Monday, October 6, 2014

Jump up, jump up and get down. Jump! Jump! Jump...

They say occasionally CCP shakes the ant farm. Last week they took a sledgehammer to it. The proposed jump drive changes are going to change the face of Eve. No, thats not an understatement. From what I hear the Goons are going to stop renting space. That's how big this is!


The biggest problem in Eve has been that you can get anywhere on the map with a massive force rather quickly. By limiting jump range to 5ly you'll force people to make more jumps. If you then add "jump fatigue" you stop this force projection. Suddenly small capital ship gangs will start to peak out of their hangers.

"You mean PL aren't able to WTFHOWMANYSUPERSINAHOTDROP me now?"

So what do these changes mean? Who knows. Nobody can predict the outcome not even CCP. Here are a few of my guesses.

Eve will not die.
The tears on the feedback thread say this change will kill Eve and there will be mass unsubbing. Nope. It will change the face of Eve and the maps will be redrawn. However this is not going to kill Eve, it will reinvigorate it.

Gate Fire.... OH F......
Gate camps could get a surprise as a few titans and super carriers jump through the stargate. I cannot wait for the reaction of a super pilot when the FC says "BURN BACK TO GATE!"


I don't see a lot of super roams through gates due to the align time and bumping issues. However there may be the odd one!

Hotdrops will reduce.
Simple maths. Ranges are decreased and multi-jumping capitals leads to cool-downs and long waits between jumps. There will be a lot less hotdrops simply for shits and giggles in the brave new world. Even Black Ops will likely see a reduction in drops due to jump fatigue. Rather than a gang running drop after drop after drop, there will be down time due to fatigue to consider. However, there is time for CCP to look at BLOPS a bit more.

Massive empires aren't going to be so massive.
Alliances are going to have a loot at their space and decide what can they hold. Obviously its going to be more than 5ly. Jump clones, caches of capital ships and other things like this will allow good sized Empires but nothing along the lines of what we see now. I think by 2015 we'll see more smaller null-sec alliances taking space.

Moving logistics are going to be a PITA.
Whilst jump freighters get a 90% reduction in fatigue they still get it. Will this effect people like Black Frog who provide a JF service? The more obvious hit is suitcase-carriers. When people move bases they usually fill up a suitcase-carrier and jump back and forth to their new home/staging area. The changes are going to hurt people who are nomadic.


Null-Sec Could be Condensed.
With it being harder to move goods and people about the less accessible areas of null may become ghost-towns. Ideal for small corps and alliances to set up in. Other areas will become more busy as people migrate to areas nearer high-sec or where there are trade hubs.

Jita could become a lot less important.
Whilst it is THE trade hub now, could Jita become a lot less important in the new world order? Are we going to see null-sec trade hubs spring up, the space policed by players?

Ice-belts will be replenished by the tears of ice miners.
One thing is for sure in Phoebe, capital ships will be making a lot less jumps. Therefore the market for isotopes is about to go south.


Its a brave new world boys and girls. Embrace it!

3 comments:

  1. Implied Faceplam.... OMFG!!! I cried real tears at that one man!!!

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  2. You think massive empires will be not so massive anymroe because space will be harder to control.
    CFC will delegatge home defense to the alliances that control the regions and might provide backup in (sub)cap fleets.

    I can't imagine the CFC shrinking much though. Instead I see people trying to add every sov/space holder on their route to high sec to their blue list to create safe midpoints.

    Perhaps I am wrong. At least we can all agree this change is for the better. Those who disagree are obviously mistaken.

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  3. The bigger problem for services like Black Frog in these changes is the change to death-cloning. Standard BFL procedure is to deathclone cyno alts to where they need to go - it avoids gatecamps and is faster than taking gates, especially if you're several dozen jumps away from a midpoint. With the changes to jump range and deathcloning, BFL will be at least much slower and more limited in service area (sorry, Stain). I'd expect to see rates increase for all JF logistics to reflect the additional time it takes to complete a contract.

    Source: Former Black Frog pilot.

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