EVE Evolved: DUST in the wind, part 2
by Brendan Drain 
Aug 23rd 2009 at 8:00PM
What it could be like - The space battle:
Control of a system may go to the alliance controlling the most planets in the system. To control a planet, an alliance would have to control over half the districts on that planet. Before claiming districts on a planet could begin, a control station would be constructed in orbit that would serve as the point of contact between the Dust players and the EVE players. EVE players could use this to deliver weapons, structures, vehicles and clones to the Dust commander to deploy during battle. The alliances warring over a planet would each install their own control station in orbit and alliances would clash over events related to the control stations.
For example, the station could be configured to drop a troop transport on the planet once per day at a specific time to reinforce or invade a district, enabling a Dust battle in that location. One alliance would organise a fleet for that time to destroy the transport before it gets to a warp gate leading to the planet. The other would send a fleet to push it through by using remote repair carriers to keep it alive and destroying the enemy fleet. The station itself could be invulnerable while the alliance that owns it controls at least one district on the planet, making it a battle over the planet rather than just shooting down a structure or titan with dreadnoughts. Once the planet is completely owned by one side, they could then destroy any enemy control stations in orbit that haven't been dismantled and evacuated.
What it could be like - The ground battles:
Given the company behind it, I have to imagine Dust will be as close to "EVE on land" as it gets. With the successes EVE has had in player-determination and emergent game-play, I can only imagine Dust will harbor a similar system of conflict, resource-domination and political machination. Corporations in Dust could possibly opt to set up a home base on a planet somewhere on which they can control resources to build vehicles and weapons, defend their land territories and invade the territories of other factions. In a sense, it would be a land-based equivalent of EVE's territorial endgame, with corps battling it out over areas of land, forging alliances and hiring each other to assist. When contracted into action by an EVE player, a Dust corporation could clone-jump to the target system and begin a campaign there.
While the EVE players might use the control station to organise the strategic deployment of troops into different sectors of the planet, the Dust commanders would use it to co-ordinate a specific battle in one particular district. Like in the Battlefield series of games, they would likely have access to a top-down satellite map and could issue orders to their team. Artillery could be included in the form of orbital weapons platforms and the Dust commander could even deploy structures or make vehicle drops from their stash as the game progresses. The cache of weapons, vehicles, structures and spare clones would be provided by the EVE players, making Dust players who can get a job done without using as many resources much more valuable as mercenaries and raising the price they can ask for their participation.
Summary:
With so little information on Dust released, we can't help but speculate on what it could mean for EVE Online and how it could work. While some people are in a panic over the possibility that console gamers might be given control over their sovereignty, I prefer to take a more optimistic outlook. The ideas I've presented here on how it might work are little more than my own personal ideal and I'm sure other players will have their own ideas on what they'd love to see come out of the system. CCP are going fearlessly full steam ahead on this seemingly impossible plan but rather than predicting their failure, many in the industry are watching with a curious optimism. I think that's because if there's one company that has proven they can do the impossible, it's CCP Games.
Brendan "Nyphur" Drain is an early veteran of EVE Online and writer of the weekly EVE Evolved column here at massively.com. The column covers anything and everything relating to EVE Online, from in-depth guides to speculative opinion pieces. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at brendan.drain AT weblogsinc DOT com. Looking forward to EVE Onland :D
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sam said on 8:26PM 8-23-2009
What'd really impress me is if Walking in Stations let you walk around in the same hubs the Dust players were using - that'd be a real feat, and a very cool one - being able to at least see people on consoles walking around the station hub.
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Brendan Drain said on 8:35PM 8-23-2009
That would be awesome, letting the EVE players interact with the console players on some level through a first person environment.
Ryan said on 8:56PM 8-23-2009
This isn't coming out on 360, their network restrictions are too tight for any MMO to operate. Once CCP finds out how difficult the PS3 is to program for, I'm guessing this will make it to computers before it comes to consoles. Looking forward to this regardless of where it appears.
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Muddleglum said on 9:04PM 8-23-2009
First off I am not trying to be insensitive to EVE players that are aprehensive about Dust. They could very well be right in whatever concerns they may have. But the more I read about this game and how it ties into EVE, oh man.. This is the inovation we have been waiting for if it really works out! This sounds so amazing! I don't even play EVE (allthough fun I didn't like the passive skill system) so I am not a fanboy it's just the idea of players from EVE being able to fund the troops and hire them, ect.. Wow just wow, im getting silly so i will stop but this just sounds so exciting!
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ayepos said on 1:35AM 8-24-2009
Make or break for this game for me is wether or not it will support mouse and keyboard input. Gamepads are not accurate nor immersive interfaces for FPS games.
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Dblade said on 1:46AM 8-24-2009
Ryan, both FFXI and PSU are on 360, PSU actually uses live for selling its expansion ambition of the illuminatus. Age of conan, and Huxley were planned for it, as is dc online i think. Live seems less of a barrier.
Brenden, too optimistic man. Go log on to Live and play some rainbow six or halo, and then come back and think that those players will plot devious intrigues and strategies in concert with EVE corps. And no offense, but I'd back Zipper interactive over CCP in "doing the impossible" since they are developing MAG, which does the same thing in terms of massively based FPS squad action, and they have had actual console experience.
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Krystalle Voecks said on 6:46AM 8-24-2009
DCUO is being developed on the PS3 right along side the PC version, as is The Agency. SOE is owned by Sony, after all, so they have the people who designed the PS3 in-house as a resource.
Ingrod said on 4:48AM 8-24-2009
A bunch of EVE players have a console too, and is obvious that they will buy DUST, some EVE fans inclusive will buy a console only to play this game. And some "console only" Dust players will learn to play EVE or Dust in deep too, and some will joined to hybrid corps. Console and PC players will join corps stablished in some Social Networking System (CCP are developing this system) and they can use the new in-game browser for that. Some players of both games will form the core playersbase that will drive the play for the more casual players.
Many actually big corps and alliances in EVE will have Dust players recruited and joined in some moment, all this rage dont have sense.
Perhaps I said that because all this "maintain that scroofy looking console scun away from my beloved PC game" for me is plainly stupid. Perhaps many of console players are morons, but not all.
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Sable said on 7:02AM 8-24-2009
Want a PC version? http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1153199
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Ninevah said on 2:16PM 8-24-2009
It would be great if this forces home the cost-benefit dilemma for the corporation that's providing gear for the ground pounders. That way, there's that way-too-complicated-to-quantify situation where if you save money by providing lower quality gear, you risk losing the invasion AND you risk the mercs deciding to go work for someone else.
I can see great potential with this tie-in to EVE, but that depends heavily upon their implementation.
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drjones said on 5:56PM 8-24-2009
I wonder if the sort of person who likes a very crunchy mmo like eve would get along with a hardcore twitch gamer. Obviously there is some overlap but how much?
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Malachi said on 5:57PM 8-24-2009
I believe it's a Wyvern in video, not a titan...
Anyway, despite the obvious concerns regarding how dust will affect 0.0 warfare, I'm more tha looking forward to the game. It'll undoubtedly be fantastic, at least from the fps perspective.
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Camerus said on 6:52PM 8-24-2009
Couple of thoughts:
I've been waiting for an action-heavy, FPS MMO for a long time and, while I am intrigued by all of the potential strategic elements a tie-in with EVE online presents, I am concerned about what that does to the accessibility of Dust. Supposing everything in this article were true, then how easy do you think it would be for a person with no previous ties to the EVE universe to log into the game on the first day and start shooting people? Is he going to have to join a guild/clan/corp first? Will he have to wait until someone from a friendly corp in EVE actually constructs some sort of orbital platform? Will there be transit time? And, perhaps most importantly, what if he's not some FPS God who spends all his time playing Gears of War and Resistance? Will he be snubbed because every little detail - including how much every gun and set of armor you waste when you die - is run up in the cost of the campaign? And what's he going to do in the down time? I guess my point is, why isn't this guy going to go play some Halo instead?
I hope the option to incorporate all of those strategic elements are there but I also hope that - keeping its roots as an FPS in mind - Dust is also a little more like Halo or Call of Duty in that maybe it doesn't matter exactly where every humvee or sniper rifle comes from so that its accessibility (read: fun factor) to potential new (or really all) players isn't inhibited by the guys who are happily micro-managing away in EVE. And while this may damage your ideal image of Dust's relationship with the EVE universe, I think that entails the ability for random players to peruse and accept outstanding contracts, and hop straight to ongoing engagements without the assistance of a large mercenary guild and while, perhaps, ignoring the general strategies outlined by the people in command.
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farspace said on 5:36PM 8-29-2009
I just hope that their will be lore and not just back and forth with no real idea of the story of the particular planet we would be fighting on.
You know like all the items have lore filed description especially planets and the buildings on them.
And maybe some NPC's filled with lore when we talk to them.
Or just hidden secrets every ware to fined when we interact with whatever on the planets.
a reason to explore other wise what do I care who owns the planet and why.
Although unless it's on the PC I'm not sure I can afford an X-Box 360 and would not even play it at all on a PS 3 not at all as good as X-Box live, I do have a regular X-Box though
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