The player is an Agent of one of the three Megacorporations of Earth (reunited in what is called the Syndicate) some 200 years in the future. The plot takes players through an artificial wormhole (sound familiar?) to planet Nia, a life-supporting world some 87000 lightyears from Earth.

Each Megacorp has its own agenda for the exploration and exploitation of Nia... and then there's the locals. Split into 3 factions, the locals are to be NPC's as far as I can tell.

Mechs and Combat

Here it all gets very, VERY familiar. The Mechs in Perpetuum have attributes quite similar to ships in Eve. Here's a short list of attributes in EVE, and their counterparts in Perpetuum:

• Maximum targets (same meaning in both)
• Targetting range (same meaning in both)
• Sensor strength (same meaning in both)
• Capacitor (EVE) = Accumulator (Perpetuum)
• Signature size (EVE) = Surface hit radius (Perpetuum)
• CPU and Powergrid = CPU and Reactor Performance

Weapon classes are the same as in EVE - Firearms (Projectile weapons in EVE), Magnetic weapons (Hybrids in EVE), Lasers and Missiles. Hit and miss are determined by the target's speed, by your guns' tracking and by the target's surface hit radius.

One thing however is different in Perpetuum, and that's WASD control of your craft. EVE doesn't have it, possibly because it creates very high  server loads. Since Perpetuum promises to be a single sharded universe just like EVE, we'll see how the developers handle that.

By the looks of it, well-versed EVE players should have no problems adapting to Perpetuum. Simply jump in, fit a mech and it's business as usual.

Here's a trailer I managed to find, featuring what the game would look like:



Decent graphics, given the fact that this trailer is from February, and since then the GFX engine has received an update, they say.



Industry, Manufacturing and Commerce

Again, this part will look pretty familiar to the knowledgeable EVE industrialist. Gathering resources is done in more-or-less specialized mechs, manufacturing requires a factory slot, blueprint (called patent, off which  manufacturing licenses are obtained) and a set quantity of minerals.

The market however will probably be more limited than in Eve. One will not (atleast for now) be able to sell items for prices differing by more than 25% from the average price. This is a severe limitation, but I hope it gets revisited.

So... what's different?


Well, as I said before from what I've noticed, this game will have WASD controls, the lack of which seems to be extremely frustrating for newer players of EVE which come from other MMO's.

The designers also promise destructible environments. There's even a video of that:



 
There is a Game Guide on the website, a work in progress by the looks of it, but it can certainly allow you to form a better view of what this game is about.

Summing up

At first glance, Perpetuum looks promising. Probably not so much to the hardened, bitter EVE veteran (myself included, but hey, I'll try everything once... I might like it) for which Eve is like a religion, but it certainly will look attractive to the people for whom EVE was a bit much. On the other hand, to be fair, EVE was a much simpler game at its beginnings... It is only fair to assume that Perpetuum could evolve into a game of comparative complexity, given enough tim

I for one would be quite pleased if Perpetuum would also adopt the cold, dark "shoot you in the face if you make a wrong turn" atmosphere we are so used to in Eve.

I signed up for beta testing whenever it comes out of closed beta (which should be "Soon", heheh...), so when/if I manage to get my mitts on Perpetuum I'll certainly give it a thorough look and report what I found.

"Do Black Ops Battleships Need a Covert Ops Cloak?" - My View

Kirith Kodachi, the writer for Ninveah.com wrote an article listing pros and cons on whether or not the ability to fit a covert-ops cloak would be necessary to make the Black Ops battleships more viable on the battlefields of New Eden - click to read it. I initially wanted to post my thoughts on the matter as a comment, but it soon appeared it would make for a rather lengthy one, so instead I turned it into a post.

Before I start - I am not a black ops pilot, so my point of view might not be considered very accurate. However I do know several black ops pilots, and have heard plenty about how they operate their ships at the moment.

The ships and their bonuses

Amarr - Redeemer

Battleship skills bonuses: 10% reduction in gun cap usage; 5% bonus to ROF
Marauder skill bonuses: 7.5% bonus to tracking

Minmatar - Panther

Battleship skills bonuses: 10% bonus to gun damage; 5% bonus to ROF
Marauder skill bonuses: 5% bonus to ship speed

Gallente - Sin

Battleship skills bonuses: 5% bonus to gun damage; 10% bonus to drone damage and hitpoints
Marauder skill bonuses: 5% bonus to ship agility

Caldari - Widow
Battleship skills bonuses: 10% bonus to CM/Torpedo speed; 5% bonus to ROF
Marauder skill bonuses: 30% ecm strength

Also, all ships have a 125% multiplier per black ops level to cloaked velocity. All ships except the Widow can field 5 heavy or sentry drones, with the Panther and Sin having sufficient carrying capacity to bring other types as well.

The Panther and Redeemer stand out as the heavy hitters among the lot, being able to put out around (or over) 600 dps at ranges of up to 40km. This with reasonable armor buffer and serious (2x reppers can be fitted on each) remote repair capabilities. The Panther is faster, while the Redeemer is better tanked and does better in close quarters with that tracking bonus. It does however somewhat suffer from CPU starvation.

Recent changes to Black Ops Battleships

In the latest patch, all black ops received a 1km3 fuel bay, so they might cope better in their assigned role of bridging other ships (bombers, covops, force recons, blockade runners) on short range jumps. In my opinion, this was a necessary fix (this feature was released pre-nerfed, as far as I know) and it does in no way represent a "boost" towards the combat capabilities of the ship itself.

The general view on the subject is pretty much the one illustrated in the caption below:

"Hello, I am the Panther; I'll be your Rapist tonight...Sorry, fresh out of lube.
By the way, when we're done, do you mind signing this petition to give me and my friends better tools to rape and pillage?"

This is mainly because few people have troubled themselves to train for this ship class and for many they represent fear-inspiring mythical creatures. So, is that the case or not? Well, let's see...

Arguments For the Covert ops Cloak

First off, it would be SERIOUSLY cool. But that's not an argument. just the inner child wanting it all.

Kirith does a good writeup on this; but in addition to what he said, I have more arguments.
First off, starting at the price tag: For nearly 800 Million, this ship can bridge some ship categories, jump itself and perform, in most if not in all aspects, worse than its T1 counterparts (which cost less than 1/10th of the price) in a combat situation.

Given the price, we won't see them using sniper fits with cardboard plating to tear down any type of orbital installation or capital ship as a comment in Kirith's post suggests - dreadnaughts can do the same job for far less cash output. And they are insurable.

Giving Black Ops covert cloaking capabilities is also an anti-blob measure. They should be able to follow blobs around and pick off stragglers on the way, while they themselves have a chance of surviving when they meet face to face with the blob fleet.

Arguments Against the Covert Ops Cloak

This is a classic case of CCP offering a finger and the players grabbing the whole hand. At first, Covert Ops Cloaks were reserved for Covert Ops Frigates and Force Recons; not long ago Stealth Bombers and Blockade runners joined the club. And now Black Ops Battleships? How about HAC's with the ability to warp cloaked? or Interceptors?

While it is true that Black Ops don't have quite the same potential for destruction as their T1 counterparts, they can very well pick their engagements and get out extremely fast if things look bad. Short-range hotdrops will be the order of the day, with Black Ops being able to go wherever they damn well please, since now covert cyno fields can be lit in cyno-jammed systems too. They can also send an avant-garde of bombers and heavy tacklers/ewar platforms (force recons) to soften up targets.

Granted, they won't be useful for influencing sovereignty, but they will be too efficient a weapon of terror used for interdiction tactics, logistics disruption and enemy demoralization. A relatively small group can fully cripple an entire alliance this way.

As to the fact that it will be a blob deterrent - quite the contrary. We'll simply see different blobs - blobs that can warp cloaked and go wherever they please, as long as fuel is on hand.

Rebuttal

Although these ships can now go almost everywhere via jump drives, the logistics are not that easy when pondering long-range incursions into enemy space. Fuel resupply can be done via blockade runner, but it's tedious and requires one if not several pilots who would otherwise fly a combat vessel to fly a fuel tank.

And you won't see large blobs of this type of ship - as already mentioned, they are quite expensive to lose to accidental decloaking caused by a gangmember. Marauders are also just a bit more expensive, and in spite of their drawbacks they make formidable war machines. Do you see blobs of them roaming around?

As for the claim that they will be used as a "third man in" (from Kirith's blog post) - this can already be done, for instance by gate campers. Take an average lowsec system with a gatecamp. A camp-busting force of similar size warps in and engages. Suddenly a few black ops aligned with the campers decloak and unleash their guns, ewar and tackle upon the camp busters without any delay, since they have no recalibration period. Having covert ops cloaks on black ops battleships would allow the camp busters to theoretically bring their own surprise to the battlefield, thus balancing it out.

Counter Rebuttal

Adding a covert ops cloak would allow Black Ops to function in full safety in roles it was not meant to in the first place - like NPC ratting and mission running in unsecured space. Although less efficient than a marauder, the increase in safety would make them worth using in such roles.

Also, adding the covert-ops cloak together with a de-cloak targeting delay wouldn't be any better - actually it would be quite useless. The pilot would still be able to use the cloak to warp away safely from a hairy situation, and when entering the battlefield, they would simply decloak mid-warp and be ready to fire when they arrive.

To sum it up...

There are many justified concerns that the Black Ops would be overpowered if given Covert Ops cloak capabilities, but at the same time there are also quite a few justified arguments in favor of this move.

All in all, I think putting this on the test server and getting players involved in testing different scenarios would clarify this issue once and for all, determining possible adjustments to compensate so that the added capabilities don't turn this ship class into a do-all monster.

Cap Warfare Ships - That "WTF Just Happened" Feeling

Gotta love huge Battleship slugfests - where everyone has all effects turned off in order to atleast stand a chance of activating some modules before running headfirst into the lag wall.
It's times like this when I like to turn my attention to the more subtle aspects of combat, such as draining some unfortunate SOB's cap dry nearly instantly.

Certainly, the ultimate Neut Boat is the Bhaalgorn, able to drain , but with its extreme price tag it's highly unlikely many pilots are able to field them on a regular basis (Enemy FC's reaction tends to be "Zomg! Bhaalgorn, PRIMARY NAO!1!"). Then there's the Curse, with regular and not so regular fitting, with 75km neut range, but for putting the lights out on enemy battleships, the most common workhorse is still the Armageddon.


Playing around in EFT and checking out other people's setups, I've come to think this is optimal:

[Armageddon, Fleet Neut Boat]
4x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Armor Explosive Hardener II

Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
2x Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800

8x Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I

3x Trimark Armor Pump I

Bouncer II x5

So, let's see why it's good at what it does: first of all, thanks to the 8 Meta 4 Heavy Neuts (which have the same attributes as their T2 counterparts, but less fitting requirements) it's able to drain 4800 cap each cycle at 25km, which means that any battleship not receiving cap injections will have to pretty much submit to its power. Then there's the formidable buffer tank of aproximately 180k effective hitpoints (4x 1600 tungsten, 3x with damage types evenly distributed), which means it'll take a while to shut you down.

Then, in the mid slots we have 2x Medium and 1x Heavy Capacitor Boosters, ideally chock full with 800 charges, as is your cargohold. This ensures that you yourself don't run out of juice while operating the power-hungry neuts. Not all need to be active all the time, you can micro-manage them as needed.

As a mainly Gallente pilot, I also try to make the most use of any drone space I can get, so loading a flight of heavy or sentry drones (I picked Bouncer II's because I just love perverting the Empire's mighty ship with Minmatar accessories, hehe...) means that you'll also be able to do some, if not very much, damage in return, about 200-300 dps worth, depending on skills.

Variations to the above setup can be made easily. For instance, you can replace one medium capacitor booster with an ECCM - Radar II mod, to decrease the chances of getting jammed, and also if you so wish, replace 1-2 Neuts with Nosferatus, to decrease your dependency on 800 charges for those prolonged fights. This, however, means losing some cap erasing capability.

Since the Geddon only has 3 mid slots, it's not feasable to fit a warp disruptor or web, but this is a fleet vessel, where most likely there will be dedicated tacklers.

As always, comments are welcome. See you in space :)

Gank Brutix - Real Men Hull Tank

T0day I'd like to bring into the spotlight a ship that I'm very fond of and show you how it can be effective, despite all the shortcomings - I'm talking of course about the Tier 1 Gallente BC, the Brutix.


Now, this is a blaster boat through and through (NO railguns recommended). Its 7.5% bonus to armor repair suggest an armor tanking configuration (dual repped even), but that would fill many low slots and gimp the fierce damage potential this ship definitely shows. I very much prefer using a Brutix over a Thorax in the role of a disposable gank boat because even if it's slower, it packs more of a punch and it stands a better, if still slim, chance of survival.

Ideally you'd use this setup in roaming gangs and in large BS fleets where you stand less of a chance of getting primaried due to your smaller size.

So in the low slots, drop the MAR, forget the resist mods and slap on 3 Magnetic Field Stabilizers (3 being about the maximum useful number of any module to which stacking penalties apply). This leaves you with 2 low slots, in which you will try to fit a simulacrum of a tank consisting of a Damage Control Unit II and 1x Reinforced Bulkheads II - which will make the most of the brutix' oversized hull HP. You could fit an 800mm plate instead, but EFT shows that effective hitpoints would be lower in that case and by doing so you'd be left with very little PG to fit the med slots once you've fitted a full rack of 7 Heavy Ion Blaster II's.

For the mid slots, an absolute must is the 10MN Microwarp Drive (T1 if T2 doesn't fit), then the Warp Disruptor or Scrambler, and in the last 2 slots 2 of the following: Capacitor Booster, Tracking Computer, ECCM array, Stasis Webifier and Sensor Booster with a Scan Resolution Script.

In the ammo department, load your cargohold with Void, Null (to be able to gun stuff down at 10km) and Antimatter (if you load the Navy variety, don't load too much, chances are you won't have time to expend it all)

Drone-wise fit according to circumstance - either a flight of medium T2's or sacrifice DPS for versatility and load a flight of medium ECM drones, or if you're feeling lucky even a set of 5 armor or shield maintenance bots (but I recommend sticking with the ECM drones...)

In the right circumstances, this ship can be a monster, but the pilot needs to be aware of its shortcomings and limitations. This is no solo ship and the suggested tactic is you warp in after the fight has already started, close distance fast and hug your victim at point blank while pumping them full of Navy Antimatter or Void and wrecking collateral damage with your drones.
Work in close connection with a tackler - once a target is immobilized, warp in, gun it down, warp out and repeat.

Losing the ship is bound to happen sooner or later - my record was I think 4 sorties on a T1 fitted version of the above setup. It's not an expensive ship to lose if insured - even less so if you're like me and can mass produce the T2 fitting yourself. For the T1 version, you're looking at a few million loss, which is nothing compared to the fun you have flying it and the potential damage it can do.