You mean im supposed to depend on some backstabbing eve-pilot to ferry me wherever I need to go?

No thanks!

We're dust mercs, we are lore-wise capable of jump cloning to every battle we're sent to. Therefore we should be able to clone jump to any system we want to go to. I refuse to ask Eve pilots to "give me a ride". And if that's your idea, then it sucks ass...

okay, I'm in a corp of 400ish people, there is no reason for us to be in any particular system so we spread out in popular systems there are as many as ten of us so one's always online. we create an effective network of impossible to remove spies, all it takes is a careless post in local and we can relay and track you position across new eden.

I agree with some of what the OP says and some of what this guy is getting at.

As far as transfering ourselves we should be able to utilize whatever superluminal communications devices are present to 'cast our consciousness to any station with a clone vat. We would have to pay for the clone and maybe have a modifier for the distance to account for the higher energy cost of farther 'casts. We could have the ability to purchase a storage tank for the clone on the station, so if it's a region we go to frequently we would only have to pay a small amount for the 'cast itself.

This would also mean that we could deploy to any battlefield in New Eden from any location.

Now that just covers our consciousness, which according to lore can be reduced to packets of data, what about physical goods like guns, dropsuits, tanks etc.? For these we would have to rely on capsuleers or the NPC corp mentioned by the OP and could utilize the same system of pricing and such that OP mentions.

"Now wait, if you can instantly deploy to anywhere in New Eden but your gear needs time to transport how is that going to work?" you might ask. My solution for this is that you could have a storage locker on a station, and whatever gear you have in that locker would be available to you at any battle in that region, so you have a locker on a station in Molden Heath you can use the gear anywhere in Molden Heath. If you don't have a locker in a region then the corp you are taking the contract from could provide gear for a price, so if you are jumping into a pub match made by NPC corps, you could say have access to std level gear at a slightly higher than average market price, or access to the 'starter' fits for free. If you are entering a Factional contract they could have access to higher tiers of gear and such but most likely only gear made by that faction, so if you use Cal gear and are doing Gal FW and don't have any of your gear in region well you should have thought that one through. If it's a player (either DUST or EVE side) that is making the contract they could offer whatever selection of gear they want (as long as they own it and it's in a locker in that region obviously) at whatever price they want, it could be free, could be expensive, or they could not offer any and make it a "contractor must supply their own hardware" type of contract.

You start off with a locker in whatever station you start in and can use that gear in any matches in the region. You can then purchase storage lockers in other stations to expand your area of operations, you could also sell off lockers if you have no interest in that system any more. Also Corps would have access to hangars like in EVE, they can have a general pool of gear that their mercs in the region could have access to for whatever prices they want to designate for their troops, also corp members could open up personal storage in the Corps hanger for their own specialized gear.

Now obviously features like this are way out and there are many more areas of this game that needs to be worked on, and this would also require the introduction of a number of systems that don't exist yet (contracts among others) and a revamp of existing systems (like battle finder to filter battles [contract] by region) but I think this would be an awesome way to do things once the time comes.

Corps/alliances would have to set up supply lines like they do in EVE, they could establish a reputation for themselves in various regions that they primarily operate in, again like they do in EVE. It wouldn't limit us with regard to what contracts we can take so, if some scrub gets himself stranded in 0.0 he can still enter pub matches back in hi-sec to earn the isk to get out of there, if you want to deploy with some buddies but are on the other side of New Eden you still can, you may just have to rely on basic gear, or if they are really your friend they could sell you some of theirs.

As regards your gear, how can you have any of the dropsuits you've bought yourself and the attached modules at any CRU on the battlefield even if it was moments ago in the hands of the opposing team? That question has actually been bugging me a little lately. My ideas so far are either every CRU potentially has stocks of every suit and module and what you've bought is the ability to draw one out of the stores for any CRU, Supply Depot or Uplink anywhere in the galaxy, or they're somehow constructed, maybe an advanced form of 3D printing, each time you clone.

this is a good point and I don't know, if it was a 3D printing thing and you have purchased the rights to produce x number of that suit/module/ whatever, which makes the most sense to me, then it would seemingly negate the need to transport anything. which would be totally lame

We are still in the same universe (probably) as we were before. The universe ain't called New Eden; the Cluster of stars we're in is called New Eden.

Lore reasoning for why you can't just jump wherever the hell you want: you do not have standings with the relevant corporations and as such do not have a present Jump Clone.

What this means is that you (and/or your Corp?) would need to get your standings with the relevant corporations to get the permission/access to facilities to have a Jump Clone held at certain stations. This would be much more in-line with EVE and would have immense connections with PVE, but still having connections with PVP (ie, Public Contracts.)

As for the idea of the thread: OP, you will get a like on any post you make whenever I notice your name for the next few days. It's a great and well thought out idea. C'mon the Blue Tags!

Corporations (the bigger ones) should have the ability to hire/buy outright their own war barges. NPC Corporations and Faction War could provide these to Dust Mercs for limited use in public contracts and Fac War.

War Barges used in PC should definitely be a ship (occupying eve space). These would have very high resistances and Shields/armor to make them very tough to stop. But completely NPC controlled (Dust merc would simply tell it where to go and the AI would pilot).

My thoughts on this is it would allow us to actually have a war with strategy instead of 'planet fight club'.

You obviously missed the whole first part about using an NPC corp as the primary method of transit. There is even already an NPC corp in the game that fits this bill:

https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/InterBus_%28NPC_corporation%29?_ga=1.22455867.1640929137.1365175653

So no need to "...depend on some backstabbing eve-pilot to ferry me whereever I need to go?"

If I wanted to deal with the hassle of inter-stellar logistics, I'd play Eve...

I agree with some of what the OP says and some of what this guy is getting at.

As far as transfering ourselves we should be able to utilize whatever superluminal communications devices are present to 'cast our consciousness to any station with a clone vat. We would have to pay for the clone and maybe have a modifier for the distance to account for the higher energy cost of farther 'casts. We could have the ability to purchase a storage tank for the clone on the station, so if it's a region we go to frequently we would only have to pay a small amount for the 'cast itself.

This would also mean that we could deploy to any battlefield in New Eden from any location.

Now that just covers our consciousness, which according to lore can be reduced to packets of data, what about physical goods like guns, dropsuits, tanks etc.? For these we would have to rely on capsuleers or the NPC corp mentioned by the OP and could utilize the same system of pricing and such that OP mentions.

"Now wait, if you can instantly deploy to anywhere in New Eden but your gear needs time to transport how is that going to work?" you might ask. My solution for this is that you could have a storage locker on a station, and whatever gear you have in that locker would be available to you at any battle in that region, so you have a locker on a station in Molden Heath you can use the gear anywhere in Molden Heath. If you don't have a locker in a region then the corp you are taking the contract from could provide gear for a price, so if you are jumping into a pub match made by NPC corps, you could say have access to std level gear at a slightly higher than average market price, or access to the 'starter' fits for free. If you are entering a Factional contract they could have access to higher tiers of gear and such but most likely only gear made by that faction, so if you use Cal gear and are doing Gal FW and don't have any of your gear in region well you should have thought that one through. If it's a player (either DUST or EVE side) that is making the contract they could offer whatever selection of gear they want (as long as they own it and it's in a locker in that region obviously) at whatever price they want, it could be free, could be expensive, or they could not offer any and make it a "contractor must supply their own hardware" type of contract.

You start off with a locker in whatever station you start in and can use that gear in any matches in the region. You can then purchase storage lockers in other stations to expand your area of operations, you could also sell off lockers if you have no interest in that system any more. Also Corps would have access to hangars like in EVE, they can have a general pool of gear that their mercs in the region could have access to for whatever prices they want to designate for their troops, also corp members could open up personal storage in the Corps hanger for their own specialized gear.

Now obviously features like this are way out and there are many more areas of this game that needs to be worked on, and this would also require the introduction of a number of systems that don't exist yet (contracts among others) and a revamp of existing systems (like battle finder to filter battles [contract] by region) but I think this would be an awesome way to do things once the time comes.

Corps/alliances would have to set up supply lines like they do in EVE, they could establish a reputation for themselves in various regions that they primarily operate in, again like they do in EVE. It wouldn't limit us with regard to what contracts we can take so, if some scrub gets himself stranded in 0.0 he can still enter pub matches back in hi-sec to earn the isk to get out of there, if you want to deploy with some buddies but are on the other side of New Eden you still can, you may just have to rely on basic gear, or if they are really your friend they could sell you some of theirs.

okay, I'm in a corp of 400ish people, there is no reason for us to be in any particular system so we spread out in popular systems there are as many as ten of us so one's always online. we create an effective network of impossible to remove spies, all it takes is a careless post in local and we can relay and track you position across new eden.

"ground pounders" is a term for field artillery.

so you want to move field artillery? best form of it in dust orbital strike from eve ships.... your who idea is falling apart right there already.

TL; DR
it doesn't need to happen and well its not important. look at BF and CoD, some of those locations are super far apart and there is no need for a reason to transport you (w/e your idea of why spawn unlimitedly) to those locations. the best to explain why they don't is because you instantly jump into a new clone anywhere in the eve world when you last one dies, why travel there in person when you can just spawn a new one instantly where ever you are need. waste of energy and time for something that doesn't add to gameplay, sure it might add a few moment of you are really in eve, then awe man this is worse then a loading screen, rage, and go play something else while you make 157 jumps over the course of hours.

+1 This is great stuff, I fully support this.

Also we should be called Dust Bunnies

this is a good point and I don't know, if it was a 3D printing thing and you have purchased the rights to produce x number of that suit/module/ whatever, which makes the most sense to me, then it would seemingly negate the need to transport anything. which would be totally lame

That still doesn't change the fact that we're perfectly capable of clone jumping to every active battle in the galaxy. It wouldn't make sense to suddenly be forced to catch a "space bus" to be able to go anywhere.

My thumbs still points down to the OP's idea.

If I wanted to deal with the hassle of inter-stellar logistics, I'd play Eve...

I get what you are meaning, but this bears repeating again:
This is EVE: DUST514. The other game is Eve: Online. Both are Eve. And not just in name.

No it isn't. Not in terms of warfare responsibility. Eve pilots are supposed to be forced to deal with logistical issues in inter-stellar warfare. Dust mercs are just the boots on the ground.

It would be stupid to expect of us to care for travelling arrangements and logistics outside the battlefield.

If corporations wants our boots on the ground, then it's their job to deliver the clone packs.

Ok reality check time...

In EVE the DUST mercs are like the new special forces of New Eden. One DUST merc or a squad of them can hold off an entire enemy unit and hold a city by themselves. So lets compare them to the modern day operator. Modern day operators have access to a multitude of gear, weapons, and other supplies. But they don't drag their entire kit with them everywhere they go. They have to make choices based upon what the mission they are embarking on entails. They still take extra gear, and in case gear, but in the end THEY decide that aspect of their logistics. When it comes to getting there, they similarly have a multitude of options on how to do so, but in the end THEY decide the way and route they use to accomplish the mission. It's called 'puttin on the big boy pants' and not having to be told what to do for themselves. That's a major difference between a regular army soldier who only knows to follow his sergeant's orders and an operative that takes on all that responsibility himself.

And even if you don't like the special forces analogy, then use the mercenary one. YOU are playing a mercenary. YOU do NOT have an army of red tape pushers backing you up and telling you what airplane to catch to get to your next mission. YOU have to do that for yourself.

Now go find your big boy pants and start using them.

I'm not touching that part of the "lore" as CCP has already changed how all that works from the beta. Originally, when you bought stuff off the market you weren't actually purchasing the items themselves. Instead you were purchasing a limit number of BPCs (blue print copies) for each of the items you used. Then when you deployed to a battle you used up a clone and one of the limited licensed runs of your gear that you had previously purchased.

BPOs (blue print originals) have unlimited licensing rights and thus allow you to have the right to spawn and infinite number of them. Thus your starting militia fits and gear are BPO's while anything you purchased in limited numbers were only BPC's.

However CCP (for whatever reason) seems to have stepped away from this. So I don't know if it's indeed how they still envision things to work or if they have in fact changed. The reason for the change is that EVE plots need the ability to manufacture the actual item out of minerals from the BPO's and BPC's that they will maintain in order to make a combined market work correctly. This means no "magical 3D printing" of gear on the battle field.

On a side note, back during skirmish 1.0 days, the CRUs were about 4 times the size that they are now and actually had doors on them big enough for a gropo to fit though suggesting that it was more the gear and clones are already supplied inside there instead of created instantly.

Anyways, due to logistical concerns with combining the markets, I'm leaning towards the non-virtual stuff and gear has to be transported idea.

Our gear is digital just like our consciousness.

DUST mercs are to Capsuliers as they are to mortals. We are version 2.0. We clone jump as often as needed with no special capsules or limits. We can do it thirty times in one match.

DUST mercs have needs that go way beyond that of normal folk, even the ship jockeys. We need our gear to follow us from one end of the universe to the other at the same speed as our consciousness. We need it to be immediately available at any supply depot we walk up to.

You simply can't do that with physical goods. There is no way you could stock a supply depot with the hundreds of copies of hundreds of different suits, weapons, and modules that mercs own.

The only way is if our gear is simply digital licenses that are used to manufacture our gear on the spot. Sure, it's more expensive than mass manufacturing, but we have a critical need for speed that makes it worth it. The rest of the universe can get by with slow shipping and fragmented markets because they value cost above instant access. That's why the EVE market won't crumble.

SoonGäó