Some mechanism could be thought of to disable the enemy capsuleer's neural control over his ship, rendering the self destruct option inept. A corporation notices an awesome enemy ship carrying valuable cargo, they engage it in combat until its weakened to a point where one of them can deploy something that severs the pilot's control, put out a contract to mercs to raid the ship for its goods (and maybe to steal the ship itself instead of destroying it), and the person being invaded by Dust bunnies hires some mercs of his own to help defend his ship. In 20 minutes or so, the capsuleer of the boarded ship will regain control of his ship and escape/self destruct; this could be the time limit.
I have never played EVE and this is just off the top of my head (and probably very flawed), but I think CCP can think of a way to make it make sense, and use it as a way to add even more depth and connection between Dust and EVE.

while it sounds like it would be fun .. it would actually be game breaking for eve .. although i would very much like something like this for sov of player owned stations.

while it sounds like it would be fun .. it would actually be game breaking for eve .. also a ship to ship fight in eve takes tens of seconds not 20 mins.. i would very much like something like this for sov of player owned stations.

A juicy target for a boarding action would be an enemy POS (space station) or NPC station if used in faction warfare. Such as an example where, if a station is put into reinforced mode, the attacking eve corp can opt to try to send in dust marines on a contract to capture rather than destroy it. - or something like that.

It 'would' be nice to have...as long as it doesnt 'capture' or 'destroy' the ship, but as you say, gives the ship some negative traits (slower speed, longer reload, perhaps longer 'warp-up' time?). Having it give the ability to destroy ships without any input from the pilot at all would be game breaking...it'd be kinda like having orbital bombardments in Dust but no way for you guys to fire back at us


But, I honestly don't see it working anyway, apart from with super-caps (super carriers & Titans), simply just due to how fast ships can die in the game (usually looking at 30 seconds max each in big fleet fights...carriers possibly up to a 10 minutes max depending. Super capitals can last a while though). No FC would also want to draw resources away from primary targets either just for the sake of either capturing easily obtainable (for an alliance) ships.

So yeah, the only use I'd see it having would be to capture super carriers....But then theres the issue of 'no one' knowing when they'll be fielded. They usualyl get fielded from an escalation of arms (small fleet fight gets bigger, until one side brings out capitals, resulting the other one to, and so on). Either that, or one side brings them out and the other side conserves it's reservers, meaning it's a one sided fight anyway. In either point, no side will bring the 'boarding crafts' and the cost of another weapon system, simply as the name of the game is bringing more firepower than the other side


So yes, I 'like' the idea if it provides negative affects to the enemy ship (so no capture/destroy), or the pilot has a method of defending his ship that doesn't have the battle be one sided....but I still don't see it being practical from an EVE point in large fleet fights. The only time I 'could' see it being used is in pirate gate camps in low-sec, but they probably wouldnt bother as they'll have gate guns shooting them up at the same time (so little time to offer ransoms). Possibly asteroid belts....but who would want to capture a mining barge ?

CCP has already stated that there will be no combat in stations when they presented Walking in Stations. And they have stated they would like to have it so mercs can meet up with potential clients in bars and such face to face. So all in all, no combat in stations.

Exactly what I was trying to say, perhaps it could only occur on super carriers or capitals. The problem seems to be how to get mercs all organized for this? easy? You put a contract out and people can accept it and etc or maybe if there in your corp even it could show up on the right upper corner as a important request/contract to corp members.

considering 1 cruiser (second smallest ship class) would be the size or bigger than communications ambush it would be a rather huge developement endeavor...

That would be the problem though, on the EVE side. 'When' does the EVE player set the contract...

Preperation for battles can take anywhere from 10 minutes - 2 hours. Then there is the fact that no one 'knows' if supers will be fielded. So, a contract 'could' be made in advance. But then Dust players could be waiting for quite litteraly ages, only to be let down with not being needed. Or, it 'could' be made when a super is first sighted. Then the EVE players will have to wait for the contract to be 'filled'. Then they'll have to get in to position, then fire the weapon/shuttle. Then wait for this to reach the super.

All of this as well, while hoping that a. The super isn't primaried/destroyed before hand. B. the super doesn't jump out before hand. C. the boarding shuttle isn't destroyed mid flight (this is the only way I could think of that EVE players could counter it).

All three, which are very likely scenerios, could result in a lot of Dust mercs being dissapointed with a lot of time wasted, which could quickly result in this feature becomming unused & a waste

& then lets say that the mercs 'do' reach it, in time, with no problems. Everyone on the EVE side of things will then be sitting there waiting for the outcome.

So again, a nice idea...but I honestly can not think of a way that it could be practical, where just blowing up the super will be a much more effortless & painless affair.

Have you even played EvE?

While the idea in itself sounds cool, the influence that Dust players have on EVE would be far to great. There's no way in hell I want my expensive ship being boarded by a couple of DUST players, only to have it defended by a couple of angry kids who have their thumbs up their asses.

Boarding could be an option for a ship that is so weakened that its about to be destroyed anyway, but instead of an eve player destroying it, they hire mercs to steal it and its contents.

I propose a new weapon/missile type in EVE, call it a boarding craft.

When launched it is effectively a ship that autopilots to the target it was 'fired at'.

If the boarding craft is not destroyed, it latches onto the hull of the enemy ship and cuts open the hull.

Now comes the DUST 514 part.

The boarding craft is loaded with mercs you've hired who are playing DUST 514.

The boarding party then fights on a map in DUST 514, a ship map, against the defenders on the ship (automated drones and NPCs by default, perhaps upgradeable, or mercs hired by the pilot of the ship to defend it.

If the boarding party 'wins' the map, the ship is captured or destroyed depending on the level of success/time taken.

Of course the pilot could self-destruct, or the ship might be destroyed while the boarders fight to capture it.

In that case the match ends early in a huge explosion, and you respawn in the next boarding craft, ready to launch again.

CCP has already stated that there will be no combat in stations when they presented Walking in Stations. And they have stated they would like to have it so mercs can meet up with potential clients in bars and such face to face. So all in all, no combat in stations.

That would be the problem though, on the EVE side. 'When' does the EVE player set the contract...

Preperation for battles can take anywhere from 10 minutes - 2 hours. Then there is the fact that no one 'knows' if supers will be fielded. So, a contract 'could' be made in advance. But then Dust players could be waiting for quite litteraly ages, only to be let down with not being needed. Or, it 'could' be made when a super is first sighted. Then the EVE players will have to wait for the contract to be 'filled'. Then they'll have to get in to position, then fire the weapon/shuttle. Then wait for this to reach the super.

All of this as well, while hoping that a. The super isn't primaried/destroyed before hand. B. the super doesn't jump out before hand. C. the boarding shuttle isn't destroyed mid flight (this is the only way I could think of that EVE players could counter it).

All three, which are very likely scenerios, could result in a lot of Dust mercs being dissapointed with a lot of time wasted, which could quickly result in this feature becomming unused & a waste

& then lets say that the mercs 'do' reach it, in time, with no problems. Everyone on the EVE side of things will then be sitting there waiting for the outcome.

So again, a nice idea...but I honestly can not think of a way that it could be practical, where just blowing up the super will be a much more effortless & painless affair.

Have you played EVE yourself? I really think you should at least play EVE a while before you come up with ideas to merge the two games.

You should know that once a normal ship (frigate to battleship) hits hull damage, it wouldn't take long for it to blow up. The matchmaking between EVE and DUST would have ot be out of this world for it to work. But even if that were still possible, it wouldn't be fair to the EVE player. EVE is more about planning out your skills and searching for the best fit. It's more about numbers really. When you lose your ship, it should be because you failed by EVE standards, not DUST ones.

DUST players are mercaneries. They get paid by giant corporations and rich capsuleers that fly around in EVE. Not all EVE players should be forced to use mercenaries. Let EVE players fight against each other, a bombardment from the sky or a cannon attacking ships would be nice. But entering is just too much.

Four months later, Daren Athaksis was confirmed as one of six-thousand three-hundred and fourteen reported casualties resulting from the destruction of the Apocalypse-class battleship "Dam-Imud." His post was filled within three days. His family was not notified.

From the chronicle hands of a killer

Like said above, this simply won't work. It's a nice idea, but it is merely a pipe dream with no practical possibility :(

Like said above, this simply won't work. It's a nice idea, but it is merely a pipe dream with no practical possibility :(

^

Allowing mercs to board EVE ships, frankly, isn't practical for either game. The lore behind EVE ships is that capsuleers, by themselves, can command any ship with minimal space for life support, living quarters, etc as they need only a minimal crew. The "capsule" itself allows the capsuleer to command any ship virtually by himself, and renders him effectively "at one" with the ship. If a capsuleer needs none of that space, he can fill it with extra modules, or cargo, or whatever. This means that there would be hardly any space for a dust merc to board or fight.

Need to start with outpost boarding.

so a titan is only flown by 1 person, ok. what about all the lights and decks are they for the 1 person the however many kilometer ship, 1 person?

Just because one person is in a pod doesnt mean the rest of the ship is deserted. This is indicated in the novels, as well as on EVElopedia. Depending on the faction and ship size, there are various support crews. The beginning of the Empyrean Age novel starts with an infiltrator on an Amarr ship, with the crew reacting.

For the time being however, boarding ships isnt practical. What needs to happen though, to give that CQB feel, is to make it mandatory for an eve alliance to take a station/outpost, would require the use of DUST mercs to gain entry and take objectives. Otherwise, the only option is to destroy the station, somethign eve players have been begging for, opening the option to punative conquests.

man arnt you the hero on the K/D leader board with 14 kills, man wonder how you did that?

Just because one person is in a pod doesnt mean the rest of the ship is deserted. This is indicated in the novels, as well as on EVElopedia. Depending on the faction and ship size, there are various support crews. The beginning of the Empyrean Age novel starts with an infiltrator on an Amarr ship, with the crew reacting.

For the time being however, boarding ships isnt practical. What needs to happen though, to give that CQB feel, is to make it mandatory for an eve alliance to take a station/outpost, would require the use of DUST mercs to gain entry and take objectives. Otherwise, the only option is to destroy the station, somethign eve players have been begging for, opening the option to punative conquests.

My immediate reaction is that losing a ship outright to Dust players would be a pretty terrible thing. But, then, it is EVE. I don't know, maybe smaller ships (battleships) could be destroyed outright, but anything larger really ought to simply experience penalties of some kind. It would just be really frustrating to lose your ship to something you can't really defend against at all. Yeah yeah, adapt or die, blah blah. Still.

Otherwise though I really like the idea and I'm sure we've all been hoping this'd show up on the roadmap sometime. Boarding actions would be pretty awesome, intense fights.

Another consideration: How long does the average Dust game take, vs. the average EVE fight? What are the odds that a particular fight would still be going by the time your Dust boarders actually started doing damage to the ship you fired them into?

I proposed in a post that EVE ships be given new module slot for 'internal security' modules, to defend against and counter boarders.

Hell to the no.

Time scales between the two different kinds of fights are too far apart. Fights can last a long time in fleet engagements but most often it's more like "hey I'm good, life is fine. . . . ZOMGWTFBBQ-snap-crackly-dead" for whoever dies.

I do support boarding of POSes and outposts. That kinds of structure grind is much more compatible with a DUST style match and would give the whole CQB fighting in a corridor feeling similar to a ship. It even makes sense in terms of gameplay and setting in both games.

Would PVE enemies of EVE make good targets for boarding?

Any answers?

It really depends on the ship, and the system behind it.

If you target a ship that's gonna get instapopped, then you have wasted your shot. The system is self-limiting. You don't need to limit it to certain kinds of ships because it is self-limiting. It would give an advantage to fleets that have strong communication: they could send boarders to cripple or even capture high value targets. I see a lot of people saying 'no this won't work it takes too long and ships blow up' but I guess you've never flown in fleets. Good fleets call targets and communicate.

If the defender installs a DUST 514 Merc internal security module, it could automatically add their ship to the playlist for people to join in the 'ship-boarding' queue, with the payouts automatically deducted from the pilot, when the ship is hit with boarders.

If you have Dust players in your corp you can work with, you could have a 'private' lobby, where your corps Dust mercs could be standing by in major fleet battles to spawn on any ship that needs assistance, or to spawn in any boarding craft, and only allowing in freebooter mercs from the queue as needed.

Ships and stations would have base level NPC defenses, which could be augmented with modules that affect the terrain of the map, the difficulty of the NPCs, and the ability to hire Dust mercs. These would fit in new internal security module slots.