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alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.08 21:53:00 - [1] - Quote Five years ago, a 2009 dev team, in whose shadow we live today, presented to us their vision of the first true Sandbox Shooter: DUST 514. This momentous vision came as a great beacon of light and hope to thousands of players who were bored with the monotony of the Lobby Shooter. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But five years later, the FPS player still does not have a sandbox shooter. Five years later, DUST 514 is still sadly crippled by the manacles of FPS tradition and lobby shooter mechanics. Five years later, the DUST Mercenary lives on a lonely island of FPS poverty in the midst of a vast sea of broken dreams and abandoned clones. (10 million ISK to the first clone who can name the source material upon which I based the first two paragraphs) My wife constantly asks me why I continue to play DUST 514. It is frequently frustrating, disappointing and downright broken. The only response I have is this; DUST 514 is a promise of a better future for the FPS genre. The promise of a sandbox shooter mirroring the complexity and intricacy that New Eden can bring. But five years later, I find myself losing hope. Balance in the Force. DUSTGÇÖs underlying systems (skills, destructible equipment) were built with a sandbox in mind. If you remove the sandbox and replace it with a lobby, the whole system is imbalanced. The lobby removes the cost/benefit ratio and replaces it with mostly benefits. Risk free access to gear, vehicles and installations destroys most of the incentive to play smart. DUST mercs should have to move their assets to the battle space (and risk losing it to player conflict along the way), they should have to commit resources to the MCC BEFORE the battle begins, and if the MCC is lost, so is all that unused gear. When a player dies, they should spawn in a clone tank in the MCC. If they want to use a mobile uplink, they step into a mobile transporter and are transported to the selected mobile uplink (no spawning on objectives unless a mobile uplink is present, and mobile uplinks only accommodate 1 player at a time, so no team spawning). If the player wants a supply depot on the battlefield, they need to have committed one to the warbarge/mcc with dropsuits inside! Once those dropsuits are depleted the supply depot cannot be used. If the supply depot is destroyed, so are all the dropsuits left inside the supply depot. If a player runs out of gear, they spawn in the Warbarge and sit out the rest of the match. If players want vehicles deployed to the battlefield from the MCC, they better have RDVGÇÖs, and once those are destroyed, the player will have to return to the MCC in order to deploy their gear manually. All these factors and more are the balance against running all Proto gear all the time. Because even though you may only die once or twice on the battlefield, those 10 other proto dropsuits or HAV's you committed to the battlefield were destroyed in the MCC because you were KDR whoring and not actually trying to accomplish objectives. It's your perogative to do this, but there is a real and balanced price if you bet wrong. Implementing these features is the first step to making DUST the sandbox shooter we all hoped it would be. The next step after good sandbox mechanics is a good sandbox system. For this, I present you with GÇ£My DreamGÇ¥ See below.
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.08 21:53:00 - [2] - Quote This is my dream. Sinq Laison (or Molden Heath, or any region) is in chaos. Rouge Drone hives are appearing by the tens of thousands. They are choking the space lanes, infecting the asteroid belts, infiltrating the cosmic anomalies. Only a handful of pilots have survived an encounter with the new drones, but their data tells a terrifying tale: the drones are evolving. These new drones have integrated Sleeper, Sansha, and Jovian technology. They are fast, powerful and deadly beyond belief, and they leave no survivors. Little is known about the origin and purpose of these new Drones, except that they are replicating at near overwhelming rates and they aggressively destroy anything that opposes them. Concord is completely decimated, and they have all but abandoned the region, preferring instead to prevent the rouge drone infection from spreading. With the help of the four major empires, Concord has established 5 staging points into the region (one for itself and each major faction), and deactivated all other jump gates leading into the space. Each of the four empires and Concord have stationed massive fleets at these staging points, but they are losing, fast. In desperation, Concord, with the blessing of the four major empires, has issued a new decree. All available Capsuleers and Mercenaries who fight this new threat will be rewarded. Massive bounties will be paid out for Rouge Drone destruction, and Rouge Drone components brought back for research will fetch top dollar. Any planet cleared of rouge drone infestation will become the property of the corporation responsible for clearing it. Any corporation able to completely cleanse a system of Rouge Drone infection will be given complete authority to determine the new future of the system. Whether to be solely responsible for the security of the system, or to invite any faction (including concord, or pirate) to share in the responsibilities of maintaining security against the Rouge Drones. New Eden's future now rests squarely in the hands of the immortal few. The Academy: Each of the four empires has consolidated their merc training program into a single location in the Concord owned staging system. The mercenary Academy is established for new mercenaries to help them learn the ropes of being an immortal soldier. PVP, PVE, and combined PVE+PVP play modes are available to new mercenaries. The four empires provide training suits, weapons and modules to new players (with no skill requirements) and the NPE guides new soldiers to experience the various roles, weapons, and fighting styles they will eventually adopt. Friendly fire is turned off, and the academy length is increased significantly (like 25,000 to 100,000 WPs in length). Mercenaries are not able to take the training gear with them upon graduation and a flat disbursement of Skill Points and ISK are awarded upon graduation from the academy. Soldiers can opt out of the Academy and move immediately to the Battlegrounds, however, they will receive a SIGNIFICANTLY reduced ISK rewards and will not be able to transfer ISK until they reach 25k WPs. Players can choose to return to the Academy in order to serve as Alumni, but earn no ISK and SP rewards, do not have their stats updated (kills, WP etc.) and are limited to the training gear issued to them. These Alumni mercs will be placed in small squads and become the objective for new mercs to hunt and kill. These Alumni based game modes will be an additional option for new mercs to choose, and allow veteran players a way to help new players learn the game. Allumni who fulfill the role assigned to them during the match will earn concord LP which can be exchanged for LP from any faction. Battlegrounds After completing the academy, a mercenary is relocated to the Battlegrounds; an evacuated planet in the Concord staging system that was converted to a battlefield. The Battleground serves as both a blood sports arena and a training ground for Mercs. All four empires contribute to the maintenance of the planet (and televise battles to their populations) and mercs are given the ability to declare allegiance to a faction, or be independent agents. Faction allied mercs receive increased awards (including LP) but can only fight for their faction. Independents can choose to fight for a faction, or against them or for themselves but will only earn ISK. Each faction has a staging base off limits to all other factions, but the rest of the planet is fair game. ItGÇÖs a full contact, friendly-fire off, 23.5/7 battleground in constant turmoil and mercenaries fight to capture the entirety of the map for their faction. Drones are seeded on the battlefield to help Mercenaries train for conflict with the Rogue Drones. Small bounties are paid out for drone destruction and component harvesting. Also, resources can be harvested from the planet with mobile harvester units, although resource deposits are mostly depleted by the planets former inhabitants. These resources can be kept, or exchanged for ISK or LP (if allied with a faction) Factions pay rewards to mercs for capturing battle space in their name (faction allied mercs receive both LP and ISK payouts, while independents only earn ISK) and may even issue special contracts in order capture key locations. However, due to the training nature of the planet-wide battleground, gear restrictions are imposed in order to limit the financial burden placed upon the empires. Most of the battlefield will be STD/MLT gear only, but those special contracts to capture specific areas of the battleground may lift gear restrictions to ADV or even PROTO gear.
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.08 21:54:00 - [3] - Quote Staging Systems The Concord staging system is the location for training and e-sport like competitions, however, Mercenaries can choose to leave this system and travel to one of the Empire staging systems. These staging systems serve as the GÇ£High-securityGÇ¥ space of the infected region (and hi-sec rules apply). From here, Mercenaries team up with Capsuleers to push into and attempt to capture infected space. This space still experiences Rogue Drone infestations, but they are generally only small hives sent to probe for weaknesses and resources. Border Systems The systems which border the staging systems are GÇ£Low-securityGÇ¥ space, only lightly patrolled by Concord and the major empire faction (low-sec rules apply). These systems experience regular infestations by Rogue Drones seeking to establish new hives and strip mine planetary resources. Eve pilots transport Mercs and Merc equipment, and protect them from space based Rogue Drones. When Rouge drone anomalies and signatures are discovered, EVE pilots have the option of deploying mercenary teams to harvest additional resources from wrecks, ruins, and stations. Rogue Drones also seek to establish planetary resource nodes. These will range from small hives to fully functional planetary interaction facilities overtaken by Rogue Drones. Once discovered by an EVE pilot, these facilities can be cleared and captured by DUST Mercs (provided they have the equipment to deploy clones). This will sometimes trigger Rogue Drone retaliations both in space and on the ground (and when Valkyrie is integrated into New Eden, in their space strata too). Once the system is 75% cleared of Rogue Drones, corporations will be able to deploy mobile structures to claim control over districts, planets, and the system at large. These structures will take 24 -48 hours to anchor and once online, Concord will transfer system control to the Alliance/Corporation who controls them, thus giving them control over the mining, PI, moon harvesting etc. The corporation can then choose what to do with the space. If they give the space to Concord it will become a GÇ£high-secGÇ¥ system and Concord will assume control. If they give it to an Empire it will become GÇ£low-secGÇ¥ space. If a pirate faction is invited to the space it will become a form of non-sov null security space. The corporation can also choose to maintain exclusive control, in which case the system will become like player sov-null. Giving space to Concord or an Empire will award a bounty as reimbursement and allow any other players to use the space. Pirate control and corporation control will receive no bounty, but will allow the corporation who controls the space the exclusive right to that space (provided they can maintain control). No matter what type of space is chosen, that space can be lost again to Rogue Drones Rogue Drones can attack at any time (and will do so in space and on the ground, based upon their own logistical supply lines, i.e. the more territory they hold around you, the more they attack and the more powerful their attack), and if more than 50% of the mobile sov structures are destroyed or hacked, Concord will declare the sovereignty void, and the Alliance or corporation will lose district/planet/system control and will have to clear the system of drones before being able to anchor new structures. Also, other corporations can deploy their own ships and Mercs in an attempt to wrest control over districts/planets/systems. If they are able to destroy or hack enough of the structures, Concord will invalidate the previous corporationGÇÖs sovereignty until another alliance/corporation can gain control of 75% of the districts/planets/system Rogue Drone Systems Beyond the Border systems are Rogue Drone Systems. The system described above will operate here, but these spaces will possess some of the hardest and most rewarding PVE in both EVE and DUST. The closer to the GÇ£Mother HiveGÇ¥ (which moves), the more challenging and difficult the battles. The integration of Jovian, Sansha, and Sleeper technology has given these Rogue Drones technological superiority. Pound for pound they hit harder, move faster, and take an incredible beating. In addition to being more powerful; new, and extremely advanced AI drives these Rogue Drones and their behavior is unpredictable and extremely challenging. If players escalate with larger more powerful ships, the AI will be able to escalate as well. Players will constantly have to adapt, both in space and on the battlefield, in order to wrest control of these systems away from the Rogue Drones. The biggest fleet wonGÇÖt always be the best and Rogue drones will seek deny the enemy victory even in defeat by harvesting the resources destroyed in battles, both the players and their own. This will be the most challenging and rewarding PVE, New Eden has ever seen.
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.08 21:58:00 - [4] - Quote Key Features: Modular: DUST and EVE devs can implement the system modularly, allowing for a quicker start to the sandbox shooter, while allowing for future development to expand the experience. Expandable: The system can be set up to accommodate a small or large EVE/DUST player population. Deep EVE, Dust, and Valkyrie Integration: Eve pilots clear the way for ground invasions, transport clones and mercenary gear to battlegrounds and protect DUST warbarges. Systems cannot be cleared without DUST Mercenaries and EVE Capsuleers working together. Rewarding Play: The landscape of New Eden will be dynamic, with small corporations able to participate in Sov-Null like politics. Systems will change security status based on player actions. The likelihood of large allied coalitions will be reduced as Rogue Drones will be perfectly capable of claiming systems on their own. The most valuable resources will not be tied to a particular system, but rather to the systems with the toughest Rogue Drone threats. Concord and Faction controlled systems will allow individual players, high-sec players, and low-sec players to participate in the expansion and the new-dynamic PVE and PVP opportunities. And much much more. If youGÇÖve read through this wall of text, I hope you can see how powerful this system could be. Both DUST and EVE need this type of system. The Sandbox is the key.
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.09 12:27:00 - [5] - Quote 10 mil ISK challenge completed. The first two paragraphs are modeled after Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.09 12:31:00 - [6] - Quote Someone private messaged me with the answer. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.09 12:33:00 - [7] - Quote Next trivia challenge, I'll specify that only thread responses count. Since you are the first thread response (my indented response), I'll throw in another 10mil reward. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 173	Posted - 2014.04.09 14:44:00 - [8] - Quote Thanks to BL4CKST4R and Argent Mordred for participating in the Trivia Challenge. Your rewards have been distributed. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 179	Posted - 2014.04.10 21:13:00 - [9] - Quote Based on a discussion about this idea in my Corp forum, I wanted to clarify a few things. The idea is to create a three-tiered system of risk/reward Low Risk/Low Reward: The Academy No money is earned, friendly fire off, training gear is provided, no kills, deaths, or WP's are recorded into a mercs permanent record. The game modes here mimic the various battles Mercs will be able to engage in at a latter date, including modes that teach mercs about PVE, PVP/PVE, and ganking other players engaged in PVE. Graduated mercs can return, but they are subject to the previous restrictions. They will also become the objectives for new players and the number odds will be stacked against them. The goal here is to give new players an opportunity to go up against veteran players in a controlled environment. Medium Risk/Medium Reward: Battlegrounds This is the 24/7 battleground were mercs can always find a fight. Some control are still in place, such as gear restrictions, safe locations to store gear and safe spawn locations; however, Mercs can choose to risk more by deploying installations and MCCs, but they risk losing more as well. The battleground provides ample opportunities to participate in PVP, PVE, harvesting, ganking, but due to the controlled environment, rewards are less as well. The battleground could be arranged in various configurations as a part of monthly or quarterly events. Such as 4 Faction Fight (1v1v1v1) Faction Warfare (2 Factions vs 2 Factions) Free for All (deathmatch) Faction Deathmatch (each side starts with a set amount of clones) Pirate Invasion (Pirate faction becomes 5th faction on the battlefield) Corporation of the Hill (Player organizations fight to dominate the map) Survival (Massive PVE event where the battlefield is flooded with drones and the goal is to destroy the most) High Risk/High Reward: Rouge Drone Systems Here the sandbox is fully experienced. No safe zones, except that which the player groups can establish themselves. All gear must be bought and transported to the fight. If the clone transport ships are destroyed, so too is all the gear they contained. PVE is very difficult but also very rewarding. Salvaging and harvesting Rogue Drone resources takes time (no instant looting, and better results if mercenaries are used) and must be protected from drone retaliation and other players looking for easy loot. The goal here is to develop a system where the valuable resources (rogue drone salvage) are never tied to one system, and instead, are constantly moving. This will force players to be in constant competition for the most lucrative systems, thus creating rich PvE AND PvP. However, there needs to be an incentive to take and hold systems (PI, exploration, mining, and moon extracting will be better in these systems because there will be the chance to obtain Rogue Drone components in addition to the traditional resources. However, this alone will not be enough.) The following paragraph creates a system in EVE that will create an incentive to take and hold space (and not just pass through it on the way to the loot.) (FOR EVE) Rogue Drones will use advanced Jovian-based Cyno jammers in all their systems and with all their major infestations. These cyno's disrupt the usage of any cynosural fields in the systems in which they are deployed, and also disrupt any cyno jumps which may pass THROUGH jammed systems. Cyno transportation will only be possible if player controlled systems are linked in an uninterrupted line to the staging system. This will create incentive for players to establish logistical supply lines by capturing and holding systems which link them back to the staging systems. This advanced Cyno technology will be available to player corporations. Corporations who control systems will be able to deploy these structures. Once online, friendly Cyno jumps passing through the system will be permitted, enemy cyno jumps will be denied. This is a mechanic designed to create more interesting and compelling EVE gameplay as it creates a system that requires players to capture, hold, and protect space in order to benefit from the travel advantages that Cyno jumps bring (while not eliminating Cyno altogether.) (Back to DUST 514) PVE in these systems will be so tough that players will need to bring their best game and their best gear. However, success will also bring huge rewards. These rewards will allow them to continue to buy the best gear and run the best missions and hopefully experience the best PVP as well. These players will be able to return to the Concord System and participate in the Academy and the Battlegrounds, but their money advantage will be tempered by the gear restrictions in place in these semi-controlled training environments. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 225	Posted - 2014.04.18 15:38:00 - [10] - Quote Klash 816 wrote: What only one page of replys? So few people visit the Features and Ideas Discussion forum compared to the General Forum. I should probably go post something there to try to get more people to see this idea. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter

alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 237	Posted - 2014.04.24 19:21:00 - [11] - Quote Thank you to everybody who is keeping this thread alive by posting your comments and suggestions to this idea. My hope is that eventually, a developer will eventually read the post and see enough merit in the system to begin discussion at the CCP level. Finn Colman wrote: About transportation. My understanding of the Dust 514 lore is that the implant that enables Dust Mercenary clones also allows for unlimited transfers between clone bodies (also known as jump clones). This is a process whereby your consciousness it transferred into a pre-prepared body. In Eve, capsuleers can have up to 10 jump clones and can transfer to a new jump clone once every 19 hours (all with the proper skills trained to 5.) In Dust 514, our consciousness can be transferred to any clone body as many times as we need. This is how Dust Mercs GÇ£travelGÇ¥ to battles all over the Eve Universe. NPC corps position clones through the use of warbarges and MCCGÇÖs and once the battle starts, you GÇ£jumpGÇ¥ into the clone bodies. Once the battle is over, you transfer back into the body in your merc quarters. So in my system the transportation of gear and clones is handled differently depending on where you are. Academy: Since Dust mercs will only be using gear provided to them by the Academy, there is no need to transfer gear and equipment. Same applies for mercs returning to the Academy to serve as alumni. Battlegrounds: This is a single planet controlled by Concord and supported by the four empires. When the player-driven economy is active, this will likely be a tradehub for Dust 514 gear. Gear bought here can be transported to the battlegrounds by NPCs. Remember that each faction has a home base that acts as a safe haven for mercs and gear. When players die in the battleground they will re spawn in their faction home-base (Concord hosts a home-base for independent Mercs). Depending on what nodes their faction controls, players will be able to use spawn transporters to access more distant parts of the battleground. Certain nodes will also be capable of spawning vehicles, however, these will be less common. Player organizations will also be able to spawn MCCs in order to better project their presence on the battlefield. MCCGÇÖs are capable of acting as mobile spawn pads for soldiers, however, vehicles must be pre-loaded on the MCC. If the MCC is destroyed the vehicles are lost. If the vehicles are all deployed, then the MCC must return to the home base in order to refit. Mercs can play it safe by only using the home-base, or they can front MCCs and risk more for more potential reward. Staging Systems: These faction-controlled systems are the first step into endgame DUST 514 content. NPC factions provide transportation of gear for Mercenary equipment (for a modest fee) or players can use Eve players to transport their gear to these staging systems. As NPC controlled systems, players can safely store their gear at these locations. Any rouge drone infestations in these systems will be handled (in space) by each faction. Factions will put out contracts for Dust Mercenaries who will be able to queue up for these NPC hosted battles. The Faction will transport Merc gear to the battlefield, however, players will not be able to keep any components and materials harvested from the battlefield. Instead, the faction will provide a payout for mercs based on the number of drones killed, components harvested, warpoints, etc. Border systems/Rouge Drone systems: This is the first point where the sandbox is fully realized. If players want to participate in this portion of the game, they will need to work with Eve players. EVE Players will find infestations and fight in space, but they will need Dust players to clear infestations and harvest components. How all this is handled will be up to the players and arranged by contract. Some potential contract types include ---Eve sponsored GÇô Eve players will be able to front all the Merc gear and transportation and in return receive all the components and materials obtained from the battlefield. Eve players will be able to choose specific Mercs from their Alliance, or they will put up contracts on the market to fill empty slots. Mercs will be able to search for contracts and see the prereqs and projected payout per rouge drone kill, component harvested, minerals harvested etc. Mercs will then be able to apply for these contracts and the Eve player will be able to see the performance of the merc (see this thread for ideas on tracking merc performance.) and approve or deny. ---Bring your own gear GÇô Eve players contract with Mercs to provide mercenary services. Eve players search for infestations, transport gear, fight in space and provide orbital support, but Mercs must provide their own gear including MCCGÇÖs and RDVGÇÖs. Eve players can specify if they are searching for lone mercs, squads or whole teams; they will also be able to specify SP and gear requirements. Eve players must specify in the contract how they will split all rewards acquired from the battlefield. Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 241	Posted - 2014.05.02 17:19:00 - [12] - Quote No kidding right? Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter
alten hilt DUST University Ivy League 258	Posted - 2014.05.04 23:20:00 - [13] - Quote So after watching the Prophesy trailer, i feel that these ideas are even more applicable. What if that new gate unleashes this infestation. Or what if the region in this idea is a completly new region beyond the gate? Making DUST 514 a Sandbox Shooter

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