I just assumed that most corps wouldn't be willing to divert an entire war barge to support an exploration or mining expedition. I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything to allow it if the corp was willing, though.

For something as simple as exploration though ... why put a time limit. Keep in mind we're currently fighting on Temperate planets only ... meaning it could support life even without environment suits.

Well technically yes we could. But look at it this way, they're supposed to be coming out with a Pilot's Dropsuit for us crazy people in the whirly-birds so why not make a suit for the exploration guy?

Adds more variety and it would help people with specialized roles. I know that I for one would definetly spec into that Pilot suit and Exploration suit if either of them ever come out. I like how these roles sound and I'm very keep on seeing whether or not CCP will try something like this in the future.

alalkit. few game have non combat gaming. its something that i would like to see. and while we're at it, how about building up defenses and the like

there is a lot they can do but there is a lot they can't do I want PVE and many of your ideas seem fun.

the problem I would have with PVP is how would they get to you? look at dust right now, how do we get to different system? teleport? will we have to have "set destination" and after X amount of time we are in that system? chances are we will simply just be every where at once.

for PVP, if I am doing exploration how do they find me? scan me down and try and take the loot? that is silly as dieing would mean little loss either way
randomly appear in a queue? sorta like what we have now but puts you in someone elses scan site... that's dumb as it makes it ungodly easy.

Honestly, at this point in time, PVP in dust should be done on the battlefield, not elsewhere.

dust players shouldn't have to rely on eve players, it's a bad mechanic for us. first off there will almost definitely be more dust players than eve players, it's going to be terrible to have to rely on them to move.

2nd the average eve player isn't going to courier contract a dust player and if they do I can imagine it costing to much to be effective, this mans the average duster will be stuck in the starting area for weeks.

I'm not sure I agree completely. Sure we shouldn't have to rely on them for everything, but there's nothing wrong with relying on them for some things.

One thing that hasn't been discussed much is W-space. If we want to investigate some real Sleeper ruins and other advanced, dangerous, exotic locations, we need a way to get through wormholes. I can imagine purchasing a clone bank and having an EVE pilot carry the clone bank at high risk through a wormhole and drop it on a planet. (Granted a lot of these places are already owned, so the corp that owns the system can also contract Dust mercs to land and investigate planets. But in any system that can be corp-owned, there's always the risky possibility of sneaking in.) And then, once you get what you came for, you'd need an extraction plan. Could be a lucrative, high-risk job for an EVE pilot to support pirate mercs this way.

Interesting thread with many cool ideas this! Just posting to show my support for these ideas

Aww, thanks!


I know, this actually excites me a lot. The time-sensitive nature of the contracts, the high-risk, high-stakes, high-rewards nature of the work, the fact that every second counts for the DUST players on the ground to get back to their extraction point, making decisions about whether to try to harvest something valuable if it might slow you down and endanger your mission. It could be so awesome!

You would definitely use different fits in PVE from what you'd use in PVP, but I think you'd also have different fits depending on what you were planning to encounter. Getting swarmed by rogue drones in hisec might involve trying to maximize your firepower, whereas Sleeper tech might include both drones and traps (and maybe organic or other terrifying threats) that would require a completely different setup to counter.

Imagine that you have certain specialized roles for the ground team as well. For example, you might encounter points at which you have to avoid detection and shut down a security system so your team can get through. Your heavy sporting an HMG filled with EM ammo isn't going to be able to manage that, but that's why you hire a scout with minimized dropsuit profile and the skills to hack the Sleeper security systems. He manages to hack the system but trips the alarm while doing it and gets killed. The rest of the team has to fight off increasing numbers of drones before they can get through the security door to safety. The heavy sacrifices himself to keep the team safe, and then the logi drops an uplink on the other side of the door to let the heavy and the scout spawn back in. There are four possible passages and your surveyor is 70% sure you want to go down the one on the left. And the adventure continues...all the while, your escape plan is sweating up in space, maybe avoiding the local system owners, or maybe fighting off Sleeper ships coming to respond to the invasion.

Yes, we're talking probably 3-4 years in the future at least. But part of what's fun about this game, and the community in general right now, is the possibility. Playing with the possibility and being a part of shaping fundamental aspects of future gameplay. To me personally, this part of the game is more fun than actually being in-game--and that's not meant to disparage what's already there, because I still have fun jumping into a squad and playing matches and customizing my fits.