It would be cool if once you own a Warbarge you can set it up as a public location and people could join it. Like a channel chat, only you can walk around. Like the beginning of game Warbarge, only there is no game that starts and when people exit, they exit back to their merc quarters. Or if its a corp owned one it would have the corp logo on the banners hanging from the rafters. Im a dreamer lol.

As the the functionality of it, as long as there is a way to scale its cost, size, and effectiveness to the situation. A merc warbarge shouldn't be priced out of range of a solo merc. When it comes to corp ones, they should have ones whos capabilities and cost reflect the size of an organization. A corp with dozens and dozens of members and some PC land is going to need a more capable warbarge than a entry level corp.

We are experimenting with at least allowing players to walk around solo in the Warbarge Command room, because it's just a room we have. I think it would be cool.

As others have said, I am *greatly* concerned about in battle bonuses. I do not think they should be a thing, at all. I know I had some initial ideas for stuff like 'drop uplinks take 2 less seconds to spanw in off of" but I worry now that such bonuses may be too powerful.

The last thing this game needs is more sources of tank, gank and ewar.



Will there be different racial warbarges? Can we get the ability to customize it (via different racial banners, different lighting etc). I'm well aware this will probably be a no, as (to my knowledge) there is no one currently doing art assets, but I think this is an important 'eventual'.

I am pretending that hundreds of DUST mercs are living in warbarges that they all chip in for. Like giant flying apartment complexes.

That's how I justify it in my head... the idea of each merc having his/her own warbarge is silly.

Well True, I believe this is largely to lessen the perception that we are 'beneath' capsuleers. To me they kind of make me think of wh40k battle barges. Our methods may be violent but we're one of the least permanently damaging ways to control a planet.

Warbarges are essential to our function in flipping districts as the specialized electronic warfare they provides makes orbital defenses vulnerable and our dropsuits provide a direct connection for hacking when defenses are 'neutral'.

So I imagine much like how people became capsuleers everyone has their own story. Some may have bought their warbarge, others (like paladin Templars) had them given by their empire, some may have made their own, others may have been stolen or had their former crew murdered singlehandedly for possession.

So yeah, it probably has a small crew completely loyal to you for whatever reason (Fear? Devotion? Respect? Profits? Beliefs?). Make your own RP about it, as based on what rattati has said it's practically an open book for RP.

CCP Rattati was an Eve Online Developer

Rattati, have you ever played EVE?
If these warbarges are what we think they are from the things titled "Warbarges" in the past Dust trailers these things are freackin Capital ships, you know how special a capital ship is in EVE?

Capitals do not appear out of thin air for capsuleer, and as a private citizen, it actually takes a great amount of work to actually acquire one.

Apparently people think Titans grow on trees. Once you board that ship you're in it until it goes boom or you abandon it, the ship can't even dock. It's a huge deal.

Of course, if you guys want to go back on lore and make warbarges something like a T1 freighter go ahead, its not like lore is relevant anymore. At least a small freighter is more believable than a damned capital ship.

Congratulations, can you pilot it? Can you use it to efficiency? You just bought it.

I can have a similar scenario with AUR and Omega Boosters.

why are we being compared to normal citizens? we are the immortal soldiers of the uprising

Some of the discussion about how DUST mercs could afford Warbarges gave me an idea on how to make this system more engaging.

First, I propose a progression of Warbarges, where as you progress you trade your old Warbarge in (or sell it) in order to buy a better Warbarge.

Second, on the Warbarge screen, show an image of what your Warbarge looks like. This will require Rattati to get one of the EVE Concept Artists to make some small .jpg still images, but they would give you a big bang for the buck.


Three paths to getting Warbarges:

- With the ISK path Warbarges appearing to be bodged together from old ships out of the scrapyard except for the last one which is a True Warbarge.

- LP Warbarges being modified ships as well, but looking newer and well maintained.

- AUR Warbarges are true Warbarges that you might get if you are a spoiled rich kid from Old Money who can ask your family to finance you.


Essentially the only difference between the ISK, LP, and AUR Warbarges would be the jpg image of the ship on the Warbarge Screen, and the name. But it would give an immersive feel.

Also, a Warbarge could be upgraded to the next class of Warbarge through any of the processes. So you could stat down the ISK path for your first Warbarge, then by a level 2 Raider Warbarge for AUR, and then decide to grind LP for the level 3 Warbarge.


Warbarge Progression ISK:

0)No Warbarge: Start the game with no Warbarge, and have to work toward getting one. Say there is an investor who is looking to sponsor a DUST merc, but they are not going to invest in a lowly recruit. Have Loyalty Rank 2 be the requirement to get a Warbarge. After this stage you have to pay to upgrade to each new ship, but there may also be some other requirements as you need have an impressive enough record to attract a crew.

1)Modified EVE Starter Frigate: Old, well used looking EVE Starter ship for the mercGÇÖs race. Single Platform, with no room for additional upgrades.

2)Modified Ore Barge: An Ore Barge with some small turrets attached to its belly. Expandable to 2 platforms.

3)Modified Freighter: A Freighter with some small turrets tacked on. Expandable to 3 platforms.

4)Modified Orca: A very weathered Orca, with some small turrets. Expandable to 4 Platforms.

5)Warbarge: An actually purpose built Warbarge.


Warbarge Progression LP:

0)No Warbarge: Start the game with no Warbarge, and have to work toward getting one. To get one of the Factions to sponsor you, you must get level 2 standing in a Faction to request a Warbarge.

1)Modified EVE Starter Frigate: (Requires Loyalty Rank 2) EVE Starter ship for the FactionGÇÖs race. Single Platform, with no room for additional upgrades.

2)Modified Cruiser: (Requires Loyalty Rank 4) A Cruiser of the Faction you purchased it from, which as seen better days, and has been modified for Orbital Support with the medium turrets switched out for Small turrets. Expandable to 2 platforms.

3)Modified Freighter: (Requires Loyalty Rank 6) A Freighter, of the Faction you purchased it from, with some small turrets tacked on. Expandable to 3 platforms.

4)Modified Carrier: (Requires Loyalty Rank 8) A very weathered Carrier, possibly missing some parts, of the Faction you purchased it from, with some small turrets. Expandable to 4 Platforms.

5)Warbarge: (Requires Loyalty Rank 10) An actually purpose built Warbarge, with the look of a ship designed by the Faction you purchased it from.


Warbarge Progression AUR:

0)
1)
2)Raider Warbarge: A Cruiser sized Warbarge, Expandable to 2 platforms.
3)
4)
5)Warbarge: An actually purpose built Warbarge, with the look of a ship designed by the Faction you purchased it from.

Then you'll be interested in this discussion: https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2570460#post2570460

Bluntly a personal "warbarge" wouldn't even have to be the size of an orca, or even a megathron.

A warbarge could be any ship salvaged, hijacked, purchased, assaulted, looted from captured shipyards or cobbled together from strongboxes.

A corporate warbarge could be the orca/bowhead/providence/etc size we all come to know and love.

But an individual mercs' chop job doesn't need to be remotely so grandiose. A salvaged/stolen orca or mammoth, even a salvaged brutix or damnation could do the job.

And by and large in EVE, npc ships (non capsuleer ships) ate largely ignored in favor of juicier targets.

For example, my ideal warbarge would actually be a gutted orca hull with the hangar bay repurposed to carry two to four MCCs and a few RDVs. Repurposed to carry three battleship railguns for orbital strikes and hotwired to operate with a covert cloak the rest of the ship is repurposed to hold storage bays, automated assemblers and a makeshift clone vat bay intemded to generate dozens of cheap clones which are separated from the off duty and backup clones secreted away in other sites.

Optimized for squeezing desperate contract givers for their last nickel, evading tax algorithms and rigged for maximum havoc, the warbarge skirts the edge of legality and straddles the fine line between legitimate operation and criminal headquarters.

I'm very excited about Warbarges...

...BUT...

...There is one thing that worries me:
I got this kind answer from CCP Rattati in another thread

So: we will all have a Warbarge for free, our warbarge will upgrade itself passively with its Mobile Factory, it will soon start generating passive isks with the Market Network and it will later passively generate experimental weapons.

So: why shouldnt I create 99 alts and have isks and experimental weapons created passively while I play on my main?
I will even be able to send those weapons from alts to my main because we are going to have the market.

I think this is a major problem. How are you going to avoid it?

Because this development time could be used to address other arguably more tangible content features that have long been on the back burner.